Month: June 2018

At the end of the day, I walked in, to provide a letter to a client and ended up intervening in a verbal and what looked like would be physical assault. A person who was very agitated was expressing contempt for another person and in the next breath describing how much in pain the other person is and how blind they are to their pain. I found myself telling this person that often times the ones who need love the most are the ones that are the most difficult to show love toward.

My own words echoed back as the Holy Spirit reminded me of a conversation I had later in the evening. During that discussion, this person asked me if a particular situation was difficult for me and I acknowledge that it was.

The Lord doesn’t ask us to do things that always seem easy; but He promises His strength to carry them out. You know, Scriptures that say things such as that we are to love our enemies, pray for those that despitefully use us and say all manner of evil against us and that we are to forgive 70 times 7.

In human finiteness it can definitely seem completely contraindicated, what is not only prescribed but in fact commanded in the Holy Bible. When we feel like we have been placed in the fertilizer patch, it really upsets our sensibilities. Yet it is in the manure that we grow. That is, in this moment, coming through in a deeper revelation to me. Think about all of the beautiful things that grow when fertilizer is applied, rather it be decorative plants or the very food that we end up nourishing our bodies with to find strength to go on. That is the most practical example in the physical of bringing the equivalent of beauty from ashes for me. Thank you Holy Spirit for in the moment revelation and understanding to help with application.

To us, the seasons of life that we go through may seem endless at times. I think of Daniel and the other Hebrew children in exile in Babylon for 70 years. What about Daniel when he was thrust into service of a king, in his place of exile, who initially had absolutely no fear of God? Or think of Joseph who was betrayed by his very own flesh and blood, sold as a slave and taken to a foreign land where he had to learn new language, new customs, we eventually falsely accused of sexual assault and then wrongly imprisoned. There was also David whose own king sought to take his life to keep him from assuming the throne after he had defended all of Israel by killing the giant, Goliath. Let’s not forget about Esther who had to hide her identity as a Jewess and be faced with a moral dilemma that would have cost all of the Jews their lives if she had made the wrong choice.

On and on, the examples pour forth from the Word of God. Yet when these people had the fertilizer of life and the attack of Hell itself come against them, they turned to the Lord for strength and made right choices. They didn’t do that 100% of the time. Maybe that’s why they are so relatable to me today. However, they did it and tried to be a conduit where they were placed that God Almighty could flow through.

Daniel became a ruler in the Babylonian kingdom, a massive kingdom geographically. David, the shepherd boy, became the king God’s chosen people and is in the bloodline of Jesus Christ. Joseph was second only to Pharoah in a foreign land, the fruits of which were used to save his very own family and the Jewish line. And dear Esther became Queen Esther, the one who was placed, as the Scripture says for such a time as this, to save much people alive.

God takes what seems not only improbable but impossible. He takes the ugly, the maimed, the dejected and the rejected cast-offs of society. Just when it looked like they were down for the count and not only would the individual perish but eventually the entirety of the nation of Israel, God arose and his enemies had to bless his children.

Yet, none of this would have happened if the greater way of Love had not been chosen by His children/ His servants and, in some cases, His friends.

Love and light go together and bring life. The Bible says that God is Love and Light. He said that He came to bring life. Therefore Love and Light, begets life.

Conversely, hatred and darkness go together. Experiments have been done that show how even ice is changed by hateful words at a molecular level. We know that when there is absence of light there is not life and growth. Therefore hatred and darkness beget death.

Furthermore, science is revealing that all matter, inclusive of our blood is congealed light. Now I understand how we can be washed in the blood and be white as snow. The Messiah’s blood is clear, not red when He is not in the form of flesh in the physical realm. He is not in a fallen state at all nor limited by the physical.

When He said, today I set before you life and death, choose life, isn’t it a little clearer when we see the properties that go with life and those that go with death why he would admonish us in this way? I know that that is very sensical and hopefully would even be commonly such. But I highlight this as I believe the Holy Spirit has inspired me to do to help us remember to kick out of autopilot or cruise control so that we are not aimlessly bumping into the proverbial walls but are in fact intentional in our approach to our enemies, painful and may I say, seemingly stinky situations and in each and every day that we have opportunity to choose our path.

Let us choose today our course, Who we will serve, not just when it’s easy, but when all Hell comes against us, when demons have taken the place that our loved ones have given them or that we have given them. We must not cast off proper restraint. We must hold fast to our profession of faith. We have to walk in a thoughtful, circumspect manner if we are to not be fooled by the devil and his schemes.

That little chip that looks like a grain of rice that is out there right now which various companies are offering to their employees to make it easier to have ingress and egress and not use keys or key cards and with which they can purchase items from vending machines, is the first implantations of the mark of the beast. I’ve seen the people smiling joyously it would seem as they swipe their hand in front of the soda machine in an article about one such company.

Wake up, O Sleeper! Keep your lamp lit with enough oil and wick to last. God isn’t mocked and He will not be fooled nor cajoled at the day of judgment. Love is the only way out of this thing. That’s why we are so challenged in this area and fought so hard. It is the key that will let you out of prison and that you can use to help your neighbors get out as well.

So what do you say? Where do you stand? With whom do you stand?