*This was originally sent out to the mailing list on 12/27/06*

I know it has been a while since the last time I wrote, but as you may be able to tell from the message, I too am going through a nighttime season in my life.

Nevertheless, here is a word that God placed on my heart last night. I hope it is an encouragement to anyone who is going through tough or confusing times.

Judas’ Blessing

Child, were you not cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ? And if this is so, think on this: did not Judas Iscariot play a role in your salvation?

But shall we commend him? Shall we thank him? No, but thank Me – even when I bring a “Judas” into your life. Commend Me, and worship Me, even in troubled times. Look hard for Me, and search for My workings amidst darkness. Trust that I am taking you to the place that I have planned for you. Do not turn away in stubbornness.

Yea, though your sky is blackened, and though your eyes be blurred with tear-walls, look for Me. For My sunlight is seen also in the nighttime moon.

The path that I have for you will sometimes go through anguish. Do not evade my leadings. Trust My guidance.

“But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.” -Psalm 3:3

Amidst the evil do not give up hope, nor lose patience.

“There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand.” -Deuteronomy 32:39

Trust Me in both good and bad. To be trustful only on the sunny days is deceitful. Where will you go when the rain-clouds arrive? To which sun will you turn when the skies are blackened with thunder-heads?

Beloved, hear this: even though you may not be aware of it presently, My greatest blessing is given on the rainy day. My greatest gift is secured during the storm.

I got to thinking about all of the sorts of things that I liked to do before I was saved – the things I watched, the music I listened to, and my thoughts and dreams. I see how much God has changed me over the years, and how He has shaped and molded even my very thoughts. It was then that I started to realize where I had been, and where God had brought me:

“From violence to violets.” 

And despite any heartaches, or hard lessons that I have had to learn, (and am still learning), I am so grateful for what God was wrought in my life by His Holy Spirit. I feel as though I have gone from simply being a primitive monkey with only narrow and selfish thoughts and goals, to one who has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the author of creation. What a promotion through the grace of God!

“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”

-1 Corinthians 6:9-11

It seems I have forgotten one mailing, which was sent out back on 8/26/06. Here it is:

Valuable

You, My beloved, are very valuable. You are of utmost worth to Me. Did I not show this on the cross – that the Creator would die for His creation? I cherish you.

I would have died for one molecule of your body. I would have sacrificed Myself for one hair of your head. For it should not be that sin, that death, ought to reign in that of even your smallest of members. For sin is as leaven.

And yet sin, in abundance, has reigned in much more than just one hair, but in body and soul. And by sin, death.

Beloved, it ought not to be so. From the beginning, it was not so. And yet all things are currently out of alignment. Through sin, a cataclysm of the entire human race has occurred.

But, My love, be of good cheer! I have won the victory! I have promised life over death. Yea, though sin still reigns on this earth, one day it shall vanish away. Yea, though death still reigns over man’s mortal body, it shall not last!

The foe is defeated. Though his ship still sails, it is sinking. It will not rise again. The endless ocean of My love shall consume away all sin and death.

Beloved, rejoice in My victory.

*This was originally sent out to the mailing list on 10/14/06*

Hi there,

I wanted to take a minute to write about something that has been on my heart for quite a long time: faith. Or more precisely, having faith when things don’t seem to make any sense. Having faith when it seems like God is not being faithful AT ALL. I was reading in my Bible yesterday, and was grabbed by these verses: “Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass’s colt. These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him” (John 12:15-16).

It then occurred to me that Jesus’ disciples had to have a lot of faith to believe who Jesus was, even though they could see Him face to face, and witnessed His miracles. At the time, things DID NOT make sense for them, and it was not perfectly clear whether all the prophecies about Him were true. These sorts of things happen a lot in my own life too, and things feel like they are not going according to God’s plan, or that somehow God has forgotten about me.

And in Jesus’ time, there were a lot of “knots” that came up to prevent many of the people from having a smooth and easy path to faith. I just want to name of a few that stood out for me, because I think it will help us to have faith in God in our everyday lives, especially when it feels like things are not turning out the way they should.

“The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?” (John 6:41-42).

Was Jesus born of God, or was He just a regular person like everybody else? To a lot of the people, they just thought that Joseph was Jesus’ father. Either the story of Mary’s virgin birth was not widely known, or just not believed. This made it very hard for people to believe that Jesus really was the messiah.

“Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was? So there was a division among the people because of him” (John 7:41-43).

It seemed like Jesus was NOT fulfilling the scriptures, because everyone thought that Jesus came from Galilee. In the Old Testament, (Micah 5:2), it says that the Christ will be from Bethlehem, and NOT Galilee. But what many of them perhaps didn’t know, was that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but Joseph, Mary and Jesus fled into Egpyt while Jesus was very young, and when He returned to Israel, His family settled down in Galilee. (See Matthew chapter 2.) So, everyone thought that Jesus was from Galilee, even though He was born in Bethlehem. This must have been a major stumbling block to the faith of a lot of the people, especially those who were trying to go “by the book” to find who Jesus was.

And lastly, it also said in the scriptures that before Jesus would come, God would send back Elijah the prophet to His people. (See Malachi 4:5-6) This man turned out to be John the Baptist, yet perhaps even John himself didn’t know that that was who he was: “And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No” (John 1:19-21). He was wrong! He was that prophet Elijah (also spelled ‘Elias’) as God had told his parents in Luke 1:17: ” And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias…

This thing – John being Elijah – was very hard for the people to understand or believe. “For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come” (Matthew 11:13-14). I sort of view this phrase “ if you will receive it” as almost saying: “if you can possibly bear to believe this truth…” It was not what the people were expecting, especially since John himself denied that he was the one to fulfill this prophecy. Jesus’ disciples even questioned Him directly on this: “And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist” (John 17:10-13).

I have often wondered why God let all of these doubts to prevail while Jesus was on Earth. (Of course, in hindsight, it is all very clear to us today, with the Bible having it all laid out in front of us.) I think one of the reasons for leaving things a bit open-ended was that God wanted faith.

“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” -Hebrews 11:6

Problems, troubles, and hardships, while they are unfolding, do not always have a clear answer. Afterward, things will make sense, (if not in this life, than at least in heaven), but while things are happening in the here and now, it can be very tough.

God wants us to have faith in the sunrise, even on the moonless night; even on the darkest of nights, when not even the reflection of the sun may be seen upon the moon; even on the longest of winters, when there is not a blade of green grass to be seen anywhere on the ground. The night does not last forever, and the winter does not endure indefinitely, but at times, days seem like years, and doubts arise, and that is perhaps the very definition of a trial: when all hope, all bearings, and all landmarks seem to be lost, and you have only the things that you can remember about God. God was good. He is good… but I can’t see it now.

It is at this point, when all is black, that souls are tested and hearts are tried — and God’s rewards can be won. It is a trial of faith. “Faith is… the evidence of things not seen ” (Hebrews 11:1). Of course we cannot see the way, else it wouldn’t be faith. Of course we can’t see the ending, or answer the “whys” or the “hows,” but God wants it that way, or else it wouldn’t be faith. Or else it would be no hardship, and there would be no growth… nor rewards.

“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.” -1 Peter 4:12-13

Here’s my saying:

“The Holy Spirit is our means of knowing and experiencing God in this earthly life. He is the point of contact between dirt and the divine.”

And, here’s some verses to go along with this:

“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.” -John 16:13 – 14

*This was originally sent out to the mailing list on 10/9/06*

Wisdom & Love

“Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.” -Jeremiah 9:23-24

My desire is that you would know Me with open arms, and open eyes. With love – as open arms, and with wisdom – as open eyes.

What love and wisdom are to godliness, sand and cement are to concrete. Love, as the sand, is the very substance of godliness, yet without wisdom, it is only as quicksand. Look, and open your eyes to the who and what of love. Who should you love? And what should you love? Mix love with wisdom.

And yet, wisdom too, without the sand of love, is like brittle, unmixed concrete which shall soon crumble. Brittle and bitter.

An increase in wisdom must come with an increase in love, else it is vanity. Do not build your house on sand, nor on crumbling cement. This has been one of man’s earliest follies:

“[Eve] saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. ” -Genesis 3:6

So at least in part, she ate in search of wisdom. And yet, I commanded her not to eat of that tree.

“If ye love me, keep my commandments.” -John:14:15

So you see that a pursuit of wisdom without true love is folly.

Child, do you want wisdom? Then love Me. To love Me with all of your heart, and soul, and mind, and strength: this is the wisest thing you can do.

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” -Proverbs 9:10

On the path of godliness, love is the what, and wisdom is the who; on this path, wisdom is the direction, and love is the movement. Without love, surely you will never enter the places that I long for you to enter. And yet, without wisdom, you may end up in a place far worse.

Know Me with open arms, and open eyes. Love is the what, and wisdom is the who. Love God.

*This was originally sent out to the mailing list on 10/1/06* (I originally called this “Opacity,” but decided it would be more appropriate to call it “Transparency.”)

Its been a while since my last mailing, and I thought I’d share this one with you. I wrote it a while ago after coming home from work. The inspiration came early in the morning; I arrived at work before any of the lights/lamps were on – and there were a lot of them. It seemed so eerie to see all those lights while it was still so dark in the room. Anyway, God began stirring in my heart, and shortly thereafter I arrived at what is below. I hope that God draws you closer to Himself through these words.

Transparency

My people are as a room full of lamps. The world, silently, eerily, lifelessly sits in darkness, awaiting a hope. My people are there, in the darkness, as lamps, as torcheries, as chandeliers, as lights of all shapes and sizes.

Yet, they are in darkness. Imagine, a room of lamps, a wall of lights and bulbs, yet there is nearly complete darkness.

Where is the light? Could not these emit a burst of light so bright as to illuminate the entire world? And where is the light?

Beloved, people, I am the light. You are a vessel, fitted for My glory. You are a lamp, fitted for My light.

I am with you, but you do not let Me shine. You trust in the beauty of your lampshades, or in the splendor of your outward decorations.

Over My light you paint “good” things. To trust in good things rather than Myself, is to paint your light-bulbs white. Opaque white. It may look good, it may seem good – and even fitting to emit light – but it is not, and it cannot.

When will you realize that all you need to be is transparent?

“[E]xcept your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” -Matthew 5:20

There is no paint that can ever shine as brilliantly as light. Make My righteousness your own, and derive your light from My very own.