Sleeping Giant on the Earth?

Could the Church possibly be the biggest sleeping giant the world has ever ‘not known’? As the representative of Almighty God on Earth, does it appear to us and to the un-churched that we are fully awake and up to or capable of significantly impacting for good the rampant challenges, moral decay and disillusionment facing mankind? Could the steady deterioration in moral and civil life on Earth simply be preparatory to world events foretold in the Book of Revelation -- the unstoppable winding down of this age, in preparation for the next millennium? Or might it be more related to our collective need to accomplish what God outlined to King Solomon in 2 Chronicles 7:14, ‘..if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.’  Lord knows our land -- the whole planet, needs healing!

Perhaps such questions have been posed ever since Christ ascended to Heaven. Either way, it is beneficial to review the four pivotal personal and corporate disciplines that will ensure we are playing our God-intended roles in the Earth. Though they are all familiar, they warrant a succinct review.

Repentance and Forgiveness. These two Christian disciplines are fundamental and should be practiced daily or even more often, as needed. Have you ever noticed the so-called Lord’s Prayer is perfectly balanced on the two center petitions:

‘Give us this day …and forgive us …as we forgive.’

(Matthew 6:11 – 12)

The perceptive reader will see and understand how closely Jesus associated the practice of forgiveness to the frequency of our eating. Repentance signals our recognition that, though beneficiaries of salvation, our life in the flesh remains prone to sin and falling short of God’s requirements. It ensures the continued flow of God’s Grace of forgiveness to us, and it demands our onward forgiveness of those who offend and sin against us. ‘Grace received’ thus becomes ‘Grace extended’.

Thanksgiving. Regularly practicing this discipline radically shifts our magnifying focus away from our problems, to a laser-like focus on our Problem Solver. The highest expression of thanksgiving and love is giving – giving of our substance and ourselves to God and others. Only as we ‘see’ (perceive) our problems safely in the hands of our Chief Problem Solver, are we able to give ourselves more to God, and to help meet somebody else’s needs. In seeing our own problems like the faint mirror reflection of somebody else’s more intense, more immediate problems, we are enabled to respond selflessly.

Obedience. This is likely the most challenging and comprehensive of all Christian disciplines. It is the quintessential test of denial of self, faith-led trust in God, and Christ-motivated love for others. Much of what to obey is very clearly specified in The Bible for the ‘black and white’ areas of our walk. This is not so clear in the gray areas of life, where The Bible provides no clear, black and white guidance or instructions. Only by daily feeding (not just nibbling) on The Word, and being continually filled with The Spirit can we accumulate an adequate ‘stock’ of knowledge, understanding and wisdom of Kingdom laws and principles to cultivate the skill of hearing God’s still quiet voice saying, ‘This is the way. Walk in it.’  This is like being on the edge of a still, quiet and deep lake, where the whisper of someone on one side is easily echoed and heard by someone on the other side of the lake. Like me, have you learned how impossible it is to hear this voice clearly in the din of life’s challenges? These challenges are magnified by innumerable ungodly cultural choices that consume our time and energy, and that saturate our gluttonous, fleshy (carnal) desires. We can hear more easily in quiet, meditative solitude where we can muse the daily Word content downloaded into our spirit, and perceive the messages, guidance and instructions cloaked therein. 

Jesus did this regularly. In John 5:19, He gave us insight into the results He received. As He practiced this discipline, He ‘saw and heard’, in the imaginations of His heart, exactly what The Father was doing en avance, in the world of spirit, which things would soon manifest physically as Jesus spoke and acted on what He saw and heard. Read that again. This is because everything that happens physically is but the manifestation or after-birth of that which has already occurred (been born) spiritually. (For example, Ezekiel 9 occurred prior to 2 Chronicles 36:15-21! Check it out.) With this insight, it was easy for Him simply to step into the pictures (or videos) He saw, and to do what He saw/heard The Father doing.

Then Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you,

the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do;

for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.’

(John 5:19)

May this review be helpful in checking yourself against these pivotal disciplines, and in playing your personal role in awakening the corporate Church. Without a doubt, the world needs us to play our God-assigned role in this day and age. What awaits the many of us who will refuse to ‘step-up’, is very likely the same, exact fate of the Church at Laodicea, that The Lord promised in Revelation 3:14-22. (See: Laodicean Lackadaisicalness (Series) and Audacious Christians (Series))

Do You See Splendor?

"The splendor of old men is 

...(drumroll)...their gray head."  

(Proverbs 20:29)

Ponder this: That which the world shuns, tries to hide, covers up and discriminates against, God calls SPLENDOR.  Then again, considering our track record, why should I be surprised?  

By the way, my splendor is slowly being enhanced!  ;o)     And not only enhanced, it is also a "Crown of Glory (magnificent brilliance) if/as it is found in the way of righteousness." (Proverbs 16:31)

Well praise God for my increasing splendor and magnificent brilliance!

What about yours?

PS, this is not a pic of me. ;o)

Our World of Words

Ever heard the expression, ‘Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me!’?

By now, we all know that’s a big lie! Why?    

Jesus said His words are spirit and they are life. (John 6:63) In this simple statement, He reveals words are or are likely motivated by veiled or cloaked spirits. While His words are indeed life, our words tend to be spirit and more related to death than to life. And we all know this for sure….they do hurt, often worse and much longer than sticks and stones that produce wounds that may heal quickly!     

If words are or are motivated by veiled spirits, and spirits are eternal, what if our words are also eternal? As we look at our world and the universe that hosts it, we see the physical results of God’s words and corresponding actions, unveiled. He released words as spirit, ‘watered them’ with corresponding actions (Genesis 1), and His words thus became that what we witness, enjoy, and are.

Since we are made in His image, to operate just like He does, imagine for a few moments what worlds our words may have spawned into eternal existence. On the wild side of my imagination, I wonder whether there could possibly be some mysterious link between the eternal words released on/from planet Earth, and the reported continuous expansion of the universe. Could some planet way out yonder be the assigned host of my cumulative words -- a world I have created unknowingly? What if, at the end of my life, I was assigned to spend eternity in this world I personally created? Would it be a heavenly or hellish eternity? Selah.

Jesus clearly said:

For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the Day of Judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. (Matthew 12:34 – 37)

I have long pondered the concept of ‘idle words’. The word, idle, means ‘of no real worth, importance, or significance, futile, unavailing, ineffectual’. From this, I conclude idle words may well be any words that are of zero value in achieving or realizing God’s will on Earth, including in my own life or the life of those whom I may influence. God created the universe and Earth as a platform or stage for beings like Him (Earth gods) who are authorized and empowered to continue the creative processes He initiated. Our creative platform is a word-rich, word-activated environment. Our words released in the Earth are exactly like seeds sown in rich, fertile soils, and they are watered by our corresponding actions. They are destined to either produce intended/desired fruit or unintended weeds! Imagine the person who intentionally farms weeds. Looking back, I once was such a person. Perhaps we all were. But with this enlightenment, perhaps we can change the seeds and crops we are farming.

Does this give you pause -- a need to reflect on the cumulative ‘world of words’ you have spoken? It sure does for me! And it prompts me to repent for every idle word I have ever spoken, and pray the prayer of the Psalmist, recorded in Psalm 141:3

Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; 
keep watch over the door of my lips.

There's an App for Even That

There are now picture editing apps that can strip and render invisible the background from any picture, and much more, but this particular function I find very useful.

As the world becomes increasingly techno-savvy, our creations are becoming smarter, but we ourselves, unfortunately, are becoming increasingly less smart. Ok dumber and dumber. Companies and corporations are building increasingly bigger storage platforms for the tremendous amounts of data we now generate. Imagine not only the what costs and risks involved in building and maintaining such data systems, but especially the gargantuan costs and headaches involved in transferring this data to the next new technological storage formats and systems. If not transferred timeously, these data will become totally useless. Companies/corporations are now discovering mega amounts of old data that were never transferred to successive storage formats, and are developing ways to farm this data. Where is it all heading, and what is its logical conclusion?

As the world becomes increasingly technology dependent, we are also finding crafty ways of infusing meanness into our machines. Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer just smart. It can be darn right mean! The root word in French for friend is ‘ami’. Imagine the day when AMI takes on the opposite meaning, when practically all of our technology will have been infected with our meanness, thus becoming Artificial Mean Intelligence (AMI) that is anything but friendly.

What if there was an app that could erase our own personal and collective ‘mean backgrounds’, like picture editing apps do, make us as smart as/or smarter than the technology we create, and reverse the above trends? What if this app could ‘DaZ-zle’ us with its ability to ‘Detect and Zap’ the meanness bug and positively ‘infect’ all other apps in our lives, making them genuinely useful, tasteful and admirable?

The good news is ‘There’s really an app for that!’  It’s called:

the Being Infused By Love Everyday app 

(B.I.B.L.E. for short)

We have all heard of the mythical Cupid’s Arrow that can ignite romantic love where there is none. Well, the Love Bug released into your life by the B.I.B.L.E. app is far more powerful than Cupid’s arrow - igniting not just romantic love (eros), but also phileo love, storage (familial) love, agape love and, most importantly, the Love of God, our Creator. And get this - it’s real, not mythical!

Just like apps have specific requirements for operating systems in which they work, The B.I.B.L.E. app has some spiritual requirements, chief among which is a regenerated (born-again) heart/spirit that is in an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Without this requirement, users of this app will largely focus on the carnal, rather than the spiritual, aspects of the app’s contents. They will see the meanness, deceptions, selfishness, and all sorts of evils reported therein, and will totally miss the understanding the spiritual roots, and especially the spiritual antidote of such carnality.  

You’ll be interested to know there are now countless versions of this app available for digital download, use on-line, on CD and DVD, and even the ole trusty printed/hard copy version. 

Install the B.I.B.L.E. app in your life today. If installed and used properly, I attest to its ability to...

...change your life for good,

beyond measure!

Getting Down to the Taproot

Ok. Let’s get to the (tap)root of the matter. 

Honestly, folks, it’s not about politics, parties, economic growth rates, market values, value of the dollar, national budgets, wage rates (for CEOs or minimum), corporate growth and tax rates, control of government/congress, job creation or unemployment...

...or ANY such thing!!

The seed that spawned the root that produced the fruit of a healthy, righteous personal and national life is...the fear of The Lord.  America has lost it by and large. Therefore, America seriously needs to ponder:

• From where comes this fear -- from God’s kindness, goodness, preaching, calamity?
• Once lost, whether at the personal or national level, how is it regained or rekindled?
• What are the risks of ignoring this, the taproot of our problems?

God has given to every person ‘a measure or degree of faith.’ I believe this infers the basic ability to fear Him.

Prayer:  Father God, please forgive us, personally and nationally, for losing a healthy fear (awe, respect and wise regard) of/for You, Your power and love. Please do 'whatever it takes' to restore the fear of The Lord within and among us. Thank You, in Jesus' name.  Amen.

You, in God's Hall of Faith?

Life is the pen we use to write our award certificate that just may hang on the wall in 

God's Hall of Faith

(Hebrews 11)

Here are the lyrics of my best reminder of this caption: 

http://jwootenjr.blogspot.com/2011/12/cd-songs-in-key-of-j_4499.html

Science Got the Sequence WRONG

The Big Bang theory suggests the universe originated with a big burst of light energy, creating and beginning the evolution of everything we now witness as the universe.

Bonkers! Where else in existence is there scientific evidence of a burst of light or an explosion spontaneously creating anything from scratch/nothing?! While light is proven to stimulate growth, there must be something there to grow, or nothing will ensue. And of course, there must be a source of light. Ahh, the foolishness of the human mind apart from the Wisdom of God!

What is the universe? Is it the cumulative total of all the physical planets, moons, solar systems, galaxies, black holes, etc., OR the light that illuminates all of these? When science says the universe is immeasurable because it is expanding continually, does this refer to the movement or continued creation of more planets, moons, solar systems, galaxies, black holes, etc., OR does this refer to the continuing/unstoppable voyage of that initial burst of light God released when He said, ‘LIGHT, BE!’?

Genesis 1:1-5 clearly revealed God first (1^st) created ALL the heavenly bodies, THEN He turned on the light(s). The light itself did not create anything. It merely illuminated what He had already created and set in motion.

Here is my edited recount (in parenthesis) of Genesis 1:1-5:

In the beginning God created (all) the heavens (heavenly bodies) and (including) the Earth. The Earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light (that began its unending voyage out from Him, illuminating all that He created, traveling at the speed of 186,000 miles per second since then). And God saw the light, that it was good; and (in the Earth and other heavenly bodies) God divided the light from the darkness (by setting His creation mostly in a counter-clockwise rotation, with most heavenly bodies rotating counterclockwise around their own axis, and planets around their sun). * God called the light Day (when half of a heavenly body faces its sun), and the darkness He called Night (when half of a heavenly body faces away from its sun). So the evening and the morning were the first day.

How’s that for a day’s work?! 

I used to think this Light began from a single, physical point in the universe, and spread ‘360 degrees to the power of 360 degrees’ – i.e., every conceivable direction. I now envision that, in creating the heavens, God also created the great gaseous, initially unlit suns across the entire darkened universe, and then, with His command, ‘LIGHT BE!’ He SIMULTANEOUSLY IGNITED THEM ALL!!! Ok, to the naked eye, this might be interpreted as some form of ‘big bang’, but to me, it is simply my great, big God turning on the lights to illuminate His day’s work!

Please share this post with the science-leaning minds you know,

just in case it may give them a brief pause for reflection.

----------

* Some planets rotate clockwise

i - Rebel

We humans have a real knack for resisting God's will. By nature, we are born with the spirit of the rebel. While salvation and renewing our minds to The Word help to tame this nature, neither guarantees we will be totally free from our innate nature to resist -- rebel against God's unfolding will. No wonder His approach may often be not to reveal the end-goal or vision to us, but only to reveal the next, one, seemingly irrelevant step we should take, by Grace, in faith. If we knew more than this, many times we would risk tucking our proverbial tail between our legs and running, just as Jonah did.  Or maybe we would take a 'Lot' with us on our journey, just as Abraham did. Or perhaps we would just get plain ole scared -- frozen stiff from looking at the 'giants in the land' or the giant hurdles in whatever conquest into which God is calling us.  

Imagine when Isaiah (2 Kings 20) served as God's messenger to King Hezekiah at the point of the king's death, revealing that God would add 15 years to the king's life. If Isaiah had known that the king would sire a son during those additional years, who would grow up as an evil king, and would sentence Isaiah to death by sawing in half, I wonder if he (Isaiah) would have still delivered the message to Hezekiah, or maybe would have high-tailed it out of town - just as I would have done! What about you??

Unless our wills have been largely, if not totally subjugated to The Lord's will, rather than seeking God's full vision for our lives, it would be far better to seek to remain 'in His will', step-by-step. Would you risk revealing your own strategy and tactics to so-called or unproven 'friends' whom you knew or suspected were rebels to varying degrees?  Heck no!

Before now, I never imagined praying this prayer. Perhaps it may be relevant to you, also:

Lord God, THANK YOU for not revealing 

 Your full vision and strategy for my life until my will 
is more fully subjugated to Your will.

Where You choose not to reveal more, 
may You, by Your awesome GRACE, 

keep me in Your will... one step at a time.

NEWS FLASH: Voting Season Extended

Imagine a day when the Earth will be home to both mortal and immortal humans. Sounds incredible and unbelievable? It’s coming - sooner than you might think, just around the bend, so to speak.
 The Bible affirms every person who will have ever lived will one day receive an immortal, physical body – one that will never die. Consider this in the light of the expression: Born once, die twice; but born twice, die once! While this refers to being born again as a means to escape the so-called second death, it is possible that unbelievers in Christ may misunderstand this concept, thinking there is no life at all during the so-called second death! This would be a very risky and erroneous interpretation. ‘Death’ in the context of the second death refers to eternal separation from God, the source of all life, light, love and goodness. People who reject the forgiveness of sin and the eternal life Jesus now promises will be very much alive throughout their chosen/voted for second death experience. This sheds a whole new light on the concept of the living dead, doesn’t it? - something we watch scary movies about, but is a very real promise that will soon be fulfilled.

In our democracy, we are encouraged to vote, but we also have the right not to vote. A Facebook post claimed non-voters are responsible for sending bad politicians to our state and national legislatures. Debatable, of course. Regarding the matter of eternal life, beware, there is no such thing as a non-voter. Only a ‘YES!’ vote for Christ in this current life will guarantee your escape from God’s promised, eternal second death in the life-to-come, one designed and reserved for satan and his crew - and for anyone they can deceive into believing all this ‘God-stuff’ is foolishness.

Still think you’re a non-voter?

Smothered by Forgiveness

Can the single, irritating grain of sand still be found at the core of a pearl?

The enemy uses people to sow irritating grains of sand into my life. As I forgive people, God's re-purposing power goes to work, shaping it into the equivalent of a beautiful pearl, all for His glory and my promotion.

What Does it Take?

In 1968, Jr. Walker & The All Stars recorded a hit song, ‘What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)’. The lyrics are:

What does it take to win your love for me?
How can I make this dream come true for me?
Whoa, I just got to know, ooo, baby cause I love ya so.
Gonna blow for ya
[Instrumental Interlude]
I tried, I tried, I tried, I tried in every way I could,
to make you see how much I love you.
Ooo, I thought you understood.

So you gotta make me see,
what does it take to win your love for me?
Gonna blow again for ya.

I believe the lyrics of this song capture the ‘Heart of God’ toward America as a nation. The scenario fits us perfectly –- a lover reaching for a potential love or, in our case, God earnestly reaching out for us, His lost love. He honestly has ‘tried, and tried, and tried, and tried in every way He could, to make us see how much He loves us.’ Yet we just don’t understand. How sad, yet He keeps on loving us. How?

Consider Romans 2:4: Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

The Living Bible translates this as: Don’t you realize how patient He is being with you? Or don’t you care? Can’t you see that He has been waiting all this time without punishing you, to give you time to turn from your sin? His kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.

Ok, since God has indeed been kind and good to our nation, perhaps more than any other, then where and when is the resultant repentance? We all know what personal repentance looks like, but what exactly in our day does national repentance look like? If God’s goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering toward America do not produce the fruit of national repentance, then really, ‘What does it take?’ 

History is replete with nation-after-nation that spurned God’s love, manifested by His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering. From my personal life, and in observing the lives of others, it seems one thing is rock solid in the human experience: We don’t learn well the lessons from others’ mistakes! Nope, our prideful nature ensures we have to make our own personal mistakes, irrespective of the costs to ourselves or others! Notice I said, ‘we’. No one is exempt from this seemingly cardinal rule. This rule apparently also applies to nations!

The goodness of God only leads to repentance where there is wise fear (awe, respect, honor) for Him. Whether in a personal, community or national life, wherever the root of the fear of God has dried up and withered, there will be no repentance. In such situations, Hebrews 10:26 -27 affirms, ‘...there remains…a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries [of God].’

God has apparently called or allowed the U.S. to be a world leader in many respects, and in some areas, we may still be leading quite admirably. Increasingly, however, our leadership role and abilities are being challenged by other countries, as they indeed should be! While I pray such challenges will cause us to ponder and re-examine our leadership, my concern is the apparent inverse relationship between our leadership skills, heart and directions, on one hand, and our fear of God, on the other hand. The continuing decimation of the fear of God in our national life only emboldens us to lead in increasingly ungodly directions, even as we prod other nations to follow our lead! Alas, it is only the fear of God that leads to both the wisdom and moral integrity required for global leadership. The relationship between the fear of God and wisdom is the principal message of The Book of Proverbs.

Jr. Walker (born Autry DeWalt Mixon, Jr.) played a ‘mean horn’, as the colloquial expression goes. I like the creative part of the song where he says, ‘Gonna blow for ya’ and ‘Gonna blow again for ya’. God also has horns, specifically trumpets …and I mean L-O-U-D trumpets! Ask the young nation of Israel who had the first-ever recorded experience of humans encountering God’s horns:

Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, ‘You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.’ (Exodus 20:19)

The next record of humans who will encounter God’s horns is in Revelation 8:

When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.

Trust me, you definitely do not want to be on God’s wrong side when these fellas blow their trumpets! Take time to check out the rest of Revelation 8 to see what happens when they blow. Talk about ‘blowing a mean horn!’

   

So again I ask you to join me in pondering, ‘What does it take?’ for us to turn from the sinful directions in which our nation is heading, toward faith in God so we can become a righteous leader in our world? Does it start with you and me, personally? Or is there something far, far bigger and more awesome required?

What say you?