Lest We Forget...

We truly serve an amazing God.

He is Almighty, all power is in His hands.

He knows all things; there are no surprises to Him.  The things you done do not surprise to Him and neither do your current struggles.  He not only knows them, but He has the solution for them. 

There is no problem you face that has Him stumped.

There is no situation you encounter that He has not already solved.

Sometimes I wonder if we don't always understand who we are in Christ because we don't fully appreciate who He is.

I ask Lord that you reach across the divide and pull back the veil to give every heart that yearns a glimpse of your glory and power...even at this very moment.  Empower us by a refreshing perspective of who you are and who we are in you.

We are not beggars.  We are not subject to the whims of the world.  We are victorious overcomers.

Lucy

The Missing Link

Hollywood recently put out a movie called, "Lucy", which surmises about what would happen to man if he could use 100% of his brain. In it, a woman named Lucy ingests a drug which increases her brain capacity and allows her to evolve beyond what is human.  She develops supernatural abilities such as telepathy, telekinesis, mental time travel, and the ability to exert physical and mental control over other physical elements, including people.

As Lucy proceeds along this evolutionary track, she states, "It's like all things that make a human are fading away."

This is what Satan is after. The music, the television shows, the news reports, the anarchy, the political & school systems...it is all designed to make humanity fade away. Wonder what is wrong with people?  It is the influence of the world, which is run by the god of this world (II Corinthians 4:4).  He is taking that which was made to be in the image of God and making it instead into an animal.

Everything in Satan's economy works in opposites to biblical concepts.  In order to evolve in his kingdom, you must actually devolve into a beast.  The lower you debase yourself, the higher he elevates you.  The more you idolize yourself, the more he rewards you.

Eventually in the movie, Lucy evolves to the point of becoming one with the Universe, where she lets us know that she has become, "I Am."  She in essence becomes a god (Genesis 3:5).

Think this is science fiction nonsense?  It is exactly what people such as Oprah Winfrey promote when she encourages you to tap into the energy of the Universe to obtain "The Life You Want": You can use the power of your own mind to create your own reality and become Christ.

Haven't you noticed how many people lately are speaking about "the Universe" as some entity which is controlling their destiny?  It is insanity.

What some may not realize is that this was not the first Lucy to represent an evolutionary leap. About 40 years ago, a paleontologist discovered the partial skeleton of what is referred to as an early human ancestor. This ape-man hominid known as species Australopithecus afarensis is thought to be one of the earliest evidences of man's evolution, showing that "there might be a different road to humanness" than we thought (i.e. being intelligently designed by an All-powerful Creator).

Why was this skeleton given the name of Lucy?  Because the scientists continuously played Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds by the Beatles as they celebrated their discovery.  While this song is a reference to the taking acid trips with drugs such as LSD, it is also a reference to Satan, who was among the Heavenly host as an angel named Lucifer before his fall.

The missing link behind every attempt to validate the source and purpose of life apart from God is Satan. We are fearfully and wonderfully made, speaking to the depth of depravity vs. the heights of greatness to which we can obtain, based on the decisions we make here and now.

"Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great. For who is God save the LORD? Or who is a rock save our God? It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect. He maketh my feet like hinds' feet, and setteth me upon my high places. He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms." Psalm 18:31-35

God's gentleness - or humility - makes us great because we become partakers of His nature (I Chronicles 4:10; Deuteronomy 28:10-13).  If we desire to be great, then we must first become the servant of all (Mark 10:44).  When we do not think more highly of ourselves than we ought, then God can lift us up.  God desires to fill His people with is Holy Spirit so that we can be strong and do exploits, thereby showing forth His praises (Daniel 11:32; Mark 16:17-18).

He makes us more than conquerors.  He gives us all spiritual weapons needed to defeat every foe.  He makes us victors over every device formed against us.  He makes us overcomers against all which would bind us.  He makes us His battle axe through which He exercises judgment against His enemies. Whatsoever we bind/loose on earth, will be bound/loosed in Heaven.  I am talking about real supernatural power flowing through you, but not because you have sought to become something in your own right or for your own selfish gain, but because you are appended to Christ.





Instinctively, man knows that he was created for more than just some rudimentary existence.  People long for an interaction with the supernatural because we were made to reflect the glory of God. Inwardly, that part of us yearns for fulfillment, but such can only be satisfied in Christ.  Apart from Jesus Christ, people will search for these answers in the occult; whether they are seeking to connect to the Universe, with some demonic force, or just to obtain godhood on their own merit.

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber...Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep." John 10:1, 7


Additional Resources:

All Things Being Equal

The Sexual Evolution

The Grand Canyon

God is Showing You YOU

"Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Psalm 139:23-24

If you look at the Grand Canyon, you will see various layers in the rock formations.  This is caused by various geological events which created, pressurized, and hardened rock over the passing of time.

Such is the way it is in sin.  It is like hardened rock that has been so pressurized, fortified, and built upon within us, that it seems almost immovable.

"And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:" Ezekiel 19:9

Sanctification unto salvation is a process (Romans 6:22; II Thessalonians 2:13-17; II Peter 1:4-10). When God chips away at these rocks, He reveals to us who we really are, as opposed to who we think we are.  As such, we should not be surprised to see the fossils and skeletons which resided there in our hearts. They are remnants of our past life of sin which - although may be years ago - still made an indelible impression on our personality.

By example, my last article was called, "An Honest Woman", and it spoke of the importance of obedience to God in the Church. as patterned after the role of a wife in obeying her husband.

If someone had asked me, "Do you consider yourself to be an obedient wife?"  I would have answered, "Yes.  It is certainly something I sincerely aspire to be."  Yet, God has a way...

The very next day after posting that article, one of my daughters didn't want to go somewhere which I felt she should.  So, I told her that she was doing it.  She replied, "That's not fair.  Dad said I didn't have to."  And I replied, "You are going!"

She then went to my husband and said, "If you are the head of the house, then why does Mom get to override you?"  You want to have something cut you to the heart?  Well, that did.

Now, my daughter was just using that to try and get her way, and I knew that. However, the problem was that what she said was still the truth. By contradicting the direction my husband had given her, I was overriding him.  Although I believed I was trying to honor God and my husband in all things, when I contradicted his instructions in that way, I was diminishing his authority before the children.

Then God promptly reminded me of an instance just that previous week with my son. I had come into the kitchen to find him filling a bowl to the brim with yet another round of dinner.  I stated, "What are you doing?  Put that back."

He quickly replied, "Dad said I could!"  And I stated, "That is your third helping.  You do not need any more food.  Put that back!"

He said again, "But Dad.."  And I cut him off saying, "I don't care, put that back now!"


In that time as well, I had overridden my husband's instructions.  As I reflected on these situations, I still felt that I had been right.  Yet God had to remind me that it is not about being right.  I would have never said that I disrespected my husband at all, let alone in regards to the children; but I had done it twice in the past week.

What I should have done in those instances was bring my concerns to him.  If, for example, I had done that in the instance with my son, I would have found out that my husband had not told him he could have another helping of dinner. My son had misconstrued what he was told.  In regards to my daughter, I confessed to her that what I had done was wrong and that her father's decision stands.

Now I am not being legalistic here.  I am free to guide and instruct our children. There may be times when I will need to contradict his instructions simply because a situation has changed and he is not around.  There may also be times when he defers to my judgment based upon wisdom God has given me as their mother (Genesis 21:12).  The difference is the spirit in which this is done.  I must be aware of how I do so and remember that I am reflecting the authority of my husband as the head of our home.  As long as I am mindful of this, then the same authority is being represented to the children, whether it is coming from him or me.  It is not me overriding what he says, but me being confident that I am communicating what would be his desire, because I am seeking to honor him.

I mention this because, when God brought this situation to my attention that day, I was undone.  I felt like a complete hypocrite for just having posted how important it was for women to obey their husbands.  Was I fooling myself?  How was it that I could still so naturally disregard him before our children?  I am telling you that I mourned that day over what the Lord showed me in my own soul.

That is when God began to illustrate to me the metaphor of the Grand Canyon.  There are things affecting our personalities, even after salvation, which God desires to purge from us.  Lately, I have received numerous emails from people doubting they are saved and becoming burdened with what God is showing them about themselves.  To these I just want to say to be encouraged.  Don't become frustrated as God begins to reveal to you the real you in you. This is His mercy and grace so that we will not be condemned.  God is showing us these things so that we can repent and be cleansed from them.  Simply repent and be changed by the power of God.  We should grow concerned once we no longer feel His prodding because such would indicate that He has left us to our own sinful devices. As long as God is revealing our sin to us for purging, then that is a good thing.  That is the process of sanctification.

If we want the living water to flow freely, then the blockages must be removed.

An Honest Woman

There is a saying that when a woman who has been hanging around a man for a while finally gets married to him, he has made of her an "honest woman".

Kind of makes you wonder what she had been all this time.  A dishonest woman?  A fake woman? An impure woman? A woman of ill repute?

honest: good; not hiding the truth about someone or something; free from fraud or deception, legitimate; reputable, respectable; praiseworthy; marked by integrity

There are those who have been hanging around Jesus for some time; attending church, singing hymns, claiming His name, etc.  God is looking to make of you an honest woman.  Instead of only going to church, you will become the church.  No longer will you simply sing songs, your life will become a new song unto the Lord (Isaiah 43:18-21).  Rather than just claiming His name, you will bear His name as you obey Him, walking in His authority and power.  Eye has not seen nor ear heard the glorious things in store for those who love the Lord, but it requires your submission to Him in all things (Ephesians 5:24).  You must be made an honest woman.

"And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach." Isaiah 4:11

In Babylon, there are plenty of whorish women around - one on every corner - offering a relationship with God in name only.  You can claim to belong to Jesus, but live for yourself.  You can have the appearance of being holy, but do as you please, never submitting to the headship of Christ.  As Minister David Wilkerson stated, such persons only want to be free from the guilt of sin, but truly have no desire to stop sinning.  When we join ourselves to such women, we make of ourselves a harlot and will never be acceptable to God (I Corinthians 6:16).

"There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.  Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God." Deuteronomy 23:17-18

One thing we need to understand is that a harlot can be extremely religious.  Deceit is her cover and she seeks acceptability by being found amongst God's people.  However, the difference between a whore and a bride is that the bride submits to her husband as a sign of her love for him.  When you see a professing believer in deliberate disobedience to God, then you know such is not the Bride of Christ.

Jesus wants to take away the shame, loneliness, fear, and pain of being estranged from Him and give you a crown of righteousness, but are you willing to receive it?

Who Can Find a Virtuous Woman?

"I turned about [penitent] and my heart was set to know and to search out and to seek [true] wisdom and the reason of things, and to know that wickedness is folly and that foolishness is madness [and what had led me into such wickedness and madness].  

And I found that [of all sinful follies none has been so ruinous in seducing one away from God as idolatrous women] more bitter than death is the woman whose heart is snares and nets and whose hands are bands. Whoever pleases God shall escape from her, but the sinner shall be taken by her.

Behold, this I have found, says the Preacher, while weighing one thing after another to find out the right estimate [and the reason]—Which I am still seeking but have not found—one upright man among a thousand have I found, but an upright woman among all those [one thousand in my harem] have I not found.

Behold, this is the only [reason for it that] I have found: God made man upright, but they [men and women] have sought out many devices [for evil]." Ecclesiastes 7:25-29

The text above was written by King Solomon as he considers his life and how he has departed from the Lord (I Kings 11:1-4).  As Minister David Pawson states about the book of Ecclesiastes, it is the writing of a man who had become disappointed, disillusioned, and hopeless at the end of life.  He had lost the one thing worth living for: communion with God.

What was his problem?  He had loved many "strange women". Yet consider this. The issue wasn't the strange women themselves; it was that this is what he in particular loved.  The cause of sin always lies within (John 3:19; James 1:14-15).  Strange women would not have been a snare for Solomon had it not been what he sought after.  Now, in old age, he can only sit back in bitterness as he considers the role these strange women played in his downfall, even claiming that he had never seen an upright woman.

This sums up what many have experienced in church.  They have been led by their own lusts into relationships with the Harlot Church, and they come away bitter and resentful as to how they were deceived.  Instead of seeking to be cleansed from the sin in their hearts which led them to the Harlot, they spend their days microscopically examining and criticizing her.

People have even commented on this blog how they have searched all over and finally come to the conclusion that there is no longer any Godly church in the world.  In essence, such persons call God a liar. Just as in Solomon's day, there does remain an honest woman, but you must have eyes to see her. If you are unable to discern the presence of the Church, then you must begin to ask yourself, "Why?" What is blinding your mind so that you cannot see God's presence amongst His people?  A virtuous woman may be rare to find, but she exists.

God calls His people to come out of Babylon, but when you do, you must not become stagnant in a place of bitterness; stiff-necked in the Wilderness of Sin.  You must continue on in obedience into the Promised Land to receive your inheritance.  Otherwise - not fully of the world, but not wholly in Christ - Jesus will spew all that is lukewarm out of His mouth.

There is a religious debate regarding whether Solomon died in God or in sin. Scripture does not say. Yet, it should not be so with us. God tells us to make our calling and election sure (II Peter 1:10). Don't come to the end of life and realize that you have been settling for just naming the name of Christ.  Seek to be known by Him and to be made His own (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 13:25-28).  Submit your life to Jesus Christ and let Him make an honest woman out of you.  He gave His life for His Bride so that He could sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of the water of His word (Ephesians 5:26).

You can be the wisest person in the world, but if you do not obey the Lord, it will gain you nothing of substance.

"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man." Ecclesiastes 12:13

Additional Resources:

Sweet Nothings