Tears...

Below is a republished older post that I was encouraged and reminded of today... A true story retold and a glorious hope in Jesus we anxiously await...

I ate dinner with a woman who works for Salvation army tonight. She has never met her father, and her mother died 7 years ago from HIV. Her mother was a prostitute, addicted to cocaine and forced by her own doing into a life that fed her addiction and sorrow. This woman never saw all of her children and she never raised them. She was not educated at a private school and was abused her whole life until she was 30 years old when Aids took her life... But that was not the story that haunts me.

This womans daughter, told me not of her broken life brought on by her mothers addiction, she told me of another woman. A 16 year old girl. The girl was 16 years old, and was originally from Arizona. She was deaf, and had been molested by her father her whole life. Finally she ran away at a gas station and pleaded for the help of a couple after serious abuse. The couple took her in, it was a pastor of a church in Dallas, his wife and their child. They took her back to Dallas in safety of what seemed like safety. This soon ended, and the man who had appeared as a savior, took this deaf and abused girl and locked her away in his basement. He opened a Sex business with her as the attraction. He set up video cameras and a website where for a fee one could go and type in what you wanted to see done to the girl and he would do it (including at one point set her on FIRE! For some sick bastard whose condemnation is just). He would do whatever act his paying viewers would type into the computer and say they want to see her to. For 2 years she was beaten and raped repeatedly. ALL BY A PASTOR IN DALLAS, TEXAS. This continued until Fall of 2009. She thought she would be saved only to be Tortured

The girl was eventually rescued by the police, but she came out with all of her body mutilated and her genital region completely destroyed... Oh God have mercy on Her, she needs you. I know you say that 'shall not the God of all the earth do what is just? (Gen 18:25) But Lord have mercy on her, Yahweh God of all creation save her soul...God help us... This is what Porn Addicts are watching!!! God let it stop, come quickly Lord Jesus I know you are enthroned on high, Adonai

"I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And Behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them...And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the son." Eccl. 4:3

You shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their Sins...for someday soon awaiting us

"He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever." Revelation 21:4...

We your "bride say, “Come.” Let anyone who hears this say, “Come.” -Revelation 22:17

Hunger

"And we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation but we ourselves...groan inwardly." Romans 8

The bible speaks of the groaning that all our world is currently expressing. Groaning that is seen in every place by all people. There is a mysterious thirst just to feel something that I am convinced takes place inside of all of us. Unquenchable however, strangely whether we drink from fire hose or dinner glass it is impossible to remove the burning and aching of our world.

I am convinced that whether you believe in God or Jesus is irrelevant to sharing in the experience of discontentedness no matter what life brings. We can not hide it, only numb it briefly with some vessel of pleasure or distraction. Even then, though it may grow dull for a season it never ceases. It almost seems like a longing for a friendship I once knew or someday hope to have, a city I vaguely remember or hope to one day live in. A longing for a fragrance i have never smelled, a woman I have yet to embrace...or have wrongly attribute to one that I have. A desire for some season ahead of me, or one from my past. Oddly clothed inside of my 5 senses I find an insatiable thirst the deepest well of this world will not seem to quench. With all my fury I am unable to extinguish this curious hunger for something inside of me.

I believe I am expressing something that we all at some point in our life...(if we are lucky) understand. It is imageless, unknown, undefined, uncanny, and yet deeply and unexplainably Desired. Many may grow numb to its calling by losing themselves in a drug, or job, a lifestyle, a marriage, a woman or a man...but when the ground shifts and when day turns to night the echo returns and we remember its melody. Hungry we fumble around through the darkness in search for bread...

how can we allow this?

there are thousands that will die between the time i write this blog and the time you read it. in a world where 30,000 young children die everyday from starvation, 1 billion people do not have access to clean water and the majority of our world lives on less money in a year than i will pay in rent this month.

it is not hard to see there is a problem... i have found that this leads many to a frustration with God. a frustration that often ends in the abandonment of their 'belief' in a God who could allow such. putting our maker on trial saying 'how could you allow this?'.

however what is horrifying about this question is that it is one all men should ask themselves. 'how can we allow this?'. perhaps the change of the world to come will be mainly in ourselves. we will no longer be content to fatten our savings and cushion our beds while billions literally billions go their whole lives without simple necessities such as water, food, and shelter. without protection, medicine, and safety.

i fear the question may one day be turned around and no longer will we judge our maker and ask 'how could you allow this?'. but he will ask man 'how in a world that had more than enough for all who lived in in, how could YOU allow this?'

he shall ask us again

“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness,

to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free,

and to break every yoke?

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house;

when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily;

if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,

then shall your light rise in the darkness...And the LORD will guide you continually" Is. 58 6-11

Love.

Context is what allows us to understand almost any aspect of life. Context is responsible for creating hopes, fear, relationships, literature, history, and all of life. In order for me to step into a book or a circumstance and understand everything I see I must know at least a broad context of what is going on. Because man is by nature very observational and recognizes the context of the world around him, this is often taken for granted.

But we have all stepped into a story many chapters from its beginning. We are all in a story, and this story has a context. I believe that our not often "misunderstanding of the story" is the why so many wrestle to find their purpose, their role, and their Maker.

Any reading of our "story" or any understanding of who we are must center upon its beginning. I believe that the bible is true and I believe it gives the context for the story we find ourselves in. It is one about God. But this does little unless we know who God is. It is not enough to simply read, memorize, or meditate on what sentences in the Bible says, if we do not understand the Character of the author and centerpiece of the story. He is love. All Christian study and further I believe all life only makes sense when it is understood in light of the Character and nature of God. If we miss the fact the our father is a Good father, and a loving father we will make his instructions and guidance to us (revealed in scripture) as a attempt to simply exercise authority and not an expression of His great care for us. The bible says God is Love. All that he does is done in Love and because of love.

But this needs clarifying"Love" is everywhere. And it is something that being defined wrongly. It is more that infatuation, sex, attraction, or companionship. It is not simply romance, though all the virtue and wonder of romance is part of Love. No one denies love, it is referenced in the books we read, the relationships we have and often wrongly ascribed to the emotions we feel. But this is not Love. It is more.

'Love is patient and kind, selfless and humble. Love seeks not its own good, but the good of the one Loved'. 'This is Love, not that we loved God but that he loved us'. So deeply that he was willing to come and die and lay down his life... for us.

In bodies filled with Sin and hormones this type of love seems bland to us. We crave romance, eros, and ecstasy and I think we should. Yet, we still see only half the story, but one day 'we will see in full' and we will find our burning for love was never for a woman or for a man. But for God. This is why young men and young women crave beauty and sex rather than compassion and faithfulness. I see it is my own heart that is 'deceitful above all else'. But I don't wish simply sex and beauty for others. For those who I care about most I wish more, much more. And when the dust settles I wish more for myself. I wish care, companionship, purity, strength, laughter, joy, and peace. I wish faithfulness, trust, and love.

Money, sex, pleasure, they eventually give way and will always be just beyond our grasp. But if we are brave, strong and courageous, and broken we may drink from a cup that overflows with the greatest love we could ever know... and if this cup fills our mouths we shall dance like few ever dream of... Strong and courageous.

"But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,

Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,

Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.

Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.

Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;

For love is sufficient unto love."- The Prophet (1923)

the beauty of pain

the beauty of pain...

Pain. It is an inescapable reality, and to suggest that their is beauty in it is almost blasphemous. But indeed there is. A man once wrote that we should take joy in our pain because it produces a longing. That it increases our hope in what lies ahead (Rom. 5). The every time our lips burn from the bitter cup of life, be it by the death of a loved one, the ache of sickness, the failure of our circumstances, or of ourselves, those who have hope must remember this hope will not fail us. We long for a distant and yet strangely present reality that will erase all that has gone wrong and restore our broken world.

Almost absurdly, this tells us that those who taste the greatest sorrows of this life from divorce, depression, death, heart ache, and loneliness are considered those who may most eagerly drink from the cup of hope. They are the ones who most clearly see the slits and tears in the fabric of creation and thus are able (if they make good use of these pains) to be filled with a joy in what is too come.

I have suffered very little compared to most, however the suffering and aching I have experienced has pulled back the curtains of how I see life and allowed for a brief moment my eyes to see a deep longing in all of us... and it is that same pain and hurt that allow me to realize the things we hope in so often are only an echo of a song we strangely remember but could never compose or reproduce.

This peculiar longing may grow dull for a season if I drown it out with enough clutter, but never ceases. It almost seems like a longing for a friendship I once knew or someday hope to have, a city I vaguely remember or hope to one day live in. A longing for a fragrance i have never smelled, a woman I have yet to embrace...or have wrongly attribute to one that I have. A desire for some season ahead of me, or one from my past. Oddly clothed inside of my 5 senses I find an insatiable thirst the deepest well of this world will not seem to quench. With all my fury I am unable to extinguish this curious hunger for something inside of me.

I believe I am expressing something that we all at some point in our life...(if we are lucky) understand. It is imageless, unknown, undefined, uncanny, and yet deeply and unexplainably Desired. Many may grow numb to its calling by losing themselves in a drug, or job, a lifestyle, a marriage, a woman or a man...but when the ground shifts and when day turns to night the echo returns and we remember its melody.

Call it nostalgia, being a "romantic", a pain of youth or of death, beauty, or love... this will only send you searching for what you cannot find... The truth of the matter is, it has already found you. He has already found you.

Solomon once said "the purpose of a man's heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding draws it out." Perhaps I don't have the understanding he is talking about. Or maybe, just maybe the purpose that this 'understanding' draws out is this... 'nothing in this world with quench the eternal echoes that call out inside of all men for their eternal God...nothing'.

And each time we finally reach the job, the relationship, the experience that we think will we find this they never live up to all we "hoped for". Only when I cease to try and make the world satisfy these longings can I begin to no longer grow hurt, hardened, or heart broken over its failures to do so. My heart remembers my God's love and His presence and as long as I am away from Him, I long for it again...

How you can be 100% certain you are doing what God wants you to do.

“What does God want me to do with my life?” or “What is God’s will for me?”

Being young, I hear these questions often and have even wondered them myself. I have found a way that YOU and I can discover exactly what God wants to do with our unique life.

Here is a way to find THE ANSWER for YOU…

Open your bible. Read it. God has spoken. He has not left us to wonder, but has given very clear instruction on what he wants you to do. God wants you and me and every Saint to do the same thing. He is not silent; he still speaks forth with every page of scripture. Here are just a few:

*Make Disciples and teach other people to obey God. (Matt. 28)

*Give reason for the Hope you have in Jesus to those who don't have such hope. (1Pt 3:15)

*Live in transparent community (Hebrews 3:13)

*Look after those less fortunate than you...the least of people. (Matt 25)

*Outdo one another showing honor to each other. (Romans 12:10)

*Rejoice always or always be joy filled (Phil. 4:4)

· *And on and on…

-His will for you, for President Bush, Brittney Spears, me and everyone else is this -Be reconciled to Him and help others to the same- or in other words “Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love you neighbor as yourself.”

It is out right stupid to ask for God’s “special will” for your life if you are not listening and currently doing His already “already revealed will” for your life. He has already spoken clearly saying "here is what I want you to do with your life...No matter where you are or where you go or what job your paying bills with DO THESE THINGS”. Why would God give someone more things to do with his life, if they are not right now doing the things he has told them to do?

Once you are doing what he has told you to do… you can do whatever you want. Like Augustine said “Love God and Live as you please”. In the end everything else is tent making…

DECLARATIONS

Declarations:

Declaration #1: I declare to aim with the best of my ability to perform at all times in a manner that: could and should others see my actions, they would give praise to my father who is in Heaven. Matt 5:16

Declaration #2: I declare to honor the temple of my body and withhold the utmost moderation, sobriety, temperance, and control. Recognizing the self-control is a fruit of the regenerated spirit (Gal 5:23) and that though all things are lawful to the one who is free in Christ, not all things are beneficial and I am not to be enslaved to any matter other than the Lord, his holiness, and goodness. (1 Corinthians 6:12)

Declaration #3: I declare to maintain a habit of and hunger for the study of the word of God so long as the habit of study provides the blessing of savoring him more and proclaiming his majesty to all the peoples of the earth.

Declaration #4: I declare to always maintain the practice of hiding his word in my heart (Deut 6:6, Colossians 3:16), and in this practice find the power to have victory over sin; “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you”-Ps. 119:11, as well as confidence in my witness the world around me.

Declaration#5: I declare to aim and toil to fulfill these declarations to the best of my ability, to look upon them often, and repent often of the ways that I have failed to honor them and dually my Lord and Savior who sits at the right hand of the throne of God.

Declaration #6: I declare to treat all men and women, from every tribe and tongue as though they themselves were Jesus, who is the Christ. Knowing that God loves them… loves all men and so honoring both the imago Dei, as well as Christ’s decree that “whatever you did for the least of these you did unto me” Matt 25:45

Declaration #7: To clothe myself in humility in all things, recognizing the reformers words that all of us “are beggars this is true”.

Declaration#8: To meditate often upon the doctrine of depravity, seeing not only that of Calvin’s followers who maintained the doctrine of Total Depravity. But also a doctrine of “Personal depravity” knowing that all have fallen and are saved by grace, but I am deeply and totally fallen, wicked at my core, and it is only the grace of God working in me that produces supernaturally things not of the flesh but of the Spirit who is holy. And may the depravity and confessions of others stir my heart not towards disdain but compassion on them as I empathize with their condition and confession towards the Lord as I am confronted all the more with my own wickedness.

Declaration#9: I declare to think often upon my death asking the Lord to remind me that I am but a breath,(Psalm 39) and “it is better to go to the house of mourning than the house of feasting for this is the end of all mankind” (Ecclesiastes 6:2).

Declaration#10: I declare to fight for immense and intense happiness regardless of the situation and to transform even to darkest of circumstance into one of a more exciting experience.

Declaration#11: I declare to pursue with all my strength new forms of pleasure, excitement, exhilaration, and life for as long as air fills my lungs.

Declaration #12: I declare to receive instruction and wise counsel from young and old, knowing wisdom has many cupbearers and to apply any wise counsel to my life that in so doing would further manifest Christ’s power and Holiness here and to the world.

Declaration#13: I declare to Pursue fun, boundless amounts of fun and joy in every facet of my existence knowing that to live is to serve the author of Life, and to die is to gain his presence all the more.

Declaration#14: I declare to Love my family with all that I have, knowing that if one does not provide for the needs of his family he is worse than an unbeliever. (1 Tim 5:8).And should God see fit to bless me with a wife and/or Children to love them with all my might. Fighting for their joy, happiness, and pleasure as long as I shall live and to make provision for them as best I can even when I no longer live.

Declaration#15: I declare to until that time fight to regard all older men as fathers, older women as mothers, and all other men and women as sisters and brothers. Loving and respecting the elders, and protecting and providing for my brothers and sisters.

Declaration #16: I declare to lay down my life for the sake of Jesus Christ, dying daily for the greatest cause of all, and should the Lord see me worthy to give my earthly life know that there is “no greater love that of him who lays down his life”, and to count myself as blessed for being considered worthy to share in momentary sufferings for the sake of Christ.

Declarations#17: I declare to never see myself as above another, but make myself a slave to all men.

Declaration#18: I declare to become whatever I must (within my conscience) “that I might win some” 1 Cor. 9. Forsaking the disdain of the religious even if my actions should cause indignant feelings among the hyper-religious, and fight with all my heart for the lost and dying world.

Declaration#19: I declare to season my life and interactions in the most gracious way imaginable, erring on the side of grace with those who are young in faith, or ignorant of it. And take no measure of Judgment on others that I would not be delighted to turn and take on myself. (Matt. 7)

Declaration#20: I declare to warm every person I meet with love and to attempt to reflect the very face of Christ to every man or women, no matter their demographic or stage of life.

Declaration#21: I declare to pursue friendships, new and old. To deeply invest in those of the closest ring, but to seek every moment and interaction with strangers and new faces as an opportunity to make a new friend. And that by that new friendship our walks would be strengthened and encouraged or that the new relationship would initiate opportunity for some unfamiliar with the good news of Christ to become familiar with it.

Declaration#22: I declare to Fast, Pray, Rest, pursue silence and solitude, as well as the rest of the disciplines often and feverishly.

Declaration#23: I declare to give generously, to give of my time, my soul, myself, and my belongings knowing that it is far better to “be rich in good deeds”; and to remember that I brought nothing into this world and can take nothing out of it. (1 Tim 6)

Declaration#24: To be the best friend that I can, and to never avoid conflict, if its resolution would draw one of those involved (including myself ) to look more like Jesus. All of us desire to look like him and I have far to many blind spots to do this alone.

Declaration#25: To be faithful, to make all my ambitions, dreams, and desires be rooted in this. Better to be poor, unknown, dying, having nothing, foolish, and faithful, than to be handsome, wealthy, famous, successful in gain, status ,or possession, and to be “a wave tossed about by the sea…”

By His wounds we are healed...

Salvation in the Old Testament and the New Testament is centered on the idea of “healing”, the healing of not only our souls, but also our bodies and our world. Hell is a real place and an inescapable reality taught in the bible. But hell is not the focus of the bible, nor should it be of the believer and his Salvation. The focus of salvation must also shift away from the Platonic notion that by simply checking a box you will escape some day to a spiritual realm where you will “exist” in a manner far different than we do today. Rather that when a person receives salvation they are ushered into the Kingdom and they begin "healing". They receive the first fruits of the recreation and in their reception they also experience the first fruit of the recreation. Biblical teaching is that Salvation is immediate in initiation, but continuous all the way until final redemption. It is not a day experience, but a daily experience where man is saved over and over and over from the bondage of sin, Satan, and death. This has enormous implications. That though salvation or healing is begun in an instant, it does not ever stop. Redemption takes both a moment and a lifetime. As a believer though I have the ability to resist and quench the spirit, but not to extinguish him (if I am truly a believer). But in so doing I rob myself of joy, freedom, life, and healing. An illustration might give clarity here. It would be as though someone wanted smoking due to a spot that has appeared on their lung. This spot and more so this habit was robbing them of life, the ability to breathe, exercise and live. So the quitting of this habit was in every way beneficial. But lets say it was initiated by an anecdote their doctor given them to free me from my addiction and begin healing their lung. Their doctor explained that the medicine he gave them was perfect. It will not let them pass away by smoking, although they (should they continue smoking) will suffer many physical ailments due to smoking, the medicine is guaranteed to save them from the death and cancer it always brings. Now should they go back to smoking because of this promise of security, they would still incur all kinds of painful, and troublesome consequences because of it. For example being incapable of running, maybe lose their ability to speak, they would be a slave to addiction, and a number of other caused difficulties. Even though they had a guarantee that smoking could not take their life away entirely, it could destroy my existence. This is like Salvation. Once saved by grace through faith the healing will surely begin, but I am able to grieve and quench the spirit of Holiness working inside of me and serve myself rather than my maker. But by doing so I will also receive every ounce of pain and sorrow that comes with “encumbering” the healing process the Spirit performs in us. All of the created order is right now in a state of longing for healing, and the good news is that the "rumors of another world existing" are far truer than anything we know. Our world is not all that it was intended to be, things are beginning to change and they will only continue to do so. Thus the story of the believer in Christ, or better yet all creation is that there is more! The Creation groans to be set free and it is almost time, “Salvation” is coming, indeed it has come! It is a healing, and the emancipation from the bondage of corruption that has echoed inside of man’s heart since the fall. It has begun to and will continue to burn away the dross, and heal its participants. It cannot be stopped; and all who cry out for healing will be saved-- but they will also be healed. Sometimes this healing hurts, as the molding of the hammer and the heat from the fire are painful, but the lump is hardly as worthy as the vessel. All who fell with Adam, but are now raised with Christ; are being daily raised and healed and brought to new life by faith in Jesus. Salvation or “the healing” of men individually, the church corporately, and the universe entirely, has begun and we may either join in and fight for it or we may work against it, but must remember “he who began the good work will be faithful to complete it” and our “God is a consuming fire” his word will prevail and nothing can stand against His purpose. He will Heal His world and His people.

Heal us God, Savior King come and heal us!

Fairytales

There is something inside of man that longs for the enchanted. Every age has always created fairy tales. Something inside of us believes or at least longs to believe that this isn't all...there is more to the story. A longing for greatness, for fantasy, and for life just to be beyond what we know. We yearn for transformation. For mermaids to walk on land, servant girls to attend the ball, frogs to turn into princes, beasts to become nobleman. We long for change in our world and often we picture its coming by love. True love expressed with a kiss or a rescuing... This Love is Powerful enough to change things, to change everything. It Alters not only the story but the people in the story and often the World in which they live. Reread any childhood story (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty, Shrek, Cinderalla, The Magic Swan...they all have the same theme. Some one is trapped in some sort of bondage or death and it is LOVE that brings about an incredible change)

It is simply an inescapable reality that deep within us we long for enchantment. We know their has got to be more to the story. Well there is! The world as we know it is not all, there is far more to the story there is another world. But it is not distant, in fact it is much closer than we ever thought.

It is here among us now, like Bell's Beast waiting to be unlocked fully but beginning to show the first signs of freedom. True Love has come but this time it wasn't a The Prince's kiss that brought his Sleeping Beauty to Life; it was his Death. By the wounds of the Great and Courageous Prince his Beautiful Bride came to life. All the people in the land heard saw it had happen but disagreed on whether or not he was truly the rightful King "the King would never do something like that; he is a fierce Warrior". So another man rose, he claimed to be the true King and he had enough soldiers to put himself into power. He decreed the so called "Prince" to be a fool and punished his bride who had miraculously come to life. He tried to kill her again but all his efforts failed. So he had her punished and then throw into the street. He set up his rule and promised peace but it never seemed to come. The beauty was clothed in rags, but she was like nothing the people of the kingdom had ever seen. She began talking about her Prince and people began to remember him. She said He was still alive, and there were many who said he was the rightful King if he was truly alive. They started to believe her, saying not only that he was the rightful King, but they too said he was Alive, even though the whole kingdom saw him Killed for his Beautiful Bride. They believed her. More than that they began saying with his bride that he went away to gather his troops and prepare for war...They said that he had told them he was coming back to make war and establish his reign once and for all and claim his now awakened Sleeping Beauty that his Death had brought to life (his bride) and all with her.

They say he said that his army will be greater than anything we have ever seen, and no power will be able to Stand against it. He has with him the mightiest of Warriors and he is coming to take his place as the rightful King. He once gave up everything for his Beloved Bride, but Now he rides again not to the grave but to the throne..he will rid the Kingdom of all who do not say he is the Rightful King, but he will reward all who took heed of his coming. Never before has there been anyone like him. And He Shall make all things New! All of the Kingdom shall be like never before.

You see the Enchantment we crave is hear. We know there is more yet we cannot quite put it into words. And there is... more than we could imagine. The world was set to bondage but soon it shall be set free and dark will turn to light, and the children of God will be revealed. The Beautiful Bride will be given he proper adorning. As the wife of the King she shall be clothed like she should have been since long ago, but because of the wicked ruler in place she was made a servant and punished for her love for the True King... but winter shall soon end, the first buds of spring are showing and

The King is coming for LOVE and WAR. The Fairy Tale is coming to Life...

(If you don't know this King, you need to. The Night will soon be over and its Nightmares with it. The Sun shall soon appear and the Light always casts out the darkness... Leave your email address and we'll chat if you want to know more)

Yeshua

JESUS CHRIST

The english name "Jesus" is a beautiful one. Arguably the Sweetest word in the English language (or in any language for that matter). But the etymology or meaning behind the name carries far more than a quick glance could give it. "Jesus" is a transliteration of the Hebrew "Yeshua". Yeshua is a name that is a combination of "YHWH" the Hebrew word for God and 'shua' a word that means "to cry out for saving" or combined "cry to YHWH when in need". It is related to the word Hosanna, which is the word that welcomed "Yeshua" or Jesus into the city of Jerusalem in the first century. History tells us that palm branches were thrown at the feet of the colt carrying Yehsua and the people began to joyfully shout "Hosanna in the Highest" (or "God will deliver us in the mightiest way"), "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.".

The Jewish men and women flooded to the streets with the arrival of the well known man known as "Yeshua" all throughout their province. After hundreds of years of oppression the Israeli people were ready to be set free and regain their statehood as a nation once again. They cried out to the one who they though most assuredly would bring them the freedom from the oppressive force of the Romans and lead them out of bondage into power, strength, and sweet sweet redemption. "God save us in the highest way"...

Well ironically they got not what they were wanting, but what they "asked" for and they were offered saving in the highest way. But not only the Hebrews were given this offer, so were the Romans, the Greeks, the Spanish, the Americans, and ALL people of the earth. Hosanna in the Highest has come true. Saving in the highest way, but not from the oppression of Rome, but from that of Sin, Satan, and Death. Victory was accomplished in the Mightiest and Highest Way. Yeshua- "God saves when we cry out to him"- is true. His name, his life, and his death all tell of his tremendous love for you and for me. Love so great he is not content to settle for anything less like freedom from Rome, or from poverty, or sickness, or hardship but freedom from Death, Eternal and a much deserved eternal dying. Hosanna has come, and while there is still time cling to him. He loves you and cares for you!

If you do not know how to have eternal life, leave a remark, time is wasting and I would love to talk to you! You are Loved and Cared for by the God and King of all creation. Yeshua and "He shall save his people from their Sins".

In the Words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;

The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men."

The Desire of our Souls.

Oh LORD, We have waited for You eagerly;
Your name, even Your memory, is the desire of our souls.
At night my soul longs for You,
Indeed, my spirit within me seeks You diligently... Isaiah 26:8-9

Everything in my life is broken. All is lost, in words of William Butler Yeats:

"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold...the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity."

I have learned that my life is hardly what I wish it was, and this will to some extent, always be true. I am incapable of fixing myself or being entirely fixed this side of heaven. The worst part is I am constantly pretending that this is not so. I create walls and barriers that disable the infiltration of others into my life. Like a fortress that fiercely denies access of those who pass by should they come with blessings not burdens. I will gladly clothe, care for, and love the traveler who comes by looking for rest. He shall find it, but should he wish to bestow on my fortress some sort of 'traveling mercy' and provide comfort and rest to myself, the drawbridge shall scarcely be opened. Come thirsty to my doors or do not come at all.

I am praying that God will break me of this and am by his strength doing significant efforts to burn down the Castle walls. God is gracious to give us programs of recovery and people who help recover. My past is littered with pain and betrayal. These wounds have may my heart ache and yearn for healing (a healing that one day I will receive in full), but it is also these wounds that make me afraid of abandonment, afraid of intimacy, afraid of being let down, afraid to believe that I can trust another. I have a slew of carnage behind me in past relationships that have had to suffer because of it. Romance doesn't survive in Camelot. If the King of a Castle shows the brilliance of his inherited lands but not the hideous trail of tears he also inherited; he will never acquire a true Queen or any trusted allies. He will be pretending and protecting, but this preserving will not preserve him or his lot it will destroy them both

The verse above is not only how I understand the aching in my soul, but where I find the remedy to these cravings. God is the desire of all of my heart, and the thing I pant for. Thus because he is this I am free to express openly that often I mistake or attempt to fill these desires with other things (success, security, sexual longings, supremacy, strength, status etc...). But these never succeed, they only leave myself and all who drink from them ever more thirsty. All that I am, all that I yearn for, every echo of loneliness and sorrow deeply imbedded within me is for the presence of God. A presence that was removed at the fall in that sacred Garden. He is and always has been the fullness of all I desire, the fullness of every desire. Things have fallen apart and the centre cannot hold. All of creation has been subjected to futility. And the scriptures tell us that this desire when it is allured to the lie that something else will satisfied it gives birth to all of our sins (James 1). This is a common occurrence, and so none of us are quite what we were meant to be. All of us, whether we have numbed ourselves to the monotony of life, with some vice (or virtue become vice) or simply ignored it so long it seems to be 'just the way things are', are really seldom satisfied with the cold reflection we see in life's stained mirror should we be brave enough to look upon it. There is something inside of us that yearns for more. Our souls remember, they cry out in a vague memory that something has gone awry. We miss our maker, he is the desire of our souls, and we thirst for living water whether we choose to drink from its fountain or not.

Help us Lord, your Name, even your Memory is the desire of our souls. Give us strength to Wait upon you...

beloved,

I am Yours and You are mine.

Tears...

I ate dinner with a woman who works for Salvation army tonight. She has never met her father, and her mother died 7 years ago from HIV. Her mother was a prostitute, addicted to cocaine and forced by her own doing into a life that fed her addiction and sorrow. This woman never saw all of her children and she never raised them. She was not educated at a private school and was abused her whole life until she was 30 years old when Aids took her life... But that was not the story that haunts me.

This womans daughter, told me not of her broken life brought on by her mothers addiction, she told me of another woman. A 16 year old girl. The girl was 16 years old, and was originally from Arizona. She was deaf, and had been molested by her father her whole life. Finally she ran away at a gas station and pleaded for the help of a couple after serious abuse. The couple took her in, it was a pastor of a church in Dallas, his wife and their child. They took her back to Dallas in safety of what seemed like safety. This soon ended, and the man who had appeared as a savior, took this deaf and abused girl and locked her away in his basement. He opened a Sex business with her as the attraction. He set up video cameras and a website where for a fee one could go and type in what you wanted to see done to the girl and he would do it (including at one point set her on FIRE! For some sick bastard whose condemnation is just). He would do whatever act his paying viewers would type into the computer and say they want to see her to. For 2 years she was beaten and raped repeatedly. ALL BY A PASTOR IN DALLAS, TEXAS. This continued until Fall of 2009. She thought she would be saved only to be Tortured

The girl was eventually rescued by the police, but she came out with all of her body mutilated and her genital region completely destroyed... Oh God have mercy on Her, she needs you. I know you say that 'shall not the God of all the earth do what is just? (Gen 18:25) But Lord have mercy on her, Yahweh God of all creation save her soul...God help us... This is what Porn Addicts are watching!!! God let it stop, come quickly Lord Jesus I know you are enthroned on high, Adonai

"I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And Behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them...And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the son." Eccl. 4:3

You shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their Sins...

Lord I pray right now for this deaf and abused girl, her pour heart and soul, save them both. I pray for the Pastor of this Church and the deacon who are only miles from me right now, their pour souls, GOD SAVE YOUR PEOPLE

How to Save a Life...

Can you fathom the Weight of a Soul in light of Eternity?-Spurgeon

Can you? Can you even begin to understand, imagine, know the incredible weight of a soul, a living soul? With eternity in the balance, think about that. The most infinitely important thing about or in us is our SOUL. The immortal soul is nothing new to us. Plato and Aristotle wrote often and openly about the apparent soul that gave all of us consciousness. A consciousness distinctly different than any other animal there is. We are awake (in a sense, but many are very much asleep in another).

With the eternal state of the men and women you interact with daily, get hair cuts from, kiss, laugh with, cry for, and labor creeping into the very fabric of their existence. How can you not open your mouth? Think about this...If they were able to see you at the end of the Age as they awaited their Judge (the same one who will judge you), and they saw that you knew, you knew the truth and you had never told them. What would they say? "How could you not open your mouth?" "You knew?, You knew this whole time and you never said anything? Because you were worried about how you would look? How could you not say anything you knew? How could you keep silent? I don't understand...HOW??? Your reputation, your job, your image??? These were worth more to you than My Eternal Destination???"

Oh Lord make us bold, remind us "How to save a life".

"Chosen that you may proclaim the Excellencies of him who called you out of Darkness into his marvelous light."- 1 Peter 2:9

Citizens of Heaven or Hell

What we are becoming TODAY is what we will be tomorrow. Citizens of Heaven, are those who as Christ would say ‘bear good fruits’ (Matthew 7)they do this by the presence of the Holy Spirit which Paul tells us in Ephesians 1 is how we know we are a believer, and the ‘guarentee of our souls’ salvation. The presence of the Spirit creates these fruits, it does this by what Peter says is called ‘sanctification for the obedience to Jesus Christ’ (1Peter 1:2). Point being those who accept God’s grace and receive eternal life are in that moment ‘created new’ (2cor. 5:17) and so for the rest of their life they go are continually are transformed day by day from one degree of glory to the next into a citizen of Heaven. This is most clearly seen not in what they do ‘externally’ but on the inward transition that takes place in their heart.

Conversely this is also true for those who are citizens of this world. Who, like the citizens of heaven also await an inheritance. However, this inheritance is not one that resembles in any way the that which awaits those whose ‘Souls desire’ is found in God. You see the distinguishing mark or ‘seed’ within the heart of Christ Followers is a ‘love for God’. This seed may be weak or strong but it is always implanted upon receiving grace and repentance. Thus Heaven will be the fulfillment of their hearts affection and the magnification of it as well. So in those who do not love God, Heaven would not be a place they would be satisfied anyways, but one where they are not able to Worship the idols of this world or the god they have made of themselves, they would be miserable.

And as well without this ‘seed’ of love, they are not able to grow over there life into anything resembling a Citizen of Heaven. So they grow in their love for self, or whatever else they desire. Suppose for example that a man became so addicted to cocaine that what began as a fix from time to time, soon began to rule his life so strongly that he was no longer able to live a normal life at all, if the addiction continued it would take over himself so greatly that we might say ‘his life is hell’. Well that is a close resemblance to the Christian doctrine of hell. A man will grow either in his affection for himself (pride), sex (lust), mankind (humanism- let me say I do not think affection for man kind is a bad thing. I actually feel quite the opposite, man is to love his neighbor as himself. But the minute that Civility and Social Justice efforts become the God we worship we find that we have also slain the foundation of our god and any purpose we had in helping our brother man, any more than we would have in helping our ‘brother ox’) or any other idol from birth until death until it makes him so focused upon it that ‘his life is hell’. This idol becomes quickly a ruthless dictator who demands an ever conforming heart and soul. It demands we lay down all we have. A close parallel to the brutish gods of the greeks.

We are always serving something, and further always conforming to one world or the next…Which is left to our own choosing, but to not choose is simply not an option. You are born a servant to self and sin, thus you may change the ‘Lord’ you choose to serve, but you will never stop serving. Who will you serve?

Image Bearers

‘Image Bearers’

I believe we are far more powerful than we know. One day we shall shine like the son, and be restored to the rightful place in the created order of things, but for now we are a depraved people, who deprive ourselves by our own unrighteousness of any and all possible life. We do this by worshipping ourselves or other things and in our disobedient rebellious action we seek only the exaltation of ourselves. At the end of time we shall be no longer enslaved. But shall be set free from sin, and restored to power. Power that will be rooted in its outsourcing from God alone. Power that finds itself in its source not its face… This is something that Satan hates, scorns, and despises. He hates us, the ‘image bearers’ because he has nothing to do but hate. If ‘God is Love’, then it is not a stretch to assume that ‘Satan is Evil’. And that Satan and all of the demons hate Man, because we, simply known as the ‘Image Bearers’, though rebels, ignorant, blinded, foolish, and stupid are loved by him. Loved by the One whose image we bear, so much that he would lay down his life for us. Someday we shall be restored, we shall be made new, we shall Shine like the sun, and be in an existence that is ‘much better’. We shall be whiter than Snow, healed, and whole. But we shall also be powerful, powerful beyond measure.

Exercising enormous control over other domains of our creation. As a Prince who helps rule and Judge for his father, so it will be for those who love him. We shall be no longer Weak. No longer we under the slavery of sin… We shall more than ever before ‘bear His image’, and through his strength, and for his name bear it well…

Love...

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident." -Captain Corelli's Mandolin

The above is a quote from a Novel that takes place during World War II. It is hardly as good a book as this is a quote. It is spoken by a character in the book known as Dr. Iannis. He a meager philosopher and ever worse theologian, but his quote here speaks wonders to the truth of exactly what Love is.

Today love is used to express a fascination for everything from pickles, to a husband, to Sexual intercourse (ie making love). It would be unfair to limit this truth to simply our country, language, or even era. Greek Poetry from the 4th, 5th, and 6th centuries BC failed to categorize the usage of the words (they had 4 words...debatebly more) for love with any firm boundaries that made clear when and where each term for love was to be used. They are not the only ones either, in truth the human expression regardless of time period is prone to speak in a superfluous manner (we are humans and we exaggerate). Even the bible fails to truly separate quite as concretely as we would like, and sometimes the Apostles use one word for God and love and sometime another. (Point being the idea that 'agape' is a word that is reserved for God's love for us, or our love for him, and that alone is well... not biblical.)

But i think nonetheless it is necessary that we explain and define love; and allow the boundaries that we can establish distinguish it from the 'false loves' that so many things that are better to be known as 'patior' or the greek word for 'passion'. (I think it is better to address what 'love' is, rather than spend an infinite amount of time addressing the limitless things it is not).

Love is a transcendent expression and faculty, it is in some ways unexplainable, but in every way undeniable. It is the sole force within the universe that history affirms has been present in every civilized state on record. It is the driving force behind a million actions that do not always service the individual good and ease of him who is performing the verbal action in their 'loving' of another. It is the most pure form of goodness, and beauty in all the universe. It contains within it both the power to create and destroy. It is unlike anything else in all the world. It turns night to day, winter to spring, dark to light, tedious labor to effortless service, burden to blessing, slavery to liberty, pain to pleasure, it is the driving force of ALL there is.

It is not sex, it is not passion, it is, what Dr. Iannis said rightly, 'would be left if all else could burn away', it is not mercy though this is certainly Love child. Love is patient, it is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. it is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it does not delight in evil but rejoices when right it done to all. It always protects even at the price of its own life, always believe even when things look hopeless, always hopes for Peace and goodness, always perseveres even the fiercest storm.

GODisLOVE : He is the Truest and most sincere expression of Love we have. On our souls we have imprinted an ability to love. But True love is not found in the Ancient Aphrodite. If you remember Greek mythology, she was the greek goddess of love and Romance. At her height the goddess (or perhaps the demon) 'aphrodite' demands full obedience from her worshippers. But this demand is a hollow one, and though in this so called 'love' she demands her worshipper to sacrifice their all for their 'lover' (husband, wife, girlfriend, or boyfriend). This is a futile demand and is really but an imprint within in crying out that we were meant to love something with all we are. In a way that Science could never explain by observation, and words could hardly capture in writing. Romance is by no means wrong, it is beautiful and created by and for God. But Erotica is not Love, Eros is not Agape, and Aphrodite is not Immanuel.

We have only but a taste of how vast his love is, God is LOVE. Aphrodite is a whore, and her demands from a broken world to be infatuated with one another and to look at Sex and rather than their Savior,will soon be repaid with eternal and indescribable punishment. All we need is LOVE

Free Will

I recently sat down with a friend who believe neither in Jesus as the Son of God, nor in the God of any sort of non-eastern deity. He posed the following dilemma:

"If God is good, and knows all things, why would he create Satan with the free will that would allow him to Turn against Him. If God knew Satan would do evil, then he must be in some way evil."

I responded with the following:

"What you are suggesting is that God should have made Satan not free, but a slave or servant to God. He should have essentially made some sort of robotic creation that would serve him and be obedient without fail, right?"

He then said "yeh, exactly".

And this was my response, "What you are suggesting is that it is much better to be a slave who has no capacity to act on its own, no ability to love, no ability to do any thing outside of its being directly in line with serving its creator." (sidenote: this is the way I believe Heaven will be, but we will no longer have any desire to rebel, only to serve.)

I then asked him "Have you ever been to a homeless shelter?";

"yes" he replied.

"Well in that homeless shelter have you ever seen an African American man?";

"of course" he then replied.

I then said "What you are suggesting is that the American government is in fact evil for giving freedom to 'African Americans', because it landed some of them in worse circumstances. Previously they had a warm bed, a Job, 3 meals, a day, and a home. Now there freedom has landed them without any of these. The American government should have kept them as slaves for their own good and not only that those who fought for slavery are evil people. We should make all the poor slaves."

He expressed a peculiar sense of Satisfaction at the answer, and quickly we segwayed into the "Pat Robertson dilemma"... Freedom

God forgive us today, we distort you, your world, and your name. Forgive us...

Time...

It is 6 o’clock on the evening of the 3^rd day of the New Calendar year, 2010 years from the estimated birth of Jesus Christ, God with us. Time is my subject here and the reason for my elaborate expression of the date and Time.

It is often said that God preexisted time, I feel as though the teaching around this is true. But I also feel that such a quality must be explained further than it often is. Science measures time and “elapse time since” also known has “age” based on the amount of decay that has taken place in atomic particles, this generally occurs at a precise and exponentially increasing rate. This process is known as “Carbon Dating”. By measuring the stage of the Carbon and comparing it science is able to determine age. Thus time is inextricably linked to decay.

However, the original intent of the universe was not one bent towards decay. But it is no surprise that the world we live in is one where decay and death are undeniable realities. And so according to the scientific explanation and recording of “Time”, Adam, Eve, and the entire Garden existed before there was “Time”. As they all existed in a state that had no decay. Science is insufficient to explain or define a proper understanding of time, as we know it.

Time, age, and any term within the realm of dating are simply made up terms that we designate to help us distinguish from one moment to the next. They are like the address on your house, or more accurately the page numbers we attribute to a book we have not written. They may not have any influence from the author of the book, but they allow the “reader” to identify more precisely where he is in the story. It would then help us to take a more philosophical and transcendent definition to the label of “time”. As not so much a measurement of age, but rather a chronological succession of moments. In our current existence decay is related directly to time, however in the paradise lost and in the one to come this will not be the case. Time will no longer be needed, decay no longer existent (save for within the bounds of hell, however this “decay” will as well no longer be related to time, as for all of eternity there will be eternal decay but not disappearance) and we will simply be left with a wondrous chronology of successive moments that pass by in a fleeting ecstasy, but they will flee to nowhere. So as the proverbial saying goes “time flies when you are having fun” heaven will likely a simultaneous passing of rapidly blissful moments as well as deliciously savored experiences treasured for all that they are.

So, it is an accurate statement to suggest that God preexisted time or our present definition of decay, but so did Adam. But he certainly did exist in time prior to our decay in another sense. My point being that if God has always existed he has enjoyed a chronological succession of events prior to the creation of our universe. By definition to exist would indicate you are at one moment “existing” and have “existed” prior, thus there were moments in between that took place to bring about the current state. So God has always existed but by this definition so has time, but he also exists beyond time, as he is not limited in his knowledge of anything past, present, or future, but that would deal more with his omniscience, nor is he limited in his ability to alter, change, or affect time, which would deal with his omnipotence. He is by his nature inside and outside of this chronology in everyway and thus he is beyond time and yet within it is everyway… He truly is the great “I AM that I AM”…