Poem: Choose this day who to serve

A day is lost or was it spent?
Or was it bought? Was is lent?
Either way it’s yours to use.
Life is all about how you choose.
Choose pride or choose pain
Choose to prosper choose to gain
But in a day your life is lost.
Men acquire all you gain
Its given to them at no cost.
All of your possessions were vanity
But you didn’t care to see,
that days are neither bought
nor rent but given at the Lord’s consent.
You were made a steward of,
All the things you grew to love.
You loved this World
To your death.
But for us we still have time left.
We can gain all this world and
In the end lose.
Your life was bought with a cost.
We must give it up
or suffer loss.
Recognize the treasure in the field
and lay your life down and yield
To the One you were created for.
He’s knocking and knocking at the door
Recognize Him and let Him in.
Let Him cleanse your house
Your soul to mend.
You were not made to be served
But to serve.
And to love
even when not loved.
To walk in the ways of the Lord,
Even when they go against the World.
To follow Christ every day
Knowing that this is not your final stay.
Apart from this the way is death
But you, you still have time left
So choose this day who you will serve
But be ye wise and choose
The Light of the World.

Poem "Flesh will not Last"

Parallels of broken symmetry

my body and soul.

Thou art different

of them I'm made whole.

 

This vessel must break

as the end draws near.

If one knows what Life is

They need not stand in fear.

 

For new life was given us

not of human flesh,

but of the Spirit of God,

in Whom we found rest.

 

Find wholeness now

for flesh passeth away

in the Temple that was broken

and raised in three days.

Abiding in Christ

^{1 John 15:4-6}

 

⁴ Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

These verses speak volumes. Simply because at their core they are encouraging us to not wander away from the Lord. This is much more than a belief in God but truly and fully committing ourselves to lay down all that we are and be made completely full in Him.

Laying down our desires, dreams, ambitions, in essence who we are.

This may sound like a harsh and harmful thing to do and some may wonder how can this be a good thing, because we have obviously made the choice to have these things in the first place. But now to abide in Christ we must lay them down?

We know that in verses like James 4:4 the Bible tells us that friendship with the World is enmity with God. If we choose to be a friend with the World then we are choosing to be an enemy of God. Wow seems harsh.

It seems harsh but we too often are missing it. If we choose to love these things that are not God (even if they seem harmless) we are at fault. Not just because we are made to be devoted to God so we should dutifully serve Him, but because we have been made to have a desire and a thirst that can only be fulfilled in Him.

Only in Him.
John 6:35 Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Don't look for fulfillment anywhere else.

We have the desire in us to be made complete in Christ. Make sure that you are not trying to fill yourself with anything outside of God. We simply are not made for that and we will be utterly ineffective.

We see in the verses at the top that apart from Him we can do nothing. Absolutely nothing of any value, but on the flip side we see that if we remain in Him we will bear much fruit.

Apart from effectiveness, we are to be watching and waiting for the Lord's return and if we are not longing for Him to come, then I believe that we are choosing not to abide in Him. I believe that we may have chosen the World over Him.We don't want Him to come and take us away from our life when in Truth Christ is to be our life.

1 John 2:6 "He who says he abides in Him ought to walk just as He walked."

Lets make sure that we are truly abiding in Christ and that He is our life and that our life is not found in this World. There is much work to do but I am thankful that God will make the way for us as long as we do it for His purposes and not our own.

Verse 6 does remain as a warning for what happens if we choose not to abide in Him. If we choose the desires of this World over Him and if we choose to live for ourselves and are not submitted to Him. Remember that our flesh will tell you not to surrender but we only find true and complete satisfaction in Him.

Let us be ready to meet Him for we walked with Him and remained in Him until the very end.

Be strong in the Lord.

Poem "As Starboard met sea"

There was a pain;
once encouraged, oft besought.
Some spoke hope, some spoke peace
but either I knew not.

I felt this pain led unto death,
this was my greatest fear.
I cast my fear into the deep
my heart was yet unseared.

A troubled course I set
amongst a dark and troubled sea,
but was it not the storms discourse
which led me unto Thee?

Of the storm
I, hold no lesser charge
that from the waves
out of the depths
fear enchained my heart.

As my ship plunged deeper
and starboard met sea,
from man's path I turned
Hither God, I turn to Thee.

As a child, I ran to You,
though of an old and ripened age.
You took me in and established me
to bear the strongest waves.

I know the dark
I know the deep
but perfect love
cast out fear.

My life is now
hid in Christ
in Whom I draw
ever, near.

James 1:1-8 Notes

Lets take a look at James chapter 1 I ask that you have Bible in hand.

This book is obviously written by James who was a Bishop at the church in Jersusalem which had a lot of Jewish converts.
This is the first epistle that is not written to a specific person or church, but is addressed to the twelve tribes.
I ask that you take a moment to look over James 1:1-8.
After James introduction he begins to tell us to count it all joy when we fall into various trials. That seems a bit difficult and definately not ordinary but this is something that only a follower of Christ can hope to do. The following verse tells us to rejoice in these trials knowing that the testing of our faith produces patience. This is the only way that we can rejoice through our trials, because we know that God is doing a great work in us As we see in verse 4, once patience is made perfect in us we are made complete, lacking nothing.

Romans 5:3-5 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance;4 and perseverence, character; and character, hope,5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

As we can see there is much going on in our life other than the trials that we are facing, God is working within us. He is refining us and helping us to learn to abide in Him. To be steadfast and have all of our hope in Him, knowing that even when seemingly bad things happen the Lord is in control and we have the ability to rejoice even in our trials because the Lord is using this to make you more effective for His purposes.

From here James goes on to say in 1:5-8 "If any of you lacks wisdom let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man unstable in all his ways."

It is important to understand that when James says ask in faith here, this ask means to beg, crave. It does not simply mean to ask but it is to be something that we long for with all of our heart and pursue.

We see that in other verses like Mat 7:7-8 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will opened to you, For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."

And in 1 John 5:14-15 That the Lord hears everything that we ask that is according to His will.

What we see here is that if we ask anything according to the will of God He will answer, only if we do not doubt. Not only must we know this but we must see the parallel that we are told to ask in faith but we also are to know that the testing of our faith produces patience which as we saw earlier ultimately produces other things and makes us complete.

This means that our answer may not come immediately, and our faith will very likely be tested. God is working in you as He works to complete what you ask according to His will. We also see that the ask that is used here means to beg, crave. It is a longing for what we ask for and if we doubt we should not expect to receive it.

I said all of this to say that when you ask something according to God's will, continually pray for it and expect for it to happen even if it looks like it will not and even if it takes a long time. Because your faith is being tested so that you can be made complete, God tells you not to doubt in this and He tells us that our faith will be tested. Keep both of those in mind.

Another segment of our studies in James will be up soon. Remember when you pray that you are to long for what you ask. It is not a prayer that you throw up into the air every once in a while but this is to be something that is on your heart. If it is in the will of God than it should constantly be on the forefront of our mind and focus because God's will is what we should be looking to complete and move toward.

God be with you.

The message that God has put on my heart is not exactly what many people need to hear, but that does not change the fact that it needs to be heard. God has given us his word and it is pretty clear in its teachings, or at least it is meant to be. Unfortunately, we are more intrigued by the message that the World tells us, and that my friends is something that we need to evalutate and change. Because if we believe in what the Bible says then it must effect our lives. If you truly believed that you would win 1,000,000 dollars if you dropped what you were doing and followed a man across the country in your car, you would do it. Your belief that you would win that money if you followed that man across the country influenced you to drop everything and follow him.

I don't want to run anyone away by getting into a heavy topic but this is meant to open eyes and for people to respond. Not make people feel bad, but cause them to reflect. The fact is that if the Bible is from God then it is obviously Truth and should be not only the only thing that we allow to govern our lives, but it should also be on our breath at all times (talking about the Truth to others). We also must check our on lives and make sure that we are living the way that Christ wants us to, and more often than not we live in a way that looks like we are living for our lives here. The thought of this should trouble us, it troubles me but don't lose heart because we still have breath and can change the way that we live and let God be our God. Instead of just our Savior, because a lot of people don't make God the Lord of their life. When in reality this is how it was meant to be, and quite frankly, must be.

God tells us to turn away from our sin (fleshly desires) and turn to him. In this turning to him we are to live for him, which means that we understand that God is God and that our lives not lived for him is worthless. We live in a way that represents him, as we die to the way of the World. Which makes sense because once we do this our home is in Heaven and no longer on Earth. Once we realize who God really is in our very own lives, we see just how foolish it is to live for any of our own desires. Some may ask, "wouldn't this mean that I would have to quit a bunch of things that I am doing and maybe even do things that would make me feel uncomfortable and look different than most people"? The answer is yes!

Of course you are going to look different because you are a new creation and as a new creation your home is no longer here, and you are given the Holy Spirit to give you understanding in the things of God. If we still look like those who do not know Christ then we have been fooled. Many believe that they are following Christ but they are being deceived. Evaluate which Kingdom you are living for. It is not about asking Jesus into your heart but about surrendering your life over to him once you realize that, you yourself have no power to save your own soul. This surrendering, is to affect every part of our life. There must be change and it must be continual. It is Christ we are to follow after all. Please evaluate yourself today and if you are not who you thought you were that's ok. Because you can lay down who you are and be changed. You will be different but that is because you realize that this life is no longer about you.

Matthew 16:24-25Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ²⁵ For whoever wants to save their life^[a] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.

Luke 14:23 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

How else can we follow someone other than lay down what we have?

God Bless

     I am not sure of a passage from the Bible that has taken on more meaning in my life this past year then Luke 9:23-26, "Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. "For what profit is is to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God."
      I realized that one must truly lose their life for the sake of Christ in order to find it life in Him. This means my identity is no longer in myself, but it is now found in Christ. My value should be found in Christ alone as well not in the things that I did or am trying to do but in Christ. Before I was spending most of my time doing things for myself and at my best I was trying to somehow devote the end result of my "great name" to exalt Christ. I was trying to make my own name great and find my identity inside myself. I also was trying to exalt Christ after I myself was exalted. I was in a sense trying to live for Christ while I was simultaneously living for myself, but we see in this verse that one must deny himself and take up his cross daily, and follow Christ. Follow him where with what on our backs? Follow him unto death. This death is the death of our flesh. Our desires, for people to know our name and to make our own Kingdom here on this Earth.
     The denying of ourself is a part that goes hand in hand with making Christ your Lord and not just your Savior. I have thankfully by the Grace of God come to understand that when we are rescued from the punishment of our sins we receive a home in Heaven. This home in Heaven makes us Ambassadors here on this Earth. We represent our new home as we die to the mindset that we live for our time here on this Earth. Therefore since Salvation represents a transfer of Kingdoms, one that will pass away and is defiled by sin to an eternal one in which we will be in the presence of God, which will be our greatest joy. I don't think we as Christians get this. We may have heard this before but the way in which we live and spend our time and resources, do not reflect that we are no longer living for our time here on this Earth. The devil has led us to believe that blessings from the Lord are meant to be spent to make our lives better. That we have been blessed with these nice things and that we are to bask in this blessing. We are totally missing the boat. I will continue the rest of this in my next blog because I wish to look at some more scripture and do not wish to make anything too long. We will look at some more scripture in Luke 9  I encourage you to let the message in the scripture speak to you as you read it. With Love and Thanksgiving to our Reedeemer. If this can be of help to anyone please share.