The Missing Influence

If I step back and take a good look at the goings on in the simple church,  as well as many other church (grouped gatherings) movements,  I see people, endowed by the grace of God with an insight into the way God intended things to operate among peoples and nations, an ability to discern truth and righteousness,  a generous heart, and an understanding of the value of life and the individual.    

These are good people who are valuable to all peoples and the nations of the earth because of these things, but who often have become focused inwardly on what they do as a fellowship and what they do within their faith group, rather than on establishing the good principles of truth and justice, fairness, rights and responsibilities that belong to each person where they live, especially in government and in business. 

I recently listened to the first lecture in the free Constitution 101 series of Hillsdale College online. I was struck by the in depth thought of those who founded our nation, and how deeply their faith was interwoven thru the development of the plans on how we would be governed. They did not just establish this nation to be free of religious persecution, but rather to implement the principles of government that are ordained to make men free to serve both God and each other.  

If governments are ministries of God for good, church people are needed there, especially simple church people.  God has given the earth to the sons of men, and daughters too,  but we often let it run amok without any voice for truth and righteousness and the good that God intended for us.  We squabble in facebook and in online blogs about things that are the Lord’s business to correct and to establish.  Did the Lord Jesus not say that he would build his church and that the gates of hell would be invaded by it?   We have left the gates of hell alone to keep the hearts and minds of people entrapped by deceptive doctrines about government.   How do we get our attention back on the things that affect how we live in this world, and the world we leave to our children? 

We do a disservice to the plans and purposes of God when we leave government to others and focus our energies instead on how we do church.  We should not be fear mongers,  or slanderers,  or people of discontent,  but we need to take up the charge of establishing our towns and our counties, our states and our nation to operate the way that God intended, and not to be shy about it.  We were made to be a blessing in the earth.   The preacher used to be a man of influence in our towns,  but we are each called to be the preachers, the evangelists, the disciple making people.  Good government is really about discipleship.  If we leave the discipleship of the world to others,  we have an enemy who will take up where we have left off. 

The Path of Prayer

The Path of Prayer

When you pray, you are touching heaven. You run to the throne of grace that you might find mercy and grace to help in time of need. Touch the throne of heaven with an open heart that will receive. Open up your heart and let the sunshine in. When we pray, we commune with God. He not only hears us, but we hear Him because He speaks. And when He speaks His words are spirit and they are life. Our spirit hears them, more than hears them, receives them, and so we speak them. When we do, we release them in this world to accomplish that which He has sent them forth to do.

Is anyone sick among you? Pray the prayer of faith, hearing the spirit of God and rendering the words that He speaks and the Lord will raise up the sick, and if they have any sin, it will be forgiven them. Is this a time of trouble? Seek the Lord. Speak as He commands, and the waters of life will gush forth from heaven. He will bring life to this dying world thru the rock of Jesus Christ by the words that flow from your heart and your mouth. The Rock lives within you.

It is out of the heart the mouth speaks. Be quick to hear.  Open your heart to his grace and to his mercy. Speak those things that are from above. They are righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Listen for them. Listen in prayer. Not quietly, but speaking with the Lord, allowing him to put the words in your heart and in your mouth. These are the words of the kingdom of heaven.

For with the heart man believes, and with the mouth man speaks to salvation, and healing, and deliverance, prosperity, and peace, righteousness, and joy. Pray without ceasing, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Did you need a reason to pray in another tongue? This is it.



The Plans

I wish I understood what magnificence he planned for me.

I wish too, I understood, what wonders planned for you.

If I could see where he has gone, and where he leads me to,

Then I might be what he will be, because he's taken mine.

What is it Lord that makes me look, at heavens so far out,

And yearns to know, how far they go, and what it’s all about.

I cannot see where you will lead, I cannot call your name,

Because you are so very high, and I so small, the same.

I cannot breathe, because your heights have taken breath away,

And yet I ponder still the word that calls me from them now.

You are so high, and lifted up, and rest upon that throne,

And yet you raise and lift me up, to sit with you alone.

From there I see more clearly still, the plan you made for me.

And know this journeys but a step into your own glory.

Praying is Permission

We went out last night to Ned Houk Park to see the star fields. 
The Milky Way is beyond amazing -
     so vast,  so many stars, so many galaxies. 
The God who made all those made me and lives within me. 

This morning when I considered problems that need solving,
He spoke to my heart and said,  "Give me permission".

This God of all Glory asked permission to bring heaven to earth. 

If I pray asking for the earthly things I need,  knowing that prayer

     is giving Him permission to do them, 
     then it is easy to pray believing. 

Now I understand why prayer is so necessary. 
He wants to be moved. 

The Lord of the Star Fields needs permission to move on earth. 

Jesus prayed this way. 

     "Our Father who art in heaven,... thy kingdom come, 

       thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,".

This request is of course the will of God.

Asking gives heaven permission to bring it into
       the garden of my life. 

I am sure that its the same for you.   Amazing Grace. 

So Grateful...

I am so grateful that God does not change what His word says for me...

And... I am also grateful that when I believe what His word says, 

He will prove what His word says to me.  

God is faithful.   Be grateful. 

Man and the Star Fields

I asked the Lord of the star fields, why are they there?

Why did you put so many of them there?

And he said, “Because I had the space to do it. “

They are so many stars,  all sorts and kinds.

Intricate things, unusual things, everything one can imagine.

Lord, weren’t we enough for you?

And he said, “I made you last.”

The focal point of the heavens,

The yearning of the heart of God,

All reaching across time and all space

To touch God’s man.

I think perhaps we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Forgiving River

I was tired last night, so wasted time watching TV, but there was a change in the usual condeming guilt that follows because of the unfinished tasks and the lack of time spent with important people, the Lord included.
This time I went outside and watched the heavens. I considered the vastness of the galaxies and the glory of God. There came a sense of forgiveness, not just mine, but like a river, one that overflows all the error and lack of this life. It was mine to immerse in, and of course, it also flows over all those I know.
Forgiveness is much more than being forgiven when we are sorry. It has a washing power that takes away the strength of the things  that come to overpower me. It diminishes them even when I have yielded to them. They have less strength against me.

Forgiveness gives me peace. It feels like love.