Baruch Haba/ Blessed Is He

The other day these scriptures rose in my spirit: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” Matthew 23:37-39 This word is for everyone, not just for those dwelling in Jerusalem in Jesus' day. He is everywhere, in the marketplace, the highways and byways, standing with His arms wide open, beckoning, calling, longing for all people to come to Him, be gathered to Him, but most are asleep and unaware of the urgency, the critical importance and what is at stake. There is only one secure place, for us both now and in the age to come, and that's wrapped in His loving arms, staying under His wings, drawing so near that we can feel His heartbeat...the alternative is desolation. I describe desolation as a lonely barren place, far away from the presence of the Lord, where there is no peace, only torment. I have heard sermons on v.39, where it was preached that Jesus will not return on the earth until there is unity in the Church and we all proclaim together: "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord", but before this can happen there must be an individual cry where we each proclaim this personally, and Jesus abides in us and we in Him. Today beloved, listen and call on Jesus alone. He is the antidote to desolation and emptiness, and the cure for our flawed humanity... BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD.

The Offer

"See to it that you do not refuse Him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from Him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken–that is, created things–so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”" Hebrews 12:25-29 There is an ancient Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times." Interesting times are upon us. Wars, rumors of wars, mass murders, signs in the heavens and on the earth, fire storms, hurricanes, cyclones, earthquakes, droughts, ancient subterranean aquifers, rivers, resevoirs and lakes drying up, rulers and kingdoms are falling, political and economic upheaval is upon the earth. What hope is there for those who do not believe? The Word says that "men's hearts will fail them", and "men will faint, even die, from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, (Luke 21:26a). The greatest shakings in the history of the world are about to take place, all to awaken the slumbering, while there is time... There are those who are not spiritually attuned who may say, " Oh, please! These things has always been going on, it's just life on Planet Earth, business as usual, but these are days that are different. I am reminded of the Misty Edward's song People Get Ready: "there are people walking round with their fingers in their ears saying da-da-da-da I don't want to hear the sound...of the coming King... The Bridegroom is looking for and preparing a lovesick and obsessed-with-the-Bridegroom Bride. He is searching the earth, looking at the hearts of men, invitations to the Wedding Feast are being sent, but somehow some are confusing the Invitation with "junk mail", and placing other things as a higher priority... "See to it that you do not refuse Him who speaks..." This is a "time-sensitive offer"; do not delay and do not fail to respond! The stakes couldn't be higher or the prize greater: An unshakeable kingdom and mansions designed peronall by the Bridegroom King, Jesus, Himself. What occupies your time, beloved? Do you mourn for, long for the return of Jesus? Are you obsessed with Him, know Him intimately, or is He just a name, an acquaintance? There has never been a better time than right this moment to take Him up on the offer...you may not have another opportunity.

July 19 217

"The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: 
they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, 
upon them the light has shined. 
For You have broken the yoke of his burden, 
and the staff of his shoulder, 
the rod of his oppressor, 
as in the day of Midian." 
Isaiah 9:2, 4 

There are dates in each of our lives that are significant and special.
We celebrate birthdays and anniversaries;
there also are dates of remembrance that stand out for a variety of reasons.
July 19 is just such a date for me.
It was a day when the Lord shattered the chains that bound me,
a day when I was awakened from a spiritual coma.
It was a day that came so suddenly, delivering me from slavery and darkness,
without expectation, with such power that even years later I find it difficult to illucidate.
Isn't that just like our God?
Never early, never late, His timing is perfection, 11:59 is always the right time.
I feel a great responsibility to treat others the same way my Father treated me even in a degenerate prodigal state...that He never stopped loving me, even at my worst.
He saw Kingdom promises in me, calling things that were not as they would become in a renewed state.
We have all been forgiven huge debts and loved unconditionally by my Father and ultimately my Bridegroom?
Much is required, beloved, of those whom much has been forgiven-US.

Paradigm Shifts

"I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. ...the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate."
Luke 15:19, 20, 22-24

"His left arm is under my head, and his right arm embraces me."
Song of Solomon 2:6

"God is love."

 Many people see God as a cruel taskmaster, overbearing, watching and waiting for them to trip up, to punish them. They believe incorrectly that God is impersonal and exacting, following their every move with a magnifying glass, rule book, and a whip, and their behaviors are managed by fear and shame, not by the beautiful, majestic reality of who He really is, and many spend their entire lives deeply longing for fulfillment. In the deepest places of our souls Jesus asks us, "Who do you say that I am?" He desires that each of us receive the revelation of Him not only as a loving, proactive Father, but our Bridegroom, one who is so close, embracing us tightly, eye to eye and able to feel the rhythm of one another's heartbeat. He desires that His love for us would be realized and fulfilled, not left unrequited. His desire is for a deep-calling-unto-deepest, to be touched and to touch His heart, involved in the most intimate relationship possible...we are able to love Him like this because He loved us first. This is contentment and satisfaction.

Battle Plans

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Jeremiah 29:11

"No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the Lord. 
Isaiah 54:17

 There are no coincidences.
 God's timing is perfect and everything that was intended by the enemy to harm, discourage, thwart, steal, and destroy is refuted and turned around by the Lord in His perfect timing. Yesterday we were driving in our van to a service in Kansas City and traffic had come to a near standstill, and then suddenly we were slammed from behind by another car! As we pulled off the roadway I walked behind the van and looked at the vehicle that hit us. The front was smashed, radiator was ruptured, windshield was broken and the airbags had deployed...the young man driving had only recently arrived to attend an internship at IHOP. As I asked him about his condition I could see he was shaking, but seemed physically okay and after asking him his name, the Lord spoke to me directing me to lay hands on him, pray over him, and minister to him. I saw in this young man great things as he pursues the things over the Lord... and the devil and demonic realm recognized them, too, and sought to wreck these plans using a traffic accident, and other devices. But the Lord used them to introduce us, starting another divine Kingdom connection. I know that God turned this "accident" into another divine appointment. I have met another brother, and as an older more mature brother in the Lord, I have an opportunity to pour into his life, even bringing prophetic encouragement to him. Today beloved, thank the Lord in all things, especially when seemingly bad situations happen to you, and wait with certain expectation as the Master turns it around for His good purposes!

Aliens

Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.” John 18:36 "All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country–a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them." Hebrews 11:13-16 Disciples of the Lord Jesus, of which I count myself one, are truly strangers, aliens, in a strange land, made for another age. We live and move and have our being, our identity, purposes, and the Hope of our calling, wrapped up in the revelation of who Jesus is - Lord, Master, Bridegroom, Fountainhead of streams of living water, the Living Stone, Advocate, Shepherd, Lamb of God who takes away our filth, warrior King and much more in a world that is lost, and daily we called to be ambassadors to a dying world. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Answer, the Solution, to every problem, and we can know that when we pray in His Name with His Holy Spirit directing our thoughts, our heart, that He hears us. We are strengthened and enabled, and Jesus is our power source and as we hunger and thirst for righteousness in meekness (meaning we harbor no spirit of offense that flows from selfish fleshly desires)... Today beloved, remember that you are a living stone...do not be diluted or polluted, you are the salt and light..bring Jesus' message of love, mercy, and salvation to those in your world. There are divine appointments awaiting each of us today.

The Transformer ( From Filthy Rags to Finest Linens)

"All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away." Isaiah 64:6 Secular humanism has become the equivalent of a false religion where those who hate religion tout the triumph of humanity, declaring man's innate goodness, ingenuity, and abilities...but the word of God tells us the "the heart of man is deceitful", and if we are honest with ourselves we know that in our "natural man" we are drawn to darkness and sin. Without Jesus laundering us, transforming us, salvaging us from the wreckage of our own humanity, we would be without hope...we cannot save ourselves from ourselves. But God has made the way for us. "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:2 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city." Revelation 22:14 God, in His lovingkindness, has taken us who were like filthy, torn, tattered, and soiled rags, and transformed us like the finest, whitest of linens, making us clean, bright and shining, inside and out, He has given us the rights to the Kingdom.

Toppling 183

"Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land." 
Deuteronomy 6:14, 15 

After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Then they carried the ark into Dagon's temple and set it beside Dagon. When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! They took Dagon and put him back in his place. But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained. 
1 Samuel 5:1-4 NIV84


  In 2005 I began to think about buying a motorcycle, a BMW K1200LT. It was sleek, powerful, advanced, sexy, and expensive. We were planning a move, and although I had owned motorcycles in my youth, I had not ridden one in decades, but I had begun to desire this thing.
I owed it to myself, I deserved it, I told myself.
I thought about it often, had the image as a screen saver on my computer,
the brochure placed prominently on my office desk, and not so coincidentally, this consuming preoccupation came at a time when my affections towards the Lover of my soul had been waning.
 I was less than lukewarm, no, I had grown cold, had taken my eyes off the Perfecter of my faith. I was dissatisfied and in the winter of my discontentment.
 I was sure this bike would fix all of that, and so I pursued acquiring it.
 Within the year we had sold our home and relocated, and within the week of settling into our new home I bought this thing that I thought would be the answer.
But unknown to me at the time I had made this bike an idol; the Lord's jealousy and burning anger was about to be demonstrated. Although I had previously owned five motorcycles, and had never dropped a single one, not even one single time, the very first time I got on the BMW I made it to the end of the driveway, and as I came to a stop before entering the roadway my foot inexplicably slipped in some loose gravel. There in the presence of my wife, daughters, and a jealous God it leaned over just a little bit too far.  Suddenly and shockingly I realized that I could not prevent it from toppling over!
It cost $600 to fix the damage, my pride, and a back injury that still plagues me.
That motorcycle never bought me a moment of real satisfaction.
 I sold it a year later, taking a huge loss in depreciation as well.
 It took me years to see the spiritual implications, but it was clearly an event that contributed to my repentance and true awakening as God graciously revealed Himself to a broken and humbled man.
God detests every idol, every one.
Small or large, whatever the thing is, if it supplants affections that are intended for and deserved by our Master/Father/ Bridegroom, they will be toppled.
Sometimes it happens sooner, sometimes later, but it will come down, just as the idol of Dagon was toppled and destroyed in the presence of the Ark of the Covenant.
Do you have any idols in your life beloved?
What is hiding in the corners of your heart?
 We cannot walk in our intended fullness until they are toppled.
So trash every idol, every one!
 Don't try to hide any, nothing is hidden from the eye of the Almighty.
 He wants 100% of our hearts, not just 99%;
He will search out and pursue us until that last 1% belongs to Him.

The Catalyst

"We love because He first loved us."
1 John 4:19


Tonight I came home to my girls watching a documentary on 20/20 about the existence of God, Heaven, and Hell. Barbara Walters was interviewing people of different faiths, cults, denominations, scientists, and atheists.
The thing that stood out to me most was two-fold: just how many people are dead men and women walking, and the realization that we are surrounded by lost people, and secondly, the primary reason that there are so many walking dead: a twisted and false view of the very nature of God, and all that entails. The Psalmist wrote twice: "The fool says in his heart: there is no God". 
I felt such sadness to hear some of the interviewed.
I was one of them. Until April 21, 1987, I was an atheist. 
The existence of Heaven, Hell, and my heavenly Father, were no less real, but I was blind, deaf, and dumb to the supernatural spiritual until I was slammed with God's perfect love for ME, demonstrated by the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus choosing to bear my punishment and death. It wasn't fear, condemnation, a sense of wrong doing, or anything else that led me to Him, other than me finally being impacted by the furious love of the Father for me demonstrated by Him paying the tremendous price of making a way for my salvation-Yeshua's very life.
Jesus said, " In my Father's house there are many rooms (mansions) ...I go to prepare a place for you...if it were not so I would've told you.."
John 14:2


Jesus' words, and the words of the Lord in the Scriptures are trustworthy and true. His furious love for me-for us-burns with a lover's  jealousy, burning with a white hot intensity like phosphorus... the single use Hebrew term "Shalhevet Yah" comes to mind..it cannot be extinguished.
Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord...

Passing The Baton/Finding Us Faithful

On this 236th birthday of the United States of America, a country that was founded by a devout people in search of freedom of faith and religion, not freedom from religion, I ponder the question:

Will those who come behind us find us faithful?
^"32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, ³³ who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴ quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. ³⁵ Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. ³⁶ Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. ³⁷ They were put to death by stoning;^[a] they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— ³⁸ the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.
³⁹ These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, ⁴⁰ since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

Heb. 11:32-12:2

This great country is now in a period that I liken to the days of the Judges in ancient Israel.
Ruled by godless people pleasers who pay more attention to polls and people rather than God Almighty, idolatry and immotrality abounds, the blood of the innocents who are being slaughtered daily  by the thousands cries out from the ground...
I wonder and ask the Lord , "How long can you allow this?"
We are the remnant, there is a generation arising behind us, and we must be found faithful. There is no room for pragmatism, no gray areas. There is no more time for shrinking back, shirking our duties as disciples, no more than Esther could at that defining moment in her life.
We are responsible to those behind us, we must be found faithful. There is a cost, the right choices and decisions, large and small, must be made, there is no room for staying in a complacent comfort zone...the younger and less mature are watching us, words and deeds making a mark one way or another.
I don't know what lies ahead, only our Father does, but this I know; He is looking for the faithful, who will raise up more faithful behind them.
Beloved, let us choose wisely, and be found faithful...it is our sacred charge.

Breakthrough

Make a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, with cherubim woven into it by a skilled worker.
³² Hang it with gold hooks on four posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold and standing on four silver bases. 
³³ Hang the curtain from the clasps and place the ark of the covenant law behind the curtain. The curtain will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. 


What does  "breakthrough" mean to you? 
To me "breakthrough" meaning tearing through the thing that is holding me back, slicing through the curtain that separates me from the place I need to get to, the place I belong.

That place has only one entry point, and there is a barrier, sometimes many barriers, and just like the angels with flashing swords barred Adam and Eve from Eden, my thoughts, and deeds tainted by worldliness, or lack of focus can put on on the wrong side of the veil
Just like Adam caused his own separation , the barrier preventing my breakthrough is most often myself- my selfishness, my discontent, my fleshly thought and desires...

 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

⁵¹ At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 
Matthew 27:50b-51a

Jesus is the breakthrough to abundant life, for all those who earnestly and hungrily seek after Him...the revelation of the true knowledge of all that He is shatters prison walls, tears apart veils, opens blind eyes and deaf ears, He tears down every vain and empty thought we battle with, heals our wounds, and much more than can be written...
Beloved, seek after Him, advance forcefully, a breakthrough awaits!