“So that you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, also an heir of God through Christ.”
(Galatians 4:7 MKJV)

Looking for a starting place. Looking through my notes. Some thoughts float around in the sea of my conciousness. I am not a slave, but a child to G-d. I don’t want to fear coming to our Creator, our Heavenly Father; and also don’t want to presume to come to Him as a buddy. A.W. Tozer mentioned in one a sermons his dismay when a preacher came to the podium saying he’d just come from a huddle with G-d.
Perhaps our Father asks us to sit upon His lap, to cuddle with Him, even to have a huddle. But first we must come to Him with awe and respect, as a soldier approaches his commander and chief, standing at attention, waiting to be asked to come forward.

Some years ago a movement began in America that helped us understand better how to relate to our Father, our Creator. For many of us, our image of G-d was to view Him as the military General or Supreme Court Judge: standing far off, rigid in his authority, only a select few being allowed in His presence. For some of us that image forever ended with “The Jesus Movement” of the 1960s.

It was during this movement of the Spirit that we came to understand the love of the Father by observing Y’shuaJesus in the Gospels and other writings. We saw how Y’shuaJesus wept at the pain of Mary and Martha when their brother lay in his tomb. We saw the compassion of Y’shuaJesus for the sick, the sinful, the possessed. We discovered He desired to be with us, in our sorry and dirty condition. We found that He would clean us up. This countered the notion that we might come into the presence of the Holy One if we straightened ourselves out, cleaned up ourselves.

Then another shift happened in America. It was in the mid-1980s that churches began to popularize the liberty and freedom we have as children of G-d. The teaching produced a great following that thought they would be happy all the time, wouldn’t suffer any pain or disease, that our buddy Jesus would take care of everything for us. This led to many to play the name-it-and-claim-it game. It led to preachers running to the pulpit proclaiming, “I’ve come from a huddle with G-d!”

It’s a narrow road we walk upon the ridge with liberty in one valley and bondage in the other. There is the pagan way of idolatry, worshiping to get the idol to do the worshipers bidding. The worshiper is the center of the universe, the chief end to all that is. This is humanism, in modern jargon. One the other side of the ridge lies legalism that binds us with laws we can’t observe, guilt that holds us captive, leaving us with a gulf between us and our Creator.

Y’shuaJesus came that we might have life! Abundant Life! This is true liberty, freeing us from the law that we can’t live anyway. This is accepting our salvation in Messiah Y’shuaJesus and relationship with the Holy One, in a relationship with our Father. The veil that separated the Holy of Holies is torn away, and we come into the presence of the Father. But, as the great Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul, teaches, we are not to take that liberty for granted. We are more than children of G-d; we are maturing into sons and daughters of the Most Holy Father. This maturity means we not only have the right but the mandate to come before the King, our Father. We come into His presence, seeking an audience, unafraid, yet with awe and reverence. He is the true center of the universe. He is the King. He takes pleasure in us, and all that we do.

May His Will Be Done in our lives and hearts. Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

“Whom do I have in heaven but You? And I desire nothing on earth but You.” (Psalms 73:25 HCSB)

Take me back, take me back dear Lord
To the place where I first believed you.
Take me back, take me back dear Lord where I
First believe.
Chorus of the song Take Me Back by Andre Crouch

These simple lines speak of desire. It is the soul’s desire after the Lord Y’shuaJesus. It is a deep desire to look upon Him with undiluted, unwavering, rapture. It speaks of wanting to go back to simpler times, when a past life left behind was forgotten, and a totally new life lay ahead.

It speaks, too, of purification. “Jesus said to him, ‘The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean. . .’ ” (John 13:10 ESV) When we first came fully into the fold of Believers, we were washed by the Blood of the Y’shuaJesus. No longer is it necessary to, or wise, go back to that initial washing, asking again for Messiah to die for us. But an occasional foot washing is always needed. For the way in which we travel, we get our feet dirty. This dirt includes cares related to the world and even cares related to ministry.

This foot washing is also a return to the original doctrine, being cleansed of things that might have gotten in the way since the time we first believed in Y’shuaJesus. The letter to the Hebrews says: “to teach you again the basic principles of G-d’s revelation. You need milk, not solid food.” (5:12) Those Messianic Believers are being told that before they go on with more complex things, they need to return to the basics.

The author lists those basics as:
1) Repentance from Dead Works;
2) Faith in G-d;
3) Ritual Washings;
4) Laying on of Hands;
5) Resurrection of the Dead;
6) Eternal Judgment.

In Revelation, our Lord makes the need to return to the place where we first believed paramount in our experience with Him. “I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.” (Revelation 2:2-4 ESV)

This return, this cry of “Take Me Back,” is not a cry to go back to the foot of the cross. No! We’ve been there and need not return. But perhaps we need to go back to the ascension of our Lord Y’shuaJesus, to the desire of His disciples. “. . . [Y’shuaJesus] was lifted up while they were beholding, and a cloud took Him out of their sight. And while they were gazing intently into Heaven while He was departing, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them; and they also said, ‘Men of Galil, why do you stand looking into Heaven? This Yeshua, Who has been taken up from you into Heaven will come in just the same way as you beheld Him go into Heaven.’ ” (Acts 1:9-11 MRC) (Emphasis Added)

We are called to gaze intently into Heaven, to seek earnestly our Lord, our Savior, Y’shuaJesus. We are called to desire Him more than anything else. He must not just be in our thought, but must BE our thoughts upon waking, throughout the day, and at evening as we lay down to sleep. And every once and a while, we need to clean the dirt from our feet. We must rid ourselves of all that isn’t of G-d. We must cleanse ourselves from the dirt of unproductive preaching and doctrine, of unproductive ministry efforts, of relationships that lead away from our first love.

Lord, enable us to return to You, our first love, with the power that burns away the chaff and tarnish, that we may gaze intently into Heaven, then certainly we will see You coming as You left, that we may be gathered up into Your arms, as the Good and Faithful friends You desire us to be. We pray in the Glorious Name of Y’shuaJesus. AMEN.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

“And [Y’shuaJesus] answered and said to them, ‘I tell you that if these should be silent, the stones would cry out.’” (Luke 19:40 MKJV)

Parking at Frank’s Trucking Center, I wondered if this was the place I was suppose to be for the remainder of Saturday and on Sunday, before delivering my cargo on Monday. Being early in the afternoon, I took a walk. While located near two major highways, the truckstop is surrounded by small farms and rows of trees. It wasn’t too long before I saw a sign pointing to the “New Life Baptist Church.” I followed the road to the church. It sat unpretentiously behind a farm house.

As I approached to read the sign, check for the service times for Sunday’s service, I noticed the steeple and the cross above it. It didn’t fit the building style, which was more of a farm shed than the traditional church. But, as steeples with crosses perched upon them are becoming a thing of the past in favor of modern architecture, this was an effort to continue tradition. To my surprise, as I drew nearer, I spotted a bell over the entry to the church. Church Bells, how I love the sound. But, as I previously declared, they’re too silent in America these days.

Noting the time of the service, praising G-d for allowing me to be here and at least see a bell at a church, I thought again, “Perhaps this is where I’m suppose to be, that there is a purpose for me here.” I thought, too, it would be nice to hear the bell ring. It would ease my doubt. You see, earlier in the afternoon, I’d been at another truckstop, but moved to Frank’s. Once settled, and realizing there were not many other trucks or people, or amenities, I’d doubted myself. So I said, “If the bells ring tomorrow. . .” then walked back to the truck.

Back in the parking lot, a driver stopped to talk, asking me if the food was good. I said I’d not eaten in there yet, but heard it was good. We spoke for a minute, and he invited me to join him. We ate and talked. It was a friendly conversation. We finished our meals and he was headed to his truck, to bed, to sleep before leaving in the middle of the night. As we parted, I offered him the “Road Home New Testament for Truckers,” explaining that it contained many stories by truckers as well as the New Testament. He accepted it and thanked me.

“Is this what You wanted, LORD?” I asked and prayed for this trucker.

The next morning I walked to church. A breeze cooled me a bit in the warm, humid morning. I approached the church, parking lot nearly empty. There was no one in front of the church, no one to ring the bell. Just a symbol. Just for looks. I set one foot on the parking lot and bells in a cow pasture rang out. “Oh, LORD, how wonderful You are!” If the show bell won’t ring out, G-d provides another to take its place. As the Psalmist sang, as Y’shuaJesus quoted, even stones will cry out.

And on I went, to the task at hand: Receiving what the Lord had, giving what I might be able to give. For perhaps, too, there are other reasons to be where in a particular place, at a particular time. Lord knows, and encourages me along the way.

Lord Encourage you, too, and Bless, Keep, and Shine upon you always.

And in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of their gloom and darkness. (Isaiah 29:18 MKJV)

The movie “D-Day” played at the post theater in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. My father attended the Command and General Staff Officer College, I attended sixth grade at a local elementary school. While my father rarely spoke of his war experiences with the glider regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, I recall him saying he’d heard about a particular experience recounted in the movie, of a paratrooper.

It happened in Ste. Marie Eglise, France, that a soldier’s parachute caught the church steeple, suspending him above the ground. He remained there for hours. Once the unit secured the city, he was helped down. But he couldn’t hear. It seems the church bells rang and rang throughout the time he hung from the steeple. He was church-bell deaf. Once at the medical unit, medics tried to scream loudly to him, but he still couldn’t hear.

On D-Day, in this French town, a church bell sounded victory. It sounded on and on as a battle raged. It sounded victory even before victory came. It sounded the coming of victory.

I can’t recall the last time I’ve heard a church bell ring out its call to the faithful: its call of fellowship; its call to prayer; its call to worship. But perhaps I’ve not been listening. Perhaps I’ve not heard one because I’m deaf to something that I’ve tuned out. There’s a lot of noise in our cities these days. Perhaps in a small town somewhere, on Sunday morning, when the busy times of the week have passed, I’ll hear the bells call.

I think about the ears of none-church-going folks who, by the weekend, are overwhelmed by the cares of the world. Are they sort of church-bell deaf too, to the call of our Messiah, our Christ. Have they heard it all before, the evangelizing, the tracts, the Christians who invite them to attend church. I think, “What does it take to open these deaf ears to the call of Y’shuaJesus?”

Devotionals reach the hearts of believers. What reaches the heart of the unbeliever? We are called to take the Gospel throughout the world. We are called to live the Gospel, and be the light to the world. We are all called. Period. Each has a different gift to give.

So here’s what I think. I think we each, guided by the Holy Spirit, do our part in opening the ears of the church-bell deaf. I don’t think we take all the ear wax out at once, either. Perhaps our Lord, in His wisdom, allows each of us to do a small part in opening the ears. Seeds planted by one, watered by another. And why not? We are all One Body with many parts.

Are these only clichés? I hope not. My prayer is that today we all over our days as a witness of the redemption we’ve experienced in Christ, the joy of His salvation. His salvation is a living salvation in us, in our lives.

May G-d have mercy upon us, and upon those to whom we are called to reach, one bit at a time.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine

“If only You would tear the heavens open and come down, so that mountains would quake at Your presence. . . to make Your Name known to Your enemies. . .”
(Isaiah 64:1,2 hcsb)

At 7:29 p.m., we arrived at a 7:30 p.m. appointment. My son asked if we were late, as we’d been delayed in traffic. “No,” I said, “we’re right on time.” My son then quoted J.R.R. Tolken from his Lord of the Rings, saying, “The wizard is never late or early; he is always on time.”

But what if we’d arrived at 7:35 p.m. for our 7:30 appointment? Well, it’s a problem in America and Europe, where we would be considered late, and it’s rude and inconsiderate to be late. Now, certainly, it’s not that way in all countries, in all societies. While working in West Africa, we would schedule a conference to begin at say 9 a.m., and people would arrive slowly all the way into the 10 o’clock hour. We were on African time, we would say. Being punctual, being on time, is really relative, and a matter of perspective. Often, however, the expectation of people being on time covers our own impatience and feeling a lack of control over events that we really don’t have control over at all. We want time to be on our side, to go along with our plans, to follow our schedules.

Isaiah looked around and cried out to G-d to come down and His Name known now! Over and over we see examples of this impatience and lack of understanding of the Lord’s timetable. We read of the disciples asking Y’shuaJesus if they should call fire from Heaven at the unbelievers. Peter tells us in his second letter (3:3,4) that scoffers will come in the last days to scoff, following their own lusts, saying, “Where is the promise of His coming?”

These days in which we live may very well be The Last Days. Have we arrived at a point in which this present generation will not pass away before all is accomplished? I don’t know. Y’shuaJesus didn’t tell His closest disciples. He didn’t know. So, when will our risen, conquering Savior and Lord return to take back his kingdom and reign? Perhaps in a minute. Perhaps a millennium will pass. We don’t know. We don’t know the hour of His return. In the meantime, here in America and in Europe, we live under to pressure and struggle of schedules—being on time, not late, not early. And when we fall into this trap, we begin to despair and feel abandoned when things don’t go as we expected, as planned, despite the injunction to live a life in which we follow Y’shuaJesus, saying “If the Lord wills, we shall do this or that.” We must take to heart the words of Habakkuk, “Though the fig tree does not bud and there is no fruit on the vines. . . yet I will triumph in the LORD; I will rejoice in the G-d of my salvation.” (3:17,18)

One final thought on this matter of being on time. We are called to flow in the Spirit. We are like the wind, coming and going. We are not contained. We are also under no condemnation. We must not fall into the trap of judgment by those who would say, “If you’re a Christian, you should. . .” Be on time. Act in this or that manner. Do this or that. The world will judge us late to an appointment if we follow the guidance of the Spirit to act in a manner the world doesn’t understand. We must not despair. We must continue to live in the Spirit, by the Spirit, for the Spirit, of the living holy Creator of the universe.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .