He is able…

²⁵ Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save^[e] those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.

The phrase “…he is able…” caught me this morning.  I guess you could read it as “…he IS able…” and I am glad that HE is.  He is able to save, forgive, cleanse, bring to wholeness, heal, and on and on and on.  He IS able.  He is ABLE…to save.

Today I get to journey with a family through a very tough time as they have a funeral for their 36 year old son, brother, and fiance’.  I watched last night as they gathered at the funeral home sharing their grief with hundreds of people who had come to express their sorrow to the family.  It was their loss as well.  Chris was surrounded by friends – some he had grown up with ever since they were small children.  It was a tough evening watching people manage life without someone they love.

Chris died as a result of a work related accident.  He was working on some stadium lights 100 feet in the air.  He was standing on the walking ramp around the back side of the lights and some how connected with the power wires there and was electrocuted.  Once the power was cut off, he fell to the ground from that height.  Just writing about it is tough, but last night I spoke to Chris’ friend who was on the ground and saw the whole event played out right in front of his eyes.  Chris died instantly.

I am glad that God is able.  He is able…to save.  I watched with my own eyes and listened with my ears some time ago as Chris struggled with his own salvation and settled the issue one day as he faced some time in the hospital.  I know of no single person who is unable to be saved should they desire to be saved.  We may not feel like we are worthy of being saved but…

HE IS ABLE…!

I remember when I was 11 years old – He is able.  Nancy was 6 when she became a believer…he is able.  The first man I led to the Lord when I got to Florence 21 years ago was a 76 year old man who found out that…He IS able…to save.  I have witnessed to young and old – done nothing wrong to done nothing right kind of people – people who have lived “nice” lives and those who had not been so “nice”…and have discovered -

HE IS ABLE…to save…

Thank You Jesus!

Thank God the Anchor STILL Holds…

¹⁹We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, ²⁰where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.

When life is anchored correctly IN CHRIST you can stand the storms of life.  Thank God!

Will your anchor hold in the storms of life,
When the clouds unfold their wings of strife?
When the strong tides lift, and the cables strain,
Will your anchor drift or firm remain?

We have an anchor that keeps the soul
Stedfast and sure while the billows roll,
Fastened to the Rock which cannot move,
Grounded firm and deep in the Savior’s love.

It is safely moored, ’twill the storm withstand,
For ’tis well secured by the Savior’s hand;
And the cables passed from His heart to mine,
Can defy the blast, through strength divine.

It will firmly hold in the straits of fear,
When the breakers have told the reef is near;
Though the tempest rave and the wild winds blow,
Not an angry wave shall our bark o’er flow.

It will surely hold in the floods of death,
When the waters cold chill our latest breath;
On the rising tide it can never fail,
While our hopes abide within the veil.

I have journeyed
through the long dark night
out on the open sea
by faith alone
sight unknown
and yet his eyes were watching me

CHORUS
the anchor holds
though the ship is battered
the anchor holds
though the sails are torn
I have fallen on my knees
as I faced the raging seas
the anchor holds
in spite of the storm

I’ve had visions
I’ve had dreams
I’ve even held them in my hand
but i never knew
they would slip right through
like they were only grains of sand

CHORUS

I have been young
but I am older now
and there has been beauty these eyes have seen
but it was in the night
through the storms of my life
ohh thats where God proved his love to me

Psalm 101 – Every now and then you need a good bath!

¹ I will sing of your love and justice, Lord.
I will praise you with songs.
² I will be careful to live a blameless life—
when will you come to help me?
I will lead a life of integrity
in my own home.
³ I will refuse to look at
anything vile and vulgar.
I hate all who deal crookedly;
I will have nothing to do with them.
⁴ I will reject perverse ideas
and stay away from every evil.
⁵ I will not tolerate people who slander their neighbors.
I will not endure conceit and pride.

⁶ I will search for faithful people
to be my companions.
Only those who are above reproach
will be allowed to serve me.
⁷ I will not allow deceivers to serve in my house,
and liars will not stay in my presence.
⁸ My daily task will be to ferret out the wicked
and free the city of the Lord from their grip.

It was time for Lacey to get a bath.  I got tired of her walking by me smelling bad.  I had gotten some baby shampoo not too long ago and used it in one of her baths.  She seemed to be frustrated by her dry skin and scratched all the time.  It was time again for a bath so I went to Tractor Supply yesterday and got some medicated dog shampoo.  We have a harness that we put her in attached by a strong strap that keeps her from running around.  She seems to tolerate me giving her a bath real well.  I do it outside.  I have a hose that has a shower setting on it.  I wet her down real good, took the medicated shampoo and began to work it into her.  She liked the rubbing and scratching.  She will shake and get water and suds all over me and the rest of those within fifty feet of her.  Every now and then she needs a good bath.  Her itching has stopped and she no longer smells like wet dog.  I am certain it will last for a few days, but hey, she smells better right now.

Every now and then I, me, Jim Crooks, the preacher, the pastor, the leader of the church, the husband, the dad, the friend…NEEDS A GOOD BATH!

It is always easy to see the warts and bruises on someone else.  It is easy to deal with the stuff in other people’s lives and to give guidance.  But then the Lord puts the mirror up and allows you to see yourself against the loving standard of God.  What a standard for a leader to declare!  This Psalm stopped me in my tracks…

Guess it is time to take inventory!  How am I doing in my praise and worship life?  Am I living a blameless life?  How about my life of integrity at home where those that know me the most?  Can I take inventory of what allow in the eye gate of my life?  What am I looking at and watching?  How connected am I to those who do wickedly as a practice of their lives?  Do I stay away from evil ideas?  Am I ready and willing to stay away from those who slander their neighbors?  How about conceit and pride?  Do I search for faithful people to be my companions?  Do I stay away from deceivers and liars?  Am I ready and willing to see the city of my life and discover where the sin is and ferret it out?

I guess I still hear the Scriptures, the Living Word of God that is our only guide for faith and practice, instruct me to work out my own salvation in fear and trembling.  It is way to precious to leave to chance.  I am reminded again that it is worth the effort and joining us in the process is our wonderful Savior.

OK…let’s get at it!

What if this is as good as it gets?

In light of readings in Hosea…from a preacher who is delivering a message from God to a people who are rebellious and religious…These thoughts come to mind.

In a conversation I had with my friend Ken Smith who has been back in the pulpit of a local church after a 19 year assignment from God to travel as an evangelist around our country, we began to reflect over our lives and the work that we do as pastors.

The major problem that I have is that I am 53 years old and have lived through several generations of people who call themselves people of faith.  We are painfully different today!  The Word of God is still the same and the power of God is still available.  But things have changed!

The whole nature of the world we live in has changed.  We have more advantages than ever.  Technology has made life faster and safer.  We now can communicate faster than ever.  In just 53 years I can now sit at this computer, email a person a note, press a button and the email arrives as fast a lightening.  Texting on the phone is possible now anywhere in the world.  I get messages from Ryan Street who is in India.  I got a cell phone call from Tim Spurling while he was in Romania.  I can carry on a conversation with folk “in real time” over the internet.  I can because of cameras and the internet talk to my son and see him at the same time while he is in Maryland and I am in Florence.  I talked to Fred Kosin not too long ago while he was on assignment in the middle of the ocean serving on an island.   Unbelievable.  Changes are happening faster than we can realize.

The church has changed.  God started out in his grace building a community of faith who could partner with Him in changing not only their own lives but the world.  Now we are a group of people who serve our own religious needs.  The religious crowds care about religious activity not a vital relationship with the Father on a daily basis.  I can ask them to be involved in a family activity that is fun and benefits themselves and folk turn out for the free fun.  Begin to talk to folk about a daily walk with the Father through a daily discipline of reading the Word, seeking what He has to say to them at that moment, ask them to pray and talk to God about what He is saying and they look at you like you have five heads.  We like committee meetings, voting on the color of the carpet, and fussing about the music “we like or don’t like”.  We like to eat.   But when it comes to Worshiping God privately and publicly, getting in a small group and allowing others to be a part of your life and share life with you, and then add to the picture “missions” (giving your life away to someone else for the purpose of the furtherance of the Gospel at your cost), people look at you like you have five heads.

Israel had missed it.  They no longer were living out their daily faith in walking in relationship with God.  Hosea was called to preach to a group of people who had turned their back on this relationship with God and had opened themselves up to a walk of religious activity.  Baptist religion or cultist religion it doesn’t matter one bit.  Religion is religion.  And when people walk after religious activity and religious meetings and somehow think that is all there is to it, SOMETIMES it makes me want to say “is this as good as it gets…”  Religion drains me.  My relationship with the Father excites and restores me.

I am thankful that I get to see change in the lives of people.  I don’t want to hide my head in the sand for I do feel that when it comes to “coming to church and being religious” there will always be a line of people ready to come to church.  However, I am praying today that there is always a remnant of people who care about walking daily with God and obeying his voice.  There were none busier than the Savior who longed for those moments where he could get away and get into the presence of the Father.  He, too, lived among a people who rejected His own message and crucified him for it.  However, there was a group – a small group – but enough to change the world.

I agree with Smith.  Sometimes (and it is only sometimes) I feel like I am standing in the psych ward at the hospital and hear Jack Nicholson say as he did in the movie “As Good as It Gets”, “What if this is as good as it gets?”  After you spend time with families who are walking their marriages right into destruction, watching people ignore the very things that could bring them life and victory, you would wonder some times if the psych ward has not moved to the church house.  I will never get to the place where I submit to the theory that we simply give in and watch religion work without confronting it with the viability and vitality of a relationship with God.

I am depending on the fact that even thought the enemy has come to kill, steal and destroy, that JESUS has come to give us life – ABUNDANT LIFE!   Living in this life may be as good as it gets.  We are on this side of eternity and sins touch is everywhere.  However, HE is as good as it gets.  There is none like HIM!

One of these days we will be free from “here” on earth.  And it will get better.  Alright, I will admit that it is frustrating now.  I will admit that the assignment would be better if I could see massive revival happening.  I am seeing life change and watching God move in the lives of  folk…and for that I  am deeply grateful.  I am 53 years old and have been involved in ministerial activity for 35+ years now.  There is more behind me than before me and I am looking down the pipe at what lies ahead.  I want to end well.  I want to finish.  I want to make a difference.  I want to be God’s man with God’s message for this generation without compromising the Word of God and the heart of God.  OK, if I have to preach to a people like those Hosea has to preach to, and that is my current assignment, then God help me to be faithful.  I think God is frustrated with the condition of man’s heart.  I think He gets ticked when he looks at his people and they care about everything else but HIM and what HE wants.  I think God still sends men to declare HIS truth in the face of a rebellious crowd.  I don’t have all the answers, but at least I get to struggle with it!

Today, Father, in spite of the massive numbers of people who reject you and laugh at your guidance in government, in our communities, and in the church, I am thankful that I get to spend time in this daily assignment that allows me to rub shoulders with a group of people who long to walk with you, hear from you and allow their lives to be changed by the power of God.  I am glad that I get to live my life in front of an audience of ONE!  YOU!  I am trusting you that whether you give me the assignment to preach to a rebellious crowd and watch like Hosea did as the people of God walked right into captivity, or if you give me the chance to lead a group into the promised land, I want to be faithful.

“…so we don’t drift off…

It’s crucial that we keep a firm grip on what we’ve heard so that we don’t drift off.

Keeping a firm grip on anything takes a great deal of concentration.  I watched a group of folk compete in a tug-0f-war contest Saturday evening at Sparrow Swamp Baptist Church.  It was a hoot watching one team pull and the other fall on their faces.  The ones that had a grip and planted their feet well – focused – won.  They got a grip.

Drifting.  I was watching one of the “beach cop” programs on television and heard a woman say that her child had disappeared.  She said she was taking a picture of her other children and looked up and he was gone.  It is amazing how it works at the beach.  You can be in the water playing and the next thing you know if you are not watching end up further down the beach because of how the water is coming on shore.  They found the boy a mile down the beach.  He had drifted down the beach.  Didn’t mean to!

Drifting.  I understand that if you are using a compass in finding your way on a trip that a few degrees off one way or the other can make a major difference.  Not paying attention and drifting off course one degree on a compass – not staying dead on the mark – cost you 92 feet per mile.  It seems very insignificant at the start, but a mile away you are 92 feet off, and at ten miles you are three and a half football fields off the mark. You don’t mean to be off the mark.  A little exactness at the beginning means a great deal of success later on.

Drifting.  Dad’s flying techniques depended on following exact coordinates.  He would have to file a flight plan with the appropriate body and then would have to follow that flight plan when he went up if he was going cross country.  Keeping you safe in the air and making sure they could find you if something unforeseen went wrong was absolutely vital.  Drift a little to the left or right and you are in a a fix.  As a matter of fact you would have to factor in the way the wind was blowing so you could stay on course. You don’t mean to get off course – to drift.  You really have to pay attention to what you are doing so you can be on target.  Thank God for digital instruments and GPS now.  It keeps you from drifting.

Drifting.  I wish I could say that I don’t drift spiritually.  If I said that I would lie.  I have to work on focus a lot.  Staying fresh and making certain that I am staying on target in my own spiritual disciplines.  Salvation is way too precious to take lightly.  It is Monday and there are a lot of things that I NEED to do – or at least I think are major focus areas of my life.  However, focus on my spiritual walk with God is vital to staying connected to God.  For me it is not a matter of HAVE TO but it is a joyful WANT TO kind of thing.  The more I get to know HIM the more I want to be with HIM, hear His voice, and apply what He is teaching me as he journeys with me through this day.

I guess the first step to survival as a Christian “drift off” person is to admit that I have that kind of proclivity.  Maybe I am not the only one with that kind of struggle.  God is getting me back on course every day.

Cheap or Refined – they are still harlots…

“Go and marry a prostitute,…”

It was right there in Hosea.  That’s right sports fans God is speaking to the preacher!  I have read it a lot and yet again I was hooked.  Chapter 1… I am not the first to discover that phrase.  I join a lot of people who found that shocking.  Hosea, prophet of God, was told by God to go marry a prostitute.  I am Baptist enough to know that ain’t right!  But what I have discovered was that my idea of a prostitute is way too narrow.  I only thought of a cheap street walking tramp.

Israel is being a harlot.  The love of the Lord’s life is living a harlot’s life.  They have the best Husband and yet are following after so many other gods…other lovers in their lives.

I was thinking that you are either in love with Jesus and have Him as the ONE love of your life, or you are living the life of a harlot.  It is so easy to have more than one lover.  Cheap or refined you are still a harlot.  You can be a cheesy trashy prostitute or you can be a well dressed Bible Toting Baptist prostitute.  Either way if you have more than one lover.

I don’t want to jump on Hosea’s back or to knock this scripture, but I have seen it happen over and over in this world.  I remember specifically talking to young ladies who fall in love with this good looking stud kind of young man who comes from a well to do family.  The whole crowd is very refined.  He is able to buy a house and has the promise of a great job with a solid education.  His prospects are good.  He has all it takes, but he is LOST spiritually.  The young lady is “committed to Jesus” but is in LOVE with this young man.  She joins herself with a harlot.  They get married and she is frustrated later because he does not share the same values in life.

God tells Hosea that living with a prostitute is tough.  Before you preach to them let me show you what it is like.

I wish I could say this morning that my life was not litered with other loves.  Power, prestigue, position, possessions, have their hooks on all of us at some level.

The Lover of my life called to me this morning, told me He loved me and calls me home again to the one place where real peace and life can be found.

“…the LORD of Heaven’s Armies”

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies!
The whole earth is filled with his glory!”

What must the armies of Heaven be like?  Isaiah was in the Lord’s presence grieving over a lost friend focused on the might of the Lord.  He sees the Lord of Heaven’s Armies…he is blown away.  His perspective is broadened for he sees things that human eyes normally don’t see.  We believe by faith that he saw the Lord high and lifted up.  He describes with certain accuracy the awesome nature of God in all of His glory with the use of limited words.  Words can only partially describe his wonder and awesome nature.  He saw the God of Heaven!  It moved him deeply.

Last night on the news they were interviewing a Marine who was in Afganistan.  4,000 soldiers are there and one of our soldiers died while on the mission.  It is an awesome thing to see the might of the most powerful military in the world.  Think of the ability that we have in sending a missle from one of the submarines in the middle of the ocean and have it land in the window of a store front.  People with that kind of power can be ultra destructive.  We are watching carefully what Korea can do with a nuclear weapon used with a long range missle.  They are a timebomb.  I understand that Hawaii is carefully watching what can happen as they plan a suspected launch on the 4th.  We can only watch.  Iran and Korea all trying to become powerful.

However, in this passage the words that leap off the page for me were “…the LORD of Heaven’s Armies…”  I guess that what startled me was that if we knew just how massive and how powerful the LORD was not to mention the armies of Heaven, we would change our perspective of WHO we would fear and respect.  God can breath on America and we would dissapear.  He can take Korea in all of her pride and power hungry pursuits and dry the country up like a desert.  He must sit in the heavens and laugh at what we call “power”.

He spoke a word and it all started.  He will speak a word and it will end.

Thank God we are under the guidance and protection of “…the LORD of Heaven’s Armies!”

Il Divo

I have enjoyed a wonderful day in Marietta, GA with my mother.  She is an Il Divo fan.   According to their website…” Il Divo were initially brought together by pop impresario Simon Cowell in 2004, following an extensive worldwide audition process. The virtuoso blending of operatic technique with romantic and popular song took the world by storm, with sales of over 22 million. Their first three albums, ‘Il Divo’, ‘Ancora’ and ‘Siempre’ scored 36 number 1 chart positions across 26 countries.”

She called me not too long ago and asked if I would accompany her to the concert.  I was overtaken with the invitation.  We sat third row back in the first balcony.  They performed at the Fox Theatre, one of the nations most historic theaters.  Just walking into that place was breath taking.  Their arrangement of Amazing Grace was stunning.  I will add two songs for your enjoyment.

The Amazing Grace arrangement is embedded on Youtube and not able to be copied.  However, I want you to see it.  Double click on the Amazing Grace piece and you will be directed to Youtube where you can see it…unbelievable!

It was a wonderful evening together.  I am grateful.

Priceless!

Let’s suffice it to say today that I failed at coffee making 098.  And that’s all I am going to say about that!  The SECOND pot is actually going to make it!

Now that being said, let’s move on!

¹¹For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. ¹²It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, ¹³while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, ¹⁴who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

He is writing to Titus – called him once before his “partner and fellowhelper” in the Corinthian Letters.  Dealing with people can be a difficult task.  When the church is mixed with religious people who take the greatest freedom in the world of “grace” and then stop and teach people that you have to keep the law as well in order to be right with God and you add a great dose of ignorant Christians who refuse to learn and walk with God, you have a tough assignment in that local church.  Paul was famous for teaching young ministers and helping them get their spiritual and theological legs under them.  He was encouraging Titus to teach those who were Christians to remember to walk right.

The Christian life is kind of like milking cows – it’s unbelievably daily.  The basics are just that – basic.  You cannot get away from them.  Watching out for ungodly things, being self disciplined in your moral activities, your Bible Study and prayer, fellowshipping with Believers…things that we must be self-disciplined in.  We do not have a choice.  Let me regress a moment – yes, we do have a choice.  Because of Grace and because God made us people with free wills, we can chose to follow Jesus or we can chose to follow our own ways.

I was interested this morning in Paul’s instruction to Titus!  That is simple, but profound.  Paul had to remind Titus and told Titus to remind the Christian family there.  Some one was to take the responsibility to help keep each other on the narrow path.  We cannot do this Christian thing alone.  It is not meant to be done alone.  We need each other.  I am not going to take a moment to pile drive Governor Sanford for his impropriety in office, but I will visit it enough to say that it would have been helpful to our dear friend if he had a Titus up close to his heart who could have been real enough with him to guide him to walk right before God and men.  When we get “alone” and “away” from others we live dangerous lives and open ourselves up to a major impact by the enemy.

I was watching parents at the Tailgate Party the other evening at the church.  The little kids would walk away from the parents but not for long.  A mom was always watching and a dad had an eye on their child.  It was important to keep an eye on your children.  The older youth got farther away that the little kids but the parents still knew where they were.   However, if you took your eyes off of them long enough you gave opportunity for them to get in trouble.  God is still watching his children.  He is expecting his children to watch His children and to walk with each other encouraging each other to walk lives worthy of our name.

I am glad that I have friends.  I have people around me that care!  Priceless!

It’s a Three Legged Race!

³ Do two walk together
unless they have agreed to do so?

Country Preacher!  Not one of those big time preachers on TV all the time.  Just a simple preacher with a message from God that would change the lives of the people forever.  He was given a message for a people who were comfortable and religious.  Doin’ well, I guess you could say.  Comfortable, complacent, severely slack concerning their relationship with God.  They liked they way this preacher started his sermon.  He started kicking the other nations around.  He was preachin’ to them stinkin’ liberals and they liked it.  But what they thought was a seven point sermon actually had eight.  He got to the eighth point and camped out for a while.

I guess they thought that God was their best friend forever!  Amazing what happens when we get comfortable in our walk with God…or can you call it a walk with God when HE is the only one walking.  Coming to church is no substitute for walking with God!  Walking WITH HIM is his idea from the start.  Adam and Eve were to walk to gether in the garden, that is until SIN entered the picture.  They got to thinking in the midst of their comfort that some how God relaxed the commands.  Self-discipline and a sound mind went out the window and we have been suffering ever sinces.  Jesus walked with God and I am glad He did for He made a way whereby I could walk with God.

How could they walk together?  They don’t agree!  They are going in two different directions.  Can’t be friends if you can’t get along.  Let’s see if I can remember here!  I was 11 when I became a believer in Christ and if I remember well, I chose as an act of my free will to die to what I wanted and promised to allow Jesus Christ to be LORD of my life – boss, controller, owner, the ONE I would follow.  I wish I could say I made that decision and I have never had to work on that one again.  However, I find that when I don’t pay attention to something that it has a way of becoming distant.  You can get very used to that kind of thing.  And when you “get used to something” you have to be very careful not to forget!  Comfort and complacency can be dangerous!

Ruth Graham (Billy and Ruth Grahams middle child), in her book In Every Pew Sits a Broken Heart , she tells of a time in her life where her husband relocated a family business in Texas.  He worked in Dallas and she was a stay at home mom on farm they lived on.  His commute was an hour long from farm to Dallas.  He stayed very busy.  She did as well.  Kids.  Daily issues.  Next thing you know they were miles apart as a couple.  He became focused on other women… How can two walk together unless they agree?  I guess you can be together without “being together”.  I guess you can confuse sleeping in the same bed, seeing the same children, eating at the same table, talking to each other on the phone from time to time, with a marriage.  Maybe there is something completely different between being married and being “together” in life.

I am remembering for myself this morning that I made a commitment to the Lord.  He wants to walk with me every moment of every day.  Maybe he wants me to camp out around when our walk started.  Maybe he wants me to hunger for HIM as much as he loves me and wants to guide me.  I am discovering that He wants to guide me more than I want to be guided.  I have a cronic problem with wanting to do what pleases me.  I know I am the only one with that headache, but at least Iam honest.  I am learning.  I have not arrived.

I used to laugh at the Field Day times Nancy used to pull off at McLauin Elementary.  The used to be competitive races.  Now all we have is “sissy let’s make everyone in the world feel good” kind of races.  Everyone’s a winner now!  Like we never compete in the real world.  Anyway, before they took out the competitive edge, she would have a three legged race.  Two people would stand side by side and tie their inside legs that were together with a cord or strap.  Nancy would blow the whistle and the race would begin.  It was a hoot.  Three steps into the race they would be laying all over the ground because they refused to figure out that if they moved their legs at the same time and concentrated on walking together they would go farther down the path.  Someone had to be in charge!  Someone has to take the lead.  When you refuse to learn that, you end up on the ground.

Alright, Lord.  I repent!  Let’s get this three legged race thing going!  I choose to tie my life to yours.  You are the leader.  Let’s go!

Chief Running Preacher!

⁸ “Those who cling to worthless idols
forfeit the grace that could be theirs.

I don’t have a statue of Buddha in my office at home.  There is no burning incense to some deity on a table nor  icons of religious leaders on my walls in my study.  Now, I can hear folk breathing again worrying about that kind of thing.  Neither did Jonah (for the sake of this blog let’s call him “Chief Running Preacher”), but he was traveling with a group of men who were all over that kind of thing.  They worshiped different deities other than the Lord God!  Chief Running Preacher invaded their boat.  Things were going along fine until the running away preacher hopped on board.

It is amazing how irrational a man thinks when he is running from God.  You try to out think One with all the brains and knows all.  Stupid is as stupid does and stupid Chief Running Preacher was on a boat ride into deep water where the Que line awaited for the ride of a lifetime.  It is also amazing how God gets your attention.  Taylor made just for old Chief Running Preacher.  Chief Running Preacher stopped his running once God got his attention.  A big storm, an angry frustrated bunch of sailors, and a quick dip in a deep ocean were the means for getting he and his big fish ride together.  And ride they did.  Big fish swallowed Chief Running Preacher and took him deep in the ocean so he could listen to the heart of God speak.  Rolling around in a fish belly should grab all of our attention.  He started praying.  Smart!

In the midst of that prayer is the verse that caught my attention.  His idol was “doing life his own way”.  And when he decided to do life his way, he forfeited the grace that God provided for him.   I think I am remembering right – Scripture says, ” There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” Prov. 14:12  Maybe that is what is meant by him fleeing from the presence of the Lord.

I am reminded this morning that the way of the Lord leads to the grace of God and is filled with the grace of God.  I want to go HIS way today.

How the Lord loved Jonah!  Free ride from the belly of the big fish right up on the beach near his original assignment given by God.  What confidence the Lord had in Jonah knowing that his preaching would be what changes the whole nature of a city.  Chief Running Preacher ran right into the heart of God.  God was waiting for him there.  When I became a believer in Christ, the greatest Traveling Partner in the world partners with me.  God now lives in me!

Teach me to listen to you, Father!  I don’t want to forfeit the grace of God in my life.

Another one of those “Three’s

⁷ For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

It’s another one of those “Three” things in the Bible.  Father, Son, Holy Spirit!  Body, Soul, Spirt!  Power, Love, Sound Mind.

Timothy got his strength by being around Paul.  He was bold as he could be when Paul was there.  Paul was in prison in Rome.  Even though Paul’s courage and “old man experience and strength” was what protected Timothy, maybe just maybe, Timothy was scared to step out on his own.  Paul saw the potential.  Paul was captivated by the strength of the call on Timothy’s life.  He told him he had a great Godly heritage.  He was raised by Godly women and had a great foundation to work from.  He was timid.

It is amazing what happens when God put a man right in front of Timothy.  We know of Timothy’s grandmother and mother.  The Bible seems to be very quiet regarding any male influence in his life except for Paul.  And what a man to model your life after.  Timothy had a lot of catching up to do and I am certain that his ambivolence in wanting to step up to the plate and be bold like Paul had something to do with his lack of confidence.  Paul certainly was encouraging him.  Timothy knew how to step up to the plate spiritually and lead and be bold because he had seen it in his mentor.

I am reminded that God blessed me with people who encouraged me in my calling.  I am very comfortable that I am called to preach in the local church and that my current assignment from God is to preach here in Florence, SC.  I have had my Paul’s in the past.  I just officiated at my mentor’s funeral a month ago in Jacksonville, FL.  Stafford was one who taught me not be timid in the pulpit but to clearly and graciously declare the truth from whatever pulpit I was in.  I saw it happen in his life.  I got strength from him.

God gave Timothy a great legacy in his mother and grandmother who had the loving sense to raise him in the strength and truth of the Scriptures – the living Word of God – The Bible.  He provided him one more powerful example to follow and his mentor was allowed by God to leave the world two letters that Paul wrote to his friend – Timothy.   Out of love Paul looks this young preacher in the face and tells him that God did not give him a spirit of cowardice, timidity, or fear.  He gave Timothy, Power, Love, and a Sound Mind.

The Power Of the Holy Spirit that lives in us.  “You shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you…”  Not a thought but the complete truth for all believers who are filled with the Spirit of God at salvation.

The Love of God – one of the great evidence that the Holy Spirit lives in you is that the fruit of the Spirit is love.  He, Paul, states to the Corinthian church that “…three remain, Faith Hope and Love and the greatest of these is love.”  He gives us a love for the Father and for those the Father loves.  That is powerful information to our hungry spirits for we now have the ability to love those who are believers and those who are not believers.  We now have a great story to tell to the world.

Sound Mind – Self-discipline – I am like Beth Moore this morning.  I heard her say to the television crowd the other day that she wishes she had something new to say but there are only two things that will feed a sound mind and that is self-discipline in the area of prayer and Bible Study.  Listening to the Father in heaven talk to you – Bible Study.  Talking to him about what He just said to you is prayer.  Heavenly conversation that will impact the mind and keep it sound.

God seemed to be saying to me this morning, “Jim, forget the timidity deal – there is no fear.  I live inside you and you now have the right to claim that you have power from heaven, the power to love others like Christ does, and you have the right to a sound mind.  Celebrate the fact that the Father loves you enough to live inside you.  Celebrate the fact and act on the fact that you are here to encourage the saints and to witness to the lost and minister to people by loving them.  Celebrate the fact that God – through Bible Study and Prayer – will give you a sound mind and give you strength.  Be disciplined in your walk with me regarding Bible Study and Prayer.”

1 Timothy 6 – It never ends

¹²Fight the good fight of the faith.

There are days when I wish you could task four Christian pills per day for ten days and then your work and fight would be over as a Christian.  One could then walk around in great shape with no temptations, trials, struggles and then simply rest it out until Jesus comes to take us home.

OK!  I woke up.  I was reminded again this morning that there is a battle to fight.  There is discipline to exercise.  I was reminded that there is nothing new in this business of walking with Jesus.  Prayer and Study of the Word of God – The Living Word and only guide for faith and practice – are two parts of that discipline that cannot be ignored.  I know that times are changing and that people are doing different than they were in the ’50’s, but, hey, some things never change. I am certain that there are many different things that could be added to the list but in order to win you have to pick up the armor and put it on every day.  You cannot afford to go into this daily kind of battle undressed and unprepared. I cannot pass it off to some other staff person or one of my secretaries.  I cannot expect my wife and children to pick up my slack.  This kind of fighting is for me to do.  I have the responsibility.  Because of the Cross of Christ, and his victory over sin, death and the grave, I can focus, fight, and find myself a victory in this daily pursuit of holiness.

Thank you God for meeting with me today!

The Faith Walk is a fight.  The battle field is right inside my own head and heart.  I am to fight the  good fight.

No time to quit!  Let’s get this day started!

Sometimes it is hard to get the smell out!

OK!  I had to get up early and get to the hospital yesterday and I did not get to blog my verse.  Opal was doing alright yesterday and Betty came through with flying colors.

Now Today! 2 Kings 10

³² In those days the LORD began to reduce the size of Israel.

I wanted to know, why!

King Ahab’s dad was Omri.  Ahab was pretty good politically.  He fortified a number of his cities to protect them from attacks.  He was good militarily.  He made military and trade alliances with other countries which were made with marriages, and marriages, then as now, are cemented with religion.  To support his regime, he married the daughter of Ethbaal, King of Sidon and a priest of the fertility goddess Astarte.   She brough her faith along with her.  It just wasn’t the godly kind of faith.  The marriage began to stink quick.  Quickly the nation of Israel began to smell just like her.  It wasn’t long before old King Ahab was allowing his wife, Jezebel to build all kinds of worship centers to her fertility gods.  Baal being one of them.  Once you get it on you sometimes it is hard to get the smell out.

The two of them are now dead – the place stinking with Baal worship and evil.

Think about how long it took to recover from one more evil king Ahab.  He is now DEAD King Ahab.  Dead King Ahab and his Dead wife Jezebel had worked their evil in the nation for years.  The nation is paying for it.  They thought it was alright to live out a life that had no Biblical World View.  They were the leaders and they could do it the way that they wanted.  They left a legacy of evil in the ranks.  Now there is some cleansing needed among the ranks.  New King Jehu is now on the scene.  New King Jehu loves God and begins the process of cleansing.  The cut off heads of 70 princes of Ahab got together in a sack when delivered to Jehu.  They were piled in two piles in front of the gate.  Next came and interesting gathering of the leaders of Baal.  They had a party and worship service and when it was all over they were the sacrifice offered up to God.  Now the princes and the preachers were dead.  God had done what he promised to the family and friends of old Baal Worshiping King Ahab.  He wanted to get the smell out.

I have noticed that when you go into Subway to eat, you come out smelling like Subway.  When they cook the bread, an odor permeates the place and all the clothing you have on.  I like the sandwiches and put up with the smell in order to eat there.  Israel had eaten at the table of the world around them.  Their neighbors had rubbed up close to them and gotten the smell of their gods and lifestyles on them.  Their view of life was so much different than the one that God had instructed for the people of Israel.  But when you eat at their tables it ought not to be a strange thing to walk away smelling like a non-God centered world.  Baal Worship and it’s lusty fleshly lifestyle had infiltrated the people of God. After all the good that was done by new king Jehu, new king Jehu still did not take the cleansing thing the whole way.  He did a lot of good things but still liked to worship the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan.  The impact of sin is awesome.  Once it gets in the ranks of your life, the church, or anything including the government, it is especially hard to get rid of the problem and it is very difficult to get the smell out.

Call it what you will, but sometimes what is needed is a backdoor revival.

The Lord did some “spring cleaning” in his household.  Piety and righteous living were not primary and the profane had taken over. I guess it shouldn’t be abnormal to hear that God began to reduce the size of Israel.  He was cleaning up and taking out the trash.  Maybe he wants to travel through the tabernacle of my life gather the trash and carry it out.  Could there be some pet sin that I want to keep.  Maybe I still like to worship my own special golden calf at Bethel adn Dan, too!  I hate it when I am reminded that I am still on this side of eternity and that there are things that God is still trying to clean out of my life.  I am glad that HE is doing it and not others who would never be as patient nor loving.  His Grace is still amazing.

I saw the verse and was reminded that God is still Holy and wants his children to be holy. I am reminded that I have the same choice that Jehu – I can get rid of all sin or just some of it and leave the parts that I like.  I guess as long as I have the choice then I get to pay the price for whatever I choose to do.  I can allow myself to be filled with the purpose of God and be a person of piety, or I can choose as an act of my free will to be a person that lives in the influence of the profane and unrighteous.  My choice.

I was just thinking, it didn’t get in that wicked condition over night.  Years of decay and disobedience combined with a friendship with the world opened the door for the nation of Israel to get in that condition.  They walked into it a day at a time, a choice at a time.  Look at the generations that suffer because of the wicked choices of the leaders (preachers, parents, teachers…or whatever word you want to use).  We leave a legacy that generations have to deal with!  Sometimes it can get pretty ugly…

I guess it is easier to keep clean to start with.  Sometimes all the soap in the world will not get the smell out.

“…made the iron float.” 2 Kings 6

⁶ The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float.

If I jump off the top of some tall building, the sudden stop at the end of the drop could possibly loosen up a lot of things in my body.  Thankfully there are laws of nature that can give us pain at the end of a stupid jump but are also our friends as well.  Gravity holds us to the earth and keeps us from spinning helplessly out into space.

I guess every time I read this passage, I get caught up with the floating axe head.  Here is a group of preachers who gather to be around Elijah.  They are respectable prophets themselves but they are smart enough to connect to a master teacher who will be their guide and mentor.  They have a need for a larger space for their group to gather and learn. They go and build a simple place to stay.

The axe head was borrowed.  The prophet was not a bit lazy.  He was willing to care for what was borrowed and wanted to do what was right.  Now the borrowed axe head was no longer on the axe handle but now in the water.  Iron does not float!  No joke – fact.  The Book, The Bible – the Living Word of God -  said it was made of Iron!  No joke – fact.  You use things made of iron as an anchor not a floatation devise.  You can twist this story all you want but the laws of nature will not make the axe head float.

Elijah asked him to show him where it was.  He cut a stick and dropped it in the water and the next thing you know – Iron Axe Head Floats!

The God of Nature is not tied to its laws.

I remember that when the budget is low and we (in our human efforts) are seeking to find man made ways to make the weekly demand.  So far the financial axe head has floated.  God has never let me down.  He has never given me all I wanted but has always given me what I needed.   When I am in a counseling session and I see two bull headed people headed right for a divorce and it seems that the laws of nature are again going to show a head on collision – I remember that the marriage axe head floats.  God still can help to “iron heads” keep things together.  You would have thought it would have sunk to the bottom and drowned but again it floated.  God still allows the simple Word of the Living God to be preached and lives still are changed.  What seems impossible always finds a way in the hands of a God not tied to natural laws.  He can still stop a flowing river and allow people to walk across.  He can still open blind eyes and heal broken bones.  He can still cause people who are drowning in the world to float to the top, be rescued and returned to the OWNER who made them – Saved at last!

OK, Tammy – so the pills are wiping you out and you feel like you are drowning in the “feel bad days” – remember axe heads still float.  The God that governs nature is still  ABOVE it all.

Oh, to see my confidence REST in a God who still causes fish to gather on the other side of the boat, calls dead men to “come forth” from the grave, can speak to a fig tree and watch it die instantly, who can become a man and die for the sins of the world giving us hope…and yes, still calls those of us who are so swamped and drowning in the world to float.  It is funny to me that he cut a new stick and the axe head floated to it…

On a hill far away, stood an old rugged cross…that “stick” is still doing supernatural things – for in the hand of God nothing is impossible.

In God’s hands – Axe heads can float! – I am depending on it!

1 Timothy 1:5-6 It’s what drives us!

5who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. ⁵For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time.

Vacation Bible School Report! I am reminded again this morning to affirm what the Scripture, the Bible – The Living Word of God – states about God wanting all men to be saved.  I will always be so thankful to Teresa Godwin and her fine staff of volunteers who sacrifice each year to tell boys and girls about Jesus.  This year’s experience was no different.  We enrolled 411, high attendance of 351 on Wednesday, had over 450 last night at the celebration, and had the chance to see 12 young people give their lives to the guidance of Christ as they became believers in Christ.  It was awesome for this preacher to start the celebration baptizing Ms. English.  She comes every year to Vacation Bible School with friends and this year was a different year for her.  All the preparation of former years bore fruit as she responded as a 9 year old to the gospel message.  She asked if she could be baptized here at Southside and I will admit that I did not have to pray about that one.  Yes!, was my answer.

We long to see folk saved.  We ask them deliberately to make a decision to follow Christ.  This week’s focus was on Peter a follower of Jesus.  He had not always followed Christ.  One day while he was attending to his very viable and fruitful fishing business, Jesus came along and asked him to follow Him.  Peter dropped his nets, left it all and began a three year process that changed his life forever.  He chose to become a follower of Christ.  On Wednesday, I had the joy of joining the rest of the volunteers who were teaching and carefully confronting the people with the gospel in making an appeal for them to follow Christ just as Peter did.  By the end of the week I had a chance to witness 12 that gave their lives to Christ at Vacation Bible School, a dad who carried me out to lunch and had is daughter explain to me how she accepted Christ as Lord at home as dad led her in a prayer of commitment to Christ and then had a young student tell me how she went home and led her friend to Christ following Vacation Bible School.

Mandy Godwin has been attending Vacation Bible School since she was four.  Her 22nd birthday was yesterday and she has only missed one Vacation Bible School in those years. That one year was when she was on summer mission assignment with the South Carolina Baptist Convention with a focus on Children’s Missions.   Her mother is our Minister to Families who have Children and she has watched her mother minister for years.  I have the joy of watching a second generation Children’s Minister being released right before my very eyes.  She is to be married in September and will be moving to the Augusta – Aiken area where I am more than certain she will be involved in Children’s Ministry.  She and Rick Estes (our Minister of Worship and Arts – and the set designer for Vacation Bible School) were our worship leaders for the week.  They had a missions offering competition going on.  The money collected would go to local mission efforts and missions education.  Of course, Mandy represented the girls and Rick the boys.  The group that collected the most would have the joy of watching the other representative being tarred and feathered and do the chicken dance during the Friday evening Celebration.  As it worked out the girls won and rick ended up with the delight of being tarred with chocolate pudding and feathered – and I understand he did a superb chicken dance.  The children collected over $1,700.00 to go toward these missions projects.

THEN as if that wasn’t a blessing from heaven, another one came my way.   I got a call from Romania.  Tim Spurling, the medical doctor on the medical trip, told me that they had seen in all the clinics that week 950 people.  He had seen 95 of those folk give their lifes to Christ after being confronted with the Good News of Christ’s love for them.  It may have been midnight in Romania when he called, his back may have been killing him after standing and dealing with people all week, his voice weak from the labor there, but you could tell the joy in his heart as he explained what he had seen God do this past week.  One tenth of the people they saw made a commitment to Christ.

All the effort, the travel, the money – all of it – is worth it when we get to heaven and see in its fullness all we can and cannot see now of how God worked to see folk’s lives change.

Latest from India as of the last Facebook post:  Ryan and Chris write:

Orphanage in India where Ryan and Chris labored

Dearest brothers and sisters we send you greetings in our Lord Jesus Christ and also our brothers and sisters here in India. Here is what has been happening and what we need prayer for. Yesterday we were on a retreat with the Bible college teachers and it was good. One of the teachers caught fever and was very sick. Ryan and I got to lay hands on him and he recovered that very night praise God. Be in prayer for us for this next eight days Ryan and I will be teaching English to the orphans. We leave Madurai the twenty sixth and we will arrive in Hanamkonda on the twentyeighth early in the morning to work with Dr. Wilson and the Banjara people. In a sense we will be starting over again and will be here for God willing two weeks to a month. Here is some things we need prayer for: discouragement, patience, and being bold in why we are here not to forget the gospel. Specifically for myself it has been the hardest thing to get into the presence of God but be encouraged last night God definitely met with me. Pray that we will stay strong in seeking His face. We also have some other things on our heart in the future that need serious prayer and discernment for. Ryan and I both have found it in our heart to try and go to the state of Manipur which borders Myanmar also known as Berma. We need prayer and discernment for there is a lot of fighting going on in this place over drugs and a lot of underground and military violence. So be in prayer and if you have any prophetic words or words of knowledge or encouragement or praise reports please email them to us or write them on the wall of the Love India group. Keep also in mind that we have our eyes set to boldly proclaim the gospel in Varanasi Lord willing. This is the Hindu holy city or mecca and known as the most religious city in the world. What better place for the gospel to come and the Spirit of God to come in power? Thanks brothers and sisters for your prayers and encouragement. We miss you all and love you all very much!

Ryan and Chris

Psalm 82 – A Song for Our Leaders

⁸ Rise up, O God, judge the earth,
for all the nations are your inheritance.

I read about them in the Bible.  One of the benefits of the Word of God we know as the Bible is that God recorded for us good and bad.  There were good kings and bad kings.  There were kings that followed what God said do and there were kings who thought themselves to be little gods and did what they wished.  I read of one today.  In 2 Kings we read of Ahaziah who fell through the lattice work and hurt himself.  Listen!

¹ After Ahab’s death, Moab rebelled against Israel. ² Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers, saying to them, “Go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to see if I will recover from this injury.”

³ But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?’ ⁴ Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘You will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!’ ” So Elijah went.

He was King in a nation that God blessed seeking the blessing from Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron.  I guess it was normal for him for Ahab his predecessor had modeled that behavior.  Ahab and his dearly beloved Jezebel had done all they could to wipe those of faith off the map.  It was time that the Nation of Israel tasted life from the gods of the rest of the world.  They were tired of their land being a one-sided God fearing nation.  Let’s give all these foreign gods a chance.   Go ask the “Lord of the Flies” if I am going to get better!  (Jesus used a similar phrase Beelzebub (prince of the demons) to describe the devil himself)   Ahaziah had a chance to change things.  He didn’t.

Enter stage left – Elijah, the prophet and preacher – God tells him to tell these servants of this disobedient king to tell the king – “Did I somehow quit being the Lord of this nation?”  “Did you forget about me?”  Your little injury will cause you die.

And die he did.  The king who failed to remember that there is a God in heaven, seeking the advice a god other than God Himself, ended up never leaving that bed.  He died.

I grieve over the fallen state of political leadership in our country.  It has nothing to do with Democrat or Republican.  It has to do with what I perceive as a president who has no concept of a Biblical Worldview.  I am watching our key leadership govern from a perspective that there is no God in heaven…no guidlines set out by the Bible.  I grew up watching a great deal of mischief happen in the political arena, but nothing like I am seeing today.  Here we have a president who declares that Jesus is a prophet and puts him in the same line up as Mohammed and Abraham.  He is moving away from what we have held sacred in the area of marriage.  He acknowledges the homosexual lifestyle as a valid alternate lifestyle.  He is distancing our country from Israel and doing all he can to “partner” with those who have been enemies for years.

History shows that there are kings or presidents who are sensitive to the guidance of God and there are those who would solicit the guidance of any god.

I am glad that the Lord of the Hosts of Heaven is still in charge and will not fail to guide us.  I am thankful that I can yeild myself to His control.  God is not wandering around heaven wondering what He will do next.  Watching Him work is a daily task.  We are placed in an interesting place in His-story!  I wonder what He will do today?

That’s just how I see it this morning!  Just a few rambling thoughts…

Seasoned with salt!

⁶Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Wiersbe says, “…A thoughtless word of criticism, a questionable remark, an angry word—any of these could tear down in a minute whatever Christian testimony others have tried to build up. (Wiersbe, Warren W.: Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the New Testament. Wheaton, Ill. : Victor Books, 1997, c1992, S. 372)

I love to laugh and find my self crying from time to time.  A good joke that makes me laugh is great medicine to my heart every now and then.  Being at Bazen’s in the morning and listening to a bunch of men deal with laugh, tell stories and rib each other from time to time is one of the high points of my day.  However, I am reminded that I am to have a conversation that is seasoned…flavored…by the grace of God that has saved me.  I deplore hypocritical unreal legalistic religious and overly pious Pharisee type Christians.  If I fail at times it is to be far more “earthy” than slobering pious in the way I carry on a converstation.  I don’t have trouble being “nice” in my conversation, but I ain’t running for office or trying to impress the Queen of England with my use of the English language.

However real I might feel, no matter how earthy the words  would fit, I was reminded today to be a person that fits well with the grace that has been bestowed on me.  The grace on the inside should be reflected in the careful use of words.  My whole person has been redeemed…including the use of my language.

I have the opportunity to build up a person and encourage them even if they are not present.  I have the choice at every point to use stories and jokes that build up instead of tear down the Christian testimony that I consider to be precious.  I am reminded that the Lord’s presence in me – that sweet presence of the Holy Spirit – is there to hold back any thing that would bring destructive expressions of anger forward to my lips.

I read Lori Dulaney’s twitter this morning and heard her heart.  She wants to go to the beach.  I don’t blame her.  I do, too!   I saw a picture of a young couple at the beach.  They were busy, shovels in hand, building their version of a castle.  You could tell that it was very important that they not quit their day job because their creative abilities in the area of sand castles was lacking, but the important thing was that they liked it and enjoyed doing it together.  They labored for hours on it and were excited at their results only to discover that it took one big wave to undo what had taken so long to build.  What was a beautiful creation was now making its way into the ocean!

The wrong comment, the inappropriate story at the wrong time can damage a testimony.  I am reminded of that today.  God forgive me when I have misused my words.  I want to live a great testimony for you today.  I want my words to be seasoned with salt!

Vacation Bible School Report for Wednesday

348 present and over 400 enrolled

We are tallying up the number of children who indicated a desire to become believers.

Continue to pray today as the teachers follow up on the decisions…

Jim

Set your mind on things above – Command not a Suggestion…

²Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

At least I am learning where the battlefield is located.  The mind is the battlefield.  The enemy, Satan, wants to control my mind – fill my mind with his thoughts.  He wants to do so.

Let’s see if I can remember the verse that Barry Lord taught us in one of our worship experiences and that I heard Beth Moore repeat the other morning.  God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a SOUND MIND.  We have been gifted by God with a sound mind.  This battlefield has been bought back.  It has been redeemed and now can change.  It used to be the open receptor of all the information that the enemy wanted to put in it.  But God took that mind so bent on the flesh and opened it up by his death burial and resurrection to buy it back and let it become sound.

He instructed me today to “set” or fix mind on things above.  I don’t have to hunt the gutter, it finds me!  I know where it is and the voices that scream from it are insufferable.  I have not always lived as a redeemed person because I allow my mind to be fixated on things that do not please the Father.  I am longing today (and it only happens a day at a time or morning at a time, or a minute at a time or even battle seceond by second) to allow my mind to be fixed on things above.  I want to allow my mind to rest in things above.  I know I will have all the help I need from the enemy in his attacks to think on things below…but I choose above.

May he be praised!