Time to Cling

"Jesus said to her, Do not cling to Me [do not hold Me], for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to My brethren and tell them, I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God." John 20:17

Jesus HAS ascended to the Father. So IT IS TIME to cling to Him.

Why Wouldn't He?

A believer was marvelling over the lovingkindness of God. She was understandably feeling the difference between herself and a righteous, holy God that would still stoop so low to pick her up, create a clean heart in her and present her before Himself; faultless. She asked,
Why would He...?" She was really saying, "Look not upon me, because I am black..." SS 1:6

Why wouldn't He? He says this about her, (and all of us who believe): "Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee." SS 4:7

To those who don't believe in Him, He greatly desires to say it to you too.

Hard Work

"Hard work will always pay off," they say. That's probably a reaction to the tendency for people to generally be slackers. While it's somewhat true, the saying falls short of the application that it is intended to improve.

Over many years, I've noticed that my attempts at hard-work-through-self-effort rarely pay off. The big successes in my job have "dropped into my lap" as gifts from God. I have had to pick up the gift and be responsible with it while depending on Him. The compliments come in, "good job Steve, we appreciate your hard work." I say, "It was the Lord helping me." They say, "You have to give yourself more credit."

"There's no returning to a life of ease
Life in a world that brings you to your knees
Wielding a weapon with a mighty hand
Draped in the banner of another land"

It's the ceaseless hard work for the Lord that pays off. He directs the hard work. We might have to encourage ourselves in Him so that our hands don't hang down and our knees grow feeble. The work that results in a paycheck for us is entirely in His hands. He gives success because He is good and we need to not only feed our family, but give to others and to Him.

Lyrics above by K. Livgren, (Brother Kerry Livgren suffered a stroke last month. Pray for a swift sure recovery for the glory of Christ and salvation of more souls).

The Big Event

Revelation 11:15 is about as exciting to the heart of the Bride of Christ as any verse in the Bible can possibly be: "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever."

The One who wandered this world as one rejected was the true King of Kings. All of us who love Him and His appearing, and grow tired of the continual treachery of the world, get a good dose of excitement from this verse. We will be with Him and reign with Him. He will set everything straight. He will sing over us with joy. We will be in His presence forever.

Ta-Dah!

Cast your burden on the Lord [releasing the weight of it] and He will sustain you; He will never allow the [consistently] righteous to be moved (made to slip, fall, or fail). Psalm 55:22

Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully. 1 Peter 5:7

The cure for anxiety is in the Old Testament and is repeated in the New Testament in case you missed it. It doesn't matter if your burden is from uncontrollable surrounding circumstances, internal circumstances or just plain self-generated; the cure still applies 100%.

Ta-Dah! for us who can live it, Tuh-Duh! for some of us who can't get it through our heads and into our hearts on a daily basis.

Setting up Distinctions

In the last days (in the end time) there will be scoffers [who seek to gratify their own unholy desires], following after their own ungodly passions. It is these who are [agitators] setting up distinctions and causing divisions--merely sensual [creatures, carnal, worldly-minded people], devoid of the [Holy] Spirit and destitute of any higher spiritual life.

It doesn't take a scoffer to "set up distinctions". They, also most accurately called agitators in the Amplified Version above, influence us and cause us to do the same. This verse really jumped out at me after hearing a sister-in-the-Lord come to the conclusion that her brothers and sisters in Christ are against her because she is of a different skin color. She has set up distinctions to her own misery.

We marginalize the agitators, (racial and otherwise), because they are so intellectually, morally and spiritually bankrupt, but their influence, as it turns out, is not marginal. They don't just play with the emotions of the weak-minded. They corrupt everyone within earshot. Not even members of the Body of Christ are exempt since they obviously have an evil influence on us.

Building the Tower of Destruction

The tower of destruction can be described as follows:

At the top there is a turret to propel verbal destruction in all directions: Insults or comments that belittle, discouraging words, impatient passionate statements that come out as anger and various other targeting comments that are either misunderstood or considered punitive.

The structure underneath the turret contains the stairs on which you climb to get to the top and the protective walls. This structure is built out of the desire to change whatever is wrong with our brethren immediately; because we are "right", and can't handle the corruption, (perceived or otherwise), in them anymore. As we lose patience and continue to push for results, we climb the stairs quickly and reach the top where strife, divisions, distinctions, misunderstandings and destruction start taking place as a direct result of firing destruction from the turret.

The foundation is pure pride and it goes deep into the ground to give the tower solid footing. When the pride is replaced with humility, the tower crumbles along with all of the foul material that made it; material lacking the grace and love of Christ.