Up

Long past, is the time to remain asleep.
In anticipation, this world howls and weeps.
This day, give Him your soul to keep.
Oh dearest Christian please wake up.

Your time in life is but a whisp.
His plan, your purpose coexists.
Confront the darkness that persists.
Oh, dearest Christian, please stand up.

Popular today is “Seek your own”.
Either help my cause, or leave me alone.
Life and death are in our words and tone.
Oh, dearest Christian, please speak up.

Only what’s done for Christ will last.
His glory, nothing can surpass.
Shine brighter His light, your only task.
Oh, dearest Christian, please build up.

The enemy prowls, a subtle charmer.
Sewing tares in the wheat field of The Farmer.
Daily, take up and put on the Armor.
Oh, dearest Christian, please Dress up.

We’re in a time of itching ears.
Seeking our wants, not hope for our tears.
God’s truth will restore our eaten years.
Oh, dearest Christian, lift Him up.

No longer tossed by falsely fables.
Renewed our minds and made us able.
To share His truth and therein stand stable.
Oh, dearest Christian, please grow up.

Strengthened in faith, endeavor to run.
Not condemned, our trust is in the Son.
To the hills, is where our help comes from.
Oh, dearest Christian, please look up.

His treasure in hand; returning Merchant.
No shame or fear; our love proves fervent.
Well done, though good and faithful servant.
Oh, dearest Christian, please live up!

Here’s The Word:

Roman 12

1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

verse 9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. 10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; 11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; 12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;

verse 21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.


Stay UP!

In Him,
Cros

Godless

At my most basic core, I have an almost insatiable inquisitiveness. I mean in ways that almost make me wonder how I ever got along in a world without Google or other searchable content. And when Biblegateway.com (and others) made the Bible easily accessible and searchable: Yes!!! It meant more to me than you can imagine.

I know that the Scriptures don't address every issue, I don't find that to be a problem, but often enough I wonder just how much it weighs in on certain things: Like today's post title - Godless. I did a smart keyword search to see what would come up.

Here's The Word:

2 Timothy 3:3-5 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

I don't think I was as much surprised as I was soberly resolved. The Bible addresses our choices, our states of mind and our consequences, but remember, The Bible is God's Word, and it makes sense that He never speaks as though He's ever absent.

We may choose a multitude of different deities or belief systems, God speaks on that.

Isaiah 44:8 Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.

So choosing any other than; The Almighty, The Alpha and Omega, The Ancient of Days, anyone other than Jehovah Himself, means you've chosen an empty throne, but not a "godless" reality, just a wrong choice.

We may choose to deny God, opting for science or other explanations for the world that we live in, God also speaks on that.

Psalm 14:1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

2 Timothy 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

If there is no hereafter, then morality is the best that we can accomplish - and if there IS a hereafter, then even the best morality leaves you just as ill-prepared for it as total anarchy. Job says it like this Job 20:5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?. Choosing NO god, is choosing the wrong God.

Even when we try and convince ourselves that we've gone too far and are now somehow abandoned by God - Either in arrogance, or pitiful penance, God speaks on that.

Psalm 139:6-8 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

We preach about a God Who is Omnipresent, meaning there is absolutely no escape from His presence. There's nothing you can do to lessen, diminish or erase God from a situation. He will stand as judge over all, and He will stand victorious when this is all over.

Isaiah 55:6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

This means, fall humbly on His mercy while He is yet, merciful because once the time of harvest comes, there will be no rest or respite from His judgments. There is a throne and there is ONE Who sits on it. Search all you want but God has not left a true option to consider any situation, godless.

In Him,
Cros

Hijacking The Narrative

I try to stay away from much of the undertow that happens on Facebook – political debates, slanted news stories, non-validated claims, ‘chain anything’ or celebrity hype. But last week, a friend of mine shared a video about how “Black people are rejecting the ‘white’ Jesus and white supremacy. This, of course, got my attention and these are the kinds of Facebook things that prompt me to speak.

This idea of “Hijacking the Narrative” is not new and it’s author is well known: None other than Satan himself.

Here’s The Word:

Matthew 4:3-10 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

Hijacking is always a slight of hand play. It tries to take what you see and undermine it by presenting a distorted cause or condition that affirms the switch. The devil, knowing that bodily, Christ was hungry, sought to play up His godly abilities with a ‘disobedient’ self-centered focus. Could Christ have turned stones to bread? Of course….that wasn’t the question, but the enemy tried to make it the concern. Just like the Facebook post from my friend stating that “Black Christians all over the world are waking up and rejecting “white” Jesus.

Even if Jesus really was as WHITE as possible, (we all know He was Jewish) does that have absolutely anything to do with His commission from The Father, His commitment to the Cross, or His compassion for the lost? None whatsoever. Honestly, there are “Black” Christians all over the world who don’t have the American slavery influence when it comes to their conversion experience like this post implies their being ‘woken up’ from.

Then, there’s the tie which isn’t even the Devil’s best work when it comes to subtlety, because he used the term "white Jesus" that there’s an immediate connection and support of white supremacy. The Bible doesn’t support the idea of anyone suppressing or disenfranchising anyone – even when it does talk in terms of slaves and masters which is not a direct correlation to Slavery in America – The Bible was written to Jews in their time and then expanded to non-Jews in their time which included the idea of slaves and masters. White supremacy is not a white Jesus phenomena, it’s a sinful heart phenomena.

The fullness of our belief system is not simply based on Jesus. Our salvation is ordained by The Father, accomplished by Christ, and confirmed in us by The Spirit - and the Father and Spirit have no color. The Bible tells us in 1 John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

If you’re the kind of person that’s easily persuaded by people’s narratives, it would benefit you to develop better habits in regards to confirming the things you hear:

     • First, ask yourself, what’s the motivation behind what I’m being told?
     • Is there more than one side to this story? Not everyone who disagrees with you is automatically lying or crazy.
     • Is there source information I can check to validate the claims being made?
     • What benefit is there for me to believe this?
     • Do these claims contradict a well-established truth? Not that it’s impossible to counter a well-established truth, but in that case, commit to investigating things further.

Jesus says of Himself that He is the Way, the Truth, and The Life (John 14:6) And I believe that it’s the Father’s heart being expressed in 3 John 1:4 where it says he has no greater joy than to hear that His children walk in truth.
We have to have a desire – a hunger for truth and a corresponding energy level that seizes the opportunity to clarify and affirm it, for our benefit and the benefit of others. Most news stories today come with a twist of a fact here, an unrelated connection there, a sprinkling of a redefining of motives and intentions and it’s become hard to believe anything you hear. You may (or maybe not) feel provoked to get involved, but this twisted thinking will not stop at trivial matters, it will come to undermine the truth of The Gospel, and already has. Which is why we're encouraged thusly;

Jude:3-4 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Pick your battles. That’s why I pick to support and defend these most important of issues – Christ and Him crucified – sufficient to the salvation of the lost, to the Glory of God. This, I will defend against the slight of hand; against those trying to hijack the narrative.

In Him,
Cros

Try Me

'Try me' is usually fighting words. It’s a challenge issued with the assurance that you’re about to make a believer out of someone who’s made the serious error of underestimating you…usually. Fact is, often times in situations of an altercation, it’s not a bad idea to throw an agitated yet confident “Try me!” out there just to see if it can avert an escalation of the confrontation. That’s called bluffing.

See, there’s this thing called ‘easy believism’. It’s a bluff. It’s the idea that once you’ve thrown out an agitated yet confident “Save me!”, then all the work is done. There’s no lasting conviction and no lasting commitment.

As true as God’s word is where in Romans 10:9-10 it talks about the relationship between confession and salvation, that’s simply where it all starts. Confession is evidence of a conviction and commitment is where we ought to be serious about becoming more than mouthing the words.
A show of hands: How many of us out there would volunteer to stand before God and say “Try me!” – Yeah… seems crazy doesn’t it? Of course not in a confrontational way but in a sincere request to have God “do His thing” to check our hearts and the strength of our commitment. If we’re honest, we don’t really want that. We’d rather opt for the quiet humility of peace and prayer and stay off of God’s radar…but is this right?
Firstly, God is not that kind of God – He’s a try me God as well as a trying God. He encourages us to try and test Him, and He tries and tests His people. There’s no way around it and surely no way out of it.

Here’s The Word:

Psalm 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

Psalm 26:2 Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.

Lamentations 3:40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.

Jeremiah 17:10 I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

The right answer and the right attitude is to commit and submit. Isn’t it right for God to prove what He’s making? If you’re repairing or replacing the railing on a raised deck or better yet, the brakes on your car, isn’t it right for you to shake things or repeatedly mash that peddle to make sure that things are going to work like they’re supposed to? Of course it is. Now just think about what God is making: A gift for His Son. A bride, spotless and pure. How much more shaking and mashing are required to be confident that this gift will be all that it’s supposed to be?

Daniel 11:35 And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.

Zechariah 13:9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.

Now you have to ask yourself, are you more concerned with your comfort than with Christ’s Glory? Are you more committed to giving yourself to becoming that thing that God is well pleased to present to His Son? Can you step out and say “Try me, Lord, have thine own way” ….or are you bluffing?
Yes, it goes without saying – It’s easier said than done, BUT it’s SO worth doing that saying it just isn’t enough. We don’t DO easy believism.
In closing, allow me to clarify this one thing; chastising and testing are not the same thing but in the Hands of a loving Father, both produce good - in us, for His pleasure. We need to learn to see and appreciate the process of sanctification and not shrink away from God’s testing. 'Try me' doesn't have to be fighting words, they can be faith-ing words.

James 1:3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. (which is part of the fruit of The Spirit)

In Him,
Cros

1Fight

Initially, I thought that the title for this post would be "Shadow Boxing", but now that I've had time to think on it, I think that shadow boxing, while conveying the right idea that it's only ourselves that we fight against - shadow boxing promotes the idea of training, but fighting promotes the idea of endeavoring to win.

So, what’s your fight?

You probably have more than one, but usually there’s one in particular that leaps to center ring as first on our minds.
Our fights are as wide and varied as we are as individuals. It could be as seemingly benign as household chores, or as relentless and frustrating as trying to love difficult people in a Godly way. There's no shortage of contenders.
We know we should be better about these things, but somehow they come with a flurry of jabs that make you want to throw in the towel. So what do we do?
We usually avoid these bouts altogether. Either that or we end up altering our personality in order to deal with it long enough for it to go away...we rarely become the fighter that we need to be to win.
I'm not knocking resistance: However, just as there are some urges that we need to resist, there are some that need to be dismantled altogether.

Who are our opponents? How do we recognize them? How do we know when we have a fight on our hands? The Spirit will let us know. If we’re growing in sensitivity to His leading, there will be instances where making the same old jokes just aren’t as funny anymore, or when our usual responses to common situations feel strangely different. When our actions are met with an inner tinge of conviction or a reflection that your behavior or response isn’t as godly as you know it ought to be – there’s your fight. Now don’t mistake the guilt of a bad choice with condemnation. There’s a big difference between conviction and condemnation. The Spirit uses conviction to draw your attention to your weaknesses. Its then up to you to appropriate The Spirit’s strength to fight for the peace of obedience.

Here’s The Word;

1 Corinthians 9:27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

I wouldn’t say that I’m KJV (King James Version) only but it is my preference. However, in this case, the NIV does a better job contextualizing the intent. The internal subjection we need to stay under is a fight. A fight against ourselves. It’s a fight against the death throes of our old man of sin. In the power of Christ, we're able to turn the tables and put "flesh" on the ropes. We keep him in the corner in order that our new man of Life can shine the light of Christ for the whole world to see.

Christ doesn't train contenders, He produces champions! Look at Romans 8 and tell me what you see. It's all about victory over the flesh.
We know that we’re being transformed into the image of Christ, and as this new nature becomes more and more real IN us, So many things need to take root – patience, peace, temperance, stability, contentment and the like. None of these things happen quickly and they hardly happen at all if we’re not honest about how old things still affect us. But if we can grab ahold of the truth of the matter - the victory in Christ - we can see that our old man is not even a worthy competitor and that this fight can be a round 1 knockout.

Father, you know my weaknesses.
the strength of all of my might.
You know my easily besetting sins
and all the battles that I fight.

Teach me to use Your power, God,
To stand against my flesh.
When it tries to revert to old dead ways,
Breathe on me afresh!

When my words lack encouraging grace,
Help me enslave my tongue.
I want to be faithful in running this race.
I fight that Your Will be done.

I fight to shield evil from my eyes.
It's a battle I sometimes lose.
Help me to gaze on your holiness.
I'm wholly Yours, what wonderful news!

Old wants and desires fight for control.
The only option is defeat.
I fight and die daily, enslaving my flesh.
To be spiritually minded. Complete.


Be encouraged. Be trained. Be ambitious. Be humble and be ready.
Your fight is winnable, but it's not for the faint of heart. The flesh has deep roots, strong influence and a wide stance.
Just when you think you've got one issue beat, here comes a sneak attack from another angle that catches you off guard, causing you to stumble. The flesh is a relentless opponent with weighted gloves, he doesn't fight fair.
The flesh also has a strong corner and a vicious coaching staff - he works with the world and the devil to distract, disrupt and destroy. That's why we stay in shape. We stay on our toes and we stay aware that the counter-punches can come at anytime from anywhere.
We can't control what the devil or the world does but The Bible has answers for that - For the devil, we resist
James 4:7 - Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
For the world - We take heart that Christ has already beaten that bully. John 16:33 - These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
and for the flesh, that's where we appropriate Christ strength, prove our allegiance and grow in righteousness...we fight that one fight.

In Him,
Cros