When the Storm Breaks....

"When the storm breaks, each man acts in
accordance with his own nature. Some are
numb with terror, some flee, some hide,
and some spread their wings like eagles
and soar on the wind..." --from Elizabeth,
the Golden Age

Recently I watched this movie and
was struck to the very depths by this quote
made by the Queen's prognosticator when
she frantically comes to him to help her
see the future and how to act.

We can only hang onto ourselves for
so long. We can only hold up a front so
far, can only pretend to be brave or good
or holy while things are in a manageable
state. It is when the perfect storm
breaks over our bow that we will find
out who we are. It is when our inner
England is besieged by a great Armada
that we shall find out what we are made of.

Dear ones, the perfect storm approaches.
You cannot escape it. It will test who
you are--and you and God, and the devil,
and a great cloud of witnesses will get
to see who you are. Prepare for that day,
but know that you cannot really prepare for
it, certainly not in your own strength.

You must give yourself to preparation, but
it will be bigger than any preparation you
can muster, and more powerful than
anything you can do to oppose its onslaught.
That day may come to us in different ways--
whether singly or corporately--that is up
to God. Either way, throw yourself now
into the arms of God!

Perhaps it will come, as the Day of
the Lord, to all of us, all at once.
Perhaps it will come in persecution or
disaster or terrorism. Perhaps it will
come to you individually in sickness, or
personal meltdown, or grief too heavy to bear.

On that day you will act in accordance
with your true nature. Allow God to
hammar away at your inward parts, allow
Him to purify and cleanse and reinforce.
Allow Him to strip away and to build upon.
Allow Him to tear you down and build you
back up.

He knows what He is doing and He is doing
it so that you will stand in the coming
evil day. You must trust His Hand in your
life. You must trust that He sees what you
do not see, are afraid to see, and that
His judgments are good and true and lead
to life.

He wounds to heal, for we are most
certainly already weak unto death
from our own self-inflicted wounds,
and the wages of sin within and without.

Some day you will meet yourself.
It will be the person that God already
sees and knows you to be. No doubt
it will be a surprise, even a shock.
Turn up the heat and impurities rise.
There is no shame in this, we are
all cut from the same infected stock.

God is our only answer and what He
wants to make of you is glorious:
a candle upon a hill, a light to
the nations, a testimony to
principalities! But first, you
must let Him make you like Himself.
Trust is the key.

Take out of the closet all that
you seek to hide. Even if you cannot
run toward Him, fall toward Him,
Even if your legs feel like cement
blocks, and you cannot move, look
to Him. Even if you feel He has
forgotten you, keep at your post--
He most certainly has not forgotten!

What the devil seeks to destroy
is your simple trust in your
God and His goodness. Think of
how many times you have been
misunderstood, thought poorly
of, unfairly accused of some evil
that was not in your heart. When we
believe that God is not good
and pure and true and a present
Help in time of need, we do
to our Father the same injustice--
meanwhile, the devil laughs with glee.

It is our time to give ourselves
fully to the inseparable Covenant
that Jesus provides for us.
It is time to allow ourselves to
be inexorably united with God.
It is time to allow Him to purge
out anything in us that would make
walking with Him disagreeable.

An evil armada is on the horizon.
Draw near to God. Make use of the
daily insights that He gives you,
however disturbing to your ego,
to look at yourself through His
eyes. He is trying to save you
great embarrassment and shame
by allowing you to experience
small humiliations. See them
as a gift. Allow the daily deaths,
and you shall rise to life indeed.

A difficult day is coming but
a great and marvelous one
is coming, too. Look past the
coming storm to see the Son
rising and calling all those
who are hidden in Him to
rise gloriously with Him.
Therefore, hide yourself in Him.

The pure in heart see,
and shall evermore and
only see,
God.

spiritual preparation
faith in troubled times
endtimes

G.K. Chesterton on Education....

I am quite prepared to promise the secularists
secular education if they on their side will
promise not to have moral instruction. Secular
education seems to me intellectually clean and
comprehensible. Moral instruction seems to me
unclean, intolerable; I would destroy it with fire.

Teaching the Old Testament by itself means teaching
ancient Hebrew ethics, which are simple, barbaric,
rudimentary, and, to a Christian, unsatisfying.
Teaching moral instruction means teaching modern
London, Birmingham and Boston ethics, which
are not barbaric and rudimentary, but are corrupt,
hysterical and crawling with worms, and which are
to a Christian, not unsatisfying but detestable.

The old Jew who says that you must fight only for
your tribe is inadequate; but the modern
prig who says you must never fight for anything is
substantially and specifically immoral. I know quite
well, of course, that the unreligious ethics
suggested for modern schools do not verbally assert
these things; they only talk about peaceful reform,
true Christianity, and the importance of Count
Tolstoy. It is all a matter of tone and implication--
but then, so is all teaching.

Education is implication. It is not the things you
say which children respect; when you say things,
they very commonly laugh and do the opposite. It
is the things you assume that really sink into them.
It is the things you forget even to teach that they
learn.
... G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936)in the Illustrated London

G.K. Chesterton
Christian education
separation between church and state
modern morality
Christ and culture
truth and error

The Bliss of Christ

"Our natural will is to have God, and
the good will of God is to have us, and
we may never cease willing or longing
for God until we have him in the fullness
of joy. Christ will never have his full
bliss in us until we have our full bliss
in him."
- Julian of Norwich

sky scene taken on the road to Abergevenny, Wales

"I have a feeling that my boat has struck,
down in the depths, against a very great
thing."--Juan Ramon Jimenez

"For what man knoweth the things of a man,
save the spirit of man which is in him? even
so the things of God knoweth no man, but the
Spirit of God." --1 Cor 2:11

Devotions From the Heart: A Bruised Reed

by Derek Gitsham

"A bruised reed shall He not break, and
smoking flax shall He not quench, till
he send forth judgment unto victory."
Matthew 12:20

Matthew uses this Scripture from the
Old Testament in Isaiah 42:3. This
chapter opens up with a servant song, as
they are known, songs that are prophetically
referring to Jesus. There are many of them
revealing the wonderful return of Jesus.

They make a wonderful study of the Lord for
the hungry heart. Matthew omits a verse here
that Isaiah 42 includes. It is verse four.
“He shall not fail or be discouraged, till
He has set judgment in the earth: and the
isles shall wait for His law.”

One of the most marvelous things about the
Lord with His people is that He never forces
us into doing anything. He is a perfect
gentleman. He is not a manipulator or controller.
The Holy Ghost, who is resident within the saint,
never forces us to do anything. He quietly
whispers within the heart, gently, seemingly
in the background, making us feel that maybe
something is not right, or not as right as we
thought it was.

As verse 19 of Matthew 12 records, ‘He shall
not strive, nor cry, neither shall any man
hear His voice in the streets.’ No pressure
tactics are applied to the heart, just gentle
whisperings that can almost be missed unless
the saint is intent on hearing what God is
saying, and separates himself from the world
to get quiet before the Lord. There, in that
quiet, we find out His purpose for our life.

So gentle is the Lord that a bruised reed in
His hand will not be broken. Even a smoking
flax, almost out, shall not be quenched.
Almighty and all powerful as He is, He deals
with such gentleness with men. Phariseeism and
legalism are hard. They would have stoned the
adulteress in John. Jesus forgave her and loved her.
Peter’s broken heart after betraying Jesus,
He sweetly mended. He is a God of rescue and
restoration.

David cries out in Psalms 18:35, ‘Thy gentleness
made me great.’ Paul to the Romans 2:40 says,
‘The goodness of God leads men to repentance.’
Oh, how gentle is our God, how sensitive to our
needs, how unobtrusive, that in His hands we will
survive. We will not be broken here or our flames
quenched. Keep believing saints. He will keep you
alive and bring you back from the dead.

Most surely the Comforter has come. He will comfort
thee.

a bruised reed

I implore you in God's name, not to think
of Him as hard to please, but rather as
generous beyond all that you can ask
or think. ---Abbe de Tourville (1842-1903),
Letters of Direction

photo taken in Porthcawl, Wales

How long the road is. But for all the time
the journey has taken, how you have needed
every second of it in order to learn what
the road passes by.

--Dag Hammarskjold, "Markings"


photo taken in Calhan, Colorado

Colorado photography
Calhan,Colorado
Dag Hammarskjold

Spurgeon on Psalm 3:2

"Many there be which say of my soul,
There is no help for him in God. Selah."
Psalm 3:2

David complains before his loving God of
the worst weapon of his enemies' attacks,
and the bitterest drop of his distresses.
"Oh!" saith David, "many there be that say
of my soul, There is no help for him in God."

Some of his distrustful friends said this
sorrowfully, but his enemies exultingly
boasted of it, and longed to see their words
proved by his total destruction. This was
the unkindest cut of all, when they declared
that his God had forsaken him. Yet David knew
in his own conscience that he had given them
some ground for this exclamation, for he had
committed sin against God in the very light of
day.

Then they flung his crime with Bathsheba into
his face, and they said, "Go up, thou bloody man;
God hath forsaken thee and left thee." Shimei
cursed him, and swore at him to his very face,
for he was bold because of his backers, since
multitudes of the men of Belial thought of David
in like fashion. Doubtless, David felt this
infernal suggestion to be staggering to his faith.

If all the trials which come from heaven, all the
temptations which ascend from hell, and all the
crosses which arise from earth, could be mixed
and pressed together, they would not make a trial
so terrible as that which is contained in this
verse. It is the most bitter of all afflictions
to be led to fear that there is no help for us in
God.

And yet remember our most blessed Saviour had to
endure this in the deepest degree when he cried,
"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" He
knew full well what is was to walk in darkness and
to see no light. This was the curse of the curse.
This was the wormwood mingled with the gall. To be
deserted of his Father was worse than to be the
despised of men. Surely we should love him who
suffered this bitterest of temptations and trials
for our sake. It will be a delightful and instructive
exercise for the loving heart to mark the Lord in
his agonies as here portrayed, for there is here, and
in very many other Psalms, far more of David's Lord
than of David himself.

Let thy desire be the vision of God, thy
fear the loss of Him, thy sorrow His absence,
and thy joy in that which may take thee to Him;
and thy life shall be in great peace.
- Teresa of Avila

photo: a gathering storm, Garden of the Gods,
Colorado Springs, Colorado

Teresa of Avila

Devotions From the Heart: Do You Know the Holy?

by Derek Gitsham


"I neither learned wisdom, nor have
the knowledge of the holy." Proverbs 30:3

The tabernacle that God instituted in Israel
for His dwelling place among them was a
wonderful picture of the heavenly. Referring
to the blood of Christ in Hebrews 9:23 the
apostle says, “it was therefore necessary
that the patterns of things in the heavens
should be purified with these, (the blood of
bulls and goats) but the heavenly things
themselves with better sacrifices then these
(the blood of Christ).”

The tabernacle was called a worldly sanctuary.
“For there was the first tabernacle made; the
first wherein was the candlestick, and the
table and the showbread, which is called the
sanctuary. And after the second veil, the
tabernacle which is called the Holiest of
all.” (Hebrews 9:1-3). It was the “Holiest of all”
because God came down and sat upon the mercy
seat, which was upon the ark of the covenant.
It could not be entered into by any other
than the High Priest once a year, not without
blood (Hebrews 9:7).

While that covenant remained and the
tabernacle, the Holy Ghost was saying that
the way into the Holiest of all was not yet
made manifest, because the first tabernacle
was still standing. After the death of Jesus,
the price and penalty for sin having been paid,
and Jesus having ascended up to heaven with
His blood, cleansing (purging) the things in
heaven, sat down on the right hand of God,
sent the Holy Ghost down from heaven on the
Day of Pentecost. He is the knowledge of the Holy.

It was the Holy Ghost that was going to confirm
now that the way into the Holiest was now open,
as the Hebrew writer says (Hebrews 10:19):
“Having therefore, brethren, boldness (liberty)
to enter into the holiest by (in) the blood of
Jesus.” The new covenant has opened the way into
the Holiest. Now God’s people may have the
knowledge of the Holy. Now we have no excuses,
the knowledge of the Holy has been made manifest.
What a wonder for the saint to enter the Holiest
of all! We are made holy by His sacrifice, we
are not going to be saints, we are saints. We
are sanctified, made holy, by His power.

Paul describes the Corinthians, in the first
epistle, as being many things before they met
the Lord. But then he says, “Such were some of
you, but ye are washed (regenerated), sanctified,
but ye are justified, in the name of Lord Jesus
and by the Spirit of God. This is the knowledge
of the Holy, being made holy! How are we made
holy and sanctified? By faith in Him (Acts 26:18b).
Oh, that God may give us more of the knowledge
of the Holy. The way is open.

Sometimes I go about in pity for myself
when all the while a great wind is
blowing me across the sky.
--Ojibawa saying

photo taken at the Paint Mines, Calhan, Colorado

Colorado photography
Calhan,Colorado
Paint Mines

Be still and know that I AM God. --Ps. 46:10

We must be still and still moving
into another intensity.
--T.S. Eliot, East Coker

photo taken on the road to Abervergenny, Wales

Wales photography

You ask then how I knew He was present,
when His ways can in no way be traced?
He is life and power, and as soon as He
enters in, He awakens my slumbering soul;
He stirs and soothes and pierces my
heart, for before it was hard as stone,
and diseased.
- Bernard of Clairvaux

photo taken on Gold Camp Road, Colorado Springs

Gold Camp Road, Colorado Springs
Bernard of Clairvaux

O Holy Spirit, Who breathes where you will,
come into me and snatch me up to Yourself.
Fortify the nature you have created, with
gifts so flowing with honey that, from intense
joy in your sweetness, it may despise and
reject all which is in this world, that it
may accept spiritual gifts, and through
melodious jubilation, it may entirely melt
in holy love, reaching out for uncircumscribed
Light.

--Richard Rolle (1290?-1349),
Concerning the Love of God

photo taken near Cripple Creek, Colorado

Cripple Creek, Colorado

Spurgeon on the Psalms: Psalm 2

Why do the heathen rage, and the people
imagine a vain thing? The kings of the
earth set themselves, and the rulers
take counsel together, against the LORD,
and against his anointed, saying,

Let us break their bands asunder, and
cast away their cords from us. He that
sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the
LORD shall have them in derision. Then
shall he speak unto them in his wrath,
and vex them in his sore displeasure.
Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
(Psalm 2: 1-6)


The glorious reign of Jesus in the
latter day will not be consummated,
until a terrible struggle has convulsed
the nations. His coming will be as a
refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap,
and the day thereof shall burn as an oven.

Earth loves not her rightful monarch, but
clings to the usurper's sway: the terrible
conflicts of the last days will illustrate
both the world's love of sin and Jehovah's
power to give the kingdom to his only Begotten.

To a graceless neck the yoke of Christ is
intolerable, but to the saved sinner it is
easy and light. We may judge ourselves by
this, do we love that yoke, or do we wish
to cast it from us?

Charles Spurgeon, A Treasury of David,
Psalm 2
entire commentary here

The Holy Spark

Run away, far away, from people
who will not let your light burn brightly.
Better yet, turn and burn wildly in their
presence.

God has put a bold and unique Holy Spark
of Himself in your spirit. He blows
upon your inward hearth, urging that Spark to
ignite into a brightly burning Flame,
Christ, the Fire, within.

Beware of those who would try and
extinguish that flame, whether it
be a roaring inferno, or a smoldering
wick. Your Lord promises not to,
so do not let others try to.

Run away, but not before you allow
that Fire to rise up and burn quickly
out of control so that these
illicit fire quenchers are also
set ablaze and turned back from
their dastardly mission.

Their hearth is stone cold and
their home shows no sign of life.
If they were alive they would not
seek to extinguish that which burns
within you!

Maybe resurrection will arise from
the ashes.

Our God is a Consuming Fire!

It is not necessary to maintain a conversation
when we are in the presence of God. We can come
into His presence and rest our weary souls in
quiet contemplation of Him. Our groanings, which
cannot be uttered, rise to Him and tell Him better
than words how dependent we are upon Him.
... O. Hallesby, "Prayer"


photo taken at Stumpy Lake, Virginia Beach, Virginia
35mm film

Spurgeon on Psalm 12: The Sighing of the Needy

“For the oppression of the poor, for the
sighing of the needy, now will I arise,
says the LORD; I will set him in safety
from him that puffs at him.”
Psalm 12:5.

...“For the sighing of the needy, now will
I arise, says the Lord.” And the dear child
of God to whom I refer wrote a letter to say
how remarkably God had blessed this text to
her comfort. She was in sorrow and trouble
and somewhat given to sighing—and she thought that,
perhaps, God was grieved with her for sighing—
but this text greatly cheered her. She gives
a little picture of what she thinks the texts
means. I will tell you what she writes, for it
will be the best part of my sermon by a long way.

She says, “When I am in bed and my little child
wants its mother, if it utters a petulant cry,
I do not take any notice of it. I know that it
ought not to wake mother up and disturb her with
its selfish cry. But if, instead of crying, it
seems very weak, and very sad, and it gives a
sigh, I cannot stand that, but go to it at once!

When it does not cry to me, or cry for me, but
I only hear it sigh, then I get out of bed at
once and go over to the little cot to see what
is the matter.” “Now will I arise, says the Lord.”
See, it is the sigh that fetches the mother out
of bed! There is great power about a sigh in the
ears of a loving mother! If the child could speak
and say, “Mother, come to me,” mother might answer,
“Not so, my Dear, lie still.” Or if the child only
cried out in hastiness, “Oh, come to me!” mother
might reply, “Be still, child, be still. You are not
suffering as much as you fancy you are.”

But when the child involuntarily, in its weakness
and sorrow, utters a little sigh, mother has
heard it, and she is at once out of bed and by
the side of her little sighing child! Is not that
a capital explanation of the text, “For the sighing
of the needy, now will I arise, says the Lord”?

See, then, the power that there is in the sorrows
of God’s children to touch the heart of their great
Father when He hears their sighs! When those sorrows
come to be so bitter that the sufferers can scarcely
pray. When they cannot find any language in which to
express their grief. When even their desires seem to
fail and they are so broken down and made so
weak by the various troubles that have crushed them
that it comes to just this sighing and nothing more,
then God cannot be still, He must get up! He has gone
away and hidden His face before, but now He sees that
the time has come to manifest His unchanging love and Grace!

“Now will I arise, says the Lord; I will set him in
safety from him that puffs at him.” Yes, Brothers and
Sisters, God hears our sighs even if we cannot hear
them ourselves! When we think we have not
prayed at all, we have often prayed the best! When we
imagine that our groans have been empty, they have
often been the fullest! When we sigh because we think
we do not sigh, God hears that sort of sighing which
is only a longing to sigh! He hears the grief when the
grief has no voice. He hears the sorrow when the
sorrow cannot find a tongue. Then note that as the
Lord hears our sighs, those sighs touch His heart.

The wicked have been puffing at the godly. They said,
“Our tongues are our own, who is the ruler over us?”
The Lord took no notice of them but let them blaspheme
if they would. But there arose the sad sigh of His
children and that touched Him! He could not bear that.
It seems to me a very wonderful thing that the
Almighty, the Infinite, to whom the Heaven of heavens
is nothing, who takes up the isles as a very little
thing, to whom all this system of worlds is but as
the smallest grain of dust that does not turn the
scale, yet is,as we say, “all there,” when His
children sigh—and His heart is touched, His heart
is moved—His whole being is full of an infinite
compassion! He cannot bear that sighing. “Now will
I arise, says the Lord. I will get up from My
Throne of Glory that I may deliver My people.
I have heard their sighs and I cannot stay away
from them!

Love masters My Omnipotence! I feel but one
force—the force of my overwhelming love! It sways
Me and impels Me to speed to their relief. I will
get out of My hiding places, I will end my
withdrawals from them, I will rend the veil and
come out from between the cherubim. Now will
I arise, says the Lord.” What has caused all this
mighty movement? Nothing but the sighs of His needy
people!

the complete sermon by Charles Spurgeon
is here

Charles Spurgeon
Psalme 12:5

Devotions from the Heart: The Healing of Betrayal

by Derek Gitsham

"For I have received of the Lord,
that which I also delivered unto you,
that the Lord Jesus the same night in
which He was betrayed took bread. And
when He had given thanks, He brake it
and said, ‘Take eat: this is My Body
which is broken for you: This do in
remembrance of Me." 1 Corinthians 11:23-24

The Communion service is one of the ordinances
instituted by the Apostles for the Church.
It was to be in remembrance of Him, and to
“show forth His death till He come” (verse 26).

Betrayal was at the heart of the Lord’s death.
Betrayal and sin began in heaven with one of
God’s creations, Lucifer, rebelling against
God and being cast out. What had initially
taken place in heaven, for sin began in heaven
not on earth, again took place on earth in the
life of Jesus. Behind all that was going to
take place in the life of Jesus, leading Him
to Calvary was going to be prompted by an act
of betrayal. When Judas came to bring the
accusers of Jesus, to signal Jesus out to them,
he kissed Him. Judas betrayed Him with a kiss.

It is interesting to note that betrayal and
intimacy go together. David, in the Psalms,
and also quoted in John’s Gospel, says that
they hated Him without a cause (Ps. 18:7;
John 15:25). Hate needs no cause, hate is
the cause. Jesus knew He was being hated by
men. He informed His disciples He was being
hated, therefore, they would be hated.

The Apostle Paul in our text uses the word
"betrayal." The Lord is forcing us to face
the fact that unless we have been purged by
the Blood of Christ deeply; the possibility
of betrayal lies in us all. Betrayal is a
dark thing. ‘Judas then left them and went
into the night.’ The end of Judas is relevant.
He hung himself. Dare we suggest that betrayal
lies far more deeply in the heart of man than
Judas’ betrayal of Jesus? Was Judas living a
life of betrayal, so in the finality of things,
found it easy to betray Jesus?

Do we betray the One we love by the way we live?
To have communion with the Son of God, and one
another, we must be clear of the possibility of
betraying one another. Jesus said, ‘He that
lifts up his heel against Me is the one who
will betray Me.’ This is an elusion to a restive,
ill-natured house, which sometimes kicks even
that person that feeds and takes care of him.
Jesus said of Judas, ‘he that eats bread with me’
meaning that Judas was intimate with Jesus.

Jesus is our deliverance. He will keep us
from betrayal and rebellion, only as we seek
to be all His and His alone, having no other
agenda, but to be His Life in a godless world
where betrayal is the norm.

Communion with Jesus will free us from betrayal.
Being betrayed, He communed. It is the antidote
to betrayal. God keep our hearts locked unto Him
and Him alone.

Devotions From the Heart: Knowing What We Worship

by Derek Gitsham

"You worship you know not what: we know
what we worship: for salvation is of
the Jews." John 4:22

How true are these words spoken by
Jesus to the woman of Samaria at the
well. Idolatry, idol worship is dead.
False religions know not what they
worship, but the worship of the Jews
is a knowledge—we know what we worship.
The words “what we worship” would be
better translated “who we worship,”
for salvation is of the Jews.

Interestingly here, Jesus likens worship
with salvation. A man has to know the
salvation of God to be a worshipper. That
means he has got to be changed from what
he was to what the Lord now will make him
by regeneration.

If a man is going to have the right knowledge
of God to make him a worshipper, it will be
because God has done a work in him. He
experiences justification, regeneration, and
sanctification/holiness and this in turn will
enable him to worship God. No experience of

God makes a man devoid of the ability to worship.
A man must testify to a complete work of salvation
having been wrought in his life if he is to
worship God. Sin cannot worship Him, dead self
cannot; the old man of sin will not. Sin has to
be slain in the man, the life of corruption put
to death, crucified with Christ, then raised
from the dead to die no more. He then qualifies
to be a worshipper. No death to the old,
no worship. The nature of salvation has got to be right.

So many are lead into the things of God by
spurious means. They have not undergone a death,
not experienced a resurrection or a receiving of
the Spirit. Warm, fuzzy phrases, totally unbiblical,
have wrecked havoc in the Church and lives are
barely changed that claim they are now Christian.

The only way a man can know what he worships is by
knowing what God has done in Him. Salvation is what
God does to you, not what you do for God. This and
only this will cause us to know whom we worship.
We know Him when He sets us free from sin.

A Complete Conversion?

Therefore I tell you that no one who is
speaking by the Spirit of God says,
"Jesus be cursed," and no one can say,
"Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.
-- 1 Corinthians 12:3 (NIV)

A conversion is incomplete if it does not
leave Jesus Christ in the central place in
one's life. The shortest possible description
of a Christian--a description with which the
New Testament would fully agree--is that a
Christian is a person who can say: "For me
Jesus Christ is Lord."

Herbert Butterfield's words about facing the
future are good: "Hold to Christ, and for
the rest be totally uncommitted." Any alleged
conversion which does not leave one totally
committed solely to Jesus Christ is incomplete
and imperfect. -- William Barclay ,
In the Hands of God

photo taken near the Spanish Peaks, Colorado

true conversion
William Barclay

Psalm 46

There is a stream, whose gentle flow
Supplies the city of our God;
Life, love, and joy still gliding through,
And watering our divine abode:

That sacred stream, thine holy word,
That all our raging fear controls;
Sweet peace thy promises afford,
And give new strength to fainting souls.
... Isaac Watts (1674-1748),
Psalms of David Imitated
[1719], from Psalm 46
_____
Psalm 46 (New King James Version)


To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons
of Korah. A Song for Alamoth.

1 God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.

2 Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried
into the midst of the sea;

3 Though its waters roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with its
swelling. Selah

4 There is a river whose streams shall
make glad the city of God,The holy place
of the tabernacle of the Most High.

5 God is in the midst of her, she shall
not be moved; God shall help her, just
at the break of dawn.

6 The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved;
He uttered His voice, the earth melted.

7 The LORD of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah

8 Come, behold the works of the LORD,
Who has made desolations in the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
He burns the chariot in the fire.

10 Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!

11 The LORD of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah

photo taken in Pecos, New Mexico,
of the Pecos River


Psalm 46
Pecos, New Mexico

Keeping our Eyes on Jesus!

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and
perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set
before him endured the cross, scorning its
shame, and sat down at the right hand of the
throne of God." (Hebrews 12:2)

As a new year starts, there will be, no doubt,
much to distract us from keeping our eyes
on Jesus. May we resolve never to let that happen!
Only Christ is a Calm in the storm, a Hiding
Place in the dark and dangerous hour, and
a worthy and everlasting Vision!


photo taken near Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs,
Colorado

Colorado Springs, Colorado
Hebrews 12:2

Devotions From the Heart: Worship: A Reality Check

by Derek Gitsham

"God is a Spirit, and they that worship
him must worship him in spirit and in
truth." John 4:24

These words were spoken to a woman of Samaria,
while fetching water from Jacob’s Well at Sychar.
Jesus was thirsty and asked the woman for a drink.
She exclaimed in total surprise: “'How is it that
you being a Jew askest a drink of me which am a
woman of Samaria?' For the Jews had no dealings
with the Samaritans.”(John 4:9)

The conversation proceeds from living water to
a well of water till finally they arrive at the
subject of worship. Jesus tells her that He
knows she had five husbands: this causes her to
marvel and she begins to really listen. Arriving
at the sixth hour of the day was is significant
because few people would have been there at the
well. She obviously was ashamed to be seen because
of the type of woman she was. But Jesus showed
His love and care to her. She was forgivable and
savable, as all men are, and that is what mattered.

Worship is what the Father desires from us. He
seeks such to worship: those that worship in Spirit
and in truth. The word “truth” is translated
“reality” amongst other things. To to be a
worshipper we must be real. What does it mean to
be real? Reality has been far from the shores of
many saints in these days. Spiritual reality must
be present if we are to worship. That means that
the things of God must be more real to us than life
itself. Deny this aspect of things, the reality of
God to us, and worship is not attainable.

The Christian life must work if we are to be
worshippers. You cannot be one thing in a church
and another thing in the world. You have got to
know what you say and say what you know. This
is not a guessing game.

Paul exhorts the Corinthians in the second
epistle 13:5, “Examine yourselves whether you
be in the faith, prove your own selves.” There
are many ways to test yourself: Do you sin
willfully? Do you long for holiness? Are you
longing for God? Is He in all your thoughts?
Do you practice righteousness? Is he sitting
on the throne of your heart? and much more.

God make us very real; give us spiritual reality,
that we may worship in spirit and in truth.

Whoever preaches with love
preaches sufficiently against heresy,
though he may never utter a controversial word.
... Francois de Sales (1567-1622)


photo taken in Manitou Springs, Colorado
at the Rainbow Falls


heresy
Manitou Springs, Colorado

A Determined Journey of Love

It is the night of our dear Savior's birth.
And just as He came, illuminating the dark,
the Eternal Light rising in Israel,
even in the nations,

so must we cast His Light like a flaming net,
gathering up those who dwell in the darkness.

This is no time to hesitate,
not time to think it through,
or sit, vacillating, in the safety
zone that shall soon be dangerous.

Here is a call to action: to
bold shows of fervent love toward God
and man, to large slices of kindness,
heaping portions of forgiveness,
giant wedges of the inability to
be offended; to patience unending,
and hope unrelenting, and faith
unfettered.

May lesser things be gone, may
sitting and watching be finished,
pack your bags, my friends, and
go on a determined journey of love.

There is no time like now,
no moment like the present
to get really right with God,
to wash the slate clean with every
man or woman who has caused you to sorrow,
to trip, to turn away from
the One True Life you can have
only in God.

There is None like He,
No Life like His life,
no love so fervent, so pure,
so righteous.

Do you hear that Love calling
to you, even now?

To Boldness! To extreme acts
of love! To the Highest Place!

Go out into the streets searching
for those lost in every way.
Look in the wards of the sick,
who have turned away from the
Heavenly Physician.

Help them demolish what
holds them back from the
Only One who can heal.
Tear down the roof to let
Him in!

Look even in your own home
for the one gone astray: the
one for whom Christ is still looking
for, calling for, praying for.

Implore them with kindness,
Ply them with understanding,
Beg them with unfeigned affection
to turn toward the Light.

This is Christmas! More Christ!
All Christ! Fall on your knees!
O hear the voices of angels and
men of good will calling you
across the centuries, to
the eternal kingdom of the Father.

In a manger crib the Child
came to us, showing us what
it would be like to be held
at the mercy of others.

Hold, therefore, others with Mercy!

Christ comes to you, still,
yes, to you, watching how you
will treat Him, seeing what
you will give Him!

Play your heart like a drum
for Him. Play your best for
Him. See Him smile. See Him
reaching out His hand,
lighting up the universe,
lighting up you,
in the spontaneous combustion
of a fiery flame of
Endless Love!

Lo, He has come to send
a fire on the earth and
what if He wants to use
you as kindling?

Burn, then, with an
incendiary passion for Him.
Burn, my dear friends,
burn fiercely at the cold, hard,
dry death that is consuming
your neighbors and friends.

If you do, this shall be
a Christmas to remember:
you and I, a blazing fire
in the hearth of God.

Do not waste a moment,
who knows how long any
of us have?

Christmas
the gospel
love
the fire of God

Lord, let your love enlighten the eye
of my understanding with the light of
trusting in You. Help me see Your
truth as You reveal it to me. Make my
memory big enough to hold your kindnesses.
Set my will on fire in Your love. Let that
fire melt my most intimate being and make
me bleed with compassion for others.

- Catherine of Siena, --

photo taken near Monument, Colorado

How Shall I Know If You Belong To God?

The world is darkening around us,
even now it is dusk
and your features are becoming
indistinguishable.

How shall I know if you belong to the Beloved?
Who goes there? friend or foe?

You may smile with gleaming white teeth, but
how do I know if that is because they
have no history of biting or because they have
been merely bleached white with Crest strips?

You may sing like an angel,
but how do I know that you have
not taken lessons from the Dark Song Leader
who was thrown out of heaven?

You may tell me I am a "wonder", "precious',
"the greatest thing since smoked salmon",
but how will I know that these endearments
are not sugar-coated rat poison or chocolate
covered shark teeth?

You may drip oil, glisten with gold glitter,
be knee-deep in angel feathers, but how
shall I know if that is from God or
just you gone mad at the Craft Emporium?

I will tell you how I will know--
come here and stand close to me.
From inside of me a Heavenly, Holy Ghost shall arise
and call out to you, with wordless words,
He guards His oasis inside because it
is His to guard. He knows all things.

Even a voice may trick me, but
the Ghost Most Holy cannot be tricked.
His Presence dances--up and out, from
a wordless place,
soaring, heaven-bound, sending out
the spiritual sonar, checking for some
sign of Himself, the Divine Fraternal
Handshake, the Heavenly High-Five,
looking for Himself in you.

When I see the big grin emerge on
His Face, I know that I may call
you Brother, Sister, Friend of God.

When He gives the "all clear"
then out go all the formalities
and the chairs are pulled away from
the tables, and we dance on them
until the Sabbath is over--
the space between us gone,
squished together like
two peas in a heavenly pod.

We shall know if we
watch and listen to Him.


"Wherefore we henceforth know no man
after the flesh: even though we have
known Christ after the flesh, yet now
we know him so no more."
(2 Corinthians 5:16)

"And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth
heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped
in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with
the Holy Ghost." Luke 1:41

"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try
the spirits whether they are of God: because
many false prophets are gone out into the
world." 1 John 4:1


true and false prophets
2 Corinthians 5:16
deception
I John 4:1
heresy
Luke 1:41
discernment

Christ Coming Home

To be perfect with God you must have
Christ come home, come HOME to you and
sit by your central fire--come home to
you, to YOU, as if for the moment
mankind were centered in the burning
point of your soul, and you touched
the burning point of God's. You must
court and haunt His Presence til
it break forth on you, and it become
as impossible not to believe as to
believe is hard now.

--P.T. Forsyth

photo taken in Wilmington, Vermont

P.T.Forsyth

"You are a fire that takes away
the coldness, illuminates the mind
with its Light, and causes me to
know Your Truth. And I know that
You are Beauty and Wisdom itself.
The food of angels, You gave
Yourself to human beings in the
fire of Your Love."

- Catherine of Siena -


photo: Colorado Springs sunset

Devotions From the Heart: He Opened Their Understanding

by Derek Gitsham

"Then opened He their understanding,
that they might understand the
Scriptures." Luke 24:45

Obviously to be able to discern the truth
of God’s Word, Jesus, by this act in His
resurrection, is showing us that unless
the intellect or mind is opened by His power,
there will be no grasp of spiritual truth.
The literal rendering of this verse reads
that "He fully opened their understanding,
that they might understand the Scriptures."
There was partial understanding, now it
was going to be complete.

Understanding the Word of God is such a
mystery to many. So few enjoy reading the
Word of God, getting nothing from it. At
first glance not everything is going to
be comprehended, but as we pursue our
relationship with God so things will
be opened up to us.

Jesus said, “There is nothing hidden that
shall not be revealed” (Matthew 10:26).
Paul prayed that the eyes of the Ephesians
understanding would be opened (Ephesians 2:18).
Reading the subsequent verses (19-23) clearly
shows us what Paul is wanting us to see and
understand:“the exceeding greatness of His
power to usward who believe, according to
the working of his mighty power, which He
wrought in Christ when He raised Him from
the dead, and set Him at His own right hand
in heavenly places.”

In Colossians Paul says, “That in Him are
hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”
(2:3). These words in Luke, “opening their
understanding” is connected to the desire
to understand. There must be a desire to
understand, to want God, this is what God is
looking for in the saints.

He that hungereth and thirsteth for
righteousness sake shall be filled (Matthew 5:6).
David writes, in Psalm 106:24, talking of Israel,
“yea they despised the pleasant land, they
believed not his word." The words “pleasant land”
are translated “land of desire.” Despising it
(the Hebrew meaning for despise is “to spurn”)
cost her dearly. It also meant to reject or
refuse.

Acceptance of the word by obedience
to it, is the beginning of our understanding
being opened. What we are willing to obey,
we will understand.

"We must allow a great many books
to go unread, and a great many
social visits unpaid in order that
we may concentrate on Christ."
--PT Forsyth

photo taken at Great Sand Dunes,
near Alamosa, Colorado

P.T.Forsyth

"Someone Left the Cake Out in the Rain": Is What You've Built Headed for Ruin?

"And every one that heareth these sayings
of mine, and doeth them not, shall be
likened unto a foolish man, which built
his house upon the sand:

And the rain descended, and the floods
came, and the winds blew, and beat upon
that house; and it fell: and great was
the fall of it." (Matthew 7: 26,27).

"MacArthur Park is melting in the dark,
all the sweet, green icing flowing down;
someone left a cake out in the rain,..--
Richard Harris, 1968"


This is a hard one. Earlier this month I
couldn't get that classic piece of
exhilaratingly negative foreboding,
O Fortuna, out of my mind.
It was election month,
what can I say?

Now, it's MacArthur Park.
After several rebukes it still
did not go away so I decided
to make it work for me. Last night I had
a great time in the Word looking
up every instance of "cake" and
"rain" in the bible. Two worthy
studies that I highly recommend.

It doesn't take a theologian or a spiritual
director to tell you that something
has gone terribly wrong with our
responsibility to be true to the gospel.
Lee Grady recently spoke of a
"charismatic meltdown" and his
article doesn't touch the tip of the iceberg.

A "MacArthur Park" type frosting malfunction
in wide layers of the current charismatic
movement, along with many of the other
emerging or receding movements within
Christendom, are indeed, "melting in the
dark" of their own making.

We really need to put out the
"no vacancy" sign with folk who would be
careless or crazy enough to leave
"a cake out in the rain." We honor
people who are dishonor Christ, we
embrace false teaching and a false
gospel and we don't notice the difference.
If this is the kind of people we have
become we can anticipate big trouble
ahead.

As silly as it sounds, we have,
spiritually, left a lot of cakes
out in the rain. We do not really seek
after the lost, we do not really tend to
the lambs, we ignore the basic
things that God has called us to
as believers: forgiveness, reconciliation,
care of the poor, love. Our ideas and
our actions seem good to us now, but what
will hindsight and the judgment of God reveal?

I ask myself this as much as I ask you.
Scripture says "There is a way that seems
right to a man, but its end is the way
of death (Proverbs 14:12)."


The old time Pentecostals, Jimmy Swaggart
I think, used to sing, "Its beginning to rain"
--that song was about the Holy
Spirit coming. I know many people
are expecting a rain of universal
revival but most of that expectation
does not seem to be scripturally
supported. What is promised is
a great "falling away" and also
the saving of the remnant of
Israel, but that not without
unimaginable tribulation.
Somehow we think deception will
happen somewhere else, but what
if it is happening to us and
we fail to notice it? Isn't
that what the Deceiver would want?

Here in the above passage
Jesus speaks of another kind of rain--
a rain so fearsome that it will
level your house if you don't build
it carefully. That kind of rain, and
wind, and flood are starting to get
their storm mojo on, so better check the
footings and board up the windows,
here it all comes.

Brothers and sisters, we all need
to be in our place--we need to be
building where and what God wants us
to build with His building materials
or what we build will most assuredly
melt. In truth it is not we who
build but God and unless He
build it, we labor in vain that
build (Psalm 127:1).

Beloved, lots of things are
being constructed: jerry-built to
high heaven but never capable
of reaching it. Lots of things
look good on the outside but
will never weather a storm.
I'm not talking about things
outside of Christianity, but
INSIDE it, things very close to
you, things you may believe
and perhaps things you practice.

Let's face it, we need to ask
ourselves if we have left our
glorious First Love to run after lesser
things--after signs and wonders,
after prestige, or comfort, after power in
any form, or praise of men, or
the things of this world brought
into our heads and our homes, or the ways
of this world brought into
our churches. The list goes
on and is almost endless.

What we need to do is hold up all
that is being said and done,
both individually and corporately,
under the piercing light of
Scripture and measure it
against the character of our
Most Holy God.

What are we building and who
are we building with? A friend
of mine has been trying, for over
a year, to build a rather large
outbuilding. By now she's hired
a large squad of people, and just
about every last one of them has
completely wrecked his portion
of the work. Even the cement
in the foundation wasn't right,
so you can imagine. Something
that should have taken 3 months
has now taken a year and 3 months.
We need to ask ourselves how are
houses have been built. I hope
they stand up when hell and high
water come.

God says that two cannot walk
together unless they agree (Amos 3:3).
You should not build with someone who
is not of the same Spirit.
Wheat and tares may grow together
until the end but they have two
TOTALLY different agendas and
two totally different destinies.

God does not want us to build
out of our carnality or with
those with whom we are unequally
yoked and that comes in all kinds
of ways. God allows us to
make choices, and He knows we make
foolish ones. He also knows the
consequences: its much worse than
a melted, rain soaked cake.

This is a time for us to make
some serious choices about who
we build with, and what we build with,
and what we are building.
We have to know each other by the Spirit
and we have to know what post we
are meant to stand at. It can't be
a matter of the cake being left
out in the rain and "someone" else,
we don't know who, being responsible.
If everyone is on crack it
doesn't bring glory to God.

As Christians we need to be
accountable to God and to each other.
We need to each stand in our
place just as each family stood
in its place in the time of Nehemiah
while they rebuilt the wall.
All of us, without exception,
cannot assume we are in the
right place. Its time to seek
the Lord so we know where we stand
and where to stand.

You see, the Kingdom of God is
being built and God allows us
to be part of that. Will our
part be found wanting? shabby?
unusable? Will we have compromised
the Gospel? For surely our work will
all be tested by an Inspector
with a keen Eye and the
resources to shake the living
heck out of the foundation
and everything on top of it.

I fear so much of what we, what I,
have built will be quickly annihilated
when the rain comes. We think
things are sturdy but they
are cardboard. We think it is
right, but it is wrong. We
don't build from the building
code of the Spirit, with the
blueprint of Christ, under
the authority of God. We do
not check the written standards
of His Word. We may have set our
standards far too low, or associate with
those who have. Shoddy builders.
Folks who would leave the cake
out in the rain.

How often do we see people
building their house on stilts
by the ocean and then having
it knocked down by the next
"perfect storm?" Do we not learn?
If we build in that neighborhood,
we will undoubtedly share that
fate.

We need to exercise wisdom, we
need to listen to God, we need
to associate with those who are
building wisely. Many will lose
that which they have built on
emotion or feeling or spiritual
thrill-seeking or even good
intentions apart from what
God has asked of them. God is a
God of miracles but Jesus said also
that a wicked and adulterous
generation seeks after a sign
(Mat 16:4). God is a God of mercy,
but He is also a God of justice.

Our building will be tested and
we must be prepared for it. There
is every possibility we can
survive the hour of testing intact,
but so many of us, individually and
corporately, are in danger
of massive wind, rain, and flood
damage. At this point, its not too
late to build to last. It may soon be.

Dear ones, it is beginning to rain,
so if you see, sweet, green, icing
flowing down the outside of your
house, know you are in trouble.
Don't say I didn't warn you.

Oh, and as for MacArthur Park,
named after that noteworthy American
general, for many years it fell
into the hands of drug dealers
and gangsters and was known for
its high murder rate. In recent
years it has undergone revitalization
and is on the upswing.

There is always hope.


knowing God
true and false prophets
charismatic movement
deception
knowing God
heresy
Matthew 7:26,27
discernment
MacArthur Park

Blessed Thanksgiving!

Smoke hangs like haze over harvested fields,
The gold of stubble, the brown of turned
earth,
And you walk under the red light of fall,
The scent of fallen apples, the dust
of threshed grain, the sharp, gentle chill
of fall. Here as we move into the shadows
of autumn, The night that brings the morning
of spring,

Come to us, Lord of Harvest,
Teach us to be thankful for the gifts you
bring us. . . .

photo taken from Hogback Mountain, Vermont

Be A True Prophet

"Hast thou not known? hast thou not
heard, that the everlasting God,
the LORD, the Creator of the ends
of the earth, fainteth not, neither
is weary? there is no searching of
his understanding" (Isaiah 40:28)

Read the prophets
as though they were the poets
of the world to come.
For their world is the real one--
the one past our best dreams
or our worst nightmares,
the perspective depending on
the bent of our souls.

The world has not known,
the world has not heard,
that "the Everlasting God
fainteth not nor is weary."
Yet a prophet can know nothing else,
hear nothing else, speak of
nothing else.

So many say, "I am His prophet"
but their souls show no signs
of the agony of being God's friend
in a world that hates Him.

Believe them not.

You are, all of you, prophets of some sort--
true or false.
Be a true prophet.
To do so your first job is to listen to Him
until your ears ache from straining to hear.
It is not that God is afar off or that
He has a voice like a mouse.
It is just that we believe so many other voices
first.

The Voice of God fills the world.
But He does not share His secrets with strangers.
Nor cast His pearls before swine.

"Have you not known? Have you not heard?"
Your first job is to listen 'til you can hear
no other. Your second job is to speak, indeed,
to sing of Him, in agony and ecstasy, until all
the other voices, either join in or are silent.

Be ready to be sung through, or cried through.
Be ready to lose yourself. Be ready to make listening
to God your occupation, and obeying Him your life;
Or go home to bed, and the company of the godless.

knowing God
true and false prophets
Isaiah 40:28
hearing God

The Power of Truth

The truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it,
ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there
it is. --Winston Churchill

photo taken near Alamosa, Colorado

Devotions From the Heart: Self Vindication

by Derek Gitsham

"Now therefore there is utterly a
fault among you, because ye go to
law one with another. Why do you not
rather take the wrong? Why do you not
rather suffer yourselves to be
defrauded?" (1 Corinthians 6:7)

St. Augustine said of himself, “Lord,
deliver me from the lust of self-vindication.”
It is one of the most powerful of emotions
inside the human body: the desire to set
the record straight in the eyes of your
accuser. Yet Paul says, “Let it go, take
being wronged.”

It is interesting to note this was
happening in the Corinthian Church. The
first epistle is loaded with truth, which
makes it obvious that they knew a lot of
things. However, they began to allow divisions
and carnality to enter in and, before long,
things were accepted and tolerated that were
far from what the standard of holiness should
be in the lives of those who follow Christ.

Taking offence lies at the heart of much of
the strife here in Corinth as in Christians
today. This could prove that many of us are
not as dead to things as we thought we were.
Paul’s reference to the Colossians in 3:3,
”You are dead and your life is hid with Christ
in God.”

He does not mean they are spiritually dead but
dead to self, dead to being offended. Jesus said,
“Blessed is the man who is not offended in me.”
(Luke 7:23.) The Corinthian Church was about to
boil over with division and rampant carnality.
The definition of carnality can be "reason married
to the devil!" Many saints have been reduced to
crumbling edifices of uselessness because they
have allowed themselves to be offended.

Paul’s words are serious, "Why do you not take the
wrong?, why do you not suffer yourselves to be
defrauded?" The death of Jesus is a gift from God
for us in this context. Oh, to be dead to all that
is said about us, without the fierce response and
desire to vindicate ourselves.

Letting people think the worse about you is tough,
but it can be done. If we ask the Lord, He will
help us get free from vindicating ourselves. God
will come through for us all. Only trust Him,
knowing that it matters only what He thinks
about us and knows of us. To be free of offence
is to be free indeed.

The Word is not in the Bible as a treasure
hid in a field so that you can dig out the
jewel and leave the soil. It grows up like
a tree. It breathes from it like a sweet
savor. It streams up from it like an exaltation.
It rises like the soul going to glory from
its sacred dust. The Word of God is not to be
dissected from the Bible, but to be distilled.

--P.T. Forsyth --The Grace of the Gospel as
the Moral Authority in the Church

photo taken in Colorado Springs, Colorado

P.T.Forsyth
Colorado Springs, Colorado photography
the Word of God

God's Love

When you speak of Christ's Love,
Do you hear the clang of Heaven's door opening;
and feel the agape of God
gushing forth, like milk and honey,
over and within you?

When you think of Love's Face
Do you look past earthly passion
to see the kind and fierce Face of God
that cherubim and holy innocents know so well?

When you dream of God's Love
do you awake from the night's journey
having travelled to a place prepared,
to spend the sleeping hours at Home,
if only for a night?
After all, the Finish Carpenter is not
yet done with the final touches.

When you eat of God's Banquet,
Do you remember Him, and what a wondrous
thing He has done for you,
aware that there is a coming Banquet Meal
that will be an eternal one?
God and man at table sitting down.

When you drown in God's Love,
I understand that your ability to live
to tell of it will be severely
hampered
but we will figure it out by the peaceful
glow emanating from your soggy face.

Speak, Dream, Eat and
Drown of God's Love.
Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

Devotions From the Heart: Only Believe

by Derek Gitsham

Only Believe

"As soon as Jesus heard the word that was
spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the
synagogue, ‘Be not afraid, only believe.”
Mark 5:36

The Lord in His dealings with his people is
narrowing down everything to this phrase “only
believe” and the rest just falls away. What a
wonderful statement this is. I’m not asking
anymore of you this day, only that you live
believing Me. It is the answer to all your
problems, troubles, every difficult situation
in your life only believe.

Whatever your reasoning is telling you, that
seems contrary, only believe. Confess to God
that you believe Him now. Confession is made
unto salvation. Tell Him you believe, prove
you believe Him by shaking off the unbelief
(i.e. the wrong believing). So much is packed
into this little statement. Firstly, only believe.
It is all you have to do only.

The one thing you must cultivate in your walk,
only believe. There will be times you will have
to remind yourself to do it. In the solitary
place, in the isolated place, in the painful
place, the place where you have been unjustly
treated, lied about, only believe.

When your heart is breaking, when there seems
there is no more reason to hope, only believe.
When strength begins to seep away, when you
cannot lift your head, only believe. When
darkness and the enemy aim their fiery darts
at you, only believe. When loneliness becomes
unbearable and intolerable, only believe. When
nothing is going right, only believe. When the
finances run out and friends have forgotten you,
only believe.

Faith can remove mountains, all things are
possible to him that believes. Nothing can
stop this juggernaut of faith. It crashes through
every barrier, it knows no limits, there is nothing
it cannot accomplish.

Secondly, believe and believe again. Do not hesitate
to declare it to devil and angel alike. Believe
yourself out of your troubles. Give flight to reason.
Only believe He is the God who answers prayer, prayed
in faith. Finally, only believe.

The real voyage of discovery consists not in
seeking new landscapes, but in
having new eyes.--Unknown

photo taken near Cripple Creek, Colorado

photography Colorado
wonder

Daniel 10 Bible Study: Who Is Visiting Us?

Daniel was a man of God who sought
God: sought Him high and low, in
weakness and in strength, in good
times and in bad, in Jerusalem and
in Babylon. God chose to visit Him.

In these days we often hear "God has
spoken to me" or "God has visited me."
But we must ask ourselves in all
seriousness, "Who is visiting us?"
for we need to know that it is God
and not man, beast, devil or or own
nature that is informing us.

Now that the elections are past there
is quite a pile of wreckage of failed
prophecies and incorrect "words"
attributed to "God" of what was
supposed to happen in our recent
elections. Even words that have been
spoken and may have seemed to come to
pass may still be not words from the
heart of God and not the end of the
the story.

We need not shame others, but WE CANNOT
IGNORE that in so many situations so
many words and prophecies have proved to
be dust in the wind! We are flesh, we
get it wrong but we need to take a careful,
even dreadful look at why we are getting it
wrong. If it was an isolated or occasional
case, it would be one thing but it is not.

Isaiah was told, "Cry out" and when he
asked what he should cry out, he
was told "All flesh is as grass,... but
the word of the Lord endureth forever"
(Isaiah 40:6-8).

Let me say that I believe that God does
speaks to men and women. I believe that
He leads us and guides us. I believe that
that leading is ALWAYS in accord
and proceeding from His Word.

Yet, some or much that we presume to be
God speaking to us turns out not to be God.
Prophets of God could not get it wrong
in the Old Testament. They had to speak
for God correctly. They had to know Him.
They had to be accountable
to Him. Do we believe this has changed?
No, it has not changed! Are we held to a lesser
standard? we who have the Spirit actually
indwelling us?
I think not.

What is the difference in spirit between
a prophet like Daniel and those who speak
"visions of peace when there is none" and
"prophecy out of their own heart"?
(Ezekiel 13: 16,17)

Daniel is found continually seeking the
Lord in adverse circumstances. He has
an awesome encounter with God: "Who is
this one whose face had the appearance
of lightning, and whose eyes are as
lamps of fire?" (vs 6) (Compare John's
vision of Christ in Revelation 1:12-16).


Whether it be Christ Himself, or an
angelic representative sent by God it
does not say for certain, but the
encounter, no doubt, was from the Living
and True God and not a wild imagination.
What are some safeguards we can put into
place as we seek to hear and know God?


1) We must continually seek God and
dwell in His Word, putting Him first.

There are no safeguards for those whose
hearts are not turned toward the Lord!
God comes to Daniel while Daniel is
fasting and interceding on behalf of
His people. He identified with the
sins of His people. This was not a whim
for Daniel but a lifestyle. The encounter
with God floored and devastated Daniel.
It raised God up and lowered Daniel.

Unless we allow ourselves to be emptied
of spiritual ambition and spiritual
thrill-seeking then we are open to deception.

2) We cannot allow other people to hear
God for us though we should be teachable
and part of a community of accountability,
we must still hear God for ourselves.

Daniel ALONE saw the vision (10:7). No one
else was permitted to, but the others
fled in terror because they knew that whatever
was happening, it was a terrible event, in the
deepest sense of that word. .

We must have the moral courage to meet God
ourselves.. With that comes opportunity for
great blessing or great de ception. We need
to know that it is, indeed, God that is visiting
us, and not a figment of our own imagination or
an idol of our own making.

P.T. Forsyth said, "The non-theological Christ
is popular; he wins votes but he is not mighty;
he does not win souls: he does not break men
into small pieces and create them anew."

--(The Taste of Death and The Life of Grace)

Jesus tells us that those who fall on the Rock
will be broken into pieces, but those on whom
the Rock falls will be ground into powder
(Matt 21:44). Either way, no one is left intact.
God has no casual armchair prophets, He only has
those who have chosen to fall on the Rock so that
He might be Everything in them. The one who has
let God deal with his motivations, his desires,
his innermost being is the one who is most
safe from error.

The God revealed in Scripture, the Living God,
is a God to be encountered. When Daniel
encountered Him, "there remained no strength
in me: for my vigour was turned in me into
corruption, and I retained no strength" (vs. 8).

3) When we meet God, we know and see that He
must increase and we must decrease.

Our own human agenda's must be done away
with. Encounter with God drains our natural
posturing and our natural strength. It shows
us who we are and who God is. In that encounter
we should be, indeed will be, slow to speak.
After that encounter we should speak only out
of our inevitable brokenness at the sight of a
Holy God.

When we receive a word it must be with
fear of God and trembling. We must know that
that word is for God's purposes and we must
handle it ever so carefully. We must let
the Word examine our motivations. Are our
prophecies for God or for ourselves? Why
are we giving them? Are we in align with
God's purposes or looking to appear spiritual
or to market "the word" with books,
tapes, cd's and guest ap pearances?

We have become too familiar with God and
yet we do not know Him at all. Who is
visiting us? A god of our own minds,
conjured up by our own lusts? a fairy
tale, a fantasy, a virtual
but man-made "reality"?

When you have encountered God, you will
know it, even it He comes to you in a
still, small Voice. There is really no
mistaking the Living and True One, and
yet our hearts are deceitfully wicked and we
are easily led astray.

Who is the man or woman God comes to? And
Who is this God who comes to him? This is
no time for us to be deceived. Jesus warns
us that in the last days false christs will
come. Need they be all external ones? Cannot
false Christ's present themselves to the
mind or be created by our minds? Can another
Jesus be visiting me, even one I have
made myself?

God never changes. He is always and eternally
the God of Holiness, full of Truth, crowned
with righteousness. In His Presence all
darkness must flee away. If you think you
are in God's presence and do not see that
you are naked and blind and hopelessly lost
without Him, then you are not in God's
presence but in a blinding fog.

Encounter with God demands change, creates
change, IS change. And the change is one
of godly, spiritual fruit issuing forth from
a root of holiness. If we want change we
should start here. We cannot meet God and
be the same. If we are, we have to ask, "Who
is visiting us?" or "Who are we visiting?"

The one who spoke to Daniel revealed some of
the reasons that God was coming to Daniel. It
was because Daniel had sought God, had chastened
himself, had sought to understand. "The eyes
of the Lord roam to and fro upon the earth
looking" for such people. But why does it seem
that the Lord's eyes have to look far and wide
for such ones? It appears that there are not so
many of them that they can be found everywhere
that the eye, even the eye of God, looks.

God looks for those who are in line with His
purpose and are about what He is about. Any
other agenda but the eternal purpose of God
has within it the DNA of error and will bear
the deformed child of corrupted human flesh.

We will make mistakes as we walk along and
try to hear God, but there are real reasons
why we make mistakes, and real reasons why
those mistakes then can harden into recalcitrant,
continuous error, and then into godlessness,
and then we are given over completely to deception.

Do not despise prophecy but bear in mind
this balancing thought: "Be not rash with
your mouth, and let not your heart be hasty
to utter any thing before God: for God is in
heaven, and you on earth: therefore let
your words be few." (Eccl 5:2). If you have
a word, weigh it, and let God weigh you.

Many spirits have gone out in the world and
there is much deception. Let us not
be deceived, nor contribute to another's
deception. Test the spirits (I John 4:1).
We must ask ourselves, "Who is visiting us?"



Bible study Book of Daniel
Book of Daniel
Daniel 10
false prophecy
deception
current events
elections
knowing God
false prophets
P.T. Forsyth
end-times deception

We need a baptism of clear seeing. We desperately
need seers who can see through the mist--Christian
leaders with prophetic vision. Unless they come soon
it will be too late for this generation. And if they
do come we will no doubt crucify a few of them in
the name of our worldly orthodoxy." ~ A. W. Tozer

photograph taken near Divide, Colorado of Pikes Peak

A.W.Tozer
Pikes Peak
Divide, Colorado

Devotions From the Heart: Wake Up

by Derek Gitsham

"Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some
have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to
your shame." I Corinthians 15:34

It is a sad thing that God, from time to time,
has to resort to wake-up calls to get our attention.
We get so carried away with the spirit of the
age that our walk with God diminishes and our
love for Jesus becomes lukewarm or cold.

The Greek word for “awake” means “to rise out
of a stupor.” The Amplified Bible translates
the verse “Awake from your drunken stupor and
return, to sober sense, and your right minds,
and sin no more. For some of you have not the
knowledge of God—you are utterly and willfully
and disgracefully ignorant, and continue to be
so, lacking the sense of God’s presence, and
all true knowledge of Him, I say to your shame.”

These are strong words by Paul. He is rebuking
them severely as he feels the necessity to do
so. Most of our churches today would never endure
such a rebuke. It was critical to Paul, and there
were reasons why the knowledge of God was not
among them as it ought to have been. It is the
knowledge of God known only by our relationship
with Him (John 17:3).

Jesus said, “This is life eternal, that they might
know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom Thou hast sent.” Eternal life is simply
knowing Jesus. What a wonder! They lacked this
because they were drunk with so many other things.
They were asleep with the sleep of death.

Jesus said in John 11 that Lazarus was asleep, but
really meant he was dead. He wonderfully He changed
the word death to sleep, dealing with the fear of
death in our hearts. Who is afraid of sleep? We do
it every day. But spiritually, sin’s death is
sending us into a sleep. Stupor means
unconsciousness. Wake up, church. Righteousness
is upon us, we must be wide awake to the things of
God.

Proverbs 6:10- 11 says, “Yet a little sleep, a
little slumber, a little folding of the hands
to sleep. So shall thy poverty come as one that
travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.” God
keep us wakeful and awake to the things of God,
beloved, by stirring up ourselves to run after
Him. He will be our every waking hour. He cannot
fail us! Sin is trying to get you, to resist it
you must be awake to righteousness and conscious
that you can be righteous.