It is a little past midnight and I am sitting in the living room praying, praising, and worshipping the Alpha and the Omega, The Lord of all creation, the God who came down to earth to live as one of us and to die so we can be reconciled back to Him.  Jesus is just so very amazing.  I love you Lord and am so thankful for your Amazing Grace.

It was the summer of 2007 and it was another first for me in my walk with Christ.  I was down, empty, feeling so very far from God.  I had been in His service for a little over five years and had been pretty much ‘up’ the whole time.  Then, sort of out of the blue, it felt like God was so very far away.  It was nothing I did or did not do and it was not because of anything bad in my life at that time.  Work, home life, church, all of these were fine and even great actually.  I could not explain it then and still can’t.

But I can honestly say that my worship was not exactly how it had been.  I may be different than most, but I have some of my best experiences in His presence while alone with Him.  Like right now after Tammy has gone to bed with our youngest grandchild and I have my headphones on and have been reading the bible and listening to music. Sometimes it is in the truck, just praying or worshiping as I drive alone down the highway.

But maybe that summer I had been just a little too busy.  Work had escalated to a level where it was almost like having three full time jobs.  I believe that maybe it was me and not God that had been too far away.  No matter what or how or who, I felt terrible for a while, at least in spirit.

Then I heard this song on the radio.  It was powerful but I could not find out who did it or its name.  But I did not forget it.

The Church of God held the annual camp meeting at Metro Church of God that year and I wanted to go but was not only too busy but actually not very motivated.  But I finally made myself go on the Friday night service.

I talked to a few people, found a seat and sat waiting, not expecting much.  I had talked to a dear friend and minister for a short time and had told him a little about what I was feeling and he had let me know that God was still good and that maybe He would be there for me that night.  I doubted it really.

Praise and worship started and I stood and I did worship God but it was not as refreshing as it had been at times.  Then the praise team started singing this song.  I am attempting to embed this video for the first time and I hope it works.  Watch it now if you want and I will finish up below.

If that did not wake you up to the awesome reality of God then I don’t honestly know what will.  It did it for me.  I don’t know whether it was me or God but the things this song woke me up to that night changed me once again.  And it was right on time because not long after that the bottom started to fall out.

Work ground to a halt in September 2007 and is still not good.  Every month I have to go into a rapidly dwindling savings to pay the bills.  The kids started getting into more and more trouble and are currently at an all time low or high maybe, which is devastating to me and especially to Tammy, my wife.  And she is also having some mysterious and hard to identify health problems, as some of you know.

Before anyone thinks I need a special song to move me, know that I don’t.  Most of this time that I have served Christ; it has only taken a thought of how He reached out and snatched me from the very gates of hell, to spur me on.  But I now believe He used this powerful song to wake me, humble me, and prepare me for these rather dark days I am in right now.  This song that night had me in tears and totally immersed in His presence in a way that I have not often felt.  It has that effect to varying degrees even now.  And I am at peace with our situation in a way that I might not have been.

As I sit here listening, crying and typing I just want to say to you all, that He is our everything, He is Holy, He is Lord, He was and is and is to come and I can’t speak for you but I ADORE HIM.  We must dare to worship the Holy Lord God Almighty in all situations.  Otherwise we just might not make it.

Love you all

Tags: alpha and the omega, amazing grace, Bible, camp meeting, Creation, Grace, Hell, jesus, lord of all creation, Love, metro church of god, Power, Praise, Self, Service, spirit

The choir in my church sang a song today called, I believe, We Are Not Ashamed.  They have sung this song on many occasions and I am always moved by it.  It is about not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  This is something we should all take to heart.

But do we?  How often do we keep silent when we should speak up?  How often do we make sure we do not put ourselves in a place or a position where we might have to speak of the gospel?

Some of us, maybe even all of us at times, find ourselves embarrassingly inadequate at sharing our faith.  Are we really ashamed?   Probably not.  I truly doubt, except in certain situations, that most of us are really ashamed of our God and Savior.  That would be like being ashamed of our wives or girlfriends, husbands or boyfriends.  Most of us are really not ashamed of those we really love.

So what is really the problem?

I believe it is probably intimidation.  I do not, entirely, mean intimidation in the sense of being afraid, but instead being under the impression that it will do no good.  That it won’t really matter or make a difference.  Some of us are concerned with others attitudes toward us and opinions of us and some of us just really think we cannot make a difference.

Why bother talking to that guy at work who is bragging about his adulterous affair?  He won’t listen if he is that outspoken about it and I just might be ostracized from the group for my holier than thou attitude.

That Muslim you know is just so devout that you know you will never reach them, and you are a little intimidated by what you know of their religion; so why take the chance of being looked on as one of those hate spewing Christians?  We can all live together in love, if we keep silent.

And that goes for that very outspoken atheist also.  If we keep silent about our faith, we can all get along very well.  And maybe even love each other.  And if we can show enough love, then that will win out in the end.  Right?

Wrong.  What love is this that is willing to keep silent about something so important?  I started thinking about this post after listening to this video the other day.  In this video you will hear Penn Jillette, a very outspoken, oftentimes crude, but very logical and consistent thinker and atheist.  He is the talkative half of the comedian/ magician team known as Penn and Teller.

He is also what I call a true atheist.  I was one for many years myself.  I believe a true atheist is someone who says they do not believe that there is a God and they are not afraid of those who believe.  We seem to be surrounded today by people calling themselves atheist that are intent on silencing us.  They seem afraid of something, or maybe it is Someone.

In the video you will hear Penn say that if we, as believers, really love everyone and we really believe what we say about heaven and hell, then our love demands that we tell everyone about it; in effect, we should proselytize.  Evangelize, if you prefer.

I admire his stance on this and find that this was the way I felt also.  As a Christian we must tell everyone the gospel.  If we do not, do we really love?  I can’t see how.

We can never be ashamed, and as I stated, I doubt many of us really are.  But we must also never be intimidated.  We may be called intolerant, or a holy roller, or hateful, or many other things; but we must still tell the story because for the sake of love, it is necessary.  Those that can’t except this and call us all of these things are running scared and can probably be reached.

And those that are not running scared, like Penn and like I used to be, will be reached through the consistent witness of love and the telling of the good news.

Listen to the video.  And pray for Penn Jillette.  A transformation of someone like him would be a mighty witness for the Kingdom.

And the next time you feel a little timid about sharing, remember that if you really love them, you have to.

Love you all

Tags: atheist, Believe, Christians, Church, Faith, Good, Heaven, Hell, Jesus Christ, Kingdom, Love, muslim, Penn Jillette, religion, Self, Sin, witness, Work

Have you ever watched a movie about the revolutionary war?  Did you wonder why on earth the soldiers in those armies would just march right at each other, wide open, with no protection?  As if they were daring an enemy round to hit them. 

Look at a movie depicting warfare in a medieval setting and it is even crazier.  They just all dive in at each other, slashing and hacking away.  I wonder how they even know who they are killing. 

Somewhere along the line, as far as warfare tactics go, some smart soldier came up with the idea of cover.  Learn how to present as little a target as you can to the enemy.  That definitely seemed to make sense. 

Military institutions have underwent a lot of change since those first armies, with whatever they used for weapons, charged and started pummeling each other. The constant search for better equipment and weaponry is a never-ending necessity for those who engage in battle. If they intend to overcome their enemies, that is.  

When I joined the US Army in 1983, they were just finally wrapping up some of the equipment exchange programs they had initiated a few years prior to my enlistment.  Some of the new recruits were outfitted with the new battle dress uniforms, BDU’s, while others got a few articles in the old standard olive drab uniform.  For the first year of my enlistment I was issued the old “steel pot” helmet instead of the current Kevlar head protection.  The equipment is constantly being exchanged as the warfare strategy of the enemy changes. 

Weapons, tactics and strategy also constantly evolved while I was enlisted.  Mercifully I served my five years in peacetime.  But we still trained constantly.  Practicing and learning so we would be ready at all times.  A new weapon meant a lot of extra training.  Tactics and strategy was constantly revised and updated to counter any new threat.  The whole concept was known as combat readiness. 

Are we, the Church, combat ready?  I wonder.

We have been in a war against darkness of the most desperate kind, for the whole history of the Church, but not all seem to understand this.  I don’t think much of the Church even realizes they are at war.  This has to change.  We must do our duty to inform all of the body of the necessity of battle.  And even for those that are seasoned and battle hardened warriors, it looks to me like somewhere along the line, we failed to realize the enemy was changing his warfare strategy and we failed to see any need to update ours. 

We not only must teach all disciples the reality of spiritual warfare, but how to recognize the tactics of the enemy.  What is the goal of Satan?  Is it to rule in hell, so in essence, he can to take as many of us down as possible to rule over?  I don’t think so.  Satan as ruler of hell is a misconception.  He rules over this domain, because we gave him this rule. 

He is not dumb.  I believe he knows that he will suffer judgment and punishment.  Maybe he fights so hard to somehow try to change the inevitable outcome.  He has to know he cannot win.  But he can hurt God by making a whole lot of us follow his path to judgment. 

As far as tactics are concerned, do you think he is still employing the same methods he did one hundred years ago?  Or even fifty or ten.  I don’t.  I believe he adapts and adjusts every time we do. 

A little over one hundred years ago something happened that had been hidden for almost two millennium.  Some faithful followers of Christ realized something was missing.  They earnestly sought answers and were graciously answered.  The precious and powerful Holy Spirit of God came on the scene after being unwelcome for quite a while.  When He filled those early Pentecostals with a new power and a revived spirit, the Pentecostal movement was born.  And spiritual warfare was recognized once again as a reality. 

Through the gifts of the spirit, the enemy was pushed back and defeated in many areas and lives.  The movement has grown into the third largest group of confessing Christians.  And actually is believed by some to be the largest of those groups that actually try to live in a Christlike way.   

Those early Pentecostals were a force to be reckoned with because of their humility, their hunger, and their love. 

The enemy had to change tactics.  He had had many successes, mainly by manipulating the church into its concerns with the world, culture and government.  But these Pentecostals and their pursuit of holiness instead of the world set him back.  But he responded.  How?

He slowly seduced us.  Through acceptance by the rest of culture, though entertainment, through false manifestations and manipulations of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, through pharisaical legalism, through a false gospel of the pursuit of happiness and wealth, through academics and the pursuit of knowledge, and finally through a misperception of relevance.

We have become in many ways the very thing our founders wanted liberation from.  A worldly religious system.  And worldly religious systems do no harm to the enemy and sometimes even advance his campaign against our King. 

My church, the Alabaster Church of God, is in a revival at the moment.  My pastor, Robert Barnes, and the evangelist, John Ritcheson, seem to be putting forth a message from God that we must go beyond a simple personal refreshing.  Instead we must come back to our roots, which are humility, hunger and love.   

(2 Ch 7:14 ) If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

We must change our tactics and strategies from what they have become.  Instead of the elevation of self, and a pursuit of pleasure, and an attitude of hatred and judgment, we simply must humble ourselves before God, hunger for His presence and instruction, and turn back to the love for God and the love of all that He loves. 

The things that the enemy has used to divert us that I listed above are not all inherently bad or bad for us.  It is sometimes just the misuse or improper esteem we place on things and ideas and movements.  If we are to be effective in defeating the tactics of the enemy at the moment we simply must come back to the proper place in Christ that we should be. 

And if you know anything about current events, you know we must not tarry.

Combat readiness.  In my peacetime army training that simply meant sweat, lack of sleep, weariness and monotony even. 

In this real war between the forces of heaven and hell, it means life or death

Love you all

Tags: Combat, Combat Readiness, Death, Enemy, Heaven, Hell, King, Kingdom, Life, Spiritual Warfare, Strategy and Tactics, US Army, War