Tag: Condemnation

Love’s Balance

December 22, 2015

Lord? I only want these simple things:

I want Peace. Not war. Love not hate.

A long life to be lived in a happy state;

Let me know the contentment joy brings!

 

But Lord? What I get are complications,

Needless drama, manufactured misery!

Stress! And I pay with anxiety, as usury;

Subtracts from joy, tangles simplifications!

 

Sweet relationships can and do turn sour;

Some lasting long die suddenly, fade away;

A Bend, a twist, a break, then goes astray!

Lord? Relate to me in lasting, eternal power?

 

Lord! In You, I find all the simplicity I crave!

Quiet peace here, is more than satisfactory!

Safe! Far from noise of the Misery Factory;

Lord? Build a strong hedge? All hate do stave!

 

Lord? Keep me? Wrap me, in simple things?

If not? Help me promote a human tolerance?

Not of evil, but of one another; Love’s balance

Quells drama’s misery, as joy in freedom rings!

 

 

 

The Joy in Forgiveness

December 5, 2015

Time wears away at the facts within a memory;

But time, can’t prevent the wound from scaring;

Or prevent mindless hand from caressing reverie,

The cold, rough lump, which stiffens love’s caring;

A madness of sorts; this living in the past’s territory!

Lost in yesterday; and past hurts in present bearing;

Brokenness unburied, lye outside time’s cemetery;

Scars that bleed; and build thick with daily tearing;

Scars where smooth flesh should be; twist memory,

Tying distorted knots of hate! Embittered wearing

Away all joy, all peace; love lost in heart’s cemetery;

Forgiveness if received and given stops the scaring!

Releasing the bitter poison that darkens a memory!

Lets in the Light! Stops hand from mind re-tearing,

By daily reliving, hurts belonging in past’s territory!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joy Waits on God

November 19, 2015

I am war-weary, in need of a furlough, and awaiting an honorable discharge. I am battle-hardened but this war is long; it has been raging for centuries, filling the earth with blood. My enemy is a deceptive predator who sometimes, weakens me by sneaking into my thoughts. You see, I once fought on his side, he thought he owned me. I was his tool, a common weapon that he had no regard for, and he thought to destroy me just for the twisted joy of practicing destruction. Please understand, my enemy, who was once my master can only, destroy. He has no power to build and he is enraged because the purpose that drives him has only one end, his own destruction. He targets me with his vengeance because I am the tool he prized for dishonor that was rescued by the One Who limits his power; by giving him over to his own desire. Though I once belonged to the enemy and was set to suffer his fate, my Savior rescued me, cleaned me up, repaired me, and gave me a new purpose. I no longer serve the purpose of destruction. I now, serve a new Master, my Friend, Who is the author of eternal life. By His Mercy, I live to serve God and surrender all that I am for His honor and glory.

The war I endure as hardship is the war with sin within. Those old thoughts and desires that the enemy knows so well and does all he can do to re-ignite, in hopes of weakening me and bringing me down. He oppresses me by the sin that flourishes without, in hopes of making my new purpose ineffective. He attacks and wounds my flesh, he threatens my existence. He taunts me, deceives me, and sets traps to make me fall. He accuses me of the evil he wishes me to commit. He castes his shame on me, hoping to weigh me down with undo guilt. He mocks me as he also, mocks my God, my Savior. He surrounds me with clouds of confusion like poison gas. He’s desperate because he knows he’s fighting a war he can’t win and that desperation has driven him mad. His fury is unleashing now to destroy everything and everyone in his limited power to destroy. He seeks to destroy me and those others like me who belong to Jesus. He can drain our blood and break our bodies but our souls belong to Jesus, the One Whose body was broken, blood drained out, but rose to live again.

Though all who believe in Jesus, in whom the Holy Spirit dwells, be wiped from the earth, they will remain safe in Jesus, awaiting His return. Then the enemy of man, God, and life will have his full season; a short time to visibly reign as god and bring woe to those who remain on the earth. Then Jesus and His called out company will return and cut that awful season short; because God is merciful and does not rejoice in the death of the wicked. Then my enemy will do hard time, awaiting Judgment, an eternal sentence in the prison of the torture he invented and visited on God’s children; suffering the eternal torment that belongs to the enemy of God. Then I will receive my furlough, it will last 1,000 years, in a world very different from the world I live in now. Joy won’t have to hide. Joy won’t be frustrated. Joy will over-flow and rejoice in the rapture of ultimate liberty!

My honorable discharge will come on the day I set foot in the new heaven and new earth, after one final battle with Satan; but it will be short. By then, all will know Satan for the loser he is, and sin will no longer sting and infect God’s children with death. Until then, I wait for my Jesus to return, strengthened by the joy I have in Him; protected in battle, my wounds tended, and relying on God for final victory. When overwhelmed by the specter of the enemy’s destructive force, I look up. Jesus is coming soon and I walk by faith, not by sight.

No Joy Found in “The Valley of Decision”

November 6, 2015

Ice-cold rain drops; pounding measure;

Pelt leaves of gold; bring them down!

Swirling streams of tattered treasure;

Emeralds in gold, muddied and brown;

Dark season’s beginning now is sure!

Men of violent force seeking renown;

Dedicated to death; a religion impure;

Persecution pound! Bring world down!

Cord-drawn destruction; finality sure;

Truth in Love muddied and brown;

Hate and Lies flaming evil treasure!

War begets war begets war… crown

Death as King; all to die by measure!

Woe to those who bring it all down!

Never to win the earth they treasure!

Ownership denied to men of renown;

The meek inherit the earth’s measure!

“let God be true and every man a liar”

“In the mouth it tastes sweet as honey

But it makes the stomach bitter” FIRE!

Prepared for all obstinate and phony;

On the Day that answers are required!

No avoiding, “The Valley of Decision!”

Judgment Day for all is surely, coming.

 

Joel 3: 14-16 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the Day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. The Sun and moon will be darkened, and the stars no longer shine. The LORD will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the heavens will tremble. But the LORD will be a refuge for His people, a stronghold for the people of Israel.

 

Joy vs. Fear and Wins!

September 4, 2015

Kathleen lived in a state of constant fear; and her fear wasn’t unreasonable. Raised in a home characterized by abuse and neglect, Kathleen grew up to recognize abuse as normal and even, an expression of love. This left the door open for child-rapists and sexual exploiters to further abuse her. Even though Kathleen accepted it as truth when her parents and these men said they loved her, something inside of her cried out for something better. Her emotional pain sat at her core, a black hole that sucked in any kind of attention but was never filled. She needed love, she reached for love, and received abuse mislabeled as love. Kathleen stared into Death’s face many times before the age of eighteen and she had no fear of him. Her fear was founded on those things that death comes by and her learned definition of love as degradation and pain. Her fear offered protection. Fear placed her on constant guard-duty, empowering her self-safety through hyper-vigilance. Raised as an unloved child in a hostile world: love, joy, peace, and security seemed to be lofty ideals forever, out of her reach. Acceptance of grim reality and constant fearful watching seemed to Kathleen the only choice for survival. Kathleen longed for the unknowing-ness of Death but her fear of how Death might take her, kept her fighting to survive.

Kathleen was the black-sheep of the family; the family scape-goat held responsible for her parent’s dysfunction. Kathleen innocently accepted this role and definition of herself because there was little effort by anyone, to teach her anything different. Sexual abuse is scapegoating in its most extreme form and Kathleen naturally took on the blame and shame for the abuse she was subjected to. The weight of a sinful, hateful world rested on Kathleen’s young shoulders and if she knew anything about herself, she knew she was sinful, very dirty, and probably evil. When introduced to Jesus as the Savior from sin, Kathleen reached for that salvation without hesitation! The black-hole inside her was filled with divine love. On the inside, she was new but the world didn’t change and in the world, fear still seemed to offer needed safety. Jesus and His unconditional love became a refuge for Kathleen, a special place to hide from a world that remained ever-threatening. Kathleen longed to leave the world and be only, with Jesus but God’s desire was for Kathleen to grow into His perfect love; and free her from her prison of fear, even while living in a dark and dangerous world.

Kathleen wavered for many years between trusting God and fearing other human beings. God, her new tender loving Father, met all her wavering with patience and kindness. He never expected more of her than she was able to give and never condemned her when she failed. Her Father didn’t react to her childish stumbling with anger or by reciting lists of everything she’d ever done wrong. By His love, expressed in truth, He freed her from the final consequence of her sin and thereby, blessed her with enduring hope. He also, freed her from the guilt and shame that others wrongly, placed upon her by that same power of truth in rightful reckoning. Jesus is the divine truth that reveals evil’s true face. Over many years, God proved himself to be a true Father by protecting her, being trustworthy, and never abandoning her. God’s love never failed Kathleen. As she grew in God’s perfect love there was less and less room for fear until, all her fear was gone. In an upside down world, the love of God turned Kathleen right-side-up and her state of constant fear was replaced with ever-growing joy!

1 Corinthians 13: 4-8a Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

 

In the words of my seven-year old grandson, “God is infinity love!”

Condemnation is Anti-Joy

August 18, 2015

There are many slaves in the world today and most of them think they are free. Those discouraged by their inability to live up to moral expectations and feeling shackled by those unattainable demands, reach for freedom by choosing to pursue and satisfy their personal desires. Moral abandon is exhilarating at first but life lived in pursuit of happiness and freedom by following the heart, ends in slavery. There are billions of people in the world enslaved by drugs, debt, gambling, and sexual addictions (to name a few); lured in and trapped by the longing to escape condemnation by seeking personal happiness. Many are blind to their condition and even love that which enslaves them. Their slave-master is Satan that old devil the inventor and master of deception, who blinds and binds his slaves with promises of liberty and happiness; while leading them into permanent condemnation and a second death in the final Lake of Fire. There is no joy in slavery and the future promise of utter destruction.

 

In the carnal world, ruled by Satan, there is no escaping condemnation. No matter how human beings try to circumvent natural consequences by changing God’s Law, those laws remain in effect. The Ten Commandments live inside every human conscience. Circumventing the direction received from our conscience doesn’t erase that basic Spiritual code of conduct and those who fail to honor it are condemned already. Every living soul, when measured against the letter of that Law, is bound over and sentenced to misery and future destruction. Though people know to do what is good, they are unable to perform it perfectly, and no one measures up to the perfection required by the conscience, God’s divine law. Failing on one point can’t be corrected through adherence to the rest of the code and all are lost when held accountable for their choosing between good and evil. The divine Law, though written in every human conscience, is Spiritual and of God who is Spirit, while people are carnal beings. Escaping condemnation requires spiritual rebirth and the only way to be born-again and become spiritual, is through faith in Jesus Christ. With faith comes the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that empowers believers to fulfill God’s divine law and the forgiveness of Christ Jesus to restore them to God when they stumble. In Jesus only, lies the power to find relief from common condemnation. This is the Truth that sets all captives free: Jesus, who committed no sin, died a sinner’s death on the cross and rose to live again on the third day. The only Man unworthy of condemnation suffered as a condemned criminal and died as a substitute, so all the captives of sin could be reconciled to God and delivered from condemnation. Jesus died for us and He lives for us also, showing us the Way to a joyfully abundant life that is eternal life.

 

Slaves to sin condemned to die, then set free in Christ, become slaves to righteousness. The good works of God purposed to set all people free and rescue His creation from the corruption of sin and death. It is the mission of all believers to set other captives free by introducing them to Jesus. Those in Christ who enjoy no condemnation shouldn’t condemn others who are now, enslaved by sin just as they were once held captive and destined for death. Sin is deadly and is to be hated but those blinded and chained by it are to be loved. Jesus loves sinners so much that He died for us even, when we were consumed by sin and good for nothing but burning. Those of us who were condemned to die but instead of death received eternal life, because God chose to have mercy on us, ought not to condemn anyone no matter how repugnant their sin. The spirit of condemnation is ant-joy and contrary to the believer’s true purpose in Christ. Joy in Jesus is the gift of eternal life that gives the children of God strength. Those who choose to turn from the Grace they received freely and condemn others weaken joy and make themselves ineffectual in their faith. Choosing to love rather than condemn is the right Way to increase joy!

 

 

Romans 6:23 For the wages sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.