The Fear of the LORD

Psalm 25:14 14 The secret of the LORD is for those who fear Him, And He will make them know His covenant.


What does it mean to fear God? The answer to this question is necessary for two reasons: it's understanding is essential for the steady growth of a new convert; and it is hardly mentioned in today's Christian culture that the average Christian knows it like he or she knows a foreign language. Such speech makes no sense. Given the seemingly broad ignorance on the subject, it will do us good to investigate it. What we will see is that because modern preachers have neglected such an essential teaching of scripture, modern Christianity has become void of the idea and the benefits that come in one's relationship with God. Therefore, I wish to bring this teaching back into the spotlight. Right were it needs to be. I wish to challenge all those preachers and teachers in the ministry to dust it off again. Away with your smooth tongue and flattering speech! Put down the feather and pick up the sword! Stop tickling people's ear and start cutting into their conscience! Do you think that you are doing the kingdom of God a favor by not heralding a message that is hard to hear? You are doing more harm than good. Every time a person softens a hard truth or holds back the full council of God; every time a preacher aims for applause; they are robbing their hearers of truth and contributing to their spiritual downfall. Also, not to mention, they are usurping the authority of the one who called them into the ministry and gave them a commission to preach the word!

The apostle Paul tells the Philippian believers to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do according to His good pleasure." (2:12). Thus, the way in which we are to carry out our Christian lives is with this attitude of fear and trembling. If not, we are making no strides in our sanctification. The lack of this attitude is why many in the modern church are in such a spiritually impotent and unholy state. Our salvation is to be worked out with an attitude which recoils at the thought of offending a holy and gracious God. An attitude that stands in reverential awe of who He is; a disposition of humility and trust the cast itself on the promises of a God who is faithful to the utmost and free from any corruption. Proverbs 8:13 sums up best what the fear of the LORD is, "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverted mouth, I hate."

We must also note that this fear does not include torment. It is not a debilitating fear- Psalm 19:9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever. The word translated "clean" denotes a purity of refined silver that is free from any type of imperfection. It is also used in reference to a "pure heart", one that is free from moral evil and wicked motives. It can also be used in a ritualistic sense of being made clean in order to come into the courts of the LORD. In the context, it means that the fear of the LORD is a pure fear; fear that has no imperfections or evil in it. It is clean, lovely, and beautiful.

Certain things can only be attained by the fear of the LORD. It is the very beginning of knowledge and wisdom. Thus, if you never have it, you cannot even begin to obtain genuine knowledge or wisdom: Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. True intimacy with God cannot be obtained without it: Psalm 25:14The secret of the LORD is for those who fear Him, And He will make them know His covenant. The Hebrew word translated "secret" gives the idea of intimacy with the LORD. God will only reveal the depth of Himself and His covenant to those who fear Him. Sure, a person can have knowledge of facts about God and about his covenant. But that is all it will ever be. It will never be knowledge of experience with God. We live in a day and age where there is so much theological knowledge and information, yet we are as spiritually impotent in our knowledge of God as the Catholic Church was in the years before the Magisterial Reformation. The LORD will also fulfill the desires of those who fear Him: Psalm 145:19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him. The reason He does so is that the person who fears the LORD loves what He loves and hates what He hates. Thus, their petitions and desires are Spirit born and are a request of the will and desire of God. Finally, God favors those who fear Him: Psalm 147:11 11 The LORD favors those who fear Him, Those who wait for His lovingkindness. God takes delight in and shows His divine favor towards those who fear Him.

We have only begun to scratch the surface. In other places the Bible also says that the angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him; He shows His compassion to those who fear Him, and His covenant loyalties are towards those who fear Him. In light of this very brief and incomplete overview, we see that the fear of the LORD is not something we should neglect nor take lightly. Back to the reference in Philippians 2:12. Our salvation is to be worked out not half heartedly; not flippantly; not in a manner of selfishness, pride, or luke warmness, but in awe and reverence of a Holy God. For it is this Holy, Jealous God that is working with in us giving us both the will and the ability to do according to His good pleasure.

What will the life of those who fear the LORD look like? One word-obedience. A conformity to the will of God in passion, motive, action, and speech. There will be an ever-increasing likeness of the Son of God in their life. They are enthralled with the Holiness of God, humbled by the Grace of God, and passionate about the Glory of God. They are people of prayer, boldness, love, compassion, and sincerity. They are truthful in their speech and show integrity in their teaching. They know that one day the quality of their work will be measured-all the way down to the motive in which they carried it out. Knowing the omniscient eye of God, they bow in poorness of spirit to the Eternal King of the Ages and throw themselves upon the power of Christ to carry out His life through them. This is the man who fears the LORD and delight in His way. All others are pretenders.

I'll close with the words of Moses: Deuteronomy 10:12-13 "Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require from you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the LORD'S commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?

Rejoice in the Lord part 2

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice- Phil. 4:4

The soul of the saint has been united with the immortality and resurrected power of the Living Christ, thus giving him the ability to find his joy in the power and majesty of his Savior and Lord. Notice the word ability. Ability is a term of untapped power. For example, one may have the ability to accomplish a thing, but out of lack of motivation and an undisciplined spirit, the ability never manifests itself as an accomplishment. This also applies to the believer in terms of rejoicing, and brings me to my second point of this divine command. Since it is a command to be obeyed, it involves a desire of the will. The Christian has the ability and the resources to rejoice in the Lord, but out of stubbornness, laziness, unbelief, or a lack of discipline, which are all manifestations of an unwilling heart, the saint comes into disobedience in this manner. If the believer would by any means doubt the seriousness of such a command, the Holy Spirit, through the apostle, lays great importance on this command by repeating it.Why is it of great importance that the Christian rejoice always in the Lord? Here are two reasons I would like to suggest.

First, there is nothing more confounding to human nature, opposed to the wisdom of the world, and frustrating to the wiles of the devil than the ability to have joy while everything around you is being brought to nothing. The societal ideal of happiness and joy is based solely on a materialistic, circumstantial basis. This is why true joy eludes those who are perishing, and even some of God's elect. When hopes and dreams are built out of castles of sand, the destructive waves of tragedy leave its inhabitants left with nothing but the bitter taste of the salty wave that just destroyed their life's selfish pursuits. It proved that their reliance on such things was indeed futile. However, when the world witnesses a saint in suffering, she has the chance to encounter the glory of God. The saint must forever and always remember this one thing- that the glory of God is always at stake in his or her life, every second and every hour. One will either glorify God in his suffering of unfair circumstance or he will slander Him. The watching world needs to behold the obedient saint in the midst of his suffering. They need to see him with his head held high and his arms lifted in praise, and hear from the utterance of his lips, "though He slay me, I will yet praise him, for the Lord gives, and the Lord takes away, but blessed be the name of the Lord. For this one thing I know, and of this one thing I am certain, that I have entrusted my life, my soul, and my all, into the hands of the living God, and I shall not be moved. For the same hand that holds the universe in its expanse is the same hand that has gripped my soul with a grasp of grace and love, and I will never be snatched away." Such words, reflected from an attitude of humble reliance, dumbfounds a world that thinks it deserves an easy, trouble free life.

Secondly, it causes the saint to realize the only source of true joy in life. In our times of greatest distress, things that we thought were once so important and things that we thought brought delight to our soul all of the sudden have no ability to sustain our heart with strength, or fill our soul with joy. It is in these times that the saint comes to realize that the only thing that will satisfy his hungry soul, quench the thirst of his dry and cracking heart, and strengthen his legs for the journey is the joy of the Lord.The saint always has occasion for rejoicing, which is why it is to be a constant thing with a child of God. The scripture declares that we are more than conqueror through Christ, and that nothing in all of God's created order can separate us from his passionate love. One who has been promised such power and love has no reason to hang his head or be embittered or overcome by his present afflictions. For I have never seen the victor with his head down and his arms hanging, nor have I never witnessed the one who is loved unconditionally with no reason for hope.

Rejoice in the Lord part 1

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice- Phil. 4:4

Rejoice, in the Greek, is an imperative of command. As a command, rejoicing for the Christian becomes an issue of obedience. If the Christian is not rejoicing in the Lord at all times, and under all circumstances, it shows that the object of his faith has ceased to be the Lord Jesus, and he has become preoccupied with the tragedies and uncertainties that surround him. His mind begins to entertain such incredulous thoughts of doubt and discouragement, rendering him impotent in all manner of rejoicing. Only when he is able to fix his eyes upon Jesus, and refocus his wandering mind on the certainty, that God, in his sovereign, predetermined will, has orchestrated this event for the sanctifying of his faith, will he be able to find true joy. Only then will he embrace the suffering of Christ and find comfort in the Father of Compassion. Then, the Christian will find that rejoicing in the Lord is not only his strength, but also his privilege. Notice that the rejoicing is in the Lord. Again, this rejoicing is made possible because of its object. The rejoicing is not in the hope that one will ever be delivered from his present circumstance. For Paul had no certainty that he would ever be brought out from his Roman cell, nor did he find time to worry over it. The apostle himself penned with his own hand just how he felt about his present circumstance, "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me, and I do not know which one to choose." (Phil. 1:21-22). The attitude of the apostle is a reflection of one who finds his rejoicing in the Lord no matter his present state. For in his situation, he had the heavenly mindset that his time in prison could be used for fruitful service. He was content that deliverance from his situation may not come, save death or the return of Christ. Was his rejoicing in the chains around his feet, or the dampness and coldness of his prison cell? No, his rejoicing is in the Lord himself- for to live is Christ. With the Lord as one's focus, rejoicing is made possible in the midst of dire circumstances. The Lord of glory is able to fill the saint with a joy inexpressible and full of glory, because of the living hope that Christ has risen from the dead. This is a hope and a joy in the soul’s darkest hour and the saint’s greatest travail. The reason being is that the Christian has a Savior that has passed through the waters of despair, and has come out dry. He has walked through the flames of affliction and temptation, and has been found perfect. He has experienced the sting of betrayal, and the crushing blow of being abandoned by all whom he called his friends. He faced the cross with courage, knowing the joy that would soon be his afterward. He conquered the greatest enemy, death, showing that there was nothing in all creation that He could not subdue. Therefore, because of who Christ is and what he has done, the saint can know with absolute certainty that he will not be overcome, nor will he be swept away by whatever vexes his mortal soul.

Our Noble Ambition

Philippians 3:8-11

8More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.



In the carnal realm, ambition is to be appalled. Yet in the realm of the spiritual it is the driving force of identification with Christ and knowledge of God. Ambition for the glory of God is a virtue, not a vice, and may God permit that we as saints embody it in an ever increasing fashion.


The apostle Paul pursued the knowledge of God and union with Christ with a holy conflagration. He saw the knowledge of Christ as being the most valuable thing that a human being could ever have, and he was willing to disregard everything that would hinder obtaining such a precious possession. He wanted to be "found in Him" and "know Him in the power of His resurrection and fellowship of His suffering". Paul wanted nothing less than total identification with the life of the Son of God. The Greek word translated "found" gives the idea to "learn the whereabouts or location of something". In other words, if someone where on the hunt to find Paul, he hoped that they would discover that his whereabouts, the totality of his life, is in Christ Jesus. This is the same idea that Paul speaks of in Col. 3:3, "we are hidden in Christ in God." Paul wanted this hiddeness to be a reality in his life. He wanted to be invisible; totally absorbed and overflowing with Christ. He wanted nothing of himself to be visible: "not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ." All this man wanted was Jesus. Paul wanted to participate in the fullness of Christ resurrection and suffering. Again, he wanted absolute identification with Christ. Nothing less would do.

God wants us to pursue him with this kind of holy ardor. To pursue anything else is idolatry. In our culture of selfism and human exaltation we indeed know about passion; we know about ambition. However, the type of passion and ambition is one that is self-centered and worthy of judgment in hell. This type of consumer mentality has knocked on the door of the church, and people are letting it in without ever questioning its origin. "Christians" pursue God for all the wrong reasons. Ministers pursue worship numbers, fame, building programs, baptism numbers, and church growth methodology. The idea that "Christ is first" in all of this is used as a misnomer. It is a statement that they use to justify their selfish ambition, all the while the church becomes more and more "professionalized" and less and less "spiritualized". Oh we say that we believe in prayer! Oh we say that we pursue Him! Yet if you examine our vocabulary, the way that we do church, and the things that we emphasize, you will be left asking "do we really believe these things we confess?"

In the pews it is no different. People pursue God as a means. He becomes their source, but not their ambition. They hold on to their selfish ambition and pursuit of the world, and try to use the spiritual resources of God to help them reach their end. We say that we believe that God is the center, but again this is a misnomer. We say that God is the center of the universe, and then imply that this One who is the center of the universe, exists for me! We present Christ not as one to be pursued because He is worthy; not as one to be pursued because this is what He requires; not one to be pursued because it is all about Him and His glory and fame. No, God is to be pursed as the center of the universe because I won't be happy with out Him; my marriage won't work without Him; my life won't be fulfilled without Him; I'll never reach my potential without Him; I'll never have a great ministry without Him; I'll never reach my goals and aspirations without Him. God exists to fulfill me, comfort me, and help me. No He does not! God exists to be worshiped! To be pursued! To be sought after and obeyed! Salvation is not about me, but about God! He chose us, we did not choose Him. He chose us not to enhance our lives or fulfill us, but to form the image of His Son in us (Rm. 8:28-30). All of these other things are a by product of my pursuit of God. The end goal; the prime product, is God Himself. Paul understood this, and saw identification and knowledge of Christ as things that were of surpassing value.

The apostle John said in his first letter that the world and all its lust are passing away, but the one who does the will of the Father abides forever. So, pursue God, not the world. Serve Him and stop trying to use Him to help you get all that you can out of life, because in the end, you will have nothing.

I am tired of this "new religion". I am tired of seeing God defamed. I am grieved at all the deadness and compromise and apathy. We need holy fire. We need God to open people's eyes and stir their hearts. We need awakening.

So, what is your life going to be about? Are you going to keep it for yourself, or are you going to lay it on the alter of God and let Him consume it with holy fire. If you lay it on the alter, you can be sure of one thing: That because so few are alive and burning, the light of your fire will shine brightly with the glory of the Lord. If you hold on, you'll be like all the rest. So, you can try to use God or serve God. Calculate Him into your pursuits or make Him your pursuit. It is time for a decision. Stop playing games and wasting your time; either serve God or serve the world. Either worship God or use Him. Stop wallowing in compromise. If you are His, separate yourself and get on with God. Stop loving the world and fondling it! Stop cheating on God!!!!!!! Stop committing adultery against your one husband, Christ. You were previously an adulterous whore whom He ransomed from your depravity. Why go back to it? Why? Leave the world and its lust and its sparkle alone. Pursue Christ as your most noble ambition. Whatever you do, at least do it with all of your might! You can rest assured of this, that there will be a day of judgment that will bring everything to light. Where will you be found? In Christ? I pray so.

Walking with God

Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. Gen. 5:24

By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. Heb. 11:5


In Genesis 5:24, the Hebrew word for walk indicates the idea of "walking to and fro". The implication is that wherever God was, Enoch was there also. If God went left, Enoch went left. If God stood still, so did Enoch. He was caught up in the great way of God. The word is also used with the connotation that the one who would walk before Yahweh be blameless and pleasing to Him (cf Gen. 17:1) The author of Hebrews quotes the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament) which picks up on this idea of the Hebrew word and translates it with a Greek word that can mean "to please someone". The way that the Greek is used in both the Septuagint and the New Testament gives the idea that the sum total of Enoch's life was one that was pleasing to God.

How does one walk with God in such a way that the Most High finds pleasure and delight in him? The author of Hebrews tells us in verse 6 that it is by faith, and that without this faith it is impossible to please God.

The great aim of the sanctification of the Spirit is to get us walking with God. He desires to pull us out of ourselves and get us caught up in the Great Way of God. Enoch was caught up in the Great Way of God. He was in stride with Him and only did what He saw God doing. He only went where God told him to go. Thus, he was pleasing to God.

When we turn to the New Testament, we see that this type of life finds its zenith in the Son of Man. Jesus himself said in John 5:19 "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise." There it is! Do you see it? It is the bravura of His relationship with God. Jesus shows us this dazzling display of what it means to truly walk with God.

The next question we have to ask is "what does faith have to do with all of this?" Indeed this is an important question, for without it, we are unable to live in a manner that is pleasing to God. It is a given that saving faith is a gift that can only be granted to a person by God (Eph. 2:8-9). In the context of Hebrews, it is not saving faith that the author has in mind, though it can certainly not be excluded. Based on verse 6, the faith has to do with "diligently seeking". In other words, a life that is pleasing to God is one that takes Him for who He is, and expends itself to following hard after Him and getting caught up in His Great Way.

In order to walk with God, you must come to your own funeral. Paul went to his when he said in Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." As long as the idol of self is allowed to co-exists next to the ark of God, there will be divided loyalty. You cannot be focused on God and walking in stride with Him as long as you are self conscious. You will always factor yourself into the equation. There is no place in the spiritual highlands for a saint, who like the Levite that served Micah and his household gods for 10 shekels and a shirt (Jdgs 17), that will compromise. The inclusion of self will always lead to compromise.

To be in God's Great Way is impossible without faith. Once we come to our own funeral, we have to trust in the life of the Son of God to carry out this stringent lifestyle through us. He was the one who had perfect vision and insight to what God was doing, and the power, by faith, to carry out what He heard. Since Christ now lives in us, He wants to live that same type of life through us- the life in stride with God. It is the life that only does what it sees the Father doing. This requires vision of God, and vision is only obtained by standing in the presence of God.

So many today have no concept of what it means to stand in the presence of God. The majority of Christians today both behind the pulpit and behind the pews have become like blind Eli, not perceiving the workings of God. There is dullness of heart and mind, because self is still in the equation. Prayers are empty of power and wonder, because there are few who know what it means to stand in God's presence. Few know what it means to walk to and fro with God. What is the life that is pleasing to God? It is the life of faith that turns all of its being to the face of God, and allows the Son to bring him or her into the blessed fellowship and wonder of the Triune God.

So, are you walking with God? Do you stand in His presence? Heed His counsel? Know His voice? Recognize His groaning? Feel is heartbeat? Understand what He is speaking to the churches? Or are you self deceived, kindling your own fire and walking in your own artificial light. Are you serving Micah for 10 shekels and shirt, living in compromise, or are you serving the living God, walking in stride with Him?

Finest Hour

They call it a day of reckoning, a man’s finest hour
(When he decides within himself who he will become for the rest of his life from this day on)

When faced with insurmountable odds, which will make the faithless cower
(This man looks to God, stares his giant in the face, and considers death his ally)

For it is death that will consume his taunting foes
(As he grip the hand of God, his strength becomes more mightier than 100 armies)

With a broken body and a bloody nose
(He a rises as a conqueror ready to make an end of those who rejoiced in his fall)

When other men would have given up the fight
(The man of faith continually gets back up, knowing that his endurance supercedes his foes)

For through the desert land and darkest of nights
(He presses on, unmoved by the howls of his enemies, slashing through them with word of God)

He shines like the light of 1000 suns
(For the glory of God goes before him in a pillar of fire, warning his foes of terror)

The forces of darkness now flee and run
(Like crying children afraid of the night, they tremble at the Lord’s power)

The man of God, he shall prevail
(Because God upholds the foot of the righteous, not allowing them to utterly fall)

Though he be in an hour of great travail
(This hour has potential to mark a man forever, as one who has stared hell in the face and won.)

Yes, this will be my finest hour
(I will arise with my right hand in the Lord’s, and my left around the throat of my enemy)

This time, I will not be devoured
(For I am planted on the Rock, I stand stall and unafraid for the Lion of Judah is ready to roar)

The Wasting of Spiritual Energy

As Christians, we are called to be stewards. Stewards of our time, resources, work, family, ministries, money, etc. If you think about it, our life on this earth consists of management. However, we hardly, if ever, adapt this principle into the spiritual realm. If we are not careful, we could be doing what Oswald Chambers calls "wasting spiritual energy." What this means is that the energy we could be spending on meditation, prayer, obedience, and study, is often spent on daydreaming, anxiety, rationalizing, and being just plain lazy. We can also see this principle worked out in the areas of our spiritual giftings and ministries. In using our giftings and our time in ministry, we should ask, is this a good investment? Paul also gives an example in Phil. 4:6 about wasting spiritual energy. The verse reads "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made know to God." The phrase "be anxious for nothing" in the Greek is a command. Paul is commanding us not to waste our time, thoughts, and energy on being anxious. Next, he tells us what we should be doing with our energy, and that is to pray. The energy that we spend in our worry is less energy that we spend in prayer. And as a result, we miss out on God's peace (v.7). By holding on to our worry and not submitting our request to God, we wrongfully judge Him as unable to care for us and our problems. The reason we spend our time in worry instead of prayer is because we are not taking our Christianity personally. For if we did, we would take God at his word and spend our spiritual energy in prayer, thus reaping the fruit of a life of peace. For it is this peace that will guard us against an anxious mind and a troubled heart. In Ephesians 5:16, Paul speaks of redeeming the time. Though we may have spent much time in the past wasting our spiritual energy, we can start to day, and redeem the time. We can choose today to repent, and start spending our energy on what truly matters.

The Sin of Prayerlessness

through all prayer and petition, praying on every occasion in the Spirit. Eph. 6:18 (translation mine).

In the context of the preceding verses, Paul tells us that we put on our spiritual armor "through all prayer and petition". On ever occasion that we pray, we are to do it "in the Spirit", or in the realm of the Spirit. We are to pray under His influence, under His power, and under His instruction, for He is the Spirit of prayer.

As saints of God, we are either walking in the Spirit or walking in the flesh (Gal. 5:16, 25). If we are walking in step with the Spirit, prayer will be a vital part of our being. It is the pulse that can be checked to see if we have any life within us. If we are walking in the flesh, prayer will either be a second rate exercise in which we have no joy or perseverance, or hypocritical confession that we merely give lip service to. So, what is the cause of prayerlessness in the modern church? Christians who walk after the flesh. Indeed, we always speak of sins of the flesh as adultery, fornication, outburst of wrath, strife, envy, etc., but prayerlessness never makes the list. if we are walking in the flesh, we will exhibit some of these characteristics, yet it is exactly these characteristics that will keep us from the place of prayer. If a believer is in sin, the last place he will want to go is into the prayer closet. Why? Because it is in the place of prayer that he or she has to come face to face with the Divine Holiness. Also, since the Spirit is the Spirit of prayer, the one living in sin is not being controlled by His desires, and will avoid the place of prayer.

But what is it that makes prayerlessness such a detestable sin? It is the fact that for the believer, it is a manifestation of pride. We are saying to God, “I do not need you, nor do I care about your guidance or your will. I am of no need of being in union with you, nor do I need your power and the filling of your Spirit. I do not care about knowing you, nor do I care that you have called me to a ministry of intercession." Some may object to this and say "I pray every day for 10 minutes!" Yes, you do, but where is your joy in prayer? Why is it that you have time for everything else but can only give God 10 minutes of your day? You make time and priority for all the other things that interest you. The fact that you only allot prayer 10 minutes a day shows that it is of little importance. Though you may be unaware of it, it shows how arrogant you are.

Many wonder why their spiritual life is so feeble. They wonder why they never see or experience God. It is because they are in sin, the sin of prayerlessness. Many even try to cover up this void by filling it with service, study, and work in the church. What a sad state. All that they do is done in the power of the flesh, because it is not bathed in the Supernatural in the place of prayer. Many failures in the power of modern day preaching and ministry are due to this great and heinous sin. We plan all kinds of things without ever taking them to the throne of the Most High and asking if this be His will. We presume upon the divine forbearance, pick something to do that sounds good to us, and then demand Him to bless it.

It is a necessity for the spiritual leader to outpace the rest of the church in prayer. If you come across one who outpaces you in this place, you should repent and ask God to forgive you for not being the leader and ask Him to give you the capacity to receive more of the Spirit for the work of intercession. In order for the sin of prayerlessness to be on the decline in the life of the modern church, the minsters and leaders have to set the pace and teach other how to do it. Until that happens, the rest of the church will be hindered because of their sin.

Journal Entry: Saturday, March 10, 2007

Today, I wanted to share one of my journal entries from last year.

Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

What I have gained from these verses this morning is very rich. Those who have gone before me- Abraham, Moses, Gideon, Barak- have set an impeccable standard of faith. Because they have gone before me, I also must strip away those things that will keep me from living at the level of faith that they did. The reason being is that there is a race set before me in which I must, by necessity, run. However, as great as those who went before me where, I am not commanded to fix my eyes upon them. I am, however, told to turn all my attention, interrupted, to Jesus. He is the one who is the Founder of my faith, and the Perfecter- the one who will bring my faith to a successful conclusion! Therefore, He is the source of my endurance. I have the promise that Christ himself will bring my faith to a successful conclusion! Why? Because He Himself successfully completed the will of the Father.

It was for the joy that was set before Him that He endured the cross. The Greek text gives the idea that there was a greater plain of existence in the realm of joy that awaited Him. It was laid before Him. There is also for me, a greater plain of existence in the eternal state- a greater joy to come. Because there is this greater plain of existence to come- the eternal kingdom in which the author has been talking about in the previous chapter- I need to live for that joy. This life is a vapor, and the pleasures found here are fleeting and disappearing. They will not last. Therefore, I must do as Jesus did- live for the plain of existence in the realm of the joy that is soon coming. That realm of joy is eternal, and far exceeds any temporal pain and persecution that I MUST go through. For this life is preparation for eternity. This life is the valley that I must walk through in order to reach the mountain of joy. This valley is what God uses to perfect me and to build up treasures for me in the eternal state.

There is only a certain amount of time left in this life. Therefore, in the time that remains, I must live for the eternal existence that will soon be here. All the persecutions, all the heartache, pain, vile words, oppression, discouragement- it will all cease. Yet the joy that is to come will never stop! It is an unending, everlasting state of super abounding joy- a plain of existence now foreign to us, yet not out of reach! This is why it is so important not to falter or fall in times of difficulty. They will not last, but the one who does the will of the Father will abide forever! And his reward? Unending joy in the presence of his King!


Here is a something I wrote to go along with this entry:


I have found hope in your truth today,
the stench of discouragement you are washing away.


A spirit of mourning you have poured out on my head,
a broken heart accompanies me at night in my bed.

My sorrow stemmed from the wickedness all around,
vile words, apathy, and lies that abound.


Why do you bear with the foolishness of men?
When will you rise up and judge them with your hand?

Indeed I know all things are happening as they should,
and you will soon use this evil for good!


So I take up my cross, in my eye there's a gleam,
determination, perseverance, as I pick up that beam.

No sissy Christianity, no time to whine,
with scars on my heart, it 's gut check time!


So I'll press on with your joy in my heart
until this wicked, corrupt world I depart.

I'll bear with the vapor that you have called man,
for they are but dust, the work of Your hand.


The day of judgment will humble them all,
it will silence their mouths, on their knees they do fall!

But as for me, I rejoice in all of Your might,
it's your truth that has caused me to walk in the light.


So here is my body, my life, my all,
a ball of depravity You ransomed from the fall!

A sin loving sinner you elected in grace,
removing the veil so I can see Your face!


Here I am Jesus, I take up my cross,
counting all things in this world as loss!

Sinners at Ease in Zion

Amos 6:1-8 Woe to those who are at ease in Zion And to those who feel secure in the mountain of Samaria, The distinguished men of the foremost of nations, To whom the house of Israel comes. 2 Go over to Calneh and look, And go from there to Hamath the great, Then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are they better than these kingdoms, Or is their territory greater than yours? 3 Do you put off the day of calamity, And would you bring near the seat of violence? 4 Those who recline on beds of ivory And sprawl on their couches, And eat lambs from the flock And calves from the midst of the stall, 5 Who improvise to the sound of the harp, And like David have composed songs for themselves, 6 Who drink wine from sacrificial bowls While they anoint themselves with the finest of oils, Yet they have not grieved over the ruin of Joseph. 7 Therefore, they will now go into exile at the head of the exiles, And the sprawlers' banqueting will pass away. 8 The Lord GOD has sworn by Himself, the LORD God of hosts has declared: "I loathe the arrogance of Jacob, And detest his citadels; Therefore I will deliver up the city and all it contains."


Hear the words of Amos the prophet! He unloads a scathing rebuke on those arrogant sinners who are living in a makeshift security devised by their own corrupted mind. He pronounces the prophetic curse, “woe”, to those in Judah and Israel because of the monstrosity of their sins that rise up into the nostrils of a Holy God. In their pride, the covenant people of God felt “secure” because they presumed upon God that being a covenant nation gave them a right to spiritual apathy. They claimed that they were secure because their city dwelled in the “mountain of Samaria”, deeming themselves impregnable from any oncoming onslaught. Oh see the picture of these arrogant, self absorbed people, sprawled out upon their fine couches, drinking the best of wines, while their nation slips into moral decadence and apostasy. Now, mind you, these were the leaders who were doing this, the “distinguished men from the foremost of nations, to whom the house of Israel comes.” Boasting in their pride and material gain, these wicked imposters “put off the day of calamity” and had no after thought of the judgment of God. Day by day they were storing up wrath for themselves. They had fallen asleep. They were at ease on the Holy Mount of God. Indeed, did they think that God would never rise up and avenge His name? Did they think that God would turn His face from the spiritual adultery that was going on? Yes they did! Yet God through Amos had word for them that flew in the face of their self absorption and false security: The Lord GOD has sworn by Himself, the LORD God of hosts has declared: "I loathe the arrogance of Jacob, And detest his citadels; Therefore I will deliver up the city and all it contains." Judgment was inevitable. Those sinners who now sit at ease in Zion will soon be weighted down with heaviness of heart over the destruction that will befall them. Those sinners who now sit at ease in Zion will soon eat the ashes of the ruins of their riches. Those sinners at ease in Zion, who presume upon the goodness and forbearance of God, will receive back to them all the oppression that they brought upon others. Why such a strict judgment? Because these were the covenant people of God; they knew better!


So now I turn my comments to those in the church. Woe to you sinners who are at ease in Zion! You who presume to be among the elect of God, what evidence is there of your election? Let us take you into the courtroom. Let us examine you under the light of truth. You come in week after week to the house of God, yet you are devising evil in your heart! You speak with smooth words that could fool only the most nominal Christian, yet the venom of the asp flows from your bite! You claim genealogy from the Son of God, yet your actions show that your real father is the devil himself! What of you who defame the name of God and blaspheme the Divine Majesty by attributing your sinful actions to the direction of the Holy Spirit? How is that you say “God told me to do this,” when your life is so full of sin, that there is no way you are hearing from God. You follow the voice of folly and arrogance, pride and the sinful way! You sinners at ease in Zion! What is your protection? Do you boast of your works? Your church attendance? Indeed, what are your works or your fruits? Do you bear the fruits of repentance? Thanksgiving? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control? Do you share your faith? Is there holiness of life? Do you abstain from the pleasures and vices of the world, or are you fascinated by them? Do you know your God? Do you fear Him, love Him, and obey Him? Indeed, what is the evidence of your conversion?


Where is the prophet among you who is standing up and crying out “Injustice! Violence! Apostasy! Hypocrisy! Luke warmness! Repent and turn back to God!” Who among you stands up for the truth and yearns to lead sinners in the way? Who of you is righteously indignant at the state of modern Christianity and the apathy that has invaded the churches in America? Who among you have been enlightened by the Spirit to recognize what I am talking about? The majority say, “all is fine, we are doing great!’ Oh sinners at ease in Zion! Sinners on the way to destruction! Blind guides! People living in ignorance! Indeed the Lord said, “My people are destroyed by lack of knowledge!” Where are the tenderhearted? Where are those who burn with fire and whose lives are invaded by the supernatural? Are you there? I have not seen you. Is there a man or woman of God out there who will stand up and be counted? Is their a man or woman of God out there who will challenge the status quo of the pretenders who camp all around you? Where are you? Come out! For I am sure that God has his remnant!

The Power of God

1 Corinthians 1:18, 22-24, 30-31; 2:1-5


18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.......22 For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom;
23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,
24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.......
30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,
31 so that, just as it is written, "LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD."...........



1 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.
2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling,
4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.


The God of glory, with all of His Omnipotent wonder, creates the universe out of nothing, causes the mountains to tremble and the oceans to stir. He upholds all things by the power of His word. He has the authority to cast people in the lake of fire, and no purpose of His can ever be withheld. There is nothing that He has decreed that will not come to pass. No scheme of man or of devils will ever prevail over the purpose of the Immutable, Unchangeable God. Clouds in thick darkness surround Him, and righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. He has parted the Red Sea, and causes desolations on the earth. He is an awe-inspiring God; a dreadful God. One so full of burning Holiness and righteous indignation, that it is indeed a fearful thing to fall into His hands. Yet though these wonders are all majestic displays of His power, the culmination of His Omnipotence is found in the preaching of Christ crucified.

The use of the word "power" here in 1 Corinthians denotes that of "ability". God's ability displayed in the cross is distinct in the fact that it is through the cross and only through the cross that the salvation and wisdom of God is found. However, we must understand that God is speaking here of more that just an event. It is not in the event of the cross that the power of God is manifested, but it is in the person who accomplished the event- Jesus. Through the incarnation, the God-become-flesh poured out His holy life to obedience to the Father. He then offered that life as a propitiation for sin, and afterward, rose again from the dead, setting the people of God back into a right relationship with the Father. Here is where the power of God is expressed in the event of the cross: That God first placed us in His Son, who Paul says has become for us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. The cross is the power of God because what Jesus accomplished there was the totality of Christianity. The substitutionary death of Jesus not only means that He took the wrath of God upon Himself so that we could go free, but that through the cross, He accomplished our redemption from start to finish.

Through His substitutionary death, He has also become our wisdom. We no longer have to operate in accordance to carnality and worldly wisdom, for now the very wisdom of God has become ours through Jesus. This means that no longer must I bend and yield to the common sense of the world, but I must accept the fact that I have died with Christ, so that the Wisdom of God Himself- Jesus, can express the divine discernment through me.

The substitutionary death of Jesus also provided for the people of God righteousness. Through our identification with the death of Jesus, God has done away with our carnal virtue, and wants to replace them with the virtues of the Son of God. As Christians, we can still have carnal virtues. Carnal virtues are those things in which we establish our own selves as being loving, kind, patient, nice, etc. The reason they are carnal is because the have their root in the sinful nature and not in the life of the Son of God. Carnal virtues are a weak substitute. The reason being is that they will always carry with them some bias or some breaking point. The carnal virtue of love will always have something or someone that will not be treated with truth. Carnal patience will always have an event that will bring it to its end. Carnal kindness will not be extended to all, especially to those who are one's enemies. However, the virtues of the Son of God know no limitation, because they are perfect and eternal in their duration. When Jesus is expressing His love through me, I will see people as equal. His patience will bear up under any circumstance and situation, and His kindness will be extended to all, even the undeserving. This is what God has provided for us through the atonement.

Next, His substitutionary death has provided for us sanctification- being made into the holy image of the Lord. Sanctification is not a process where we receive the Spirit of God so that He can rehabilitate us. He does not give the Spirit as a crutch that we can use to help us walk. God never honors trying, He honors surrender. God does not want to rehabilitate us, He wants to do away with us so that the life of Jesus can be made manifest through us. As long as we are in the way, we are trying to carry out sanctification on our own means and along our own terms, and we will forever remain impotent in the realm of spiritual progress. Christian sanctification is the process in which the foundation is "not I but Christ". God united us in the death of Christ so that He could get rid of our sinful disposition and nature- our selfish self-centeredness- and manifest the life of His Son through us. The reason God gave us His Spirit is not to rehabilitate us, but to put to death the deeds of the body, so that He and He alone can glorify Jesus through us. The process of sanctification is both started, carried out, and completed by Christ. He is the one who has become our holiness for us. We need to surrender and let Christ live through us, and stop trying to use the Spirit to rehabilitate us.

Finally, the cornerstone of apostolic preaching is now made manifest to us. It is the preaching of the cross in the Spirit and power of God. Wherever there is any sort of preaching, whether it is gospel preaching, righteousness preaching, or sanctification preaching, if it has any other foundation and premise than the substitutionary death of Jesus, it will not be accompanied by the Spirit and power of God. The reason being is that Paul has stated in the previous verses that the preaching of the cross is where the power of God is manifested. Therefore, if we want the Spirit and power of God operating in our lives and in our preaching, it must all be centered on the cross. Sanctification, righteousness, and wisdom preached on any other way will not have the anointing of God, and the practice of it in the lives of those who hear will not be blessed with the power and Spirit of God to bring about true sanctification, righteousness, and wisdom. All other preaching is carnal and worldly in its wisdom. If you ever hear someone tell you that sanctification and righteous living can be obtained any other way than through the death of Jesus and Him living His life through you, avoid such teaching. In obeying such worldly wisdom, you will forfeit the working of the Spirit, who only operates in and through the cross of Christ (Rm. 8:1-2).

A Spirit of Mourning

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." Matthew 5:4


Again, Jesus cuts through the superficial, humanistic mindset of happiness by exalting a virtue that gains no mainstay in the world. Yet in heaven, it rises to the throne of God as a flagship, leading the way to spiritual blessing. The word translated "mourn" conveys the idea of grief of the deepest kind. It is a sorrow that begins in the heart, takes possession the the entire person, and is then outwardly manifested. It is of significance to note that the idea of bereavement is not primarily in view, though it is by no means excluded. The type of mourning portrayed here is a deep sense of contrition that comes over sin and lukewarmness, over the slowness of our spiritual growth, of our distance from Him; it is grief over our spiritual bankruptcy.

This attitude is manifested in the life of Christ disciples in three main ways: repentance, prayer, and intercession.

Repentance- It is those disciples who have wandered from the flame of the Holy Spirit who have the great need of the Omnipotent God to show them mercy, and pour out a spirit of mourning upon them. They have forsaken their first love and have become cold, calloused, and uncaring. They have become fascinated by the world, and are in danger of receiving the loving rod of discipline from the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. They have little passion for the glory of Christ, and live out a nominal existence with a phenomenal God. These saints know little of the presence and blessing of God. They are like a child who has never gotten over his fascination of breaking waves on the seashore. Content with what he finds after the tide has gone out, he has no desire to explore the true depths of the sea. What unknown wonders he could discover if only he would actually venture out into the ocean itself. These Christians are only paddling on the edge of the possibilities of grace. Only when they come with brokenness and repentance over their sin and lukewarmness, will they ever be able to experience the depths of God.

Prayer- It is possible for a Christian to mourn over the slowness of his or her growth and the feebleness of his or her spiritual attainment apart from any actual sin in their life. This is indeed a healthy attitude to have. It keeps the disciple in the place of humility, realizing that the only way he or she will continue to be transformed into the image of Christ is through hiddeness in Christ. The place of prayer becomes the pinnacle of existence, because it is in that place that union and abiding with Christ takes on its fullest expression. In the place of prayer, the word of God becomes etched within our soul. As we gaze upon the reality of the Son of God, we lose consciousness of our self; decreasing and becoming invisible, so that Jesus may have his rightful dominion over us.

Intercession- Besides evangelism, this is by far the most neglected ministry of the modern church. We know little of intercession and its power because we know little of what it means to mourn. Yes we pray for those who are sick or in dire circumstances, but we know little of the power of prayer when it comes to the spiritual transformation of human lives. The apostle John states in 1 John 5:16 that if anyone sees his brother sinning a sin that does not lead to death, that he should pray for him and God will give him life. Are we so blind that we do not recognize the enormity of such a promise? Is are faith in God so feeble that when we hear a promise such as that, we immediately become suspicious? When was the last time that your eyes flowed with tears because of the rampant unconfessed sin and lukewarmness that runs amok in the lives of Christians today? When was the last time you mourned over the soul of a lost friend or neighbor?

One who has been gripped by the holiness of God will hate what He hates, and experience His grief over sin in the lives of His people. If we have been blessed with a spirit of mourning, we will dive head long into the ministry of intercession, knowing that we can pray the power of the atonement into the lives of God's children. In response to our intercession, God has promised to give the sinning disciple life. This life is nothing other than the life of Jesus himself. Through the power of the atonement, God will come and replace the bondage of sin with the very virtue of Christ Himself. When a disciple is caught up in the Great Way of God, he becomes so intertwined with the will of God, that his intercession is the expression of the prayer life of the Son of God, who always is heard by the Father and obtains what He ask for. The disciples intercession becomes the avenue for God to express His will and fulfill His purpose upon the earth.

If you do not have this spirit of mourning, don't waist another minute of your life. Hit your knees and cry out to God to give you this blessed attitude.

Spiritual Paupers

Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."


Over the next month, the following blogs will be over some of the beatitudes listed here in the Sermon on the Mount. The reason such a discussion over the beatitudes is necessary is because these are the ideal characteristics that are to be in the lives of His disciples. It is of utmost importance to realize that these characteristics were present in Jesus with all of their perfection. That being the case, it is only as He lives His life through us, that these attitudes can become a reality in us.


In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was mainly addressing his disciples (vs1-2). These ideals that he was instructing them in cut across the temper of the age, redefining the popular idea of blessedness. We will do well to listen to his instruction, for never do such words radiate with such relevancy in the humanistic, ego centric, pleasure seeking culture that we find ourselves in today.


Ask people in the world what they think makes them happy? Ask them what they think of when you say the words "Blessed" or "Blessings". They will probably say something along the lines of having immeasurable wealth, good health, the absence of suffering and pain, a good job, the opportunity to fulfill the gratification of their lustful appetites, or being a "good person." All of these replies are materialistic and carnally minded.


Thanks to prosperity preachers, this type of mentality has flowed into the church. Christians think that they are truly blessed and favored by God if they have good health, lots of money, a great job, no trials, etc. Now, obviously, these are blessings from the Lord, but they are not evidence of a blessed life. It was exactly this type of thinking that Jesus was rooting out of his disciples with the beatitudes.


A life that is truly blessed takes on characteristics that the world deems unsuitable. Let us now look at the first blessed attitude.


The word blessed could be translated, "oh the bliss". Here, it is the one who realizes their spiritual inadequacy that finds a state of bliss, or a blessed life. There are two words for "poor" in the Greek. One means someone who has nothing unnecessary; the other , one who has nothing at all. It speaks of one who is bankrupt, having no resources at all. It is this second meaning that Jesus is referring to here. He is stating that until a person recognizes that they are in a state of spiritual bankruptcy, having no resources in themselves for anything spiritual, they will never be in a state of bliss.

We have to realize that we bring nothing good to the table. We have nothing to offer Jesus. The Bible says that in our former, unregenerate state, that we were dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph 2:2). Because of the fall, we are born in sin. This is what theologians call Original Sin. Because of Original Sin, our will is held in bondage by our sinful nature. We do not seek after God, nor do we desire Him at all. The book of Romans makes it clear that there is none who seek after God, and that there is none who do good (Rm 3:11-12). Every part of our being is corrupted by sin. We have no power to return to God or will anything good. Everything we do is corrupted by pride and self centeredness.

The thought of Jesus parallels with the thought of Paul. We are all spiritual bankrupt, devoid of any righteousness or ability to love God. It is only when we recognize this about ourselves that we can obtain the kingdom of heaven. The only way the we can come to this realization is by the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus says that He will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment (John 16:8). The tool that the Holy Spirit uses to show us our depravity is the Law of God (10 commandments). For Paul said that through the Law comes the knowledge of sin (Rm. 7:7). Once we have been humbled and broken, and have come to the realization of our depravity, the grace of God is then made clear to us.

The thing that we are in danger of as Christians is to somehow naively believe that there was some good thing in us that cause us to believe. We walk the path of the anointed cherub who fell from his state of beauty when we entertain the idea that we can offer God anything. As Christians, we should be growing daily in this attitude of being poor in spirit.

Upon our conversion, we were made to sit with Christ in heavenly places, and are now co-heirs with Him. This means that we have access to all the spiritual blessings that are in Christ Jesus. However, these blessings never become a reality as long as pride governs our life. The only way we transact business in the heavenly places is through being poor in spirit. When we are constantly growing in the recognition of our inability and the recognition of the magnificent grace of God, all the glories of Christ become a reality in our life.

When we do not access all that has been given to us through the atonement, we are like a man who has a bank account with millions of dollars in it, but because he does not know how to access his account, lives in abject poverty. We indeed are bankrupt in spirit, yet through the cross, God has opened up to us the inheritance of His Son. However, we will never experience the fullness of our union with Christ until we grasp the concept that it is not I but Christ.

This is why Jesus considers this a blessed attitude to have. For when we have the attitude of a spiritual pauper, one who is totally dependant upon the resources of Christ, the fullness of the kingdom and all that comes with it, will be ours abounding and overflowing. This is a blessed life: One that recognizes their own inadequacy in the spiritual realm and because of this revelation, comes to inherit the kingdom of God.

Jesus himself displayed this attitude of total dependency on the Father all throughout His life. It is He an He alone that can rise up within you and produce the humility in you that is necessary to walk in the fullness of your union with God. Let your prayer this week be, "Lord, by your grace, bring me to a deeper understanding of my spiritual bankruptcy, and come and produce your life of total dependency through me, so that you may be glorified and that I may experience all that you have given me through your death and resurrection.