"Splintered Love"

The foot of the blood-stained cross is the best place to be, knowing that in this place is only where we can be free. 

But it's not over here just yet, for from the grave has our Jesus left. 

And now seated at the right hand of the Father in all of His splendor, at His holiness and awesomeness we can only tremble. 

I can't wait to look into His eyes of fire and hold His strong hands, knowing for eternity that satan is a liar and this earth is not my eternal land. 

Jesus keep us near the cross; splinters, blood, tears and all...

Crashing Down

Oh that we could ever fully grasp the magnitude, power, and glory of our risen King Jesus!  What a mighty God we truly serve!  I am convinced more and more just how living and active the Word of God is.  It truly is sharper than any two-edged sword, dividing bone and marrow.  There is so much life, truly life abundant, in the Lord!  I had read something recently that the Spirit has continued to stir in my heart.  Please take a moment to read 1 Samuel 5:1-4 before proceeding.

During this time, the Philistines had captured the ark of the Lord.  Now the ark contained the 10 Commandments, but it also represented the very presence of God.  The ark was with them on their desert wanderings (Numbers 10:17, 33).  It was carried with them into battle (Joshua 6).  The ark was of great importance to the people of God, but now it had been taken.

So when the Philistines took it, they placed in the house of Dagon.  Dagon was the god of the Philistines.  It was some type of a fish-god with "dag" meaning "fish."  Dagon's worshippers had a deep affection to their supposed deity.  It's interesting to me that they would put the ark of the Lord right next to Dagon, but they did and they went to bed.

The next morning they arose to find Dagon had fallen and facedown before the ark of the Lord.  So they resituated him and stood him back up and then proceeded to bed.  Again the next morning, they awoke to find Dagon having fallen over and facedown before the ark of the Lord, but this time his head and hands had been cut off.

Now it's helpful to remember, this was a statue of sorts!  How does a non-living thing fall down and facedown for that matter?  Ironic?  Convenient?  I think not!  Now sure, maybe an angel brushed by and whacked it really hard with it's wing.  Maybe whoever set it up to begin with didn't do a very good job.  Or perhaps it's just true what God has said, that He alone is to be worshipped and exalted.  Maybe it really is true that there is no god like our God!  Maybe there's a good chance that the presence of God is so powerful it causes demons to flee and lame men to walk and the dead to rise and statues to fall and crumble and giants to be slain!  Yes it is truth!

Oh people of the living God, are you getting this?! When I read this, I couldn't help but laugh in reverential fear at the powerful, all-consuming presence of God. I was quickly reminded of the Scripture that says that every knee must bow and every tongue must confess that Jesus Christ is Lord! Yes He truly is! There is none that can stand up against Him! No fake deity or arrogant people could ever demote God, the One and only true God!

Oh that we would see the magnificent beauty in this, God cannot and will not be mocked!  God is omnipotent, meaning all-powerful.  There is nothing in life, whether in the world or in our lives, that can alter the character of God.  He is unchanging and faithful to the end!  1 Corinthians 4:20 says this:  "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power."

May this reign true in our lives this day!  May we walk in the truth, the truth of God's Word.  May His presence be so thick upon you that it causes idols to come crashing down!  May the crowns in our lives that we have taken time to treasure and polish and set up be thrown down at the feet of the holy One!  May the Jesus in us cause demons to shudder and flee!  May the power of God's manifest presence in our lives change and rearrange everything!  May dagons be destroyed in Jesus name and may each of our knees be the ones to bow, may our tongues confess, that yes Jesus, You alone are Lord!

War Cry

Oh heavenly Father,

I look to my left and to my right and in the mirror, and I see him (satan) just having his way, like it's burger king, with the people of God.  We seem to be just a chew toy in the mouth of the deceiving enemy and at the mercy of his evil intent.  Well I have had it!  No more in Jesus name!  It's time to rise up against this thing and slay it once and for all!  It's a fixed fight, and we win in Jesus name!  I long to see the glory of God, to see mighty warriors of the Lord chasing down the enemy while screaming "Jesus!"  It is time for us to have our way with him.  It's time for things to change.  I refuse to be a slobbered on, lied to, shredded apart chew toy any longer!

We are the head, not the tail.  We are victorious, not defeated.  We walk in the truth, not run in fear.  The darkness cannot overcome the light.  We slay giants, we don't dread them.  We battle tenaciously, not crawl into foxholes sheepishly.  We stand against the enemy, we don't shrink back.  We burn with the fire of God and not from the flaming arrows of the evil one.  We run as ones to win the prize, we don't merely play games like the rest.  We cause demons to scatter, and we don't turn and scatter.  We diminish strongholds, they don't have dominion over us.  We bring heaven to earth, we don't just long for heaven.  We go and take back what the enemy has stolen from us, we don't give him more.  We move mountains with our faith, our mountains don't move us.  We stand upon the truth, even when others fall.

Rise up mighty warriors of the living God, we cannot and must not quit!  We are just getting started.  While Sunday services are predictable, trained warriors are unpredictable.  Like David going to deliver some crackers and cheese, we will not leave until the enemy flees!  We serve the living God, the One and only true God!  The One who says:  "I am that I am."  There is nothing and nobody that can alter the character of God.  Jehovah our Warrior is fighting for us and we win!  I'm a warrior, I'm a worshipper.  When I lift my hands, demons have to flee.  When I lift my voice, mountains have to move.  When I lift up my sword, giants have to fall!  I'm a warrior, I'm a worshipper. 

Oh that we would have a relentless spirit, a tenacity that is unbroken!  Give us warrior spirits like you Jehovah, Jesus mighty Jesus!  We wage war and we move forward.  We follow you and we will not stop until we are throwing our crowns at your feet in absolute awe and total worship of you King Jesus!  Let the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering!

Knucklez Up With Satan

My hunch is to punch, while my swing is to sing.  Round three, round four, I've got to have more.  I can't do this without my Jesus, I be walkin by faith and trustin that He seein me.  You may give me a jab and a killer left hook, but in the end you will be defeated cuz I'm living by the book.  I will not go down without a fight because I'm fixin to keep walkin in this marvelous light.  At the end of round ten you gonna be knocked out, and then in victory with my King Jesus I will give a shout.  I sure ain't scared of you, cuz my Jesus is the ultimate truth.  So go ahead and try to play around, after all, you fixin to be the only one left on the ground...

King of Glory

Who is like our God, mighty to save and merciful enough to do so? A great and mighty warrior is our King Jesus, the one and only true God. He is the King of kings and the Lord of all lords; Who can truly fathom His awesomeness? He outstretches His mighty arm to deliver His people, crushing the head of the enemy again and again and again. Unchanging in all of His ways, He is faithful to the end. He is a good Father who loves His children, who inclines His ear to those who call aloud to Him. He is a God of justice and righteousness, how fair and lovely He is. There is none that can stand up against Him, He is the beginning and the end. He has all power and authority, His glory fills the earth like the waters the seas. He is a jealous God, longing for the hearts of His people. He is an all-consuming fire, the ultimate sacrifice, the purest love, the absolute truth, the deepest of treasures and sweetest of fragrances. Just one glimpse from His beautiful face, just one touch from His tender hand, just one word from His powerful voice changes everything. He is the dream giver and destiny fulfiller. He is the fulfillment of all prophecies and the great champion; There is none like Jesus, Mighty Jesus. We will never fully comprehend and understand all of who He is. If we did, worship would not exist. There is such a depth to the Lord that we truly cannot fathom. He is Yahweh, Jehovah, Elohim. What a great and mighty God we serve! He alone is worthy of all glory, honor, power and praise. Yet how often we forget and neglect this truth.

We may tragically negate this truth in our lives, but God cannot be fooled. He alone will receive the glory, and He will make sure He gets the glory. Journey with me to Judges 7 where we meet Gideon and his army about to encounter the Midians. Of course shortly before this the Lord tells Gideon that He is going to save Israel through Gideon. Gideon, unsure and unsettled, lays out the fleece and asks the impossible. Of course, God shows up and does His mighty and miraculous work. Gideon now has the boldness and courage to know that he is truly following the voice of the Lord. They then begin dwindling down the army of Gideon for it is much too big. Did you just catch that? They were going into battle and needed to minimize the number of troops going in. Why? So that all would see and know that it was Almighty God who won the battle! Of course in the end, Yahweh through Gideon and his 300 men defeated the enemy and they were oppressed no more!

I guess one could say it was "rigged" so that in human terms, there would be no way that they could win. But with God on their side, they had the victory. God is longing for a people that will cry out to Him and ascribe the glory that is due His name, to proclaim aloud the splendor of who He is. Perhaps this is why it says that if we fail to cry out, the rocks will. We get so caught up in ourselves and puffed up with pride that it robs the glory due His name. We try to cheat the Lord out of the picture, only dreaming half-hearted dreams and doing the things we are already comfortable with and/or good at. When the enemy comes and encamps upon our lives, we scurry and hide or just surrender, settling instead for his deceptive lies.

Oh, how I long to live a life in desperation for the power and presence of omnipotent God. To live in such a way that if God doesn't show up, I am in trouble. To step out and follow His leading, even if it is to somewhere I have never been. When will the church arise and dare to dream big dreams? When will we go and take back, with Godly courage, those things with which the enemy has taken from us? When is it we will go and crush his head, and stand up against his lies? If God be for us, who can be against us? If what we say and pray and sing about our great God is true, we live contradicting lives.

Only if and when we choose to live lives of such radical desperation for the presence of God, will He come in with His radiant splendor and majestic glory and deliver His people! When we begin to humble ourselves and reflect on who He is, we will be blown away by the awesomeness and hugeness of who He is. We can crowd Him out, we can steal the show. But a life lived without God is no life at all. God is not longing to be a part of our precious little puppet shows in which we assign Him a part and give Him His lines. He is yearning and burning to make Himself known, to be glorified and exalted!

To You alone King Jesus, be all glory and honor and praise! You are worthy of so much more than we could ever say about you or give to you. Our human language fails to even begin to adequately ascribe the greatness that is due Your name. We are nothing without You, such wretched, sinful little mortals. We constantly gratify the sinful desires of our flesh, putting You into a box for a rainy day. But oh great and glorious God, forgive us for such tragedies! Oh how we long for You, how we need You! Only a God like You can deliver Your people. Only a God like You can give victories and heal us and give us eternal life! Would you give us the courage of Gideon and teach us to trust You entirely? We desire for You to be exalted in all the earth King Jesus! Be exalted in our lives! We lift up Your name! King of glory, have Your glory!

Prayers That Penetrate

I was reading something recently that has stirred something within my spirit.  Prayer:  It's a concept that most of us use on a daily basis, remembering to say "grace" before each meal and maybe talking to God a few minutes before bed, perhaps we're even daring enough to seek the Lord in the midst of a crisis.  But I have read something recently that has led me to ask a very important question:  What kind of prayers do I pray?

Before continuing on, you will need to read Numbers 27:1-11.  Yes there are many big names here in this passage, and this may be one of those "breezers" that we rush on through, thinking it has no pertinent significance to our time.  But I would beg to differ.  While I am no Biblical scholar, it is my understanding that when the patriarch of the family died, the blessing and inheritance would be passed to the sons.  So here we have 3 sisters who beseech their great leader, pointing out that this tradition is seemingly biased.  So Moses, being the great man of God and leader that he was, goes and seeks the Lord about the matter.

What we have next is a beautiful picture of intercession as Moses begins to plead their case before the Lord.  And then it happens.  In verse 6 we see that the Lord agreed with the daughters and told Moses to change the laws.  Did you just catch that?  The courage those women possessed to go before Moses and ask that a tradition/law be changed is just outstanding.  But with boldness and confidence they presented their request.  But there is something that happens when we take those things before the Lord.

Moses pleaded their case with the Lord, and his prayers shifted something within the spiritual realm.  I don't know what would have happened had these 3 sisters not been so bold in their approach.  And had Moses not stood in the gap, would things have changed?  This raises several important questions for me as I read this and chew upon it.

We live in a time in which we must pray dangerous prayers.  We don't have time to waste with our self-centered wish lists before the Lord!  We must not pray according to our faith or lack thereof, it would be a tragedy to pray according to how we feel.  But we must pray with a tenacity that is unreleasing, praying according to the character of who God Almighty is!  Do our prayers line up with the Word of God?  Do they carry the same heartbeat as our Maker?  Do the prayers we pray shift things in the spiritual realm?  Oh Holy Spirit, that you would teach us how to pray...

"The Crossing"

We be praying to our God, asking for deliverance...
To be freed from all of the things that have so easily entangled us.
He faithfully leads us through the stormy waters...
As we learn to fully trust Him as our Abba Father.
Fearful we start to look to the left and to the right...
Not seeing Jesus now, we have lost our sight.
We dare not look behind at the enemies that pursue us...
For if we do our faith will shrink, becoming less and less.
Teach me to be still and follow only You...
I cannot and will not quit, until this Red Sea...You have brought me through.