Till Death Do Us Part

I have had the blessing of having no divorces on my side of the family. My wife has had the unfortunate experience of having divorces on her side. We've both seen the destructive effects when a covenant of marriage is broken. But, is it really broken?

The Word of God tells us "the things that are seen are temporary. The things that are unseen are eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:18) While a divorce paper is very real, agreed upon by both people, and sanctioned by a judge; it is seen, and therefore temporary. It's not worth the paper it's written on! A covenant is an unseen thing, and therefore eternal. It is between God and two people, and it remains in effect until one of the spouses dies. No matter what human courts may say, the heavenly court declares: OVERRULED!

I have seen a couple that has been divorced, but still acts like they're married, while at the same time trying to prove to the world and each other just how "single" they are. What God has joined together, let no man separate! No matter how hard you try, you can't undo something eternal.

And now a word for the men: on observing this particular couple I mentioned, another person commented to me that "even after divorce, he's still whipped!". Now, this is a put-down to the man based upon the belief that a 'real man' would assert his will over a woman at all times, and if he does anything less, he's a wimp.

As I heard this statement, I began to think about the bride of Christ--the Church. We are told in Ephesians 5:25-30 " Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her, in order that by cleansing her by means of the washing in water he may sanctify her through his word, so that he may present the church to himself gloriously having no spot or any such thing, but holy and blameless. In similar way husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. One who loves his wife loves himself, for no one ever hated his own flesh, but he nourishes and carefully protects, just as Christ treats the Church for we are members of his body."

....So, Jesus was whipped for His bride! "By His stripes we are healed." (Isaiah 53:5) He wasn't coerced, forced, or manipulated either. He was the truest man to ever walk the face of the earth and he declared,"No one takes my life from me. I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it up again!" (John 10:18)

So, this macho "real man" stuff is a bunch of garbage. Real men lay their lives down for their wives. Real men lay their lives down for others. "Greater love has no man than this than he who lays his life down for his friend." (John 15:13)

Check Your Aim

I was raised in the church and in a christian home, and I have marvelled at how many people I have known that have fallen away from the Lord.

The devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Sin is like a warrant used by the enemy to enter into our lives. When we choose sin over God's way of living, it is literally like giving our enemy a right to enter our lives and steal, kill, and destroy! Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly! Don't allow the enemy to ruin your life!

When I say "sin", I mean "missing the mark". There is one "bulls eye"--one standard--and that's the holiness of the Almighty God; anything less than that is SIN! "Sin" is originally a term used in archery for anything other than a bull's eye. Jesus Christ is the only one to ever hit the target!

The enemy of our souls (whose aim is to steal, kill and destroy) has distorted in our fallible minds the ideas of holiness and sin. You can easily see that after a few generations of this distorted view, people would literally be shooting wherever and whenever they wanted to! This would lead to utter chaos and an all out war(in the physical realm).

Satan's position in warfare is a usurper and deceiver--one who has no lasting authority of his own. So, because of this, he seeks to take other's authority and use it as if it were his own. We, as men and women, were created in God's image, with His authority to rule the earth. Satan has corrupted us since the beginning. History has shown that even corrupted authority is still very powerful! Judging from the state of our world, you can see he's had great success in making many parts of the globe steal, kill, and destroy. It doesn't matter whose flag you are under; if there is hate in your heart, you are doing the will of the devil!

Jesus called it what it was in His day, and I'm attempting to do the same in my day. The wicked Jews in Jesus's day proudly asserted,"We have Abraham as our father!" He (Jesus)was friends with Abraham, so told them,"You do the will of your father, the devil. He was a murderer from the beginning!"

I have seen many people professing to be Christians, but their lives are so full of hate, lies, anger, and unforgiveness that it makes me wonder who they are following. Jesus is kind. He is the truth. He only has righteous anger. He is FULL of forgiveness! It's time we did a heart check because man looks on the outward, but God looks at the heart! (Hebrews 4:13) And There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

The end of every story is a lot more than just "being good" or "doing the right thing". This is war, and there is a victor! So there is a loser as well. Jesus has won the victory by his own shed blood and resurrection. The war rages on though, til the end of this age.

The choice belongs to every man, woman and child. Who will you serve? Who will be your master? The moral of children's (and adult's) lessons should be: "You, in your life, will either have total victory or total defeat!" I know the spirit of compromise would say there are a lot of "gray" areas, but the Holy Spirit says,"Choose this day whom you will serve!"

We are ever so thankful for God's kindness that leads us to repentance and His grace that covers us every day! Without His kindness and grace, I would have been lucky to be a smudge on the pages of history, much less make my mark with intelligible speech!

Let Your Requests Be Made Known to God

Philipians 3:3,"For it is we who are the circumcision (we've had our hearts changed by God), we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh (any part of our human ability)."

1 Corinthians 3:18-23,"Let no one fool himself. If someone among you thinks he is wise (by this world's standards), let him become 'foolish' so that he may become really wise. For the wisdom of this world is nonsense, as far as God is concerned; in as much as the Old Testament says,'He traps the wise in their own cleverness,' and again, 'Adonai knows that the thoughts of the wise are worthless.' So let no one boast about human beings, for all things are yours--whether Paul or Apollos or Peter (or fill your favorite name in the blank) or the world or life or death or the present or the future: they belong to you, and you belong to the Messiah, and the Messiah belongs to God."

For anybody who's been following my blog, this is sort of a follow-up to one I wrote a few months back called 'Be Anxious For Nothing'. There are just so many things that we all put our trust into, that if we are not careful, we could end up putting our 100% trust into man and completely forget about God. It must sadden Him because He has provided for us not only the diagnosis, but also the cure to many things that plague us every day.

In a sense, it's so easy to trust Him, just like a child. You receive a word from your father, and you trust it...simple as that. Rich Mullins put it this way in the song 'Growing Young': "For we are children no more, we have sinned and grown old, our father still waits and he watches down low as the crying boys come running back to His arms and be growing young." It gets difficult to trust Him if you're also trying to listen to everybody else's voice. Some people will think you're crazy and some people will think you're of the devil and some people will think you're an idiot; and these people thinking, saying, and accusing you might be those closest to you. But Jesus said: "Consider the cost."

So, we have to be willing to face ridicule, rejection, and whatever else the world throws at us. John 15:18 says," If the world hates you, keep in mind it hated me first." I sensed the Lord asking me today,"Who do you put your trust into?" I immediately began considering white coats. Doctors have white coats. A lot of people trust doctors. I trust doctors a little. But a lot of people put more faith in them than they should. In no way, am I trying to speak against their fine profession, I just know that as humans, everybody has their limits, imperfections, etc. There are things that I'm looking for that no man can teach me. There are things that need healing that no medical school knows how to heal.

I'm trying to get my own attention and anybody else's back on God. Revelation 19:13 says,"He was wearing a robe that had been soaked in blood, and the name by which He is called is 'THE WORD OF GOD'." Now, that's a white coat that I can put my 100% trust into! "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how He went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil because God was with Him." -Acts 10:38.

I declare to you the truth: God is still with us! His name is Emmanuel and we are joint heirs with him. John 14:12 says,"I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father. and I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it."

Matthew 1:23b says,"They will call Him Emmanuel--which means'God with us'." His name hasn't changed, and He hasn't changed. He's still with us and we can still trust Him 100%. You can trust whoever you want to, but man with his limited knowledge can only take you so far. There is no limit to God. The man in the white coat with the stethoscope has to gain all his knowledge from a book. Jesus, the one in the white robe dipped in blood, IS THE WORD! He's shared His authority with us.

I'm A Bapti-Costal!

This is dedicated to scared people of any demonination in any church that white knuckles their church services that prevents the free-flowing of the Spirit of God.

I used to be skeptical, afraid, and quite harshly judgemental of charismatic christians and healing, deliverance, etc.
"Now, I ARE one!" -Pastor Wayne Sanders
(I stole your line, Pastor Wayne)

Let me take you back to a personal encounter with the Holy Spirit that scared me silly! I was somewhere between 16-18 yrs of age, living with my parents, dating a girls from a Pentecostal church. I asked my dad about going to a pentecostal church service, and he said something to the effect of "check it out, tell me what you think." So, I went and there was a whole lot of stuff that was very outside of my neat little baptist expectation of what a church service should be. I tolerated it enough, thinking: "wow, these people are kooky!"

That was only the beginning! They cleared the chairs away for the prayer ministry time. I said to myself: "Whoa. What's going on here?" So the girl I was with got "slain" or whatever. Many things were going on, and I was basically shaking in my skater shoes, actively condemning everything around me and wondering when this weird stuff was going to be over! With all the good Pentecostals doing various things, I was left standing alone in the middle. Then, the minister looked at me directly in the eye and said,"Young man, the Lord has His hand on you!"

Well, at that point, my reaction was this: "If His hand is on me, then He can find me outside, because I'm outta here!" I spent the rest of the service outside.

Fast forward 11 years (thank God for His patience). My life had pretty much been a tailspin downward past that previous point. I moved out of my parent's home, got married, and I found out just WHAT was lurking in my soul that I had been suppressing with constant stimuli (media, TV, going everywhere, basically distracting myself from a broken and angry and hurting heart). Man, it was like taking a bunch of sleeping bees and kicking their nest! You can ask my wife and she'll tell you that our first few years together were hardly pleasant. I believe "hell on earth" was a popular phrase people use to describe situations less serious than what we went through. This is where my Christian upbringing with all the Bible that I knew and all the training that people had tried to instill in me came into play. I was basically running like the prophet Jonah and constantly seeing the inside of many, many whale stomachs. I am very thankful for my upbringing; I knew mentally that everything that I was doing was wrong and all the Scripture and prayer created sort of a bedrock in the darkness I was in so that I actually didn't go as deep into trouble as I could have.

I was so messed up that God had to get really creative to get my attention. He's a very creative Creator. A series of prophetic words directed straight at my heart cut through all of that darkness. My desire to be in control of my life had gotten me nowhere fast. The Holy Spirit began moving in me mightily, but only to the degree that I allowed Him to pry open my clenched fists. I gave Him what was killing me so He could give me what I was dying to receive.

Bringing us up to the present, the night I got baptised in the Holy Spirit the same way Acts 2 Christians did, I had an experience almost identical to the one I had run from so many years earlier; but I was at a place of brokenness and need and I KNEW I needed to go deeper than I was. For all the rules and theology and all the wonderful teachings of Christianity, they can't save you. Only the Author can. So, I allowed His hand to rest on me. It was an amazingly powerful experience. In less than a year, I've spoken in new tongues, broken curses, cast out demons, and experienced healings just like Mark 16:17 said should be the experience of every believer (no expiration date was given...it's not a cup of yogurt).

No matter where you're at in your experience with God, or if you're nowhere, just imagine a pool that goes from 3 inches deep to the bottom of the deepest trench in the ocean. Just know that you can always go deeper. Going deeper is sometimes scary, but that is where the "conforming to the image of Christ" really starts to shape you. Up in the "3 inches deep" area is where the crybabies who pee themselves play. The victory in Christ, all of the "meat" Scriptures, the blessings that are chock full in that book are all in the Deep End. I'm going down. Anybody else want to come?

Abba's Son, P.H.D.

There are those who try to explain a collective lack of faith. Theology sounds well-studied and I respect it and appreciate it. However, it does not make my failures hurt any less. My educated idiot box (my mind) agrees with theological stances. The problem is, though, that God is beyond anyone's mind. He cannot be explained. He cannot be manufactured, and any attempt to do so will leave me in a bad place in life. Though legally salvation is mine, and I am a child of God, I can live like an orphan; struggling through everything and going to man for my manna!

I declare to everyone the truth whenever I can! Our Father is better than any of us know. We are children of God! "Those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God". There is a large difference between a "child" of God and a "son" of God. A child may know every theological truth that man has fashioned; though he is immature in actual, real miracle working faith! A "son" is led by the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead! Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever!

Don't get me wrong; sombody's salvation, or lack thereof, is a 100% consecrated issue. I never truly know. That's God's business, not mine. I try to pay little attention to the "weeds" ( tares among the wheat), and I spend my time planting "seeds" (the pure Word of God, unadulterated by man's thinking and tradition).

I am speaking now in definitions. A "believer" should believe. A "doubter" should doubt. We are believers! The Word of God states in James that "He who doubts should not expect anything from God." Faith and childlike trust is the only acceptable currency in the Kingdom of God. Theology is for grownups! We are called to become like little children, or we shall never see the Kingdom of God!

I have had relationship struggles with people for a long time. I've always been fiery and many people who oppose my stances do so dutifully, faithfully, and consistently. I can understand why, because the majority of my life I was burning for the wrong reason and fighting the wrong fights. I was blind and dumb as a box of rocks! But I've been changed! God has cleared my vision, and I burn only for Him now. The Holy Spirit is the One to tell me whether to "stoke" or to "choke" the flames.

The Lord has led me to speak now about King Asa of Judah (found in 2 Chronicles). King Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord because he tore down idols. However, in Asa's thirty-sixth year of reigning, the King of Israel went to war against him. He had the option of relying on the Lord or relying on the help of the king of Aram. He decided to bribe the king of Aram to help him. The story continues with a prophet: "At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him,'Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram as escaped from your hand. Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.'" The story then continues with Asa becoming ill: "In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians. Then in the forty-first year of his reign Asa died and rested with his fathers."

If you are trusting God, that is all the insight you need. All other sight is outsight (not insight!) because it is outside of the will of God! Asa could have continued in a path of blessing, but he trusted too much in men. He trusted the king of Aram and not God. He trusted his physicians and not God. God is our deliverer and God is our healer.

I am Abba's son and P.H.D. stands for a "perfect and holy daddy", because that's what Abba is and I am His.

high functioning or overcoming?

I'm not going to pretend to know much about physical disorders and such, but i have come to know there is a distinction between high functioning and not.
Revelation 21:7 " He said to me, It is done, I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. To him who is thirsty , i will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.HE WHO OVERCOMES WILL INHERIT ALL OF THIS , and i will be his God ,and he will be my son (or daughter) . But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile , the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts (rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, so is manipulation) the idolaters and the liars-their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. "this is the second death"

Why is it always the list is longer on the ways you can miss the mark (sin) , than on how to do it right? I think Jesus knew our weak state, that we are made of dust, with hearts that are so easily deceived and led astray. "Prone to wander , Lord i feel it , prone to leave the God i love" I challenge anyone who calls Jesus "lord" to aim higher than what i have dubbed "sin management" I spent much of my life as a high functioning sinner, i had the whole routine worked out! I could talk a good talk (depending on who was around) I knew a lot of Bible , and could sound like i had it all figured out. Praise God he blew that false identity out of the water!

I encourage you, let the holy spirit speak to you personally about everything in your life, let him in to every detail. He has called us to be OVERCOMING SAINTS! Anything less than that, is a compromise with the world, the flesh , and the devil. In a war (spiritual ) we know that our God is absolutely right , and that any thing else that is not 100% holy, is most definitely Not from Him!

Let him call the shots , not you ! there are grey areas is the many arguments people raise about 1000's of issues, but there is no grey area with our heavenly father. It's either holy , or not!
Let him make you into an overcomer! Read the word for the many promises he makes to the overcomers. Any sacrifice you make now , in an effort to purify your life , will reap great rewards in walking in victory now, and eternally enjoying his presence as an overcomer!

Stand and Be Ready

Ephesians 6:10 says,"Finally, grow powerful in union with the Lord, in union with his mighty strength! Use all the armor and weaponry that God provides, so that you will be able to stand against the deceptive tactics of the Adversary. For we are not struggling against human beings, but against rulers, authorities and cosmic powers governing this darkness against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm. So take up every piece of war equipment God provides so that when the evil day comes you will be able to resist, and when the battle is won, you will still be standing. Therefore, stand!"

I know a lot about standing. I'm a machinist. I stand a lot. It's hard. I'd rather be on the move all the time. I'm still trying to figure out why God called me into this. But that's one solid thing I know. It requires a lot of standing.

When I speak about spiritual warfare, I would just love to tell you it's like Hollywood. Truth is, I can't explain it; I can try to share scriptures, and personal experience...that hardly makes me an expert. I know what I am. I'm a warrior! My parents said I was an angry baby. I've always had a sense that I was in a battle. This spiritual warfare thing is so cool. It simply draws the lines to show you the battle that you've always been a part of and you're left with a decision: choose a side! Stand! Keep standing...

To me, the most tedious part IS the standing. I like swinging swords! I like tearing things up! We're talking about our whole life here. Whether you want to talk about angels, or demons, or God, or Satan; whether we're young or old...all these things existed before us and will continue to exist after us. I'm simply trying to tell myself and anybody else listening that this could take some time. I'm extremely thankful for some revelation on this battle (we tend to call it life). It's actually much simpler to think about it in terms of a battle.

I don't want to burden anybody with thoughts that are too heavy, but I'll be going to work tomorrow and thinking about this. Every decision you come to, every word, thought, deed, action, and even intention of your heart will advance SOMEBODY'S kingdom. Bob Dylan can't sing, but he hit it on the head when he said,"You're going to have serve somebody. It may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you're going to have to serve somebody." There you go! Think about that for a little bit.

Now Or Later

This blog is dedicated to Max Price, Leroy and Tommy Callison, and Maurice (plus any various crackheads and many temps from Recycled Fibers of Ohio).

Let me start with the previous mentioned parties (as you may not even remember me). Believe it or not, working with you guys left a lasting impression. (a good impression) Max, with your first day temp ticket in your briefcase and saying,"I wish I owned this place so I could drag you out in the street and beat you into a pulp and not have to fire myself!" You taught me how to work hard but work steady; to keep an eye out around me for others, which was a very fundamental lesson that somehow I escaped learning even though I grew up in the church. To 'safely' operate a tow motor in very dangerous conditions...

Leroy, you taught me a lot. Thanks for putting ends on the extension cord that I found in the trash pile. Thanks for keeping an eye on me and helping out with lots of stuff. You'd better be nice to Tommy because he's the best thing you ever produced!

Tommy, if you've not gotten out of this crazy place, or if you're actually telling the truth, and you ARE impervious to pornography, you may be the only man on the planet that is. If that is so, blessings! Stay! Tear men away from the PC mag pile unless they're looking for Bibles! Dude, you sowed into my life so much. Praise God for you. Keep looking after your family. If you haven't been walking with God, He's still there and you're not a whore (and even if you are, He loves you, too). Thanks, bro.

Maurice, MAINTAINING AND SUSTAINING WITH NO COMPLAININ'! Thanks for the line, you big whiner, and I'm far enough away from you now that you can't kick my butt. You're a really good foreman...one of the best I've ever had.

For the rest of you who have read this far, and are still reading, thank you! Allow me to explain: I worked for about a year at a paper recycling plant in Moraine, Ohio (Dayton area). So for any of you think I'm not 'go green'...phooey. It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it. The only reason I left the job is because I was trying to stay faithful to my wife to keep a promise I made to her and to obey the Lord. God led me out of there with my stinkin' perverse mind and my $8 per hour to a company who paid better, had better benefits, better working environment, and it was good foundational training for work I would do later. I'm now making $16 per hour with the best benefits available in America. I work for a man who loves the Lord more than anything. That in itself is testimony to where God has led me. Praise His holy name!

So, back to RFO (recycled fibers of ohio)...

We recycled cardboard, and all kinds of paper. Most of it was pretty harmless (except for the dead dogs and unexplainable garbage). There was one pit in particular that tended to get a lot of people in trouble. The PC mag pit. If I remember correctly, that's 'post consumer magazines'. The pen is truly mightier than the sword, and pictures are even stronger. So, given the type of paper, this pit contained primarily old bibles that didn't make the final publishing, and hard pornography.

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 says,"This day, I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life that you and your children may live. And you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice and hold fast to Him. For the Lord is your life, and He will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

Never in my life and never again have I seen such a dramatic example of blessings and curses in the same place. It was a very dark time in my life and my life was shot. I remember trying to be a good little baptist, singing praises to my God at sunrise. When the sun comes up, even over Moraine, it's beautiful. I remember singing in my tow motor "Holy, Holy, Holy". One of my problems at that time was that I was hip deep in pornography. I somehow managed to keep it hidden from my wife for about four months. That was the worst four months of my life. I finally got the guts (or she extracted it) to tell her the truth.

Let me take this moment to tell you the truth: You are naked before God. He sees everything you do, everything you think, and everything you watch, and everything you say. You will remember your life here for all of eternity, either in heaven or hell. Jesus is coming soon(He said 'soon' 2000 years ago and a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day to him). So let me say this first to me, and then to anybody who's listening...REPENT! FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND! Wash your hands you sinners, and cleanse your hearts, you double minded. The judge of all the earth is standing at the door and you will have to give an account for everything you do in your life. That is the truth. Jesus Christ is Lord. He loves you, no matter how messed up you are. I'm sure you've heard the gospel a million times in America (we're just not very good at living it out). Thank you if you've read this far.

So, I made one promise to my wife that I actually kept. I told her if I kept falling into pornography I would quit my job. So I did. And God led me to much better places. I learned something there by what we produced. You take bulk paper, either in book form or magazine form, and you break it down into loose paper and feed it into a conveyor which feeds into a baler machine. So, then you ship bales of paper to the various paper mills where it is broken down to the core elements of the paper and then recycled. I wouldn't want any of you to actually see this, because it's rather disturbing, to see the precious word of God ignored and treated like trash right along side the nastiest filthiest porn that's available in the world.

God started speaking to me clearly about this time in my life. When I heard him speak, I tried to obey. He blessed me every step of the way. If you don't want to do the big study, I'll make it simple: trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. The whole law of God and the prophets is to love God with everything you have and to love your neighbor as yourself. Pornography, in particular, loves no one. It treats human beings (men and women) as if they were animals. Pieces of meat for sale to feed a ravenous, disgusting, pack of dogs that are never satisfied. I'll tell you one thing I learned: if you care about your livestock (I'm a farmer), put down the wolf. If you care about your family, put down the filth. If you care about your soul, and your eternal standing with God, you need to picture the end of your life as that bale of paper, because whatever you produce in life is going to be put before God for His inspection.

"Only one life, and soon it will be past. Only what you've done for the Lord will last." -Christafari

A Different Take On 'Train Up Your Child'

We were having dinner at Wendy's tonight, and I saw a horrific display of disrespecting parents. There was a boy who looked about pre-teen age with his father and grandmother. The boy looked at his dad (who had a cast on his arm) and he said," I can't stand you; why don't you just shut up!" He continued to say 'shut up' many times. My wife saw the grandmother giggling. Well, me in all my country charm, just about offered to this man: "Obviously, one of your arms is healing and your boy needs a thrashing. Do you want me to take him out back?" Apparently, it's not polite to talk about that in public, so I didn't say anything, but you all are going to hear about it now.

Proverbs 22:6 says," Train your child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not turn from it."

Now, I'll admit: I like to play with words. The Word of God also says that there is power in words; both for life and death. So, I like to see what life I can eke out of them.

Let's picture training your kid as being a lot like making a place for a locomotive to go. This is going to be a challenge to all the parents (in fact it's challenging me even as I write it). Let's start at zero: picture a train with absolutely no track. It's big, it's powerful and it has the potential to do great things. But it can go nowhere. If it tries to go anywhere, it'll just tear up everything around it. This is not a good thing, especially as we refer back to training children. You have to start somewhere, even if you haven't done much of anything. You may say," I don't know how to teach." I tell you, if you're able to hold down a job, make a living, etc., you could teach them something, even if it doesn't seem like much to you.

So let's go back to the train analogy. Picture a locomotive with not enough track. It's got a full head of steam, making good progress, and it's really going somewhere. Somewhere along the line, it runs out of track. This is possibly worse than having no track at all. We've all seen what happens when trains come off the track. This is a challenge, again, to all the parents: don't ever give up! Don't give up on your marriage and don't ever give up on raising your kids, either. You've started a good thing, now finish what you've started.

I've got to believe that the best way to raise kids is with vision. Picture this: you've not only got them started and kept them going, but you've given them a vision that will far outlast you. You need to understand that the family is the most important thing that you'll ever do. You could give your whole life to some company or job and they'll forget you in six months. Your family will remember you for generations. Understand that you have a position of power and influence. There is no better 'track' to follow than God's Word. It will not only help you steer your own life right, but that will lay the foundation for the future generations of your family.

How To Be Blessed In A Dark World

Deuteronomy 30:19 says,"This day I have called heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live."

Time to talk about a subject that people don't like about. Preachers, pastors, psychologists, counselors, teachers, etc. try to explain away problems or throw pills at them. Have we forgotten we are spiritual beings? Have we forgotten that this is a war? Have we forgotten that what we do matters? Yes, we have forgotten! Now let us remember!

1 Corinthians 16:22 says," If anyone does not love the Lord, a curse be on him!" That's the Apostle Paul being led by the Holy Spirit. I wanted to throw that one in there for anyone who likes to disregard the Old Testament. Curses by godly men were spoken well past Jesus' time. I understand that we can't take the Word out of context, but you can't treat it like two books--it's one book with the same message throughout. I'll sum it up: We made a big mess and God needs to get us out of it!

So now let us talk about what messes we've gotten ourselves into. One thing that we do from time to time (but some of us are really good at) is DISOBEDIENCE. Disobedience brings a curse! REBELLION, DISRESPECT FOR AUTHORITY (whom God put there), ANY FORM OF OCCULT (horoscope, witchcraft, mind-altering drugs), NEGATIVE SPEECH, MORAL SINS, SINS OF OUR ANCESTORS, LEGALISM, CARNALITY, APOSTASY, THEFT, PURGERY, ROBBING GOD (tithe), SELF-IMPOSED CURSES (cursing oneself or one's own body), CURSES SPOKEN OVER US BY SERVANTS OF SATAN, etc. These are all things we deal with that muck up our lives and steal our freedom that Christ wants to give us.

Haggai 1:5 says,"This is what the Lord Almighty says,'give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill, you put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it." If any of you think I'm preaching too hard, I'll tell you personally that my life used to be like this verse. Now that God has shown me the mess I was in and how to get out, I literally have no need. I don't want to brag, but I'm a blessed man. We've been able to do things on my meager income that people don't normally do, and it's all God's blessing. If you feel that you're putting your money into a purse with holes in it, you probably are!

My desire for the people of God is to be blessed. This can not be done accidentally. It's easy to fall into a pit or a murky quagmire, but it takes a little bit more work to get out of it. Let me just say that I highly recommend that you read Derek Prince's book "Blessing and Curses: you can choose". I'm pulling a lot of this information straight from this book and it has helped us immensely to put an end to curses and to enter the blessings of God.

One important thing that I've learned is that forceful men take hold of the Kingdom of God. If you're just content to get stomped on by the world and kicked around by Satan, then that's exactly what you're going to get. But if you, as a son or daughter of God, rise up in Christ and have the boldness to say,"I am blessed, and I want nothing less," that forcefulness will see you through. This is not for the faint of heart. There's a certain truth in the saying,"Nothing's free"; true, God's grace is free for everybody, but it cost Christ everything. His grace is free to all, but His blessings are conditional; you cannot live the way you want to and expect to be blessed. He tells us clearly in the Word what He blesses and what He doesn't. See Deuteronomy 28. The cool thing about God's Word is that if you honor it, the blessings will overtake you. On the flipside, if you rebel against it, the same thing happens with the curses. Either way, God's Word is supreme and it has the power to rule all men.

To Flee or to Fight

Ephesians 6:10-18 says,"Finally, grow powerful in union with the Lord, in union with His mighty strength! Use all the armour and weaponry that God provides, so that you will be able to stand against the deceptive tactics of the Adversary. For we are not struggling against human beings, but against the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers governing this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm. So take up every piece of war equipment God provides; so that when the evil day comes, you will be able to resist; and when the battle is won, you will still be standing. Therefore, stand! Have the belt of truth buckled around your waist, put on righteousness for a breastplate, and wear on your feet readiness that comes from the Good News of Shalom. Always carry the shield of trust, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the Evil One. And take the helmet of deliverance; along with the sword given by the Spirit, that is, the Word of God. As you pray, at all times, with all kinds of prayers and requests, in the spirit, vigilantly and persistently for all God's people."

Clearly, if we were called by the name of Christ, we are most definitely in a war. God has equipped us to put the Enemy under our feet every day. Our pastor has been doing a series on spiritual warfare, and he brought up the question: "When can you know when to flee and when to fight?"

This brought me directly back to the story of Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan. Christian and his friend, Hopeful were seemingly in a hopeless situation. Locked inside Doubting Castle, being starved and tortured by the giant named Despair (and his even more malevolent wife named Diffidence ). He remembers eventually that there is a key in his pocket...named Promise. He tries the key, and out they go! This was a lesson to him and to us that no matter how dark the situation, or how hopeless it seems, no prison can hold us when we remember the promises of God and act in faith. This is a good example of fleeing.

Now on to my favorite: the fighting!

Fast forward in the story...Christian has already made it to Paradise. An invitation is sent to his wife and sons to make the same journey. They accept and start along their own dangerous journey. Along the way, they got a guide named Mr. Great Heart. So eventually, they all came to Doubting Castle, read the warning, and considered what to do. Mr. Great Heart said,"Have I not been commanded to fight the good fight? And with whom should I fight if not the Giant Despair? So who will go with me?" Christian's sons said,"We will!" The boys brought him to the ground with slings and stones and Mr. Great Heart was the death of him. After that, they cut down Diffidence and buried them both under a heap of stones. After the giants were slain, they destroyed the castle. It took them seven days to tear it down. They saved two prisoners alive named Mr. Despondency, and Much Afraid (his daughter). These two they saved alive, but you would marvel to see how full of bones the castle was.

So, to sum this all up, You're going to have to follow whichever way the Holy Spirit is leading you to know whether to flee or to fight. Just remember that the promises of God are keys to unlock you from any form of darkness. The Sword of the Spirit (which is the Word of God) can cut through any enemy. I'm using a lot of analogy here, but I think it's pretty easy to tell if you're in a prison or not. I know I used to be in one, and God set me free. He used people like Mr. Great Heart. I also think the boys with the slings is a powerful analogy, too. Even boys that act in faith can knock over giants. But it takes a man who knows how to wield the Sword of the Spirit to kill the giant. So whether you're the one trapped, or the one that God called to set others free, the answer is always in the Word of God.

If you are called to fight on behalf of others, be extra careful if they are caught in the very thing that you have been freed from. Don't stop for a visit! Go in, help them to overcome their enemy, and get out! Just remember what Jesus said," Rejoice not that the demons submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

Magnets, Glue, and Marriage....Two!

Just to let you know, this is a Part Two to the previous blog called "Magnets, Glue, and Marriage, Too!". I felt it deserved continuation.

Matthew 19:4 says,"Haven't you read that at the beginning, the Creator made them male and female and that he said,'for this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two are to become one flesh?' Thus they are no longer two, but one. So then, no one should split apart what God has joined together."

So let's go back to our example of a magnet:

A magnet represents a married couple; designed to stick together. Suppose you and your spouse decide to go your separate ways. This creates a very fundamental problem (I've never been divorced, but I've observed plenty of divorces among my friends. These are just my thoughts. I hope they don't come across hurtful).

That magnet that has a break in it is only designed to fit perfectly with its other half. It will still stick to anything metallic; it may even stick very strongly, but that perfect fit will never be acheived while being stuck to anything else but it's original other half. When it's God that has joined you together, nobody can improve on His work. There are only varying degrees of how much you mess it up!

Just think for a moment, where would we be if Adam and Eve hadn't resolved that whole 'downfall of man' marital spat in the garden? The first recorded work of the enemy in the garden resulted in a division in the very first marriage! He's still playing that same game today, and he's upped the stakes. The divorce rate is AS high if not higher, in the church. The best way to deal with a snake who's trying to mess up your garden is to crush his head.

"Remember, I have given you authority so you can trample down snakes and scorpions, indeed, all the enemies forces; you will remain completely unharmed." -Luke 10:19

Too many people (Christians I know) think that 'if I leave him (satan) alone, he'll leave me alone!'. FALSE!!!! He's not a bee, he's a snake! By the way, when God cursed Lucifer, he said that he'd eat of the dust of the earth his whole life. WE are made of the dust! So, if you're walking in the flesh, you're giving him plenty to feed on.

Men, especially, it is your job to guard your wife. Satan knows that the woman is the weaker vessel (that's why he went for Eve first). If Adam had been acting as he should have, as her protector, there would have been no deception. He would have dealt with the snake before he had a chance to speak. We're not here to give glory to the devil, but I don't want you to be ignorant of his devices, either.

To let your marriage be fixed by God(after there's been a breakage), you have to intentionally turn away from anything that's drawing you apart from your spouse, forsaking all others. The truth is, you will be attracted to many things around you, and many things will try to draw you away. Only your willingness to be used by God, and his power to fix can ever make things the way they were meant to be.

Magnets, Glue, and Marriage too!

God works in mysterious ways! When he speaks, He can take something insignificant and speak divine wisdom even through every day,mundane things.

I work with magnets at my job to hang up blueprints etc.... I have these small disc magnets, only about an inch in diameter, and one of them broke. I learned something about round magnets then:when a round magnet that used to be one piece gets a broken spot in the middle, the same magnetic energy that used to hold the piece together now opposes each other from the center.

I pretty much always keep a bottle of gorilla glue on me , because stuff is always breaking! Elmer's school glue is ok if you want to make something glittery or do a kindergarten project, but if something is REALLY BROKEN you need something stronger. So I began to try and fix the broken magnet. I almost immediately thought of marriage when the magnet broke....

Our own marriage was broken at one point, many people thought we wouldn't make it (including ourselves at times). Some "well meaning" christians even suggested divorce or separation! They should've followed scripture: Malachi 2:16 says," I hate divorce and marital separation"(amplified ). I believe we are now living in the times that the Bible refers to when it says " the love of most will grow cold". It is very dangerous and deadly to the life of God within you to listen to any sort of worldly advice or psycho-babble (as I call some solutions for personal problems). We need to seek God's heart and God's heart is always for restoration and reconciliation. We tried just about everything out there to try to help our marriage. I was an extremely hot headed and abusive husband and we were both hard headed. I remember something being said to the effect of " til death do us part, so to get rid of me, one of us is leaving in a body bag!"

Back to the illustration of the magnet, you have one piece that is now two and it is OPPOSING ITSELF FROM ITS VERY CENTER! I heard a quote once that said,"You cannot fix a problem on the same level it was created." So obviously, we need power greater than the opposing forces and a bond stronger than they are to hold them together. Matthew 19:4 says,"Haven't you read that at the beginning the creator made them male and female, and that he said,'For this reason a man should leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two are to become one flesh'? Thus, they are no longer two, but one. So then, no one should split apart what God has joined together." The better thing is always that stuff wouldn't break. But we live on Planet Earth. Magnets break and so do marriages. As sure as a magnet can't fix itself, you in your own strength cannot fix your marriage if it has a fracture.

The way to fix a broken magnet that is opposing itself is a wonderful illustration of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I must say at this point, that anything short of God's Word and the power of the Holy Spirit is insufficient. The C-clamp(and my fingers) represent the work of God the Father. The Gorilla Glue represents the Holy Spirit. The water represents the blood of Christ. Gorilla Glue is water-activated and so also is the power of the Holy Spirit in your life. There is no other way to activate His power. I put the glue and the water on both pieces of the broken magnet, and began trying to clamp them. Between them opposing each other, being covered in glue, and getting stuck themselves to other metal objects, it was quite a trick to get them clamped. With some difficulty, I did manage to get them clamped. In the end, the power of the C-clamp is greater than the opposing magnetic strength. Once clamped, the glue is strong enough to keep them together even though the opposition is technically still there. The break was fixed and the magnet was restored to its normal function.

I just want to offer encouragement to anybody who feels like giving up. There's no way that I can shut up about what God has done in our life. I knew during the saving process, that He was going to use us and use our story as an example to others because a lot of people give up for a lot less than what we've been through. He(God) is a Master at restoring broken lives. No matter if its a small fault or if you're completely broken and separated, with God all things are possible. With the power of God the Father (clamping you), the power of the Holy Spirit (bonding you), and the power of Christ (activating the Holy Spirit) there is no break that he can't fix.

Purified By Fire

I have always had a big thing for music-- especially harder edge stuff, ( I have come to find out it's a strange manifestation of being a preacher's kid; it's basically sermons set to music hard enough to bash your head in!)There is a problem with this though: When I was a young man, full of anger and rebellion , this type of music was an outlet. Instead of having a healthy way to work through my feelings, I just vented it out to the music. Proverbs says that only a fool gives full vent to his anger; so in my foolishness , I opened up myself to lots of demonic activity (This is something that the Lord has led me recently to overcome. Praise God! after praying for freedom and taking authority in Christ to expel the demons, the Lord led me one night to clean out my collection of music and movies etc.) .

What was the standard? I simply let the Lord speak to me about each thing I put my hand to; if it had any sort of a negative confession or something that was unpleasing to God, I put it in a pile on the burn pit, and let it burn! A few of the things were a little hard to part with, but the more I let Him lead me I felt better for it. After a while, we had quite a blaze going! I said: Lord let is be a pleasing fragrance to you. Even a lot of my so-called Christian music was full of bad confession, and Jesus is the high priest of our confession, and so it was really dangerous to be letting this stuff into my mind and heart--it's just like eating junk food: garbage in garbage out!

I am pleased to say I've had a lot of growth since that night.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

The enemy has totally influenced every segment of our society and even the church with all forms of media, leading MANY astray into darkness. Brothers and sisters! We need to ask the Lord to refine us and rid ourselves of this junk! His holiness is the standard! Anything less, if you don't burn it now, HE WILL BURN IT LATER! It's your choice. you can let him convict you now, or answer to Him for all this garbage when you stand before him in his glory and see the flames lick up everything worthless.



1 Corinthians 3:12 says, "Let each man be careful how he builds,for no one can lay another foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus the Messiah. Some will use Gold , silver and precious stone to build on this foundation; while others will use wood, grass and straw but each one's work will be shown for what it is, the day will disclose it because it will be revealed by FIRE -the fire will test the quality of each one's work. If the work someone has built on the foundation survives, he will be rewarded;if it is burned up , he will suffer the loss;he will escape with his life , but it will be like escaping through a fire.."

I got a clear vision of this scripture one day while talking to the Lord. What a waste to go through all this life , with all it's trials, only to have the very thing you lived for burned up right before your eyes in the presence of a Holy God! I know it is not wise to compare yourself to anybody else, but just thinking of quality of life here, it's either going to be treasure or trash from God's point of view. I prayed at that time that I would not be one of those escaping through the flames, but that I would have something to show from my life here on earth. This life is nothing but a vapor: Here today , gone tomorrow. Eternity is forever. I can't quite wrap my mind around what forever is, but if I'm going to remember my life here, I sure want it to be worth remembering.

Dear Lord, refine us with your fire now!, while were are in these clay tents. Help us to be malleable in your hands, to work us into something beautiful for your kingdom!

CITIZENS OF HEAVEN

I received an email the other day entitled "Never Forgive a Traitor!". It had to do with war atrocities from the Vietnam war and subsequent injustice. After reading the email, the thing that kept stirring in my spirit is "Traitors against whom?". Phillipians 3:20 says," But we are citizens of heaven and it is from there that we expect a deliverer, the Lord Jesus the Messiah. He will change the bodies we have in this humble state and make them like his glorious body, using the power which enables him to bring everything under his control."

Do you want the truth? We are all traitors. We are all murderers. We all deserve hell. So back to this question of 'traitors against whom?'.... I believe, based on scripture, that we are all traitors against Almighty God. He reaches out to us in grace and forgiveness and we say," No thanks, I'd rather hang on to my hurt and my junk." I'm not trying to minimize the actions of anybody; I'm actually trying to get us all to see the condition of our hearts. Just because somebody seems blinder than other people, that is simply because they're being judged on a human level. From God's point of view, we're all blind! We're all lost.

You have heard that our fathers were told "Love your neighbor-and hate your enemy" but i tell you love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you ! Then you will become children of your father in heaven. For he makes HIS sun shine on good and bad people alike.

So if we can extract ourselves for a moment from our shallow patriotism to a simple country and elevate our thinking to our citizenship of heaven, the real treason here is unforgiveness, and the crime is against the kingdom of heaven!

Matthew 6:14-15"For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others their offenses, your heavenly father will not forgive yours."


I don't want anyone to think that i am not moved when i hear of all the suffering and evil in the world, i just don't think it's up to us to judge every situation, and come up with our own conclusions, and in the process chain our hearts to this world. I believe it is very much a plan of satan to mask a otherwise "worthy" cause to get many people to be angry and eventually bitter. We are instructed in the word of God to "watch out for the root of bitterness that can spring up and defile many" ultimately God's kingdom is all that will remain when this age is over... we must remember that we are in a spiritual war here, so check what you are hearing by the word of God, in that light you can tell easily where the instructions are coming from . "NEVER FORGIVE A TRAITOR"..."FORGIVE AND YOU WILL BE FORGIVEN" now, which sounds like God? which sound like satan?

The ugly (and beautiful) truth of the matter is that we are all traitors, but Christ himself laid his life down, and now calls us friends if we receive his covering for our treason against a holy God. Be careful my brothers and sisters to not be entangled in the wars of the world. God's war on satan is the greatest struggle to which he calls us to fight. Fight free! "Cast off the sin that so easily ensnares us and run the race set before you , looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning it's shame" His joy can be your joy if you shed the darkness that is holding your heart down and join us in this final war! MARANATA (COME LORD JESUS) !! THE SPIRIT AND THE BRIDE SAY COME!!!

His blood can make the foulest clean; his blood availed for me!

Be Anxious For Nothing

Philippians 4:6 says,"Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God."

I received a study from the American Psychiatric Foundation on anxiety disorders. I wanted to write as one who is overcoming and has overcome a lot of these things in the power of God. Here are some symptoms of what "they" call an anxiety disorder:

1) painful intrusive memories and recurring nightmares

1 John 3:19-20 ..."This, then, is how we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in His presence whenever our hearts condemn us, for God is greater than our hearts and He knows everything."

2) persistent obsessive thoughts

2 Corinthians 10:3-5..."For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

3) intense feelings of panic or fear

1 John 4:18..."There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out all fear because fear has to do with punishment, the man who fears is not made perfect in love."

Romans 8:15..."For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received a spirit of sonship. And by him we cry Abba (daddy)! Father."

2 Timothy 1:7..."For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind."

There is a natural feeling of fear that God gives us as a warning, but intense feelings of panic and fear are NOTHING BUT DEMONIC! They (the demons) are the ones who are afraid. Fear has to do with punishment; they're trying to suggest that their punishment is yours. We have been redeemed by the blood of Christ--something that can never be taken away. Don't buy into Satan's lies. He's the one who's doomed, and all of his demons.

If you're plagued by anxiety, the world tells you to go talk to a psychotherapist and take pills. All that a psychotherapist can do is talk to you and make you talk more and make all of your problems all the more obvious and help you obsess over them a little more! By the way, he sells the pills, so the more messed up he can convince you that you are, it'll go to his pocket (not that all doctors are so unethical, some really believe in what they do). The pills can only suppress your brain functions and make you feel like all you've been suffering is less real. Christ died to buy both halves of your brain and he takes your very real sufferings and heals you. I don't want to slam doctors, but I want to let you know that I've seen the Great Physician. I just want you to know that only HE can offer you true freedom.

We would love to pray with anybody seeking freedom. (no co-pays)

Fairweather Friends and Garden Tractors

PROVERBS 17:17 : " A friend shows his friendship at all times- it is for adversity that such a brother is born." (cjb)

First off, let me say I'm a big fan of garden tractors. They're very useful and I wouldn't have mine had it not been for a good friend of mine. I've got a Craftsman 18 Horse garden tractor (thanks, Elmer); it's great at cutting grass. I can mow down tall pasture grass in high gear in the warm weather. It does great for most of the year. It's even got great hauling capacity but only in good weather. If it's too wet, or icy the wheels just spin. So, it's got plenty of power, but it'll only work in certain conditions.

It's about 5 degrees outside and I had to move a lot of hay tonight. I hooked up the trailer to the garden tractor and proceeded to try to move the hay. We did get the job done, but I had to pull it out with my car (once) and there was much pulling/pushing/prodding/shoving to get it where we needed it to go. I was thinking: "Boy, I'd be done by now if I had a real farm tractor."

It got me thinking about Proverbs 17:17 (see above). There are far many more garden tractors on the market, and they're fine for most people; some of them are downright cheap, but they all have about the same level of usefulness. One very valuable thing (when you're trying to run a farm) is a REAL farm tractor. They are less common, and extremely expensive and valuable. You can do a lot more with them and they'll get you through any project in any weather condition. On a very basic level, I think a good friend should be like that: always ready to help and won't give up when conditions are bad. Fairweather friends are as common as lawnmowers; they'll give up when the going gets tough.

I just wanted to share this because I have had fairweather friends and I have had good true friends that see me through everything I need to do. No matter what kind of friend you are, there'll be somebody who needs you. Just like the power to cut grass doesn't come from the blade, and the power and the power to bale hay doesn't come from the PTO (power take off) on a large tractor, the power we need to live and to ultimately become good friends, comes from God within us. The blade and baler are what you see moving, but the power comes from up inside. We need to let God take whatever size engine we have and make it as powerful as He wants it to be to accomplish the good work He has in mind.