I have so many passwords and PINS that I can't remember them all. Different systems at work require different passwords, and each web site on which I'm a member requires a password. Some of them cycle and some of them don't, so they're all different now.
I keep track of them in my electronic organizer in a "personal notes" section which is - you guessed it - password controlled.
Modern life has given us not only phone numbers, area codes, zip codes, social security numbers, account numbers, ID numbers, drivers' license numbers, etc., but passwords and PINS for our personal protection.
Security's a good thing, don't get me wrong. The last think I want is for someone to steal my identity (although I've had trouble enough with it as it is).
The Kingdom of God is password controlled, too. All of heaven's riches are ours with a single password; it's not a secret, and it never changes. That one word brings to us all the fullness of the Son, all the overflowing plenty of the Holy Spirit. That one word is the entrance into the life more abundant. That one word, whispered in heartfelt devotion, catches God's attention. That one word carries more weight than all the words we have spoken in idleness.
That word, of course, is "Jesus." His Name is higher than any other name and unlocks the coffers of the Kingdom. Utter that name in the depths of the valley or on the heights of the mountain and instantly you're on holy ground. Speak that name in pain or plenty and you'll never want again.
We can't come in our own name, but an abundant entrance is ours in Jesus' name. Whatever we ask in His name will be granted to us; corn, wine, oil, joy, peace, love - it all waits simply for the mention of that name.
Monday, October 24, 2005
Friday, October 21, 2005
Up The Mountain
I paused on my climb up the mountain
And gazed at the valley below,
At the plains and the grasses and meadows
And the lakes and the rivers that flowed.
So pleasant and calm, it was calling
To return to the safe and secure,
To descend once again to the valley;
I nearly succumbed to its lure.
But I turned and gazed back up the mountain,
Through the mists that surrounded it there,
And I knew that I had to go higher
And breath of its rarefied air.
Something was calling me higher
To places that I could not see,
Calling me onward and upward
To somewhere I knew I must be.
So I turned with a resolute spirit
And set out for the summit again;
My destiny calling me upward,
I could not go back where I'd been.
The briars and brambles tore at me
And tortured my frail human flesh,
But I persevered to go onward;
To stay where I was would be death.
The fog and the rain whipped around me,
The chill wind reached into my bones;
But I persevered and went onward,
Battered and tattered and blown.
The pathway was steep, rough and rocky,
My feet fain could not take a hold;
With my arms I reached out for a handhold
And climbed on through the clouds and the cold.
'Til at last I climbed onto the summit
Where the sun shone in dazzling array.
The clouds were no more and I basked there
In the light of a new, perfect day.
Oh, say, are we not climbing upward,
To the mount of the house of the Lord?
Stay not but press onward and upward
And soon we shall see our reward.
'Tis the face of the One we've been seeking,
Of Jesus, the One we adore;
We'll find that it all has been worth it
As we live in His love evermore.
We are climbing to a place we've never seen, and we long to look on One who is invisible. Yet there is something that calls us continually on, and we could no more stay where we are than we could deny Him outright. We will find that the pain and the pressure were a small price to pay for the glory that shall be revealed.
And gazed at the valley below,
At the plains and the grasses and meadows
And the lakes and the rivers that flowed.
So pleasant and calm, it was calling
To return to the safe and secure,
To descend once again to the valley;
I nearly succumbed to its lure.
But I turned and gazed back up the mountain,
Through the mists that surrounded it there,
And I knew that I had to go higher
And breath of its rarefied air.
Something was calling me higher
To places that I could not see,
Calling me onward and upward
To somewhere I knew I must be.
So I turned with a resolute spirit
And set out for the summit again;
My destiny calling me upward,
I could not go back where I'd been.
The briars and brambles tore at me
And tortured my frail human flesh,
But I persevered to go onward;
To stay where I was would be death.
The fog and the rain whipped around me,
The chill wind reached into my bones;
But I persevered and went onward,
Battered and tattered and blown.
The pathway was steep, rough and rocky,
My feet fain could not take a hold;
With my arms I reached out for a handhold
And climbed on through the clouds and the cold.
'Til at last I climbed onto the summit
Where the sun shone in dazzling array.
The clouds were no more and I basked there
In the light of a new, perfect day.
Oh, say, are we not climbing upward,
To the mount of the house of the Lord?
Stay not but press onward and upward
And soon we shall see our reward.
'Tis the face of the One we've been seeking,
Of Jesus, the One we adore;
We'll find that it all has been worth it
As we live in His love evermore.
We are climbing to a place we've never seen, and we long to look on One who is invisible. Yet there is something that calls us continually on, and we could no more stay where we are than we could deny Him outright. We will find that the pain and the pressure were a small price to pay for the glory that shall be revealed.
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Captain of the Host
"...and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us or for our adversaries. And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come." (Joshua 5: 13, 14)
Joshua saw a man with a sword and asked him if he was on Israel's side or the enemy's side, and the man responded that he wasn't on anyones's side - he was the captain of the Lord's host.
We have our causes. We work to see righteousness wrought in this or that arena. We struggle with those of an opposite mind. And we firmly believe God is with us and for us because He is righteous and we're doing righteous things.
But I see in this scripture that God is on His own side, He has His own agenda. And when we get in line with God's agenda then all the other things will be taken care of.
God is a man of war - He's a lot stronger than we are. We need to join in His battles and He will vanquish all our enemies.
Before I came to know the Lord I held views and opinions entirely different from what I believe now. What made the difference? Salvation. When I received a new nature, it came with it's own beliefs, and they became mine. No one struggled to convince me that this or that was right or wrong - I walked in a new light which gave me new vision.
Jesus called twelve men and they turned the world upside down by preaching the Kingdom of God. They didn't have television or newspapers or books or CD's or DVD's -they had Jesus. There was as much flesh, world and devil in their day as in ours, but they had a single message and wrought wonders with it.
I'm glad there are activists fighting for good causes, but we need to advance the Lord's cause. We need to spend time with Him as did the twelve, to become thoroughly familiar with His ways, and we need to be inundated with the Spirit as were the 120 in the upper room. Then, and only then, will we be equipped to do the work set before us as as the church.
Joshua saw a man with a sword and asked him if he was on Israel's side or the enemy's side, and the man responded that he wasn't on anyones's side - he was the captain of the Lord's host.
We have our causes. We work to see righteousness wrought in this or that arena. We struggle with those of an opposite mind. And we firmly believe God is with us and for us because He is righteous and we're doing righteous things.
But I see in this scripture that God is on His own side, He has His own agenda. And when we get in line with God's agenda then all the other things will be taken care of.
God is a man of war - He's a lot stronger than we are. We need to join in His battles and He will vanquish all our enemies.
Before I came to know the Lord I held views and opinions entirely different from what I believe now. What made the difference? Salvation. When I received a new nature, it came with it's own beliefs, and they became mine. No one struggled to convince me that this or that was right or wrong - I walked in a new light which gave me new vision.
Jesus called twelve men and they turned the world upside down by preaching the Kingdom of God. They didn't have television or newspapers or books or CD's or DVD's -they had Jesus. There was as much flesh, world and devil in their day as in ours, but they had a single message and wrought wonders with it.
I'm glad there are activists fighting for good causes, but we need to advance the Lord's cause. We need to spend time with Him as did the twelve, to become thoroughly familiar with His ways, and we need to be inundated with the Spirit as were the 120 in the upper room. Then, and only then, will we be equipped to do the work set before us as as the church.
Friday, October 14, 2005
The Apostle
One of my favorite movies is "The Apostle" with Robert Duvall. A lot of people didn't like it because he portrayed a preacher who was a bit of a scoundrel - a guy with some problems. I liked it for that reason - it didn't sugarcoat anything; it came across as very real, not with the saccharine sweetness of so many Christian films. Maybe some day we'll be open and candid and admit that we have problems - we're not the perfect people we dress up as on Sunday.
That was Duvall's goal - to do a movie showing real Christians in real settings. The extras were real Christians from real churches; he told them just to be themselves and do what they do, and if they made a mistake, why, that would probably be better than what he had planned for them.
What really got to me was that he kept going in spite of setbacks. He lost his church and his family and had to hit the road (he was hiding out from the law). But he had a vision in mind of a church God wanted him to build and he ended up building it. He just didn't quit.
Even in the final scene, after he's in prison, he's on a road gang but leading the other prisoner/workers in praising the Lord.
I'm not saying that we should be hard-nosed in driving at a goal when God may be trying to change our direction - that happens, too. But this is what I took away from the film, that if the vision is from God, He will bring it to pass in spite of everything to the contrary.
It wasn't a perfect description of Christianity. Can you show me a movie that is? But it held for me that pioneering spirit, that desire to serve and love Jesus in spite of everything. That's what kept him going. That's what keeps me going.
That was Duvall's goal - to do a movie showing real Christians in real settings. The extras were real Christians from real churches; he told them just to be themselves and do what they do, and if they made a mistake, why, that would probably be better than what he had planned for them.
What really got to me was that he kept going in spite of setbacks. He lost his church and his family and had to hit the road (he was hiding out from the law). But he had a vision in mind of a church God wanted him to build and he ended up building it. He just didn't quit.
Even in the final scene, after he's in prison, he's on a road gang but leading the other prisoner/workers in praising the Lord.
I'm not saying that we should be hard-nosed in driving at a goal when God may be trying to change our direction - that happens, too. But this is what I took away from the film, that if the vision is from God, He will bring it to pass in spite of everything to the contrary.
It wasn't a perfect description of Christianity. Can you show me a movie that is? But it held for me that pioneering spirit, that desire to serve and love Jesus in spite of everything. That's what kept him going. That's what keeps me going.
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
No Form Nor Comeliness
"He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we should see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him." (Isaiah 53:2)
We are attracted to the spectacular, the extraordinary, and relegate times in the valley to just being "life as usual." There are those times on the mountaintop, to be sure, but, just like Peter, we must come down and live in the valley.
"The mount for vision, but below
The daily paths of duty go."
Jesus was a root out of dry ground. Have we learned to recognize him in the most mundane details of our lives? Moses tended sheep on the backside of the desert for forty years. Joseph was in prison for so long. But God was working all the time, and the results far surpassed everyone's expectations.
Most of life is ordinary, but that is where He calls us to live out the vision. It may well be with no tangible sense of His Presence or nearness, but He looks for the life lived for Him in the valleys. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death ... "
We are attracted to the spectacular, the extraordinary, and relegate times in the valley to just being "life as usual." There are those times on the mountaintop, to be sure, but, just like Peter, we must come down and live in the valley.
"The mount for vision, but below
The daily paths of duty go."
Jesus was a root out of dry ground. Have we learned to recognize him in the most mundane details of our lives? Moses tended sheep on the backside of the desert for forty years. Joseph was in prison for so long. But God was working all the time, and the results far surpassed everyone's expectations.
Most of life is ordinary, but that is where He calls us to live out the vision. It may well be with no tangible sense of His Presence or nearness, but He looks for the life lived for Him in the valleys. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death ... "
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