For such a time as this (God's own possession)

“For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise... from another place... And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?" Esther 4:14 NASB

In context, the verse above was for one woman, and having to do with the fate of the Jewish people. But when read in the larger context of God's position for you and I as royalty, His furious Love for all mankind takes us on a journey to examine our hearts. His word confronts us with our own daily choices to act in Love and humility.

“But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.” 1 Peter 2:9-10 NASB

If you know Jesus Christ as Savior, then you are royalty, a member of His Church (The Israel of God). With that position comes a compulsory desire to share His beauty with as many as will listen. One problem though; our flesh does not always agree with God on the ease or the readiness with which we should impart said beauty. We must choose to be led by His Holy Spirit.

“For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.” Galatians 5:17 NASB

Make no mistake, we are all His children (Acts 17:28) and we have all come as far as He's taken us for "such a time as this", the only question left is: "Will you answer when He calls upon you?" The answer we give will ripple throughout history, altering the course of our lives and the lives of those God has chosen for us. Whether as overseers, friends, siblings, or helpmates, when we clothe ourselves with Jesus each day and take a step forward, the One who chose us is faithful to be our help in taking another... then another... then another... until it becomes second nature to Love the way He does and abide in that Love always.

“Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full." John 15:9-11 NASB

As Long As Ot Is Called "Today"

"As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation."

(2 Corinthians 6:1-2)

Be courageous to tell God, "I am Yours completely. I will go where You say go and do what You ask me to do."

Be surrendered to confess the Name of Jesus in all circumstances at all times and to tell everyone you care about, "God's way is always right, no matter what people might think of me. There is no higher authority, I seek His approval to the exclusion of all others"

Be full of Faith to shout from every rooftop and tell the whole world, "God is always Good, I trust in what He says, not in the way things appear to me."

Today is the day, now is the time. Not only do you have nothing to fear, but you also have His rest, His help and His favor as a promise! We have such a short time here to allow the Love of God in Jesus Christ to shine. His Word says that the way we know we are His children is that in this world we will be like Jesus. Today is the day, the day of His favor, use it to draw as many as would come to such a furious Love.

Father I pray for each one who reads this, that You Lord would cause them to find good use in Your hands; a place of honor in Your house by day as well as a place of sanctuary and security by night. In Jesus Name, Amen!

"Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." (Hebrews 3:12-13)

Me + Me = 0

"For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding." (2 Corinthians 10:12)

 Yeah, to measure yourself by yourself doesn't really allow much room for growth does it? Also it causes the light of those God places in your path to refract through the wrong lens because you begin to compare them using that same skewed standard.

Oh surely God will erect warning signs around you. At first you will see them a long way off and easily go right around most of them. It's when you come down life's rocky road a piece and you are weary that He'll get your attention. There will soon come a day when your head will be down, muscles weak, heart pounding with sweat dripping down your face ( I think I can, I think I can) that you'll look up just in time to see the big, orange caution sign before it hits you square in the head. Believe me, I know of what I speak. There is only one plumb-line, He is Love and His Name is Jesus Christ.

"For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." (2 Corinthians 5:14-17)

Just like the barren ground left dead by winter will soon bear fruit come springtime, once the Light and warmth of God are present in a Human heart it will also bear good fruit in its season (Psalms 1:3).

The reason we don't compare or measure ourselves or others by ourselves is that in so doing none could ever be made Free. For that same reason we also do not judge others or even ourselves; it is God that examines our hearts because He is the only One who truly can (Romans 14:4, 9-10). 

Luckily for us, it is only by His Grace and perfect Love that any are examined or acquitted.

"But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself. For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord." (1 Corinthians 4:3-4)

The Precipice

Sometimes when God wants to get our attention He speaks in a still small voice. Sometimes He is a little less subtle... 

Even as Christ followers, ironically, we consistently find ourselves believing we have it all together. We think we know, but we really have no idea apart from Him. The precipice is a place where we very suddenly realize this sobering truth and where our souls very suddenly discover the distance we must travel to make our peace with God.

It's about relationship and intimacy after all. Whether it be with Jesus, a friend, a child, or our spouse, the precipice moves us to be reconciled. We arrive at its edge through disobedience to the Truth in any given circumstance. We consciously decide to follow our own way (whether we know it or not), and the result is never pretty.

What we need to get is that it is a spiritual battle; even though we live in the world, we do not wage war as world does and neither does our enemy. Sometimes it is insidious and slow, sometimes it comes on like a tornado or a skirmish and is gone before it really even begins, leaving only an inevitable destruction in its wake. Most times however, the attack comes in some mundane, everyday situation and is as plain to us as the nose on our faces. All three have their root in darkness, but the latter is worst of all. We go on thinking nothing is wrong because everything seems so... well... normal. We allow our version of right and wrong to rule, even if we derive it from what we believe to be "God's will", and take Him out of the equation completely. 

The trick in bridging the precipice (or avoiding it altogether) is to be silent and intimate with God whenever possible, to lay down every version we can conceive, in every way, and trust in His words. No limit we could ever put on the Holy Spirit's power alive within us could ever be contained. So next time you find yourself wondering about anything... just quite your soul, ask God what to do, and listen when He responds. He will always answer when we seek Him with a pure heart in sincere faith.

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ" 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NASB

My first full length book is now live!

You can get it here: http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU-001050559/Who-Are-You-Lord.aspx

Or on Amazon.com in Hard, Soft, or E-Book format 

Not being "Perfected in love"? I'll give you two guesses why not...

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.” (1 John 4:18 NASB)

"The one who fears is not perfected in love." This is a huge understatement. If we abide with Jesus and He abides with us then we have a choices concerning how we live every morning, sometimes even multiple times a day. The most important choice you will make is (because He is constantly pouring it out to you) whether to receive God's Love. The second is a lot like the first, but not exactly, in that it requires action on our part. "Will you choose to live in His Love?"

If we choose to fear instead of believing God, He cannot perfect us in love. His nature will not even share space with fear. God's perfect Love lives in us, and fear will ever assail us. However, in both the micro and the macro, we still must choose to agree with one or the other. I'll give you a hint, one is the Truth, and one is a lie. That doesn't seem to be much of a choice, but surprisingly we as humans too often enjoy having our ears tickled a bit. 

Authenticity is hard, falsehood is not. Just like authentic love is hard, and indifference is not. Being made perfect in the Love of God can be a messy business, but the alternative of going it alone leads down only one road, the road to spiritual death. 

Our indentity is in God alone, so when we try to find it in other places and other things, or even other people, the result is always negative. When we replace the capital "G" in God with a capital "M" in me, perfect love is pushed out and fear can and will inevitably reign in our hearts. There is no room for improvement in God's perfect love, so I say, choose to live in His Love and be perfected, then allow the Holy Spirit free reign to build you up in the confidence of being known by Him. As the scripture says, "Choose life", choose to walk in "that which is life indeed", and you will never have to be afraid or alone ever again.

To fulfill all Righteousness...

The One, Jesus, became sin so that we would become the Righteousness of God in Him, and so that we should fulfill all Righteousness through Him ( 2 Corinthians 5:11-21), (Ephesians 5:1-2).

Jesus fulfilled all Righteousness by doing the will of Father God who sent Him. His actions on earth reflected Love to everyone He touched because everything Jesus said and did reflected the truth and wisdom from Heaven (John 5:19-20, 30-31).

When we who believed in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior gave our lives and our will over to Him, we were irrevocably changed from the inside out. When the Love of Jesus entered us, our hearts became God's "Mercy Seat" and His Kingdom burst to life within us (Exodus 25:17-22). In the most beautiful and secret places of our spirts made perfect by Jesus' blood, God now meets with us. We have a 24/7, standing invitation to be intimate with the Living God. 

The Righteousness of God in us is this: we were crucified with Jesus and our lives no longer belong to us. What we were no longer lives. The new (or authentic) creature inwardly, being made into the image of Christ outwardly now reigns in us by faith. (Galatians 2:20), (Colossians 3:1-4)

So what kind of people ought we to be? 

I say, take up your Cross daily. Forfeit your life in exchange for Life indeed. Agree with God in everything, even as Jesus did, and He is faithful to give you the desire of His heart for you. Trim your lamps and let Jesus' Love, Joy, peace, and compassion shine through you every moment of every day. (Luke 9:23), (Matthew 5:16)

Jesus left us His life as an example so that we would know we are able to be like Him in this world. Yes, everything He did, He said we would do also and even greater things to fulfil all Righteousness. 

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10 NKJV)