Gain--Through Loss

....furthermore, I count everything as loss compared
to the possession of the priceless privilege--the
overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth
and supreme advantage--of knowing Christ Jesus 
my Lord...(Philippines 3:8, amp)

Many people want the glory without the cross, and 
the shining light without the burning fire, but
crucifixion comes before coronation. 

The gory of tomorrow is rooted in the drudgery of 
today.

Have you heard the tale of the aloe plant,
     Away in the sunny clime?
By humble growth of a hundred years
     It reaches its blooming time;
And then a wondrous bud at its crown
     Breaks into a thousand flowers;
This floral queen, in its blooming seen,
     Is the pride of the tropical bowers,
But the flower to the plant is sacrifice,
     For it blooms but once, and dies.

Have you further heard of the aloe plant,
      That grows in the sunny clime?
How every one of its thousand flowers,
      As they drop in the blooming time,
Is an infant plant that fastens its roots
     In the place where it falls on the ground,
And as fast as they drop from the dying stem,
     Grow lively and lovely all around?
By dying, it liveth a thousandfold
     In the young that spring from the death of old.

Have you heard the tale of the pelican,
     The Arab's Gimel el Bahr,
that lives in the African solitudes,
     Where the birds that live lonely are?
Have you heard how it loves its tender young,
     And cares and toils for their good,
It brings them water from mountains far,
     And fishes the seas for their food.
In famine it feeds them--what love can devise!
     The blood of its bosom--and feeding them, dies.

Have you heard this tale--the best of them all--
     The tale of the Holy and True,
He dies , but His life, in untold souls
     Lives on in the world anew;
His seed prevails, and is filling the earth,
     As the stars fill the sky above.
He taught us to yield up the love of life,
     For the sake of love.
His deaths our life, His loss is our gain;
     The joy for the tear, the peace for the pain.
(Streams in the Desert)

Reader, we as Christians gain--through loss.

Broken and Spilled Out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pklUAB4E4nA

Bread and Wine

I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill 
up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions
of Christ...Col 1:24

We have to be place into God and brought into
agreement with Him before we can be broken
bread in His hands. Stay right with God and  
let Him do as He likes, and you will find that 
He is producing the kind of bread and wine that 
will benefit His other children. (OC)

Reader, this is a heavy reading today. It puts
suffering into a different light. Chambers did
not mention the word, 'surrender' but only in
surrender can we be broken bread and poured
out wine to a hurting and needy world.

Go With Him

Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him
two. Matthew 5:41

Our Lord's making of a disciple is supernatural.
He does not build on any natural capacity of ours
at all. God does not ask us to do the things that
are naturally easy for us--He only asks us to do
the things that are perfectly fit to do through His
grace, and that is where the cross we must bear
will always come. (OC)

Reader, when God calls me to do something and
I allow Him to be to me what I need, it is always
easy. Now sometimes He calls me to go in a
direction that I can only walk in and through by
His grace--usually of a longer duration. How
can we stay steady through the challenges?

Calvary's love
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqoPnatf6cA

We Can Choose

...be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Matthew 5:48

The true expression of Christian character is not in
good-doing, but in God like-ness. If the Spirit of God 
has transformed you within, you will exhibit divine 
characteristics in your life, not just good human 
characteristics. (OC)

Reader, I have skipped over this verse so often in the
past. 'IMPOSSIBLE,' cried my flesh. True, flesh can
do nothing; it will never improve. God never intended
to save our flesh. But as I read over the words of
Oswald Chambers, I realized that Jesus did live the
perfect life and He lives in me! Before the cross, no
one could live a perfect life and Jesus was setting up
an impossible situation. But after the resurrection
we have access to this perfect life and we can choose--
moment by moment to walk out of His Life.

Will You Continue?

You are those who have continued with Me in my 
trials. (Luke 22:28)

Are you going on with Jesus? 
The way goes through Gethsemane,
through the city gate,
and on to the "outside camp."
The way is lonely and goes on until there is no 
longer even a trace of a footprint to follow--
but only the voice saying, "Follow Me." ( OC)

So Much More

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is not longer 
I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which 
I now live in the flesh I live *by the faith of the Son 
of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for 
me. (Gal 2:20--*KJV. The rest is the ASV)

Both versions actually mean, according to the Greek,
that at some point (long ago) something took place
and the effects continue to live on.

Over the last ten or so years I have seen the Christian
Life from a different perspective, from God's
perspective. 'I have been crucified with Christ.'
What was crucified?
Our old man was crucified, the one that came with our
first birth in Adam. Then when Christ comes into us we
are birthed again into Jesus Christ, the last Adam. All
things become new. In Romans 6 we read that we were 
buried with Him and then raised to new life and are, in 
fact, seated at His right hand. So now, the life that we 
live, we live by the faith of the Son of God. So, we
were crucified 2,000 years ago and all of our sins were
placed under the blood. True, we had not committed any
sins then. But think of this. The concept of God being
outside of time is very significant because then He can
be at the beginning, the middle and the end of time--at
the same time! All time is present with Him.

Reader, an understanding of this has helped me to step
out from under the law, to live free through His grace.
My identity is firmly fixed in Christ. He looks at identity
not performance. Our identity comes with our new birth.
Everything we do through His strength and power will
be rewarded. Everything we do through our strength and
power, our own resources, our own flesh, will burn. I am
no longer a sinner, but a saint who sometimes sins. I am
in covenant with the living God. Yes, there are
consequences to messing up, but look at the Corinthians.
Paul called them 'saints!'

If this is totally new to you and astounds you, join the
90% of Christians who live in bondage to a law of
their own making. I have spent most of my Christian
life trying to please God and everyone else through
performance. 

In The Fullness of Time

But when the fullness of time had come,
God sent forth His Son. (Gal 4:4)

God always does things in the 'fullness of time,' not
a second sooner. It is very difficult for us to see the
flow of time, to see how it is coming to a specific end
at some point. But our God is outside of time and can
see all things, past, present and future--at the same
time. He even accomplished certain things, setting
them in place--before time.

Jesus will come for His Bride in the fullness of time.
We cannot know the day or the hour, but He has
given us many things to watch for so that we will not
be taken by surprise. Daniel Valles has put up a new
video that summarizes the things to watch for which
details how many of these things have, will, or are
now coming to pass. Dan has also included a detailed
booklet in the description box, for those who want to
study the matter in detail.

Reader, it is not just that things are coming into our
world every month, but if you miss one day of news,
you will have to play catch up. It is not good news.
The good news is that God is in charge and He wants
His kids to be aware of what is happening off stage!

When to Watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gn_2bd0sU50

The Booklet that details the video
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4lMw4yuCqaBU29WU3dZWTl1dXc/view

Overwhelming Burdens

Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain
you.  Psalm 55:22

If we will only roll back on God the burdens He has 
placed upon us, He will take away that immense 
feeling of responsibility, 
replacing it with an awareness and understanding
of HIMSELF and His presence. (OC)

Reader, there is a Mom who has a nine month old Lucy
who has just been diagnosed with a cancerous tumor
on her kidney, that is pressing on the aorta. Such a
tremendous burden on this Mama, Dad and an under
three sister. Please pray that they may have an
awareness and understanding of the lovely Lord Jesus
and a sense of His presence. May this little one nestle
into the chest of the Father during all the procedures.
May God send healing from above.

Complete and Effective Dominion

Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead
indeed to sin, but alive to God. Romans 6:11

Eternal life is not a gift from God; eternal life is the 
gift of God. The energy and the power which was so 
very evident in Jesus will be exhibited in us by an 
act of the absolute sovereign grace of God, once we 
have made that complete and effective decision 
about sin. If it is difficult to get right with God, it is 
because we refuse to make this definite decision 
about sin. (Oswald Chambers)

Reader,
Part of 'watching' is growing in our understanding of sin.
In Romans five, six and seven, Paul mentions the word
'sin' 41 times but only once is it a verb. The other forty
times it is a noun. We are to reckon ourselves dead to
the power of sin, a noun, an entity. The eternal life of
Jesus within gives us the power to overcome sin so that
we will not fall into a pattern of sinning. 

The Last Generation

Knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the 
last days with scoffing following their own sinful 
desires. They will say, "Where is the promise of His
coming...?"  (2 Peter 3:3,4)

Reader, we really are in the last of the last days; we are
that last generation. Did you know that there are still
500 unfulfilled prophecies with only a few years left to
be fulfilled? Things are moving very fast. If you google
World War III, you will find tons of articles to choose
from. It is currently their most popular site. The time
we live in is a sober time. Most Christians who believe
in the rapture don't know that not all will be ready.
That also is a sobering thought.

Daniel Valles has posted two videos--Part 1 and Part 2,
where he lays out the last twenty months on a time line
and then connects the dots. He gives a us a birds eye
view. I had to watch each one twice as the information
is fairly dense, new to most, but not complicated. It is
important to note that he uses the Biblical calendar
where the New Year begins at the very end of March.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kar-Pe-SeYg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0VqNRuvbgA


Behold! I tell you a mystery--we shall not all sleep 
but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the 
twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. Heb 15:51

Resurrection Life

If we have been united together in the likeness
of His death, certainly we also shall be in the
likeness of His resurrection...
Romans 6:5

The Spirit of Jesus entering me rearranges my
personal life before God. The resurrection of
Jesus has given Him the authority to give the
life of God to me. My part is to walk in the
light and to obey all that He reveals to me.
Oswald Chambers.

He is risen!
He is risen indeed!

The Faithful Have Vanished

Such is the title of Psalm 12. Now I have read this
psalm many times, but today I saw something new.

Save, O Lord, for the godly one is gone
for the faithful have vanished from
among the children of man...

Because the poor are plundered
because the needy groan
"I will now arise," says the Lord,
"I will place him in the safety for which he longs."

On every side the wicked prowl
as vileness is exalted among the 
children of men.
Psalm 12:1,5,8

"The faithful have vanished." For the first time I
understood this to mean that someone was wailing
to God because the faithful were not there. This
psalm of David was being prayed by a person who
was appalled that the godly man was gone and the
wicked had free reign.  It is a picture of the rapture
tucked into the Old Testament, followed by the
tribulation. This same David wrote Ps 22 which is
a picture of the crucifixion.

Reader, I read this psalm on April 12, which is
Passover. The Jews celebrate passover every year
in memory of the night that God delivered them
from bondage in Egypt. I have not been reading
from the psalms, but decided to go there today. I
have read this psalm many times but have never
understood who vanished and why. God hides
patterns in the scripture so that we have the delight
of searching them out. Read I Thes. 4:13-18 where
Paul teaches about the rapture and ends with,
"Comfort one another with these words."

Here are the words of Jesus:
Matt 24:44--...you be ready, for the Son of Man is 
coming at an hour you think not.
Matt 25:13--Be on the alert then, for you do not
know the day or hour. 
Luke 21:34--Be on guard, don't be weighed down
and that day come on you suddenly like a trap.
Luke 21:36--But keep on the alert at all times,
praying in order that you ay have strength to escape
these things that are about to take place...

The hour is late. Take some time to ask the Lord if
there is anything you need to do to get ready for
His coming. Things to take off and things to put on.
See Galatians 5, especially verses 16-26. 

Consider Jesus

He made Him who knew no sin to become sin that 
we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21

How extraordinary!

And being found in human form, He humbled
Himself by becoming obedient to the point of
death, even death on a cross. Phil 2:8

The Creator took on human flesh... and died...

He is the image of the invisible God, the first born 
of all creation. For by Him all things were created in 
heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether 
thrones or dominions, or rulers or authorities--all
things were created through Him and for Him. And
He is before all things, and in Him all things hold
together, and He is the head of the body the church.
He is the beginning, the first born from the dead,
that in everything He might be preeminent. For
in Him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell,
and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things,
whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by 
the blood of the cross. Colossians 1:15-20

Reader, THIS IS YOUR GOD!

Three Pictures

What was Jesus like?  What did He look like? We
find the answer in Isaiah 53.

"...He grew up before Him like a tender shoot
And like a root out of dry ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him.
Nor appearance that we should desire Him...
He was despised and we esteemed Him not."

In contrast, we find the Bride speaking of her Groom,
perhaps after the Rapture?

My beloved is dazzling and ruddy,
Outstanding among ten thousand...
His mouth is full of sweetness.
And he is wholly desirable.
This is my beloved; this is my friend.
Song Of Solomon 5: 10,16

And then there is this picture:

...in the middle of the lamp stands (stood) one like
the Son of Man, clothed in a robe reaching to the
feet, and girded across His breast with a golden
girdle. And His head and His hair were white like
wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame 
of fire; and His feet were like burnished bronze, 
when it has been caused to glow in a furnace, and
His voice was like the sound of many waters...His
face was like the sun shining in strength. And when
I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man. He laid
His right hand upon me (John), saying,
"Do not be afraid: I am the first and the last, and the
living One; and I was dead, and, behold, I am alive
forever more." (Rev 1)

Oh, reader, we have three pictures of the same Man!
The last picture would freeze my blood if I did not
know Him in the second picture. John was the one
who was known as the beloved, who rested on Jesus'
chest at the last supper. He was undone not by His
risen Lord, but Christ in full glory.

Our Lord told us to be alert, to watch, to be sober as
events begin to point to His soon coming. We are to
long for this event as a bride longs for her wedding
day! As I look at the fast changes our world is
undergoing, the technology in place, the shadows
and patterns throughout scripture, I know that He is at
the very door.  Maranatha!

A Pet Lamb

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
He is just and endowed with salvation,
Humble and mounted on a donkey,
even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Zechariah 9:9

Yesterday we celebrated Palm Sunday, but not with
the exuberance of Jerusalem the day Jesus sat on a
colt 2,000 years ago! They welcomed their king who
would deliver them from Rome. In one week this
same crowd would agree to His death.

About 2,000 years before this event, when Israel was
in bondage to Pharaoh of Egypt, Moses told the people
to search for a perfect lamb and bring that lamb up to
the house for inspection. Each family had a lamb.
Lambs are soft, with wet noses, curious little creatures.

How long did it take before every lamb had a name?

Each morning the children would eat quickly so they
could play with their new friend--BUT on the fourth
day the lamb was killed so that child would not die.
Can you imagine the sorrow when the lamb died?

Jesus was the pet Lamb of His Father. He was tested
(inspected) over and over during passover week, but
'they found no fault in Him.' Then THIS Lamb was
crucified, His blood spilled, so we could have Life--
eternal life.

Reader, do you see how the Old Testament can help
to make the New Testament come alive? There are so
many shadows and patterns woven through scripture
that makes sense when one starts in Genesis. This is a
great week to read and ponder Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22.

The Eternal Goal

By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because
you have done this thing...I will bless you....
Genesis 22:16, 17

It is through the discipline of obedience that I
get to the place where Abraham was and I see
who God is. God will never be real to me 
until I come face to face with Him in Christ.
Then I will know and can boldly proclaim, "In 
all the world, my God, there is none but Thee, 
there is none but Thee." (OC)

Reader, this morning I woke up singing,

"Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely
        dim,
In the light of His glory and grace."

He is our source of victorious living. He and His
resurrection power indwell us. I cannot be fully
obedient without His life pouring through me, so
I say, "Lord, live your life through me as I write
this blog, steer my car through this traffic, become
reconciled with my friend."--
We have more than Abraham ever had! 

What Is It To You?

Peter...said to Jesus, "But Lord, what about this
man?" Jesus said to him, "...what is that to you?
You follow Me."  John 21:21,22

One of the hardest lessons to learn comes from 
our stubborn refusal to refrain from interfering 
in other people's lives. Our part is to maintain 
the right relationship with God so that His 
discernment can come through us continually 
for the purpose of blessing someone else. OC

Reader, how very easy it is to step into this trap!

Set Your Mind

If you have been raised up with Christ, KEEP
SEEKING the things above, where Christ is 
seated at the right hand of God. SET your mind 
(your heart) on things above, not on the things 
on earth. (Col 3:1,2)

'Set your mind on things above, not on things on
earth.' Last night those words kept going through
my mind as I slept. I remember thinking that I
could use the word, 'fix.' I woke up feeling that I
had not slept well!

My Bible uses, 'Be intent on,' as a definition of
'set.'The dictionary says, 'To fix the attention on.'

Paul says that IF you have been raised up--past 
tense--with Christ (Col 2:12) then focus your 
attention on things above, not on earth. 'For 
you have died and your life is hidden with Christ 
in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, 
then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. 
(Col 3:3,4)

Reader, not a day goes by that we don't read about
something untoward happening. If we are not careful,
we will find ourselves setting our minds on the bad
thing that is going to happen next. Our Lord wants
us to think about how He died for us so that we could
spend all of eternity in His presence. His resurrection
was 2,000 years ago and the day of His coming to
take us home to heaven is close at hand. Be alert,
be ready, be watchful. Keep looking up! Your Groom
is coming!

Sorrowful Days

Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain
you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.
Psalm 55:22

Who has not learned that our most sorrowful days are
frequently our best? The days when our face is full 
of smiles and we skip easily through the soft meadow 
God has adorned with spring flowers, the capacity of 
our heart is often wasted.

The soul that is always lighthearted and cheerful 
misses the deepest things of life. Certainly that has 
its reward and is fully satisfied, but the depth of its 
satisfaction is very shallow. Its heart is dwarfed, and 
its nature, which has the potential of experiencing the 
highest heights and the deepest depths, remains 
undeveloped. And the wick of its life burns quickly to 
the bottom, without ever knowing the richness of 
profound joy.

Remember, Jesus said, "Blessed are those who mourn."
(Matt 5:4) Stars shine the brightest during the long dark 
night of winter. And the gentian wildflowers display their 
fairest blooms among the nearly inaccessible heights of 
mountain snow and ice.

God seems to use the pressure of pain to trample out the 
fulfillment of His promises and thereby release the 
sweetest juice of His winepress. Only those who have
known sorrow can fully appreciate the great tenderness
of the "man of sorrows." (Streams in the Desert)

Reader, I want to share the sorrows of our brothers
and sisters in many parts of the world.

2016 was the worst year yet for Christian persecution
There are 21 countries where 100% of Christians
      experience persecution.
1,329 churches were destroyed
In one nation a suspected Christian will be executed on
      the spot even by rumor--no trial.
In one African country the killing of Christians went
      up by 62%

Please pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters.
It is not going away--until Jesus takes us all home.

Job Didn't Know

I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that 
they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ 
Jesus, with eternal glory. (2 Tim 2:10)

Oh, if only Job had known, as he sat in the ashes,
troubling his heart over the thought of God's
providence, that millions down through history
would look back on his trials. He might have taken 
courage in the fact that his experience would be a 
help to others throughout the world.

No one lives to himself, and Job's story is like yours
and mine, only his was written for all to see. The
afflictions Job faced and the trials he wrestled with
are the very things for which he is remembered,
and without them we would probably never have
read of him in God's Word.

We never know the trials that await us in the days
ahead. We may not be able to see the light through
our struggles, but we can believe that those days,
as in the life of Job, will be the most significant we 
are called upon to live. Robert Collyer

Reader, Paul was able to suffer, and suffer again
so that others would embrace his Savior. We don't
live for ourselves, but unto Him who bought us.
We have no idea who sees us and the impact our
lives make on them.