So Jesus hasn't come in here to pick you up

 Great line from a great song with great lyrics, that you Must NOT ever share with your young children, but maybe be bold and share it with your teens, because their generation needs to know the PRE-TRIB rapture is a lie and Jesus is not coming to pick you up and whisk you away before things get bad. Does that really make any sense that the crucified Messiah who said, to you, HIS followers, "TAKE up your own CROSS and follow ME" would RESCUE you before things get bad.  OF course not, but it does make sense to your selfish little self that needs to die, die, die.

Most of the "shit" that is hitting your fan is simply the God of Israel, purifying the sons of Israel, LIKE HE SAID HE WOULD!!!

Being Brought to the End of Our Strength

 I stand in amazement at the God of Mercy and His lovingkindness.

His stated goal of bringing His followers to the end of their strength is a deeply terrible and yet beautiful thing.

The journey continues.

The Process

 We need to be aware that one process is taking place while the faithful, covenant-keeping God, continues to work with those who live believing loyalty for the remaining portion of this evil age.  That process is bringing those who are His to the end of their strength.

It is a mercy driven process, but it does not feel like it, due to our position in the midst of this evil age.

It calls for trust.  It calls for community strengthening and encouraging each other in the long journey.

God carry us, through.

AA and NA Wisdom from Above

Step One We admitted we were powerless....

And so starts the AA and NA way to breaking the power of addiction.

They obtained this wisdom from above, because this
is the beginning of our being drawn to the Messiah.

More and more I am convinced that, "I got this." may be
the three most useless words in the English language.

The first step in healing, in repentance and rest is,
"I definitely do not have this, in fact I am powerless."

Truth be told, this first step continues as the underlying
theme through all the other steps, we are powerless all the
way out to step 12 carrying the message.

Being brought to a place where the reality of the lack of power
that you possess is made very real to you is ultimate mercy
from the heart of God.

Let's live and rest and trust in the God of Step One today.

Be Still, Cease Striving, Drop Your Hands,

Day 5 at camp.  God kept it very simple, by referring to Psalm 46, and taking us to a place of rest.  Maintain the relationship with God at all costs.  Rest and trust in Him to work through your yielded vessel.  Micah 6:8 clearly states what God expects.  "do justice" only He knows all the background and history of any situation, only His life can do it.  "Love kindness" His love flowing through us, "walk humbly with your God".  The beginning, middle and end of the answer to the question, Now what? for the person who is newly born again is, maintain your close relationship with God.  From that place of relationship, His life will flow through you. 


Day 6, my last day, because God had me give away Friday to a woman who is working on staff who has been specifically named, by at least 3 other staff in their testimonies as a person they relied on during a hard time. We looked at the ways that Satan works in his kingdom as contrasted with how things work in the Kingdom of God. 
The Loser rules through, power/control, threat and manipulation.
The Kingdom of God is about weakness, surrender and trust.  Deut. 32:36, "When He sees that their strength is gone".  Daniel 12:7, "When they come to the end of their power."  Rev. 12:11, "They love not their lives unto the death." 
It is a blessing to come to the place, the knowledge of our absolute weakness, because it is from that place and only that place that God can work.  Refusing to use our own power, and by faith connecting to/trusting in His power and life, all the glory goes to our faithful God.

No hope

Can we receive the grace to love and trust the true God who knows what is best and brings us to the place where we say, "It is hopeless." Isaiah 57:10, so that He can then give us the "good news" that He makes His home with those who are at the end of their power. Isaiah 57:15, Daniel 12:7, Deut. 32:36, Psalm 116:7, 15, Isaiah 40:29. We admit that we cannot, We believe that He can and we agree to "get out of the way" and let His love and power work in whatever situation we are faced with.

“You were tired out by the length of your road,
Yet you did not say, ‘It is hopeless.’
You found ]renewed strength,
Therefore you did not faint."  Isaiah 57:10  God is not complimenting them here.  He is calling them out, they refused to say, "It is hopeless"  they still wanted to find some hope in themselves, in programs, in others, but they would not "give up" and see God as their only hope.

"For thus says the high and exalted One
Who [a]lives forever, whose name is Holy,
“I dwell on a high and holy place,
And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit
In order to revive the spirit of the lowly
And to revive the heart of the contrite."Isaiah 57:15  This is where the high and holy God dwells, when you see your brokenness clearly and have no hope in anything or anyone, but God.

" I heard the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, as he raised his right hand and his left toward heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a  time; and as soon as they finish shattering the power of the holy people, all these events will be completed."Daniel 12:7  The loving plan of God involves a temporarily horrible time that cleanses people of all hope except the hope in the "One whom they have pierced."


“For the Lord will vindicate His people,
And will have compassion on His servants,
When He sees that their strength is gone,
And there is none remaining, bond or free."Deut. 32:36  Give up?  That is the  question that God is most likely to ask.  His stated goal..."To make us like Jesus" and that is going to mean a realization of the death of Adam in baptism and the Life of Christ.

"The Lord preserves the simple;
I was brought low, and He saved me."Psalm 116:6
"Precious in the sight of the Lord
Is the death of His godly ones." Psalm 116:15  What is this verse other than the ultimate expression of the death of flesh, of self, and the resurrection life of God.  Oh let it be so!
"He gives strength to the weary,
And to him who lacks might He increases power."  Isaiah 40:29  What precedes mounting up with wings like eagles?  Coming to the end of your power, coming to a place of hopelessness and death and receiving the grace to see that it is the faithfulness and love of God that has brought you here, and it will be the One who is Faithful and True who will get you through.

Can we agree that these hands have done all that they can?

Walking and talking with the Lord of all the earth today. 
1)  We "love" like soccer players lined up to form a wall in front of their goal while the best player from the other team lines up to fire a ball directly at them, we have been hurt in the past so we are covering the parts that matter to us, in the case of love it is our 'heart.'  So we love while covering and protecting our heart.  ONLY when we truly come to a place of walking and talking with the one who loves us and we know His incredible unconditional love for us will be free to open our arms and love, no longer protecting what has been hurt in the past.  Oh God we need a revelation of Your love for us, of Your heart for us.
2)  "Can we agree that these hands have done all that they can?  A precious friend walked through a time of being his wife's primary care giver as ALS removed all her muscle function and took her ability to speak.  On the last night of her life he had done all he could to make her comfortable and to clear her breathing and position everything just right and was just.... done... and at that point he lifted up his hands in front of her and said, "Can we agree that these hands have done all they can?"  This was a seminal moment in time with a lot of meanings.  One of which was we are at the end of ourselves (Daniel 12:7, Deut. 32:36) our flesh is done, dead, out of the way and God can move.  At that moment God healed all her vital signs and kept them good including her collapsed lung, and then once He had done that good work He began to slow her heart down and told the husband, "It is time to call the family and friends and have them get in a last visit."
3)  So the question is have we done all we can?  In that situation with that person, with that division, have we done all we can and taken our hands off and put it all in the Lord's hands?  We are going to hurt if we love, and we intuit that we are going to hurt if we love and that is why we choose not to love.
4)  God is doing a work that is an organism and it is not an organization.  Organism's are far more fragile than structure and organization.