The Reformation-Call

One deception that believers have succumbed to by believing the fables of men is they prefer a literary, textbook approach to knowing God and has made the good-book that is used to approach God as the "Supreme Word" of God. They study scripture thinking it is the source of eternal life, the guide for spiritual living and the rule book for spiritual application. In doing so they chose knowledge of God through shadows over knowing the reality of God. The scriptures are a great blessing to the Community of Humanity as a road map to Christ, but they are the written word, a love-letter...not our Lover, the True Word of God.

William Law describes the respect for scripture and its true value this way: "Read whatever chapter of Scripture you will, and be ever so delighted with it--yet it will leave you as poor, as empty and unchanged as it found you unless it has turned you wholly and solely to the Spirit of God, and brought you into full union with and dependance upon Him. For delight in matters of Scripture can be nothing but carnal emotion of a fallen Adam-nature unless this delight finds its source in the inspiration of God as He quickens His own life and nature within the heart. Nothing less than this union with God by the power of His Holy Spirit is intended by the Law, the Prophets or the Gospels. Both Old and New Testaments bear full witness to this truth, calling men back from the spirit of Satan, the flesh and the world, to be in-dwelt and possessed by the Holy Spirit of God, who alone can be the fulfill-er of all that to which the Scriptures testify"  

The study of scripture is admiral, the study of the scripture is not the problem. The problem is the misguided belief that they are the Source of the believer's spiritual life...their Well-spring of life. The Holy Spirit Himself said the He did not testify of Himself but of Christ...so do the scriptures not testify of themselves, they do as they were God-Intended to do... testify of Christ. They are not the all and end all of a relationship with Christ.

A reformation of regaining of what was thought to be the pattern of the early believers, as was the object of the reformer Martin Luther is not what is needed today. The reformation that is needed today is the restoration of Jesus Christ as the Head of His Community of the Redeemed and His Holy Spirit as its director and teacher.

The reformation-call  to the Community of the Redeemed...the corporate expression of God Himself through His Son today...is to give Jesus back His people so they can be infused with His life in their daily living as a witness to the Community of Humanity that Jesus is alive and well as He lives His life through His people. 

We need to heed the clarion reformation-call to return to our first Love.

- Glenn Regular

Repentance Not Despair

“Those who are truly religious experience what sort of punishments are shame, confusion, groaning, displeasure with self, and other emotions that arise out of a lively recognition of sin.
Yet we must remember to exercise restraint, lest sorrow engulf us. For nothing more readily happens to fearful consciences than falling into despair. And whomever Satan sees overwhelmed by the fear of God he more and more submerges in that deeper whirlpool of sorrow that they may never rise again.
In this way we flee from God, who calls us to himself through repentance.”

— John Calvin

The Holy Ointment

“The Holy Spirit consoles, but Christ is the consolation. If we may use the figure, the Holy Spirit is the Physician, but Jesus is the medicine. He heals the wound, but it is by applying the holy ointment of Christ’s name and grace. He takes not of his own things, but of the things of Christ. So if we give to the Holy Spirit the Greek name of Paraclete, as we sometimes do, then our heart confers on our blessed Lord Jesus the title of Paraclesis. If the one be the Comforter, the other is the Comfort.

Now, with such rich provision for his need, why should the Christian be sad and desponding? The Holy Spirit has graciously engaged to be thy Comforter: dost thou imagine, O thou weak and trembling believer, that he will be negligent of his sacred trust? Canst thou suppose that he has undertaken what he cannot or will not perform? If it be his especial work to strengthen thee, and to comfort thee, dost thou suppose he has forgotten his business, or that he will fail in the loving office which he sustains towards thee? Nay, think not so hardly of the tender and blessed Spirit whose name is the Comforter. He delights to give the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Trust thou in him, and he will surely comfort thee till the house of mourning is closed for ever, and the marriage feast has begun.”

— Charles Spurgeon

Loved and Accepted

It has been said that the strongest desire of mankind is the "sex drive"...me being me, I disagree. I believe the strongest desire of mankind is to be loved and accepted by God and other people. The desire to be loved and accepted by people is the greatest factor in determining most human behavior.

The desire to be loved and accepted is why we wear what we wear, why we do what we do, why we say what we say, why we go where we go, why we act the way we act, why we conform to what we conform, why we pray what we pray, why we read what we read, why we go to "church" to "do" church and yes...why we believe what we believe...at least most of the time.

The amazing thing about God and His Amazing Love and Grace is...we do not have to live our lives seeking love and acceptance by God because we are already completely loved and accepted by Him.

All the buildings called "Churches" that dot the landscape of the towns and cities of our world are a reflection of man's effort to find, please, be loved and accepted by God. This is the way of religion. The way to be accepted by God is to do "nothing" in and of our own doing because God has done everything. According to Eph. 1:6 we are already loved and accepted by Him.

We are loved and accepted of God totally because of His doing...not because of our doing.

YOU ARE LOVED AND ACCEPTED BY GOD...REST IN HIS GRACE!

- Glenn Regular

Do Not Worry

Worry refuses to know God. 

Worry refuses to trust God.

Worry refuses to love God. 

Worry is uncharacteristic of faith in God

Worry is unwise because of our hope in God.

 Worry is unnecessary because of our loving God.

Because of our Father...because of our trust in our Father....because of our future with our Father;

It is FOOLISH for us to HURRY and SCURRY because of WORRY!

What Are The Consequences of Falling from Grace

I am so glad the book of Galatians is in the Bible because we can learn a lot from other people’s mistakes.

The Galatians lost their liberty in Christ by allowing themselves to be enslaved to the yoke of the law. In their case the issue was circumcision, but for us it could be anything that puts a price tag on grace—church rules, confession of sins, the spiritual disciplines, whatever. I’m not against these things. I’m saying there is nothing we can do to add or improve upon Christ’s perfect work.

We stand by grace alone.

The Galatians had a different view. Some guys with long faces and long knives came preaching mixture and the Galatians bought it hook, line, and sinker. But does this mean the Galatians were now unsaved, under condemnation, and hell-bound? No. Falling from grace does not mean falling out of the kingdom.

“You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.” (Gal 5:4)

The NIV Bible says the Galatians alienated themselves from Christ. Other translations say they became estranged, separated, severed, and cut off. These are serious words with serious implications, but they do not imply condemnation.

Who cut them off? It wasn’t Christ.

Who did the separating? Not Jesus.

As always, he remains the thoroughly faithful husband who keeps us safe while promising that no one, not even ourselves in a moment of stupidity, can snatch us out of his hands.

Paul never tells the Galatians, “You are losing your salvation.” Instead, he says, “You are indulging the flesh” (Galatians 5:13). They were becoming carnal, biting and devouring one another in vicious arguments. The danger is not that God will destroy them, but that “you will be destroyed by each other” (Galatians 5:15).

Remove grace from any community and you will soon have quarrels, strife, bickering, manipulation, envy, hatred, and all the other works of the flesh that Paul lists in Galatians 5:19–21. But none of these things will send you to hell.

When Paul reminds the Galatians that “they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom,” he’s saying, “Those who belong to Christ shouldn’t act like those who don’t.”

If Christians were kicked out of the kingdom every time they walked after the flesh, heaven would be empty.

Grow in Grace

“And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner.” -  Luke 11:38 -

The New Covenant is a covenant of rest; it is living and acting from our place in Christ.

Everything we need has been provided by God, through grace. God anticipated all our needs; he acted independently of us, before we were born. We cannot move God to do anything, because he has already done everything we need through Christ. In Christ we have received every spiritual blessing we will ever need or desire.

How we perceive God and what he has provided for us by grace is faith. All we need has been given to us we just activate it into reality from the spirit realm by believing and receiving.

Good works, doing the right things, trying to make God to move by our acts, is all self-righteousness and is rooted in unbelief.

Saying thank you and resting in all Christ has freely given by grace is the essence of faith and walking in the spirit.

Andrew Wommack explains that grace is the key to the Christian life and believing that God has already done everything through Christ.

“A sure sign of the error of legalism is misplaced priorities, as we see here with these Pharisees. It is not recorded in Scripture that the Pharisees marveled at the wonderful works of Jesus. They were too busy looking for something to criticize (Mark 3:2). But they marveled at Jesus not washing His hands. This is a classic example of straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel (Mt. 23:24).

Those who seek to earn righteousness through keeping the Law are consumed with “doing,” while those who receive righteousness by faith are simply confessing what has already been done. This is a simple and yet profound difference. If we are still “doing” acts of holiness to get God to move in our lives, then we are still operating under a “Law” mentality that is not faith (Gal. 3:12). When we simply believe and confess what has already been provided through Christ, that’s grace.

A person who is living under the Law and a person who lives under grace should have very similar actions of holiness, but their motivations are completely opposite. The legalist has their attention on what they must do, while the person living by faith has his attention on what Christ has already done for him. For instance, the Scriptures teach us to confess with our mouths and believe with our hearts, and we will receive from God. The legalist thinks, That means I can get God to heal me by confessing, ‘By his stripes I am healed.’ 

However, the person who understands God’s grace will not confess the Word to get healed. They will confess, “By His stripes I am healed” because they really believe it has already been done.


Analyzing our “mind set” is the simplest way of discerning whether we are operating in true Bible faith or a legalistic counterfeit. If the motive for our actions is to be accepted with God, that’s legalism. If we live wholly out of faith and gratefulness for what God has already done, that’s grace. Grow in grace!”

God's Gracious Grace

Grace is the “good news” of the Gospel, not only that, I believe Grace IS the Gospel!

Jesus fulfilled the law-based religion to established a grace-based relationship. Jesus replaced an obedience driven by fear, guilt and shame with a fresh motivation to follow Him out of love.

Everything comes to us by grace.  To believe that we have to work for God’s blessings is to try and buy something that is not for sale. Instead of following a list of religious rules to be accepted by a denomination, Grace calls people to follow Jesus to be accepted by God.

Sin is overcome by God's Amazing Grace, not by the keeping of the un-keepable Mosaic Law.

Is it true that Grace Lovers teach that the Grace Gospel is a "license to sin"? 

To make such a statement is illogical and asinine! It shows the ignorance  of the Grace Gospel by people who make such statements. Not only is it senseless, there is no evidence among Grace Living people to back up such ignorant ignorance of Jesus and His Gospel.

If you as a law keeping person stood before a judge for breaking the law of the land by driving without a license. If you were found guilty of the charge and the judge gave you a suspended sentence would that give you the license to continue to drive without a license. Of course not! His choosing not to hold the wrong against you is not giving you the right to continue to do that wrong. By the way...Who among the Grace Haters, who say that Grace gives people a "license to sin," is WITHOUT SIN...if you are without sin cast the first stone, why are you all hanging your heads? It can't be that you are not without sin otherwise, you would not have the gall to say grace living people teach that it's OK for people to sin openly because of God's Amazing Grace.

Grace living people do not teach that Grace endorses people to sin, they believe in showing people Grace despite their sin and that it is God's grace that gives them power to remain from sin.

I do not believe or teach that Grace permits people to sin as they please, no no, Grace is there to appease...neither do I know of any Grace Loving person who believes such fabricated, unwarranted, diabolical, nonsensical nonsense. 

It is God's Grace, not the Mosaic Law, that brings and maintains salvation and restoration.

When You Look Into the Mirror of the Bible What Do You See?

Some people look to the Bible to mirror back to them how to behave, what to do or not do, pass judgement on people, fear-monger people in order to control how they act and think, manipulate people, profit financially from people, what doctrine to believe, what denomination to join, and what they should be doing in order to live as a believer. In reading the bible in this way we read it and use it for the wrong reason. reading the bible for these reasons we fall into the trap of being prideful and self-righteousness. The fact is the bible is the mirror that reveals God through the lens of Jesus and what He has accomplished through His life, death and resurrection. 

To read the bible for reasons other than to know God leads to a blind pursuit in self-righteousness and spiritual arrogance because in our reading of it, we compare ourselves to other believers and thank God and in our self-righteousness thank that we are not like them and believe we are more spiritually mature and become intoxicated with our knowledge about God and in doing so we never get to know God nor His purpose for the Community of the Redeemed in the Community of Humanity.   

The Bible is not a book for denominational segregation forming, denominational doctrine making or for sinner bashing with the threat of eternal hell fire. The Bible is a book that mirrors the fact that  people are transformed so as to accept the indwelling Christ so He can express Himself to the Community of Humanity through His Community of the Redeemed. For that to happen we have too forfeit the God as viewed through the lens of religion to embrace the God of scripture as viewed through the lens of Jesus...who is the express image of the Father and came to show us what Father God is like.

Jesus is the centerpiece of the bible. The bible is informational, it is not transformational. The bible points us to Jesus who is the transformer that transforms us from our own self-righteousness into His righteousness.

Peace

Better a dry crust eaten in peace than a house filled with feasting—and conflict. – Proverbs 17:1

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. – Isaiah 26:3

I will make a covenant of peace with my people and drive away the dangerous animals from the land. Then they will be able to camp safely in the wildest places and sleep in the woods without fear – Ezekiel 34:25

Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. – Romans 5:1

...... and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:7

Jesus Our Great High Priest

 The mixing of the Mosaic Law and Grace and present it as the Gospel because it removes Jesus from the picture and without Jesus there is no Gospel. The mix-mash of the Law and Jesus is not legit no matter how much religious legitimacy it appears to have. Jesus just doesn't mix in the mix. By presenting the Gospel as a Mixture of Law and Jesus results in taking away from Jesus as the WHOLE of the Gospel. Jesus plus the Law is is not the Gospel. One has to only look at the lineage of Jesus to see the truth of that statement. 

The lineage of Jesus is probably one of the strongest reasons to validate that Jesus came set people free from the bondage of the law and establish a new and better way to have a relationship with the divine.

I am quite certain that all law keepers who may read this will agree with this statement; "Jesus is our High Priest, our one and only way to God! 

But...Jesus did NOT come from the priestly tribe of Levi which was the tribe that priestly authority came from. Jesus was born into the tribe of Judah. What does the scriptures say about priests coming from the tribe of Judah...ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Why do you think that is so? Because God Himself said that it was not to be so. God told Moses that only the tribe of Levi was to serve as priests: If indeed, then, perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for the people under it had received law) what further need, according to the order of Melchisedek, for another priest to arise, and not to The Community of the Redeemed is a living organism that move and have their being by the virtue of the life within them. All order and direction proceeds from that inner life (the life of Christ!) The living organism (the community of the redeemed) takes on the life predetermined by the life within (the very life of the Christ of God!) be called according to the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, of necessity also, of the law a change doth come, for he of whom these things are said in another tribe hath had part, of whom no one gave attendance at the altar, for 'it is' evident that out of Judah hath arisen our Lord, in regard to which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. And it is yet more abundantly most evident, if according to the similitude of Melchisedek there doth arise another priest, who came not according to the law of a fleshly command, but according to the power of an endless life, for He doth testify "Thou art a priest" to the age, according to the order of Melchisedek;' (Heb. 7:11-17). Italics mine.

Priests were to come from the tribe of Levi...then Jesus shows up, breaking the rules that had been in place for thousands of years. According to tradition Jesus did not qualify to be a priest, yet He is not only a priest, He is our High Priest, even more  He is our GREAT High Priest. If Jesus was from the tribe of Levi it would be a better selling point for mixing Jesus with the Law because He would have been from the priestly tribe and a tweaking of the teaching of Moses, add Jesus to the mix and abracadabra...the Gospel!  But, God wasn't looking for a mixing transition, He was looking to "out the old" and a bring in a complete new way. Jesus the Priest, not after the order of Levi but after the order of Melchisedek brings in the new way...The Way of Grace!

Jesus is now our High Priest...but how can that be when the Law disallows such? The answer is given us straight from scripture; "For when there is a change of the priesthood there must also be a change in the law." (Heb. 7:12. Since our Priest is of a different linage than the levitical line, the old covenant way of trying to live up to the keeping of the law to be sanctified, holy and godly  is completely incompatible with Jesus and His Message of Grace.

Who Knows You Best

Let it be known folks...God knows you far better than religion knows you, in fact He knows you far better than you know you! He also thinks more highly of you than religion will ever  think of you. The fact is; He thinks more highly of you than anything else in the world...He has chosen to make His dwelling place in you...imagine, the God of the universe, the Savior of mankind in all His holiness and awesomeness has chosen to live in you...despite all your faults and failures...that is AWESOMELY AMAZING.

God’s profound opinion of and love for people reveals how amazing His Amazing Grace Gospel really is and if understood for what it really...it is a path illuminated to the most astounding satisfying spiritual relationship there is.

This Gospel of God’s Grace will;
Transition you from fear and hate to trust and love.
Transition you from the bondage of religion to freedom in Christ.
Transition you from denominated division to oneness as Christ and the Father are one.
Transition you from judging and condemning to understanding and forgiving.
Transition you from having your identity in religion to having your identity in Christ.
Transition you from religious works to resting in Christ as He works His works through you.

God’s opinion of you far superceeds religion's opinion of you.

The Kingdom of God Within

To want all that God wants, always to want it, for all occasions and without reservations, this is the kingdom of God which is all within – Francois Fenelon.

When we give ourselves to live from our union with Christ instead of our mind, emotion, intellect or bodies, we start to let God invade and dominate every aspect of our life.

To know what God wants, is to know who we are In Christ, to know all he has provided by grace and to be his ambassador to everyone we meet.

We have entered the Promised Land, our re-born spirit is overflowing with the grace of God and all that Christ provided at the cross. We have a fountain overflowing with good things, a land of milk and honey, an inhabitation of abundant provision on the inside of us.

The world and the flesh try to tell us that we have not received all God’s provision. They tell us to look at our carnal experience, to judge everything by our five senses, to doubt, to strive, to question, to explain everything away in what we experience.

But God sees things differently; it is his breath that breathes life into our bodies, it is his blood that obtained our forgiveness, by his stripes we were healed and the power that raised Christ from the dead lives inside of us.

His word, the bible, is his love letter to us, our spiritual mirror, it shows us who we are and what we have been given. He shows us all God’s promises and all that grace has given us.

As we receive his grace, believe the truth and let his spirit invade our soul and bodies, we are transformed effortlessly into his likeness.

The Kingdom of God has come and is within every believer, each of us has all the grace and fullness of Christ inside.

You Are

You are righteous...you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.  It's no longer your self-righteousness, derived by the law, but the righteousness that comes from God.

You are of value...you are part of One Body and each part is no less important than any other part. There is no spiritual hierarchy in the Body of Christ.

You are preferred because you are loved, not for what you do but for who you are, by the God of love.

You are the Church...The Church is not a place to go to be in the presence of God. Wherever you go, so goes the Church, so goes the presence of God because you are the dwelling place of God.

You are the glory of God not because you are special, but because He is special and He has chosen to pour His life into your life so He can live His life through you as His Community of the Redeemed to influence the Community of Humanity to choose Him.

You are free to be who you are in Christ, break free from the trap of religion's control into the freedom that Christ has provided.

Have You Got a Problem with Freedom

So many today would enthusiastically dub themselves a "freedom fighter," but when "push comes to shove," it turns out they have a problem with freedom in its purest form.  Well, truth be known, freedom will downright scare the hell out you... in a fallen, sin-ridden world, that is.  I don't think we can really fathom pure, raw, unadulterated freedom... you know, the God-kind.  Yet, that is exactly what Father offers.

Sure, we tout it, here in the States, as the very foundation on which our nation was formed, and indeed it is to a degree, but only to a degree.  For even that brand of freedom necessarily must have limitations imposed upon it in order to govern, or, perhaps more accurately said, to protect, society's application thereof, due to the inherent sinfulness of man.  In other words, because we are sinful by nature (it is all that we know, apart from, and prior to, being regenerated in spirit), we have an instinctive inclination to act of our own self-interest, not to mention, self-preservation, and regrettably, at the expense of others.  When we do not have governance from within (our spirit), it must be imposed from without (the law), if, in fact,we are to protect one another from the misuse, or abuse, of each other.

When one does not know intimately, and thus is not able to act upon, the love of Father (equated in our day by the simple claim of a title: "Christian"), it can not be expected that Love would, by any means, determine one's actions toward another.  And, therein lies the "necessity" for law (a.k.a. government).  I submit that law will not be necessary, at all, when love rules the day.  Love has no need of law.  Never has, never will.

But, unfortunately, for now, we live on planet earth, that knows not the Father's love.  So, for now, we get to learn how to function in the freedom which Christ has afforded us, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally, while yet in physical subjection to earthly law (to a degree).   But, Papa is ever aware of the conundrum in which we find ourselves, and is ever ready to reach out again and again to help us navigate this broken world.

By the way, don't you think God knew all of this, when He gave us the Ten Commandments?  And then, more importantly, when He gave us Jesus... to declare our freedom, not only from sin's Vice Grip, but from any outward system of governance, then resulting.

Jesus introduced a freedom to now fully know, and walk in... in fact, to be governed by, a new and complete freedom from Law, while at the same time operating in the freedom to love, like His Dad does.  And, I know that just ticks some people off.  It royally irritates those among us who can put a lot of stock in their own abilities.  Talk about feeling stripped!  Not to mention those who have a dependence on my compliance with the same mentality that enforces those laws.  Yep.  Jesus was a definite and direct threat to the day's establishment.  And, so are Christ-followers, by the way.

Jesus offers an exchange.  One for the other.  Law for Love.  And, that's where freedom gets downright messy.  Scary to some, even.  And, to the Pharisee, whose built his entire life and livelihood on his own ability to outwardly align himself with the Law, it's proven really to be an unacceptable deal.  For, it would seem that it requires too big a sacrifice of "control" over one's own destiny (an illusion, in and of itself).  I think it's related to the whole "camel through the eye of a needle" analogy from Jesus, given in the book of Matthew.  I know that was talking about wealth, but nonetheless, it dealt with what he, himself, had amassed, that stood in the way... of life.  I suppose Jesus really does serve as a "Stone of Stumbling" and a "Rock of Offense" (Romans 9:33) when He offers us freedom from the cruel tyranny of self(-effort).   That kind of freedom is a rather humbling thing, isn't it?  Yet so beautifully wrapped in the gift of his Love.

Lastly, it may be one thing for me to be free, and to begin to walk in Love, but when you start talking about that same kind of freedom and love for everyone, then look out!  Because, everything, as we know it, will turn upside down.

I challenge myself to explore the depths of what it really means, in all its many layers, to offer true pure freedom... to everyone.  The implications are mind-boggling, and in all honesty, in some Pharisaical sense, even disturbing to my little pea-brain, that's just beginning to grasp the wonder of this Father.

Reading At Face Value

What you read at face value, (including the Bible), is not what should determine why you believe what you believe.

It is how you read what you read that will determine what you believe. That is why the Bible is the book that is hailed as the foundation of the different belief systems of different denominations.  When you interpret the Bible through the eyes of what you believe rather than what Jesus reveals and letting its contextual and historical setting formulate what you believe, you open yourself to misinterpreting the meaning of the context and believing the myriad of religious deceptions that abound. 

This attitude of sit up...shut up...and put up...predominate in most religious denominations discourage the questioning of religious traditions and practices and establishes religious strongholds that are barriers to spiritual growth.

On the other hand,  questioning why we do what we do...why we say what we say...why we practice what we practice...and why we believe what we believe is illuminating, liberating and revelatory to the tearing down of the religious strongholds that are erected by believing the deceptions of the religious lies spawned by misinterpretation and misapplication of Bible scriptures. 

It is a obvious fact that the religious world promotes religious jargon, spiritual buzzwords, ritualistic practices and man-made doctrines that has nothing to do with the Gospel that Jesus died to establish and initiated to the Community of the Redeemed to bring to the Community of Humanity. In fact it misses totality the point if a relational relationship with God and disregards the work Jesus accomplished on the cross.

Religious life is about people being a filthy sinning failure and how God who is so holy that He cannot look upon sin thus, our sin separates us from Father God. Religious life is about people trying harder to get sin out of their life by praying more, going to church more, reading the Bible more, so relationship with God will be restored. 

Though those things may have an appearance of spirituality they nullify the work of grace in that it puts the responsibility on people to perform to become spiritual and discredits the fact that Christ has done ALL that is needed for us to be spiritual. To the religious mind this may sound like spiritual idiocy but here goes...in Christ we already have EVERYTHING we are going to get from God...Christ is the fulness of the Godhead,  Christ is in us therefore, ALL that God is, is in us! So there is nothing more to get from God by religious performing BUT, there is a lot more to discover about WHO He has given us and what the WHO He has give is all about. Jesus is WHO He has given to us, the better we know Him and the more revelatory understanding we have about Him the more we will experience Him, and the more we will know and experience God and what He has ALREADY given us.

The more we understand that we are to rest in Him the more we will rest from our own working to establish our spiritual relationship with Him who is our spiritually...the more we will accept that it is all Him and none of our own self-righteousness.

 

- Glenn Regular

The Gospel

The gospel is not about man’s accomplishments...religion’s accomplishments...nor denomination’s accomplishments. The gospel is not about achievement accolades...achievement recognition...nor achievement awards. The gospel is not Anglican...Methodist...Salvation Army...Baptist...Pentecostal...or Roman Catholic...nor any of the other thousands of identity tags that floods the religious world. The gospel is not about preaching polished sermons to receive the applause of men...The gospel is not about pointing out the sin of people and fear-mongering the hell out of them...The gospel is not about the latest ideologies or denominated philosophies taught in seminaries to produce denominated spokes-persons to regurgitated denominational idealogies.

The gospel is about what GOD has ACHIEVED and ACCOMPLISHED through JESUS’ LIFE, DEATH and RESURRECTION! The gospel is about WHO JESUS IS...WHAT JESUS DID...and WHAT JESUS IS DOING, The gospel is NOTHING MORE OR LESS THAN “JESUS” THE GRACE GIVER!

Well...read it for yourself.

In the same way, my brothers, when I came to proclaim to you God’s secret purpose, I did not come equipped with any brilliance of speech or intellect. You may as well know now that it was my secret determination to concentrate entirely on Jesus Christ and the fact of his death upon the cross. As a matter of fact, in myself I was feeling far from strong; I was nervous and rather shaky. What I said and preached had none of the attractiveness of the clever mind, but it was a demonstration of the power of the Spirit! Plainly God’s purpose was that your faith should not rest upon man’s cleverness but upon the power of God. (1 Cor. 2:1-5)

Is Grace Butting Biblical

Some religious people by their speech and actions are "Grace BUTTERS" by teaching that grace has defining limits and exhibit arrogance by claiming to know the mind of God. "Grace Butting" is limiting the finished work of Christ by adding the doings of man to it to complete it. Yet God tells us that His ways are above man's ways and His thoughts are above man's thoughts. This causes the "Grace Limiters" to exhibit spiritual arrogance by calling God a liar in that they do not believe what God has said about His thoughts and His ways, since He has established that His thoughts and ways are beyond human attainment or comprehension. 

After all, God loves sinners so much He died for them and the scripture say regarding His Grace, "Where sin did abound, Grace much more abounds".

The assurance of, and the maintaining of our salvation is not found in Grace plus the Law... Salvation assurance is found in God's "Amazing Grace" plus nothing. Grace is not just enough to bring us into a relationship with God, it is more than enough to keep us in relationship with God.

Grace plus something is not Grace at all!

What Gospel Are You Presenting

Is the gospel presentation really about instilling terror in people? 

To present the Gospel in this way fuels the lie that Jesus did not complete the work the Father sent Him to do. Fear-mongering to instill fear and terror in people met its end through the the completed work of Christ on the cross and His giving of His Gospel of Grace and Love. There is no room for religious fear mongering by man-appointed religious gurus in the Gospel presentation. Perfect love and fear do not balance each other out, but cancel each other out. If you tolerate fear you cannot experience perfect love, but if you embrace perfect love, terrorizing fear is eradicated. 

Adam Clarke wrote and I quote:

“As he is now made a partaker of his Spirit, and carries a sense of the Divine approbation in his conscience, God has nothing of the fear that produces terror or brings torment. The perfect love... that fullness of love, which people have received, casteth out fear...removes all terror relative judgment and wrath. And as it is inconsistent with the gracious design of God to have his family members miserable, and as man cannot be unhappy whose heart is full of the love of his God, this love must necessarily exclude the fear of terror. Fear brings torment, and hence is inconsistent with that happiness which a man must have who continually enjoys the approbation of his God.” End quote.

Don't let religious teachers quote poorly interpreted scriptures to you about the "fear of the Lord" being the "beginning of wisdom" without calling them out for their blatant misuse of scripture. Of course, we know that fear, in such contexts, mean awe and reverence, not bone chilling, spine tingling, hell dreading terror. That sort of fear has no place in grace living, and when it's given place our expression of the Gospel is polluted. We must embrace the heart of our loving Father, and refuse to dance to music of the fear-mongering mongrels. The national anthem of the Gospel we are to present is "God is Love", and this Love drives out fear. When we bow to religious fear-mongering we are allowing ourselves to be dominated by a foreign usurper.

Fear not, for I am with you", "I will never leave you or forsake you", Live in His perfect love. Anything less than this cannot rightly be called living the Gospel of Grace.

Trying to Live a Godly Life with an Ungodly Spirit - Pharisaicism

A Pharisaical relationship with God is one that is based on a list of "do's" and don'ts. Their trying to keep these do's and don'ts by their own doing resulted it them having two characteristics that are ungodly...Self-righteousness and Pride. This religious contract keeping as a relationship with God is a total misunderstanding as to Who God is and what His Gospel is.

Luke 15 is love’s reaction against self-righteous religion. The well-known parables of the good shepherd, the woman who lost her coin, and the father and his two sons constitute Jesus’ response to the attacks from indignant religious Pharisees. We read, “Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them…” (Luke 15:1-2)

Verse 2 summarizes the entire gospel: God receives sinners and has fellowship with them. This is the Good News Gospel of His Grace message that is buried under the religious do's and don'ts of religious denominations today and is herald far too often and when Grace is preached by the Pharisees of today it is preached from a misunderstanding viewpoint.

Any do's and don'ts that are upheld to gain or maintain God's favor is works of self-righteousness and is totally foreign to Grace living.

Free to Be

It is so wonderful to find out He is all grace, isn't it, all acceptance and love! There is really no obligation on us, we are loved and accepted for free, taken into His heart and held forever totally by His initiative, without our having to do a thing, just for free, a gift, wow! 

Thank you Papa that we are free from all 'shoulds', free from all pressures, obligations and penalties, free to just BE Your beloved children!  Free to dance, free to sing, free to smile, free to play in the rain, free to love others and love ourselves, free to talk to You anytime, free to relax and rest, free to sleep peacefully, free to dream, free to enjoy each day, free to really open up and be honest, free to be ourselves, free to really live, to live with carefree abandon, knowing that You will always love us, always accept us, always hold us, always take care of us!

We are free to BE!  Free to be who we really are, because who we really are is wonderful! 

On Not Being a "News-Cycle" Christian - Russia and the Ukraine in Particlar

I have been paying an almost inordinate amount of attention to the current and on-going developing conflict between Russia, the Ukraine and its peninsula, Crimea, and the West. Something that I am finding quite disturbing, but unsurprising (unfortunately), is the general dis-concern for what is going on among many Western peoples (because it is not immediately impinging upon their daily lives in any real way, in general); and beyond that, the attention deficit disorder, which we often call the 'news-cycle' which has already started to shift away from covering the kind of global conflict happening in the eastern block of the world.

Are we to, as Christians, suffer when one part of the 'body' suffers? Are we, as Christians, supposed to enter in and care for the weak and needy among us; and in particular our brothers in sisters in Christ? Or are we to be 'news-cycle' Christian people and prayers who simply follow the trends determined to be what they are by the ratings that purported "news-channels" get as they cover the most interesting and sensational stories at whatever given moment?

It is an overwhelming thing, to be concerned about our own daily lives, and the pressing things that that entails; and then to be asked to care about what is happening outside of our own personal worlds and orbits. But I believe we are called to that as Christians. I am guilty as anyone when it comes to this. It is a burdensome task, at points, to try and pray and make intercession for as many people as I can in a day; but it is also my great joy and privilege to get to participate in this kind of intercessory work of King Jesus.

I have more to say, and in particular, at this moment, about Ukraine and Russia; but really all I am hoping to do with this post is to remind us to pray for the people in Ukraine and Russia right now (and there are plenty of other people groups to pray for too: Sudan, Venezuela, China, et al.). These are turbulent times, and I wouldn't want the narcissism of  news-cycle to determine how we pray; but instead, I challenge you to let the love of God in Christ and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit provide the impetus for how you should be praying about all of this.

26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. I Corinthians 12:26 

32 But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: 33 partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated;... 

Hebrews 10:32-33

Poem - Will You Be My Jesus

The night is darker than the darkest night

not a star in the sky.

Cruel storm howls in distance

creating piercing silence.

Nonstop downpour.

It seems this night is forever.

My lamp is empty

only left the smoking wick

hurting my eyes

forcing me to shut them in the dark.

Is there anyone who cares

to understand

to say a kind word

to lend a helping hand?

Yes, I know Jesus cares

Jesus understands.

But I don’t see Him

can’t touch Him

Where is He?

Till I find Him

Please stay with me

Please take my hand.

It is so dark.

YOU BE MY JESUS

I am all alone.

Alone.

The Lord wants us to take on this ministry to others during such dark times—to be His ears, to be His hands, to be His mouth, to represent Him. Maybe you will meet someone today who, without words, is saying to you, “You be my Jesus.”

Is God's Glory in Christ the Foundation of Your Gladness

“The acid test of biblical God-centeredness — and faithfulness to the gospel — is this: Do you feel more loved because God makes much of you, or because, at the cost of His Son, He enables you to enjoy making much of Him forever? Does your happiness hang on seeing the cross of Christ as a witness to your worth, or as a way to enjoy God’s worth forever? Is God’s glory in Christ the foundation of your gladness?"

 
— John Piper

Knowing the Heart of God

To know the heart of God is the heart cry of true believers.

The key to knowing the heart of God is to know what God cares about and to care about what He cares about.

From scripture we know that Jesus is the express image of God His father, He came to shoe us what His Father was like and nobody, before Christ, knew or understood God. Therefore, to know the heart of God we must see Him through the actions of Jesus. That means that we cannot know the heart of God by reading what anybody else says about Him if it does not line up with the picture that Jesus paints Him to be. If what we believe about God does not line up with what Jesus was or did then it is safe to conclude that we need to change out thinking.

From observing Jesus, I am fully persuaded that God is a God of love and the priority object of His love is PEOPLE. I see in the life of Christ that  God’s heart is burning with an intense,  passionate love for people...ALL PEOPLE, saint and sinner alike!

You may say that you agree that God loves those who are His own...but He does not love sinners. Consider this from the life of Jesus. He spent His life among sinners, He identified with them, socialized with them, healed them, taught them, recruited them to be His disciples, and ultimately, He died for them. The woman at the well, Zacceus, the woman caught in adultery, Simon the Zealot, the man born blind, etc. etc..

By following the history of humanity we see the following;

    God created people.
    People rejected God.
    God established the law to show people that it was impossible to live up to His standards in and of their own strength and ability.
    God Redeemed, God so loved the people of the world He, through His Son Jesus, put a redemptive plan in place to redeem people.

Why did God create people if it was not out of an intense love for people?

Why, after being rejected, did God continue to walk with humanity, continue to reveal Himself, and even go to extreme lengths...the very death of His only Son...to enable us to come back into relationship with Him?

Because of His intense passionate love for people. The most important thing to God is PEOPLE, ALL PEOPLE.

So the answer to knowing that we know in our knower that we know the heart  of God is that we LOVE PEOPLE, ALL PEOPLE!

If we found out what God cares about, yet refuse to care about what He cares about, no matter what else we care about we will never know the heart of God.

Suffering and the Knowledge of God

When we suffer as Christians we come to know God because we are no longer reliant upon ourselves, we have no resource in ourselves, and so we are pressed deep into the ground of our life in Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul understood this well when he wrote to the Corinthian church:

⁸ For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. ⁹ Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, ¹⁰ who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us, ¹¹ you also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift granted to us through many. ~II Corinthians 1:8-11

When faced with the uncertainties of daily life, when pressed against the most dire of consequences we really have nowhere else to go; it is really hard to deceive ourselves at that point, we are very vulnerable. This is the perfect scenario for God’s wisdom to reach us where we are truly at; we often do not realize how needy we are until we are needy. And this is why Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote from his Nazi prison cell about God’s wisdom versus the religious wisdom of the world:

Here is the decisive difference between Christianity and all religions. Man's religiosity makes him look in his distress to the power of God in the world: God is the deus ex machina. The Bible directs man to God's powerlessness and suffering; only the suffering God can help. To that extent we may say that the development towards the world's coming of age outlined above, which has done away with a false conception of God, opens up a way of seeing the God of the Bible, who wins power and space in the world by his weakness. This will probably be the starting-point for our secular interpretation.

What suffering does for both the Apostle Paul and Dietrich Bonhoeffer is to tear back the un-reality, and un-truth of the human religions of the world; and instead it shows us humans, especially us Christians (who may well have imbibed the wisdom of the world), how empty everything else is a part from our God who humbled himself to the point of deep suffering and agonizing death. It is in this instance in this moment when our suffering is seen to correlate with his suffering for us at the cross the our knowledge of God increases in dependence upon his life; the life that death and suffering could not hold down.

Everything Against the Gospel of Christ is Rooted in the Law

Every way people try to obey rules and regulations in order to be good and accepted by God is not rooted in the good news of the Gospel of God's Grace brought to us by Jesus Christ is damnable, sin producing, contemptible, Pharisee-making and self-righteous making and has its roots in the law.

Grace hating is a sure sign of self-righteousness and rebellion gone-a-muck. Living by the law, we will become elite moralistic spiritual degenerates who turn down their noses at people in a cold judgmental way because they are not as spiritually mature as we are or do not believe the way we do. "HOGWASH" diabolical, gut wrenching "RELIGIOUS HOGWASH"!

We need to ever remember that the law was given for a specific purpose, that purpose was not to make people good, holy or godly. The law was given to free us from our living in a cesspool of self-righteousness and self-confidence that teaches us we can be pleasing to God in and of our own selves by our own ability. The law was the mirror that was to show our utter inability to live up to God's standards.

It is NOT the LAW that is GREATER than all our sin, the truth is, it is the reason we are so sin-conscious...It is God's GRACE that is GREATER than all our sin.

Grace believing and living people are abundantly aware that they sin, they are also aware that the remedy to their spiritual imperfections and failures isn't to measure up to the standard of the law by the keeping of it. They are not fooled by the facade of the sanctimonious self-righteous, pious people who dress in robes of self-righteousness covering their white-washed human temples that inwardly are rotten to the core with unbelief.

Our Best Friend

“Christ is our best friend, and ere long will be our only friend. I pray God with all my heart that I may be weary of everything else but converse and communion with him."

— John Owen

A Letter From a Friend

I just had to write and tell you how much I love you and care for you

Yesterday I saw you walking and laughing with your friends

I hoped that soon, you would want me walking along with you too

So I painted you a sunset to close your day and whispered a cool breeze to refresh you

I waited, you never called, I just kept on loving you

As I watched you fall asleep last night I wanted so much to touch you

I spilled moonlight onto your face trickling down your cheeks as so many tears have

You didn’t even think of me, I wanted so much to comfort you

The next day I exploited a brilliant sunrise, a glorious morning for you

But you woke up late, and rushed off to work, you didn’t even notice

My sky became cloudy and my tears were in the rain

I love you, oh if you would only listen

I really love you, I tried to say it in the quiet of the green meadows

And in the blue sky, the wind whispers my love throughout the treetops

And spill it into vibrant colours of all the flowers

I shout it to you in the thunder of the great waterfalls

And compose love song’s for the birds to sing to you

I warm you with the clothing of my sunshine

And perfume the air with natures sweet scent

My love for you is deeper than any ocean

And greater than any need in your heart

If you only realise how I care

My dad sends his love, I want you to meet him

He cares too, fathers are just that way

So please call on me soon,

No matter how long it takes I’ll wait

Because I love you,

Your friend, Jesus.

A Place of Intimacy Through Worship

This is an important time for the Body of Christ--a season in which the Lord is calling us closer into His Presence. He is directing us to step into a place of trusting Him where we have to put down what we think is right in order to pick up what He says is right, let go of our sense of comfort and security for His leadership and direction, and lay aside our best intentions in order to receive His perfect plans. It's a vital time of maturity for each one of us. To cross this line will cost us everything we are in the flesh, but what we gain through obedience is everything He is in us.

So what is stopping you from trusting, believing, and following the Lord to this new place of intimacy? Is it the war that stands between you and your next level of fellowship with the Father? Listen to what Joshua told the men of Israel after they entered into the Promised Land: Fear not, nor be dismayed, [only] be strong and of good courage (Joshua 10:25).

To possess their inheritance, the children of Israel had to do more than cross the waters of the Jordan. They had to face and conquer the enemies within their land of promise.

Like the Israelites, we, too, have crossed over into our season of offensive warfare. And I know from personal experience that being a part of this message of fellowship and contending for the Lord's revival makes us a threat to Satan. That is why the devil is increasing his pressures against us as we diligently seek the Lord, why our flesh is fighting with our spirit man to regain control in our life, and why every stronghold being torn down in our soul feels like a sentence of death. But we must not be dismayed. Our Father is not afraid of war, and He has never lost a battle.

Think about this for a moment: If you knew God had placed the necks of all your enemies under your feet, is there anything you would let stop you from following His plans for your life and enjoying a deeper relationship with Him? Well, the truth is: He has done just that.

And [Jesus] said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Luke 10:18,19

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Romans 8:1,2

Jesus never backed down from the enemy because He knew that the devil's plans, His own flesh, and His soul had absolutely no dominion over Him. That is how we are to live in the world today. We rule and reign with His authority and stand in His place of victory.

This year the Lord is giving us the same instructions He gave to His people in Joshua's day: Be strong and of good courage! Now is the time for us to tell our circumstances, flesh, and emotions that they do not affect our obedience to the Lord. We can trust our Father in the fight. He will never leave or abandon us.

On January 8, 2014, a prophetic word came forth at the end of one of our services that I want to share with you:

There's been a spirit assigned to us to discourage you, to make it hard to even muster up enough strength to believe that you are an overcomer. And when you feel that depression and that--I will just describe how I have been feeling: It's been hard to muster up the strength to keep pressing in. That is a spirit that is trying to lie to us.

Notice that the Lord did not say this spirit assigned to discourage us would come one time and then leave us alone forever. No, the enemy knows we are in an important time of transformation, a season of selling out to the Lord and surrendering to the process of mortification so we can walk as mature sons and daughters of the Kingdom. Satan is afraid of what will happen when we cross the line of total trust and obedience to our Father, so he uses external pressures, people, and our own desires to try to disrupt our fellowship with Him.

However, please listen to the rest of the exhortation from January 8^th:

Father, I receive Your strength. You are my Strength, and yes, I can do what You have asked me to do. That thing in front of me, that direction in front of each of us that You have given to us specifically, yes, we can do that, because You are our Strength.

In this time of change, it is so important that we allow our Father to become our Strength, and one of the most effective ways I know to trade our weaknesses for His strength is by actively fellowshipping with Him in praise and worship.

When the Lord first began teaching me about the foundational key of worship, He gave me a vision of a rock landing in a pond. From the point where the rock landed, one ripple after another spread out until there wasn't one nook or cranny in the entire pond that escaped the ripples. I asked the Lord, "What does this mean?"

The Lord answered, "This is how it starts. When you begin to worship Me, first I begin to fill your spirit with a tangible awareness of My Presence. As you continue to worship, those ripples will eventually be pushed from behind by other ripples until your soul and your physical senses become baptized with My Presence. Finally, the ripples of My Presence will flow out from you to saturate the geographical location you live and work in."

Around the time of this vision, I had been reading about some of history's great men and women of God. It didn't take me long to realize that what God was teaching me on the nature of worship--the process by which His Presence flows out from man's spirit to his soul to his physical surroundings just like ripples spreading in a pond--was the same process that occurred in the life of Smith Wigglesworth, a nineteenth and twentieth century evangelist.

I couldn't get over the testimonies that came out of Smith's life and ministry simply because he walked in such close fellowship with God. This man's spirit, soul, and the very atmosphere around him were continually filled with God's Presence, so much so that people couldn't walk past him without sensing Jesus. Many people would break down, repent, and receive salvation right on the spot, not because he shared the Gospel with them, but because of the life of Christ that poured out of his being. This was a man whose life belonged wholly unto God, and he learned to stay in continual communication with the Father through a lifestyle of worship and prayer.

However, as remarkable as Smith Wigglesworth was, the place of intimacy he walked in with the Lord is not reserved for "special people" or limited to certain callings. The truth is that our Father is longing for fellowship, for each one of us to share with Him from our heart how much we love Him and what He means to us. When we reach out to God in worship, we begin a free exchange of our love for His. We step over into the realm of the spirit, into a place of intimacy that allows Him to show us who He is and who we are in Him. This is a place of refuge--a place where authority flows. As God's children, we can learn to enter and abide in this place, but there are obstacles we must conquer first.

The moment we begin to praise and worship, hindrances will appear from two different sides. On one side, the devil will set up camp and try to lead us away from our times of worship with lies and unbelief. He'll attack our mind and emotions with thoughts like, You're just wasting your time here. Absolutely nothing is happening. God isn't listening to you anyway! He'll even arrange circumstances and people in our life to keep us too busy or stressed out to want to spend time with God.

Then, just about the time we take authority over the devil and run him off in Jesus' Name, our soul pops up on the other side. We start to feel like it takes all our effort to remain faithful to our times of worship. We have to drag our mind, will, intellect, and emotions kicking and screaming into the Presence of God, and in our soul's desperate attempts to escape submission, it'll buffet us with excuses, justifying why we need to do something--anything--else besides worship. But it's not the devil or our soulish desires that interests our Father. He wants to know if we will continue to fellowship with Him despite the battles we'll go through to stay in there and worship.

When everything in the natural provides an ironclad case proving you have more important things to do, when your soul gives you one hundred and one reasonable arguments to do something else, and it feels like every devil in hell has been sent to create an uninspiring atmosphere around you, yet you refuse to stop magnifying God's goodness--that's when you take your greatest step forward into a faith that says neither Satan, nor your circumstances, nor your own carnality can create a gap between you and God. When you cross over that line in your times of worship, where nothing has the power to make you quit, you're on your way to walking in the manifested truths you've been fellowshipping with your Father about.

In this season of selling out to God, it's more important than ever before that we utilize all the keys we have been taught in order to forge ahead on this path with Him. This is a path of victory and grace that will challenge everything in us that does not believe whom He has made us to be. It is a path that requires us to heed His instructions--to pray much, meditate much, fast much, and worship much.

If you haven't made your journey into worship, let me encourage you today to take this next step of obedience. Adding this foundational key to your daily life won't stop trials from coming, but the joy of being in close fellowship with the Lord will become your strength.

To begin with, you might start out by dedicating most of your fellowship time with the Lord to worship, at least until you break through some of the initial opposition that can come against you. Remember, during the times when the devil and your soul are fighting you the most, that is when you are moving into new realms of intimacy with the Lord. Just don't quit.

You may also come across times in your worship where you feel as dry as desert sand and it seems as though God's Presence is nowhere to be found. But don't stop worshiping. These are the times when your spirit is getting built up past whatever it is in your soul that doesn't like being in His Presence very much. You will build yourself up above the hindrances and He will come to you in glorious fellowship.

When I first reported to my little prayer closet, wanting to learn more about worship, I did everything I could to stop my time with God from becoming just "lip service." I knew how easy it would be to sit there saying "I love You, Father" while the rest of me was worrying about a problem from yesterday or coming up with tomorrow's grocery list. Yet, even with the very best of my intentions, God only knows how many times I had to go retrieve my wandering mind and tell it, "You're in the Presence of the King and you will pay attention!" I struggled mightily with the short attention span of my soul in those early days. Every time my mind started to wander down the street, I'd have to stop and bring it back to the task at hand and make it pay attention. Day after day, week after week, over and over again, I pulled my thoughts back to worship, and little by little, my mind began to wear itself out and submitted to the process.

I eventually learned to gather all my senses together and pour my whole being into every statement of worship: "I glorify You, Father. I magnify You. You are my Strong Tower. You are my Strength. I love You, Lord. I worship You."

God takes great pleasure in your times of fellowship with Him. He is not concerned with how well you dress up your statements of love; He only cares about how much you mean what you are saying. You'll learn to abide in a whole new level of intimacy with your Father, and one day you'll wonder in amazement, How could I have ever worried about that, God? How could I have not known the truth of who You are? You are my Healer! You are my Provider! You are my Strength!

            I guarantee that nothing in your life will remain the same. God's Presence will flow out of you everywhere you go, saturating people with His love, and charging atmospheres with faith. Make your decision to draw closer to your Father today. Worship will change you.

 

- Dave Roberson

How to Repent

“True repentance has a distinct reference to the Saviour. When we repent of sin, we must have one eye upon sin and another upon the cross, or it will be better still if we fix both our eyes upon Christ and see our transgressions only, in the light of his love."

— Charles Spurgeon