Birds Wild Unlimited

Today I decided to go on a three day fast so that I could hear the Voice of God clearly on when to leave for my trip to Arizona.  I walked up stairs to the attic to read the scriptures but I had to stop because of the sound of the birds.  It’s February here in Ohio so winter is starting to let up a little bit and there are all different kinds of birds chirping so strangely they almost sounded alien.  I could feel that experience of God.  But, it didn’t fit into my Christian box.  It didn’t seem like Christ at all but God Almighty alone.  It actually seemed reminiscent of Islam more than anything else.  I prayed for discernment.  I’ve learned not to just shake it off and say it’s just the Enemy trying to sway my faith away from Christ.   

I decided to read psalm 32 because it actually reminded me of what I was experiencing especially this part: “I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.”  But, I still feel like I’m in the phase where the psalmist talks about groaning all day long for God.  Then I got to the part where it says, “Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, Whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check, Otherwise they will not come near to you.”

I feel like I’m still serving the Lord in such a compulsive manner rather than actually out of the heart.  This scripture breathed new life into me and I began praying for guidance and repenting for following Him out of compulsion.  

I started looking at the birds out my window and I could see clearer than ever that they definitely do have a Maker.  A Someone and not a something.  Someone with a Mind and a Heart.  Someone infinitely powerful.  I felt like He was saying to me, “Do you trust Me despite not having all the pieces put together?”  I could only respond with, “Yes!” As I was caught up in the moment.  It was so easy to say yes because of the honest experience in my heart He made me feel and feeling of His trustworthiness.  I knew this was the Lord.  

Then I saw the most beautiful bird hop up on a branch next to my window.  It was poking the branch with its beak.  It was a woodpecker.  It would poke around a spot and eat whatever it found and then hop up to the next spot and find something there and it kept doing this making a trail.  It was shocking to me to see that it knew exactly where the food was hidden under the bark.  It’s like the Holy Spirit was guiding it.  It must have been using some other sense to feel the vibrations or something.  

At one point there where so many birds gathered together in one spot they seemed to make a perfect square.  It’s funny how everything is connected.  It reminded me of Game Theory which try’s to bring order to chaos.  Through all this it was so clear that God was speaking to me.  He will map out every step for me through the Still Small Voice but I must be free enough.  

The Pharisees could only see the judgment of God and so they accused Jesus’ disciples for breaking the sabbath when they where picking grain to eat.  Jesus responded with that God requires mercy not sacrifice.  He blew all the dust off of the revelation of God’s mercy without neglecting the judgment.  At other times He would say things like look in your own hearts and see if that is correct(John 7:24). Love is at hand and available for everyone to know if they are willing and have an honest heart.  There is something so much bigger than the law and that is the fullness of it all.  Christ dotted all the eyes and crossed all the tees of the our Faith.  Then I could experience Christ also with God and as one thing, God almighty and God the All Merciful.  

The Spirit of God is found in the betwixt.  When we stop trying to figure it out and are ok with moving forward in the uncertainty.  It’s so easy to fall pray to our own perceptions of Christ rather than the Spirit of Christ but when God actually speaks above our own surmising it’s unmistakable.  Faith is a reaching out into the void with an honest heart.  God will always catch us.  He said we could drink poison and it wouldn’t hurt us.  Yes, the vail has been torn but now we must reach behind it and step on through.  

Bible Study 2Corinthians:3

    “Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, letters of commendation to you or from you? You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”

It’s funny how light and shadow work together to bring about understanding.  If we didn’t have evil we wouldn’t know what good was.  “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.”

Then there are varieties of light and shadow, seemingly grey areas until they are illumined over time.  That is why we must have the Spirit.  “Although I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil because Your rod and Your staff they comfort me.”  The rod and the staff are significant and throughout all of the scriptures.  It’s like the vibrating of a bell.  It shakes back and forth under the influence of the vibrations.  That’s how the Spirit works.  He takes the letter of the law and describes it to our hearts personally.  Otherwise we would be going back and forth not really coming to the understanding of it.  But that takes time and often times the pendulum must swing but we must continue to stand firm.  “There I will meet with you; and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel.”  (Exodus:25;22)

    “Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2Corinthians:3;4-6)

This is why we must come together as the Body of Christ.  We must also reconcile with our brother whom is in the world so that we can save him.  This can only be done through compassion and mercy and understanding.  Take the time to listen to others instead of telling them what you think is correct.  “First take the beam out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to be able to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” 

    “But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it. For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.”

How could Moses be at one point essentially the apex of God’s eternal law and then eventually fade?  Does God’s Word come back void?  Defiantly not!  Moses’s ministry was designed this way.  That is why he used the veil.  That was a prophecy and God winking at us that there is still yet more to come regarding God’s eternal law.  For example the sabbath was only one day for the Israelites.  Now we get to live the sabbath daily.  And not only that but it’s no longer steeped in extensive rituals and partitions so we really get to enjoy it with all liberty!

    “Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech, and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away. But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

We mustn’t resort to old forms.  Even in Moses’s time they had to keep reaching for higher and higher ground as they came out of faded glories from ancient Egypt proceeding from glory to glory.    

Daily Bible Study Book of 1-2Thessalonians

It seems evident to me that we are right at the end here.  I know the scriptures say that the gates of hell will never prevail against the Church but it seems like they already have.  Often times I feel such a lack of love.  It’s quite natural to blame society, those around me, and especially the Church.  I find myself dumbfounded by the state of the Church today.  

I feel like God is showing me that it’s not over until it’s over and the Church will be resurrected with a defibrillator.  Right before a black holes goes out it first creates what is called a “burst” which is an insurmountable amount of light being radiated outward.  But it only lasts for a moment and then it’s gone.  I feel like we will have one last worldwide great revival where God’s Spirit will be poured out in such grace that people will not be able to question anymore, “Who is God?”  Holiness will once more reign in the Church.  There will be real salvation, and healing.  Then out of nowhere it will all be taken up into the sky as though it was all carried on a vast blanket.  

“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”(1Corinthians 15:52)

The people left will be left in utter chaos and darkness “as it was in the days of Noah.”(Matthew 24:37) Before Noah shut the door to the ark he waited 100 years while building it and then God made a miracle showing all the animals filing in and still nobody took heed until God finally sealed the door shut with everyone screaming and scratching at the door to get in.  This time it won’t be animals filing in this Second Ark but it will be souls filing in by the droves!

I have realized that rather than complain I can be the change I want to see. All is going according to God’s plan.  I must use my anguish for striving for what’s right, and for forgiveness, and for a deeper relationship with God rather than for complaining.  It’s easy to get stuck in my own head and become immobile.  I finally found the true meaning to the glass being half full.  Often times I feel empty in life.  It’s all about perspective.  I’m calling the glass half empty rather than half full.  This life can never always offer an entirely full glass.  It wasn’t designed that way.  If it was always full then I wouldn’t have to do my part and participate.  And in that I can find joy in all things through the Holy Spirit.

“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pains. Then they will hand you over to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. And at that time many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will rise up and mislead many people. And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will become cold. But the one who endures to the end is the one who will be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.”(Matthew 24:7-14)

“Lord God I pray that the Church would stop playing footsie with the world and wake up like a sleeping giant.  I pray that elders would rise up again and encourage and admonish rather than selling books, and music, and proclaiming, “peace, peace!”  I pray that the church would be a home again and a safe haven from the world for people to pour in.  I pray that real affectionate love would come back rather than these fake hallmarks.  I pray that the Church would be a community again where people live together and study Your Word together, and go out and reach others rather than just meeting for an hour a week and calling it a life group.  And I pray that real life, and healing, and salvation would return, and that people would dare to take hold of Your Holy Spirit and truly soar again! I also pray that workers be sent into the field and I also proclaim choose me! I pray that we would remain positive and forgiving of the Church and thankful for her. I pray that we would ask what can I do for the Church rather than what can it do for me and that we all would be the change we seek to see. I especially pray that we would all come together again and that people would know You by our unity. Thank You Lord Jesus for Your vision for our lives, the Church, and the whole universe!! Amen!!!”  

Daily Bible Study Book of Colossians

I was walking around the mall and I saw this kid walking with his mom who was crippled.  He was holding his mom’s hand for support.  I realized every time someone like that was mentioned in the scripture Jesus healed them.  I began praying for them in my head.  I wished I had the courage to go up there and ask if I could pray for him and not just for the nice gesture but with the real faith to back it up for a real physical healing.  Then I realized how faithlessness was alien to Jesus and that’s why He even marveled at His disciples unbelief.  Jesus was truly not from this earth. I began praying for the Air that He breathed.  

As I continued walking around the mall I was being tempted toward lust like I usually am.  I always can’t help but to take a second look which usually leads to more.  Then I realized that this was also alien to Jesus.  He didn’t know what it was to sin. It was wholly and entirely foreign to Him.  Although He was in flesh like mine so sin could knock on His door He was always too repulsed to ever think about opening the door.  So I realized that I must never take the second look.  This can only be done by breathing the same Air that Jesus breathed.  

Then I walked outside it was freezing and I realized that this is what sin felt like to Jesus.  That’s what kept Him from sinning.  This world around us is a kaleidoscope of the thoughts of God if only we would recognize and take heed we would be able to stay away from sin and also have the faith we need.

“How precious also are Your thoughts for me, God!  How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.”(psalm 139:17-18)

“Lord Jesus I pray that we all would so drink of Your Spirit to the full that we would walk in it every moment of every day through prayer, Bible study, fellowship, always being cognizant of Your Voice, and by always loving. And I pray for healing, an increase in faith, and living life free from sin. Thank You Lord God! Amen!!”

Long Time No See

I was praying this morning for a friend who keeps falling away and I was wondering if I should fast for them.  Then I felt something strange that I haven’t felt in a long time.  I felt like God began speaking to me and showing me that He is coming for His people.  He’s coming to awaken a sleeping church from her dead works.  He’s going to lift us up by His strong arm.  We are going to mount up on wings of eagles and experience revival like times of old.  We are going to experience something like never seen before and where going to see the face of God.  He’s going to show us who He is.  

Daily Bible Study Philippines 1-2

Why is the reception of Christ so counterintuitive?  Even people raised in the faith come up lacking when it comes to really connecting with Christ although most will not admit it and just go through the motions all the while touting a personal relationship with God.  That is precisely what makes it a relationship is the process it takes to grow in the knowledge of someone.  

There are times when I feel so connected to God and other times I feel like I’m kicking against the pricks.  I used to think something was wrong with me and wonder why I wasn’t getting it while other Christians are going about there lives free of anxiety and depression experiencing that fulfillment in Christ.  I realize a lot of people kind of just fake it until they make it.  While this isn’t a bad attitude to have in life it can fall apart for you in your faith. 

Faith without works is like a rocket without fuel.  What would be the point?  That would be one heavy paper weight.  Faith is our pursuing on despite external or internal circumstances.  We mustn’t build our treasure here on earth.  It’s always going to feel empty here.  You pursue one goal and when it’s accomplished then you feel the same as when you begun.  So then you have to set another goal.  And on and on it goes until you find yourself just chasing after earthly desires, the pride of life.  The true fuel for lifting that heavy burden is to pursue Heaven above all else. 

 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you.”(Matthew 6:33)

“Lord God Most High I pray that we would all pursue hard after You.  You can’t be out loved.  I pray that we would so let go of the things of the world that we would be able to see Your Face even here in this earth even if it takes letting go of family, home, or career.  Thank You Lord for such a radiant freedom.  Cause us to see when we are really working for You or just doing it for ourselves even if it’s in ministry.  Let us be so sensitive that we would share in Your vision for spreading Your Kingdom in this earth and not merely relying on our own beggarly near sightedness. And I pray for healing for everyone physical or spiritual even here and now because You never turned anyone away in the scripture.  Pray for us St. Paul and all of the saints interceding for us and all of our angles and family in Heaven sunbeams of Christ. Thank You Lord Jesus Almighty God!  Amen!!”

Daily Bible Study Book of Ephesians

Some would say that to tremble is a sign of weakness and not something that is good at all but God Almighty says that it’s one of the highest virtues and even shows us in Christ in Whom walked in the fear of the Lord as His greatest joy!  Everything is patterned after Heaven. There is even vulnerability within God.  God is infinitely vulnerable.  He is all in all.  He’s above as well as below.  Part and parcel. Did you know that the God of the whole universe feels joy like a child? Can you imagine an innocents that surpasses a babe?

“Then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to our God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. For HE HAS PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET. But when He says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is clear that this excludes the Father who put all things in subjection to Him. When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.”(1 Corinthians 15:24-28)

There is a metamorphosis taking place here.  And in a metamorphosis there is a destroying of things and a mixing of things to make one new thing.  From our vantage point it would appear as mixed fibers and that God is transgressing(Leviticus 19:19) but for us it’s actually the coming together of all things but from Heaven’s vantage point it’s something that always was and always will be.  And what it is I dare say is the marriage ceremony.  But to go beyond the mystery before the awakening would be to transgress like the newagers who mix colors with paint in the lower regions and produce darkness.  We are to be like Christ who mixed colors in holiness and righteousness using light to produce pure white lite.  This is indeed the dawning of the new age, the rising of the Bright and Morning Star, and the descending of the New Jerusalem! Are you aware of it?

“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross.”(Philippines 2:5-8)

Perhaps the fellow that reached out and actually touched the arch found a secret.  Could he have found Christ and got zapped straight into Heaven while the rest couldn’t understand the mercy of God and continued moping about on the earth?(2 Samuel 6:3-8)

“Most Awesome and Heavenly Father I pray that we would stop judging one another, ourselves, and even You.  I pray that we would all repent and let You be You entirely at every and any given moment.  I pray that we would truly know what it is to be Your friend and be vulnerable before Your Vulnerability and exposed before Your Exposure in this idle play. I pray that we would be able to so let go that we would be willing to fall.  And I pray that we would fall so that we would fall upward and truly fly in Your Tender Care and Sweet Embrace.  Thank You that Your Heart beats for us and even pants for us.  I pray that we would also pant unto the full and truly know what it is to love You and everyone and everything around us.  I pray that we would all truly cross this threshold and even drink from these Drippings from the Comb.  Thank you Holy and Only True God in Your Most Holy and Precious Son’s Name Jesus Forever and Ever. Thank You Lord Most Transparent before the throne, Perfect Intercession, Most Vulnerable, Sole Companion Amen!!”

Life is Unexpected and Absurd

In order for a diamond to shimmer it must contain light and shadow.  Is this world evil because it merely pales in comparison to the actual reality, Heaven?  By no means!  For God has said that it is good!  In here is where we develop patience more valuable than gold.  The most supreme of values: hope, faith, and love are all cultivated in the soil of patience and the soul is shepherded in the container of this globe on God’s bedside and His eye never leaves its sight as He waits in hopeful expectation for our enlightenment!  We don’t have to wait to die to live.  We can live yet while we are alive.  

“I am the resurrection and the life; the one who believes in Me will live, even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”(John 11: 25-26)

If we only pay attention to the signs and wonders God is sending us throughout the day.  Many people are afraid to wonder.  Many are afraid to look.  The key is to be perplexed but not dismayed(2Corinthians 4:8).  The other key is holiness.  This is the very title God goes by: “The Holy Spirit”.  The Holy Spirit is our only and direct line to the Almighty.  Christ is the refulgence of the Glory and the Holy Spirit is the touch there of and the guts spilled out.  Christ warned of those who thought they knew Him but didn’t and He turned them away because they where workers of iniquity.  “But I thought it wasn’t about works?”  You ask?  “I thought it was about relationship?”  “But they even ate at His very table!”  They had a relationship with an ideal of Christ and not with the very Christ.  They neglected His Holy Spirit named after Holiness it’s self.  They ignored the signs to do things their own way.  They ignored the wonders  because of fear to find their own comfort.  Don’t be fooled.  If a church seems unspiritual it is in no wise harmless.  There is no lack of spiritual activity at any given moment or place.  

“You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.”(John 15:3)

“Thank you Father that life is unexpected and even absurd. Thank you Lord that our works are the very fruit we seek.  Thank you that we get to do these works but that we also got to like how eating real fruit is a pleasure yet also vital nourishment four our bodies. And I especially pray that we would all stay vigilant in Your Word. Amen.”

Love

All it takes is acceptance and recognition.  It often feels like you can’t get past that point but each day is a new day for the joy of getting past it and for receiving more and more revelation and for going from glory to glory.  It feels horrible to surrender but it only lasts a moment and then one is locked into the glory.  One must fall several times in order to get back up.  Even Jesus fell under the weight of the cross and needed assistance.  The cross has been made a thing of glory.  Once used as a fearful fiery sword to banish us from Eden it is now our revolving door back in to come and go and take pasture.  We assist Christ in this earth by recognizing others and make up for what’s lacking in His afflictions.  We can be a friend to God and nurse His wounds by being of assistance to others.  One should not so much seek to be loved as to love.  

Daily Bible Study(2Corinthians 10):

We often create scenarios in our minds to bring around a certain thought and finish off an ideal.  We want things to be smooth so we tie together loose ends.  This isn’t always a bad thing because if we didn’t do this we wouldn’t be able to form an understanding on anything.  No matter how crude it may be it is only one building block and several must be created with some of them being nocked out of the building to make room for others that fit the whole better.  Like an egg that’s fully formed and completely sealed eventually it must give way to life and be utterly obliterated for the actual living reality it contains.  

All signs point to Christ, from the light of ancient Israel to the darkness of ancient Egypt.  “Out of Egypt I called My Son”.  The ancient Israelites where held in a land called Goshen meaning comfort and plenty where they fell asleep.  Within that land was a city called Ramses meaning, “Son of God.”  In the seed of ancient Israel was carried out of Egypt the very Son of God.  He was with them the whole time and never departed them until they finally crucified Him.  

We should never go beyond our sphere of influence and step on someone else’s toes.  We are all incapsulated within our own spheres of influence from our country, culture, family, and immediate influences.  It’s impossible to see past and even when we think we’re seeing past it we’re still only drawing from the very own sphere itself.  Only the light of Christ can pierce through it and it doesn’t come without a considerable amount of pain.  He’s the complete Light inside of us, the complete darkens.  We must let Him take us by the hand and lead us.  

“If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now that you maintain, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”(John 9:41)  

“Heavenly Father I pray that we could all be enlightened by Your Spirit.  That we would let You be You completely.  That we would allow you to crack this egg of the flesh and allow Your Pure Yoke to pour forth.  That we would so rest in this Rising Bright and Morning Start that we would fall upwards and let go to be carried away in Your pinions and complete and total salvation.  Thank you Jesus!  Amen!!”