Tag: last days

Getting the Cart Before the Horse

Posted on by Dorci

Life is fleeting. More fleeting than most of us think about on a day to day basis. But I think anytime we look back over the life of a loved one who’s gone, we realize again how very momentary it is. 

I want to pack all I can into this life. I want to do all the right things, and I sure don’t want to miss anything God wants for my life. I don’t want to miss His purpose in having me here, and I’ve caught myself feeling frantic that I’m not doing enough, or worried that God’s disappointed that I haven’t gotten everything right. Maybe I’ve messed it all up. 

I grew up learning to be a perfectionist, that if I could just do everything right I’d be worthy of love, and that spilled over into my relationship with the Lord. Do everything right and He will love me.

But that’s getting the cart before the horse. 

God already loves us, and what He wants from us, is us. 

He desires us to love Him, to grow in our relationship with Him.

If we practice loving Him with everything in us, everything good will flow from that. Anything we do for Him, any obedience, any service, any use of our gifts, will be a result of that fellowship of love. 

Jesus said the greatest commandment is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” 
Matthew 22:37

That word commandment means an injunction, an authoritative prescription.

This is what the Lord’s been impressing on my heart lately.  “Rest in Me. Focus on being, not just on the doing.” 

And yes, of course I love the Lord, but there’s always room for that love to grow. He wants us to love Him – 

– with all our heart. Choose to trust Him with every emotion, every anxiety, every worry;

– with all our soul . Choose faith in the love and goodness of God in every circumstance, no matter what’s happening;

– with all our mind. Choose to believe in Him with all understanding. Take every thought captive to obey Him.

Receiving God’s love and loving Him back is God’s prescription for the health of our entire being, heart, soul, and mind. 

Sometimes this life doesn’t quite turn out the way we thought it would or ever wanted it to. But God knew, and He’s had a plan all along.

In the middle of the mess He says, “Focus your energies on loving me with your whole being, and anything I desire you to do I will show you and enable you to do it.” 

Just a couple of chapters later, after Jesus tells His disciples the greatest thing we can do is love God, His disciples ask Him what will be the sign of His coming and of the end of the age.

He tells them, among other things, that “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:12-13

He didn’t say the love of some, or the love of many, but the love of most will grow cold. 

Whether we’re facing the end of the age now or not, there is a lot of hatred and violence and destruction going on out there publicly, and in a lot of ways we’re each being stretched personally. We’re suffering, we’re hurting, we’re confused, we’re downright angry. 

The enemy will try to use all that to cause our hearts to harden and grow cold. 

But if we purpose to love our Heavenly Father with all of our being, we won’t be one of the most.

Instead, we’ll be one of the few with His love flowing in and through us that will be like an oil causing the light of Christ in us to shine brightest when the world needs it most. 

This life is fleeting.  

Wouldn’t it be great if someone looked back on our life and said “How they loved the Lord”?

And even more, facing Him at the start of our new life, having loved Him with everything?

 

 

 

True Freedom

Posted on by Dorci

“Now the Lord is the Spirit,
and where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is freedom.”
2 Corinthians 3:17


God, in His grace and mercy, put in the hearts of men and women to establish a nation that would be free to worship Him without outside influence. 

Free to believe in the one, true God, free to follow Him, free to call on Him, free to have and read His Word, free to gather together in His name, free to obey Him rather than our sinful nature, and free to tell the world the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It would seem we’re at a crossroads in our country right now. Sin abounds because the Spirit doesn’t.

But there is hope.

There is anger and violence in the streets.

But where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Bitterness and unforgiveness grows.

But where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Sin and lawlessness spread.

But where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

The world doesn’t need more fun programs, or coffee shops, or topical, feel-good messages, or a weakened, compromised, watered-down version of the Word of God so no one’s offended.

It needs the power of the Spirit of the Lord, and by Him to know Christ and the freedoms He gives.

It needs us to put away the old self and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. 

It needs us to stop being influenced by the world so we can influence it for Christ.

It needs us to walk in newness of life, a life of obedience to Christ, so we don’t grieve the Holy Spirit, and instead be filled with Him.

And by the power of the Spirit of the Lord in us it needs to hear that Christ loves them so much that He died for them to forgive them of their sins, to restore their relationship to God, to give them a new heart and a new mind, and to fill their hearts with love and peace and forgiveness.

It needs to hear that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:13

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?” Romans 10:15

God gave us a land with freedoms to give the chance for every heart to be free. But so many hearts are painfully held captive to sin, and the enemy is having a field day.

I believe God is calling His children, for whatever time we have left, to boldly speak His name, and in His Spirit, free as many of those captive souls as possible, so they, too, can be filled with the Spirit and true freedom.

And we are here now for such a time as this.

“Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”  Joshua 24:14-15


Oh Father, forgive us for allowing the comforts of the world make us complacent. Please forgive us for any sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Fill us with your Spirit and give us a heart of love for the lost and a vision of how you would have each of us reach the world around us. Whatever you have us do, may we be careful to continue to do it in the strength of your Spirit and not in our own. Thank you for this unique nation you’ve given us, where we’ve been afforded so many freedoms, freedoms we have largely taken for granted. And thank for the freedoms you’ve given us in Christ, to love you, to serve you, to carry out the good works you’ve prepared for us to do, and to know that someday we’ll live with you forever.  In Jesus’s name we pray, amen. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Praise and a Prayer for All the Saints

Posted on by Dorci

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you.  We lift up your righteous and holy name above all names as the one true God, the maker of heaven and earth, the one who created us to have relationship with you, to know you, to commune with you, to be a grand part of your creation that would glorify your goodness and beauty and grace. 

Father we pray for all the saints. We pray you would consecrate us, that we would understand you have made us a holy people that are meant to be separate from the world, that is, to live in a different way, to have a different perspective, to see people and circumstances through your eyes rather than as the world sees. 

We pray you would lovingly convict each of us of any sins we’ve allowed as we’ve become complacent, and that we would repent, turn, and do the right thing, live the right way so that we would honor the calling you’ve so graciously given us. 

As we do that, let us be a light in the darkness, shining brightly for the world to see what true love and grace and forgiveness are so that many come to know you through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

We pray you would encourage us and fill us with joy that we might have strength in the face of the enemy, and with your peace that passes all understanding no matter what storms rage around us. 

We pray we would be one just as you and your Son are one, and that we are all one in you. 

We pray we would be filled with the Holy Spirit, that we would worship you in Spirit and in truth. 

Let us remember who we are in you, Lord, that we are children of the King, holy and righteous because, through your Son, you have made us so. 

Sanctify us that we might live as your chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for possession, so that we might speak of the praises of the One who has called us out of darkness into your marvelous light.  

May we empty ourselves and let you fill us up with your Spirit who gives us everything we need to live in these hard times, and not only to live, but to prosper and to be victorious. May we come together and live for you and you alone, and bring you all the glory due your name. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen. 

Tongues of Fire

Posted on by Dorci

“I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” 
Luke 24:49

Luke records these as some of the last words spoken by Christ before He ascended into heaven.

Other apostles recorded some of the acts Jesus said they would do in their ministries, but they could go nowhere and do nothing until they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

And once the Holy Spirit filled them – watch out.

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”
Acts 2:1-4

This ragtag group of people who had hid in the upper room, afraid that the soldiers who came after Christ might also come after them, suddenly changed into a group who immediately began speaking “great things of God” in languages from all over the region. 

The sound was so loud that people came to see, and hear, what was happening, and hearing the Lord being glorified each in their own language, they were amazed.

Peter, who had just weeks before claimed he didn’t know Christ as He hung on the cross, now stood as he was filled with the Holy Spirit, “raised his voice and addressed the crowd,” proclaiming the prophecies of Joel, confronting them with putting the Messiah to death, witnessing to His resurrection, speaking the prophecy of David, and declaring that this Man – the Lord – was now at the right hand of God. And because of the power of the Holy Spirit, the people were convicted, and the Church grew by 3000 that day.

That first Pentecost was a small seed of what God would do through the disciples and the early church as they were empowered by the Holy Spirit.

In the Spirit the disciples were one in heart and mind, witnessed boldly, spoke with authority, prayed in faith, saw visions, prophesied, healed the sick, cast out demons, time-warped, performed signs and wonders, gave glory to God, and remained steadfast in their obedience to Him even when faced with jail, flogging, and death.

And when they were punished they entrusted themselves to their Lord.

On at least one occasion while in jail they prayed and sang hymns to God (Acts 16:25), and on another “left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.” (Acts 5:41)

And all these years later, nothing has changed. We still need the empowering and leading of the Holy Spirit to accomplish God’s will.

So why don’t we see the magnitude of the miraculous works the early church experienced?

Have we run ahead of the Lord, instead of praying for and relying on the empowering of the Holy Spirit to do His work, His way, and in His time? 

Are we trying to do spiritual things in our own strength, using only talents and human knowledge instead of our Spirit-given gifts and godly wisdom? 

Have we been grieving the Holy Spirit by some ongoing sinful attitude or behavior?

If there’s ever a time we need the Holy Spirit to move in us and among us to do a mighty work, it is now.

On this Pentecost, I pray again for revival of my own heart and for the hearts of all God’s people. That as fellow citizens of the household of God we will recognize the gift we’ve been given in the Holy Spirit and wholeheartedly recommit ourselves to the Lord, praying our way through each day and night, yielding our wills to our Lord and Savior, putting aside the flesh and walking in the power of the Holy Spirit.

That as one we will burn with a Spirit-driven holy passion of faith, trust, and boldness in our witness of Jesus Christ and the hope we have because of Him.

* * *

Heavenly Father, for the sake of the lost and for your glory, we put aside confidence in anything of ourselves, and we give our lives to be walking, breathing manifestations of the Holy Spirit, that we might move, serve, and worship as one body.

* * *

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13

By This Everyone Will Know

Posted on by Dorci

Jesus is reclining at the Passover table with His disciples after Judas leaves. He gives His beloved friends some parting words to prepare them for what’s about to come, and He tells them this:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13: 34-35

He doesn’t tell them everyone will know they are His disciples if they go to church, or memorize scripture, or carry a Bible, or be nice, or any of a million other things. 

He says everyone will know if they love one another as He had loved them. Agape love.  Sacrificial love. All-encompassing, forgiving, loving-kindness love. 

And He didn’t just say other believers will know they are His disciples, but everyone will know.  The world will know. 

He tells them to love one another so profoundly, so boldly, so much so that the world sits up and takes notice and says “Hey, there go those Christians, loving each other again.”

Why does Jesus tell His disciples that?

Well, one, because that’s just how much Christ loves. He loved those around Him so much that everyone knew who He was.  He loved all the way to the cross.  And by extension, through the power of the Holy Spirit living in us, that is how much we’ll love when we’re following Him.

When we’re loving God, we’ll love one another.

And two, because that’s our witness. He says “everyone will know…” We are His ambassadors, and our witness to the world is our love for one another.  The gospel message that lives in and through us is that we have a love that goes beyond a worldly love. We have a divine, supernaturally given, godly love. 

And as that love drew multitudes to Him, that love lived out through us will draw the world to Him.

We want revival, we pray for revival, but are we living out the love Christ called us to in such a way that would be noticed by the world, that would draw them to Him, and lead to revival?

Let’s take a look. Is that what believers are known by? What is our reputation? Does the world look at us and talk about the love we have for one another?  Or do they talk about the way we judge, and criticize, and live hypocritically? 

I would tend to say the latter. Now, I know not all those criticisms are deserved, but maybe if the world doesn’t see who Jesus truly is, the all-encompassing love He offers them, it’s because we haven’t shown them. I know that after walking with Christ for 30 years and experienced what I have, even I don’t always have that view of believers.  And I know I’m not alone.

There are entire books written on how to heal after being hurt by those in the church, by people who have chosen to treat their brothers and sisters in ways that are far from loving.  Even Anne Graham Lotz talks about her own experience being hurt by Christians in her book Wounded by God’s People. And she also freely admits at times she’s been the one to wound. 

We all have. 

What we need to do right now, though, is regroup, repent, claim Christ’s commandment, and start loving one another. 

Jesus tell us in Matthew 5, “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”

And in Mark 11, “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

We don’t know how long we have here before Christ returns.  Right now we may be experiencing a time when God is speaking to us, desiring that revival among His people first, preparing us, completing us, fully maturing us before He takes us up with Him, and also desiring revival throughout the world, the salvation of as many souls as possible before that time.  

We need to start the revival through our own repentance, forgiveness, and commitment, through Christ, to love one another as Christ loves the Church.

And then maybe, just maybe, the world will sit up and take notice of our love for one another. And in their desperate need for that kind of love, will be drawn to Christ, and repent, and forgive, be saved, and through Him, begin loving one another.