Per last article, I promised a picture of my Samurai sword mounted on the wall above my open Bible. That sword went with me to the teepee as I spent the 5 days separated to God. Details of what all this means was shared in the previous article. But now it is time to continue forward.
The River Time never stops flowing. We can try standing still but the events will continue rushing at us. If you dare to look upstream, you will see things coming at you. It takes no prophet to know this is going to be one of the potentially wildest elections we have ever seen. Frustration levels are rising like the water in a rushing river. Frustration and anger are the step brothers to violence. We need to be praying for PEACE like never before, but I’m not sure the prayers of a worldly church will change the seeds we have sown.
We have looked up the river. We don’t like what we see. However, it’s a great time to repent of how self-centered and self-serving we have been, and become the Priesthood we are called to be, and do the work we are called to do > the changing of hearts.
Our next series will be: “Changing Hearts”. (But you may not like it.) Lets see if we can kick it off.
Guess what? Las Vegas is a “Sin City”. NYC is a sin city. Detroit is a sin city. Nashville, Atlanta, Chicago, Baltimore, and I can personally attest that Indianapolis is also a sin city. Any place you find man, you will also find SIN, because we are cursed with a sin nature. That’s what God says, anyway. And I happen to believe Him. I also see a lot of evidence to support that belief, not only in my own life, but all around me.
I recently learned that more babies are aborted in NYC than actually live! In 2016, 48,000 pregnancies. 49% were aborted. 47% live birth. 4% miscarriages. Tell me SIN is not alive and well in mankind. Call it what you will, but this is heartless!!!
Man has learned he must create laws, and have powers of enforcing those laws in order to protect us from our own sins. It is good to always try creating a more perfect society, and even now we’re in the midst of growing pains long overdue, but it will never be perfect. Man is not capable of perfection. Planet earth is not capable of perfection. Call it whatever you want. You don’t like the word SIN? What other words might fit? Stink’n Think’n? Everything is a disease now days. Lets just call it a disease! What difference does it make? We are morally flawed! And to this God has established a High Priest, whose name is Jesus, and a Priesthood of all the Born-Again, those who answer the call when they hear Jesus say, “Follow Me”.
So where is this series going? It’s going where we need to go. “If my people who are called by my name will “humble” themselves…”
We need our pulpits to stop preaching so many success seminars and low-esteem counseling and get back to the humbling acknowledgement of our sin nature that needs a heart transplant! Pride, ego, power hunger, money loving, selfish ways is just more SIN! It is not the love of God, that so transforms a heart that even our definition of success is transformed!
SINS have been exposed of late, even caught on video, sins of hate and violence, but no sins of true love. Love does not sin. When you truly love someone, you do everything you can for them, you only want their very best, and when they hurt, you hurt. This is true love, but again, flawed man is not capable of perfect love…so God gave us a High Priest… and a priesthood…to do the work of the church…in this earth…until He returns. How have we been doing of late?
I’m probably not liked for this, but I watched a Christian movie today and it just about made me sick! I can imagine our black brothers watching this movie. Lord have mercy. A mother and daughter had a beautiful ranch. The daughter could climb on her horse and go riding out over the beautiful acreage of their property. It was a wonderful life in every way. The husband and dad was an incredible man who loved God, helped people, and also fought for his country. He suddenly died fighting for his country. Now it was just the mother and daughter and ranch.
They continued living in their fine house. The daughter continued riding her horse over the open land. The mother was no rancher and decided to sell all the cattle because they needed the money. Soon the mortgage payment was not being met and the bank began sending warnings. Neither the daughter or the mother got jobs. They just kept enjoying their ranch, something few people could ever afford. The mother was not telling her daughter of this terrible thing happening to them, but she began crying out to God in prayer. They were going to lose their beautiful luxury lifestyle if God didn’t do something. Oh please God, save our ranch. We need a miracle!
As I watched this movie, I considered the prayers God hears every day from around this planet. Prayers from someone about to be beheaded for their faith, or homeless and no place of shelter, exposed to all the harsh cruelties of nature, and no food, starving, praying for a little bread to eat, children they love as they watch them suffering. And here was this woman and girl so upset because they might not be able to have a fancy house, lots of land, elegant food, and horses any more, and might have to go to work. Oh please God, we need a miracle.
If my people will humble themselves? (But they said, we will not. > Jeremiah 6:16)
To make matters worse, people decided they deserved to keep their place. The town rallied to their aid and because of love, they donated a lot of money, and got them well on their feet. And then the daughter suddenly got the idea they could give riding lessons to children to earn the money they needed to stay afloat from there on. The message was if you have enough faith you can live like a king while others drown and starve. God will answer your prayers for a high lifestyle while others don’t even have food to eat. The mother was now able to sleep in peace. Her problems were all fixed. She had need of nothing, but what of all the others?
Am I sick to feel this way? We make movies like this? What DID Jesus do? Not, what would he do? But what DID he do? Are we so badly flawed there can be no changed heart? Well, we know there can be, don’t we. But Christians have been fed too much cotton candy for too long now. Priesthood means sacrifice. It always has, and always will. Do we still want to follow Jesus? If you’re true blue, you do. We know that MORE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT will melt any hard heart so that we care about others as much as we do ourself. Some even go beyond that, but first we need to be humble and honest enough to see the SINS that are keeping us powerless, and truly call on God for a transformed heart by the POWER of the inflowing Holy Spirit, like a River that never stops, because we keep drawing on Him. Amen.
I firmly believe it is a supernatural work of God that lifts us above “ourselves”. That is why we must get back to seeking the Holy Spirit in the church again! And God is simplifying His church, so we’re not bogged down in a lot of material things keeping us chained to a need for more money, more money. We are free to be the people of God. When the world sees that again, hearts will change, and we will have a more perfect world. Realize this, the more sin there is, the less perfect everything is. I see a world intoxicated on sin and with no plans to change. They can scream all they want about all the imperfections, but there will only be more, no matter what they do, but in all this, we have been made a Kingdom of Priest. Opportunity abounds!
“He has made us a Kingdom of priests for God his Father, to him be glory and power and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (Rev. 1:6 NLT)
In October of 2018, while spending 2 weeks at my spiritual retreat secluded to God, and God told me we would be “crossing a line” in June of 2020, I had no idea the physical form it would take. I’ve always been good at seeing the spiritual form of things, and not so good at the physical. But I knew something was coming, and when COVID hit, I told my wife this is not it yet, because it is not June.
There is a real physical need, but there is a spiritual need first! It is a spiritual need first and material need second. Without the spiritual side of this, any answers we try will only lead to “other” issues. We need both! And the Priesthood side of this lands squarely in the laps of the church! We need both Politics and Pulpits! But we don’t need the church trying to be the politics! We need God’s true people to get back to being a true Priesthood “serving” mankind like salt fights decay and light pushes back darkness!
This last weekend in Indianapolis, 7 people were shot, and 2 died. No police were involved in these events taking place in minority areas of our city. Our poorer areas of the city are slowly evolving into war zones and have been for some time. My question is…
Path Without End 