Purity is one of God’s attributes, and concerns the necessity, and power of living a consistent and repeatable life of being unmixed and undiluted with the world… a life of our being the same in private as we are in public … consistent and repeatable.

To quote Hannah Tatum Whitall Smith, who lived from 1832 to 1911, “Some Christians seem to think all the requirements of a holy life are met when they are active and successful in Christian work. Because they do so much for the Lord in public, they feel a liberty to be ugly and ungodly in private. But this is not the sort of Christian life I am depicting. If we are to walk as Christ walked, it must be in private as well as in public, at home as well as abroad; and it must be every hour all day long, and not at stated periods or on certain fixed occasions. We must be just as Christ-like to others as we are to our minister, and just as upright in our home as we are in our prayer meeting.”

Maintaining a pious face only where others can see us is called a lie, or being an actor merely impersonating a believer in Christ.
She continued saying, “An angry, worrying, gloomy, doubting, complaining, demanding, selfish, cruel, hard-hearted, self-indulgent, sharp-tongued or bitter-spirited Christian may be very earnest in his or her work, and may have an honorable place in the church; but they are not Christ-like Christians. They know nothing of the realities of true Christianity, no matter how loud their professions may be.”

We should not just be a distant light in the darkness in people’s lives, we should be the soft light of grace up close and personal. And if we’re going to let our lights shine up close and personal, let us allow the Holy Spirit to resolve our worldly hearts of sourness, bad language which reflects our heart, fault finding, ignorance, and a downcast countenance. If we will let Him, God will fill us with aspects of courtesy, insight, grace, and salt. We are not monotony on two legs you know, we possess the very life and light of the universe in our hearts.

Our external conversation is born from our internal conversation, and i think we need to ask the Lord to redeem our internal narrative, which is where our conflict resolution begins. All our wars and conflicts where we are directly involved, have all started with ourselves before they oozed out to the world around us. Within everyone there is a conversation going on, we may not be aware of it, we may not want to admit it or admit to the contents of that internal narrative, but it is there. The Hebrew word for conversation draws a picture of a well worn path, or a path which is worn from constantly being walked on, and when in groups, it draws a picture of marching together, or, a conversation, like people who are going somewhere together. Together, meaning, on the same road, going in the same direction, on the same side of the road, at the same speed. “Together” … do you get it.

1 Peter 1:15-16 “…but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

i believe it is true, the Lord is interested in what we do and the details of our lives, but more than any of that, He is interested in us, our character  …  God’s interest in our how and why is always far and above what we do.

Of course the Lord has a destiny and a service outlined for you, but, and this may seem difficult for some ambitious believers to appreciate, God will burn your ministry to the ground in order to retain His relationship with you. Jesus did not die for your ministry but for you. You are more important to Him than your ministry; you are more important to Him than the great plans you’ve got; you are more important to Him than the flowers, good book reviews, public notice, titles, positions, Facebook likes, or your ambitious achievements. Nothing, nothing, nothing can separate you from the Love of God and He is confident in His ability to love you back from the brink of destruction.

Revelation 4:8, “And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”  Wow! So, day and night they never cease saying “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” i think back to all the times i’ve quoted this during worship and praise, and only now am i thinking to myself, do i have anything even close to an understanding of what i’m saying? Don’t get me wrong, it’s the truth and it’s right, but my question is about myself and do i understand? Hopefully by my questioning myself, you will be inspired to also question yourself about similar matters.

God’s holiness. What does it mean when we say God is holy?

You know, over the years i’ve heard myself say a lot of stuff that, often, i’m not too sure just exactly what i meant. Yea, i sounded real spiritual to myself and others, but when i tried to explain some of my high-sounding, fancy theology, i sometimes, if not often, fell short. Do you know what you believe and why? And i don’t mean parroting someone else. i mean we do the work to pull apart our theology and get a clue as to how we came to our conclusions.

One time, a young man and i, the young man being a new believer, were painting a house. i was holding his paint bucket as he leaned out to paint the bottom of a chimney, three stories up. As i watched him brush paint on, i saw some of the sky blue paint drip onto the shiny new chimney flashing. i pulled a rag out of my pocket and handed it to him, requesting he wipe the brush drips off. He twisted his head around and said, “Why? Nobody is going to see it.” In my all knowingness, i drew myself up into a religious pose and smoothly said, “It doesn’t matter if anyone else sees it, we see it. Where’s your integrity?”  He whipped his head around so fast i thought his eyes might slide out of their sockets, and while giving me a quizzical look, he asked, “What’s integrity?”  Then i heard the Lord ask me, “Yea big boy, what’s integrity?” i realized in a flash how many christian-eee, spiritual words and phrases i used without comprehension. Many times, i had no real clue as to what i really meant, or it totally lacked practicality, no one could relate to it, and walked away feeling misunderstood, not realizing it wasn’t them who didn’t get me, it was me not being clear in my own mind.

As an example, when you’re troubled and you go talk to an elder maybe. Their advice is, “Just give it to God.” Don’t get me wrong, it really is good counsel. Over the years i think i have learned to “Just give it to God”, but think about that advice…oh yea, it sounds great, but how do i give a problem which i can’t hardly describe, to someone i can’t see, and then “let go” of something i can’t hold. Uh-huh. Often easier said than done. Though it is truly right counsel, how do you explain to someone what that means and how to do it?

So, in our case this evening, we’re speaking of personal holiness, more specifically, purity, how we put that in motion, and what exactly do we mean?

When purity is part of our character because it’s part of God’s character, there flows in us a naturally occurring shine, a high polish oozes from our pores and we are made bright. And you’ve gotta know, we don’t get that high shine from doing the rules, it comes from being in love. In the Hebrew spelling of the word purity, or personal holiness, it is obvious, with a bit of what i call, digging and sifting, to see that purity encloses honor for with purity comes honor, and humility comes before honor. Inversely, with loss of purity, is loss of honor. With our choosing and possession of purity there is stainlessness, cleanliness, and innocence. These may sound like high sounding words, but i’m describing Jesus, AND, wonderfully so, i’m describing Christ in us. 1 Peter 1:15 “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do.”

Jesus is manifested in brightness and purity, He is unsullied by moral wrong, and is undiluted and unmixed with this fallen world. Jesus is our living example of purity. Ephesians 2:2 reads that this world operates according to the prince of the power of the air, the devil’s very life expression is one of binding and being bound which goes on forever. Purity in Christ breaks the bonds of sin and the anchor of darkness – like the sun rising, it shatters discord and confusion from the east, breaking the grip of night which is a twist on the light.

God created this world we live in, and in it’s new born state, it was created with the vertical and horizontal lines of divinity, a divine grid of reference. Within the divine IS purity, which is why the offense of sin is such an affront to personal holiness. His rightness of character, God’s personal holiness in and of itself is liberating.

Within the Hebrew word for purity, twice there occurs the idea of choice: the choice to be free or not; the choice to return or not; the choice between greatness and degradation. In the same spelling there is God’s guaranteed redemption for anyone who wants to return to the Lord and enter the courts of the King as a heroic penitent. Whether or not to employ personal holiness, ahhh, that is a choice.

Purity, and personal holiness is a vacuum in the church today. It is easy to simply go the way of the world – watching movies we know we shouldn’t let in our eyes, letting our conversation easily degrade, allowing corrupt communications out of our mouths and into our ears which wound our conscience and inspire our loss for the relish of righteous things. There is such thing as shame in the sense of humility in a good way, shame being the currency of honor – as in purity and righteous shame. BUT … It is easy to dress and act in ways which stupefy and discredit us, that is shame in a bad way, and has nothing to do with humility, other than to be humiliated. i say anyone who has no shame in the daylight, has been handled too much in the dark, making our conscience to be like bruised fruit.

Do we prefer personal holiness, or do we concede and capitulate to the world and sin because we don’t care if God sees us or maybe because we don’t believe God sees us? We shouldn’t practice personal holiness just to please God, but because we want to be like Jesus, and that we have a higher vision than simply not getting caught and being a pleaser. Again, we don’t shine because we keep the rules, we shine because we’re in love with Jesus.

The Lord said we can possess personal holiness through Christ. God called us to holiness in Christ Jesus and did not call us to capitulate in the face of the call of hell, which is to be as impure and unholy as we want as long as it makes us happy. In Christ, we can do this! Romans 8:37 “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

The desire and yearning for the Lord is something He plants in our hearts, and is one of the foundational corners of our passion and loyalty to God. Purity is never grim, stiff and cold. Within our church culture there is an idea of purity which is born out of a false sense of legalistic morality that is erroneously called godliness. Being legalistically moral is not purity – it is not so much about conduct as it is our heart posture, or how we lean in our heart towards God. And i don’t mean we should just sit back and be irresponsible for our behavior and actions … we must pursue personal holiness, for it is key to overcoming darkness.

Practice, practice, practice is imperative. Practicing our personal holiness, puts feet to our commitment and applies the teaching of Jesus. It is in our daily practice where the skill of being pure is developed. As long as the idea lingers in our head that if things go wrong, we’ll just revert to our old behavior, as long as going back is an option in our mind, we are still in danger of acting like Demas. 2 Timothy 4:10, “…for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world…” For me, going back is not an option. And how about you?

We were not born with a natural inclination to purity … in fact, with the exception of Christ who was sinless, every man, woman, and child which breaths and has breathed air was born into a fallen state. Romans3:23-24 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Purity, personal holiness, the practice of Godliness is gotten by our living a focused relationship with Jesus. It requires loyalty, reading God’s word, being consistent and repeatable, and making our outward face match our inward face. It requires prayer, prayer literally meaning, “i cannot but God can.” Practice means we put God’s word, and the teaching of the Holy Spirit into action. If you’re in a situation that is going south, practice your ability to choose righteousness and walk away. Your so called, friends, may deride you later for walking away while they were getting loaded, but i can assure you, anytime we stand up and do the right thing for the sake of holiness, darkness is driven backwards. 1 Timothy 4:8, “For physical training is of some value, but holiness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”

It’s not that we, of ourselves, are able to attain purity, but through Christ, for it is a gift from God. 2 Corinthians 3:5, “Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.”

Here’s an “Oh by the way” to consider, although the power and implementation for purity and a Godly life comes through Jesus, the responsibility for developing and exhibiting that character is ours. i’m by no means saying any of us can live a pure and godly life on our own, i’m simply saying we must practice God’s word and live it out in our everyday, work-a-day world. We choose, and true, there are many things we do not choose, like our hair color, where we were born, who our parents were, etc, etc. But the development and implementation of purity and godliness, that is something which is within our power to choose to do.

As was mentioned earlier, within the Hebrew word for purity, there is the idea of the right to choose, and choosing godliness is a learned thing. i was born with all the faculties i needed in order to do wrong, to choose poorly, and to be an excellent and consummate failure. But once i met Jesus, and He radically changed my life, i had to learn to choose differently. Let us learn to choose more wisely and make better choices. Ephesians 4:22-24, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

Listen, don’t be surprised if temptation comes knocking at your door. God has a way of allowing us to be in situations which exercise our character. If we are not increasing in godly character, we are going backwards, for in the spiritual life nothing stands still.

In a book by Jerry Bridges, “The Practice of Godliness”, he says that conduct produces character, and character produces conduct. Character also determines actions. What we do, we become, who we are, is we do. Conduct is always feeding character, and character is also always feeding conduct.

Friends, you can do this by the power and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He was chastised for our peace, He was wounded for our transgressions, and by His stripes we are healed. Do you have a vision to loose the captives and break the chains of chaos which bind people in darkness? Start with godly character. It begins with you, in your heart, in submission and obedience to Christ. Let Jesus develop your character. i never said it was comfortable or pleasant, but in the long run, the development of your purity, your personal holiness in Christ breaks the bonds of sin and the anchor of darkness  …  like the sun rising, it shatters discord and confusion from the east, breaking the grip of darkness in the lives of others. Think about it.

The promises of God toward the truly humble are breathtaking! If you think living a life of purity and holiness is impossible, remember Matthew 19:26, “Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

The Lord is the administrator and enabler of the power in those who have faith to be holy as He is holy. He promises to be with us, to cherish and honor us, to give us mercy and grace beyond the vanishing point for new beginnings, and to lift us up making us strong, firm and steadfast in His name.

i’m Social Porter and this has been Outposts.

Purity is one of God’s attributes, and concerns the necessity, consistency, and power of living a consistent and repeatable life of personal holiness…being the same in private as we are in public … consistent and repeatable. Hebrews 12:14 “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” Take His yoke upon your shoulders, relax and breath, pray for your neighbors this week, and above all, know that Jesus loves you and will never forget you or leave you behind. Amen!

i think for most of my life, i didn’t know words to communicate with. i often left people wondering what in the world i was talking about, not to mention my own frustration at wondering why i felt so misunderstood. Our intentions are communicated in words as well as actions and if we only act, not allowing anyone our words, the silence of our mouths propels the exclusion of others, the very relationships we desperately need.

When we want to communicate our ideas and thoughts to others, we’ve got to learn to communicate, to position ourselves as someone others want to engage with. We must learn to articulate “utterance”. The listener only actually knows what’s going on in our minds when they hear us express ourselves in audible words. If we don’t give them words then we are subject to them filling in the blanks with only what they’ve imagined, which may not go too well if you know what i mean. Sure, we can surmise and maybe even accurately speculate what’s going on with someone, but when they actually put words to it, ahh, then we’ve got something to go on. We may have the impulse to direct someone to turn left or right, or ask a friend to deliver food, but it’s really not enough to simply grunt at people and point, we must communicate our thoughts to them.

With God, He has a number of individual ways through which He communicates His will. When His will is carried out, it is described as His “utterance”. One utterance from Him caused light to come into being. Another produced Heaven and earth in all its fullness, and yet another generated animal and human life and so on and so on, you get the picture.

There is a difference between God’s utterances when He presented the 10 commandments, and when He inclines His heart toward us. i’ve been told that the 10 commandments had to be heard, which involved a “crescendo of sound”, which even to this day, we all hear and are still moved. Many times the Lord doesn’t “speak” to us with vocal chords, mouth, and tongue, but He “speaks” in the sense that a voice and words are heard, as in saying, “He made me to know”. When we speak, our voice only runs just so far before the momentum of our breath just falls to the ground. When God speaks, it doesn’t stop being said, whether it’s through circumstances, or actual vocalization, it does not cease. We can pretend we are powerful enough to set prophetic markers in the earth, but without His voice, our markers quickly fade and fall.

i believe that at the time of creation, there was no need for anyone to “hear”, and it’s the truth, no human being existed that was capable of hearing. So, in light of that, His utterance was simply that His will became reality. His answer, whether by vision, provision, or direct reply is an “utterance”. Incidentally, “vision” is seeing, insight, and understanding, and PRO-vision is anything He gives which supports the advancement of the vision. His appointments and biddings are His utterance. His promises and pronouncements are His utterances. The Lord’s subduing of enemies, His teaching, telling, and ideas communicated to us are His utterances. God is not silent, i believe it is us who aren’t catching His drift.

In Psalm 62:11, it says “God has spoken, twice i heard.” The Hebrew word for “spoken” doesn’t mean words given once in the past tense, or as a plural verb, but in the sense of dual action, it is spoken and then comes again unceasing. The word “heard” is used in a complimentary sense that God’s utterance was heard and heard again. Like saying, God said, He very said, and i heard, then i really heard what i heard. In Genesis 1:3, when the Lord uttered, or spoke, the idea that His speaking is also a calling. Whatever the Lord calls, becomes. God’s voice is the ONLY voice to which all things obey.

More than a few times i’ve felt powerful and very spiritual, and in an effort to prove my power to myself i walked outside, and in my most commanding voice, i uttered, “Mountains, be thou removed into the sea.” Of course in my very best King James English in order to sound as authentic as possible. i was taking it seriously what Jesus said in Matthew 21:21, and i was feeling pretty full of myself. Upon yelling that at the mountain, well, nothing happened. In my heart i found myself think, “Yea, i didn’t think so.” Years later, the Lord spoke to me, “me” being slightly self-important, thinking more highly of himself than i should, and asked me why i thought the mountain didn’t move. i had to reply, “Only you know Lord.” He made me to know that it was because His voice was not in my voice for that occasion, and the mountain only responds to His utterance. Oh.

What do you think?

In your prayer time, do you practice to plead the case of another? Not hyperventilating with many words, but advocating their cause before the Lord?

Proverbs 23:10-11, “Do not move an ancient landmark or enter the fields of the fatherless, for their Redeemer is strong; he will plead their cause against you.” Another way to see someone who pleads a cause is seen in the word “advocate”. Not “litigate” but “advocate”. The idea of an advocate, as someone who pleads a cause, in Hebrew is a combination of two words, the first is “to grapple with” and the second is to “contend for a cause”. There is wrestling involved. The spirit of the word “advocate” is different than to “litigate” in the sense that to “litigate” means to argue within judicial process implying one person is right and the other is wrong. By no means am i saying we go before the Lord as the one who is right and God is wrong. Never! But what we are doing is more as an intercession, making needs known, and talking to God about why we think our petition before Him is a good idea … arguing with God is not what we do when we advocate.

In 1 John 2:1, John uses the word advocate in the sense of someone who comforts in addition to pleading the cause of another. To intercede might be a bit more aggressive, but it is still a form of advocating. The Greek word in English for “advocate” is in the sense of a “person called in to help, summoned to give assistance,” which gives us the meaning of “helper in court.” Even though there is no clear reference to our advocating in court, the idea is still, more or less, in legal tones. It would seem that being an advocate for another is part of what Paul was writing about in Gal6:2, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

In Job 16:1-2, when the writer said, “I have heard many such things; miserable comforters are you all.”, the word “comforters”, in Hebrew, is used in the sense of someone who would intercede and plead my cause before the Lord, which obviously the friends of Job were far more negative litigators sitting at a prosecutors bench, than positive advocates.

i have noted of myself, during my prayer time, that i do not want to get stuck in rote repetitiveness, “bless them Lord”, “help us God”, “heal them Lord”, over and over for lack of words. i’m not saying those are not good things to pray, because they are. What i am saying is that i would like to be a better advocate, pleading the cause of others more effectively, using words which make a difference.

When God told Abraham in Genesis 15:1 that He was his shield, the word “shield” is used in the sense of a “protector”, an advocate who contends for the cause of another. In Deuteronomy 33:29, the Lord is declared as the “shield of your help, and the sword of your triumph.” He is the personification of a shield and sword for us, a shield as one who intercedes to help, and as a sword dividing truth from fiction, defining the victory. In the process of sinning, i believe our senses offer to reason with us about the delicate deliciousness of our desire, like a manipulative employee would influence the boss in order for them to get what they want. That is manipulating, not advocating.

Jesus was and is an advocate for sinners before God, and i would like to be better at advocating for those who are locked in a dark prison of their own making, and even for those who are, by consent, in bed with curses they have agreed with, yet wonder why life is not better than it is. In 1 John 2:1-2, the apostle writes, “…we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.  He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” He is our defender and legal counsel, and is sufficient for any who would be in need of a helper and shield. This isn’t universalism, which says He died for everyone, repentant or not, nor is it just “limited atonement”, meaning He only died for an elite, select few. As our advocate He is also our propitiation, meaning by His blood on Calvary, He satisfied God’s righteous requirement of justice. “He who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Jesus is our propitiator, our Defender from the dead, at the right hand of the Father where He intercedes for us before the heavenly throne. Therefore, as our advocate, we are secure in that intercession, in that justification, in that satisfaction.

If Jesus is your advocate, you also, yes YOU, have been empowered to advocate for those around you. If we know God hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions we have asked of him. i think of being an advocate as one who petitions, who appeals to the Highest authority on behalf of another with respect to a particular cause. We can make better use of our prayer time. God will give us words to make a difference if we’re willing to extend ourselves, consistently, on behalf of others. i guarantee it.

What do you think?

i met a young man the other day, covered in tatoos, quiet, life in turmoil and chaos … in trouble. Across his neck he had the words “Expect No Mercy”. The tattoo reminded me of the words of someone who carries a never ending offense; someone who possibly has experienced from someone important in their lives in the past, some sort of condemnation, and it just stuck to him and wouldn’t let go. He learned the “no mercy” lifestyle somewhere. Maybe he learned he should never expect mercy for his life, actions, or reactions, and as a result he should give no mercy. Where do we learn such things?

We treat each other pretty terribly sometimes. i’m thankful, so thankful that God Almighty extends mercy to us. i’ve begun to think that if a man doesn’t know mercy, he probably doesn’t know forgiveness either. The Hebrew word for mercy denotes God’s compassion which spares us from destruction or similar dismal fates. If God did not extend us mercy and forgiveness through Christ, we would all be doomed from before we were born, but because of God’s mercy, there is hope. Jesus Christ gave His life and was resurrected from the dead due to love, and also for mercy’s sake for a dying world with no hope of life. Because of the mercy of God, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we “may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly”.

Are you offended? Offended people carry a tit-for-tat posture, they tend to have no mercy for themselves or others. And what is worse, they seem to be good with walking around offended, day and night. They tend to be angry, unfulfilled, sensitive people, generally speaking. Many of them seem to be the most insulting, demeaning, crude, and crass people I’ve ever met. They think nothing of insulting others and putting them down, but say something to them about their attitude, friend you better watch out because offended people seem ready to bite anyone who challenges them. They’ve always got a growl in their throat about something. i believe, in the end, it comes down to ego, selfishness, and a sense of entitlement.

Do you carry the throwing stones of offense in your pockets, those extra handy throwing stones which fit your hands just perfectly? Haven’t you ever wondered exactly who helped you pick out those handy throwing stones? Well, it wasn’t God, i can assure you of that.

Amazing as it sounds, offense has facets, which i call faces and there are four faces of offense:

1. Number of offenses

Men might forgive some, but are not prone to forgive with much repetition.

2. Number of offenders

Men may pardon one or a few, but the greater the number of offenders the less inclined men are to forgive.

3. Kind of offense

Men limit what sort of offenses they forgive, as long as it doesn’t cost them much and it would be to their advantage.

4. Degree of offense

People will forgive an offense if it is small enough to not be of any injury to themselves. Many seem to feel that they don’t mind anything that happens as long as it doesn’t happen to them.

And who are the Friends of Offense: bitterness, anger, confusion, casting shadows, and vilifying others. They come to visit but then won’t leave, and the more they stay, the more entrenched they become. Do they live at your house? Did you invite them in one day when they came to visit but now they won’t leave?

Eph 4:31 “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.” In the Message Bible translation, Hebrews 12:15 points out that the seeds of offense grow, “weeds of bitter discontent. A thistle or two gone to seed can ruin a whole garden in no time.” How does your garden grow?

People who carry an offense, don’t know forgiveness as God has extended it to them, and as a result there is not much mercy in them for themselves or anyone else. No mercy means a life doomed to condemnation. We can either stand on mercy or stand on condemnation, but you can’t be in both camps at the same time, the bitterness will tear you in half.

i want us all to know that “God is sheer mercy and grace; not easily angered, he’s rich in love. He doesn’t endlessly nag and scold, nor hold grudges forever. He doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve, nor pay us back in full for our wrongs.” “So thank God for his marvelous love, for his miracle mercy to the children he loves.” OH, how he loves you and me.

Mercy … that sounds like something i want. How about you?

Isaiah 61:1-3, “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful garla nd of grace instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.”

In our season of grief, difficulty, possibly even working through catastrophic circumstances, i believe God has a word for you and you, yes you can be healed everywhere you hurt. If you’re sad and that sadness just invades your waking and sleeping, God can heal your sadness by the Blood of Jesus, and not only can He heal your sadness, but He’ll give you the courage and strength to get up off your sick bed and re-enter the land of the living.

i’ve wondered exactly why many folks think Jesus died for their sins,… it seems many times that’s as far as anyone thinks about it, He died for my sins and it stops there … was it only a salvation thing so we don’t have to go to hell like having fire insurance?  …  just – saved from our sins?. i believe, if we’ll take the Lord seriously, He wants so much more for us than that. He wants us to enjoy the road home and not just be Eyore all the way home. One lady said, God wants us to be whole, not full of holes.

This is Outposts, cool jazz and contemplative conversation that makes you say, “hmmmm…”, something smooth for the late night people, or maybe those on their way to work. i suppose some are sitting up late in their big arm chair, pondering the things which occurred today, or maybe the things which didn’t occur today. Others are just late night people, they seem to function better after the sun goes down… i have no idea why, your reasons are your own. Then there are the people who are up late because you can’t sleep … .stuck in that grey place between awake and asleep, that place …  where nothing hides, tossing and turning like a fish out of water. What’s on your mind that you can’t sleep?

i believe so so many folks are in pain, real pain. We may have learned to live with it, and some truly tolerate pain better than others and have learned to wear a good face, but it doesn’t mean the pain isn’t there. For years, i was in pain and i had no idea why, how it got to be there, or even what it was about … i gave it no identity and as a resulti was always acting out with no thought of questioning any of my actions.

When i had cattle, i grew to know they are usually pretty good down to about -25 … on particularly cold days i would chuckle to myself because their faces looked like they were saying, “Boy it sure is cold” and the other one would say, “Yea, it sure is but i don’t know what to do about it.” They’d munch more hay and just roll their big eyes around, appearing to think about being cold but clueless as to what to do about it. That was me when it came to pain … just clueless what to do about it. Our topic is beauty for ashes like a garland of grace … and the gold the Lord brings out in us when it appears all is burned to the ground.

In my little life, i know something, maybe not much according to some, but this i know, i can’t play hide and seek with my difficulties and expect them to simply go away. Just because we don’t deal with stuff doesn’t mean it’ll just disappear.

The Lord wants us to be more than survivors. In the last program it was mentioned that one day while out for my afternoon walk, the Lord made me to know that i was only surviving when i was supposed to be prospering. He said, “How is it you have fallen to only surviving when you should be prospering?” It was a good question, and at the end of His question there came a feeling like the earth plates in my heart were moving, repositioning themselves to align better with God. You know what i mean?

Here’s a question, if you knew it could happen, would you be willing for your circumstances to be your message and ministry?

John 6:12-13, “And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.”

i don’t know about you, but there have been terrible times when i felt like my entire life was just broken little pieces, just fragments. In John 6:12-13 i hear the Lord calling me to bring even my broken fragmented life to Him. He has healed the broken hearted and opened wide the prison doors and has the power to deliver forever more. We’ve all heard that God does more with nothing than we can do with something, and even if we’re sure we are on the negative side of zero, God can do something with even that.

i’ve got a few ideas of who i am, but i’ve got tons of ideas about who i’m not and i reckon it’s good to give Him not only who i am, but also all that i’m not … take it all captive.

2 Corinthians 10:5 says to take our thoughts captive. That word “thoughts” there in Greek means all your perception, purpose, all your academic thinking, and even your disposition, take it all prisoner by the word of God, and that’s not just the negative stuff either, that’s ALL of it, even the good things, take them ALL captive, like holding a prisoner of war at spear point.

We can’t be afraid to reveal to the Lord even the smallest details of our lives, you know, it’s not like He’s surprised. i believe God knew exactly what He was getting into when each one of us came in the door of the house by the Blood of the Lamb.

There is no time the Lord ever regrets forgiving your sins and transgressions. i believe the Lord has more hope for me than i have for me, and certainly more hope for me than any of my friends or relatives. i was the little boy who was never supposed to live past the age of seven, according to our neighbors. i was a dangerous kid, not because i was mean or tough, but i was so vastly ignorant of the repercussions of my actions, it’s the truth, my parents didn’t expect me to survive childhood.

i figure, if you are the meek, poor, wounded, depressed, if you’re the fearful, sad, conflicted, shamed and disqualified, if you’re the bankrupt and blind, one of the lost and unfortunate ones, you are exactly who Jesus came for. You are the very one He came to get eye level with. He was crucified, died and rose from the dead for you. You are the very one God came to rescue.

You and I both know what happens to unprocessed emotions: they get stored. i can’t remember who said it but they said, “What’s buried alive never dies.” That’s the truth. We’ve gotta deal with stuff, we can’t just bury it, or compartmentalize it and stuff it somewhere. Some folks compartmentalize their griefs so well, they can, with all confidence say they are “fine…totally fine”, but below street level all the wounds which have been buried are still active, affecting all they do. Honestly, I don’t see the Lord as someone who just throws “lessons” at us in the form of casualty, catastrophe or suffering as if we are hamsters just running on a wheel. But I do think we are all able to choose to have the power to mine gold from even the darkest of situations.

We need to be honest with ourselves and the Lord. Yea, i know we have to be people of faith, and faith will get us through, and by faith i am healed, but so many in leadership have gotten so they are dealing with other people’s stuff, but they’re not dealing with their own, even to the point of denying they even have woundedness going on. Believe me, if you’re in church leadership long enough, you WILL get hurt, sheep bites are painful. But i don’t think we should be wounded healers. Telling ourselves if we had enough faith we shouldn’t even be going through those things. If we feel like we can’t be honest over things, if we feel like we can’t bring our problems into the light, it’s the truth, everything we hide has power over us. That’s why a couple programs ago i made a call to deal with the hidden things in our backyard where no one can see, which is a metaphor for saying everything we hide has power over us.

That, by no means, says we should just dump all our dirty laundry onto anyone who comes along, we need to be a little more discretionary than that. But you’d be surprised how much help there is in having a safe person to simply verbalize things with. i call it “talk therapy” We need to talk about the things which hinder us so hell can’t continue to hold it over our heads anymore, making us a slave to what is hidden and compartmentalized.

We spend a lot of energy keeping things hidden. It reminds me of having a bicycle which only turns in one direction. Oh, you’re peddling and balancing alright, but you aren’t going anywhere. Every time you hearken back to a former time about the time so-and-so did that, or such-and-such happened, or you remember the disappointment or anger of a past thing that happened, get off that bicycle and deal with what’s holding you back.

Many years ago, i was angry and so disappointed it seemed life was just going in circles. i distinctly remember waking up one day and making a clear decision that i was not going to allow the past to keep dragging me backwards into a dark corner, getting suckered into a fight in the dark, and that from there on out, i was going to look up instead of down, afterall, when you’re always looking down, all you can see is the ground.

i was drawing a line in the sand that enough was enough, that’s it, i’m not looking back, obsessing about the past anymore, sitting in the middle of nowhere wishing i could just get a glimpse of destiny. i believe it’s a fact, we can’t do anything about what’s past, what’s done is done, but we can do a lot about cooperating with God about what’s ahead.

2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, the new has come.”  Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life, be renewed in the spirit of your minds, put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Let’s get motivated about that!

Philippians 3:12-14, “…but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Friends, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

“Press” is one of the key words i’m interested in. It means to push forward, pursue, take action, campaign and advance on. It’s not a timid, passive term, it is a verb that is present, active, indicative, meaning it is in the now, we are the ones doing the action, and it’s a statement of fact. Take note of these words also, “make it my own”, which is a now verb, “Forgetting what lies behind” as in the now, and “straining forward” is present tense, meaning now. Do you see it? Now, now, now!  In order to press onward, we’re going to have to learn to do it, even when we’re hurting, even when all odds say we should just quit, even when our closest friends tell us to just give up on our faith. We’re going to have to learn to do the right thing even when the wrong thing seems more just. You know, it’s always the right time to do the right thing, and we need to do it until doing the right thing just becomes second nature to us ‘cause doing the right thing is just the natural inclination of our heart. That’s called enduring and it’s one way of resisting the devil so he’ll run away, screaming into the distance, driven backwards into his own gates.

Friends, we need to know who we are in Christ and stop getting our identity from how we look, who we know, the job we have, what we own, what others say about us, and what spectacular things we may have done or not done. It’s been said before on this program, i don’t believe most of us really know what to make of ourselves, nor do we seem to know how to talk about ourselves. God wants to define us, and if we wait until some religious body defines us, we maybe waiting all our lives. God is our constant defining moment, now, now, now.

i don’t know about you, but i’m not satisfied to merely go to Heaven when i die. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a wonderful thing, of course, but i just don’t believe Jesus Christ, the son of God Almighty, died for me so i can just barely get through, just surviving, (Eeyore voice) “i guess everything will be great when we get to Heaven, but we’re just doing the best we can with what little we’ve got in the mean time, barely scraping through. i’ll probably enter Heaven with the faint smell of brimstone on me, but at least i’ll be in Heaven.”

          Jesus said He came that we would have life and have it more abundantly. Now listen, that doesn’t mean we won’t have problems, it doesn’t mean we won’t struggle, it doesn’t mean we will never weep over situations, or, that everything is just going to be moonbeams and merry-go-rounds either … but it does mean, by the blood of Jesus, we have a right to not be wounded all our lives, to not bleed all over everything over past hurts, we have a blood bought right to not get mired in the clay of what someone did to us.

You wouldn’t believe how often hell has come to me and told me i would never have anything more than a second-rate life, doing second-rate things, for second-rate reasons. It reminds me of the kids in high school who got D’s on their report card. They tended to do D things with D people going D places for D reasons yet were never able to lift up their heads enough to see that there was so much more life than what they had.

i am determined to not let the wounds of my past dictate the steps of my future, and to stop the bleeding of old hurts. The past belongs in the past, which is why it is past. Let … it … go.

Let us be reminded of God’s promise in Isaiah 61:7-8, “Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion; instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot; therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion; they shall have everlasting joy. For I the LORD love justice; I hate robbery and wrong; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.”

That’s joy, which is rejoicing and gladness with a shout in the middle … and that’s an everlasting joy too. The Lord rewards those who diligently seek Him and i must add that i have sought the Lord at His request for lo, all these years and i believe and am assured i am living in the reward. He didn’t persecute me for my wrongs, He corrected me to a better heading. He didn’t prosecute me as in a court of law, He took me to a place to heal the wounds which drove me off the deep end. So much of my life i’ve had to do things afraid. What is it one preacher says, “If you’re afraid, go forward afraid…go with God anyway. Go forward with Jesus and tell the truth, even if your voice shakes!”

If He did it for me, He’ll do it for you too. We don’t have to be wounded all the days of our lives. There is a choice to be made there. What do you want? Do you just want to make it through the muddle in the middle, merely surviving life? Regardless of all my confidence, i can safely say, from hard won experience, no one, nowhere, is able to run their lives by themselves. We can’t, simply can’t do it alone, as in “are not able”. There is no way anyone can escape the gravity of earth, the pull of this world, on their own. i have been abandoned, rejected, made to be isolated and isolated myself, and felt overwhelmingly alone, but through it all, God has been there, He and i have pressed forward, in the now, every step of the way. Regardless of who doesn’t like me, disagrees with me, won’t return my calls, or feigns to be my friend yet doesn’t speak to me at church or on the street, i have determined i am going on with God no matter what or who.

Check out another of God’s promises, Isaiah 54:4, “Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; Neither be confounded, for you will not be put to shame; For you will forget the shame of your youth.” i love the part where He says, “neither be confounded” … meaning to not let yourself be insulted, offended, or wounded to the point of nearly bleeding to death. And then He says, “you will not be put to shame or disgraced,” basically meaning the Lord will lead us in a path which we don’t have to suffer the loss of honor due to humiliation, not that we will forget the stupid stuff we did when we were ignorant and young, but the shame of those days will be resolved unto strength, maturity, and faith. Friends, now there’s the word of the Lord to cling to.

i know of a fellow who was reminded by the enemy of all the dumb stuff he did as a young man, reminded so often it just seemed to be a probability that’s the way the rest of his life was going to go. He began to believe he was as terrible as hell would have him believe he was. He called me on the phone and asked me straight out if i thought he was a failure, and with all power i answered, Absolutely not, never, in the name of Jesus. The Lord said in Isaiah 54:17, “no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD and their vindication from me, declares the LORD.”

Hell will bring against us all of our don’ts, won’ts, can’ts, and should’ve’s as judgments lodged against us to wound us to death, but God says we have the power, by the blood of Jesus, to refute those accusations because we are the children of light, servants of the most high God who sets our feet on firm footing and leads us beside still waters, meaning He is faithful to bring us to His Shalom. Even if your life is burned to the ground and there’s nothing but ashes and soot left, God knows how to build again, so from the sludge of a burned out life, new life springs forth like gold sticking out of the ground.

Stand up church, it ain’t over till it’s over. You may be down, but you’re not out. i’ve not heard the bell yet, so get up and fight. 1 Timothy 6:12, “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” Think about it.

Stand up church, get to your feet. Your catastrophic circumstances are not the end of things, it is the beginning of excellence in Christ, it ain’t over till it’s over, and it’s not over yet. i know a man who has struggled with addiction, crime, and incarceration almost all his life, but then when Jesus took hold of him, things begin to change. Yes, he relapsed because that was his best self-medicating coping skills, yes, at first he still played out his criminal habits because that was all he’d ever known. But little by little, he became less and less of an addict, committed fewer and fewer crimes, and every time he got knocked down, he kept getting back up, and getting back up, determined to apprehend Christ, the prize who lay before him. Over time he got good at falling down and even better at getting back up, every time he got back up he was standing longer and more upright. The farther he got from addiction and crime, the less he was inclined to see himself as a failure with no hope. In him grew a hope that in Christ he really could be a son of the Most High, and he really was be an overcomer.

It’s great to be on the path, but we must actually move our feet. C’mon, let’s get on with it. There’s no time to sit and moan about old things that have passed away to the point we become inert. If we’ve nearly fainted in the heat of battle, weary from the pounding of life, Jesus is our refreshment. We don’t have to keep bleeding, we don’t have to keep weeping. There’s a choice there. John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

Jesus came to give life to us over-the-top, more than we could imagine, better than our idea of good. We are called to do more than merely survive, and notice, Jesus used the word “abundantly” and we should take that seriously. True the devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but my Jesus stepped into the middle of all that and said, “I am here, and that ain’t happening to whomsoever will come to me.”

Come go with me, let us press on to know the Lord, for He will come, He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rains watering the earth. Be strong and courageous! Roll on little doggies, roll on happy trails. Amen!