Let’s look at salvation from a legal perspective.

Because of the choosing that happened in the Garden of Eden, sin entered in. Because of that choosing, satan held a pseudo-sovereignty over humanity and held mankind for ransom on the principal of “government by consent of the governed”, which is when we live without Christ, we consent to whatever weakens our reason, impairs the tenderness of our conscience, obscures our sense of God, or takes off our relish of spiritual things; in short, whatever increases the strength and authority of our body over our mind, thereby we are governed by sin. The Supreme Judge in the Supreme Court of Heaven is sworn to uphold the demands of the law in every case.

In order for man to be free, by law, an innocent and willing substitute had to be found to take his place who could fully meet the demands of the law and represent both God and man. The only solution was for God to become man, paying the penalty, thereby letting man go free. Because God loved us from the beginning, He saved us from the legal penalty of death due to iniquity,

transgression, and sin.

We need to understand some of the principles of Redemption. Redemption means that one who is capable of redeeming and taking the place of another actually meets the demands of the law and becomes the legal substitute by paying the redemptive price for those who are condemned to death because of breaking the law. God decided that through the atonement and the substitution of an innocent victim to take the place of the guilty kidnapped race, He would free it from satan, thereby legally and forcefully evicting satan, restoring man’s dominion, so as to carry on the eternal purpose, as it was intended from the beginning.

Genesis 1:26 “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Jesus was sent to pay the price for the death penalty man incurred in the garden, thereby breaking the power of the pseudo-sovereignty which satan

had. It was a redemptive work based on the principles of redemption for man, who being under the penalty of death, was unable to pay.

When satan put to death the sinless, innocent Son of God, the High Court of Heaven cancelled all his claims against humanity. The Lamb of God, the Righteous Son of Glory paid the penalty of ransom, thus meeting all the demands of God and the Holy Law, defeating satan and his host with his very blood. Now then, we who believe are “alive to God, in Christ”, as Paul wrote in Romans 6:14 “…sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”

For the reasons stated in Romans 6:14, if we confess our sin and consecrate our lives to God, satan loses his case in the High Court of Heaven, and man comes away from court with power of attorney by the blood of Jesus, and we are made representatives and officers of God’s law, and can dispossess and cast out, can heal and strengthen, and do whatsoever the High King of Heaven says for us to do. Because of the work of Jesus Christ, it is our legal, redemptive, blood bought, divine right to be free and resist the enemies of Heaven until the intimidating grip of false authority on mankind is brought down to the ground. The walls of hell WILL fall, all the way to hell!

But for those who refuse to believe and turn from their sin, satan gives to them the sole right and power to suffer.

Christ has once and for all hurled satan from his position of power, so that he is a conquered enemy. We don’t have to bind what Christ has beaten and bound. The might of satan, the prince of all diabolical powers, is already broken. Our greatest strength against the enemies of Heaven, is not to fight against the devil, who is exhausted and defeated, but our greatest strength is to come into the likeness of The Son, Jesus, the Christ of God. Jesus has broken the powers of satan, so that those who look to God in faith are liberated from the influences of darkness.

In the heart posture towards Christ in our hearts and lives, there is no room for sitting on the fence. Every person is either for or against Him, whether we realize and acknowledge it or not.

The privilege and the seriousness of following Christ are of such tremendous magnitude that there is no room for excuse for compromise with the world, or for half-heartedness.

By faith, we live everyday in the splendid opportunity of being citizens of the kingdom of God.

The Lord’s Prayer Expanded:

Holy God, You are The One who is near us in mercy and love and at the same time You are high exalted above us, for your Name is the expression of Your Being, the Name who is sanctified in all creation. Let Your divine rule come, Your divine sovereignty which more and more fully attains it’s rightful place in the heart and life of mankind, as in Heaven where your will is obeyed, spontaneously, with perfect joy, in a perfect manner without a shadow of unfaithfulness. Lord we ask for Your supernatural aid and blessing in all the fields of our lives where Your dominion is perfect and all the real needs of man are replenished, not just for us as individuals on our own merit but in reliance on the grace of God. We ourselves ask for forgiveness as we absolve and acquit those who are indebted to us, who act wrongly towards us on the full ground of Your grace, the sweeping love of God. We concede and admit that we are weak, and are conscious of our own weakness that You would direct our path away from circumstances in which we are exposed to evil temptations, but also celebrate and are glad in You who gives us the victory and causes everything to contribute towards the good of those who love You. Help us that our prayers and life habits would not degenerate into mechanical, and ceremonial formality. For You are the Glory and power, the Perfect Friend who reigns forever. Amen.

What do you think?

In Genesis 18 we are privy to a conversation displaying all sorts of heart attitudes which are still applicable today, right where we are, everyday.

As the conversation opens we see Abraham sitting in the door of his tent, which was his dwelling place, his home and covering. It’s probably somewhere around midday, so it’s hot and he’s taken shelter from the sun. As it goes with us, when it’s hot and we’ve gotten out of the sun for a bit, the same was probably for Abraham in that he may have been dozing a little, waiting for the heat to fade. There are some really key points in this story for us to notice.

The Lord drew my attention to a process in vs. 2, where it says, “he lifted up his eyes”, then “he looked”, and “when he saw”. If we look a little deeper than the English “simplization” of the verse, looking at the Hebrew, variations of seeing come to light. To say, “he lifted up his eyes” is an idiom meaning he was casually looking around, not looking at anything specific, like someone who is waking up from dozing, noticing their environment, with no particular focus. The next phrase is “he looked”. For some reason, something or someone has gotten Abraham’s attention, and now he’s not just generally looking around, now he’s focusing, specifically, on someone or something of special note. It would be the difference between my saying to you, “look” as opposed to saying look with a specific purpose, like not just “look”, but, “look at that tree”. Do you get what i’m saying? Three people suddenly being within his scope of vision was completely out of the ordinary of his visual environment, not to mention, i believe God was pointing them out to him, resulting in his sharpening his focus to see specifically. They were people who were not normally at his camp there in the middle of nowhere. The third phrase, “when he saw them” is a phrase used in reference to a type of prophetic seeing, it is used denoting that he was fully engaged, head and heart, like someone seeing, with eyes wide open, looking, specifically, at something amazing, something to be contemplated with intent. Using the word “when”, which is a time word, reveals that he must have rolled it around in his mind for a second as realization and revelation came to light.

i’m not saying all this to establish that i know something. It is easily understood i absolutely do not. God alone is the sole source of wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, and if God doesn’t give us wisdom and insight we simply won’t have it. i am saying, though, there is wisdom here to be grasped in a modern society where uncertainty is deliberately advanced by those who’s hearts are darkened to leverage others for their own advantage at the expense of those held in uncertainty. God operates in the opposite. He wants us to be certain, and to be wise and have understanding. As a result the three facets of seeing, we can see how they describe how we come to understand things, they reveal God’s process, and point to His preferences, and standards.

The Lord’s heart is not only for us to wake up and grow up, but also to be interested enough in Him to take notice and understand. Today, too much of the church is simply spending their time being continually cycled through an organized program every Sunday. Typical leadership seems to have the attitude that congregations need to be managed, and as long as people are engaged in “activities”, they feel like they’re being a part of something larger. It is government by consent of the governed.

From the beginning, God almighty desired to be known by the object of His affection, us. He not only offers us deliverance and salvation, but He shares His attributes with us. He desires we be involved with Him, doing more than simply possessing fire insurance, but knowing Him and understanding, certain and confident He is all He says and more. His ways are better than ours, higher and profitable. He will, indeed, if we are willing to do more than just casual looking, God will open our eyes to “see” and comprehend. He wants us to do more than simply go to church, His desire is for us to advance our relationship with Him and the body of Christ. That is the “having life more abundantly” part spoken of in John10:10.

Not too long ago, upon hearing the scripture from John10:10, where Jesus said that He came that they may have life, and have it more abundantly, an inmate said, “i’ve been living a two part life. A life as a rebellious criminal, and another life as a believer. All my days i’ve been in poverty on both sides of that two part life, and now you’re telling me that Jesus wants me to have life abundantly? i’d sure like all that abundantly to show up about now.” The man was looking but not seeing, he may have been focusing in general, but not on the Lord specifically. His head and heart operated independently of each other, and were not in sync. There was always the undercurrent of criminal thinking, and if he got entirely too honest then the thrill of leveraging the outcome at the expense of someone else would be gone, his eyes would be opened, and then he’d have to be responsible. Just going to church didn’t solve any of his problems, but for a while, he sure did look good without actually having to be righteous. Let us do more than just live a life of continually rising from our drowsy state, more than just looking around with unfocused eyes, but be fully engaged with God, head and heart as one.

What do you think?

Now that we believe Jesus is Lord, we don’t fit in the world anymore, so where do we fit?

In the last many months, on and off, i’ve been in a discussion of being indifferent versus having excessive compassion? Many times i was pegging the meter because I was indifferent, and felt guilty about being indifferent, and wondered why I didn’t feel bad because I didn’t feel bad about being indifferent? Other times i was pegging the meter in destructive compassion because I knew God was compassionate and I should be compassionate also, but I couldn’t help but become a real mush brain, getting sucked into the downward vortex of being sympathetic instead of empathetic.

Finding the middle ground on that was completely a work of the Lord. Not being indifferent, while not being angry, and not being excessively compassionate at the same time is all entirely a God thing. When I brought up the initial topic of indifference versus being compassionate to my own deprivation, I think the, metaphorical wheels on my airplane were clipping the tops of the trees, with the wingtips occasionally scraping the ground. If i wasn’t flying too high nearly passing out from lack of oxygen, i was flying too low nearing a crash moment, but thank you Jesus it didn’t happen and the Lord leveled me out soon enough.

I guess the parachute in that whole dilemma was me coming to grips with… Where am I in all of this, not where are other people in all of this, but where am i? …and learning to not be angry or indifferent with the rest of the world because of all the things their relationship with God is Not. The Lord reminded me again, after reminding me again, after reminding me again that there will always be a long line of irritating people with the wrong view of just about everything, but I don’t have to keep standing there agonizing with them over the torment and woe they’ve generated for themselves, or unwittingly bought into.

I am reminded of the story a friend of mine named Wilson told me about when he was in prison many years ago. He said he gave his life to the Lord and suddenly woke up to see the long line of people always wanting to either get him in trouble, getting him into fights, or wanted to sell him drugs. He said he cried out to God and asked over and over, Lord please remove from in front of me the long line of difficult people. He said one especially distressful day, the Lord said to him very plainly, Wilson, there will always be a long line of those kind of people, but you don’t have to keep standing there. Oh.

If we don’t fit with the world, and the Lord has called us out of religion and church-ianity, where do we fit? In the past, i’ve been burdened day and night in weeping prayer asking the Lord where I fit? His reply to me was simple… “You fit with me and I will make you fit where you need to be fitted.”

Consider the time after the Lord came to heal the sick and made salvation available to all who would believe. At the end of things, God will have given plenty of time for the world to prove to itself we will never possess righteousness through evolution and that God is the only One who decides when the end of a season is over and a new one starts. We are right on the tipping point of a big transition as written about in the Bible. Isaiah61 and in Rev19 are two passages which run parallel to each other, both referring to the bride who is making herself ready.

Imagine, right now we are in God´s fitting room trying on our wedding garments, and we’re starting to get the idea, this is no ordinary fitting room.

We don’t get to choose our own wedding apparel, that is the Lord’s doing. Isaiah61:10, “For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness”. The world’s way of fitting the wedding attire is to cut or let out some material to fit the body of the bride. The Lord´s way is to fit the body of the bride to the one and only wedding garment, the righteousness of Jesus as opposed to the self-righteousness of man. Some of us are too fat, so He dresses us down, adding frailty, and some of us are too thin, so He builds us up, adding strength, so that we all come to the right size, personally and collectively, as a body. Righteousness is the size of the wedding apparel, and it only comes in one size.

This refers to one purpose, among many, concerning sanctification as steps to maturity. Look at this from another direction …in Revelation the Lord is both Lion of Judah and the Lamb without stain who is the only one able to open the scroll. Some of us are lions transformed into lambs like Peter, and others, are like Gideon, lambs who God transforms into lions. The Lord knows exactly how to fit us into righteousness, He knows exactly what we need that He might present the church to Himself in majestic brightness, without spot, wrinkle or even a smudge, that we would be holy and without blemish, just as it’s written in Eph5:27. There is how we fit.

Along with other references to God’s party and marriage invitation in the Gospels, the Lord also has something to say to the guests trying to crash the party without the proper attire…. the door is shut to them because of the refusal to submit to His will and values.

What do you think?

To be a teacher is more than just knowing stuff. It is more than simply telling answers. It seems to me that anyone who only wants to walk among other people, never asking questions but only telling answers, doesn’t want to really be involved with the body but only needs subordinates. i figure teaching is a lot like being a pruner. If someone is considered a professional pruner for grapevines and fruit trees, they’ve got to have a deep appreciation for the vine or tree, they’ve got to be patient, gracefully disposed, willing to be involved, possessing a huge understanding of how it works, and an ultimate goal of making the vine bear as much fruit as possible.

In early Greek culture, someone who was a teacher was spoken of as you would speak of someone who was a choral master, someone who blended voices and choral poetry for public performance, and was also responsible for a correct performance. Aren’t pruners and teachers very similar? i think yes. The pruner helps train the vine to go a different way for the reason of keeping the vine healthy and to bear more fruit. The calling requires real wisdom and insight for a plan of action. It may take the pruner several seasons of tying up branches and limbs in a certain direction, trimming some off and letting others grow in order to achieve the goal of the master of the vineyard. Can you see how the pruner, like a teacher, creates a grape vine which functions like choral poetry? Sure you can. It can also be said that anyone who teaches is also characterized with learning, for to teach is to learn, and every time a pruner puts his hand to the vine he learns a little more about the characteristics of what makes it tick.

i’ve heard it said that every vine, to the discerning pruners eye, has unique characteristics, and each variety of grape vine is as an individual. We, as the people of God are individually unique, and every good teacher should carefully become familiar with their subjects, gently being involved with their pupils, shaping them, snipping a little, directing in a better direction, all with the purpose of improving each one to be more fruitful. That is a good teacher, or a good pruner.

Yet here, i want to point out an observation about the teachers/pruners of today. There are indeed some very good teachers/pruners around. But there’s also a multitude who are pruning the vines, not with a set of sharp shears, a well honed knife, and a keen eye, but they’re pruning with a club, beating the branches off the vine. Many who say they are teachers are brutalizing others by only telling answers, being very unsympathetic to the agony of their pupils, and filling their heads with twisted notions and half-answers framed more to control rather than make them fruitful. A good teacher is a poet in the classroom as well as in the field, instructing and explaining specific talents, and even strategy. Don’t professional pruners also teach the vine the best way to go, and strategize with the vineyard owner? The vine is purposely planted north to south so it gets as much sun as possible, with the sun going east to west. As a result, the pruner must prune some leaves to cover parts of the grape cluster from the heat of the sun, as well as remove just enough so as to allow the sun to ripen the yield of the field evenly. It’s a very intuitive business, and one requiring great understanding about how the vine grows.

If, in God’s constant agriculture analogy, from Adam and Eve being tenders of the garden to the call for us all to be fruitful, i see apostles as planters, and teachers as pruners. In the O.T., the word for pruners came with the idea of someone who strikes the strings with their fingers. It was a delicate touch on the strings to make a beautiful sound, not in the sense of pounding the instrument in a effort to beat a melody out of it, which would be like pruning with a club. In fact, the way the Lord gave us the Hebrew word, the first letter is a knife, and the last letter is a picture of constructive or destructive cutting away, and the letter right in the middle is one of wisdom. So, for pruners, between the knife and trimming of the vine is a flowing stream of wisdom. Can you see the picture there … can you see the sequence of a knife, wisdom, and cutting? With a little knife, choice and wise constructive cutting away draws out the greatness of the vine, as in a creative process to prosper all the little knife trims.

If we prune with a club, the vine will be years in recovery before it bears fruit again. Aren’t brutal teachers who choke their students down to “make” them learn, aren’t they trimming the vine with a club, and their brutalized students might well be years recovering to become fruitful again? No wonder in James 3:1, scripture reads, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” Why? Because the fruitfulness of the vine is in your hands as a teacher, probably more than anyone else. Pruning 101 says you’ve got to be gentle, prayerfully consider to understand each branch and vine, use wisdom and think carefully before you cut one back or let another stand. Be wise and don’t cut down fruitful trees. C’mon, i know you’re probably irritated with a lot of poor students, but in the mean time, don’t cut down fruitful trees.

What do you think?

i’m Social Porter with Living In His Name Ministries

Genesis 1:31, “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” It wasn’t merely good from God’s perspective, it was very good, and it could not have been good unless God made it. That means He imparted Himself into all which was made in order for it to be good. Here begins, a closer look to find the attributes of God Almighty intrinsic to all that was made. i am by no means a scholar, nor do i consider myself scholarly. i simply try, read, make notes, and truly have a heart to know the Lord. As i’ve said before, God is the most important person in the universe and He has the most important things to say in the universe. i’d really like to know Him and hear what He’s got to say, more than knowing myself, you, or anyone else. The simple glance of His eye is more important than the deepest things born of flesh and blood.

i reckon a great place to start is by looking at the book of “first things”, Genesis. What did God hide of Himself in The Heavens. Let’s “BREAK IT DOWN”.

There are two parts to the concept of “heavens”, one is physical which includes all that is above the earth, and the second is in reference to the beautiful base camp and dwelling place of God. For the sake of brevity, i’ll keep it to the physical.

In 1530 the word was translated as only the “visible dome or arch of the sky”, but at a closer look, God made it so much more. In Gen1:8 the heavens are referred to with the word “expanse” attached, which brings with it the idea that God “hammered” it out, so to speak, when He created the “vault above the earth” known as “the heavens”, that plasma blue dome over our heads. From my limited view of things, i imagine the Lord in the never ending extension of His dwelling place developing the “expanse of the Heavens” by holding His concept, like a malleable ball, in His hands. With His fingers, He pressed it down, pushed it over and stretched it back, rolled it all out flat, folded the sky back together, then rolled it out again, stretching and pressing outward until He got it to the right size according to His design parameters. Then with a precisely shaped Holy Ghost hammer, He tapped it all into place to become what we now see over our heads.

When the Lord created the heavens, that in and of itself was an infinitely incredible feat of wisdom, engineering, and rolling creativity. Isaiah40:22 says the Heavens are stretched and spread out like a tent or a curtain. From the Heavens we get sunrise, and sunset, sun, moon, stars, rain, snow, thunder, etc. Clouds and birds constantly find their course in the space we call the sky or what God created as “the Heavens”. We have many idioms and metaphors in reference to the heavens, like when Israel was disobedient, the Lord said He would make “the heavens like iron”, a metaphor meaning no rain and He would give a deaf ear to them except to hear their repentance.

The heavens tell of the glory of God in Psalm 19:1, they declare His righteousness and praise Him according to Psalms 50 & 69. The O.T. word is spelled in such a way so as to indicate that the Lord is revealed and also concealed in all He made, and i do believe something moves in our heart when we look into the expanse of the sky. Something deep within us responds to God who has hidden of Himself, wonder and eternity in the Heavens. The very idea of “the heavens” was designed for us by the Lord as a shelter, where God, who is the very geometry of creation, connects to us like a flowing stream. In English, we just say heavens, but God intends us to realize it is much larger than simply saying “the sky”. In all things which He made there is a common thread of God revealed and God concealed … “Deus absconditus/Deus revelatus” (God concealed/God revealed)….in other words, for many He is hidden from reason, and to others He is totally discoverable to them who press on to know Him.

Through the Heavens, the personification of the geometry of creation connects to us through the door by which the first breath, the spark of the Spirit ignites our imagination. Through the door of the heavens, God breathed the first breath on all things living. He created a need in the heart of man for the vastness of perpetual endlessness He calls “the heavens” as a reference to His great love for us. He gave it to us to look up and wonder, for us to know His goodness while watching the moon look back at us from behind night clouds. You may think this odd, but i must admit, i…have dreamed, in fleeting moments, of having tea with the stars and catching lunch with the morning breeze. We need the expanse of the Heavens.

A poet named Queenie wrote: Some people are like stars, so close yet so far away. Some people are like the moon, Shining so bright, but rarely noticed.

Some people are like comets, They burn so bright and so fast that they don’t last. Some people are like constellations, They look so put together when really everything is far from it. Some people are like the night sky, They look so dark far away, but really are filled with light.

Romans1:20 reads that God’s invisible things, as his eternal power and Godhead, “are clearly seen” in the creation of the world, “being understood by the things that are made.” i can see how especially the heavens leads us to the knowledge of God. The expanse of the Heavens over our head preaches of God’s glory all night and all day, with each day always pointing to the next, declaring His salvation in all languages to every soul under the dome of the sky, in every part of the world, without ceasing. Now that is an amazing thing the Lord made. What do you think?

i’m Social Porter with Living In His Name ministries.

We have all been invited to meet the Beautiful Friend in the words of Jesus to “repent, believe, follow” from Mark 1:14-16. i don’t know about you, but i think most people can’t resist, in the long run, a divine invitation. When Jesus came walking on the water in Matthew 14:22-33, He bid Peter to get out of the boat and walk with Him. He said, “Come”. That was a personal invitation by God for Peter to participate in that divine moment. You know what i mean when i say “divine invitation”? i think we’ve all got two choices in the matter of meeting our Beautiful Friend, we can either come to meet Him with our dancing clothes on, or we can meet Him from a stretcher as we’re carried into God’s hospital to meet with Doctor Jesus, or meet Jesus while looking up at Him from a hospital bed after recovering from Holy Spirit surgery. Dressed for dancing or on a stretcher, what’s it gonna’ be? Personally, i think i’ll get my dancing clothes on and begin learning some of God’s fancy footwork.

i’m confident the Lord will show us the dance steps. Afterall, dancing was His idea you know, and i don’t mean that nasty stuff the world does, i mean the kind of dancing that requires a relationship and some knowledge of your partner, matching steps, turning with the rhythm, dipping at the lulls, rising at the crescendo’s.

i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts, broadcast semi-live from the late evening, cascading banks of the Ockluhwahhah River, where the trees gently lean over the rivers edge, and every evening is pleasant.

This is something special, something beautiful. We’ve got cool jazz and the kind of 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 just seem to function better after the sun goes down… i have no idea why, your reasons are your own. And then there’re the people who are up late because you can’t sleep. Stuck in that grey place between awake and asleep, the grey place where nothing hides, tossing and turning like a fish out of water.

God gives us beautiful words if we’ll listen closely enough. i want my words to settle into the hearts of the wounded, the beaten down, and for those who dwell in a loneliness so terrible that it has withered their hearts and bowed them to the ground. God will give us pockets full of hope to give away like candy in our pockets and words made beautiful with the anointing of the Lord, the infusion of the Holy Spirit, soaked in the Well Of Heaven, the Radiant One, Jesus. Oh yes He will. Lord overcome us with Your beautiful love.

i’ve listened to many a prayer offered up for other people, from myself and others, and every now and then, i’ll hear the most beautiful words flowing out of the mouth and heart of a believer, and it is a dancing melody that makes me close my eyes to see Jesus. Sometimes the words are like a cleaning woman dusting the shelves of someone’s heart with her emerald green dust cloth, making bright the sweeping purples, and dazzling yellows of that person’s life. Other times the words come like delicious, sparkling water, cold and refreshing, clear and alive with vision, peace, and discernment.

Jesus is the radiant dawn of hope, a gentle yet mighty river of compassion flowing endlessly into dry and weary souls. His presence is like warm sunlight breaking through storm clouds, illuminating every shadowed corner of the human heart with unyielding love. He is literally the personification of perfect kindness. Did you catch that? Not just compassion but a river of compassion, not just hope but the radiant dawn of hope. Jesus is like a tender shepherd whose gaze restores the weary and lifts the fallen with infinite grace. What kind of grace but infinite grace. In His eyes shines the wisdom of eternity, peaceful and profound all together, inviting all to drink their fill of forgiveness where no one is turned away.

i think i’ve grown weary of the words i’ve used as my old standby words and prayers. They just seem tired. All my words and methods, at first, were filled with light and anointing, but when i started using them repetitiously because i couldn’t think of anything else to say, that’s when i should have gone to God and asked Him for the passion and vision of renewed words of praise and prayer. But, instead, i lingered long on being perplexed over why everything seemed to go flat. Why did it take me so long to decide it would be good to ask God for words and inspirational prayers rather than be mired up in repetition? i have no idea. Matthew 6:7, “But when you pray, don’t use vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.” i’d like God to give me beautiful words, words full of His presence, to a world which has lost it’s way, is at a constant loss for words and vision, and is repeatedly driven through a sieve of viscous circumstances. Lord fill our mouths with the prosperity of your goodness. We need you Jesus.

In the hush of the morning when the sun stretches wide,

God whispers soft wonders that tickle the sky!

He sprinkles the mountains with mysterious sparkle and shine,

And dresses the rivers in ribbons of light so fine.

Oh, the colors! The giggles! The breeze soft on my face!

Flowers burst open with joy in a glorious push.

Stars dance and twirl in the deep velvet night,

While clouds puff and float like balloons taking flight.

His beauty is everywhere, wild, free, and grand—

In every small leaf and the warmth of a hand.

It bounces and beams, it sings without words,

A marvelous, marvelous God of the birds!

i remember my younger days, so often my words were toxic, and now looking back i’m pleased no one died from drinking my water. But God has changed my source of water supply, He has caused His poetry to overwhelm me, causing me to become a rhythmic and rhyming life in Him instead of a toxic well of my own making. Fear masquerading as conviction is still fear you know. To me, the Lord is a dazzling, a one of a kind compass who not only points in the right, and righteous direction, but sings a lullaby of peace and hope, a gentle song of rest and the promise of becoming and overcoming through Jesus who is the Radiant Lover of my soul. Jesus causes me to look out upon the world around me with brilliant, clear eyes and to know His dance steps. He is the only one who walks among the broken with healing in His touch and peace in His words.

He leads me through His dance while the stars sing to us as only stars can, they sing between their joy and laughter in unbroken praise.

Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” The Lord sees us as His poetry, and by the blood of Jesus, God planted His glory in our heart for the world to behold. He lives in us, He is singing rain, and dancing light, and because He lives in those who believe, !Yes…. you too can sing and dance.

Many years ago, i had a dream, and in that dream i was broken, filthy, and twisted in a dark so dark it was suffocating. Suddenly from far away, a door opened and Light stepped in the dark. i could see it was a person, strong and straight walking towards me. When He got closer i could see it was someone who emanated their own light and wore a crown. He stopped in front of me and called for me to come to him, He said, “Come”. i abhorred myself in His presence but He called again. i couldn’t resist the divine invitation. As i went towards Him, who was the Beautiful light, my filth fell off, my twist became straight, and my brokenness became whole so that by the time i got to The King, i was beautiful like He was. He leaned down and looked at me closely, and He said, “You can dance!” Then He Smiled so big the universe bent around Him. Music began to play from the light around Him; He pulled me up to stand on His feet, held my hands high, and we waltzed all over the room. The closer He gets to all things, the more all things become like Him.

Yes, you too can dance.

Do you know how beautiful you are? Do we know God sees each of us as the apple of His eye, not the worm in the apple, but as someone beautiful? i think more than a few only see the eyes of Judas the betrayer staring back at them from the reflection in the mirror. Because He lives within our heart, we are empowered to respect life and to abhor murder, loving justice, empowered to ardently honor the covenant of marriage between a man and woman, despising adultery and betrayal in any fashion. We are empowered by God to highly esteem the property of others to overcome our fleshly inclination to steal what is not ours, and enabled and authorized to be like Jesus in that we are honest and transparent, refusing to take a bribe. We are not for sale. Say that with me, we are not for sale.

Psalm 33:1 “Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous! Praise from the upright is beautiful.” Ecclesiastes 3:11 “He has made everything beautiful in its time.”

1 Peter 3:3-4, “Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear, but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.”

The Lord makes us, His people, to be beautiful, and He gives us the authority to make beautiful the world around us. Don’t you know according to 2 Corinthians 2:15 “… we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.” His reality and substance whispers freedom to captives of fear, offering rest to the burdened and purpose to the wandering. Jesus is the master artist of redemption, weaving back together broken threads into tapestries of glory, turning the ashes of our old ways into breathtaking new life. He has and is boundless generosity, the humble servant-king, and the quiet strength that calms raging seas within.

He gives to us who believe on Him His fragrance, sometimes like the fragrance of rain, sometimes like grapes or flowers, that’s my Heavenly Father’s cologne and i’ve smelled Him many times. Like the little girl who nearly died, and one day, years later, when it was going to rain, she asked her mother, “Mom, can you smell that?” The little girl crossed her arms across her chest, closed her eyes, rocked a little bit and said “That’s what He smells like when you lay your head on His chest.”

There seems to be many who hate because they have no recognition of the destiny available to all humanity. The Beautiful One, Jesus, The One King and EverLord calls us all to His perfectly designed destiny. He says to us, “Come” as an invitation to participate with Him in His divinity. The book of Luke is about Jesus, the son of man, The book of John is about Jesus, the Son of God. i call the Book of John the “book of whomsoever”, because whom so ever can come to Him to be made beautiful, you can do that. You too can dance! If you have two left feet, so to speak, God will redeem the time, and restore what you’ve lost so you can join Him in dance. He says, come, throw off your morgue outfit, your death clothes and put on your dancing clothes!

You can sing beautiful words. Don’t you know God has made in you a perfect music making machine? It is your voice. At best man-made sound systems are 50-60% efficient, but the human voice, ahhh, now there is an amazing instrument. The man made sound system is typically in a tuned box, a box that is fixed size, and the only way it could become more efficient would be for it to be able to change size for each note the speaker must reproduce.    But God, that’s right, But God has given it to all men to be able to make perfect music. As our voice rises or falls to sing a note, our sinuses expand and contract to the correct tuning of what our voice is doing. Making it so if a low note requires a lot of air, our sinuses expand to make a long sound chamber so the low note is resonant. If we need to sing a high note, our sinuses change to shorten the amount of air needed to go high. With a little training, it is a perfect sound creating gift God has given to all man kind.

By the grace of God you can sing, you can dance, and you can know beautiful words from the Heart of the Lord to give away. You, Yes You, in Christ are beautiful, and Jesus has made you that way on purpose!

Genesis 49:21 “Naphtali is a deer let loose; He uses beautiful words.” The word beautiful there is Hebrew for “goodly, or glistening”. Start now, looking to the Lord for glistening words for yourself and others. Ask Him, it is His good pleasure to give us good gifts. According to Matthew 7:11 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”

There will come a time in Heaven called “The Day of Stars”. It will be a time of singing and rejoicing, when the stars, whom God knows by name, will walk down the streets of Heaven. Banners of praise for the Lord will stream, cheering and singing by the inhabitants of Heaven will roar, music from the Glory of God will bring us all to our feet. That’s the day we’ll meet the stars of Heaven, the ones who caused us all wonder and marvel for all our lives, who guided our paths on open seas, through mountain passages, across deserts, inspired hope and peace, and assisted in guiding the wise men of Matthew 2. What a day that will be when our mouths will never be turned down again, our eyes will have smiles in their corners, hearts will be filled with the presence of God, and the light of the Lord will be our light forever. What a beautiful day, what beautiful people, what an amazing and beautiful Jesus we will dance and sing with. You too can have beautiful words. Put on your dancing shoes, the music has started in you, i can hear it from here. Think about it.

In Genesis12:14, it says when Abraham came into Egypt, they saw Sarah was very beautiful to behold. In Ezekiel 33, the Lord describes the prophet’s ministry as being “like a sensual song by one who has a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument.” The Lord has called all of us to walk in the world around us similarly, as one who has a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well. Zechariah 9:16 portrays us who are ransomed from death, saying, “And the Lord their God will save them in that day as the flock of his people; for they are as stones of a crown, sparkling in his land. For what comeliness and beauty will be theirs!” Friends, let us be God’s beautiful words, speaking garlands of grace in the ears of the lost and dying.

This has been Outposts, brought to you semi-live from the late evening, cascading banks of the Ockluhwahhah River, where the trees lean gently over the rivers edge, and every evening is oh so pleasant. i’m Social Porter and this production has been brought to you by Living In His Name Ministries, Area 22 Guitars, Clarence Cable at the Sky Line Drive In, the wonderful ladies out at Ruth Originals, Kevin, Perry, and Tommy of the Mebane Freedom League, White Knuckle Studios, and Trinity Bakers, where there’s always something good in the oven.

The Lord has so many beautiful things to say, they always fill me with hope. i need to hear His words, i want to hear them. God’s words change everything. His beautiful words have changed my life.

My friends, the thunder of His coming rages at the edge of the horizon, for He is coming back for what is His, you and i. We are beautiful to the Lord, we may not be perfect but He thinks we’re to die for. The Lord will give us His beautiful words, He’ll teach us His beautiful dance, and He’ll empower our voices to sing with the love and power of our beautiful Savior. If you look for Him, He will find you. Do this with me: Put your thumb and first finger together, rub them around, do you see that little space between the two fingers? If you give Him that much, just that little bit, He will show you how to walk to Heaven to touch His face.

Thank you for listening , amen and amen.

Trepidation: a nervous or fearful feeling of uncertain agitation, or apprehension. i liked this definition too, “reluctantly trembling”. The word carries connotations of disquiet and foreboding about a potential upcoming threat. A 1940 issue of the Circleville Herald, an Ohio newspaper, printed this statement: “A trepidacious Europe today remained tense, worried, fearful, for the outcome of what military men predict will be the greatest battle in the history of the world.” That meant all of Europe was trembling at the thought of conflict and bloodshed. And as we all know, soon to follow was World War II, a war which nearly swept the entire world into calamitous collision, strife, and struggle, not to mention the swirling arduous uncertainties as to everyone’s future. People were inundated with arduous uncertainties!

Tense, worried, fearful, and reluctantly trembling. Most seem to have no understanding of the trembling going on in their hearts, minds, or the ground under their feet. It’s almost as if there’s an incredible number of small earthquakes going on, in the physical, spiritually, and metaphorically.

In fact, physically speaking, according to IRIS, that’s I-R-I-S, an organization which tracks earthquakes as they happen, in 2005, there were, on the average, less than 300 every 30 days. In 2011, there averaged around 350-400 in a 30 day period. in 2013 there were 794 earthquakes of 4.0 magnitude or higher in the earth in only one month alone. To date, in 2025 there are now 1449 earthquakes in December 2025 alone. Yes, that’s just in December.

Baby, there’s a whole lotta’ shakin’ goin’ on, and that’s just speaking of the physical shaking under our feet.

I’m Social Porter and this is Outposts, cool jazz and thought provoking conversation …. tonight’s conversation piece is titled: trepidation nation, or maybe that should be trepidation nations, plural, as in all nations of the earth are presently trembling, all together, for the first time in history.

i hope to not present this topic of ponderance in too much of a political fashion, and i’m saying that so we’ll know this isn’t headed toward getting anyone to vote for anyone other than Jesus Christ.

Stan Reynolds of Sage Point Financial, Inc writes:

“In 1970 America, gold was $35 ounce, gasoline was .20cents/gallon, an average house was $15,000. The total debt was $2 Trillion.

In 2012 America, gold is $1700/ounce, gasoline is $4/gallon, an average home is $170,000. The total debt is $16 Trillion.”

In 2025 America, gold, on the average, is $3435/ounce, and on high days it’s around $4300-$4500/ounce, the average gasoline price was $3.10/gallon, an average house is around $410,000, and the total debt is around $37.6 trillion.”

Mr. Reynolds continued, “Our government went off the gold standard 57 years ago last August. By uncoupling the gold standard from the dollar our government gained enormous flexibility with what it could do with the dollar. BUT, unfortunately, to date, no government of any nation, anywhere on the planet, anytime in history has ever been able to resist the temptation to spend what they do not have through their power over the creation of money. Like everyone else in our nation of trembling, unsure, and nervous people, governments are just people, and like everyone else, they are flawed by selfish desire to get things without paying the full price in pain to get them.”

“In 2012, our country was spending $3.8 trillion/year while only bringing about $2.5 trillion, which means we must borrow $1.3 trillion.”

That was in 2012 and this is 2025, although things have changed for the better for sure, with the concept of “better” being pretty subjective, the idea of spending far more than we take in still exists. And even if the current administration has improved things, we, as individuals are still practicing the same habits which bottomed the nation out in 2008, only with a renewed vigor. It is not “their” fault we, as individuals, are, on the average, terrible money managers. Each of us is choosing and so many are constantly only one pay check away from the street.

Ok, i know this is a lot of numbers, so don’t get lost, go with me on this.

Let me continue to quote Mr. Reynolds, “The ONLY area Congress can budget for contains everything we call government, example: highways, health services, the military, courts, FBI, CIA, etc, etc. The amount they will spend is, honestly beyond my ability to deal with amazingly large numbers. Which means, this year, to make all the functions of government to continue, we must borrow every dollar Congress budgets for.”

“There are only two options to balance the budget at this point, either….1. Shutting down, not just take a break, but shutting down every governmental department from the military to the department of transportation to the FDA!

• OR –

Raise taxes on EVERYBODY by 50%!

Mind you, this program was written in 2012, so keep your shirt on. Continuing on, there is no money left, we spent it all and then borrowed much more than we spent. From 2025 looking forward, the next president, and it doesn’t matter WHO it is, will not be able to get this nation back on track without a lot of pain shared by all.”

Let me add, due to America’s collective unwillingness to embrace such pain, or any pain for that matter, we will get what we are given by those who we wish weren’t in leadership but yet we put them there.”

Now let’s move this into the “now”. We can aim our fingers at government till the cows come home, but the bottom line is each of us must change the way we handle our lives. i don’t know about you, but without Christ, in no way fashion or form, am i smart enough to do life by myself. We need Jesus.

i believe Stan is speaking VERY plainly to something the American

public is VERY blind to, purposely or not. These are facts that are disquieting and may very well be a main ingredient in the shaking ground we all seem to be standing on….

It is virtually impossible to take something away from people once they have been promised it and it’s been given to them for so long. Usually riots and chaos in the streets and in government follow. Maybe printing more money would help but in the long run it just becomes green ink on white paper. i tell ya’, when people realize, i mean really realize they are not safe, almost anything can happen. When the calendar ticked from 1999 to 2000, there were a lot of people who suddenly said, “I don’t feel safe.” i remember thinking, you’ve got to be kidding! You weren’t safe before, and without Christ, your illusion of safety was just that…an illusion.” i heard other people say, “i feel like big brother is listening.” Are they kidding? Big brother was listening all along, the difference is you guys are just now waking up to the realization. And what’s worse, after they found out they were being watched and listened to, by way of tacit approval of the governments actions, people became indifferent as long as they got free food, education, free college and houseing.

How to deal with this in a pragmatic, prayerful, watchful way without being panicky and overly reactive is a good question. It’s easy to quote 2 Chronicles 7:14 which says, “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” God said it, it is absolutely the truth, but i’m pretty certain the “heal their land” part does not mean we’ll all get to live on easy street, dining on sweet things, riding merry go rounds, and dreaming in the moon light. i sincerely doubt God’s idea of restoration means to restore us to our old “let us exclude-God” state of mind and heart. When most people quote that scripture, i believe what they’ve got in mind is to go back to some sunny, whimsical, magic time in their life when they felt all things were good and they were catered to, hoping to devise a way to escape our trouble by getting away on a vacation. What we don’t realize is that even if we went back to that time when “everything was ok”, today, it is all different now. Old friends have moved on, we ourselves are different, roads have changed, businesses have ebbed away into the past and new ones have sprung up, the old home place is long gone, and the farm is now a shopping mall or parking lot. There is no going back.

Let’s look at a simple 10 year window at how things went when we, as a nation, purposely started excluding God, which began around 1960-63. Between 1962 and 1973: Teen pregnancies jumped 400%, sexually transmitted disease jumped 272%, sexually active teens jumped nearly 400%, murder arrest for ages 13-18 up 230%, violent crime in general crept way up over 400%, reported child abuse leapt 330%, and the list goes on and on. Here’s a real zinger, since the introduction of Viagra, sexually transmitted disease among men over 55 has skyrocketed over 600%. That’s right, 600%.

i’m sorry, but without the Lord, that’s where we are, and the same downward trend is to follow. Without the love, protection, and direction of Jesus in our lives, there is no choice for society and all those in it but to spiral downward toward self destruction.

So, here we all sit, feeling apprehensive, arduous uncertainties keep us awake at night, we have a nervous trembling in our hearts, and all around us the world changes moment by moment. There’s this funny tension in everything, have you noticed? It’s like everything and everyone is trembling with either anxiety or expectancy. Like i said, there’s a whole lotta’ shakin’ goin’ on!

So, so many people can’t sleep so they have gone to their doctor and gotten a prescription for a pill, a sleep aide, completely ignoring the side effects. i kid you not, i saw an advertisement from a pharmacy company of some sort the other day, and it said, with calm smoothness, “If you are sleepless, tossing and turning, your anxiety is high, we can help. One pill a day will keep anxiety away.” i thought to myself, you’ve got to be kidding! Don’t deal with your emotions, Heavens no, why would you do that? Just take a pill where you’ll be zipped off to la-la land, never too high, never too low, just always in the middle of calm. You’ll sleep like a child!. Gosh! And how many people think all that’s a good idea? Did they even read the atrocious short-term side effects not to mention the long-term use side effects?

One of the goals of the FDA is to ensure that drugs marketed in this country are safe and effective. But c’mon, have you read those side effects? Oh my gosh! The side effects of so many drugs approved by the FDA, is absolutely terrible, in fact so horrible it’s like a comedy to read the list. If i take medication which causes me to bleed through my skin, from my position that is so VERY not safe, and often, the horrible side effects seem to far outweigh the effectiveness. Yet the over watch governmental agency has approved it as safe and effective. Safe according to who? Their profit margin?

Many have such daily anxiety over everything, they are literally trembling inside, to the point of taking drugs to reduce their anxiety and depression with such longevity, they now are dependent on those drugs to make them somewhat functional in society. We are trepidacious over going to the store, leaving the house, walking in public, being noticed and not being noticed. We have an uncertain agitation about our finances or the lack thereof. It is incredible the number of people who are apprehensive over any close relationships because of what someone might know about them. This is going on, on a national scale. Don’t believe me? Do your own survey, really listen to the people you interview and you’ll begin to hear the thread.

Hebrews 12:26-27 “ … this time—he’s told us this quite plainly—he’ll also rock the heavens: “One last shaking, from top to bottom, stem to stern. This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain”

But in the middle of all the shaking going on, in the middle of all our internal trembling, arduous uncertainties, and apprehensions we need to hold on to Colossians 3:1-3, “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

Is it possible so many in our nation are trembling in the foundations of their hearts because, as a whole, we no longer listen to or trust in God? Is people’s disquiet and apprehension due to their general unbelief? Do we not actually believe God is who He says He is and we’re sort of satisfied to keep living in tourist-type Christianity? Satisfied to merely walk on the beach looking for interesting things but never going out in the water? At what point will we, as a whole, turn our eyes to Jesus? You know, we don’t have to wait until the sky is falling to turn and embrace the Lord.

Most folks sort of skip over the book of Daniel. It’s literal and metaphorical, it’s very pointed and speaks a bit cryptically at the same time. Most don’t seem to understand it, including myself concerning parts of it, so we all do what we usually do when we don’t understand, we smile, move away, and keep silent.

But, on the long shot no one will be inclined to close their ears, let me read what is for many people, a very uncomfortable scripture: Daniel 12:1-3,  “At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation, Even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, Every one who is found written in the book.
And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt. ³ Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever.”

Hmmmm … do you believe we are in the last days? And don’t listen to manipulative people who have changed the definition of important words in order to make old prophecies fit their agenda. How do we stop the apprehension and trembling in our hearts? We need to stop the bleeding.

The 12^th chapter, vs. 1-3 of Daniel basically says that God’s people are to let their testimonies shine before men, and they are to lead people to Christ in the last days. He went on to say in vs. 10, “Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand”.

In the last days, evil people will continue to act with evil and to live in darkness. But God’s people will understand what’s really going on. God’s people will not live in fear and confusion, but will have wisdom and insight on how to live in a world filled with turmoil and change. We are to have a close relationship with God and do great things in His Name. It’s not enough to simply be near Jesus, we’re supposed be knowing Him in a relationship, a full blown, everyday walk around relationship. Dan 12:12a says “blessed is he who waits”.

Focus on the Lord, set your eyes upon Him. Psalm 123:2 “Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, So our eyes look to the LORD our God, Until He comes and has mercy on us.” Strength will come when we wait upon the Lord!

In Titus 2:12-14, Paul tells us we should, “live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope–the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.”

There it is, Jesus is how we stop the trembling in our hearts and minds. He alone is the stay and stanchion, He is our hope. Jesus alone, Jesus alone, and there us not another. Think about it.

Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

Thank  you for joining me here at Outposts, a fine establishment by the Ockluhwahhah River, where the trees gently lean over the rivers edge and every evening is pleasant. i’m Social Porter and this program has been brought to you by Living In His Name Ministries, Area 22 Guitars, Miss Jackson at the

De-Luxe Beauty Shop, Frank Edney at the Hot Spot Cafe’, Bruce and Mildred Harrell over on Fleming Street, the amazing Paul Powers, and of course, our greatly beloved Jeff and Karen at Trinity Bakers where there’s always something good in the oven.

Music was by Bill Bruford, and Jazz for a Rainy Day.

Don’t let our trepidatious nation get to you. It’s not an accident these things are happening. None, i repeat none of the present day, arduous uncertainties are happen stance. The Lord has pointed to these days from long, long ago, so let’s not be surprised. Jesus is our fountain and foundation, not the structures nor designs of men. He is supreme, superseding “all things” – He is holy and righteous above all nouns, all pronouns, all adjectives, all cases and numbers, all forms of manners, methods and times and seasons, above all titles, positions, and platforms. Prov 8:22-31. He is the appointed one, the radiance of Glory, the representation of God’s person, He is all things by the power of His Word, He provides purification from sin, and sits at the right hand of the Father and the Holy Spirit in absolute governance of the universe. All things.

He, Jesus, is our starting and stopping point, every time, without fail, it is Jesus, and there is not another. Cling to Him and Him alone, not your friends, not your job, not your pastor, or your ideals, but to Jesus. Rest assured He knows exactly what to do and that is exactly what He will do. Let’s count on it with all our heart. What a super idea, huh?

Until we meet again, be blessed and wise. Amen!