The High Calling of God

“One thing I have asked of the Lord, and that I will seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord (in His Presence) all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty (the delightful loveliness and majestic grandeur) of the Lord and to meditate in His temple.” Psalm 27: 4 (Amp.)  There are a lot of distracted Christians today- and I admit- I am one of them.   As I get older, I seem to get distracted more easily. It takes me much longer to “get myself together” in the morning these days- and I’m not talking cosmetically.   I am talking about getting all my joints and limbs to “get it together” and start moving in the same direction- hopefully forward! After a restless night- my back aches, my joints hurt and just getting out of bed and down the steps to let our dog outside- becomes a grand event.Once I get my body moving in the right direction then I can be distracted or overwhelmed at the things that I need to do that day.  It isn’t that I forget about the Lord, but I all

1 Peter 1:7 “Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of His victory.” (The Message) What do you think it is that God wants to see in His people? In His Church? In you and me? He wants to see His reflection. So many times, we are so quick to have God remove the fiery trial, take us out of our problems- but we must realize that it is in our “problems” that God will reveal Himself to us and to those around us. John, the Beloved was banished to the isle of Patmos. Patmos was a volcanic island.   He was banished here because of His testimony of Christ.   He lived in a cave and was a slave- lived for 18 months there and in the midst of his fiery trial he received the greatest revelation of Jesus Christ which was written down and given to the Church.  The list could go on and on of those who have

Ephesians 1:7-8 "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us…” NASB Lately I have been thinking a lot about the grace of God.   I am referring to an extravagant, expensive, costly grace- a grace that breaks chains, delivers from bondage and sets a person free from all the sinful works of the flesh. In the Church world- or should I say, “worldly Church”, you will hear a lot of talk about grace.   But it is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer often calls "cheap grace" in his book “The Cost of Discipleship" .   It is a counterfeit, a substitute, a fake type of grace that frustrates and is a reproach to Christ’s sacrificial death.   If one has every truly experienced the true grace afforded by God through Christ, you will never have a desire to cheapen or tarnish it with your own fleshly desires. True grace doesn’t allow us to live the way that we want.   It is NOT a lice