This Thing Called Faith. 

While praying for my brother I was talking to God about the covenant of our fathers and mothers and grandparents. Remembering my maternal grandmother's prayers in her last few years for each of her seven children, their spouses and children, as we shared a room and she presumed me asleep. I started telling God how I don't believe in the blessing from and of people anymore because of experience and history. From inside my spirit, His Spirit spoke, " Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Faith is conceived at intimacy with God. Great faith comes from great intimacy with God. Jesus knew this and as a man, He spend great amounts of time with God alone. You cannot be intimate, open and honest in trust with someone if the two of you are never together alone. David became the person he was because of the years alone with God behind the sheep.

I have to hear to see. Seeing is never a prerequisite of faith, but hearing is. Faith is a substance of things unseen, and if you believe you will see God. Seeing is revelation. Revelation is the result or outcome or culmination of faith not the cause of it. If we believe we will see. If we believe we will receive. If we believe we will....

Mystery is part of who God is. We can only know Him by revelation. Revelation comes from the Holy Spirit. There is NO revelation without the Holy Spirit and that requires faith. You have to faith it to let the Holy Spirit teach you.

Faith, believe, comes from hearing the living, "now" word of God. That is why Jesus said, "Those who have ears let them hear" and not those who have eyes let them see. With words God created the universe and with words we preach in such a way that people believe. Words, living words, "now" words, spoken in faith, which in turn brings revelation.
Faith comes from "hearing" not having heard. We need a fresh word. Jesus was constantly in communion with the Father. A fresh word from the Father infuse us with faith. - Faith is the currency of the Kingdom -

Seeking to see in order to believe is creating a horse-behind-the-cart situation. We walk by faith and not by sight 2 Cor 5 v 7. Faith comes from the Rhema - living, alive, spoken by a voice - Holy Spirit-inspired, word that has the power to create, by growing like a seed - the seed of Mark 4 and Luke 4. There is an internal faith that comes from hearing. This faith is the kind that grows inside of us and brings the God of Heaven here to the earth. True faith, authentic faith does come from hearing and it becomes an inward reality.

Untill now I believed that it was okay if people's faith comes from miracles, healings, signs and wonders but I now understand that this is why the multitude left Jesus. Their faith was a seeing faith. The substance was not there. Seeing faith is external faith. It is faith that you do not own. It makes people run from event to event, trying to see a new thing and basically being entertained. This kind of faith does not last. It has no more substance than the emotional high or low we get from a Holywood movie. It needs to be kept amazed and in wonder. It makes the poor pastor work hard to keep them interested and it gave birth to the "seeker sensitive" idea.

Those that have faith that comes by the living word of God, have an internal, lasting, growing faith. This is the kind of faith that is able to save, sanctify and reveal God to us and through us. This faith will transform our inward man daily untill we also glow with His Divine presence and carry with us the aroma that brings change.

Where I see no evidence in my experience or history of the value of human blessing... Where I saw the flaw of the human factor... Where people's blessing meant pain... God says, "Have faith, when there is no evidence that can be seen." Faith is the substance when the facts or history shows no substance. Have Faith!

Tempted by the Devil 
Jesus was tempted by the Devil, would we escape?

After forty days and forty nights fasting in the wilderness Jesus was hungry. It is a legitimate need and not in itself sin. But the tempter used this need for a springboard for his attack. We all have legitimate needs. The need for safety, love, food, sex, companionship, adventure and entertainment and more. All these are God given needs that is part of being human. In itself there is nothing wrong with any of these. Yet it may become the opening the enemy use for attack.

The tempter came near to Him. He could not attack from a distance. It had to be close combat. As close as it possibly could. We learn two things from this statement. The enemy is not omnipresent and when those closest to us are acting in a way that we know this is out of their nature and norm, remember that our wrestling is not against flesh and blood. Remember that in order for us to be tempted as our Master it will be close combat and that as we wrestle that we have to separate the person from the attack.

Lets consider the tempter's attacks on our Savior.

First attack was on His identity as the Son of God. Identity is always the first target. It was with Adam and Eve. " Who are you and who is your God?" On our identity hinges our confidence, faith, security and trust. If you know who you are you have confidence and security. If they know who you are they will have faith and trust. The question of identity is always foundational. To believe in Jesus Christ is to believe in His true identity: He is the Son of God who came as man to rectify all that was wrong with man, so that we could become acceptable to God the Father.

Identity carries a measure of authority. If I am the Queen of England my authority will match the position. If I am a son of God my authority will match this identity.

Identity also includes destiny. You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not stand against it and I will give you the keys... As a child of God I am destined to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven

Jesus did not ignore the attack but spoke to it with the authority of God's word. The second part of the first attack was to tempt Jesus to proof His identity by going against the spirit of His nature. His nature was to sacrifice Himself and give. Now He was tempted to use His anointing and authority for self serving purposes; to fulfill a legitimate need, yet, this is the hook of the temptation: Self or others.
He chose to focus on the spiritual and not this earthly needs but that which is eternal. He lifted His vision higher and locked unto that which cannot be shaken.

For the second attack the Devil actually take the Son of God. He, Jesus, the one of all authority is being taken by the Devil. He is captured and taken somewhere, where he did not mean to go but He let the Devil take Him. Jesus is taken by the Devil.
The Place of the second attack shows us that the Devil understood something about God that most of the church are still ignorant of. God cares about places. This city is God's favorite. He loves this place.

The Devil take Jesus to a place He loved and are familiar and comfortable with. You'd think that Jesus would have home court advantage. Just because the Devil take us to a place we know and are secure in does not mean that we are safe. Watch out when you are taken to a place of intimacy, security and "warm fuzzies" and it was not by God's doing.

The attack is inherently the same as the first one. The hook is slightly differently baited. The attack is still His identity: If you are the Son of God. The hook is not a legitimate need anymore. Now it is a right out challenge to look and sound right for the wrong reasons. To proof yourself the Son of God throw yourself down. And now the devil reveals himself as a quick learner. He quotes scripture. Speaking God's word and trying to sound like God is a trick he does with much effectiveness. Making you do something that even looks like your mission. Jesus did come to sacrifice himself. Yet in it is also revealed that God cares about the time and method. It matters how and when His will is done.

Jesus comes back with a relational answer quoted from the scriptures. It is the best answer. Tempting God by doing something stupid and presumptuous has more christians in trouble than outright sin. We jump and hope God will send His angels to catch us. We have very little discernment and not enough relationship to notice that the scripture quoted to us was not from God's Holy Spirit but an impostor pretending to be Him.
Jesus' come-back was basic and solid. Follow the temptation to the last ripple. See the last and final affect and see if it will first honor and glorify God. Then if it will affect and how will it effect the relationship between you and God. And then also what will be the ultimate result. What will it accomplish? What would it accomplish if Jesus jumped and was caught or not?

The third attack leaves Jesus again in the control of the Devil who takes Him to a high mountain. Now he shows Him the prize that is to be His. Jesus is to receive the Kingdoms of this world and their glory. That is the promise of the Father. The temptation seemed different from the first two. Now it is not cloaked or subtle. It is as direct as a knife at your throat.

The Devil just comes openly with what he wants. He declares what he wants and promise what you want. This almost sounds like a mafia offer: too good to refuse. There is so much wrong with this offer.

Reaching the desired and promised end our own way and in our own time by making a covenant with the devil in essence worships him. How do we worship the devil? Out an out- most often not. We do it by obeying him and doing things at his time and in his way and in so doing letting him be our master. See Jesus' response: Go, Satan for it is written Worship belongs to God and Him alone. Serve Him only.

This blatant but final: Who do you serve? Who gets your worship, your awe, your wonder? Where is your passion, devotion and excitement of your soul? What is it that your soul loves? What do you choose?

The other thing to consider about all three these attacks is that the temptation was the same as in Eden, to act on the word of the devil instead of the word of God. Acting on the word of God includes creative ability. His word creates. It has authority to perform and accomplish. It accomplishes it's purpose when used with faith and obedience. The word of the Devil always delivers destruction. It destroys, kills and steals. From these fruit we can learn to recognize the sound, tone and content of the Devils voice as oppose to the voice of God.

Only Believe.....




All that is required of us to be saved is to believe. We believe in the name of Jesus and we are born again. This is a reality as real as the sun that shine or the love in our hearts. No-one will argue with you if you say you are in love, lonely sad etc.... and just like that we are born again. And according to John 1 we are born into the family of God and become children of God and have a whole new future. All this blessings and inheritance because we believed.

For most people christian and non-christian this is not so far fetched anymore. "Believe" has became a term people can relate to. But now we have to go and look at the rest of the commission. Jesus did not only commission us to go and make disciples. He also said something will accompany those who believe.... Signs, wonders and miracles...

Somewhere else He said: this same things I do you will do and greater. What did Jesus do and say? Luke, who wrote both the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts, said in the opening statement of Act: The former things I wrote about what Jesus of Nazareth both did and said. If your belief does not reach into your experience it is worth nothing. James wrote a letter about this. We are so familiar with it that we have lost the meaning of it. This was not and is not given so that we can have some doctrinal dispute about faith and works. We have to understand that faith has to affect our experience. Our behavior, our habits, our day to day, rubber meets the road has to be changed by what we believe or it is dead. It means absolutely nothing.

An experience without the faith is worthless as well, according to James. So it is when the two are well mixed that we get what Jesus had. He had faith in God and walked it out. Remember while walking on this earth He walked as man; filled, after His baptism, with the full measure of the Holy Spirit; but still as man. He modeled a way of life for us. He preached a message: The Kingdom of heaven is here! The Kingdom of God has come! Then He modelled what it looks like when the Kingdom is here. He brought Heaven to earth. The Kingdom of God is perfect and there is no death, decease, poverty and lack. This is what Jesus came to show us. And even more. There is a reality that supersedes the one we are in. There is another, matrix, another level of existence that faith in God and Jesus Christ is suppose to bring us into.

Most of us give lip-service to it and think that it is done. It is not done until it changes our reality. You can say that you believe Jesus heals the sick a million times while walking around with a cancer hanging of your ear. It means nothing until that thing falls off in the Name of Jesus. Now your faith has affected your experience. This is why so many people who dramatically were healed become healing evangelists. They now are convinced that faith in God heals the sick because they have experienced it.

Our Kingdom reality must change our way of life. Our belief must change our way of life. Driving for a year on one dollar of gas is possible if we are willing to live, and let God put us in the vice of living, between the prayer and the answer. There is a tension, most of us wants to avoid, when you step out in faith. We read and like to tell and study the history of the hero's of faith but what we miss in all the excitement, is the process.

Most of the people we venerate and esteem as great spiritual giants did not do any of this overnight. Most failed miserably for long periods of time but kept going until they experience that for which they had been arrested by God's Spirit. We cannot assume to come into their slip stream without at least having the same tenacity and fire in our bones.

"If you can believe," Jesus told the distraught father, "anything is possible for those who believe". We call ourselves Christians because we think that it defines us as disciples of Christ. Christians, the anointed ones, but what we ought to be are believers. "Those who believe" the scripture calls us over and over again. Called to believe... When the disciples asked Jesus: What must we do to do the works of God? He answered: Believe in God and in His Son whom He send.

That seem to be to easy. Well, do it then! Believe!

Believe that Jesus meant what He said, about Himself and about us: the ones who believe in Him. Believe that He said that whatsoever we ask in His name believing we shall receive. Believe that He said we can speak to the mountain... Believe that He will give you all things... Just believe!

But do not say that you believe and then your actions make you a liar. If you believe in Jesus like He said, rivers of living water will flow out of your inner most being and a multitude will come to you to quench their thirst. The multiplication of the five loaves and two fish seemed to be an important event in the gospels. It is recorded in all four. It is here where Jesus gave the disciples the opportunity to put faith in action. He looked up to heaven, broke the bread and fish and divided it among the disciples etc. What did Jesus do... He took the reality of the Kingdom and imported it into this life. He demonstrated the reality of Kingdom of Heaven here in this place.

As He is so are we in this world. As the head goes, so goes the body. We are to do likewise.
We are believers. All that is required of us is to believe and let the believe permeate our action, experience and life.


Mark 16:14-18, John 1:12, John 3:16, Rom 4:11, 1 Tim 1:16,
John 14 :12, Phil 3:12, Mark 9:23, John 6: 28-29,
1 Tim 6:17, John 4:10-11 & John 7:38,
Matt14, Mark6, Luke9 and John 9,
1John 4:17, Col 1:18, Col2:19
James 2

The WOW effect. 

John 4 Jesus says to the woman at the well: a time is coming that the true worshippers will worship the father in spirit and in truth.

True worship makes people and angels fall down on the face because it brings the awe of God. It is the Wow effect. It is what leaves you speechless with only a cry coming from deep within that says: Holy! Holy! Holy!

There is just something in true worship that has the ability to transcend the pain of our human experience. It is this quality that had John Huss sing on the stake and other martyrs face the fire, the lions, the ax, the guiletine. the firing squad with joy and worship. It is this reality that brings worship into prisons despite the broken knees and legs and flesh-less backs.

True worship brings what is in Heaven into our earthly realm. True worship will go on forever and ever. In accessing this wow/awe effect we bring eternity into the here and now. We have this awesome reality available if we are willing to let go of religion, i o w right-and-wrong. Who really cares about all that when you are in the Presence of such greatness. The Awe/ Wow of His presence erases the crookedness in our inner being. It re-focuses our vision and transcend every weakness and limitation.

This is life everlasting. And it is accessible NOW!

Prayer That Avails Much....

The following is a chapter from

Preparing The Way by Cal Pierce.

May it speak to your heart as it did to mine.

The Genesis of the Burden: David's Heart

Many people ask me how I happened to receive a burden for reopening of the Healing Rooms in the first place, and I have to admit that it didn't begin in my own heart. It actually came from the heart of David, our youngest son.

When David was just seven years old, he was diagnosed with Duchenne type (pseudohypertrophic) muscular dystrophy, a disease whose common symptom is the weakening and wasting away of healthy muscle tissue. Duchenne affects children, and those who have it typically do not survive to become adults. By the time David was ten, he was already confined to a wheelchair, and he needed our help to do most things.

Michelle and I divided the labor in this regard. For instance, it was her job to get David up in the morning and get him ready for school, and it was my job to put him to bed every night. He had a motorized wheelchair and was able to get around at school and to wheel himself around the house. During the night, we would take turns getting up to turn him over every two hours so that he would not develop bedsores. By the time he was sixteen, David could move only his hands and his head.

As his physical condition deteriorated, however, David began to develop a heart after God. This was interesting, because my wife and I were stuck in a sort of religious mode at the time. We were Christians, but we were not very excited about the Lord and were not really praying like we should have been. We went to church on Sunday mornings and took David with us, but we were not interested in other services. Suddenly, David wanted to be in every service. He didn't want to miss the Sunday evening service or the youth service. I would load him up in the van and drop him off at church, and then I would go somewhere to have coffee, do some shopping or just walk around until he was finished. Then I would pick him up, and we would go home.

David's passion for God increased to the point that he would call me to his room each evening to help him get ready to read the Bible. I had built a special table for him that he could wheel his chair under. When he was ready, I would help him get his arms and hands up onto the table and then put the Bible where he could manipulate the pages of it. He would sit there and study the Bible for the next several hours.

After David had read the Bible for two hours or more each evening, then he would begin to pray. We always left his door open so that we could hear him if he needed anything, and occasionally throughout the evening, when I would pass by on my way from the television to the bathroom, I would hear him praying. He was actually interceding for others. He was praying for America, for his classmates, for our neighbors and for us, his parents and siblings. David had a heart for people who were hurting, and he felt their needs.

When I would hear him praying like this, my heart would break. Why didn't I know God the way my son did? He had such passion for the things of the Lord. Why didn't I share that passion? We had often given him opportunity to do other things, but this was what he wanted to do. In fact, this was all he wanted to do. Knowing God better was his sole desire. He wasn't interested in other things. He wasn't even interested in his sickness. It did not consume him, as is the case with many sick people. He was consumed with the desire for God.

Occasionally, as I was heading to work late in the morning, I would see David and his classmates in the school yard as I drove by. Most of the children were playing on the courts, but David was always sitting over by the gymnasium alone in his wheelchair. The thought of my son not being able to be involved in the activities of other children was one that devastated me personally. From David's perspective, however, this wasn't bad at all. Being alone and apart from the rest of the group, he could talk to the Lord. I had a hard time understanding his way of thinking, but I was deeply convicted by his deep devotion to God.

We had a large deck that wrapped around the house, and David was able to maneuver his chair out there into the fresh air when the weather permitted. We would hear him out there, going back and forth, talking to God.

One evening my wife and I heard David crying and rushed to his side. He had wheeled himself into the hallway. "What's wrong?" we asked. He said that he had a bad thought, and it was easy to see that this had broken his heart.That deeply sincere confession crushed me. I had many bad thoughts, but I had grown so calloused that I never let that fact bother me. David loved Jesus so much that having one bad thought had brought him to tears. Again, I felt ashamed of myself.

One day we asked David, " If you could have any wish, what would you ask for?" I was sure that he would say that he wanted to get up and walk like other kids and do things they were doing. That would have been very normal for any boy David's age. He didn't answer quickly. His eyes moved up and to the ceiling, and he looked there for a few minutes, obviously searching his soul for the answer. When he finally answered, it surprised both of us: " Nothing!" he said.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. My son, who was practically helpless and had very little to look forward to in life, did not feel the need for anything at all. How could that be? I thought about all the things for which I might have asked, given the same opportunity, and they were many. But David was sufficiently filled by his knowledge of and his love for Jesus so that he didn't need anything else. How utterly amazing!

Throughout the seventh and eighth grades and on into high school, every paper David wrote for class was about Jesus. Jesus was his life, and everything he did was about the Lord.

Then, for a period in 1989, each evening, when I would go into David's room to get him ready for bed, he would ask me if he could stay up a little later because he had more that he wanted to pray about. Even though he had school the next day, each evening he wanted to extend this time even more. "Can I please stay up just a little later," he would plead. I think he would have prayed all night, if I had let him, but around 11:30 I would go in and insist that he just had to get some sleep so he could go to school the next day. David reluctantly agreed.

When I finally did start getting David ready for bed each of those nights, I would find that his clothes were wet from perspiration because of his exertions in prayer, so wet that they stuck to his body. Even his socks and shoes were wet.

After this had gone on about ten days, I asked David one night what was so important that he was exerting himself so in prayer. His answer amazed me. " We've been studying Russia in class, and I'm praying that the walls of Communism will come down so that the Gospel can go into that country and the people can be saved."

My God, I thought, how could such a young man have a burden like this? I had never prayed for the Iron Curtain to fall, and yet my sixteen-year-old son was doing it, and with such fervency. What motivated him?

Not more than thirty days after that happened, the lead story on all the news programs was that the Berlin Wall had been breached, and I saw the East German people pouring through it and tearing it apart piece by piece. I was overcome with emotion and began to weep. If the prayers of a teenager could have such an effect, surely God would hear me too. If David's prayers could shake a nation and tear down a wall, then I must begin to do my share.

Suddenly I desperately wanted to know God as David did. I cried out to God, "God, I want to know You, and I will know You in the way David does." The change I sought as a result of David's impact on my life did not come immediately, but it would come.

A few years later, before his twenty-first birthday, David slipped away from us and went to be with his Savior. One moment he was here, and the next he was gone. In one sense, Michelle and I were devastated. We had loved him so much. But in another sense, our cup was full. We felt very privileged to have had David in our home. He had left us with a vision, a vision to work toward the saving of America, a vision to bring healing to our nation and our people. In time, that vision would become clear.

Loved Ones......

We call them "Loved Ones" because we love them and they love us. It is a relationship based on love. We may not agree on much except that we love one another and that seems to me the principle thing.

I do not know much about building wooden structures but if you are going to build with brick you have to have a good, solid, level foundation. That foundation was given to us by God in Jesus Christ when God, because of the great love with which He loved us, send His only Son to die in our place so that an avenue to a personal relationship with God may be opened. That is why Jesus' only command was that we should love.

Yesterday a man passed on to Glory suddenly. He was not a great theologian - most of his doctrine was slanted and tainted - but he loved. He was an old coot who earned the nickname "Grizz" because he could be a bear - but he loved. He was not very rich or successful in business, we smiled at his schemes and ideas - but he loved. He was ornery and gave up on organized religion years ago but he learned to love.

I called him PapaDoc. He called me Kiekie. I am going to miss him sooo very much. Not because he was larger than life or had a huge part to play in my day to day life. Not because we were related by blood. Most people who know me, did not even know of his existence. No, I'm gonna miss him because he loved me and I loved him.

Why do we place so much emphasis on the point beside the point? Can't we see that God is love and those who live in love, lives in God. I don't care much about doctrine, because soon enough, when we see Him who knows everything, doctrine will pass away. Haven't we divided enough because of methodology or doctrines? We think in our arrogance and pride that we have it all together, yet neglect this one thing: Love God with all your heart and love one another as He loves us.

My heart grieves today as I remember PapaDoc. I wish I could have one more visit with him. Just one last e-mail or phone call. Just one more time hearing him say: Fhurekte Khaibe.
But all I have is those that are left behind... the loved ones.

Lovest Thou Me ? 



Jesus did not ask Peter to keep some doctrine or whether he understood and would promise to keep some command; He simply asked: Lovest thou me? I am convinced that through the tunnel of time into eternity the same words echo: Lovest Thou me?

God is not really interested in all the silly things we keep as so important, that we sometimes in hindsight have to shake our heads at ourselves in stunned, amazement that we let a thing that silly upset us. He does not care how much money, popularity or knowledge we have. He does not care if we miss it daily and struggle a lifetime with the same sin. No, He does not. He wants to know if we love Him and if we love one another.

Jesus gave us two commandments, ONLY two. Love God with all that is in you and  love one another as I have loved you . And then He says: if you love me you would obey My commandment. He is talking about loving one another as He loves us. Can we do this? Loving God seems easy if this second part is not attached.

The new testament teaches that if we say that we love God and hate our brother( or sister) that we are liars. - This does not mean that we have to stick around to be abused by some other person's brokenness. Since we all have some form or another of misinformation about the idea of love, let's just look for a minute at the way that He loves.

He left heaven, union with the Father, to empty Himself of all His divine attributes and live on earth as a humble man, a slave, and then allow His body to be abused and tortured to death; carrying in His soul the grief of our sins and twisted-ness, so that we can have the choice to sin or not. How is that for love? While we were His enemies, Christ died. For a good person that will accomplish good things, for our children, we may be willing to do this, but He demonstrated His love to us, in that He allowed this atrocity to be committed against Him, the innocent, while we were dirty, rotten scoundrels. To top it off, we can continue in our sin, if we so choose. ( We will reap the reward, the wages of our sin if that is our choice.) Maybe we would be willing to die for a sinner if he or she will promise to amend their ways... But He did not add any condition to His sacrifice, except that we believe in Him and appropriate His sacrifice to ourselves.

Can we really comprehend such unconditional love? Can we really wrap our hearts and minds around such a Savior?

This Love, this awesomeness, is enough to fill me up to overflow with love, adoration, gratefulness and worship. What do you do with a God like this? He loves me. He loves you. He is love.

Prepare the Way of the Lord.

Wasn't that the prophet's cry.... Isaiah 40:3-5, Matt 3:3, Mark1:2-3, Luke 3:4-6

Prepare....

Preparation never happens unless there is an anticipation. It trancends hope. It is the action of Faith.

What is the "way" of the Lord now? The prophet speaks of making straight paths - bringing mountains down and elevating valleys. Where is this "way"? In the hearts of people. We are each our own "way" builder. But only the Holy Spirit can be the Master Engineer. We do not even know our own hearts because it is so deceiptive.

So how can we prepare a way when we are not even able to rightfully know where there is construction needed? By humbling ourselves under the hand of God by the Holy Spirit. When we open our lives and bow our knees, our minds, our hearts and surrender our rights to Him, who is our life, then we will have the priviledge to participate in this road construction.

This is by no means a small task. Each have to take his or her own life and open it to the Holy Spirit's search(Ps 139); seeking and searching and inspecting by the light of a candle; so that every mountain can be exposed, every crack filled and every valley elevated. Making a highway is never cheap. It comes at a price. How do we reckon on preparing a way for the Lord without cost?

We have for years cried out for a visitation, a habitation of the Lord among His people. Yet we have seen minimal results to all our fasting and praying. Could it be that we have send the invitations to a place that have no road to it? Could it be that the way are obstructed by landslides and eroded by the constant floods of circumstances. Maybe there are boulders of offense that effectively block the way, the light, the flow.

How willing are we to prepare the way? How willing, do we think, God is to manifest His presence among us? Maybe we've been asking the wrong question and knocking on the wrong door.

Isaiah 57:14-15, Isaiah 62: 10-12, Malachai 3:1-4

Salvation of the Soul - Marietjie Chase

Jesus' death burial and resurrection was for the redemption of the whole man. Yet, the full realization of it, the complete package, is seldom there instantly. Potentially it is there, just like a child has the potential to accomplish great and wonderful things. The oak tree is in the acorn.

At the moment of New Birth our human spirits that lay dormant - dead - since birth, (Rom 5:17, Eph2:1) because of Adam's sin, are quickened - made alive. We wake up from the inside. We experience life in a whole new way. The Holy Spirit's indwelling that brings light to our spirits give us new vision. We feel whole, ecstatic because for the first time we are complete: spirit, soul and body, as we were meant to be. (IThess 5:23, Heb4:12, Matt 8;13, Luke23:46)

So the spirit is quickened, regenerated and receives the indwelling Holy Spirit at the instant of New Birth. (John14:17,6:63; Rom 7:6, I Cor 5:5, 6:20, 7:34,15:45; II Cor 7:1; II Tim 1:14; IPet 3:18,4:6;...)

The unregenerate operate with only a soul and body. Only God through Jesus by the Holy Spirit can resurrect our spirit. This is the meaning of: "dead in their trespasses and sin". (I Cor 2, Rom 7:5, Matt 10:28, John 14:17, John 3:6)

The Bible teaches that our bodies full redemption is yet to come at the time when God will give us new bodies. This body, the temporal body, is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in our spirit, Which is in our body. (I Cor 3:16; Eph 2:22) We are the containers, the vehicles, the carriers of the Holy Spirit, yet still a body made from earth, bound, chained to earth.( Rom 8:1; II Cor 5:1-4; Rom 8:23; I Cor 15:44; II Cor 5:6-8; Heb 10:5; James 2:26)

The part of us that the New Testament refers to as " flesh" resides in our soul consisting of the mind, will and emotions. Just examine the works of the flesh in Galations 5. It all resides and are rooted and resources from the soul.

Our soul's salvation is the process of allowing the life in our spirit to permeate and infect our soul.  It is the process of letting the life of God that has entered our spirit have the whole of our being. We do this by a series of choices. Some calls this process sanctification: the process of making holy and set apart that which is not. (Rom6:22; I Thess 4:3) The soul, as mentioned before, is the will, mind and emotions. Of these the will is suppose to rule.

Renewing the mind (Rom 12:2; Eph 4:23) is a must for any believer. We have to allow the light and life of the Holy Spirit to reach every nook and cranny of our thinking. There is an acquiring of the mind of Christ. We have to think with God, His thoughts. Our minds cannot be contrary to His. In allowing Him to redeem our minds, we arrest every thought that exalts itself against and contrary to the knowledge of God and reject it. For example: there may be a thought process in a mind that says: "no-one loves me, I am useless and unimportant".  This is contrary to what God in His word declares about us. He says that we are His workmanship, created for good works. He said that He loved us while we were His enemies, that He chose us long before we were even born to be in Him and part of Him. So, we receive His word, believe His word and reject our own thoughts on this. The first letter of John, the Beloved, repeats over and over the phrase: "By this we know..."  We have to know, understand and experience the God that we serve. We have to be willing to change our thinking. We have to submit to Him in our thinking we have to humble ourselves and not be high - minded. A washing by the water of the Word needs to happen. Neglect of the Bible and a pride of mind will make this part of salvation of the soul a long and arduous process. This process is NOT our works. It does not require "sweat and tears". It is the work of God in us to change us into His image. Our only part is to co-operate and not resist. (IPet 1:13; James 1:8; Titus 2:6; Eph 2:3, 4:17; Phil 3:19; Col 2:18; Heb 8:10; I Cor 2:16)

The emotions, though not mentioned as a whole, but addressed as love, joy, wrath, anger, etc, needs to be changed by the redemption now indwelling our being as well. Our emotions have to be resurrected by the Holy Spirit. We have to have the love of God in us. Where love  were a pure chemical reaction to the endorphins flooding our brain, with purely selfish motives at the root of it, now our love has been made pure by the great love that He has for us. We love because He loves us.  We now have a giving, unselfish quality to our love. We find that our passions are changing into His passions. We now do not cry over losing our selfish desires but cry and weep over what breaks His heart.  Our joy, our anger, our longings are resurrected to the original intent, making us vibrant, living beings that respond to God and humanity in a sanctified way. Without emotions our entire human experience will be stale and robotic. Just ask Mr. Data.

Often the New Testament use the word " let" when addressing our emotions. "Let not your hearts be troubled... John 14;21. Let not... Eph 4:34. Let... Phil 2:3, Col 3:15. That speaks of control and release.    (Rom 6:13) We can let ourselves be angry and sin or we could direct that anger(passion) in a way that it can accomplish righteousness. Eph 4:26 We could either love the world or we could love God. ( I John 2:5, 4:7) Our emotions have to be flooded by the power of the life of God in our spirits. We have to let Him heal us in our emotions, so that our view of this life and of Him are no longer from the brokenness of our past experiences but as complete in Him. Restored to His image in our feelings.  (Col 3:8; Eph 4:31)  Redeemed does not mean cauterized. He made us in His image and that means we are emotional beings. In Him the emotions have a purpose. Just think of Mr. Data.

Our will, the master of our soul, has such a wonderful, clear message in the Book that it should not be difficult for us to understand. In Heb 1:2 it speaks of Jesus, who came to do the Father's bidding and it uses the phrase " I delight to do Your will". That describes more clearly than anything the status of a saved will. This process is a bit fuller described in Phil 2 where the full - kenosis- emptying of Jesus' divinity is described. Submitting His will to the Father was not a walk in the park for the man Jesus. Just look at His Getsemane experience. It's intensity and strain busted capillars in His face. Hebrews tells us that He learned obedience by the things that He suffered.(I Pet 1;9; Heb 10:39; II Thess 2:13; Phil 2:12; Rom 13:11)

The human will, more than any other part of us, have been in bondage to sin, satan and self. We were slaves to the demonic impulses, lies and deceptions. We have NOT the power of choice prior to being born again. The indwelling power of the Holy Spirit makes us free from the law of sin and death. It frees our will to choose whom we will serve. We now, after redemption, can "let" or "let not".  Because of the great salvation wrought by Jesus Christ, our will can now function as it was designed to function. We can now delight to do His will and do it. We do not have to submit to the impulses of our un-redeemed past. We can choose to respond to this human experience as the new creations we in fact are. The power of the Holy Spirit inside of us, gives us the ability to "will" to do His will. Revelations 12:11 says that they overcome him ( the enemy) by the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony and loving not their lives even unto death. ( Romans 6, IPet5:5-6, 4:19;2; James 4:6,7,10;15, 1:18; I Thess 5:18; ITim 1:1; Heb 13:21; Eph5:21; Col 1:9)

When Jesus was asked: "What shall we do that we may do the works of God?" His response was: "Believe..."   We began this journey with God in faith. We, individually, have to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He is Lord of all, that He died in our place as final offering for all sin and that we receive His life inside of us, enabling us to have a personal relationship with God. It all starts by believing in our heart and then confessing with our mouths what we believe. We cannot even begin to imagine that we can "complete our salvation" by our own strength and power. We end as we begin: receive the end of our faith, the salvation of our soul. We keep the faith and in this we work out our salvation. We keep on believing that God is at work inside of us both to do and to will according to His good pleasure. We keep on, believing that we can only live by faith in Him and that we live and move and have our being in Him. As we stand in this conviction of the greatness of our God, we are being changed from one degree of glory into another, into His image. (  John 6:28-29, Romans 17, 1 John 4:15 and 5:5,  Acts 10:36, 1 Peter 1:9, Philippians 2:12-13, Acts 17:28, 2 Corinthians 3:18)

Yes, the salvation of the soul is an ongoing process, it is the permeating of the reality of the life of God deposited in our spirit, to encompass the whole being. It is the culmination of salvation when our entire existence glows with His glory divine.

Just Grace. by Marietjie Chase

Ephesians 4:7&11 to each one of us grace was given according to the (full) measure of Christ's gift...
He gave (granted) some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, some to be shepherds and teachers...
Gal 1:6, 1:15, Romans 1:5,12:16, I Cor 15:1, IICor 8:9, Eph 3:7&8, II Tim 1:9, Jms 4:6, IPet4:10-11,

These gifts are grace gifts: Charis is a favor done without expectation of return; absolute freeness of the lovingkindness of God to men, finding its only motive in the bounty and free heartedness of the Giver.
Charisma indicates the result of the grace.

If of grace - unmerited by the recipient- then it is not earned.Salvation is by grace. We do not see ourselves as having done something or somewhat to receive it. Why is it that when it comes to the gifts as it relates to the Body are we not also overcome with the grace? If by grace you are a healer, giver, apostle or prophet, why think that it is some part of your own doing?

The same grace that saves us is the same grace that gives us a part to play in this " business" of ministry. It is all God in Jesus Christ. The test of the genuineness of the gift is thus: humility. True humility knows that it is nothing of self but all that has been given to us by God.

If it is a gift, received whether we deserve it or not, where is arrogance and boasting then? In the flesh. This very thing, the flesh, is what makes us less effective in the Kingdom of God.

How can we preach grace laced with self? It would be heresy. How can we also serve a gift laced with self and the flesh? Would this not also be heresy?

The gift and the Giver, the man and the ministry, it is all by grace. If by grace then not by works and not by boasting.

By grace, Paul says, I am what I am. Not by works, not by lineage, not by any other process of selection; just Grace. And if it is Grace then it is just the Father's good [pleasure. Just because He wanted to.
It is great! It is all HIM!

After His Own Heart ( Lessons from David)

by Marietjie Chase

God does not need anything or anyone. He is self sufficient. Yet, David pleased God. What was it of David, that was pleasing to God? What makes a man or woman after God's own Heart?

David restored the ark of God - the presence of God - to it's rightful place. I Chron. 13:3
David's main concern was a dwelling place for the presence of God Ps 132:4-5 David valued the presence of God.

David did the right thing the wrong way. And had the heart to go and find the right way and try again. He was no quitter. There was no"giving-up" in the man.

He feared God. I Chron 13:12 Was sold out for God. Ps 16:8 and attacked a giant for blaspheming the name of his God. Ps6:2

David had a sane estimation of himself. He was humble. Real humility is to only care what God thinks. It is to NOT get your selfvalue from people. It is to be resigned to the will of God for your life. To trust God completely.Ps 19:12-13. When Absalom rebelled and David and his household had to flee, there was a man that followed at a distance cursing David and throwing dust about. One of David's men wanted to go kill this little dust bunny. But David said: Let him be. Maybe God told him to curse me. David left his defense to God.

David had an awesome respect for the anointing of God. Even when Saul hunted him like a dog, he refused to lay a hand on God's anointed. He honored Saul not for who he was but for WHAT he was: God's anointed. Even when you can't bear the "who" you have to respect the "what". David chose the life of a fugitive rather than dishonor God's anointing.

David had one best friend who died early. David's lonely heart found it's rest in God. The Psalms, most of it David's, so raw in emotion revealed a deep intimate friendship. People are not to be trusted with our soul. Only God earns this position. The self principle and the flesh makes it impossible to grant people this place. It is not possible to be a God pleaser and people pleaser at the same time.

David was also a painfully honest, passionate worshipper. He was a worshipper long before he was a warrior and king, and also long after.

He was not perfect. As a matter of fact very few of us can measure our transgressions to his level. Yet, he humbled himself and his heart never changed towards God. He did not participate in the blame game but took responsibility for his own actions.

What difference a heart like this makes.

Spill Over 

by Marietjie Chase



Paul said that we are reconcilers between God and man. I am a bridge. You are to be a bridge. We are all to be the one who bring the two together.

There is some problem in functioning in this purpose if we do not know God. Some years ago, after an extended fast, God spoke. He said: " My people do not know me."

This broke my heart and send me on a two year quest to read everything I could find about God and pursuing Him. One of the works I devoured was Jim Goll's "Wasted on Jesus" and maybe this title says it all.

If we are truly in pursuit of God, if our hearts truly follow hard after Him, we would seem to those on the outside as utter fools. He is more than anything this world can offer yet we are so often distracted and enthralled by this world's stuff.

There is still a gentle call. There is still a sweet invitation to "come away with ME". To those who can hear it, to those who can listen, there awaits unspeakable, incommunicable experiences.

There was a reason Jesus told the disciples to go and wait in Jerusalem. Wait and become so filled with God that you will spill over. How else can the world know Him? They have to be splashed with the overflow.

Sadly most that go by His name, do not know Him and have nothing inside of themselves. Jude poeticaly call these, sunken rocks, waterless clouds, wild waves of the sea, fruitless fall trees, wandering stars, twice dead.... How great the loss for them and their followers.

Simple devotion to a living King. Know God and be known by Him. That is really all that matter.

Enter In -
Symptoms that you haven't yet entered the Kingdom (Promised Land) by Marietjie Chase

1. You do not really know God on a personal level. You just kind of hope that He hears you and knows you. Salvation is an experience, yet you do not experience God.

2. You are still linked with your past. The past is still reaching into your future and in-prinsoning you. You still think, act and feel like a person in bondage.

3.You are a covenant breaker. You do not keep your word. You lie, cheat and deceive and feel no conviction. Or bend the truth and shave or slant it.

4. You are unwilling to sacrifice, do what it takes to fulfill your destiny in God. You are apathetic. Church is a thing added on. You do not really care if God may or may not have a plan for your life.

5. You still blame all your problems, difficulties and failures on someone or something else. You haven't taken responsibility yet.

6. Earthly things still means the world to you. You do not see the Kingdom of Heaven.

7. You use God as a fire escape. Your greatest time of prayer, Bible study and church co-incide with crisis and only then.

Another Gospel by Marietjie Chase

A study of Galatians will show a clear contrast between those who live by the law ( O.T principles) and those who live by faith. (N.T. principles).

In the Old Testament we often read the words: "and they shall know that I am Jehovah." It usually refers to some action whereby God reveals Himself to nations and people. In the New Testament God moves inside of us by His Holy Spirit.

The Old Testament is all about distant learning. Only Moses, Abraham and David and maybe a few of the prophets had an intimate, vibrant relationship with God. But after Jesus came we all have access to the Father through Jesus Christ. Now we all, each and everyone of us, can come boldly before the throne of grace. We are our own Moses. We do not need another human to be our "authority". We are to submit to one another as equals. Even husbands and wives must submit to one another. Eph 5:21.

The O.T. is an exclusive system where the N.T. is an inclusive system. The O.T. has an us-and-them attitude but the N.T. has an all-is-welcome attitude. According to Romans3 and Galatians3, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All means everyone. Those who are good and those who are bad. Those who kept the law and those who failed the law. All are guilty! Even if you are justified by the law .... even if you are very good and do all the do's and don't's... you are deprived of all the affect of Christ. Gal 5. The only way out of eternal damnation is faith in Christ Jesus; believe in your heart, confess with your mouth, be baptized as an outward declaration of an inward reality and become a disciple of Jesus Christ, being rooted and grounded in love, the word, prayer and worship with the saints to help us in our journey to maturity. This is the way for ALL!

The O.T law dictated and punished. In the N.T. we are adjured, encouraged, reminded and provoked to jealousy so that we would choose the best. We are warned, persuaded, called, begged and then also receive revelation and have God working in us to will and to do according to His good purposes. There is no big stick or punishment(consequences, yes). Our will has truly been set free. O.T. slavery, condemnation, -Ro 8- and fear. N.T. freedom. - Gal 5:13.

The law carries a curse. When we try to live by the law-Ro 2:16...-we carry the curse. The only way to live is by grace through faith. Faith brings the fulfillment of promises. None of it is deserved. It is not wages but a gift. Living by a law earns you wages, rights, status and entitlements.

There is no happy legalists. The first sign of slipping from grace into legalism is that we start to point the finger and judge others. There is way to determine if our own actions are guided by self or the Holy Spirit. Just ask what the motivation is. What do we want to get from this? Is there any self-interest in this action?

O.T. subject the flesh to control by law. N.T. walk in the Spirit and kill the flesh (self). Walk in love; walk in the Spirit and so we fulfill the purpose of God in our generation. Think! The mind is the seedbed. Think on Purpose. Ro 12 :1-3 If we are still in the fog as to our thinking and actions, whether it is in the flesh or in the Spirit, judge it by the fruit. (only judge your own thoughts and actions- the rest is not your responsibility) Gal 6:8, Gal5:19-23. Do good. Goodness is a natural outflow of walking in love and in the Spirit. It will NOT be work.


The O.T system of law were motivated by self-preservation and fear. When my motivation is self-preservation, self-saving, anything of self, then I am no longer living in love but in the flesh and law. Now my thinking is: If I... then He..... My entire motivation brings me in bondage. There is no freedom here since it is a constant trade-of. There is no service or pleasing one another for at the root, I am serving at the altar of self. Lucifer's sin was rooted in self. Adam and Eve's sin were rooted in self. Every sin has at the root self(flesh).

In a love relationship the motivation is not selfish. I want to please the one I love. My aim and goal is to know Him better so that I can serve - please Him better. My focus is totally not on me but on Him. Jesus came to redeem us from fear. Ro 8, Heb. I Jhn 4... There is no fear in love. God so loved that He gave.... Himself. Self-giving, self- sacrifice is the opposite of sin. Love is God and God is love... perfect love. It can be said then that there is no knowledge of perfect, true love outside of a relationship with God.

Note: Slavery http://instruct.uwo.ca/anthro/211/slavery.htm

Detours While Running a Race by Marietjie Chase

We worship God and pursue intimacy with Him and discover mysteries in Him. Our lives seem to work like it is oiled. ( and it is, by the Holy Spirit) We may feel like we are actually making some headway in our personal spiritual journey and fulfilling the destiny of God for our lives. But then WHAM! As of from no-where the peanut butter hits the fan. Or like we said in Africa: the paw-paw hits the fan. Meaning; a loved one passes away, we get sued, your car breaks down, your kids go berserk, your boss goes postal, your neighbour goes ballistic, your health fails, your marriage takes a nose dive, or your business drops it's bottom.... These things are designed to distracts and to detract and most of the time they do just that. We find ourselves in such a fix that our focus gets shifted. We ponder, worry and mull about the 'situation' and soon we are under the circumstances. Our joy is gone, our peace is gone and our righteousness is tittering on being dropped in the garbage disposal. Now we find ourselves in a dark place. Somewhere with little hope and no future, or so it seems.

Ever wonder why this happens? Why this detour comes? Why there suddenly appear a "road closed" sign on our journey in life?

It maybe that we were about to break through into something. It maybe that what we were doing, just before disaster struck, were going to destroy our enemy and populate heaven. Yes, I am saying that when these things happen it is an indicator that we are being effective. That we are doing something right and when this happens...and it sure as snow in New England will,...we should not take the detour. Ram that sign and go through it. Don't stop what you are doing. Deal with the problem as much as you can but then realize that all this is temporal. There is a better life. There is a goal, there is a reward laid up for us in heaven. Don't loose sight of the goal. There's a line in the book of Hebrews...now we do not see all things under His feet as yet... BUT WE SEE JESUS! (my paraphrase) He is the author and finisher of our faith. Keep your eyes on the price. And if you got sidetracked go back. Find what you where doing. Pick it up from there and go on.

Deal with the distractions of life as you would with the temptation to sin. We have a race to run and victories to won. We cannot afford to get involved in the tangles and to get lost in detour after detour. Let us run with endurance, determination and focus this race that is set before us.

Overcoming Evil by Marietjie Chase

During the past six or so weeks I've been delving into the study of evil. Not because I have some macabre sense of curiosity but because I'm in a battle that is so clandestine and slippery that I get confused at times. When I was still in Africa, I remember the times we met with demon possessed people and how we dealt with that. Back then I read everything I could find on the subject in order to prepare for it. I feel once again that we are facing demonics. Only this time it is a slippery battle.

One of the almost dozen books I went through is M. Scott Peck's People of The Lie. He said that 'live' spelled backwards is 'evil' and that everything that is against life is evil. All that stifle, inhibit and stamp out life is evil. Now this reminded me that Jesus said in John 10: " I have come that you may have life and have it more abundantly." And somewhere else the Bible says that " in Him was life, and the life was the light of men." Mr. Peck also said that truly evil people like to "keep up appearances". Like the mother in "A Child Called It" who perpetrated amazing horrors against her son, yet wanted to look like a righteous good person. For this reason they like to hide in church.

Traditional church with it's sterile service on Sunday morning and fellowship with the back of some one's head is perfect. It looks good. Giving tithe and offerings and wearing the right - fake-smile and clothing, completes the act. Now all they do it snuggle up to the pastor with thick layers of flattery and the occasional "special" donation to the pastor and we have evil in the very fiber of the church. No wonder Paul writes to the Galatians about being "bewitched".

Listen to me. Listen to me. This is why most people resist the relational style of church. You cannot hide in it. It is pure and genuine. Every religious spirit, every evil spirit will be found out.

When we return to our roots, when we once again become the church of Jesus Christ instead of the edifices of men and demons, when we again put the Holy Spirit in His rightfull place, we will see the evil run from us like in the book of Acts. It is time to turn our back on all that is not born of God and embrace only the genuine article.

Let the church arise! Let the true Church Arise!!

Preparing for the Eminent Hurricane !

I am convinced that if we do not put action to what we believe, that we are deceiving ourselves. I have been asking God lately, what I need to do to prepare for the Great Outpouring of His Holy Spirit that is eminent. And then I received this week's

Visionary Advancement Strategies Articles

Lee Grady was one of the speakers of a small Women In Ministry training I attended in the fall of 2005. He has some substance.

Please, read this article and consider what you have to DO to prepare for the Floodgates of Heaven. We asked for it, now let's get ready to receive.

Marietjie


Preparing For a Spiritual Hurricane

by Lee Grady www.themordecaiproject.org
The winds of revival are coming. But don’t be surprised if a visitation of God redefines the church as we know it.

In Florida where I live, June 1st is a red-letter day. It signals the onset of the six-month hurricane season. I used to ignore those annoying storms because they normally don’t affect central Florida. But in 2004 we endured not one, not two, but three hurricanes. Charley, Frances and Jeanne roared through Orlando over a period of six weeks, and I gained a much healthier respect for 80-mile-an-hour winds—especially when they snap off 12-foot sections of trees and hurl them at my house.
People from New Orleans share that respect, I am sure. When Hurricane Katrina shattered the City of Jazz in August 2005, the disaster triggered the most massive human migration in American history. About half the city’s residents have since moved away, almost half the area’s health care facilities are shut down and 70 schools remain closed.

“You can’t have Acts 2 without Acts 5. The exciting fire of Pentecost is also the fearful fire of holiness.”

One big storm redefined an entire city. The faint smell of garbage still lingers in the humid air, months and months after crews worked nonstop to haul away 22 million tons of abandoned cars, ruined refrigerators, tree limbs, roof shingles, moldy sheet rock, rancid food, mud-soaked clothes and toxic chemicals. If you drive by the old Faith Church facility near downtown today, you’ll learn that relief ministries use the damaged building to supply food to Katrina victims. The congregation, now much smaller because of displaced members, meets in a shopping mall several miles away.

Katrina redefined ministry for Faith Church and many other churches in New Orleans. Priorities have changed. Life will never be the same.

When I ponder Katrina’s sobering aftermath I can’t help but draw some unsettling spiritual implications for all of us. I am by no means a doomsday prophet, but I believe a strong storm is headed our way. It will redefine church as we know it.

When the Ted Haggard scandal made headlines last year I had a sense that this was only the first domino to fall. Many respected voices in the Christian community have warned us since then to prepare for an imminent spiritual wake-up call. They’ve challenged our leaders to deal with sin in their own lives and to get rid of the arrogance, greed and shallow carnality that characterize so much of American Christianity. They’ve told us that God is so serious about holiness that He will expose religious corruption.

When God visits us to bring His winds of revival, those winds will also destroy man-made religious structures. It’s time for all of us to find shelter. Here’s how I believe we must prepare:

1. Reinforce our foundations. I fear that some of us have veered from the basics of faith to follow the latest spiritual fads. We charismatics tend to chase after anything trendy. In some churches today people are delving into exotic teachings and coining new terms including “spiritual fathering,” “apostolic alignment,” “armor bearers” and “heave offerings.” Any new believer who wanders into our meetings will need a translator to understand this spooky vocabulary.

There’s a place for such things (and a biblical basis for some of them) yet it’s possible that the trendy can overshadow the important. If the devil cannot deceive us outright, he will tempt us to get out of balance so that we lose our primary passion for Jesus. Let’s keep the main thing the main thing.

2. Get rid of the junk. The smelly garbage in the church today is going to fly when the winds of God hit us broadside. We must remember that revival is not just about the impact of church growth and new converts; it is also about gut-wrenching repentance and judgment. You can’t have Acts 2 without Acts 5. The exciting fire of Pentecost is also the fearful fire of holiness.

An alarm has sounded. Those in ministry who have not heeded the warning have little time left. I am pleading with you: Get your house in order. Destroy your materialistic idols. Stop all sexual compromise. Stop defrauding people and misusing God’s money.

3. Hide in God. I love the new worship bands on the scene today, but recently I’ve been having some unusual times of intimacy with God while singing from an old Baptist hymnal I owned as a child. Today when I open that book and begin to sing the words to “Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross,” “Jesus Paid It All” or “’Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus,” I get choked up and can’t finish.

I can’t explain my reaction, but it’s not due to religious nostalgia. I suspect my heart is aching for something of substance in an age of cheap imitations. Those lyrics, although they are old-fashioned, are still charged with power because they anchor us to the bedrock of simple devotion to Christ. As this storm approaches, I plan to cling to what matters most.