Jesus is for losers

the self-made need not apply…

Grace from the blood of a tree…

Lord, I’m so thirsty… take me to the waterfall.

Accepted in the Beloved

God has made us accepted in the Beloved?

How, you ask? Through His own beloved Son, we are accepted. He reigns, and we reign in Him, and we are the righteousness of God by proxy. If you accept Him. If you believe in Him.

God so loved the world that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, shall not be left alone, shall not be left to themselves to die, shall not be forsaken, but shall have eternal, everlasting, timeless, permanent, unchanging, glorious life, redemption, salvation, hope, joy, peace, newness of being, rebirth, sanctification, revival.

In him and through him and to him are all things.

Where is there room for a lack of self-esteem, when God himself esteems you so highly that He would die for you?
In fact He did esteem you so highly that He did die for you.

“Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.”

Yet Jesus Christ died for you, because He esteemed you that much. Because He loved you that much,
He poured out every last drop of His precious blood, in order to make you accepted and acceptable to God.

In the light of that… where is there any room for self-doubt? Self-condemnation? Despair?

Jesus Christ died for you, He died for me.

Wake up O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will rise upon you.

Walk in the light as He is in the light!! …if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

All sin, all unrighteousness, everything that is not right… made right
everything that is not whole… made whole
darkness… made light

In Him, and through Him and to Him

Amen

The word of the Lord

I will delight myself in the Lord, He will give me the desires of my heart. I will commit my way to the Lord, and He will bring forth my righteousness as the dawn. God delights in my way; my steps are ordered by the Lord; when I fall I shall not be utterly cast down. I will not be ashamed in the time of evil, I will be satisfied in the day of famine. God upholds me with his hand. As I wait for the Lord and keep his way, he will exalt me to inherit the land. Because I trust in Him, He shall deliver me from the wicked.

God is my dwelling place, he has gone ahead to prepare a place for me. God will never, never forsake me: not by any means. In his presence is fullness of joy. He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

Let the beauty of the Lord be upon me, and establish the works of my hands for me. I commit my way to the Lord today, knowing that my plans will be established. My plans will succeed as I commit what I do to the Lord. He will establish peace for me. He has done all my works in me. He will comfort me and establish me in every good work. I am his workmanship, created for good works in Christ that He has prepared in advance for me, that I should walk in them. He has a plan for my life. He has plans to give me a future with hope. He has plans prosper me and not to harm me. What they meant for evil, God meant for good.

God is the Lord my God. He teaches me to profit. He leads me by the way I should go. The Lord has redeemed me, his servant.

God heals all my diseases. He forgives all my transgressions. He redeems my life from destruction.. He has borne my griefs, he has carried my sorrows. He has borne my sicknesses and carried my pains. He shall prolong my days. I will not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord. He was bruised for my iniquities. By his stripes, I am healed. Because He made the soul of Jesus an offering for sin, Jesus will see me, His seed, and God will prolong my days. The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in my hand. I will see the labour of my soul and be satisfied. God will divide me a portion with the great. God will divide the spoil between me and the strong, because of what Jesus did. Because Jesus made intercession for me, a transgressor.

I will sing of what the Lord has done. I will enlarge the place of my tent, and stretch out the curtains of my dwellings without sparing. I will lengthen my cords and strengthen my stakes. I will not fear; I will not be ashamed. I will forget the shame of my youth, for God has called me. God will lay my foundations with sapphires. God will make my pinnacles of rubies, and my gates of crystal, and my walls of precious stones. In righteousness I will be established. I shall be far from oppression, I will not fear. Terror will not come near me. No weapon formed against me shall prosper. Every tongue which rises against me in judgement, I will condemn. This is my heritage from the Lord, and my righteousness is from Him.

I will come to the waters. I will buy, and I will eat. I will buy milk and wine without money and without price. I will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord. I will incline my ear, I will come to Him. He will make an everlasting covenant with me. God has glorified me. I will seek the Lord while he may be found. I will call on Him while He is near. I will forsake my wicked way; I will forsake my unrighteous thoughts. I will return to the Lord and He will have mercy on me. God will abundantly pardon. God’s word does not return to Him void. God’s word will accomplish what pleases him. Gods word shall prosper in the thing for which it was sent. I shall go out with joy. I shall be led forth with peace. The mountains and hills will break forth into singing before me. The trees of the fields will clap their hands. Instead of thorns, God will bring forth the cypress tree. Instead of briers, God will bring forth the myrtle tree. This will be an everlasting sign to God, the Lord, that will not be cut off.

I will keep justice. I will do righteousness. I will be blessed when I do this. If I hold fast to His covenant, God will give me a house, and a place within His walls, and a name, and an inheritance. God will give me an inheritance even though I am barren in human terms. My name shall not be cut off. God will bring me to His holy mountain. He will make me joyful in His house of prayer. My burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on His altar. Gods house will be a house of prayer for all nations, and I will be a part of it. God gathers the outcasts, and He will use me to gather still more, in His name.

A time for fasting

When faced with overwhelming odds, or even what seem to be overwhelming odds, and the impossibility of circumstance or the torment of the promise of God in the face of the inescapable rawness of reality (read: against all hope, Abraham in hope believed) we have two choices.

(a) Give up, i.e. “Fear”, as in we’ve given in to fear
(b) Persevere, i.e. “Do not be afraid”

What to do, how to “persevere” in an impossible task? There seems nothing for it _but_ to give up. When the enemy of our souls seems to have the upper hand, and we just don’t know how to walk in faith… we just don’t have the answers…

Thats the time for prayer and fasting. Jesus said that his disciples would fast when he was taken from them. (by analogy to a bridegroom and his friends).

Sometimes, the presence of God, the bridegroom, the tangible sense of God’s impending victory in the face of the blackness…. is gone, utterly overwhelmed by the gloom. What then?

We fast and pray. That is the hour that is at hand, that is what the church is facing when we just cannot see the way. Not in a haphazard, disorganized way. Not irresponsibly, without an awareness of the cost involved with fasting. Not without a purpose. But because he calls us to fast.

Now is a time for fasting. As the word says in Hosea 10

Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the LORD, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.