The secret to power

The secret to Christian power is the unveiling of Christ, the all powerful one within us. We need to only truly humble ourselves to be vessels of glory and honor. To live so that Christ may live through us - and trust us not to steal His glory, love or fame.

Many a person has said with their life "I would do much more for Christ Jesus, but I get so little credit for it".

Note from the past 11-8-1996

Here is a note from one of my past journals.


There is a wonderful and precious deeper life that I have seen. I am not walking in it, but I have seen it.

When all that I am can die and Christ can be raised fully in me, I will have it. Much of my growth toward Christ is for me, not for Christ.

There is a very crafty struggle within. A blocked self says to “seek Christ and become a man of God”. This is weak and faulty because my inner heart knows that “the man” is the focus of the attention.

Yet there is another heart, a heart of holy reflection that says, “seek God and obey”. This heart is willing to be the fool, the simple, the trusting. This heart is a heart that is dead to self but alive to Christ Jesus.

Today I see more clearly than ever before that to gain Christ and keep the blocked heart (the self) will end in “godlessness”. It may produce, what appears to be, a real spiritual man, but in truth it will only produce a spiritual shell.

I need not seek to become great in Christ, but seek only to be in Christ Jesus my Lord. In a wonderful, terrible leap of faith I must give everything to Christ, especially my godliness. I have grown in Christ to a place where I can do the most harm for Christ. I am at a place where I could do great treason. To let the man live another moment enhances the probability that the blocked heart will live, live to hurt, kill and destroy.

Yet even my dying is in the hands of Christ. He must bring to me all that I need to cut away and destroy this old heart of mine. He alone can truly put me to death. If I plan my own death it would included a glorious resurrection, ascension and praise. If I kill myself it would result in the praise of others for doing so and possibly some grand song within, filling me with self-praise.

History Lesson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUMuUWpgokQ&NR=1

Almost Honest

Who made the world where cheerleaders rule
Where enthusiasm trumps substance
Where glamor is enough
Why do we praise words
avoid deeds
And cover our emotions with
self-righteous disguise

I seem to see great things in the most broken
Yet see little more than self-love in the most popular
It is the spirit of self-love that draws others

How i long for a conversation with a man
instead of the actor playing the man.

Thank you Lord for those in my life who are real
who bear all things
endure all things
love with courage in the absence of praise

Thank you for examples of life

Living on God’s Rumors

Have you ever taken a word that God spoke to someone in scripture and claimed that for your own? I was pondering that (contemplating really) and I felt as if that was wrong. I felt that if a man stood up and told people publically that He loved Shirley, his wife, it would be wrong for other women to say, “he loves me too”. I know it is more than popular to do that with scripture, but is it right?
As I consider this I felt assured by God that He is more than able to talk to each one of us. And YES He does use scripture to do that. But have you notice how we do it with the positive words, what we call the “good stuff”.

When we do this we live on the rumors of God. We are trying to live by what God has said to another. You don’t need to do that. God has plenty to say to you. You don’t need to live in the leftovers of another person’s relationship with God.
I have heard many people proclaim “We are the head and not the tail”. Yet seldom (actually I am the only one I know of, and I did it more in a spirit of grumbling than in a spirit of revelation) do people proclaim “I am the tail”. Do you recall Paul proclaiming his apostleship (1 Cor. 4:9)? Maybe modern man is better off than this old worn out Apostle.
Now don’t throw out your Bibles just because you can’t get a word from them whenever YOU wish. There is more than enough narrative relenting the unchangeable nature of God. Even among all the personal words not intended for you – are lines and lines of the character and nature of God just waiting for you to grasp and delight in.
God does often use the very words He spoke to one to speak to us too. When we hear Him, even though He is addressing another, His word to us becomes alive and fresh. It has His conviction and not just our presumption. In these cases we do not choose the word but the word has chosen us. We are not laying claim on the word as much as the word is laying claim on us.
Let’s all make the choice not to live my rumors or the words that God has spoken to others. Let’s step out each day with the active hope of a living relationship with the living word. It is His nature to communicate to me, to us.
Even if the Lord of heaven has recorded His love for another in Scripture, you need not envy or steal that proclamation. And don’t panic if you are not the “head”, I have it from a good source that the first are going to finish a little lower than the last one day.

A Vision of Ants

Ants
So I am down at the Prayer Center minding my own business and praying with a couple other guys with I have this internal vision about ants and unity. By internal I saw it with my “inner eyes” and not outside of me like at TV or video projector.

There on the ground were ants. It was like there were numerous little colonies, with their leaders. Each “leader ant” was doing what they thought was needed to please the Lord and earn a little reward. They were very busy, working very hard. Off to the side of what was the main thing they were doing was a little pile or work called “obedience to God”. The leader ants would work on this little pile as often as they could, but they kept being compelled to work on the bigger pile. It seemed like the ants were under a great burden to keep building a bigger work that had a great or substantial appearance, even if they knew the little work of obedience to God was more important.

As I looked I started to see other worker ants piling up stuff too. I saw that they were seeking to pile up their significance by gathering criticism and complaint against what others were doing. There were numerous (sorry to say) little rebellious colonies, out or relationship with others, assuming responsibility to correct others and direct them.

I felt a little hopeless. I went from the joy of praying for unity to feeling pity, mainly for myself for wanting more than “being trapped” in such a community. I didn’t ask which pile I was working on because I didn’t want to know.

They I felt the Lord rush upon my understanding. Having played college football I have this feeling of when the other team did something great against you. I played offence so at times I stood on the sideline and watched as the other team ran this fantastic play and scored against you. On the sideline you can do nothing but watch and at times it seems like that great play would never end. But there are times when the umpire throws a flag and the whole thing is for nothing. I felt that! I felt that “you killed us with that but it doesn’t count” type of feeling.

I saw again as the Lord reached down and grab all of us and put us in an Ant Farm. As He did that I sensed Him saying, “This is a small thing to correct”. By simply putting us all into a space that confined us, we were required to get along and interact with one another. God removed “my space” and “his space” and made it all His place. But I wondered if just being together would make such a great difference.

With that thought I saw that the ant farm was being observed by the Lord. He saw all our works and labors easily, and we knew that He knew. Each tunnel, pile or stack was seen by Him and there was no place to hide. But it felt better than hiding. It felt liberating to be seen. It was like we all were free to do what He desires us to do when we all know that He was watching.

So here is the part I don’t know
• Does God have some plan that involves involuntary confinement?
• Should we start to seek the Lord to know more of what He sees on a day to day basis?
• Is this a prophetic teaching that has not “real life” events but should provide some wisdom?