Tag Archives: spiritual journeys

Heaven Pt. 163: Soul Secure

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If the Lord had not been on our side—
    let Israel say—
2 if the Lord had not been on our side
    when people attacked us,
3 they would have swallowed us alive
    when their anger flared against us;
4 the flood would have engulfed us,
    the torrent would have swept over us,
5 the raging waters
    would have swept us away.

6 Praise be to the Lord,
    who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
7 We have escaped like a bird
    from the fowler’s snare;
the snare has been broken,
    and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth Psalm 124: 2-8

I once met a man who believed that because he had accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior that  he would never experience death. He actually thought he would live in his fleshly body forever. Of course that was not truth; It was reaaaaallllly  bad theology.

We laugh at such extremism but I have experienced this same  mindset to varying degrees in many Christian brothers and sisters, devout men and women who take the Scriptures and make them say what they want rather than what they mean. Psalm 124 is a case in point. Some would take this Scripture and have it say “Because I know the God who made Heaven and Earth my enemies can never touch me.”

The problem of course is that sometimes the enemy can touch us. Sometimes the enemy can do far more than touch us. Just ask the man who wrote Psalm 24. On another day, in another place he said.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me,

so far from my cries of anguish?

2My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,

by night, but I find no rest.b

3Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;

you are the one Israel praises.c

4In you our ancestors put their trust;

they trusted and you delivered them.

5To you they cried out and were saved;

in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

6But I am a worm and not a man,

scorned by everyone, despised by the people.

7All who see me mock me;

they hurl insults, shaking their heads.

8“He trusts in the Lord,” they say,

“let the Lord rescue him.

Let him deliver him,

since he delights in him.”

9Yet you brought me out of the womb;

you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.

10From birth I was cast on you;

from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

11Do not be far from me,

for trouble is near

and there is no one to help.

12Many bulls surround me;

strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.

13Roaring lions that tear their prey

open their mouths wide against me.

14I am poured out like water,

and all my bones are out of joint.

My heart has turned to wax;

it has melted within me.

15My mouthd is dried up like a potsherd,

and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;

you lay me in the dust of death.

16Dogs surround me,

a pack of villains encircles me;

they piercee my hands and my feet. Psalm 22: 1-16 NIV

I know this is a prophetic Scripture about Jesus but it was also written out of the very real experiences of David’s life on the lam (no pun intended). So what happened to escaping from the fowler’s snare? What happened to God’s help? Well it was there all the time. Help just didn’t look like David wanted it to look at that particular moment.

God doesn’t promise to always spare us from trouble. In fact, Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble” John 16. Heaven isn’t Earth and Earth isn’t Heaven, so let’s stop pretending they are the same.

Even in Psalm 124 God doesn’t promise that we would always escape from bodily harm, although in the NIV that looks to be what He is saying. The truth that is actually being taught though is,” our souls escape from the fowler’s snare” 124:7. (nephesh malat- souls escape)

Even when the enemy has the power to touch our physical realities, he has no power to touch our souls, because our lives are hid with God in Christ according to the Apostle Paul. Child of God, there is a place in the anointing which brings us blessing beyond the curse so that we can say with Paul, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. ” 2 Cor. 4:8,9

If it feels like you are under attack today and that you are trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea with no good way out, take heart. The devil may have a hold on you for now but his grip is slipping and he has no power whatever to capture your soul. The real you inside is safe in God’s hands and shall be so as God’s plans for your life are fulfilled. Your life cannot be touched by anything in this reality. The battle of the moment may go to Satan but the victory of forever belongs to you!

Heaven Pt. 162: Bigger Than

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles
Thunderheads over the Lower Lake, Killarney

Thunderheads over the Lower Lake, Killarney

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth. Psalm 121:1,2

Have you ever climbed a mountain? I have. What I can’t believe about mountain climbing is that there are people who actually do it for fun. I remember climbing this one mountain ( I remember it because it was the only mountain I ever climbed). I remember looking up to see the peak. I remember making my way up the steep thigh-killing trail, my breath tearing out of my lungs in great gasps.

I kept saying to myself “just a little further and you will have made it. The top is right around the corner!”

I remember coming out of the trees on that summit only to discover that what I thought was the top was just an outcrop masking the view of the real peak which was some half mile up in the distance. I think I wept.

Mountains are like that: tricky, turn-coat, hiding their bigness in the clouds and aiming to steal your joy at every turn of the path (sorry mountain climbing lovers I just calls ’em likes I sees ’em). The truth is if we keep our eyes on the mountains we will lose hope pretty quickly. Honestly, if you’re looking at the mountain and it seems to big for you to climb you’re only seeing the half of it. The real mountain is worse than you know.

But there is HOPE. You won’t find it looking at the mountain though. Hope is found in the Lord. He’s the maker of Heaven and Earth and He is bigger even than your mountain. Never forget to factor God in on your mountain climbs. He’s the greatest asset you have and He is the only reason you are going to make it up and over whatever mountain stands in your way. As Scripture says, “It is God who arms me with strength
    and keeps my way secure.
33 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;
    he causes me to stand on the heights Psalm 18:32,33

If God should think the mountain is to big for you to climb He will help you move it straight out of the way. “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. 24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” Mark 11:23,24

Let me encourage you, stop looking at the mountain. Start looking at the God who is bigger than…

The Heaven posts are a devotional study through the Bible using the word “Heaven”. To find other Heaven posts go to my Pastor Wrinkles page above and click on the “Heaven posts” drop down.

Longing For the Isle Of Hope

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Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Rev. 21:1-4

This song has been running through my mind for the last couple of days. Every time I play it I find myself almost collapsing in tears (which for those who know me is saying something). The song is but an echo.  I don’t weep for the past or for the glory of a bygone America. I am weeping out of a longing for the real “Isle of Hope” Christians are heading towards. But the echo in the song is enough to get the tear ducts working.

Lately I have found my hunger for that place called Heaven increasing. Perhaps its the growing state of hunger and pain I see in the world around me. Perhaps its just the consuming desire I have to see the King of that far off land face to face. Whatever it is a chord has been struck and a certain sense of homesickness  is resonating within me. I have only a desire to see Jesus and to bring many people with me to that meeting!

Even so Lord Jesus come quickly!

Is there a song that stirs deep feelings of longing for eternity inside of you?

An Offer I Couldn’t Refuse

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In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Race the Clock.”

So the daily post has given us this assignment today…

Here’s the title of your post: “An Offer I Couldn’t Refuse.”

Set a timer for ten minutes, and write it. Go!

Several years ago I was asked to come and sing for a group of people at a local visiting nurses dayhab unit. I went and sang.

They liked me and so they invited me back. They liked me the second time and so they asked me if I would begin coming once a month. I agreed and went to sing hymns on a monthly basis and did this for two years.

Over the course of those two years my schedule began to fill out exponentially. It was becoming harder and harder to keep the commitment to my monthly hymn-sing at the VNA and so I approached God about it.

“God you know how busy I am.” I complained, “This hymn-sing is nice but I am not seeing any real fruit from it and I just can’t justify continuing when there are so many other more productive pursuits I could be involved in. God I am going to quit after this next concert. But if you want me to stay you will have to do something to make me stay.”

I went to the concert, set up my piano and sang my heart out feeling fully liberated that at the end of the day I would be handing in my walking papers.

We were about three-quarters of the way through my set when suddenly one of the elderly ladies in the room stopped the concert and asked, “Hey you are a pastor right?”

“Yes I am. ” I replied (they had been calling me Pastor J since day one but God chose this day to make it all sink in).

“You know most of us in this room don’t get to go to church anymore.” She said. “Would it be possible for you to bring us communion?”

The activities director blanched a little. But I had to ask, “Is that possible?”

I fully expected an unequivocal “No!”

What I got from her was a, “Let’s vote.”

The vote was taken and everybody wanted communion.

It was an offer I could not refuse. I had my next marching orders from God. Today I have a team of three which brings communion to 35 individuals at this venue. We started another off-campus service with another team two towns away and last month two of us started bringing music to a third day program two miles up the road from the VNA where it all started.

You never know where fruit from ministry is going to pop up!

Be the Church

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The crucifix at Kylemore Abbey

The crucifix at Kylemore Abbey

Gandhi was once quoted as saying,

“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians.”

and you know sometimes I can understand his point of view. There are moments when, as Mr. Gandhi stated,

“Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

There are days when it is hard to love the people of the church. There are days when it is even hard to be a part of the church. There are days when as Christians we are tempted to chuck it all and go the Christian faith alone. Here is the thing though, Christianity is a team sport. To “go it alone” as a Christian is akin to trying to play basketball or soccer (football for those of you outside of the U.S.) by yourself. IT DOESN’T WORK!!!!

Chris Tiegreen has said,

“Blood is thicker than water….the Spirit is thicker than blood.”

And Matthew Henry has written,

“When we take God as our God, we take His people as our people.”

For better or worse when we accept Christ we are adopted into a family and that comes not only with the blessings of eternal life in Heaven but with the responsibility of loving and working with the rest of this humongous family we call the church.

The Apostle John wrote,

“Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. 10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister] lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. 11 But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.” I John 2:9-11

Now some of you will say, “Well I don’t hate the people of the church. I just don’t want to have anything to do with them.”

I have to point out that functionally there is little difference between those two things. You are called not just to “not hate” the church. John calls you to “love your brothers and sisters in the church” and that means being involved with them.

I get it. Family is hard. Church is hard. But in the end we are are called to it. In Heaven you will be a part of the church so you might as well practice being a part of it now no matter how hard it might be.

A Free Captive

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Make me a captive ,Lord, and then I shall be free; Force me to render up my sword, and I shall conqueror be. I sink in life’s alarms when by myself I stand; Imprison me within Thine arms, and strong shall be my hand- George Matheson

In the shadow of the cross

In the shadow of the cross

Self-Denial

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Self-denial does not mean the loss of our identity as some suppose. Without our identity we could not even be subject to each other. Did Jesus lose his identity when he set his face toward Golgotha? Did Peter lose his identity when he responded to Jesus’ cross-bearing command, “Follow me” (John 21:19)? Did Paul lose his identity when he committed himself to the One who said, “I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name” (Acts 9:16)? Of course not. We know that the opposite was true. They found their identity in the act of self-denial.- Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, Submission

In the shadow of the cross

In the shadow of the cross