Greatest short story ever told

(new article tomorrow)

Listening to a classic Billy Graham sermon on the radio Sunday morning following Jordan’s weekly show (WYLL 1160 AM at 8:30), he preached the Parable of the Prodigal Son, informing his audience at a huge outdoor event held on the Ohio-Kentucky border that Luke’s account has been called “the greatest short story ever told.”

As soon as I got to church I couldn’t wait to look up the 22-verse passage, examining it specifically for its literary genius. When I got home this afternoon I found on Google that it was Charles Dickens who gave the parable the “greatest short story ever” rating.

Then I read from a preacher’s blog that “When the great American storyteller Mark Twain was asked, “Who do you think is the best storyteller every lived?” Mark twain answered, “Jesus Christ.” Then which story is the greatest story ever told?” He replied, “The Story of the Prodigal Son.”

In another Google entry, Poet Robert Bridges is said to have called Luke’s work “a flawless piece of art.”

*****

When couples come to my church for marriage counseling they’re given a homework assignment: Write down all the kings from when Israel was divided into a northern and southern kingdom and distinguish between those who were good and those who were wicked, explains Richard Jordan.

The idea is to have troubled mates concentrate on something that doesn’t involve fighting. By necessity, they usually end up working as a team, poring over the Old Testament verses for the answers.

*****

Crucial to understanding Israel’s institution of Baal worship, and its subsequent Babylonian captivity, is the knowledge that in 975 B.C.—at end of the reign of Israel’s third king, King Solomon—the nation was split in two by a dark, deep rebellion.

Suddenly, there were two separate empires—Israel, the northern kingdom composed of 10 tribes, and Judah, the southern kingdom made up of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.

“The northern kingdom apostatized more than the southern kingdom, and for almost 300 years there was civil strife as king after king sat upon the thrones of both Judah and Israel,” explains Noah Hutchings. “Finally, God could look no longer upon the sins of Israel and He turned his face from them as the Assyrian Empire conquered and ravaged the land, even from Dan to Bethel.

“A remnant of the ten tribes of the northern kingdom escaped into Judah; thousands were taken into captivity to Nineveh, and aliens were imported by the Assyrians to mix with those remaining in the land. This was done by the enemy so that Israel might be destroyed as both a country and a people.”

*****

The classic passage in Jeremiah 44 about the apostate Jews worship of the Queen of Heaven starts out with the people complaining to the prophet: “But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine,” explains Jordan.

Before that, they had explained that when they did worship the Queen, as their fathers, kings and princes had done, they had had “plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.”

The message was, “When we worshipped Baal, we had plenty of vittles and everybody was happy, but now that we’ve switched back to God, we’re hurtin’!”

In other words, "When we worshipped the devil, he took care of us and he prospered his church and we didn’t have any problems."

You’re in trouble, brother, if the estimation of success for you is whether your church is prospering and people are coming in and your offerings are going up.

All this talk today about church growth—they been doing this ever since preachers ever got around taking to each other. The emphasis on growing, and having an upward mobility curve, and getting the right percentage growth and everybody mobilized and growing—it’s got to be "God blessing!"

These birds said, "Boy, when we worshipped the Queen of Heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, our offerings went up every month and attendance was up! We had groceries and nobody persecuted us."

And as quick as we started standing for what God said and going by the Book, you know what happened? Well, our attendance went down and the rats were jumping from the sewer trying to get away and we couldn’t get anybody to come to church and we couldn’t pay the mortgage and we couldn’t make the bond payments and we couldn’t get anybody out at prayer meetings. So we’re going to go back to the other thing because it’s what worked.

The thinking was, "Don’t question us on whether it was right or not; it worked."

*****

In the competition between the northern and southern kingdom, the people were made to stay away from Jerusalem (Israel’s “headquarters” where God required every Jewish male to travel to three times a year to worship) by the erection of temples in the north.

The government propaganda, explains Jordan, was, “Go to the church of your choice, just don’t go to Jerusalem—it’s too far. I know they preach the Bible, but it’s too far to go across town over there. I mean, if you gotta travel 20-30 miles to get to church that’s too far and people don’t appreciate you. Go to a branch in your neighborhood. I know God said Jerusalem’s where you got to go worship but don’t be so bigoted and narrow-minded about things. I mean, fella, don’t you know you’re so narrow-minded that a fly could sit on the bridge of your nose and kick you in both your eyes at the same time?!"

Folks, you thought all that stuff was just excuses some 20^th Century smart fellow invented, didn’t you?! They been putting those kind of excuses out for 2,000 years. They were doing it 1,500 years before Christ!

*****

As part of setting up the false church of the north, priests were installed who weren’t Levites (the only ones God ordained for priesthood).

I Kings 12 reports that northern king Jeroboam “made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.
[32] And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.”

In other words, Jeroboam’s going to use the Levitical system to worship the idols with. That’s what you call biblical idolatry. Jeroboam’s using the Scripture and the scriptural system and setting up his own class of priests but they’re just not priests.

You see, he’s counterfeiting the real thing. Notice he set aside the 15^th day of the month, which he devised of his own heart. Boy, I hope you see that! Jesus said to a bunch of people one time, "You teach the commandments, the traditions of men, and when you do you make void the Word of God."

Notice that the molten calf of Exodus 32 reappears over there in I Kings 12. You see, Jeroboam just reached back and took the tradition and set that thing up. They reasoned, "Our body of tradition and scholarship says this is it." The problem is their tradition and scholarship was wrong!

It's like Aaron passing off that (calf altar) as part of a feast to Jehovah. You lying rascal! A feast of Jehovah! It had nothing in the world to do with God Almighty! That’s Baal worship—that’s an image to the devil and it’s the worship of Satan under the guise of worshipping Jehovah.

In Kings it says that Israel "served the Lord and worshipped idols." You know what that is, that’s total apostasy! You know what Daniel said? "I’m not going to have any part of that." He said, "You’re not gonna see me worshipping Baal, claiming I’m worshipping God." Folks, the end of all apostasy is idolatry and idolatry is this stuff right here!

Job and Joel

At the beginning of Bible study at church last night, we were reminded of all the countries that tune in regularly to hear the live messages through Shorewood Bible Church's website, as well as their YouTube channel. They included Norway, the Philippines, Ireland, South Africa, Brazil and Canada, and I would list more but I can't remember all the ones he rattled off.

My pastor said a book from the Old Testament that he'd really like to teach is Job. Here's an outtake:

The problem with teaching Job is there's a lot of conversation in it that when you get through with it--Job's three friends, you can literally summarize everything they had to say in one sentence. They come at it with a different view, but they come at it with human viewpoint and it's fascinating how they lay out the kind of philosophy mankind has had throughout the years, but the answer is still in one sentence.

I haven't decided whether to teach Job or Isaiah. Isaiah's got 66 chapters and Job's got 42 chapters. I figure if I picked some long book like that I'd have to live long enough to get through it. I wasn't looking at Obadiah or Philemon. You can understand why; they're both one chapter.

When I taught through the Minor Prophets, I taught Obadiah in like five or six lessons so I'd like to live a little longer than that.

Anyway, I'm going to do another Q&A for now and there was a question about Matthew 24:

[37] But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
[38] For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
[39] And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
[40] Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
[41] Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

[42] Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

The question that came was, "When he says in the verse 40 that one was taken and the other left, is that a reference to the Rapture of the Body of Christ, because we talk about the Rapture and the Lord coming and taking us to be with Him?"

This is, by the way, a common teaching. It's fascinating, there's a movie called Taken, and there's a whole series of books written back in the '80s about the tribulation.

I don't know if you follow Tucker Carlson, but he teamed up with a guy who does not believe in dispensationalism and is opposed to dispensational Bible study and really dumps on the Scofield Reference Bible as "the most dangerous thing that's been produced by the evangelical church in the 20th century," and the whole point is we are going into the tribulation.

Of course, if you're a dispensationalist you know that's not the case, but you see even people in the political world are anti-dispensational.

Romans 15:8: [8] Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:

In His earthly ministry, the Lord Jesus Christ was the "minister of the circumcision" and He came to confirm the promises God made to Israel and to lay the foundations for them to be accomplished.

So, when you're reading the Book of Matthew, you're reading the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ to the nation Israel. He's not talking about us.

Romans 11:25: [25] For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

Now, can I tell you when people don't understand the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery, what you become by virtue of that is "wise in your own conceits." You think you know something, and you get conceited by what you know, rather than it being the revelation from God.

*****

Here's a message Jordan gave on Joel:

Joel 2 educates the “believing remnant” in Israel about how Armageddon is going to come and deal with the real enemy behind the scenes, using the supernatural armies of heaven to accompany the Lord Jesus Christ as He comes out of heaven at the Second Advent.

Joel 2:7-8: [7] They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks:
[8] Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded.

They’re going to be moving straight forward, not breaking ranks. There’s just going to be one column of these soldiers following the Lord, undiverted.

"Mighty men" is a special description of these guys. They can’t be wounded, they can’t be destroyed, and when they come they don’t leave anything behind them. When you read that, you know immediately this is no natural bunch of humans.

Verse 9: [9] They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.

There’s going to be house-to-house urban warfare. They’re literally going to come back and swarm like ants over the territory as they go through, and they’re going to take out everything that offends and destroy it.

Verse 10: [10] The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:

We talked about the atmospheric turbulence that surrounds this army of thousands of soldiers, in all kind of battle armor, as they come through that region.

I think about how in Arizona, when they have these sand storms come through, it looks like a big round wall that goes up about 15,000 feet in the air.

When it says the earth is going to quake, the Book of Amos picks up right there. Amos 1:2 talks about an earthquake that, if you read the commentaries, nobody in history knows how to identify because it’s nowhere else in history or Scripture; this is prophecy looking into the future.

Joel 3:11 says, [11] Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.’

That’s the Lord’s attitude about the United Nations. Zephaniah 3:8: [8] Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.

In the tribulation with the Antichrist, the Lord gathers up all these nations, gets them united against Jerusalem and then, as the prophet says, "There they are; come get ’em!"

It’s important to understand this supernatural army is going to be required because they’re going to be fighting supernatural enemies. There’s a behind-the- scenes spiritual conflict being brought to a conclusion at this point.

Isaiah 13: [1] The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.

[2] Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.

[3] I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness.

A "sanctified one" is called a saint. In the Book of Jude, when it says the Lord shall come with 10,000 of His saints, He’s not talking about coming with 10,000 humans. He’s talking about the sanctified, set apart elect angels who stayed true during the angelic revolt.

Isaiah 13: 4-6: [4] The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle.

[5] They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
[6] Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

I love when it says he "mustereth the troops." He literally goes out and gets all of the artillery, all of the weapons, all of the implements of war and gathers those angelic armies together.

Jesus says in Luke 11:20-22: [20] But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.

[21] When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace:
[22] But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.

Notice Satan (the strong man from Jeremiah 31:11 who’s holding Israel captive) is armed. He’s carrying. He’s got an army that works with Him and these guys are ready to fight. They have armaments, implements, warfare kinds of things.

The reason that army from heaven comes is there is a supernatural war in the spiritual realm of life.

By the way, in Isaiah 13:2 is something interesting. When it says "shake the hand," it’s like, "Over here, guys, here’s the way to get in!" But you see how it says "that they may go into the gates of the nobles"?

There’s literally a portal through which these angelic host are going to come to get into the battle.

It’s fascinating to me, we have a term in modern-day mythology and movie-making called Stargate. There’s even a movie and TV series by that name.

If you back into the ’60s, Tolkien and C.S. Lewis wrote these books (including Narnia) about the portal where you get into the other realm.

In the old soap opera Dark Shadows, there was a mirror where you’d go through it into a world where Lucifer (Leviathan) reigns. It was a portal from one dimension to the other.

I read that verse and say, "Boy, they’re using that word right out of the Bible." In the Bible, like in Genesis 28, Jacob sees the gate of heaven and the ladder where the angels are and they go up and come down and he says, "This is none other than the house of God; it’s the gate of heaven." Here’s the portal, the passageway.

Where hell's at is in the heart of the earth and there are passageways from the surface of the earth down into hell. You understand, if you have a prison like hell is, when Jesus talks about the "gates of hell," that’s a place you go in to room. It has bars and locks on it with keys to the gates. So, it’s an entrance way.

This stuff’s real and the descriptions of it are real descriptions. Jesus is going to come with real armies because the enemy He’s going to deal with are real enemies and the armies are going to be angelic armies.

Something to sing about!

"I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed, but if you listen to the songs people sing, you find out what’s in their heart. Nobody has songs like Christians do. Have you ever noticed that?" says Richard Jordan.

“There’s not another religion on the face of the planet that has songs like we have, because they don’t have a Savior like we have to sing about. They don’t have the grace of God like we have to sing about.”

“No one really knows how many hymns have been written in the history of the Christian church," says Helen Salem Rizk in her 1964 book on hymns, "Some authorities say over three million; some say over five million; and some say more. Isaac Watts alone wrote over two hundred in less than two years; sixty-five hundred are attributed to Charles Wesley the “sweet bard of Methodism”; and Fanny Crosby, the blind hymn-poetess, completed at least eight thousand singable hymns.”

Of Wesley’s song, “Jesus, Lover of My Soul,” it's said, “A hymn of this quality doesn’t need any popular account of its origin to give it added greatness. The meaningful simplicity of the text is sufficient.

"It should be added that 156 simple one-syllable words appear among the 188 words of the song's text. Christ is presented as a ‘lover,’ ‘healer,’ refuge,’ ‘fountain,’ ‘wing,’ and ‘pilot’—the all-sufficient One.

"Truly each Believer can say with Wesley, ‘Thou, O, Christ, art all I want, more than all in Thee I find . . .’

Rizk's alphabetical list begins with, “A Charge to Keep I Have,” written in the 18^th Century by Wesley: “Sung to the tune of ‘Old Kentucky,’ by Jeremiah Ingalls, this revival hymn could be heard swelling from tent and camp ground all over America.”

The second entry is Martin Luther’s “A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” written in the summer of 1529: “The famed theologian, after a long period of deep depression, had found spiritual comfort in the strength of Psalm 46.

"Luther repeated over and over the words, ‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.’ With this thought in mind, he hurled his defiance at all his foes, physical and spiritual, the struggles of mind and body, the opposition of pope and people, and penned these words never to be forgotten by mortal men.”

The third entry is Henry Francis Lyte’s “Abide with Me,” written in 1847, only months before Lyte’s death. It says “the ravages of tuberculosis left him weak and exhausted. After the service he strolled by the sea until sunset thinking of the abiding presence of God and working on a hymn poem started many years before in the early days of his ministry.

"Lyte was really too tired to complete the poem and thought of putting it aside until his return from Italy. However, some inner compulsion pressed him to finish the last line. That evening he placed the completed line ‘Abide with Me’ in the hands of his family. He never returned from Italy, dying two months later on November 20. If he had waited until he returned, one of the world’s most famous hymns would not have been written.”

The fourth entry is “Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed” by Watts, who wrote over 600 hymns and is considered one of the greatest hymn writers of all time. The book summarizes, “A very unusual man, Watts served as minister of the English Congregational Church, preaching his first sermon at 24. History says that though he was a charming man, his stature was small and his physical appearance hard to believe.

"Only five feet in height, Watts' face was sallow with a hooked nose, small beady eyes and a deathlike pallor. One lady, a Miss Elizabeth Singer, who had fallen in love with his poetry and thought she had met her soulmate at last, refused his hand in marriage when she finally saw him, with the remark, ‘I admired the jewel but not the casket!’ However, his hymns have been jewels admired by all generations of Christians.”

*****

Jordan recalled preaching on a street in Pensacola, Fla., when he was 19 years old. There was a big naval air station and many Navy officers could be found walking down the street.

“On the Navy base was a sign that said, ‘Think Proud.’ I used to think, ‘It’d be better to think humble.’ One of the guys we were preaching with was maybe 45 years old and he didn’t get saved until he was about 40. He got saved out of a drunkard’s life and he’d been in prison for robbery and stuff and he’d had a rathskellian life.

“This Navy officer came along and he started mocking my friend and I got to confess, the guy preaching wasn’t really polished in his vocabulary but he was preaching truth and that’s what matters.

“The guy took the mocking as long as he could and then he just stood back, right up in that officer’s face, and I can still remember, he said, ‘Oh how well do I remember how I doubted day by day. I did not know for certain that my sins were taken away.’

“You know that song? The chorus is, ‘It’s real, it’s real, thank God the doubts are settled. I know it’s real.’

“And when he got through with that, he said, ‘Now, you sing me a song about what you love. And that Navy boy, he didn’t have a word to say. You know why? He didn’t have a song to sing about what he loved.’

“I mean, he might be a country singer and sing about ‘beer-drinking, wife-swapping music.’ He might have been a hippy, singing some rock music about ‘rock. riot and revolution.’ But there’s no love in that stuff. It’s just rebellion and sorry living.

“I learned something that day about what you sing. It does have an effect. Israel’s going to come out of that wilderness and they’re going to sing. They come out of the ‘we can’t sing the songs of Zion in a strange land,’ and they’re going to be put in a place where they’re going to be able to sing unto the Lord.

“You go back through the Old Testament and you’ll find singing constantly associated with redemption in Israel. Notice verse Hosea 2:15: ‘And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.’

“By that verse you ought to write down Exodus 15. The song of Moses that Israel sang. Revelation 15 says they’re going to sing it again.

*****

“You know, somebody told D.L. Moody one time, ‘I don’t like the way you slay the King’s English; you don’t speak proper grammar.’ Moody replied, ‘Yeah, I like the way I’m using it better than the way you’re using yours. You see my tongue? I like it the way I’m using it for God’s glory better than the way you’re using yours,’

“There’s that great famous verse ‘How shall we sing the Lord’s songs in a strange land?’ Psalm 137 says, ‘By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
[2] We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
[3] For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
[4] How shall we sing the LORD's song in a strange land? rivers of Babylon there we sat down, we wept zion captive wasted.

“When they were down there with their sin catching up to them, they didn’t have much of a song. But when the Lord brings them out, He says, ‘You’re going to sing.’

“Isaiah 12. When He brings them out and saves them, it says, ‘And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.
[5] Sing unto the LORD; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth.
[6] Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.’

“There are a whole bunch of songs back here that are identified as the NEW song psalms where He puts these songs into their heart. Psalm 95. Psalm 96, 98, 99.

“What are they singing? Psalm 97:1 says, ‘The LORD reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof.’

“You see what they’re singing about when it comes to Psalm 100 it says, ‘Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.’

“What He’s talking about in that joyful noise is the Lord reigning in His kingdom! The victory that He’s going to win. He says, ‘You’re down in that wilderness, in the valley of Achor, and you’re mumbling and you’re stumbling, but I’m going to bring you out and when you get there, you’re going to sing!' "

Unrequited love's answer

At the camp conference I just came back from they invited everyone to write down a question for a Q&A session. I thought about one I've always wanted answered by a panel of preachers but in the end I thought, "Oh, there's more weighty matters for them to spend their precious minutes on for this hour-long session."

The next afternoon, after lunch and before the evening meetings, the ball was tossed to me when we were sitting at a table with a very seasoned preacher (one who regularly travels abroad for evangelism opportunities, including Singapore, India and the Philippines) and a woman attending the conference said, "You got a question for him?"

I said, "Well, yeah, how do you deal with unrequited love when it involves a fellow Grace Believer?"

Among very good thoughts he gave me, he said, "You learn to give the gospel (and dispensational message) to others to fill that gap."

What's amazing is I had already come to that conclusion only a week or so before in coping with the heartache after a sister in Christ suddenly dropped me as a friend with no explanation or apparent reason that I can easily identify.

I have a lot I want to share from the weekend but again I am so tired and now have a bad headache, I guess from the rain and cold air that has come in. I will put my thoughts together tomorrow for certain.

*****

Song of Solomon 2:16: "My Beloved is mine, and I am His."

In a commentary on this verse, Bible expositor Cora MacIlravey (circa 1916) wrote:

"She is assured of her union with Him, which is eternal and indissoluble. Her heart is filled with rest because He is hers; she is apprehending that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate her from the One who died for her, and from His love.

"In deep settled peace, she rests in the assurance that, though she is unworthy and many times unfaithful, He abideth faithful for He cannot deny Himself. As she recalls all He has done for her, she comforts and strengthens herself in Him and His undying love. She rejoices that, whether together or separated, whether seen or unseen, her Beloved is hers and she is His. Literally: 'My Beloved is for me and I am for Him.'

"There is such joy and sense of holy possession in the thought that our Beloved is ours . . . His beauty and attributes are for us that we may put them on. . .  He is all we need for He is our precious Storehouse, and in Him are hidden all God's riches in glory. He is our refuge and strong tower.

"She rejoices not only that her Beloved is hers, but that she is His. She is His because He created her, because He has redeemed her, because He has loved her with an everlasting love . . . She is His to protect and defend . . . She is His that He may fight her battles; she is His to correct and chasten, to mold and shape; she is His that He may perfect that which concerneth her and make her more than a conqueror. She is His to feed and nourish; and He alone can bring her home to Glory, and seat her upon His throne as His spotless spouse. She is for Him alone.

"Let us lay our wills down at His feet, that His will may closely encompass us. Let us yield that he may purify and fashion us into His own glorious image. Only as we abandon ourselves to Him without reserve, can we enter into the relation that is here described; and go on to all that is set forth in the rest of this revelation. Every power and every faculty--all, all must be His and for Him alone; for Him to use as He pleases.

"The half-hearted Christian never knows the joy of the abandonment that is ours when we say: 'I am for my Beloved.' Our only sorrow is that there is so little to pour out at His feet. Our only regret is that all we can bring is so contemptible compared to that which He is to us, and which is expressed in the clause, 'My Beloved is mine.'

"Beloved reader, have we realized truly that we are 'for Him'? . . . To our amazement and joy, He has bespoken us for Himself; and we have given ourselves to be His through time and Eternity, to be His and His alone.

"Time is rapidly fading away, the things of the earth and of the natural are sinking out of sight and becoming as shadows. There is a glory falling upon our union with our Lord, which is shining more brightly as the days go by. It seems that there are only a few more mileposts to pass, only a little more of the earthy to be taken off, only a little more time in which to perfect our relation to Him and our separation from all else, and then we shall rise to meet Him in the clouds; and thus be forever with the Lord."

Back and recharged

Happy to report I got home safely today and no mishaps over the weekend. It was a really summerlike weekend actually at the Charity Grace Bible Camp in Peoria, IL. Everybody was friendly and down-to-earth and there was so much good food that I will have to really start to cut back tomorrow!

On the way home I actually was able to get a Big Beef from a Portillo's in Champaign, along with stopping at Culver's for two Bacon Deluxes to bring home for dinner with my mom. We always take frozen Idahoan extra-crispy crinkle cut fries from the grocery and put them in the air fryer--they taste pretty close to good fast-food fries and taste better because you're eating them hot.

So many good conversations took place around the Word and applying it to our different situations. People come to this conference every year from faraway places like northern Wisconsin, eastern Pennsylvania, Buffalo, NY, and northern Minnesota.

Billy Elmquist is a fabulous street-preacher in Minnesota and he now drives a really big OLD school bus with Bible verses written all around it in large lettering.

I sat with his wife at breakfast this morning and she says she feels they've even outgrown the school bus in some ways. The have five children with another one on the way!

She really gave an impassioned testimony to the power of putting salvation bumper stickers on your car so I bought one at the conference. It's in gold lettering with a black background. The verse is Romans 5:8: [8] But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

I immediately tried to place it on the back of my 2005 Nissan but it wouldn't stick! It has to be that my car collected quite a bit of dust driving on gravel county roads to get to the campsite, which was in Low Point, IL.

The nearest little village was Metamora and we went into town once just to check it out. It had a really cute downtown square with a gazebo structure in the middle. The cutest thing there were bronze statues of Abraham Lincoln and his wife Mary Todd in the little park area around the gazebo.

I realized coming home that the biggest message I got from all the preaching, including the conversations with preachers inside the dining hall, is that I need to trust God with absolutely everything. It sounds so simplistic and it is! God says throughout His Word in a million-trillion different ways, "Trust me."

Barney Monroe, the preacher who has organized and maintained this very special conference through the years, told us in one of the evening meetings that we should look up the old hymn, "Do You Tremble?"

I did try a little while ago and couldn't find it anywhere online. The song he had us sing each night and then this morning was, "It is Well With My Soul." Somehow I think that is his favorite hymn, just like it is with my pastor in Chicago.

My longtime friend Trish happened to be sitting next to me last night when we sang it and I whispered to her between that hymn and the next one, "What's your favorite hymn?"

To my pleasant surprise she answered, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus," which is what I've always considered as my favorite hymn since I was little!

Got a lot of little chores to handle now that I'm back home, as well as being tired from the long drive and not-so-great sleep in a bunk bed inside a small cabin with three other people, so will post more stuff tomorrow.

PBA (performance-based acceptance) vs. His love

(note: Tomorrow will be my ninth day in a row at my job, going around a warehouse-sized cement floor with a boot still on my left foot. Upon seeing the podiatrist a week ago, he says I have another 4-5 weeks to go in the contraption that is now beginning to fall apart from wear and tear. I have been wearing it for 8 weeks! So, glad to report I am heading out of town after work tomorrow to attend a weekend Bible camp near Peoria. Hopefully, I will have nuggets of info, insights, etc., to share and will start to post tomorrow evening if I have internet access. this article below is one that appeared in my "stats list" recently as having been read. It dates back to 2012.)

*****

In Romans 6, Paul says, “It’s not you, it’s Christ.” In Romans 7, he says, “Here’s what happens when it’s you.”

Jordan explains, “You learn there why it can’t be you. Look down at verse 15. See how confused he is about who he is? He says, ‘For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.’

“He’s going to argue with you and prove to you he’s sold under sin but he’s not; he’s free in Christ. He says, ‘I know I shouldn’t do these things, but I do them anyway, and what I know I should DO, I don’t.’ Does that sound familiar?

“He goes on to say, ‘If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.’

“Wait a minute, Paul—you just said you did it! How come it’s no more you doing it?! Well, then who is doing it?! You read commentaries and they’ll argue all day long about who Paul’s talking about. He’s talking about himself!

“He says, ‘I did it. No, I didn’t. I did. No. Yeah, you did. No, you didn’t.’ You know what? He’s a little bit confused about who he is! You ever get that way? You’re a saint of the Most High God and you’re living like you’ve never been changed? Why? Because you’re not living consistent with who you are.

“Look at this conclusion. Verse 18 says, ‘For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
[19] For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
[20] Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

“What?! ‘Well if I did it, but I didn’t do it, then who did it? I did it! But it’s not me; it’s sin that dwelleth in me. The sin is me!’ And you go, ‘What?!’

“He goes on, ‘I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
[22] For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
[23] But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.’

“He’s arguing verse 14: ‘I’m carnal sold under sin, but how did that get way? There’s a law of sin that holds me captive.’ So his conclusion is, ‘I’m a wreck.’ He says in verse 24, ‘O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?’

“He’s saying, ‘I’m an absolute, total wreck. I’m a dead man. I’m unable to function. Totally confused, totally ineffective.’ Why? He’s confused about who he is.

“ ‘Am I free in Christ? No, looking at my experience, I’m sold under sin. If I walk by faith, who am I? If I identify myself the way God the Holy Spirit identified me in Romans 6, who am I? I’m God’s free man. If I identify myself by my performance the way I could look at it, who am I? I’m carnal, sold under sin.’

“First there’s the way grace looks at it, but when the law looks at me (when I look at my performance and judge it based on that) I’m an absolute failure.’ What does that get him? He’s in the slew of despond.

“That’s verse 24. What Romans 7 is about is bringing you to that verse right there. Self is our great enemy. Law-keeping keeps self going.

“That identity thing is the source of overcoming the failures. If you’re going to deal with God on the basis of your performance, you’re not going to make it. There’s a little subtle thing over in John 1:17 when John says, ‘For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.’

“I missed that verse for years. The law is given but grace and truth came. You see, I can give you something from a distance but grace and truth, He came down and became one of us. The law’s a schoolmaster to teach them their failures.

“The strength of sin is in the law. It’s in looking at my performance, my strength, to accomplish the thing. What’s happening to Paul here is he gets confused in his mind about this law. It’s the ‘if then principle.’ If you perform, then you get the blessing.

“There’s this cycle in Romans here that’s a fascinating kind of a thing. . . The first thing you read in chapter 7 is he condemns himself. ‘Who am I? I’m not the Lord’s freeman. I’m carnal, sold under sin. I’m not just dead; I’m an absolutely worthless person. I don’t have any worth. I’m valueless. I’m a slave to sin.’

“In verse 24, he gets down to the depths where he says, ‘Oh, wretched man that I am.’ You know what a wretched man is? That’s somebody who’s absolutely, totally unloved and unlovable. You get way down here to the bottom. ‘I’m chopped liver that’s spoiled.’

“And then what do you do when you get down there? Verse 15. ‘You know what, I think I’ll try again,’ and you start to try again. And you know what happens when you try again? Verse 19, 20, 21 . . . You fail again! Now where are you? You’re right back at verse 15. That’s the way law is programmed to work you in this cycle that always brings you right back there except at a lower level each time ‘til pretty soon you’re in absolute, total functional defeat.

“So what does grace do? ‘There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.’

“There’s a system of grace where if you looked at that, when you sin, it doesn’t say, ‘I’m condemned,’ it says, ‘I’m forgiven. There’s no condemnation. I’ve been forgiven because of Jesus Christ. There’s the thing He died for 2,000 years ago. I’m not only forgiven; I’m free. I’m not in bondage to sin. I’m in Christ Jesus and you can’t separate me from His love.’

“That’s the grace principle, and when you understand that, you can go fix it. I can go make it right as best I can. I can fix it and get on with future correct behavior.’ That’s called victory. That’s Romans 8! In Romans 7, Paul demonstrates for you in his life what happens when you forget, ‘It’s not I.’ ”  

Learning experience is the certificate

(new article tomorrow)

The Bible teaches there is a big difference between human happiness and godly joy. What gave Paul the ability to live in whatever circumstances and have joy was from not evaluating life the way human viewpoint does, on the basis of simple happiness.

Human happiness is about meeting personal expectations and having circumstances match desires, explains Preacher Richard Jordan. It means I’m happy when life and others respond the way I want them to, or expect them to respond.

God’s purpose in your life has nothing to do with making you happy. People say, "Well, certainly God wants me to be happy." If God’s goal was to make/keep you happy, then suffering wouldn’t have any real purpose in your life. In fact, it would be completely counterproductive.

Real joy is about meeting God’s expectations, not yours, and having done God’s will. God’s purpose is to use me to bring glory to His name, and in every circumstance of my life that’s my purpose, my privilege. I don’t need to look at circumstances and evaluate whether this is a place I can rejoice or not.

Glory is an outward expression. Rejoicing is an inner attitude. So the inner attitude of joy results in me being able to express that outward demonstration of that joy in times of trouble, difficulty and pressure, or persecution.

It isn’t enough just to say "tribulation works patience"; it’s KNOWING that it does that causes us to be able to have the glory—the outward expression of this joy in the midst of trouble.

All of your joy is eventually going to have to be based in who God has made you and what He’s going to do with you in Christ. Every time in Paul’s epistles when you see the issue of hope, it’s always looking to the future. It’s a Rapture-resurrection kind of a look.

Always talking to God about what His word says about the circumstances I’m in gives me the ability to continually endure through the trouble because I’ve got a hope out there in the end that fills my heart with rejoicing. My joy is going to come from the sufficiency of His grace."

*****

We instinctively withdraw our hand if it’s getting burned, right? But when it comes to tribulation, God’s attitude and perspective is, "No, I don’t want you to behave like that,” explains Alex Kurz.

There’s a direct correlation with the activity of godliness and the sanctifying effect that tribulations now have in life. It isn’t something that we dread. It isn’t something we run away from. It’s something that we can not only welcome, but we recognize we’re more than conquerors. God says there is a specific provision He gives to us so we can triumph in life.

Instead of looking at tribulation as something to avoid, we’re to see its value. It’s no longer an enemy. I don’t have to fear or dread. I now can welcome those tribulations.

*****

Hebrews 5:7 is a powerful, powerful verse of our Lord Jesus Christ: "Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared."

He was a man of sorrows. Jesus was acquainted with grief. You don’t think He was touched by the effects of living in a sin-cursed world or the emotional and psychological trauma; the rejection and alienation. He knows--He feels hurt. He feels pain.

Verse 5:8 says, "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered."

He didn’t succumb. While He’s in pain, while He’s in anguish, while He’s experiencing the trauma, you know what He chooses to do? "I’m going to learn." It’s a learning experience!

*****

The theme of II Corinthians actually has to do with sufferings, tribulations and infirmities. It’s probably the darkest epistle the Apostle Paul wrote.

He starts chapter 1 with, "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God."

Drop down to verse 9: ‘But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:
[10] Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us.’

We’re going to learn to trust what God has to say about tribulations. Our flesh and our emotions, which are committed to avoiding all that . . . we now can learn what God says about it. So now we can tackle it with this renewed understanding; this renewed knowledge about it. Don’t fear it; don’t dread it.

Paul says, "I’m now going to trust what God says." If He says tribulation is ordained to be a spiritual benefit and blessing, are we going to believe what He says about it? We have to readjust the way we think about the problems of life.

God will not remove your affliction. Paul says three times, "Lord Jesus, please," and Christ responds, "Paul, you aren’t thinking about what’s happening in your life." Jesus Christ reminds Paul about the available inner-man capacity he already had: "Paul, you’ve already got something; I don’t need to do any more."

God will not miraculously reach down into your life and remove your problem or shield you from the problem. He doesn’t give us immunity or a hedge of protection. God said, "It’s a blessing."

What do we KNOW? "Hey, it’s going to work something!" When bad things happen in your life, it has absolutely nothing to do with God’s displeasure. It has everything to do with God’s delight in producing something in the core of your inner man.

“If I’m going to glory," Paul says, "I’m going to glory in the things concerning my infirmities. God’s not angry with me; He’s not angry with you."

"So wait a minute, Paul, why do you look like a physical mess?!" Paul’s going to say, "You know what, that’s my certificate."

Acts 14:22 says, "Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God."

It says, "We must." Is that optional? It’s a reality. The sooner we accept the fact that tribulation is part and parcel of our experience and edification, the sooner we can employ the very doctrines God says we need in order to glory in and see the value, worth, profit and advantage in it.

Harlequin romance life

Starting in my twenties, working in upstate New York and then in Detroit, followed by the Chicago suburb of Naperville, I was told by different key professional people that I was a really good writer.

Myself, I had so much trouble believing that because I felt insecure about what I wrote for the newspapers I worked at and was always waiting for the "other shoe to drop." I just didn't think I was competent enough to write for a daily paper on deadline.

But for those close enough to me that openly admired my work, I told them consistently, "I didn't do anything to deserve it. The only books I really wanted to read in my mid-teens were Harlequin Romance paperback novels."

The thing that engaged me was the romance. I especially liked the ones written by Great Britain authors, where you could actually get to the very last page of the paperback before they had their first kiss!

Years later I realized that, between the old romantic movies I watched on TV and the Harlequin Romances, I might have doomed myself for ever finding a mate!!!

What I remember most, and this is a shocking thing for me to tell people, is when I slowly, vaguely realized my dad had an unhealthy attraction to me when I was 13-15 and wanted to know where I was all he time (mostly because he was always wanting me to work at his doctor's office), I cleaned out the closet in my little room (my mom converted her sewing room into a bedroom so I could finally be separate from my older sister) and put a gooseneck reading lamp in it that had an extension cord running to the electric outlet.

I would literally hide in the closet with just that little light going and read my Harlequins without him knowing where I was. The only dead giveaway, and it became the thing that eventually "ratted me out," was my dear Shih-Tsu would inevitably come scratching at the closet door, wanting me to let her in.

The bottom line is these Harlequins, at a very crucial period in my life, could very well be why I turned out the way I am--a single woman in her 60s who's never been married!

To make a point on that reality, when I had my first boyfriend in my junior year at Ohio State University, he started to really fall for me. He finally let me know that in his own way, and I told him, because I did not share his attachment that way, that he was "not Cary Grant"!

We happened to be in his car when I said this, on the way home from celebrating his birthday at a fancy seafood restaurant in downtown Columbus, and he later told me that after he dropped me off at the off-campus house I shared with two roommates, he took the wrapped present I gave him and tossed it out his passenger window as far as he could throw it!

Thankfully he remained my friend and he's the one who said, after I finished a summer "tryout" on the sports desk of the Detroit News immediately preceding my first job in Elmira, NY, as a bureau chief for the Elmira Star-Gazette (the very first Gannett newspaper!), because I just couldn't take working alone anymore, "Hey, let's move to Chicago!"

If he hadn't proposed we do that, I would never have been introduced to my church and who knows what would have happened to me!!!

Songs and a poem

The more I think about relationships I've had in the past, both with men and women, I can see where some of them were unbalanced, meaning I had more affection for the person than they had for me. They simply meant more to me than I meant to them.

When I first started listening to music, one of the artists I found myself gravitate to was Cat Stevens. A hit I really liked was "On the Road To Find Out."

The lyrics:

But sometimes you have to moan
When nothing seems to suit ya
But nevertheless you know
You're locked towards the future, oh-oh-oh, whoa-whoa

So on and on you go
The seconds tick the time-out
There's so much left to know
And I'm on the road to find out, oh-oh-oh, whoa-whoa

Then I found my head one day
When I wasn't even trying

And here I have to say
'Cause there is no use in lying, lying

Yes, the answer lies within
So why not take a look now?
Kick out the Devil's sin
Pick up, pick up the Good Book now, oh-oh-oh, whoa-whoa

Upon moving to the little village of Loudonville, OH in 1975 I wrote a letter to my one friend from my year of living at my grandmother's in Akron, OH. She lived near me and I would go over to her house to play sometimes in addition to seeing her in my fourth-grade classes.

I told this friend in my letter that Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me"  song was how I was feeling. Part of the song goes:

Don't let the sun go down on me
Although I search myself, it's always someone else I see, yeah
I'd just allow a fragment of your life, to wander free, yeah oh
'Cause losing everything, is like the sun going down on me

No wonder this friend never wrote me back! Of course, I didn't know what the song was about or anything. I just was feeling down after moving to a totally foreign town full of strangers and Elton's new hit was being played on the radio a lot.

I was already down before we moved from my grandmother's. One of my biggest memories from that time, in fact, was when I snuck a pack of cigarettes from my dad's glove compartment and then a book of matches from atop my grandmother's gas oven.

I went to a stream only blocks from her house and then down a secluded embankment to the water's edge. I remember sitting on a rock being really sad and telling God that I didn't like Him anymore. I tried and tried to get the match to light against the flimsy paper matchbook (from a restaurant) but couldn't make it happen, so I finally gave up and went home, sneaking both the cigarettes and matches back to their original spot.

*****

To completely change subjects, I saw through a YouTube post on WW III a really wild snippet of a message given at a recent U.N. meeting (in fact, it may very well have been the one that just happened) by a man with the country of Nicaragua on a name placard from where he addressed the crowd. In his comments, which were translated into English by a translator at the meeting, he said he was keeping "our great Ruben Dario in mind," which I learned from a quick search was a Nicaraguan poet (1867-1916).

Here's the clip that was shown:

"A great flight of crows stains the celestial blue.
A thousand-year-old breath brings threats of plague. In the Far East men are being murdered. Has the apocalyptic Antichrist been born? Omens have been witnessed and wonders seen. The return of Christ seems imminent.

"The earth is pregnant with pain. This is the beginning, the dawning of a new world which IS being born, rising from the ashes of anguish and pain. Brothers and sisters, humankind is at a critical time. We are giving birth to a NEW history. To a new global order that is more fair, more collective."

*****

“There is a peculiar condition that reveals how the love of God dwelleth in our hearts," writes a female Christian author from the early 1900s. "When our love is burning strong and bright, and our hunger for our Beloved is deepening, we are more concerned to have Him work IN us and make us to His glory, than we are to work FOR Him . . . "

A hymn from 1864, written by Susan B. Warner, goes:

Jesus bids us shine with a clear, pure light,

1. Like a little candle burning in the night;
   In this world of darkness, we must shine,
   You in your small corner, and I in mine.
2. Jesus bids us shine, then, for all around
3. Many kinds of darkness in this world abound:
   Sin, and want, and sorrow—we must shine,
   You in your small corner, and I in mine.
4. Jesus bids us shine, as we work for Him,
   Bringing those that wander from the paths of sin;
   He will ever help us, if we shine,
   You in your small corner, and I in mine.
5. *****

People mistake charity for love in Paul’s epistles but it’s actually "love in action," explains Richard Jordan. Charity is the motivation of the love of Christ and not all these other kinds of things constraining us in our Christian life.

In Colossians 3, Paul says charity is the "bond of perfectness." It’s the thing that binds maturity together. When you have perfected saints, what binds them is the fact that they instinctively look out for the benefit of the other, not for themselves.

To walk charitably with a saint means to put his needs, his concerns above your own. Now, where does the motivation for that come from? The motivation is an understanding of God’s charity to us. Charity has to do with the motivation behind your good works.

Charity isn’t a braggard, it’s not proud, it’s not covetous, doth not behave itself unseemly. It’s patient and suffereth long.

Boy, you read those things and you think, "Wow! That’s quite a mental attitude to have!"

Paul says "charity never faileth." So what charity is is a complete lifestyle that puts the interests of the other ahead of your own.

*****

I Timothy 1:5 says, "Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned."

The heart is the mentality of your soul. It’s single-minded; it’s a heart that just goes on sound doctrine. It’s not living on emotions; it’s living on the application of the truth of God’s Word rightly divided.

We’re to have a system of norms and standards that reflects God’s thinking. You’re able to walk by faith and not by sight. That verse is a beautiful description of a mature Christian walk. And not just an individual walking that way, but a group of people gathered together and working together in the work of the ministry.

Paul told the Corinthians, "As unknown and yet well known." I love that verse because that’s exactly what you’re . . . your spiritual power and influence far outweighs your appearance.

*****

When Paul talks about "in spirit," that’s the idea of your disposition; your attitude that you do something by.

In Ephesians 1:17, for example, he writes, "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him."

He’s not talking about the Holy Spirit. That’s not the initial giving; it’s not a later "re-giving."

He talks about the spirit in the sense of the "spirit of slumber," or the "spirit of bondage." When you have the spirit of slumber, you have this disposition of being asleep at the switch. Bondage is the disposition of being controlled.

Paul’s saying, "I want you to have the spirit of wisdom and revelation God has given you right here in this text. You get it in the Book."

The attitude with which you do things affects an awful lot. He’s saying, "I want you to walk around with this attitude and disposition that’s produced by understanding this great cosmic plan God has in His Son."

A cry for BELIEF in the access

(new article tomorrow)

“For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father,” says Paul in Romans 8:15.

To me that word ‘cry’ is one of the most important words in that verse and there are a lot of important words in that verse, but that one gets overlooked,” says Richard Jordan.

Paul doesn’t say, "Whereby we make the statement, Abba, Father." He doesn’t say, "Whereby we logically deduce that it’s the Father." He doesn’t say, "This is a doctrinal affirmation that we make and proclaim." He says, "Whereby we CRY out of a heart that understands I’ve reached the Father’s heart!"

When you cry, you’ve reached down into the depths of the reality of who you are and all the other stuff is taken away. A cry is something that reaches down into the depths of your soul with the reality of the moment and that personal affection.

*****

Paul says in Romans 5:2, “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

You’ve got the future where we rejoice in hope and then the present peace with God. All that God’s provided for us in Christ Jesus you have access to. 

You have the capacity to have the Holy Spirit take you by the hand and lead you right into all of those assets and make them real in your experience by faith. That’s by that deep consciousness that’s produced in your inner man simply by believing God’s Word.

Faith isn’t you deciding something’s going to be a certain way. Faith is finding out what God’s Word says and believing what God’s Word says is true. "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God."

You find out what God’s Word says about it and you say, "That’s what’s real no matter what my experience says, no matter what my emotions say, no matter what the advice of others say, no matter what my reason says. What GOD says is true!"

Now, maybe my circumstances and my reason and everything else lines up with what God’s Word says, but it isn’t true because of all of that; it’s true because of what God says!

Most of the time, your senses and your experience want to go the other way, but you still stick with what’s . . . it’s "by faith we have access to this grace wherein we stand." The identity you have in Him, you access it by faith.

First, the access is by faith that "comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God," and that accesses that consciousness; that confidence in your inner man that’s produced by believing God’s Word.

*****

Listen, when you believe what God says, it has an impact in your inner man. Ephesians 3:12 says, "In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him." Notice in verse 11, God’s doing some things "according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord."

When you truly begin to understand what God’s doing, and this eternal plan He has in His Son—this cosmic reality God the Father has planned to be the reality for the universe in His Son, the one the Father’s going to use to do all of that—it's in Him we have BOLDNESS and access with confidence. Why? By the faith of HIM. Because of who HE is we have boldness and access with confidence.

I don’t have to wonder whether God’s going to accept me. I don’t have to think maybe possibly He will. All of the questions anybody’s ever going to ask me about my access to God have been answered! And I can come with confidence. Yea, I can come with boldness.

Now, that’s not brazenness where I’m coming because of me. I can just come with that bold confidence of one who has the access of the Father’s ear. Because every question that’s ever going to be asked of me has been answered in Christ.

*****

There’s a real parallel between Ephesians 2 and what Paul talks about in Romans 8. Romans 8:31: [31] What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

Somebody’s going to read down to this point in the Book of Romans and say, "But wait a minute?!" and Paul says, "What should we say?" 

If someone comes along and they want to say, "Who do you think you are anyway?!" and oppose you . . . if God is for you, WHO CARES WHO’S AGAINST YOU?!

Here’s how God’s for you: [32] He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

When religion rears its head and says, "Yeah, but, if you don’t do this . . ." you just say, "Wait a minute, He that spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not freely give us all things?"

When the world rears its head and says, "Yeah, but," you say, "You know what the reality is? The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever."

When the world out there comes along and wants to help you create your identity, and help you create purpose and meaning and acceptance and validation in your life, with a thousand things that are smaller than Jesus Christ, faith says, "He that spared not His own Son but delivered Him up . . . "

*****

Verse 33 says, [33] Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.

People criticize you. I learned a long time ago that it isn't so much what others criticize you about; it's how you criticize yourself. The hardest person on you is going to be you.

You see somebody walking around like they never have a doubt, they just always come off as confident and knowing what they’re doing. But you see, you don’t hear that self-talk between their ears.

The heart condemns you because your heart knows you. And written down in the nature of your heart, God put a conscience that accuses and excuses based upon the way He created you, not on the basis of the way you try to create yourself.

The criticism arises. Verse 34 says, [34] Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

Who can lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? If God justifies you, who cares what the charges are?! What’s the verdict? You’re righteous. "Who is he that condemneth; it is Christ that died."

You know, when your own sinfulness shows up, you need to remember those are the very things Christ died for. People say, "You teach people about grace and they’ll just go live in sin," but that’s somebody who doesn’t understand grace. That’s taking the doctrine of grace and not putting faith with it.

The only time anyone turns grace into lasciviousness and a license to sin is people who don’t attach faith to grace. Because grace teaches us that Christ put away our sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And if I believe that, what’s the reality in my life? That I should add sin or put it away?! Duh! How hard is that?!

But when you just get a doctrine and detach faith, what did the verse in Romans say? "We have access by faith." To have grace work in your life, you attach faith to it; you believe it and then it works.

So, Paul finishes chapter 8 with, [35] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
[36] As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
[37] Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
[38] For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
[39] Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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You see, you can have confidence because of who HE is. If your confidence is going to rest in you, you’re going to have problems. But you can have confidence because your faith rests in the unwavering faithfulness of God Himself.

That’s what access is about. Being able to come right into the 

presence of the Father and have that relationship. That’s WHY Paul can say that we "pray without ceasing." Because when you begin to realize you have this unfettered, uninterrupted access to the Father, based upon what Jesus Christ has done through the ministry of the Spirit of God, taking His Word and making it real to you as you believe it . . .  

When you have that uninterrupted access that can be made real in your experience, you begin to realize that prayer isn’t, "Oh, Lord, I pray." There are times when bowing your head with both eyes closed works, but then there are other times when it doesn’t. The reason people do that is to cut out all the stimuli around you so you can concentrate simply on what you’re thinking, but that’s a baby way to pray.

I’m talking about your personal communion with God. What your mind realizes is that when you have this instant, continuous access is, "Oh, what it is to pray without ceasing is just to be conscious constantly of this unfettered access I have to the Father and thus that He has to me!" All of a sudden prayer is a quite different thing.

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There’s an old Quaker saying, "Whomsoever carryeth about the temple of God with him may pray wherever he may go." The Holy Spirit lives in you in order to make your body the temple--the dwelling place--of God. You don’t have to go to a building somewhere to find Him. He’s right there. You’re His temple.

There’s so many verses in Ephesians that have the trinity in them. Ephesians is full of the godhead. Father, Son, Spirit. That’s why this verse is such a delight to me. Ephesians 2:18 says, [18] For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

On the basis of what Jesus Christ has done, I’m going to have access to the Father and it’s going to be the Holy Spirit that takes me and the Father by the hands and brings us together and introduces us and makes it real in my life.

Ephesians 2:13 says, '[13] But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.' It's His blood; His work at Calvary.