Category: General Christian Living

The following is taken from Ravi’s youtube message titled, “Though The Fig Tree Does Not Bud – Stand Alone”

“If you go through the scriptures you will see some of the most passionate people who served with a very devoted heart had the toughest and the most emotionally driven questions. You know, faith is a perpetually defeated thing which survives all its conquerors. It will always be hammered. It will always be attacked, but the Bible will always rise up to outlive its pallbearers. Those who try to bury the Word find out it survives all those attacks.”
Ravi Zaharias quoting GK Chesterton

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17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:

18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

19 The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.
Habakkuk 3:17-19

Amen!

God bless,

Mark

Note: While we may not agree with everything a particular church or Christian group teaches or believes, there are times when we can be blessed by something outside the realm of our current understanding of God.

Yesterday, I began taking on some of Satan’s lies. Didn’t know that was what was happening. He’s pretty clever at camouflaging his lies in half-truths. After having another nightmare last night, I woke up at about 2:30am and then got up at 3am. I was still taking on fear. Ann and I came out to have our morning coffee and began talking. That’s when I knew I had to begin fighting back against the devil’s lies, the heaviness I was experiencing. I put on the youtube video “The Resistance Secret” by Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn. After hearing that a couple of times, I began saying the 91st Psalm out loud over and over. Next, I said all of the verses God gave us while living in Oregon. Finally, the oppression began to subside. Thank You, Jesus!

Jesus commands us to use His Word like the mighty sword of the Spirit that it is (Ephesians 6:17). Say it out loud (swing it around at the enemy), and watch deliverance flow in your life. Because the enemy is a liar, he can’t stand God’s truth. He can’t be around it for long without it doing him major damage so he flees.

If we want to live free in God’s truth, sooner or later, we must learn to use His Word in the battle for our minds.

He (His Word in my mouth) brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings.
Psalm 40:2

Using God’s Word will set our feet upon a rock (Jesus) and establish our goings (our lives and what Jesus has for us to do in His Name.)

Self-pity trying to wreak havoc in your mind and life? Jesus wants us free from all defeating thoughts. That’s right – Free!

If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
John 8:31b-32

I don’t care what lies the enemy of our souls is trying to get you to accept, believe and live with. Don’t take fifteen cents worth of nothing off the devil! Don’t do it. Hallelujah!

How do you discern the devil’s lies?

If thoughts are oppressing, tormenting (squeezing your brain and clouding your thoughts with despair) you and making you feel defeated, weary, hopeless, like you’ll never get over your past, hurts, anger, etc., they’re lying thoughts. Believe Ann and me, those kinds of miry clay thoughts are not from Jesus. Jesus’ truthful thoughts – His Word – will set you free from Satan’s lies. Jesus’ thoughts will make you victorious, strong and courageous.

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
2 Corinthians 10:4-5

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
1 Thessalonians 5:18

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28

So come on, let’s go, and I’ll (Jesus) show you all the wonderful things and truths I have for you this week!

Happy Monday, everyone.

God bless,

Mark

Note: While we may not agree with everything a particular church or Christian group teaches or believes, there are times when we can be blessed by something outside the realm of our current understanding of God.

17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”
2 Corinthians 5:17-20

I read a list of “Who We Are In Christ” to Ann and myself each morning. The list is taken from one of Dr. Neil Anderson’s books. One item in the list caught Ann’s attention today. It says, “I am reconciled to God and am a minister of reconciliation.”

Ann said, “Jesus wept over Jerusalem because they would not be reconciled to all the trust, love, peace, rest and joy He knew He could give them.”

As Ann and I talked about being reconciled to God, it hit me that, just like the rest of scripture, Proverbs 3:5-6 and Romans 8:28 are inseparably linked by the love of God. We can trust in the Lord with all our heart because God is working all things together for our good. We can yield to the love God is reaching out to us with, and making available to us, through these two scriptures or we can choose not to yield to them and not experience a large part of His love, a large part of our Father.

God, Who is love, wants to reconcile us to Him, to all that He is. He does this so we can trust Him all the time. This is what faith is all about and why our faith is so important.

“Be reconciled to God.” What an immense declaration from God to attempt to bring us back into His love where we can trust Him and never feel the need to ever fear again. All we ever have to do is yield to Him, to His Word, to His amazing love.

For (Because) God so loved the world (that’s you and me) that He gave His only begotten Son (He held nothing back so that reconciliation with Him could happen), that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16

For God so loved…Mmmm.

Reconciliation – Can you hear Him calling out to you today with His love? Trust Him. Rest in Him.

God bless,

Mark 

Note: While we may not agree with everything a particular church or Christian group teaches or believes, there are times when we can be blessed by something outside the realm of our current understanding of God.

The thief (Satan) cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy (our lives, our marriages, our testimonies, etc.): I (Jesus) am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
John 10:10

I heard a pastor on a local Christian radio station yesterday morning while driving to Costco.  His words really ministered to me.  Here are some notes I jotted down when I got home.

God wants to give us His rest.  We tend to want to do things in our own strength.  That’s why we get so worn out.  We don’t take on Christ.  We don’t live “in Christ.”  Reminds me of why I do the three kingdom keys.  God wants to bless my life by showing me how to live “in Christ.”  As I apply God’s Word to my life, as I yield to His Word, I learn to live “in Christ.”  Otherwise, I’m living outside of Christ.

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I was getting ready to send out something else today, but I felt I needed to say the following instead.

Spiritual wickedness can be so powerful and deceptive meaning that we’re not even aware of how they’re working in our lives to bring their dark oppression to bare on us.

My wife said something this morning that really sparked a thought.  She said we’re not wrestling with flesh and blood, but with principalities.

Immediately, the Holy Spirit told me these principalities are the ones who kept me in pride, anger, unforgiveness, and all the rest.  They’re the ones who made sure I kept believing the lies (it’s truly amazing how the devil’s lies creep into our lives to make us miserable.  This is why Jesus tells us His truth will set us free from Satan’s lies.) that have held me captive in PTSD.  They kept me from believing and applying the three kingdom keys to my life.  They did this to keep me from being set free in Jesus.  They did not want me “in Christ.”  They know that outside of Christ, they can have their dark impact in our lives.

If you feel an antagonism towards the Word.  If, for whatever reason, you fight doing the Word, it’s most likely the principalities and powers that are keeping you bound somehow.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to help you break free from the influence of these principalities so you can be free and “in Christ.”

One symptom of the work of these principalities, powers and spiritual wickedness I’ve found in my own life is when I sense unrest in me.  I can become easily offended, antagonistic, not able to rest or to lay something down, I sense I need to defend myself, etc.  These are times when I turn to Jesus, when I know I need to get back “In Him.”

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Ephesians 6:12

And ye shall know the truth (Jesus), and the truth shall make you free (from Satan’s lies we accumulate over the years).
John 8:32

I hope this helps…

God bless,

Mark

Note:  While we may not agree with everything a particular church or Christian group teaches or believes, there are times when we can be blessed by something outside the realm of our current understanding of God.

6 But without faith it is impossible to please him (God): for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. (And, so on…)

By faith Mark and Ann, when we were getting beat up by the enemy in Oregon, finally took up The Word of God and began memorizing it, applying it to their daily lives and “standing” on it…
Hebrews 11:6-8

Yes, go ahead and add your names to the list in Hebrews chapter 11.  Stand.  Keep the list of the faithful growing and growing…

While living in Oregon, I gave up and gave in to the devil all the time.  We became so weak that it didn’t take much for me to cave into any pressure he brought against me and my precious family.  Finally, when it seemed we had nothing left to lose (all hope was gone by that time), God began to show us how to “stand” – how to not give up and to not give in to Satan’s lies and it all started with God showing us how to “DO” His Word.  He told us to apply The Word to our everyday lives.  Hence, “Choosing Jesus (Who is The Word) Every Day.”

God did allow us to get to the point where we got sick – really sick – of taking the devil’s lies on the chin and not knowing how to fight back.

Yes, you may stumble in your faith, you may get a stomach ache, shed tears, get migraines, deal with sickness, weakness,  experience loss, etc, standing for God.  But, still stand.  See it through with Jesus.  God is faithful!

I think a lot of us have to come to the point where we finally stand up to the devil’s bullying.  I pray that “point” comes sooner than later for all of us.  For Ann and me, that was where “faith” really began to take hold on our lives.  We stood up to the bullying with The Word of God – With Jesus!

Never Give Up, Never Give In
By Ernie Haase and Signature Sound

Shadrach, Mesach, Abednego… The king said bow down they said no.
No, they had to endure the burning flames…
But they were soon delivered when the fourth Man came…

Oh, never give up. (Never give up)
No never give in (Never give in)
Never will He fail you, leave you, turn you away. You can always count on Him.

The very same God of the Bible days is answering prayer like He did back then.

So, never give up (No, never give up)
No, never give in

Rough spots, roadblocks, troubled times…
Trials, let downs, uphill climbs.
No matter what test you have to face,
You will overcome it if you keep the faith!

Never give up. (No, never give up)
No, never give in (No, never give in)

Never will He fail you, leave you, turn away, you away…
You can always count on Him.

The very same God of the Bible days is answering prayer like He did back then
So, never give up, (No, never give up)
No, never give in

No, never give up!
No, never give up!
No, never give up!
No, never give up!
No, never give up!
Never give in (Never give in)

The very same God of the Bible days is answering prayer like He did back then
So, never give up (No, never give up)
Never give in (No, never give in)
No, never give up (No, never give up!)
Come on boy.  Sound off.
Never give up
Never give in.
No, never give up!

God bless,

Mark

Note:  While we may not agree with everything a particular church or Christian group teaches or believes, there are times when we can be blessed by something outside the realm of our current understanding of God.

Jesus…

Just the awareness that He’s near right now calms me down. The Peace that passes understanding.

Mmmm. Sweet Jesus…

Keep “looking up” to Jesus, precious people.

Happy Monday.

So come on, let’s go!

“Thank You, Jesus, for all the wonderful things You’re going to show and teach me this week.”

God bless,

Mark

Note: While we may not agree with everything a particular church or Christian group teaches or believes, there are times when we can be blessed by something outside the realm of our current understanding of God.

“God, all of my questioning; all of my anger towards You; all of the pain; all of the humility; all of the brokenness and suffering; failures; thoughts of wanting to give up; all of the confusion; depression; oppression; torment; relentless, hopeless thoughts; self-pity; and shame…Why did You allow it? Why didn’t You do something about it? Why have you allowed me to feel and live so forsaken? How could You possibly use this? How can You help me? How can You heal me from the impact of all of the years spent living this way, Jesus?

Romans 8:28? What? Really? That’s it?

How?”

All I’ve ever heard Him say back to all those questions and awful decades is, “Trust Me.” And, I’ve found that when I think I’m done trusting Him, He asks me to trust Him more…And more…And more…And the trusting never ends.

…And then, a flicker of light appears. Then, more light. Then, He appears in the form of a trace of hope on the horizon. He comes walking across the angry seas of my life. I think, “Who is that?” “Is it real?” “Is that You, Jesus?”

And He says it’s okay for me to get out of my boat. My boat’s not much, but it’s familiar and it’s the only thing that’s kept me alive – so far. It’s the only life I’ve known.

He asks me to leave it to come to Him. I think, “Really? Can I trust Him? Can I trust anything any more? I don’t understand what it is, but something in me moves me to try. And when I try to walk on the waves, I begin to sink. He grabs me, helps me back in the boat, and calms the raging sea in me – for the moment.

He looks at me and says, “Where is your faith?” I tell Him my faith is gone. All of the years of my life have drained it out of my spirit.

His eyes seem to look through me in a way that makes me understand that He knows me better than I know myself, that He knows something I don’t know…

That’s when He tells me He is The Way, The Truth, and The Life. “What does that even mean?” His words seem to bounce off my numb, faithless heart.

He tells me He has the power – the real power of His words penetrate me in a way I’ve not known before – to make everything in my life not just okay, that His plan isn’t just to bring me back to “even. No, His plan is to pour into my life His Way, His Truth, His Life. He will do a work in my life powerful enough to drive out the twisting, shifting, unsettling, angry seas – the very tool He’s allowed in my life for His purposes. And then, He’ll use it all – every drop – not just for my good, but beyond that to help deliver others as well.

I just sit there looking back out over the sea of my life He’s just stilled, and think, “How could that ever be? And yet something in me, just for a split second, says, “Yes, with Me it is possible.” ” In fact, one day,” He tells me, “you’ll convince others they too can trust Me.”

When I look back at Him He’s no where in sight. Has He left me all alone? Is the little, momentary hope He’s shared with me all I’m left with? What was that He said, again? The Way, The Truth and what? With Him gone, will the raging seas return? Oh Jesus, please don’t leave. Please come back. Please stay with me.”

That’s when I notice something new about my old, familiar boat as I lean over the back of the boat staring hard with what’s left of my strength to find Him. The name of my boat has changed – Instantly. And, it hasn’t been merely painted over. No, it’s completely new, fresh, almost glowing paint.

And, the old name,”Forsaken,” has been replaced with “Romans 8:28.”

And now – suddenly – there’s the tiniest, new awareness of what I can only describe as “hope” in my heart. And, although I can’t see Him, I sense He’s still near…

…”Behold, I make all things new!”

God bless,

Mark

Note: While we may not agree with everything a particular church or Christian group teaches or believes, there are times when we can be blessed by something outside the realm of our current understanding of God.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28

I don’t always know how God is going to work all things together for my good. I don’t need to know how He’s going to do it. That’s part of the surprise and excitement about being a Christian. It’s so wonderful to anticipate His work in and around our lives for our good.

God’s job is to see that all things work together for my good. With the encouragement of the Holy Spirit and fellow believers, my job is to trust Him through it all. ☺

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty (Yes, He is ALL-MIGHTY). I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
Psalm 91:1-2

Mmmm…

God bless you all as you trust in Him…

Mark

Note: While we may not agree with everything a particular church or Christian group teaches or believes, there are times when we can be blessed by something outside the realm of our current understanding of God.

Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
Acts 4:12

Salvation? Salvation from what?

“Yeah, I get it, Mark. I know I need to believe in Jesus and call on His Name is order to be saved from eternal damnation in hell. I’ve done that. I got that out of the way. I’ve accepted Jesus as my personal Savior.”

Asking Jesus into our lives so we can spend eternity in Heaven is just the beginning of our salvation. For instance, Jesus wants to save me from being a bad husband. He wants to show me more and more about how to love Annie better by the way I treat her and by the way I live every day with her. He wants to set me free from all the awful PTSD symptoms and accompanying lies I’ve believed about myself the devil used to cause me to be depressed, to be ineffective in my Christian witness, and to want to end life. Yeah, I was not doing well and Jesus wanted to show me how to turn my life around.

I don’t know exactly what you need to have Jesus save you from, but I know Him and I know – beyond a shadow of doubt – He wants to set us free in so many areas we either don’t recognize or that we refuse to let Him do His work in.

Let Jesus show you how to love your spouse better. Let Him show you how to be a better employee, how to overcome fear, disappointment, complaining, shame, pride – you name it. Let Him show you how to live above your circumstances like He showed the Apostle Paul to do. Let Jesus give you new life. He is The Gospel. He is the Good News. Let Him bring His wonderful, liberating, life-changing Life into you.

Don’t know how to get started with letting Jesus change you, with letting His great salvation begin to do its work in you? Well, one place you can start is by reading through all the links at ChoosingJesusEveryDay.com. Memorize and apply the verses God gave Ann and me that are displayed on the “Verses God Gave Us” tab on that site. Ask Jesus to do a mighty work in your life. He’ll do it. How do I know He will. Because He’s doing it in Ann and me.

I can tell you right now, the only reason for not letting Jesus change me was due to my own stubborn will and religious pride. Yes, the PTSD has been a very rough road, but I still needed to choose Jesus in order to have any kind of a chance to have His wonderful Life replace the one I was living.

Choose Jesus. Choose Life. You’ll never be the same.

We love you all.

God bless,

Mark

Note: While we may not agree with everything a particular church or Christian group teaches or believes, there are times when we can be blessed by something outside the realm of our current understanding of God.

What time I am afraid (when sudden fear or “care” try to tempt me to distrust my Jesus), I will (I will deliberately choose to) trust in thee (This is how and when I apply Romans 8:28 – Jesus – to my life). 4 In God I will praise his word (because He’s really “with me” to bring His loving comfort to me in all things), in God I have put my trust; I will not fear (because of His “Romans 8:28” promise to me) what flesh (what anyone, the devil, or anything this world can try to make me fear with) can do unto me.
Psalm 56:3-4

“So come on, let’s go and I’ll (Jesus) show you My boundless love for you today, My precious one.”

God bless,

Mark

My life was anything but still waters and green pastures. PTSD, alone, was wreaking havoc in me. But, as I’ve come to realize, that’s exactly what God allowed it to do. He was allowing it to do a work in me that would lead me to trust in Him with all my heart.

As I look back through the years, I can now see that, all along, He’d been leading me to still waters and green pastures. Now I trust Him more than I thought was possible…For in him we live, and move, and have our being (Acts 17:28a). I live “in Him” and what a totally life-changing difference this has made in my life. Oh, I still get tempted to leave the still waters and green pastures from time to time. But now, it’s a much shorter trip back to the still waters and green pastures, back to Jesus, back to my Prince of Peace.

He leadeth me beside still waters.

Mmmm…Jesus.

God bless,

Mark

Trust in the Lord with all your heart…Green pastures and still waters.

God bless,

Mark

God just continues to amaze us. Sunday, God gave me something brand new for Annie and it really blessed me as well. He’s still revealing the meaning of His fresh word to us. I hope to share it with you soon.

Kimberly, our friend from Oklahoma, replied to yesterday’s choosingjesuseveryday email with the following. It went pretty much hand in hand with how God keeps revealing more and more of Himself to His children. There’s no end to our marvelous Heavenly Father, precious people. And, somehow, what He keeps sharing about Himself fills us with more and more of the love and wonder of Who He is. Amazing…

Here’s Kimberly’s reply –

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Just wanted to say that I never get tired of hearing Romans 8:28!
When we establish intimacy with GOD, every word HE speaks to us is fresh revelation…
even if it’s the same word every day!
I love the vision a minister at Rhema (a local church in Oklahoma) had of the seraphim that encircle our LORD’s throne proclaiming,
“Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD GOD Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.”
As he (the minister) watched them repeating this declaration, one of them broke rank and approached this minister.
The minister had a question on his mind (maybe it’s the same question every human would have because of our limited perspective).
And he posed his question to the seraphim, “Don’t you get weary of saying the same words over and over?”
The seraphim was genuinely surprised!
“Don’t you know that every time we say these words we see a brand new quality, a new depth of character, a new facet to our KING?!”

Thank you for sharing fresh revelation every day!
New every morning!
Great is Thy Faithfulness, Oh LORD!

*******

God bless,

Mark and Annie

Note:  We may not agree with everything a particular church or Christian group teaches or believes, but there are times when we can get blessed by something outside the realm of our current understanding of God.

There is a love that exists that can rescue us from anything. It is found in the words of Romans 8:28. The only prerequisite is love itself.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28

If we believe the Bible where it says that perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18), then we cannot let fear keep us from loving God. This is how things works together for our good. We must go beyond fear to love and trust God in – and with – everything.

God bless,

Mark

The other day, I heard a well-known pastor talking about how most of Israel is secular today. They don’t really want to be known for, and associated with God. The Jewish people have had a pretty rough history with enormous challenges that has caused a lot of them to defy God.

Their history reminded me of the challenges God allows each of us to go through. Will we end up turning away from God after wrestling with life’s challenges? Or, after wrestling with it all, will we let God rename us “Israel?”

Like Jacob, I will take the new name God gives those who come out on the other side of all of life’s challenges – of the refiner’s fire – surrendering them all to Jesus.

Israel – One meaning of the name is that after wrestling with God, I belong to God for His purposes. When we finally belong to God, when we surrender to His purpose, I believe we see all of our life as God – somehow – working it all together for good. That’s how He wants us to see it. What joy there is for those who do not give up on God in the midst of their struggles, and for those who turn it all over to Him for Him to use for His wonderful purposes.

The following is taken from chapter 13 of the book, “Encountering Our Wild God” by Kim Meeder. At the age of 8, Kim was picked up early at school one day by a family member and driven to her grandmother’s home. Kim sensed something was terribly wrong. At her grandmother’s home, her grandmother sat her down and told her the grim news. “Kim, this morning, your father (Kim had seen her father as her superhero who could do no wrong) has shot and killed your mother and then taken his own life.”

Kim’s family were not churchgoers. Kim’s reaction to the incredible news was to yell at her grandmother, “No, it’s not true” over and over again. Then, Kim ran out the front door and ran until she could run no more. She fell face down in the dirt and cried out, “Jesus, help me!”

Today, Kim Meeder is one of the most powerful Christians I have ever seen. She and her wonderful husband have a ranch in Bend, Oregon. Kim travels all over the world sharing the amazing life Jesus has given her. She is alive in Jesus like few Christians I know. That’s why I wanted to share some of her words with you. Below is the part of Kim’s book I wanted to send you today.

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“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.
“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts…Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow.
Where nettles grew, myrtles will sprout up.
These events will bring great honor to the Lord’s name;
they will be an everlasting sign of his power and love.”
Isaiah 55:8-9, 13

Perspective is an untamable thing. A multitude of people can all experience the same event and yet have completely different views of their encounter.

Our human perspective dictates that we view our circumstances through the veil of what is best for our immediate needs. We want to be happy, peaceful and comfortable – and that is okay. Few want to be depressed, stressed out and in pain. Yet sometimes, our complete upset is the exact stage God uses to move His best plan forward and deeper into our lives.

At times, God allows occurrences in our lives that, in the moment, make no sense at all. Despite our best-laid plans, things will go wrong. Occasionally, they go horribly wrong.

When it comes to perspective, I often consider my love of mountaineering because it has such tremendous correlation to my relationship with God. The higher I go in the mountains, the more powerful the experience. Reaching the lofty heights is where the spectacular views and vast perspectives are most profoundly experienced. But one of the frightening realities of this elevated place is the potential for avalanches. From a distance, they are one of the most beautiful events I have ever seen. Yet when caught up within them, I have a unique perspective. A perfectly quiet, flawless environment can unexpectedly turn into a tumbling, catastrophic disaster.

Life can be like that.

Despite our efforts to maintain balance, life can shift and crack without warning. Suddenly, before our horrified eyes, our peaceful landscape collapses, and we fall in a thundering rampage. Instantly, we get swept up, plummeting downward in a roaring avalanche. We feel as if we are being torn limb from limb. We find ourselves upside down, right side up, bending, twisting, gasping for life. Finally, when the cataclysm subsides, our first discernible breaths tell us we are still alive.

Often, in the unfolding of the crumpled heap at the bottom of the chasm, our fist thought, our first perspective is, “Why?”  In that immediate moment of wreckage, we lack understanding. We fail to comprehend the depth of His plan. We cannot receive bedrock verses like Romans 8:28, which promises that all things “work together for the good of those who love God.”

Good? How?

Instead of falling forward into His waiting arms of trust, we fall backward into the black pit of despair. The longer we stay there, the harder it is to leave. We get stuck in the pain of the moment, fully believing this is our new lot in life. This dark, broken place will become our new home. And this will become our truth as long as our vision remains locked on our narrow perspective of the “now.”

Thankfully, our perspective has no hearing on His.

Some say that life is like watching a parade pass by. We only see a narrow window while God sees the entire parade – from beginning to end – all at once. Since He sees everything together, He also sees how it all fits together within the beautiful whole. Because of this truth, we can trust Him with our narrow window, our pile of wreckage. We can trust Him with our rubble, knowing it can never cover His mountain range of reason. We can trust Him enough to stop looking downward at our broken circumstances and start looking upward to the wonder and power of His wild perspective.

*******

God bless,

Mark 

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
Isaiah 26:3

End times events we see all around us point to the soon return of Jesus for His bride, for us. Pretty exciting…

In His love for His children, Jesus tells them to look up. He does this so that they don’t get caught up in the stress, sorrow, fear – of what’s coming – anger and despair of these times. Instead, look up. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth (whatever you struggle with), will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. We can let Him keep us by looking up.

Peace I (Jesus) leave with you, my peace (that’s meant to surpass your understanding) I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
John 14:27

God bless,

Mark

As we (my wife and I) discovered, there’s a huge difference in knowing (hearing) about the three kingdom keys and actually applying them (doing) in our everyday lives.  Honestly, it’s the difference between life and death.  And that’s not being dramatic.  It’s reality.

Wow, I’m so thankful that all the care I once had in my life brought me to the end of my rope. I finally gave up and followed God’s leading to turn all my care (little by little as He pointed all my different cares out to me) over to Him. Whewie…What a relief.

Taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Deliberately replacing the enemy’s lying thoughts with God’s truth. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5

Thanking and praising Him in all things. 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Living by Romans 8:28 realizing and rejoicing in the freedom of knowing that God is working all things together for your good.

“Holy Spirit, in Your power, please place a guard over me that reminds me to do the three kingdom keys every moment of each day.”

God bless,

Mark

The Bible is full of stories where God moved heaven and earth to bring about His will in lives. He will stop at nothing to accomplish His plan for a life that is willing to follow Him.

If we’ll correspond with Him, God will give us the kind of faith that Hebrews chapter 11 speaks of.

I have to admit, in my unrenewed and unregenerated mind, I was really afraid of believing that it was God working in my life when my life appeared to be falling apart.

For so many years, I thought God was totally against me. I thought He was trying to destroy me through all of the seeming out of control, negative circumstances that were occurring in my life. At the time, I didn’t realize He was actually tearing down my natural habit and tendency to depend on anything other than Him alone – The Refiner’s fire. He was on a mission and I could do nothing to stop Him. I’m so glad He had – and is still having – His way with me.

The Refiner’s Fire

For our God is a consuming fire.
Hebrews 12:29

So that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 1:7

It’s a strange and awesome thing to witness: Those who do not know God will freak out when God shakes those things that can be shaken. Those who do know Him become more bold at the shaking.

men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Luke 21:26

A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. 8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked (those who do not know Christ, The Prince of Peace).
Psalm 91:7-8

They do not know nor do they understand (the unsaved and those who do not trust in God); They walk about in darkness; All the foundations of the earth are shaken.
Psalm 82:5

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
John 8:12

Fear is shakable. Anything that can scare us is shakable. This is why God allows shaking. It cleanses us from fear, from the possibility of encountering fear (torment) on any level in the future.

God doesn’t entertain or appease fear. If at all possible (in those who are willing to let Him do so), He eradicates fear. He replaces fear with His immovable, unshakable perfect love that is so different and much more powerful than our shortsighted, and limited human love. After all, His perfect love is the only thing in all creation that can remove (that can cast out) all fear.

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
1 John 4:18

I woke up this morning (1-4-20) with the word “shakable” in mind. I asked the Lord what He was saying by bringing that word to mind. Here are some thoughts that followed…

We don’t like pure gold unless we can wear it while it pumps up our pride. We don’t like the idea of the refiner’s fire that produces the pure gold of God’s character in our lives. God’s gold – that’s clothed in the strength of His humility – isn’t worn or flaunted like worldly gold.

I don’t know anyone who gets excited about earthquakes. When God begins His work in our lives, it can feel as unnerving as an earthquake. Unlike the temporary shaking of an actual earthquake, His work doesn’t stop. He keeps shaking us to bring about His glory, His pure gold in us.

God doesn’t stabilize our lives like we think He should, like we think He would. And when He begins His unshakable work in us, we often get offended and choose to leave Him, to leave Christianity.

Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.
Isaiah 48:10

Shakable – For the most part, the world is used to depending on everything but God alone not truly realizing that God alone is unshakable.

I think a lot of people thought that God would give them all the money they need, a good job, the right spouse, nice cars, house, family and friends and that by doing so He was making their lives unshakable. Out of His love for mankind, God will shake everything (your reputation, your resume, and everything else) until all that’s left in us is Him, The Unshakable. Feel like life is being shaken?

Shaking either makes us mad at God while being tempted to leave Him, or it causes (motivates, directs, points) us to follow Him through the shaking while we let Him do His loving, stabilizing work in our lives.

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6

Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of he wicked (those who trust in everything other than God), when it cometh. For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.
Proverbs 3:25-26

Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you (to make us unshakable) will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
Philippians 1:6

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6-7

For those who trust God at all costs, those who know Him Who is unshakable will become bold when the earth is shaken in the end times as the following verse can indicate.

And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.
Acts 4:31

God bless,

Mark