The King of Love has Scorned our Shame

Our Shame has Been Scorned

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2

       As our hearts had continued in rebellion, we had been storing up the wrath of the Father towards us. As we broke His Covenant of love, we realized that we were bare and uncovered. We were ashamed. His Law is written on our hearts and in the torrent of spiritual distress that rushed in after our wicked deeds we felt shame. We were worthy of only disgrace. There was a shroud of darkness within and around us that blurred our vision. 

     Our glory had fell. We were meant to glory in Him...in His glory. Yet the exaltation of ourselves in our flesh set itself up against the One whom were were meant to glory in: The Lord, the Great I AM. We took the fairest purpose of our manhood and womanhood and discarded it for the counterfeit deception: self idolatry. We lived only for pleasure. As were arose in the morning our waking moments were filled with contemplating the work of our hands and as we rested our heads, we imagined earthly pleasures and the splendor of our flesh. We were Pagan rebels. We had sold our birthright for a bowl of soup. 

     The only disposition left for our hearts to bear was SHAME. As we awoke to our damning plight of being covered in shame, we would have been destroyed completely. 

You will be filled with shame instead of glory. Now it is your turn! Drink and be exposed ! The cup from the LORD’s right hand is coming around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory. Hab 2:16

     Many of the wicked on earth even "loved their shameful ways", "gloried in their shame", "consecrated themselves to idols", and "knew no shame". Because of our shame, we could not minister or serve the Lord our God. Our sin had separated ourselves from Him. 

     We scorned our shame, that is, we thought against it, we utterly despised it. We had sought our own glory, but in the process, rather than acquiring His glory through worshiping Him, we had brought disaster upon ourselves. We had traded the Living God for our mortal selves in all their condemning carnality. Our deep despising and scorning of our own shame ultimately resulted in our undying fear of death. Day and night, we feared the Judge who would have destroyed us, us who had become like the unworthy idols that we worshiped. We were fit only to be trampled upon and thrown into the fires. Oh, how we despised our shame.

     But as Jesus poured out His Life unto death on the cross, He beheld the glory of the Father, the glory that would come to Him as God raised Him to Life and achieved Redemption for all His people through His sacrifice and resurrection. This was the joy set before Him: The Glorification of God and the Union with His people. 

     There on the cross, even as Jesus beheld this joy, He scorned the shame. Whose shame was this that He had scorned? Christ knew no sin and yet He became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. In His perfection He was made the source of eternal Life for all who believe. He became the curse for us. By His stripes we are healed. Certainly this Perfect Lamb of God was sinless and spotless, holy and pure, in the eyes of the True Judge. 

     And yet He despised shame, not shame that came as a result from sin within Him. For He surely was perfect in every aspect and had resisted every temptation and arrow from the evil one. He despised our shame, yes, even the shame of the whole world. All of the shame for all of the sin that we have committed was placed on Him. He bore our sin and our shame. He despised this shame of mine and yours. He despised it to the utmost.

     The joy set before Him allowed Him to endure the cross. Now He is the Author and Perfecter of our faith. He is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven. As we confess and repent of our sin, He has washed away our impurity. His fountain of cleansing is free for all who come. 

HE HAS SCORNED OUR SHAME SO THAT WE NEED NOT BEAR IT OR SCORN IT.

Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 2 Cor 4:2

     His death and resurrection has achieved for us fine white garments of righteousness that cover and remove our shame. He enables us to see what we could not see before in the midst of our guilty confusion. We could walk in the Light, yes, even in the love of God for His people. Where there is no sin, there is no shame. And when we have sinned, He has despised the shame for us so that we need not bear it. 

I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Rev 3:18

Thus His covenant stands firm. He has blotted out our sin.

“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” I Peter 2:6

The King of Love

     The King of Love has come. And now there is no difference between each child of the heavenly Father. We are glorified with Christ. There is no glory greater than His exalted glory. In the new Heaven and the new Earth, we will be united with Christ as His Bride. 

     This Bride has one heart. Her heart is completely devoted to her Lord Jesus Christ. Her heart is undivided. Her love is strong. Until the Day of the Lord is consummated, she bears His anguish. His grief is the grief of her heart. His joy in His glory is the joy that she sets before her. This joy prevents her from growing weary and losing heart. 

     The Bride has one soul. Her soul is guided by the Good Shepherd. She hears His voice. She runs away from the stranger because she does not recognize his voice. Every Spiritual revelation from the Father is shown to her and her soul rejoices in His Truth. Her soul hungers and thirsts for His righteousness. 

     The Bride has one mind. Each of us has been given the mind of Christ so that we can understand what God has freely given us. No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has perceived what God has prepared for those who love Him, yet He reveals it to her by His Holy Spirit. She knows that her life is in Him, that apart from Him she has no good thing. She proclaims that Christ is Lord and believes that God has raised Him from the dead. 

     The Bride has one body. Each of us is filled with a deep and strong incomprehensible love for the other members of the bride. We would lay down our lives for one another. We would starve that you might be fed. We would thirst that you might drink. We would be imprisoned that you might go free. We would be bedridden that you might be healed. We are laboring and battling demons for your sake. We do not hold onto earthly money and materials but bestow them freely. We trust in Him. He never lets the righteous go hungry. We have seen His faithfulness time after time. We do not hold onto anything here on earth. Our body belongs to Him. Surely Christ is our Head.

     As we saw the members of our bride struggle and misunderstand, we may have been tempted to accuse and to criticize them. But He has revealed to us that He Himself is the King of Love who reveals His Truth to His people. He is zealous for His people. His heart longs for the complete devotion of His people and He is mighty and Sovereign.

The way He rescues the heart of His people is to reveal to them His love.

¹⁹ I will betroth you to me forever; 
   I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, 
   in love and compassion. 
²⁰ I will betroth you in faithfulness, 
   and you will acknowledge the LORD. Hos 2

     He leads us "with cords of human kindness and ties of love". Surely it is "His kindness which leads us to repentance". In our accusation of the bride we had acquired more than a hint of pride. In this pride we had neglected the one thing that the Sovereign Lord uses to woo His bride: His love: the laying down of His Life for her. 

His "heart is changed within Him and all His compassion is aroused". "He heals our waywardness and loves us freely". 

     At other times we were tempted into hopelessness and despair at the imperfection and disunity of the bride. We almost questioned the promise of God to unify His people. We forget that it was HIS power that "enables Him to bring everything under His control". We tried to give birth to salvation in ourselves but we brought forth only wind. It was His own arm that worked salvation for her...in EVERY REALM. Surely He calls us to a patient loving humility on behalf of the saints. 

     Consider now your brother, your sister in Jesus Christ. One day he/she will be a glorified being. If you saw him/her in this state at this instant you would fall to your face in awestruck  fear. The flesh will have been destroyed and the soul saved. He/she will be worshiping God with unending joy and satisfaction in the love of the Father. He/she will be joining in the feast of the Lamb. You will become one entity with him/her and the rest of God's people. Indeed this is the final state of all believers. There is no difference between them. They are one. They are one. And they are raised to life and glorified in Christ. He calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.

     If He captures our hearts with His love, would we be used by Him to love those who do not comprehend their glorious eternal destiny and God's righteous anguish for the present wickedness?

Or would we devour one another in prideful criticism? Our fruitfulness comes from Him.

     What will unify us as His people is a common experience with the Awesome King of Love. We may be from different countries, our cultures may be different, our social status may be different, our way of interacting may be different, our lifestyles may be different....but we both have been found by the Good Shepherd. We both have been loved by Him when we did not love Him. We have both seen His awesome forgiveness and mercy. We both have sat at the foot of the cross and wept before Him with tears of brokenness and joy. We both have been disciplined by Him so that our strongholds are removed. We are both being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. We both know the consolation of the Spirit and the peace that comes from above.

I look into your eyes and I behold your tears. They are my tears...tears of Godly sorrow, tears of brokenness, tears of joy.

I behold the light in the your eyes. I know you. This is the Light that He has put in my eyes. The Light that comes as we who with unveiled faces reflect the Lord's glory. This is the Light of Christ, the Light of Freedom. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 

Your life is my life. Whatever each of us does not know, whatever He has revealed to us, whatever you have done, whatever you have left to do, whatever you have spoken, whatever you have left to say...In His grace I love you. We love us. We are in His love. Nothing can separate us from His full redemption and perfection for His people. He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. 

OUR COMMON EXPERIENCE WITH GOD AS HE REVEALS HIS GLORY TO US IS WHAT UNIFIES US. OUR HEARTS ARE HELD BY OUR KING OF LOVE. 

May He cause our love to increase infinitely more for Him and one another. 

He Shakes the Earth and Raises His Banner

HE WHO HAS EARS LET HIM HEAR WHAT THE SPIRIT SAYS TO THE CHURCH

He Shakes the Earth

²⁵ See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? ²⁶ At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” ²⁷ The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Hebrews 12

     Each and every day that we have neglected Him and His Word, we have been building our house on the sand. We have been rooting ourself in soil that cannot nourish. Or we have been fixed to a dead vine that can produce no fruit in us as we abide here. We are as a tender shoot seeking its implantation in a barren land. We have labored and toiled seeking to establish ourselves here and have created many strongholds. These strongholds have calloused our hearts, blinded our eyes, and deafened our ears. Our souls have been ignorant of Him. We had a form of Godliness but we denied its power as we established ourselves on this earth and neglected the seeking of the Hand of God.
   
    Our souls were buried in the ground of this world as we refused to humble ourselves before Him and receive His mighty hand that lifts up those who are bowed low. We had dug our own graves in the work of our hands and the words of our mouths. We had become altogether hopeless and useless to the Master. We were as a marred pot in the Hands of the Potter. We refused to return to Him. We refused to repent.

What more could the Master do for us?

    He must reform us into a new being, a clean pot, a righteous servant of His. Here is how He will do it and has done it: "He will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the Lord Almighty, in the day of His burning anger" and "the floodgates of heaven open and the foundations of the earth are shaken".

HE IS SHAKING THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH.

      When God shakes the earth, everything that we hold onto that comes from the dust of the ground will be shaken off. He does this so that what remains will endure and prevail. He will break off the dead vine that we had adulterated ourselves with. He will destroy the barren lands and the empty pastures. Before our very eyes, the boasts of our mouths and the lusts of our eyes will dissappear like a vapor. He will send floods and pestilences to sweep away our kingdoms and uncover our dead souls from the heart of the earth. Many will perish under the wrath of God.

     But for us who are being saved, He performs this shaking of the earth to bind our hearts to His. He will make us acknowledge Him and see the neverending Kingdom with clear eyes. No longer will the idols of our heart cloud our hearts and contaminate our minds. He will purify and refine us, as many times as it takes, to completely perfect for Himself a people who are His very own.

     For all those who listen to Him, you who seek righteousness and peace, take heart. For the sin that breaks your heart will be destroyed with the shaking of the earth. But He will save your soul. Yes, He is saving souls.When He ascended on high, He led captives in His train and gave gifts to men.

     We are not to fear this shake. It is here. Look around you: His shaking of the earth has come. Stand firm until the end. He will save you. He will not let you perish. He is making the foundations of the earth shake to remove from us our damning desires for earthly things and the hardness and blindness that remains in our hearts.
  
     We must lift up our eyes and not look back at what He is shaking off from us. Look unto Him. Look only unto Jesus. The Sound of His Voice is like that of Rushing Waters. This shaking is revealing His glory. The Judge is standing at the door. In His righteousness He will remove these things from us. As surely as the sun rises, He comes to us.

     As our earthly attachments are taken away from us, the sheep know only to do one thing: they will worship the King with awe and reverence, they will make Him their refuge and dwelling place. The Spirit He has caused to live in us envies intensely for our hearts to be wholly committed to Him and to seek Him and His Kingdom with all of our heart. We will rejoice in that day when we see Him clearly as He removes our strongholds. We will be as prisoner's set free, as one who passes from judgement to life. Even when our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and He knows all things: He knows that He has achieved full redepmption for His people and has bestowed His righteousness upon them.

     As the world languishes in torment at the shaking away of prosperity, the Bride rejoices. Her hearts desire is be clothed in the fine white linen garments that Christ gives to her. The Morning Star will rise in her heart as the Day of her redemption draws near.

     This shaking of the earth will fill the Bride with pure unfailing love that comes from the Father in Christ Jesus. Surely the Spirit will fill her with inexpressible and glorious joy as she puts her hope in the receiving of the goal of her faith: the salvation of her soul.

OUR GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE.

     He is calling you to stand firm and not to fear. He has overcome everything. His Covenant of love for you cannot be revoked. As He shakes the earth, you will see your strongholds and impurity removed and you will rejoice. You will thank and praise Him. You will bring glory and honor to His Name.

There is no Beauty but that of His Righteous Perfection and Loving Glory
There is no Majesty but the Sound of His Trumpet and His Established Throne
There is no Love but the Unfailing Love of God shown through the Son, Jesus Christ
There is no Good Spirit but the Shepherd and Overseer of Our Souls
There is no Joy but the Joy that comes as He refines us and breaks our hearts for His people and Kingdom
There is no Peace but His Peace that surpasses understanding, surpassing earthly jealousy and strife
There is no Sovereignty but the Sovereignty of the Annointed One who holds the keys of death and Hades
There is no Kingdom but the Unshakeable Kingdom of the Living One

He shakes the earth that all else may be destroyed and that these things remain.

"REMEMBER HIM BEFORE THE GOLDEN BOWL IS BROKEN, BEFORE THE SILVER CORD IS SEVERED.

He Raises His Banner

       Surely He has been a Banner for His people. Moses built an altar and called it "The Lord is My Banner" and "For those who fear You, You have raised a banner to be unfurled against the bow".

In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to Him, and His place of rest will be glorious. Isaiah 11:10 

      Now there is raised throughout the earth and the heavens, the Banner of Jesus. This Banner over the Bride is Love. As Jesus is lifted up in the hearts of His people, the people of God are drawn to Him.Yes, to Him the Banner. All those, chosen, called, predestined, adopted, justified, glorified are streaming to the banner of the Name of Jesus, yes, even to the Mountain of God. Young and old, rich and poor, men and women from every nations are fleeing the world and pursuing the Banner of Christ. They are leaving everything behind. Surely we had been at various realms of His ever-increasing glory and we have been steadily transformed and renewed, but as God's people see this Banner, they are leaving behind all the idols, all the strongholds, all the confusion, all the earthly argument and competitions. They are rallying to the Banner and are Gathering and Assembling before Him.

All you people of the world, you who live on the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, you will see it, and when a trumpet sounds, you will hear it. Isaiah 18:3

     All of the separation in heart, in mind, in body, in spirit between the people of God is disappearing as Jesus Christ is exalted among them all. God the Father grants the request of His Son: that they may be one as We are One--Complete Unity-- that the world would know that He has sent Me. He brings us to complete unity.

     The people of God cry out day and night "How long oh Lord? How long?" He tells them to take heart and lift up their eyes, for He who promised unity to His people is faithful. As the eyes of the brethren turn to Him, everything will become clear and He will be glorified in and among them. They will no longer labor in vain and speak Words that they cannot comprehend. "Those who are wayward in Spirit will gain understanding. Those who complain will accept instruction". Surely it is not too hard for the Sovereign King to Unite His people. When our Ruler and Lord acts, He acts swiftly.

HE WILL ESTABLISH THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT THROUGH THE BOND OF PEACE. He surely is able to do it.

The Spirit's Word to the Churches (Revelations 2)
He says to us: "EXAMINE YOUSELVES"
Pastor Dick's Revelations notes (borrowed from Mrs. Wiens) are with dad: what he prophecied from the Spirit's letters to the churches concerning the church will cause believers to weep and/or turn their eyes to Him.

What Pleases the Spirit:

deeds
hard-work
perseverance
intolerance of wicked men
testing of false apostles
endurance of hardships for His Name
not growing weary
hating the practices of the Nicoliatans (those whose practices He hates)
Spiritual wealth in the midst of poverty and affliction
remaining true to His Name
not renouncing our faith in Him even when we see the martyr of other believers
love
faith
service
doing more than we did at first

What Grieves the Spirit:

forsaking our first love
falling from our heights in Him
letting Satan have a throne
holding onto teachings of enticement, idolatry, and sexual immorality
holding to the evil practices of Nicoliatans
tolerating Jezebel: false prophets, sexual immorality, idolatry

The Spirit's Commands to Us:

Repent and do the things we did at first
Do not be afraid of persecution
Be faithful to the point of death
hold onto what we have until He comes

The Spirit's Judgements:

Our lampstand removed from its place
He will fight against us with the Sword of His Mouth
bed of suffering
intense suffering
children struck dead

The Spirit's Promise to Those who Overcome:

The right to eat from the Tree of Life in the Paradise of God
The Crown of Life
We will not be hurt by the second death
hidden manna
white stone with a new name known only to God and the believer
authority over the nations to those who do His will to the end
the Morning Star: Jesus


He who holds the seven stars in His Hand, who walks among the seven lampstands, He who is the First and the Last, who died and came to Life again, He who has the sharp double-edged Sword: The Son of God. His eyes are like blazing fire, and His feet are burnished with bronze. HE WILL RULE THEM WITH AN IRON SCEPTOR AND DASH THEM TO PIECES LIKE POTTERY.

SURELY THE ACCUSER OF THE BRETHREN STANDS CONDEMNED



A Blessed Playlist by Stuart Townend

From Anathema to Glory

Dear Father,
     The Words which You have spoken are Life and Truth. You sustain all things by Your powerful Word. You graciously put Your Word in the mouths of Your prophets. Oh, Lord I cannot speak Your Truth on my own. I would distort Your Wisdom. I would bring judgment upon myself apart from Your circumcising work. I commit these Words to You. You have revealed these things to me and know I know that you will protect me, Your daughter, from erring. The life of Your people and the souls of Your chosen ones are wrapped up in the bundle of You, the risen and living God and Savior. Your love. Oh Lord, YOUR love.
In Jesus Christ's Name, 
Amen

      The last few weeks, God reveals certain very specific concepts to write to you about. They are not from my own mind or based on my own experiences. Some of these concepts have nothing to do with anything I have experienced or thought about. I assume absolutely no authority over men. I stand under the head of Christ (and my parents) and share with you these things as Your daughter and sister. Some of you may not agree with certain aspects. I know that God is using the hatred of men to conform me to the image of Christ. He wants me to learn to fear Him alone. You can still talk to me in person (please do!) as I am a normal human person finding refuge in Him. Here is proof: link. And many of you have encouraged me since the last letter and I thank you for this.

The Two Paths


¹³ “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴ But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matthew 7


     Only a few among the churches of America have found this small gate. We must not take salvation in Christ for granted! Many of us who think that we are saved have not known the true Gospel. Even the truest followers of Christ are called to "work out their salvation with fear and trembling" and to "examine themselves to see if they are in the faith". Do not fear this examination but come before Him in fear and trembling. His desire is not that we perish but that we come to repentance.  That is the reason why God had me write the following sections: He wants all of His Sheep to, through His Spirit, know the Truth that sets them free and find great assurance in their standing before Him in Christ. 

The Curse

     From the beginning of time, God had created mankind in His own Image for His glory that we may find joy, peace, and comfort in His unfailing love. But man choose to reject God: He sought to exalt and please Himself rather than God. He lusted after what pleased his flesh. He boasted in the things which he owned and the work that his hands had done. He wanted to be like God, knowing both good and evil. He refused to dwell in the state of innocence and freedom walking within the bounds of the law of God which bring life as they are obeyed.

     Because of the wickedness of his heart, God has bound man over to the evil desires of his heart. We are born into sin from the moment we are conceived. Selfishness is the air that we breath. Pride is at the root of our every word. Bitterness creeps in the crevice of every bone. Violence is under our feet and in the palm of our hands. The way of peace we did not know. Ruin and misery marked our ways. We were consumed with guilt and immoral longings. Ambition and earthly passion filled our hearts to the brim. Our wickedness permeated our way of life. We worked with the sweat of our brow, worked to earn what can never satisfy. We feared the oppression of mortal men who themselves could not save themselves from death. We hated those who were made in God's image and who were meant to be loved by us. We dug our own graves in our rebellion. We ignored Him moment after moment, day after day. We put His Words and His ways out of our sight. We rushed on in our own plans, thinking we could reach the heavens by our towers that our hands have built. Our conversation consisted of slander and cursing, godlessness, fearlessness of God, disrespect, confusion...we spoke with greed and envy, malice, and strife. We oppressed the needy and refused to give to those in poverty. We sought to please ourselves, to amuse ourselves, to fill ourselves, to give our bodies thrill and to gorge them in sinful gluttony. We sought our own honor and sought to disparage others who were a threat to us. WE HATED OUR VERY BROTHERS WHO WERE MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD. IN OUR OWN HEARTS EACH OF US EXALTED OURSELVES ABOVE THE THRONE OF GOD. 

     Therefore a curse consumed us. We were slaves to our own selfishness and bodies. Left to ourselves, our conversations consisted of godlessness, our deeds sowed seeds that brought forth death and ruin. There was none who did good, no not even one. No one understood the ways of God. His law was severely broken and our consciences ruined.

    The result of this curse was death, a complete separation from God from birth. We were born hating God. Each of us, no matter how noble we appeared to the sons of men, we were slaves to our hatred of God. We refused to acknowledge and give glory to God, but wanted the glory for ourselves.

     We lives our days in guilt and fear. There was no peace we had in anything that we did. We sought to consume ourselves in pleasure. We stood in the shadows of death while feigning the dawn by our earthly pleasures. We tried to have an appearance of Godliness, but to no avail. We deceived many men in our hypocrisy, but before the Father we stood condemned.

     The One and only true God, the Eternal One, the Ancient of Days is holy and sinless. He cannot bear the Presence of sin. His fire is consuming men and angels in their wickedness. In an instant His judgments prevail over the laws and lives of nature. He is the very essence of love. He is Love. Indeed Agape is this King's Name. He is good. He cannot deceive or speak falsehood. Peace and victory are under His crown. Faithfulness and love are His breastplate. His belt is Truth. His eyes are blazing fire. His eyes pierce through the hardest hearts. Everything is bare before Him who is full of righteousness, judgment, and wisdom. He will never condemn the innocent. HE WILL NEVER PARDON THE GUILTY. HE WILL NOT LEAVE SIN UNATONED. His mercy and grace know no bounds.

     In His great justice He had left all of the sin committed beforehand unpunished. With the outcry of our wickedness reaching heaven, there was only one thing left for us: to perish in separation from God. Behold the cup of God's wrath was in the Father's hand at the brink of being poured out on us. The cup of God's wrath contained His hatred against sin, the righteous judgment of the Holy God. Fire and brimstone, incomprehensible pain and anguish, tears and deep gloom, excruciating Spiritual distress...things that would make us gnash our teeth to even hear a glimpse of. In our rebellion and the hardness of our hearts, each and every one of us could not desire to come near Him or to even want to obey this Righteous King. Even in the fires of hell, in our torment, we could not love Him, we could not want Him, we could not seek His forgiveness....we were altogether WICKED AND HOPELESS. Our days were mortal, our bodies failing, our pain endless, and our work unfruitful.

If God if a Just Judge, He must condemn us. If God is love and a lover of His own perfect righteousness, He must hate sin. He cannot tolerate out wickedness. He could not tolerate our living existence. Our due sentence was death. OUR OVERDUE SENTENCE WAS DEATH.

We had blasphemed His Name, trampled this God, this Creator, under the soles of our feet. We had thrown His crown down and despised it. We showed no regard for this awesome righteous King. 

     BUT GOD IS LOVE! HE IS FULL OF MERCY! He did not despise the work of His hands. He did the one and only thing that could satisfy His justice as well as His merciful love. Surely, justice meant that the price for our wickedness was our blood. Without the shedding of blood there could be no forgiveness of sins. This God, this King, He humbled Himself to the lowest of low positions. He came down to earth as a man, bearing the disgrace and weakness of humanity in the flesh. He lived a perfect life, was tempted as we are tempted and to utmost degrees, and remained sinless as He used the Sword of His Father's Word.

     As Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed that the cup would be removed from Him...no, not that the physical pain and humiliation of the cross would be removed from Him, but rather that the cup of the Father's wrath and hatred would be removed from Him. His righteousness and love of His Father were at the heart of this request. So much was His zeal for Union with the Father and for righteousness, that His sweat was drops of human blood, the very human blood that He had chosen to acquire in order to share in our humanity that He might relieve us from death.

     There on the cross, the wrath of the Father, His cup of judgement was poured out on Him. He became the curse...the very curse that we had been under. All of the shame and guilt and fear and anguish that ought to have been our destiny, was placed on Him. BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD WHO TAKES AWAY OUR SINS, THE SINS OF THE WORLD. He was treated by His Father as a murderer, a liar, a thief, an adulterer, a homosexual, an angry, helpless, worthless, futile, self-centered, prideful, lustful, greedy, malicious, ungrateful, rebellious, disobedient, honor-seeking, jealous, unholy, slanderous, unjust, hypocritical, weak, miserable, powerless, debaucherous, immoral sinner. All of the condemnation for every man and woman, boy and girl, every person was combined and heaped upon this Man of sorrows who was acquainted with grief. Surely He has borne our griefs and sorrows, yet we did esteem Him not. He was despised and rejected by men.

     There on the cross as He bore our sins, we mocked and ridiculed Him, we blasphemed His Name, we showed no regard for His love. There on the cross, His Father was pleased to crush Him. His Father put Him to death. He was delivered over to death for our sins.

     HE WAS RAISED TO LIFE FOR OUR JUSTIFICATION! If He had remained dead, we would have still been in our sins because there would not be One who lives forever to intercede for us and to be our High Priest. Indeed death had no power over Him, and God His Father, the Father who crushed Him, also raised Him to life bringing glory to His Name and victory to His Cause and Kingdom. He calls men and women, young and women to come to His fountain and lay down our guilt and fear. Surely He has washed away our fears.

     HE HAS REDEEMED US FROM THE CURSE that we may no longer serve the prince of the power of the air and our very own selves but rather the One who saved us and called us His own children. He calls us to come freely to the fountain to wash our sins away and where we may drink deeply in His river of delights and feast of His Words, the Bread of Life, His Body broken for us. Do we not all share in one Body?

     We no longer live our days in guilt and fear, struggling to survive, struggling to thrive. We have become prisoners of the Lord Jesus Christ. Surely His love has captured our hearts. He is the song in our hearts, His Words and the Mind of Christ have consumed our thoughts, the ways of His love and our obedience to Him mark the ways of our feet. Nothing can shake our hearts, His love for us is so very great. THERE IS NOTHING LEFT TO FEAR. There is nothing left to fear. Surely He has made perfect forever those who are being sanctified. 

     According to His mercy He has saved us through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. We no longer live under the rules of the price of the power of the air: but rather we are servants of His Body, slaves of Christ. We have endeared Him to us forever. Nothing is disastrous compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Him. Nothing is glorious or pleasing except for the delights and eternal glories of our God.

BUT ARE WE NOT ALL LIVING AS THOUGH WE ARE STILL UNDER THE CURSE!?! We fear what they fear. We strive and struggle as they do. We slander and curse as they do. We are obsessed with fleshly pleasures as they do. WE MUST RETURN TO THE FOOT OF THE CROSS. HERE ALONE ARE OUR FEARS AND SIN WASHED AWAY. Everything will become clear my dear family, as you understand His eternal Gift.

The Spirit

     God's very own Spirit is the one who awakens our spirits to see our sin. HE CONVICTS THE WORLD OF GUILT. He replaces our hard hearts of stone with hearts of flesh that love God and are sensitive to His calling Voice. Apart from this work of the Spirit, we could not believe in Him, not one of us. THE SPIRIT CONVICTS THE WORLD OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. Jesus is no longer on earth in the flesh, yet the Spirit reveals the character of the Father. Surely all our righteousness and our righteous acts come from the Father. The Spirit shows us His way of peace and Truth. He is our seal guaranteeing what is to come and guiding us along this narrow path that leads to eternal Life. THE SPIRIT CONVICTS THE WORLD IN REGARD TO JUDGMENT.

     The prince of this world stands condemned. If he were not condemned we would fear the consequences of the sin that he arouses in the hearts of wicked men. We would have had great need to fear sickness, physical death, poverty, the rejection of men, guilt, pain...that is, if the Father's righteous judgment had not crushed the head of the serpent, our fears would remain. BUT INDEED THE LORD HAS WON THE VICTORY IN JESUS CHRIST! He has overcome the world. Believing this with strong faith gives us the power to resist the fears of the world and the temptations of the flesh. The Spirit confirms to us our standing before God.

Earthly Needs and Longings Unfulfilled

     It is often the case that we are wrought with earthly needs and desires. In one sense all of our expectations for these needs and longings to be fulfilled are sinful. They are sinful in the sense that our sins leave us so utterly undeserving of anything but hell. Some of these needs relate to the frailties of our humanity: hunger, thirst, shelter, clothing, health, companionship, marriage...and yet some of our longings are indulgent: lust, greed, self-attainment, self-honor, pleasure. One of our major causes for sin is that we attempt to meet these needs and satisfy our longings in our own sinful efforts and commit atrocities in the process. We steal, we accuse, we blame, we hate, we hide, we pursue, we deceive....

     But God is calling us, my family, You, His dear child to come to Him with your longings no matter how immoral they are. Take them to Him and pour out your heart like wax in the prescence of the Lord. As you come to Him in faith, His Spirit will intercede for you with groans that words cannot express. As you live in His Spirit He will fill you with wisdom and understanding, and a deep persevering comfort. His Spirit will prevent you from gratifying the desires of the flesh. He will only let you suffer for so long. He provides many ways of escape. He knows you. He knows your passions. He knows the ways of your heart and the thoughts of your mind. AND HE PROMISES TO DELIVER YOU FROM ALL EVIL WHEN YOU TRUST IN HIM. 

     He asks you, "How long will you harbor wicked evil thoughts? Wash the wickedness away from you. Wash yourselves in the cleansing Word of Mine and the Blood of My Son". His love is so very great. All He wants is for you to know Him that He may be glorified. HIS DESIRE FOR YOU IS THAT YOU KNOW HIM for herein lies eternal Life. He will be glorified as He reveals His deliverance to You.

     A primary example is Abraham and Sarah: desperate for an heir to prolong their family. Their own attempts involving Haggar and Ishmael with futile and bore great consequences to the world. But when Abraham went to God with this plea after God had promised him that he will become a great nation and have many descendants "How can this be for I do not have an heir?" God answered Him speedily with the coming of Issac. God was making the way for Christ to come into the world as well as satisfying the longings of Abraham and restoring fertility to the previously-barren Sarah in her old age. 

     Another example is King David. His immoral longing for pleasures of the flesh led him to commite murder and adultery with Bethsheba. God replied through the prophet Nathan with these words: "‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.  I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? " God loved David so much and was willing to give David much more. David should have taken His immoral longing to God. What happens when we take immoral longings to God is that God refines and purifies us. He opens our eyes to see that the delights of His Presence are so infinitely greater and more glorious than the carnal longing we had brought to Him. He is a good God. He knows that apart from the work of His Spirit we are so very blinded to everything about God and His Words and Ways. 

Spiritual Gifts

     The more you abide in the Spirit by reading, knowing, and taking to heart His Words, and by laboring in "aggressive prayer" by asking, seeking, and knocking, the Spirit will fill you with His giftings, whatever He has chosen to give you that you may be used to edify His Bride. A test will never reveal your Spiritual gift. The Spirit reveals to you your Spiritual gift and when He does, you will be very certain that it is from Him and what His purpose for this gift is in and through You is. We are called to be earnestly ambitious with Spiritual gifts because they edify the church, our family, His Body.



⁹ He replied, “Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end. ¹⁰ Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand. Dan 12



¹⁷ “‘In the last days, God says,
   I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
   your young men will see visions,
   your old men will dream dreams.
¹⁸ Even on my servants, both men and women,
   I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
   and they will prophesy.
¹⁹ I will show wonders in the heaven above
   and signs on the earth below,
   blood and fire and billows of smoke.
²⁰ The sun will be turned to darkness
   and the moon to blood
   before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
²¹ And everyone who calls
   on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ Acts 12

The Church et al

God has shown me some things and I must share them with you, my dear family, under the Head of Christ. May He give me grace and mercy to put these things in words that may be clearly understood by us all. Surely, there are volumes that could be written concerning the things which follow:

The Church et al

      In the past several years I viewed New Life Church as "my church" and I have prayed to God for her so earnestly at times. I was continuously burdened by her weaknesses (and I do not undermine her in the least sense, but rather acknowledge that every church has its weaknesses). It was my desire for her to be perfect in every sense: in training of the Word and righteousness, in worship, in outreach, in ministry. I prayed for revival and growth, maturity and passion to arise within her. It was during the midst of these prayers that I realized one thing that released me from my burden: New Life Church is not the church, not even to be viewed as an individual entity (of course God wants us all to bring our tithes and offerings to her though). But rather, God was doing His work in the True Church, a small part of which resides in the remnant of New Life Church. All of the workings and dynamics of New Life Church were not to be the objects of my labor. But rather God wanted to open my eyes to His church, frail and weak at times, but humbly serving her God. When I look out into the sanctuary, there are many whom I know are of the true church, those of you on my mailing list (and many more whom I ought to acquire email addresses from). God moved my heart's struggle and the labor of my prayer away from New Life Church and towards His own precious Bride. Those who are of His Bride are those who have known Him in prayer, in the receiving of forgiveness, in the struggle with sin, in the war against the enemy in the world around them, in His deliverance from trials and troubles. Their citizenship is in heaven and they eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform their earthly bodies to become like His heavenly Body. She is growing and changing. She may stumble and succumb to evil momentarily, but God is transforming her into His likeness with ever increasing glory which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. 

And though my human heart is tempted to fear what I will describe next, I must do so: there are many goats amidst the sheep. Much of the slander of Christianity and the blaspheming of the Name of God among the present day society is due to the misconduct of the goats who live and dwell among us. Indeed this is the state of the church in America. Truly God is building up His church, but in a way we have been blinded to. There are goats among us who profess His Name, are in positions of influence, who are involved in ministry, but they have not known Him.

Only in the last couple weeks God is showing me the implications of this. When I think of "my church", I think of you whom I have fellowshiped with, those from whom I have heard your Spiritual burden, those who are being sanctified steadily day-by-day, those whose hearts are broken for the lost, those who are not seeking the good of themselves, but the good of the Kingdom and Glory of their God. So many times I have looked to God and said, "Where is she? Where is she? Why am I unable to see her clearly?"

This perspective is not just one we should consider for the sake of mental enlightment. This is the way it is. [And there is no way I imagine that these concepts could be said in public]. We are tremendously weakened and perplexed in our Christianity because of the goats among us who resort to earthly means of expanding [their view of] the Kingdom of God. Surely the Kingdom of God is among and within the hearts of His people! We address congregations as though they are all mature believers, and yet many of them have never been convicted of their sins, or those who are have not learned to fully receive the forgiveness of Christ. 

Zeal

      Much of my life as a Christian, I was wary of emotion. Our teachers at New Life Academy warned us not to fall into "Emotional highs" that youth experience on mission trips and during Spiritual emphasis events at school. Their advice seemed wise considering that I saw so many around me who cried and shared their struggles at mission trips only to fall deeper and deeper into sin and finally turn away completely. But God has shown me that "zeal for His house should consume us". We cannot be Christians who do not show emotion. God told us to love Him with all of our hearts, soul, mind, and strength. Everything we sing, everything we say, without deep love, joy, hope, longing, peace...of Christ controlling our hearts is insincere. We just cannot be polite and refined, as I have shared before, we are practically sending people to hell, my dear family. If we are not possessed with His zeal, we need to examine ourselves and see if we are in the faith. That passive bored-looking man on the other end of your row, forget asking him how you can pray for him...he may not be saved and would not even know his true need to tell you. That girl in your Sunday School class who tells you that she loves Jesus, she may have never had a true encounter with Him in her life. They may not saved. Many of them around us may not be saved. By our fruit they will know us. And I am no judge, but so many of us simply bear no fruit. I had satisfied myself before thinking that perhaps those around me who did not bear fruit were so infantile in their faith that I should not expect anything yet. But there is a clear cut-off: Jesus said that if anyone comes to Him they must hate their own lives, be willing to give up everything to come to Him. Surely, my dear Christian family, you may stumble and struggle, but in your soul (your new soul that He has given you) you are willing to give it all away for Him. It is your heart's desire to lay down your life, whether living or dying for Him. He has put this in you. It is not of your own emotional solidity, it is His gracious heart-molding power. You do not hold on to anything. I may struggle in my immoral longings for human love, but I have given them over to Him for complete destruction. These sins are going-going-gone from my life. I have seen Him completely deliver me from many sins, and I am confident that He will rescue me from every evil attack and bring me safely to His heavenly Kingdom. I am longing to see His face, to know Him in His glory. Nothing can compare to Him. Have we truly given Him our all. It is so simple and child-like to put your complete faith in Him, but have we done so? Have those among us done so? Broad is the path that many take, but this path leads only to destruction. 

     Do we truly treasure Him more than anything? Do the emotions of our hearts reflect this? Do we really really know Him? My family, do any of these lost really know Him? Do you see the joy of the Lord as their strength? Do you see the peace that surpasses understanding in their faces? Do you see unfailing forgiving love in them for their families and others? Do you see the Gospel being poured out of their lives, the Words of God on their lips, the ZEAL for His house consuming them? God says that a curse is on all who are lax in doing God's work. God says that He hates the lukewarm. Are we not all lukewarm? Lord, spare my soul from hell! Lord, spare my soul from hell in your mercy! Fan into flame Your gift in us...or else we perish.

Lingering in His Presence

     Mrs. Wiens wrote me a very encouraging email in response to my last post about prayer and introduced me to this phrase, "lingering in prayer". We may say that we pray and we do not feel anything. We ask but we do not receive. We tell Him to lead and guide us, but then we use our own methods, because we receive no hand of specific guidance. I have observed myself, many of you, and my parents pray and it became clear that the problem is that we do not linger in prayer, but rather put forth our own confused hearts and minds (we truly are confused whether we realize this or not) before our Father and leave Him before hearing anything or being changed in any way. 

     My dear family, it can take minutes or even longer, to surrender yourself to God when you start praying. Until God has taken all of the "me" and "my thoughts" and "my feelings" out of the way, we do not reach down into the recesses of true fellowship with God in Jesus Christ. This is exactly why God tells us to "Be still and know that He is God, that He is exalted in the heavens and the earth". This time is a time of suffocation, and this is why so many of us never go here is that we cannot bear this feeling of Spiritual suffocation and flee from it. But would you trust Him, you my Spiritual fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters? Would you trust that He will bring you though. He will slay you, that is, He will slay your earthly obsessions daily and this will cause pain and anguish, but He will quickly restore you and mend you together and fill you with a joy and hope and peace that you never could have imagined. This is the work of the Spirit in you. When He has done this work, you will have a great boldness and confidence in His Name, a great delight and acknowledgement that you are His child. This is the state of Spiritual wellness and Life that you read about in the New Testament, old Puritan writings, Spurgeon, Mueller, Lighter, Ravehill....which brings me to the next section

Ancient Paths

This is what the LORD says:

   “Stand at the crossroads and look;
   ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
   and you will find rest for your souls.
   But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ Jer 6:16

     I am unsure how to elaborate, but I in the Spirit know for sure that among us in America, our love has grown cold, immorality has risen greatly, everything beautiful and refined, everything sincere and honest has perished. Truth has been thrown to the ground. The remnant within churches is starving as goats mingle and rule among them. God is calling His Bride now more than every before to go back to His ancient ways. I respect Amish and Mennonite people and even the culture and dress of Christians from the Victorian era so very much. If we look to any modern day devices or books to advance ourselves Spiritually, we will rarely find anything of worth. The only way that we can keep ourselves in the faith is to stay in the Word and go back to the writings and life stories of our Spiritual forefathers. "Going back to the Ancient Ways" is what God told me to speak about at the Awana Girls Sleepover this year. 


Revival

     God never told me that a revival would never happen in my lifetime. To say so would be straight lie from the abyss. I used to pray for revival as a child and teen and nothing ever happened. So I stopped praying for revivals...it seemed like too much effort and emotional stress to pray for one when one never came (at least not a lasting one.) But God has shown me in the past couple weeks that a revival is occurring in America, a revival that mainstream Christian media and mega-churches are unaware of.  This is a revival of many who are returning to the Word of God and the Holy Spirit as the source of their teaching "No one one will teach another saying 'know the Lord' for they will all know Me, from the least to the greatest". This revival is prevalent among many who are starting to read century-old Christian writings and comprehend and proclaim the True Gospel of Christ. It is here. It is here. I can hardly believe my own words, but I say them because my Father has told me that the revival that He ordained for us is here. Will you return to His Words, to His ancient paths, to the True Gospel of Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection for the forgiveness of your sins through the faith and repentance that He brings to you? Will you be revived? 

The Purpose of Men

     I know that I am not a man, but I have been very involved in the Spiritual affairs of my Christian brothers and fathers. I have had many experiences with men telling me their purposes of heart in the last few months. This coincided with my perspective of purity changing yet again (and I pray that God perfects my perspective). After listening and praying, there is one thing on my heart for all of you men of God (whether you live like one and feel like one, in Christ, if you are His child, you ARE a man of God). What is your purpose? Truly you can proclaim the Gospel and speak into the hearts and souls of men, seemingly pour out your life on behalf of others, but God sees whose honor you seek. Do you seek His honor? Or do you seek your honor? I am certain that almost every man seeks his own honor. Even the best Christian men I know, they seek God's honor but also their own honor alongside. God in His grace will still use them, but He is calling you to be a man of Truth and seek His honor ALONE. Why do you do what you do? Why do you say what you say? And I know that even as a woman, seeking honor is a temptation, but I would say that seeking love is more of a temptation. 

Biblical Manhood and Womanhood

     As I have spoken of the scarcity of Truth, I also confer that there is no where I  can go, no one I can find to show me how to be a woman of God. I have learned a good many morsels of Biblical womanhood from the Godly women in our church and elsewhere: Mom, Joyce, Peggy, Judy, Renee, Elizabeth Elliot, Mrs. Edwards, Mrs. Wiens, Jill, Cheryl, Chona, ...and all the rest , you know who you are :). But I realize with deep gratitude that God has given me a spirit of Spiritual femininity that I had not had for most of my life. It was not taught to me from a book or a class or a person. God imprints traits of femininity on my soul. He is still teaching me so much. A Spiritually feminine woman has the peace of Christ ruling her heart. This peace gives her a quiet and rested attitude to bear with the trials of this world. God gives her humility, this humility is a shield against impurity and the wiles of the devil. She loves and comforts the needy endlessly. She respects her husband and her Lord with all her being. She is busy graciously and lovingly providing physical help to others. Even as I write these things I know how much I need God's transforming help in my life. The main truth I want to get across is that yes, Biblical manhood, the life of a man of God filled with Spiritual warfare, Spiritual zeal, passionate love, authoritative leadership...and Biblical womanhood, the life of a woman of God filled with peace and comfort, service and humility, beauty and compassion....these states cannot be taught to us from a book. We must be taught them directly from the Holy Spirit. And indeed the men and women of God fulfill the essence of manhood and womanhood to the highest degree. That is, the Godliest man is the manliest man. The Godliest woman is the most feminine woman.

Spiritual Authority

     God is also teaching me that there is an authority of Christ given to all believers. A few years ago, one of the women whom I respected greatly in our church was leaving and in my heart I felt a deep moral conviction against her leaving and I wrote a letter to the elders and pastors explaining why she should be asked to stay ( I did not explain that quite right, but I am just trying to explain something else). At that time, I had not yet learned about manhood and womanhood and the fact that I was a woman (probably sort of a girl physically at that time) or that I was much younger than the people that I was writing the letter to was not at all something I considered. I wrote the letter with complete faith in God and with the belief that I must not tolerate what I considered injustice. My conscience was clear in doing this. But when I look back now, I understand things differently, and I am much more aware of the fact that I am a woman, and I am not entirely certain that I did the right thing or had the right perspective (it is clear now that God had a different better plan for her). May God forgive me. But in the process of reflecting upon this, God has shown me that there is a type of authority that we have as His children when we are living for Christ and handing out His Word of Life with no ulterior motives. How can I explain this? It is sort of like a preacher, a man of God, a pastor. All the people, young and old, rich or poor, popular or unnoticed, man or woman...they all seek his teaching, his favor, his blessing, his prayers. This man of God may not be handsome, he may not be rich, he may not be skilled in earthly work, he may not be socially adept, but nevertheless his flock does not lay upon him these standards. They see that he has given himself over to a life of faith in Christ and that is all that they see. Consider a situation where moral authority is absent (there are no Christians around): a gathering of rich and poor. The rich may judge the poor thinking that they are superior, or judge the poor man as lazy or unwise with his money. For this reason the rich men may speak condescendingly to the poor men. But consider a similar gathering with Christians present. Perhaps these Christians are poor. They are proclaiming the Words of Life, salvation, love, and repentance in Christ. They are no longer judged according to their social status, but rather a Spiritual authority has been bestowed upon them. They may be loved for it as people accept the Word of salvation. They may be hated for it as people reject Christ and choose to remain in darkness. Think of Jesus... When people consider Christians, Christians may not be the richest, the most skilled at the job, the most beautiful, the most talented, etc., but they are the ones who loved people, the faithful ones, the joyful ones, the peaceful ones...those who have an inheritance in Jesus Christ, the richest people on the face of the earth. Spiritual wealth is not a figure of speech. Spiritual wealth is the only wealth that there truly is...Will you share? There are those with nothing all around us. Will you let you light shine? 

I have much more to say as you can imagine...this sermon below is very much worth hearing and describes with the authority that the men of God have some of the things that I shared and many other things:

I love you, dear family!

Your Daughter/Sister In Christ
Under the Head of Christ

Preethi