Eph. 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand againstthe wiles of the devil.

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

Eph. 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

2Th. 2:7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

The existence of Satan and the operation of demons is the most cruelly suppressed fact of life. The real devil encourages the promotion of wildly absurd portrayals of himself, because they lead people to discount his existence. Anonymity provides his efforts with the perfect concealment. The last thing Satan wants is legitimacy from men. The best servants of Satan aren’t the poor pathetic “Satan worshippers”, but people who think they are too enlightened to believe in him. The more that Satan can promote a culture that diffuses the concept of an Evil One, by explaining evil as a relative human condition, the more effective he becomes at his objective.

And what is Satan’s objective? To understand his objective you must see his nature. The following scripture’s will give testimony to who and what he is. And from these, an understanding of his objective will emerge.

Is. 14:13 ”But you said in your heart,…I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north.

Is. 14:14 …I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.

Ezek. 28:15 ”You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you.

Ezek. 28:16 ”By the abundance of your trade you were internally filled with violence, and you sinned;

Therefore I have cast you as profane from the mountain of God.

And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

Ezek. 28:17 ”Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.

John 8:44 Ye (Pharisees) are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

1 Pet. 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

From these verses come the twisted tale of Lucifer, the great angel who corrupted himself with pride and envy, seeking to have the praise of God for himself. By Jesus’ own account, he is very real and very evil - a murderer and father of the lie. All we need to know is that, since he cannot attack God directly, he attacks what God loves and what God does and what God says. He fights against people’s efforts to do God’s will.

1 Th. 2:18 For we wanted to come to you–I, Paul, more than once–and yet Satan hindered us.

He is always at ready to resist those who would face God.

Zech. 3:1 And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.

His most intense efforts lie in twisting the Words of God in order to lead people into error and rebellion.

Gen. 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?“

The only relief to his pernicious craving, is a pathological satisfaction he derives from keeping God and the man God loves, apart from each other. With lies, ego stimulants, distractions, vain delusions, religious deceptions, anger, lust, fear, despair, and such; he works incessantly to drive man away from God. At his core, he is a relentless combatant against all fellowship with our Heavenly Father. For this sole purpose, he exists. If one is going to walk with God he should know that he will have an enemy, to oppose that desire.

He hides himself inside all the natural circumstances of life: economics, family relations, minor troubles, major trials, triumphant experiences, loneliness, abundance, etc. Whatever provides a natural barrier - a camouflage, which he can blame his harassment on. If you ignore the presence of his activity against you, he simply works unabated. If you become obsessed with defeating him, he simply let’s you chase him around until you’re fixated on his scheming. Pay to much attention to him. Fear him. Discount him. Give credit to others for his work. Blame him for the work of men. All these play into his scheme. He depends upon imbalance in order to work effectively. He needs to keep your life off balance in order to defeat you. And defeating you means only one thing: keep you and your Heavenly Father apart! You can win every other battle and obtain every other accomplishment in life and still be defeated. When you think life is good, after checking your financial holdings and taking stock of your family, and affirming your own sense of accomplishment, you could actually be near real defeat, though everything looks good. What’s going on between you and God?

Imbalance. It’s Satan’s chokehold. My wife had a dream many years ago, in which she floated on a cloud above the earth, in a state of wonderful peace, enjoying the fellowship of the Lord. Then a sharp, piercing screeching from the ground, broke her respite. Looking down over the side of the little cloud, she saw the devil, jumping up and down, shaking his fist and hollering at her. She rolled back over and tried tuning him out, but to no avail. His disruption was too aggravating. But every time she rolled over to rebuke him she would nearly tip the cloud over and fall off. Frustrated, she finally laid still, refused to pay him any more attention and asked the Father for help. Shortly the intrusion ceased and she floated on her merry way. She refused to get off balance over the matter.

I have always remembered the lesson God was trying to tell us in that dream. Satan thrives off of any attention that takes us away from Jesus. He really doesn’t care whether you believe in him or not. That isn’t his objective. It adds absolutely nothing to Satan, to have people believe in him. But to get them to ignore or rebel against God, now THAT is his heart’s desire. And frankly, if it’s easier for you to do that believing there’s a devil or not, it really doesn’t matter, so long as you end up doing his will, and ignoring God.

In the next several installments of “The Light-Washed Path” I will share about the strategies, weapons and victory over The Enemy. But let me leave you with some wonderful news for now:

Luke 10:18 And He (Jesus) said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

Acts 10:38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

Stay On The Path!

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

Our praise to God has great value when we give it at some personal expense to ourselves. Anyone can shout, “Praise God!” when it’s the natural reaction to some happy outcome. It’s easy to praise God when an emotional high makes it the obvious thing to do. It’s almost hard not to praise the Lord when you’re surrounded by happy people doing the same. You almost have to work at keeping the praise from coming out of you. But praising God when everything is going your way is morally equivalent to paying tithes off an unexpected inheritance. You’d give an upbeat endorsement for Donald trump if he gave you enough money. But what do you call it when decide to look upon the worth and value of knowing God, and lift your soul and voice in praise to His virtues, while at the same time your own life is beset by troubles and afflicted with needs? THAT is called the “sacrifice of praise”. It’s the decision to praise the superiority of Jesus Christ, and declare His utter worth, when everything within you feels bankrupt.

Heb. 13:15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

When you lift up your head and give praise to God in acknowledgement of His Excellence, although you feel like hanging yours over some personal shame, that’s praise that cost you something. When you express gratitude for the richness of knowing Him, although you yourself are in great need, that’s praise that cost you something. Anytime you lift praise to God in song or proclamation at a time when you don’t at all feel like it, but you do it anyway simply because HE IS WORTHY, that is praise that cost you something.

In the scripture above, out of 2^nd Samuel, David had sinned against God and needed to go to the Lord and offer sacrifice and pray. He came to the farm of a prosperous loyal subject named Araunah and asked to purchase his threshingfloor and oxen to build an altar and sacrifice. But Araunah urged David to accept the threshingfloor and oxen as a gift and not to pay anything for them. David knew well what the price of true worship was. And any soul that accepts relief from it’s obligations is unfit to worship. It’s unfit because if you don’t see the value sacrificing your own wishes for what is right in the eyes of God, then you can not comprehend the worth of Jesus. And praise that doesn’t comprehend the worth of sacrifice for Jesus - but always rejoices at the easy out and relief from obligation, is nothing more than religious prattle. In simple terms, our life of obedience, especially when we want to cop-out, is what gives our praise substance.

Eph. 1:12 That we should be to the praise of his glory….

1 Pet. 2:9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:

Today’s churches have made major advancements in the area of praise and worship music. Yet instead of helping believers make a greater “sacrifice of praise” it seems to have weakened many Christians, focusing their dependence upon the music. For many believers, worship has become “praise therapy”. Funny thing about that is that true godly therapy occurs in sacrifice…it is more blessed to give than to receive:

2 Sam. 24:24….neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing.

Next time your boyfriend dumps you on Saturday night, don’t sulk in bed Sunday morning. Get up. Go to Church and praise God!

Next time you lose your job on Friday, don’t stay holed up in your house all weekend worrying. Get up. Go to Church and praise God!

Next time your body’s tired and your mind is worn at the end of a draining week, Get up. Go to Church and praise God!

Next time you feel like pulling the covers over your head and sleeping forever because you’ve made a mess of things, don’t wait till you get it all straight. Get up. Go to Church and praise God!

Next time your face breaks out…, next time your cat runs away, …next time the crowd has left you behind, …next time you’re “fed up”, …laid off, …let down, …mad, …hurt…, …wronged, ……tempted, or ……broke…, …just get up for Jesus, go to church and PRAISE GOD!

Stay On The Path!

Heb. 2:8 For You have put everything in subjection under his feet.

Hebrews 2:6-12 (click to view entire text)

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

“All things in subjection under our feet”; that is a mind blower, especially considering that for all our technological advancing, we are still morally stalled out at Sodom and Gomorrah. Were it not for the fact that God Himself declares that “all things” have been placed in subjection under our authority, one would have to view that statement as the observation of a blind and weak mind. But in actuality it is an observation from One Who sees more than we. It is a statement of fact, meant to bring us into the perspective of reality. The reality that we were designed to bear divine authority; an authority, which we have allowed to get out from under us.

When police are called to a home with criminal children, the parents are still held responsible, even though they have long since relinquished control to their delinquent kids. The authority has been placed under the parents’ feet, even though they aren’t exercising it. In fact, although their children have wrestled control from them, the parents still have the legal authority. Unfair as it may seem, God will not decide to remove the responsibility just because they’’ve lost the power.

Think about that rationale for a moment. God does not decide to give authority, responsibility and accountability to someone just because they are able to seize control. If that were the case then God would always recognize the authority of brutes, tyrants and usurpers. Whoever held power would hold legitimacy. But thanks be to God, Who is the Supreme Head of all authority, that in His infinite wisdom and goodness, He refuses to cede authority to the illegitimate. If He must turn the world upside down in order to return power to its rightful authority, He will do that before ever allowing one criminal to maintain control, just because he has it temporarily. God will never recognized the right of sin and Satan to possess the world, even though, for a season, they have run the house under the failure of weak parents. No amount of power, in the present grip of sin, will ever earn Satan the legitimacy he craves. God has sworn in His righteousness, concerning man, and He will never change His mind. But He will bend history through the hearts of men, by the grace of His Son, Jesus Christ, until all power is placed back under our feet!

Know this that the very responsibility for the condition of the world, which God lays at your feet, is itself the evidence that rightful power belongs to YOU. If God were to ever take away your accountability, it would be the fearful sign that power will never be returned to you.

These are considerable thoughts: thoughts for those questing for their rightful destiny in God. For those who keep rising from the canvas with an irrepressible cringe at the notion of sin ruling their life. The deep inner traces of regal authority and divine ambassadorship, yearning in the depth of your heart, cannot be wiped out by circumstance or bought off by indulgence. There is a fighting spirit in the hearts of many people who feel the call of God. It’’s a call from our ancient beginnings to our absolute destiny. Man was created by God to be His companion, and that call alone fixes our legitimacy, beyond the reaches of any lawless power. The right is ours alone to claim, and ours alone to lose. Through Christ, that right is placed back in our hand. And the placement of that right signals the inevitable end of the tyrannical reign of sin and its master, and the ultimate restoration of all things.

1 Tim. 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

More tomorrow so until then……

Stay On The Path!

Hebrews 2:6-12 (click to view entire text)

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

The question that arises, out of awe for God’’s longsuffering and patient kindness, doesn’t focus on why God is that way, but rather, what is it about man that qualifies him for such special treatment. Most people live hard unattractive lives. Some live a mediocre existence sprinkled with a few highlights. And there are the rare occasional lives of virtue. But on whole, the human race is less productive with its moral abilities that mice are at breeding. So what is it about man that God finds so compelling that He yearns over us in patient expectation?

I like the way the question is framed in Hebrews, “WHAT is man…?” It drives us to look beyond our achievements and beyond our behavior and beyond our relation to the Universe. It forces us to consider our essential purpose of interest to the Creator. Just what did God make when He made man? Without building a bridge of reason or a trail of evidence, let’s just take a quantum physics leap into the ultimate answer: God made us in order to bring us into Glory.

Heb. 2:10 For it was an act worthy [of God] and fitting [to the divine nature] that He, for Whose sake and by Whom all things have their existence, in bringing many sons into glory,…

For the moment let’s leave the term “glory” in the grip of your imagination. We’ll define it later. But let’’s get locked onto the idea that YOU have a destiny. And it involves being brought into God’s glory by Jesus Christ. God is VERY concerned about YOUR destiny. He has already prepared a “place” for you. And He hovers over your every waking day, looking for opportunities to introduce you to your destiny and hasten you along in its progress.

So concerned with you is He, that God is ever “…mindful of YOU…”

Heb. 2:6 …What is man that You are mindful of him…?

And we thought that God was primarily concerned with our behavior. That’s what religion teaches. But one has only to look at Jesus’ selection of disciples to learn that isn’t true. There is something far deeper in the heart of God towards you. Not you generally, but YOU personally.

Just one thought to punctuate this point before we pause until tomorrow…

Ezek. 22:30 And I sought a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none.

Whatever this “glory” is, that God has destined for us, our place in it is so significant that just one man, standing in that place could turn away the righteous wrath of God from a wicked rebellious land! THAT is influence. That verse was written long before Jesus appeared, to bring “…many sons to glory…”. If God were to look today He would certainly find sons and daughters standing in His glory.

More tomorrow so until then……

Stay On The Path!

Acts 14:9 The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, andperceiving that he had faith to be healed,

Acts 14:10 Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

Though we always have our beliefs, faith is a moment-by-moment condition. You are usually not in a state of faith until you are challenged to have to believe God for something. Then faith is called upon to decide if you’’re going to receive from God. Faith to receive is the quintessential element in receiving answers from God. All the right doctrines and beliefs cannot put you in a place of receiving. Only faith can do that.

The lame man in Paul’’s meeting probably didn’t come in with “faith to be healed”, though he may have believed in God, and believed that God heals. But while listening to Paul preach, the Spirit and Word opened him up (Ro 10:17) and faith arose in him. The moment it did, the Holy Spirit wasted no time in notifying Paul of the arrival of faith to be healed in the man’’s heart. Upon receiving that supernatural information, Paul acted immediately. “Stand upright on thy feet!” Paul commanded. “And he leaped and walked.”

Not only was it important that the man had faith to be healed, but also that Paul himself having faith, was willing to speak forth the command that the crippled man could respond to. How often are there people with faith to receive from God, but none of His servants have faith within their own hearts, enough to speak the word that recipients can respond to?

Many have mistakenly made faith a technology. Some have even made it a status symbol, by measuring what people “receive from God” as some kind of spiritual indicator of holiness. Of course, both of these approaches to faith are wrong because they actually hinder faith by taking people’’s focus off of Jesus and putting it on self. Faith does not arise from self but faith arises from Jesus Christ and His Word.

So just what is faith if it’s not beliefs? Simply put, faith is the ability to believe and act upon the Truth of God’’s Word. And God has given to every believer a measure of faith with which to receive from Him.

Rom. 12:3 …God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

How we treat the faith God has given us will determine our ability to receive from Him. Here are four things that help put you in a place where Faith can arise in you:

Know God LOVES YOU! – 1 John 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

Galatians 5:6 tells us that Love (God’s love in us) energizes faith. If you have trouble believing the truth that God loves you, then you will have trouble with faith. Knowing the love of God also helps you to understand what God is really like, and how much He is willing to do for you.

Receive the Word of God - 1 Th. 2:13 …when you received from us the word of God’s message, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.

When you hear the Word of God, receive it. Don’t just think about it without committing to it. But take it to your heart as your own guiding truth from God. Faith cannot arise from mental ascent. It requires the commitment of one’’s life to the truth of God received in your heart. For it is from the heart that faith arises to perform the results of God’’s Word.

Refuse Lies - Rom. 4:19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered the [utter] impotence of his own body, which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old, or [when he considered] the barrenness of Sarah’s [deadened] womb.

Faith can overcome your doubts as long as you are will to let go of them in the face of the Truth of God’’s Word. You can’t help how your emotions may try and restrict you from acting in faith. But you must choose what truth you will commit to and let every opposing thought fall by the wayside. Heroes in battle don’t wait for fear to leave before they act. They simply choose to be motivated by a higher reality. So you must stride past the noisy symptoms of your circumstances, in order to follow faith’’s lead.

Praise God! - Rom. 4:20 No unbelief or distrust made him waver (doubtingly question) concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong and was empowered by faith as he gave praise and glory to God,

Genuinely praising God takes faith from the mental realm of belief and gives it a voice. Praising God takes you from the sidelines of indifference and commits you to God’’s glory. While we sit in silence it’s too easy to have abstract beliefs to which we are not committed. But praising God commits us to His Truth.

One can certainly go to Heaven possessing only beliefs. You do not have to exercise faith in this life. But it sure does make life easier when we can actually receive the provisions and blessings that God has reserved on our behalf. And make no mistake about it; faith glorifies Jesus Christ as Lord.

Stay On The Path

Acts 14:9 The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, andperceiving that he had faith to be healed,

Acts 14:10 Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

Faith is a substance – a spiritual substance:

Heb. 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Unlike beliefs, which are thoughts, faith is an occurrence, a happening. You don’t think it; you experience it. It’’s a spiritual place you come to. You’’re either in it or out of it. It’’s a state of being not just a state of mind. Faith is as much a substance in the realm of God as money is in the realms of Earth. If you have it, you can receive or give healing.

Acts 14:9 …he had faith to be healed,

Matt. 10:8 “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons;freely you received, freely give.

Acts 3:6 But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene — walk!”

Faith is the only substance that allows people to operate in the promises of God. While beliefs help to focus you in on the truth of what Jesus has done for us, faith is what allows you to actually operate in it. Without being in the state of faith you cannot lay hold of God’s provision, no matter how accurately you believe in it.

Heb. 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

We are told to believe – be in a state of faith – concerning the fact that God desires to reward those that seek Him. And just what is it with which God rewards those who seek Him? Would it not be that very provision for which they seek Him?

Matt. 7:8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Matt. 7:9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

Matt. 7:10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

Matt. 7:11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children,how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

It is absolutely sinful to see how some teachers and church keepers, talk people out of faith, redirecting them towards the doctrines of men, designed by doubters to comfort the disappointed. But those who are disappointed in their lack of answers to prayer, need to hear from people of faith, who can encourage, challenge and re-direct them. The last thing they need is some excuse-peddling spiritual social worker, who has no real faith to receive from God for themselves. If I’m not reaching God with my prayers and petitions, I want to be exhorted by someone who is. I don’t need to be excused by someone who never has!

Mark 10:51 And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.

Mark 10:52 And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.

Jesus rewarded seekers who came in faith, with the petitions they sought. There’’s nothing to have to “explain” as long as that is what you preach!  What is so wrong with admitting that I was not in a state of faith when I prayed? We are more concerned with protecting our own spiritual reputation or the feelings of others, than we are in maintaining the integrity of God’’s Word. We’d rather have people believe that God mysteriously exercised some exclusionary provision of His Word, in order to avoid healing them, than to risk hurting someone’s feelings, by suggesting that they really weren’t “in faith” when they prayed.

Why not admit that you weren’t in faith when you prayed? That doesn’t mean that there’’s something wrong with what you believe. Nor does it mean that you don’t love God. Being in faith is not as easy as it sounds. Having beliefs is easy, but being in faith takes great focus and resistance against doubt. I would rather discount my own flawed nature than to diminish God’’s Word. For if we take away from the Word of God, just to accommodate our doubts, then where do we leave ourselves standing; but on the shifting sands of theological compromise? And where our theology steps back from the claims of Christ, it’’s at that point where God refuses to stand with us.

I’’d rather be uncomfortable making divine claims before doubting Christians than making theological excuses before the King of Truth!

Tomorrow, our conclusion, so until then……

Stay On The Path

Acts 14:9 The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, andperceiving that he had faith to be healed,

Acts 14:10 Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

Most people don’t believe God FOR things that they believe IN. They simply have beliefs but don’’t know how to exercise faith. In fact many Christians secretly harbor frustration connected with their faith because they have tried to get answers from God by believing IN those answers, but not believing FOR them. And when their beliefs don’t net answers for them it reinforces their doubts. But the Gospel of Jesus leaves us the promise that faith moves God, not beliefs. The Jewish leaders had tons on beliefs. They specialized in their beliefs – made science out of accurately cataloguing them. Yet they had no faith FOR God when He showed up. And therefore, they couldn’t receive from Him. Faith receives from God what beliefs only think about.

The Holy Spirit revealed to Paul, a word of knowledge that the crippled man sitting in the meeting, listening to him preach, “had faith to be healed”. Notice that it doesn’t say, “the crippled man believed in healing”. It doesn’t even say, “he believed Jesus could heal him.” It says he “had faith TO BE healed”. Belief in what God can do doesn’t mean that you have faith that He has done it for YOU. Beliefs can be abstract, and one can separate himself from what he believes. But real faith always connects the one doing the believing to what is believed for.

Amazingly Paul does not “perceive” a special grace for healing, entering the meeting, but instead he perceives the presence of “faith to be healed” entering the crippled man. The presence of “faith to be healed” triggers the healing, and not some special anointing that comes on Paul to heal the man. The Holy Spirit never miscommunicates. And it was no accident that the revelation He gave Paul focused on something going on in the heart of the crippled man. God didn’t show Paul that it was His special will to heal the man. Nor does He reveal to Paul that there was a special anointing to heal the man. Paul KNEW that it was God’’s will to meet true faith in Jesus and His Gospel, with the specific answer to that faith.

The grace for healing is always present when faith is active.

The Syro-Phoenecian woman - – Matt. 15:28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

Woman w/ the issue of blood - Mark 5:34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.

Blind Bartimaeus - Mark 10:47-52 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. …What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.

But when people have no faith for God, He CANNOT DO ANYTHING….

Mark 6:4-6 But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healedthem. And he marvelled because of their unbelief.

Paul stopped his message and commanded the man to be healed. He didn’t wait for an altar call. Because the man was in a “moment of faith”.

More tomorrow on the “moment of faith”. Until then……

Stay On The Path

Acts 14:9 The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, andperceiving that he had faith to be healed,

Acts 14:10 Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

Most people hold beliefs for which they have no personal faith. For example, they will be committed to the belief that God is good, but doubt that He wants to do anything good for them. They will believe that God can heal, but have no faith that He will heal them. They will base their beliefs on the divine concept of sowing and reaping, but have no confidence that they will ever reap a blessing from God. They will believe in prayer, and participate in it without any faith that God will answer them.

The most people have lost personal faith in their commonly held beliefs because they haven’t seen any manifestation of reality in their own life. This is why people become wearied with religion. They carry on with the rituals of beliefs, but can’t remember the last time, if ever, that they had a real experience with it. Some beliefs in Biblical Truth don’’t see any real manifestation because they are wrongly viewed. But many correctly held beliefs seldom see the light of reality simply because few people actually come to the place where they can truly embrace them with faith.

John 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.

Jesus tells the Pharisees that the work of God was to believe in Jesus. Well, the Pharisees were great believers in God. But had long since lost their ability to actually exercise any faith towards Him. Hence, they were incapable of receiving Jesus, when He came, though they had believed in Him all their lives. Ironic isn’t it?

Obviously the manifestations of some beliefs are relegated to the future: such as the belief in Heaven. You believe in Heaven but don’t expect to go there this weekend. That’’s fine, yet you believe in its existence and are convinced you’ll be there some day. But what about your beliefs that pertain to the here and now? Do you expect to see God manifested in the practices of your faith? Do you really harbor a living, thriving expectation within your heart and mind, concerning the promises of God when you act upon them? Or do you simply believe in them? If you read  …

1 Pet. 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

And you believe it’’s true, do you actually believe YOU were healed, when you pray for healing from a condition you’ve become afflicted with? If you do believe 1 Peter 2:24 concerning your own condition, are you able to have “faith to be healed” as the lame man did in our opening text? Or do you simply believe in the truth of the verse in principle?

The fact is that you are probably like most people: you believe the promise of scripture without having an immediate faith that God is going to do it for you, right now. Especially when it comes to extraordinary answers to overwhelming conditions, you are probably weighted down with a good deal of doubt. That would be normal. But Jesus invites us to believe His Words above the claims of the normal, the reasonable and the routine. Faith is super-normal. The faith of God, delivered to the believers by the Lord Jesus is by nature a challenge to the course of this world. Yet we hold our beliefs within the safe guidelines of reason, as defined by circumstances, rather than at face value – in the face of the One Who spoke them.

Matt. 17:18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.

Matt. 17:19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?

Matt. 17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

We are more in tuned with our circumstances than we are with our God. And that is why we believe in Him and His Word, but don’t have faith for its manifestation in our own case. It’s a matter of who we are “with” the most.

Luke 1:37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.

More tomorrow, so until then……

Stay On The Path

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

God associates Worship with Service. So let’’s begin with the idea that if one is going to Worship God he should Serve God also, and visa versa. In our message yesterday we established the truth that one is transformed by the power of God while in the place of worship, much in the same way that a caterpillar is transformed in the cocoon. And in the mind of God, the whole reason for our transformation from worldly and weak to Christ-like and strong, is so we can serve God.

Luke 4:8 ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’

We have a banner in our sanctuary that reads, Enter To Worship – Exit To Serve. It’’s a reminder of the fact that the wonderful cleansing and uplift that we receive during worship has a purpose behind it. And that purpose is to qualify us for service.

There are two things that should separate Christian service from other community service and charitable work:

The Joy of the Lord

Service that results from worship is powered by the Joy of the Lord. Christian service isn’t so distinguished from other forms of service by what it does, but by the force with which it’s done. In other words, we render assistance just like the charities of the world. But we do it as an extension of our worship, as unto the Lord, and not to men. They do it for earthly satisfaction and the approval of men.The servant who simply serves man will become easily offended because people will have a tendency to disappoint your expectations and take advantage of your kindness. And many who serve, looking to people for fulfillment, become bitter as time goes on. It’s very hard to avoid unless you get out of the serving business all together.

So the servant who simply serves man has only himself to offer. And his limited virtues will quickly be consumed on the altar of human need. Then because he has become dry and brittle people will reject him. As a result he will become bitter about his whole experience, and trapped in the cycle of offense. It happens all the time.

But the Christian who learns to become a true worshipper is a Christian who learns the secret of “the secret place of the Most High” (Psalm 91). He has learned how to drink from the Limitless One, and to keep himself refreshed. The worshipper learns to easily surrender his or her will, just as the Lord did in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus was not able to be offended by the abandonment and abuse He was subjected to, because He went into it having worshipped the Father, surrendered His will, and became infused with the Father’s enduring love. When we allow our Christian service to be an extension of our worship life, we will operate with a renewing resource, offense-proof and free from burn out.

Living Bread

Secondly, Christian servants serve more than mere earthly bread, we give Jesus, the Bread of Heaven. We emerge from transforming worship in the Presence of God, ready to present the Living Answer to the world. Through worship we have become overflowing with the Limitless One. From worship, we can go to the lame of the world and declare:

“”Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I give you. In the name of Jesus rise up and walk.”…” - Acts 3:1-9

The mere servants of men can only offer themselves and their skills. But the true worshipper of Christ can offer Jesus, the Healer, Jesus the Savior, Jesus the Deliverer. This was the message the Apostle Paul overwhelmed the Jewish world and rocked the Roman Empire with:

For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. 2 Cor. 4:5

Paul had learned the secret of service:

You must give yourself in worship, as a servant of God, before you can serve men in His name. Listen to Paul’s testimony about the Macedonian Christians. How they overcame their own lack and poverty, by worshipping God before trying to help those suffering in Jerusalem:

2 Cor. 8:1-5 Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. …and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God.

True worship is the secret of true service. This also is one of the reasons why God seeks “true worshippers who will worship the Father in spirit and truth.” For in true worship we become more than we are, and through worship we can do more than we are able, enduring more than we should.

Stay On The Path!

John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

There is one outstanding feature that validates the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as being the true message of salvation from God. And that feature is TRANSFORMATION. Transformation is more than insight on how to change. It is the power of change itself. Throughout the Gospel and Epistles we are told that we can expect to experience life-changing transformation, from carnally weak to spiritually powerful people of God. Nowhere is this point more powerfully made than in Romans chapter 12.

Rom. 12:1 I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

Rom. 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Here the word transformed is our English word for metamorphous. The exact same meaning as is applied to the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly. The butterfly that emerges from the cocoon bears no resemblance whatsoever to the caterpillar that went in. The caterpillar didn’t go into the cocoon and start straining its muscles and concentrating its thoughts to change itself. It was changed by the power of metamorphosis, which God designed into it.

The reason “True Worship” is so important, and why “the Father seeks such to worship Him”, is because it is the very place – the cocoon - where actual transformation occurs. It’’s the point at which we experience transformation from earthly bonds to Christ-likeness. Notice how Paul refers to “presenting our bodies” in worship as our “spiritual service of worship”. Other translations call it our “reasonable service of worship”. He then associates this physical presentation of ourselves in worship, with transformation, or metamorphism. Taken all together, the thought here is wonderfully amazing. Paul is letting us know that when we enter the place of true worship, we undergo the promised exchange – the transformation from earthly to heavenly. Entering into worship is no less effective than the caterpillar entering the cocoon.

Now bear in mind, as we have pointed out over the past few days, entering worship is more than entering church, or entering into singing, or even entering into praying. For people can say prayers without praying. Saying isn’t praying. And singing isn’t worship. Worship is worship, and nothing else can substitute. But when we have genuinely presented ourselves before the Lord, and have successfully entered the Most Holy Place of fellowship with the Father, there is no way of avoiding the affect of His transforming power upon our being.  And the longer and more frequently we go there, the more dramatic the change.

The Lord Jesus spoke about Himself, through Isaiah the Prophet, about 700 years before His appearance in the world. Concerning His mission He revealed His intention to transform us:

Is. 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

Is. 61:2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

Is. 61:3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

Notice the exchange of “beauty for ashes, etc…” In connection with this series on worship, one of our readers sent in this testimonial:

“Several years ago I had a friend over and we were listening to a worship tape. That day I woke up with a really bad stiff neck. I could not move my head the slightest bit without serious pain. While I was listening to the praise music I began to just join in and sing with my heart to the Lord. My friend joined me. Not much time passed before I felt a complete healing in my neck. I jumped up and exclaimed, “My neck– it’s healed!! My neck…” – and when I looked at her, she had tears streaming down her cheeks. I asked her why she was crying. She said the presence of the Lord was very strong and she felt a complete release from the bondage in some area of her life. We just were stunned with the power and simplicity with which the Lord came to us. Us! Who were we to be so honored to have the living God, the Almighty One take the time to give us a miracle?!”

I can verify this testimony, for I had been this lady’’s Pastor many years ago. If we would but take the Lord at His Word, and come to Him in the sweet surrender of true worship, how we would find such wonderful relief from our struggles and pains. As wonderful as it is to know about the Truth, nothing can compare with being transformed by the Truth. The Father seeks for us to enter the cocoon of worship because that is the place where we truly surrender our will to the life-changing reality of God’s Truth, and make it our own. Paul put it like this:

Rom. 12:1 …your spiritual service of worship.

Rom. 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

When you are transformed by the Truth your life is a walking billboard. The Truth is no longer something that just comes out of your mouth, but it is reflected through all of your being. You have been transformed, changed, by the Truth of Christ, into His very image. Your life is a “proof” of Christ. The place of face-to-face, spirit-to-Spirit worship, is where your transformation occurs.

The simple fact is that true worship is true surrender.

And that’s what it takes for the Truth to go from being something that you believe about God to becoming something true about YOU.

2 Cor. 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

2 Cor. 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

That place where the Spirit of the Lord is – that place of intimate encounter and ultimate surrender, where the Lord’’s face becomes our mirror – that place is called True Worship. Isn’t it wonderful to know that the blessing of a transformed life – the gift of “beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” isn’t reserved for a special or elite person, but for a true worshipper of Jesus Christ. Anyone can qualify, anyone can surrender and enter in.  Why don’t you determine right now, to begin to seek a more regular and intimately honest life of worship with the Lord. Discover the “secret place of the Most High”.

Psa. 91:1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty….

More on worship tomorrow, so until then……

Stay On The Path!

John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

True worshippers will worship in spirit. That’’s what Jesus said. In fact, He said that they must worship the Father in spirit. Here the Lord is not referring to the Holy Spirit, but to the spirit of man, that constituent part of man which relates to God. Jesus said that the reason we must worship in our spirit was because God is a Spirit. In a way, He was laying out a mechanical reality that we must be aware of if we are to worship successfully.

We can move towards the center of this truth by peeling away outer layers of misunderstanding. We can determine, from what Jesus is saying, that true worship does not occur on the strictly physical, emotional or mental levels, but on the spiritual level. That is to say that physical displays, emotional feelings and good thoughts, by themselves are not worship. Worship is a communion, and it must occur in the spirit of a man. It is true that engaging our physical body is absolutely essential for getting to the place of worship:

Rom. 12:1 I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

And it is also true that engaging you mind is also essential for getting to the place of worship…

Rom. 12:2 …And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

And our emotions also are necessary in helping to bring us to the place of worship…

Luke 10:27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thyheart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind….

All these things are necessary for bringing ourselves to attention in our spirit. If we stop at any of these levels of our being, and take for gratification from what we experience there, we will miss God and remain “in our flesh”. But if we press through with our body, mind and emotions, into the core of our being: our spirit, then we will begin to worship the Father. We will find Him there.

Elijah is in a cave on Mt. Horeb, seeking the Lord…

1 Kings 19:11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake:

1 Kings 19:12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

1 Kings 19:13 And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?

The wind, fire and earthquake were undoubtedly all affected by the Spirit of God, yet for the purposes of worship, the Lord was not in any of them. Afterward it was the still small voice, probably within Elijah’’s own spirit, by which God spoke.

It is necessary to bring our body mind and emotions together in a coordinated attentiveness that points toward consciousness of God. But Proverbs states it best:

Prov. 20:27 The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.

It is also appropriate to say that true worship not only occurs in the spirit of man but also in the Holy Spirit. Paul states:

1 Cor. 6:17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

The Holy Spirit resides and communes with us in our spirit. Therefore our fulfillment in worship comes from the Holy Spirit, in the place of our spirit. We are not fulfilled in worship by music or any emotional release – though it may occur. But only God Himself can edify our human spirit, and we must press into that place for worship to happen. Until we have, we have not worshipped, and whatever we’ve gained mentally and emotionally will be burned off quickly, like vapors on a hot road. The core of our being cries out for the reality that begat it…

John 1:9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

Our spirit yearns for freedom only the Holy Spirit can give…

Psa. 42:7 Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls;

More on worship tomorrow, so until then……

Stay On The Path!

John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

No church or group can claim to “have true worship”. It’’s a highly individual thing, and it transcends any group’’s claim to formulas. Ultimately God Himself is the arbiter or true worship, for it is He alone who “seeks such to worship Him”. Church shepherds and herdsmen might evaluate the outer forms of worshippers, but only God knows if He is truly being worshipped.

Before we look at a couple of the elements of the true worship, as God has set it forth in His Word, let’’s identify the ultimate indicator that our worship is “true”.

True worship responds to God’’s seeking YOU!

…“…for the Father seeketh such to worship him.”

In other words, the Spirit of the Lord is knocking on the door of our hearts, wooing, convicting, and calling us. The idea that God is static towards you, even unaware, and you are approaching Him to initiate communion, is simply wrong. He is ever aware and always dealing with us. Worship is initiated on His part and responded to on ours.

1 John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.

The truest worship is that in which we respond to God drawing upon us; which is always, if we’ll listen. There are times when you don’t want to pay attention to His dealings, because He’s touching an area that you don’t want Him interfering with. But that is precisely the place where your truest worship will occur. It’’s by yielding to Him in honest surrender, as Lord of your life. So true worship begins with the recognition that God is purposefully stretching His Hand out to you, and you are responding. This is why it is so important to read the Bible and gain an understanding of His Word. For then you will be aware of His position toward you in Jesus Christ.

Now let’s examine a few biblical elements of true worship.

“The true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth“”

The Worshipper should be True …Genuine”, sincere, engaged, yielded, receptive:

Is. 29:13 And the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips but remove their hearts and minds far from Me,

The true worshipper is genuine in his or her desire to worship God. They are not simply going through the motions or dispensing an obligation. Their mind and heart is in what they are doing. If we don’t have it in our hearts to do so, God doesn’t tell us to back off until we do. He rebukes our heartlessness, tells us to get our attitude straight and offer that sacrifice with all our heart. God doesn’t excuse us from worship when our heart is absent; He rebukes the absence. How totally contrary to our modern praise-God-if-you-feel-like-it attitude. People wrongly believe that the freedom of the Spirit protects a right NOT TO PARTICIPATE in worship if the feeling isn’t there. Nothing could be more misleading. The freedom of the Spirit is the blessing in your participation, not freedom from it.

Jesus contrasts Simon the Pharisee’s reception of Him with that of the sinner woman who wept behind Jesus, anointing His feet with her tears and expensive ointment. Simon’s heart wasn’t made up about Jesus, and his mind had no grasp upon just how indebted to the Lord he really was. There was no gratitude in him towards Jesus. The “sinner woman” however, was most definitely zeroed in on the Fountainhead of Mercy. She was a true worshipper.

Luke 7:44 And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.

Luke 7:45 Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.

Luke 7:46 My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.

Luke 7:47 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.

Luke 7:48 And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgive.

Next, the Worship should also be True – based in “Reality”, God’’s reality. We praise God for what His Word says, not for what we see or feel. God wants to challenge the our circumstances through the Truth that is acknowledged in our worship.

Rom. 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

“Worship in truth” must be an act of Faith (based on God’s Word), NOT an act motivated simply by our Beliefs (which is what we think about what God’s Word says). It’’s where we exchange our beliefs for His Truth. It’’s where Truth triumphs over opinion and theology.

For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone. Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name. Psa. 86:10-11

Notice that the heart agreement follows the decision to ‘walk in truth’. True worship drags the reluctant, sleepy human heart, up the mountain of Truth, and makes it face reality, rather than leaving is submerged in the valley of illusive emotions and suspicious opinions.

Rom. 4:17 (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

Rom. 4:18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.

True worship will always draw the worshipper up into reality as God declares it, in contrast and in opposition to that of circumstances.

“God is an Activist for His own Truth and those that worship Him must advocate for that Truth!”

More on worship tomorrow, so until then……

Stay On The Path!

John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

Solomon is one of the most intriguing yet tragic characters in the Bible. God gives him a great gift of wisdom, by which he becomes the wisest man to have lived. Yet instead of employing his gift to live a fulfilling life in service to God, Solomon tears into it (wisdom) in an attempt to discover its boundaries and analyze its workings.He ends up turning his own life into a gigantic experiment-gone-bad, cruising through every known experience (sinful and otherwise) knowable to man. And in the end he winds up back at the beginning, with the simple knowledge that humbling one’s self to live a life of worship and obedience to God, is the key to happiness; all else is vanity. Only the problem with his final conclusion is that by the time he arrives back at that conclusion, he has ruined his life with infidelity, idolatry and deception. He took hold of wisdom and rather than simply using it to serve God and live happily, he worshipped it, ruined it, and damaged his relationship with God in the process.

In a similar way, the church has been experimenting with worship, and risks analyzing it to death. Worship has become studied, developed, marketed and used, but for all the experimentation, there may be fewer Christians, per capita, actually entering into worship. An indication of this is the frequency with which “worshippers” change churches over the style of music; musicians seek opportunities to express themselves; and church members complain about not being able to “enter in”. After several years of developing “worship ministry” in churches, we are running the risk of accomplishing neither, worship or ministry.

Over the next few days we will explore some of the simple basics that the Bible lays out for us concerning worship. This is not an attempt to analyze further the already calloused topic of worship, but rather to simply clear a path through the debris of technology and therapy that has crowded its doorway.

As a starting point, here are a few fundamental thoughts:

Worship is not a technology, like a carnival ride, design to provide a thrill or a diversion, for human fulfillment. It is not a destination of itself, but merely the passageway of communion between God and His people. The idea isn’t to “get into worship” but to get your heart out to God, through worship.

Worship is not an art form, but rather a duty. It’s not an exercise in therapy, but in theology, with therapeutic results. There is a blessing to be obtained from God, but there is no blessing, as such, that comes from the act of worship.

Psa. 42:11 Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance, and my God.

It is silly to make an art form out of worship. What is that we would work on? …our singing? …our facial expressions?… our tears? How ridiculous it is to hear someone commenting on what a beautiful worshipper so-and-so is. How would we know if so-and-so were a beautiful worshipper? Worship isn’t a swan dive. Sometimes worship can appear very ugly from the perspective of the by-stander (as though the perspective of the by-stander mattered at all).

Luke 7:44 And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.

If there is a ‘heart of worship’ Jesus is it. The heart of worship isn’t the spiritual style or technique that one has developed. But the heart of worship is the place where God touches man; and that place is Jesus Christ Himself. Whatever the biblical forms of singing and praying we use, the object of our efforts is Jesus Himself.

Psa. 2:11 Serve the LORD with fear (reverence), and rejoice with trembling.

Psa. 2:12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

Though a person wrote these words, under the Law of the Old Covenant, and without the grace of the indwelling Holy Spirit, yet they convey the simple truth that worship is about honoring God, and our need to do so.

More on worship tomorrow, so until then……

Stay On The Path!

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

From the text of our previous devotional, “Jesus: Your Boss”:

“Holy tasks do not give power. Righteous causes do not provide their own self-fulfilling strength. Blessings of provision cannot fill your soul with what it needs. Every wife and husband has eventually learned that even the best of earthly love cannot quench the thirsty soul. God has always challenged those, into whose hands He has entrusted His work or deposited His blessings, to hold them with a special understanding. Understanding that however faithful in our stewardship or intense in our service, it is to Him alone that we must continue to go for our fulfillment, our Life.”

In this series of devotionals we are going back to making the Lord our source for personal affirmation, identity, emotional security and fulfillment. God’’s people need regular reminders not to seek their approval, satisfaction and sense of identity from other people or the ministry and service. The lack of comfort and infrequency of real overcoming experiences among Christians is a direct result of not taking our refuge in our fellowship with Jesus Christ. Our complete state of well-being is derived from the resources of our:

· Security

· Joy

· Job/Boss

· Mirror

These are the areas we look to, by which our entire mental and spiritual compass is set. Yesterday’’s devotional dealt with the fact that in all our labors, particularly in the Lord’’s work, we are not working for the mission but for the Lord, and to Him alone do we look for affirmation and reward. Today we are going to expand that concept and deal with how we go about measuring our success.

The fact that the labors of our life, particularly those in the work of the Christ’’s kingdom, will be measured to determine our faithfulness and fruit is undeniable.The Lord did not leave us here to simply occupy ourselves with busyness until we die. However, the criteria for measuring our progress, and defining our success, lie strictly with the Lord Himself. No man, no organization, not even our own personal judgment, is ultimately suitable to weigh our works and determine their success. That ability must rest with the Lord, whose work it is with which we’ve been entrusted.

1 Cor. 4:2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.

1 Cor. 4:3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.

1 Cor. 4:4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.

1 Cor. 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

With these words, Paul places himself directly before the face of God as his mirror of judgment. It is to Christ alone that he looks for evaluation, reproof and approval. But unfortunately, in this regard Paul is unique. For he has been able to inspire generations of laborers into the harvest fields by the sterling example of his sacrificial life, yet this wonderful piece of counsel has gone largely unheeded. For it is the greatest occupational hazard of Christian workers to flock together for mutual approval, and compare their progress against each other.

Paul called them, “the number”: a not so subtle implication of the carnal ranking system that their members subject themselves to. These fraternities of faith offer fellowship but it’’s seldom left there. For because of the nature of men – always looking to one another to gauge themselves – they often, however unintentional, become the place where Christians look for validation, which can only come from God Himself. The danger is that good men become stifled while compromisers are promoted. When we look into the distorted mirror of men, to groom our souls, we get opinion not discernment. For the light of others does not possess the penetrating power to see your soul in the way God does. For it is God Who called you to Himself and imbedded His grace in you. He alone knows the inner working of His grace in your life. When Jesus is your mirror, what you see is accurate and truly helpful to your progress. For He shows you the truth that comes of God’’s eternal reality, and not the fractured truth of men, that comes from their shadowy world. In the mirror of men you will see the desire and ambitions of others for their own advancement. But in the mirror of Christ you will see what God is developing in you. There is no warmer place of comfort, no greater affirmation, no stronger security, than that which you receive on your knees before the mirror of Jesus.

2 Cor. 3:18 (Amplified Bible) And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendorand from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.

It is good to receive the advise of godly men and the leadership of righteous shepherds. But we must always remember to keep ourselves in the Presence of God for the ultimate critique of our soul’s’ progress. It is all too easy, as Paul said of “the number”, to accept commendation from men who have neither the right nor power to send you on your mission, nor deliver you out of any trouble that may meet you. Certainty is found only one place, and that is in the eyes of our Heavenly Father. The still small voice of His Spirit in your heart, and the guiding Light that falls upon your Bible reading, with these, your soul’s Shepherd leads you forth into His perfecting path. For He has called you and He alone knows the way for you.

Job 23:10 But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Stay On The Path!

Gen. 22:6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.

Gen. 22:7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where isthe lamb for a burnt offering?

Gen. 22:8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

Gen. 22:9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

Gen. 22:10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

Gen. 22:11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.

Gen. 22:12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

From the text of our previous devotional, “Jesus: Your Joy”:

“Holy tasks do not give power. Righteous causes do not provide their own self-fulfilling strength. Blessings of provision cannot fill your soul with what it needs.Every wife and husband has eventually learned that even the best of earthly love cannot quench the thirsty soul. God has always challenged those, into whose hands He has entrusted His work or deposited His blessings, to hold them with a special understanding. Understanding that however faithful in our stewardship or intense in our service, it is to Him alone that we must continue to go for our fulfillment, our Life.”

In this series of devotionals we are going back to making the Lord our source for personal affirmation, identity, emotional security and fulfillment. God’s people need regular reminders not to seek their approval, satisfaction and sense of identity from other people or the ministry and service. The lack of comfort and infrequency of real overcoming experiences among Christians is a direct result of not taking our refuge in our fellowship with Jesus Christ. Our complete state of well-being is derived from the resources of our:

· Security

· Joy

· Job/Boss

· Mirror

These are the areas we look to, by which our entire mental and spiritual compass is set. Yesterday’’s devotional dealt with the fact that Jesus, and our fellowship with Him, is the source of our joy, and not ministry or work we do for Him. Today we are going to deal with Working for God rather than working for a ministry purpose, a vision, plan or dream.

God had laid all the promises of the blood covenant on Isaac. After Abraham dismissed Ishmael, and Isaac finally arrived, you can just imagine how his hopes and joy became fixed upon his son. Isaac was the long awaited fulfillment of a word he had spent 25 years following. Isaac was the validation of Abraham’’s faith.  He could finally silence all the skeptical opinions he had endured, simply by pointing to Isaac. Isaac was the materialization of a fantastic vision of global blessing. Whatever God meant about blessing all the kingdoms of the world and multiplying his seed through the promised son, it was all resident in Isaac. To understand just how emphatic God is about having the focus of our service placed upon Him and not upon a job, we have to try and understand how important Isaac was to Abraham. And then, even more, we must consider how important Isaac was to God.

Abraham was God’’s servant. God hadn’t covenanted with him only to now make him the servant of Isaac. Probably now in his teen years, Abraham had to take Isaac to the mountains of Moriah, and sacrifice him, in order to free himself from trusting in the means of the covenant rather than the Maker of the covenant. Every Christian who follows Christ into the service of the Gospel, receives their promised “Isaac” – the work to which they were called. And when that call to service finally materializes, with it come all the covenant promises attached. Our particular ministry for the Lord becomes the place where we prove our calling and substantiate our Christian claims. It is typical then for His servants to transfer their allegiance, hopes and fears to the Isaac God has brought forth through them. Their Isaac is a ministry or gift for service, through which God has promised to work.But it is Jesus Himself, who is the covenant-maker, and Him with whom we must deal. As we take possession of the ministry God has given us (be it family responsibility, Gospel service, or any project God has called us to), it becomes too tempting to become possessive and run the work in our own wisdom. It becomes an extension of our own identity, from which we look for validation, as we seize control of all its details.

But the work to which we are sent, and the Isaac with which God furnishes us, must remain His possession, and we His servants. No ministry or work; no covenant fulfillment, such as Isaac; possess the power to say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the rest of your Lord.” God alone is your Boss. It is He with whom you are in Covenant and not your job, projects or ministry. The “work” can be very unstable and take from you more than it gives. But Jesus is your source of strength and affirmation. It is before Him that you will be presented on that day of reckoning, to give account of your life and service. So live with God as a steward, with your Boss, and your work as His possession.

Matt. 25:14 For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.

Matt. 25:15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.

Matt. 25:16 Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.

Matt. 25:17 And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.

Matt. 25:18 But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.

Matt. 25:19 After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoned with them.

Matt. 25:20 And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.

Matt. 25:21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

Stay On The Path!

Luke 10:18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

Luke 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Luke 10:20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

From the text of our previous devotional, “The Life In Living”:

“Holy tasks do not give power. Righteous causes do not provide their own self-fulfilling strength. Blessings of provision cannot fill your soul with what it needs. Every wife and husband has eventually learned that even the best of earthly love cannot quench the thirsty soul. God has always challenged those, into whose hands He has entrusted His work or deposited His blessings, to hold them with a special understanding. Understanding that however faithful in our stewardship or intense in our service, it is to Him alone that we must continue to go for our fulfillment, our Life.”

In this series of devotionals we are going back to making the Lord our source for personal affirmation, identity, emotional security and fulfillment. God’s people need regular reminders not to seek their approval, satisfaction and sense of identity from other people or the ministry and service. The lack of comfort and infrequency of real overcoming experiences among Christians is a direct result of not taking our refuge in our fellowship with Jesus Christ. Our complete state of well-being is derived from the resources of our:

· Security

· Joy

· Job/Boss

· Mirror

These are the areas we look to, by which our entire mental and spiritual compass is set. Yesterday’’s devotional dealt with getting our security from our fellowship with the Lord Himself and not our work. Today we are going to deal with the fact that our fellowship with the Lord Himself, through worship, praise and prayer, is our only source of true joy.

Nehemiah said, ““Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”” (Neh. 8:10)

He is basically telling the people that their ability to enjoy the fruits of their celebration comes from their relationship with God. It’’s not just that God gives us enjoyable experiences or the ability to enjoy things in life. It’’s that joy comes from direct contact with Him personally and that joy has a reflective affect, enabling us to enjoy His blessings. But we should remember that there is no force of joy that emanates from God’’s blessings. The joy is a fruit and force of the Holy Spirit.

Now let’s consider our text in Luke chapter 10, where Jesus’ disciples have just returned, rejoicing after preaching in villages, and discovering that they had authority to cast out devils through His name.  Jesus tells them not to take their joy from the results of ministry, but from their relationship with God.  Jesus wasn’t  saying that we shouldn’t be glad to exercise authority over Satan. Nor was He suggesting that we shoulddn’t praise God and rejoice in the Lord when we have such victories. But what He was telling them and us, was something far more important to our own spiritual wellbeing. He was telling us that making our joy dependent upon the results of our work or ministry is dangerous. Results of ministry may not always be the same. There may be times when your work for God looks like a failure. There may be a point in time when it appears that Satan is winning the battle. There was certainly no rejoicing because of their triumph over Satan while Jesus was being arrested, tried and executed. Yet Jesus had told them to rejoice that their names were written in Heaven. That is a source of joy that is not affected by any circumstance on Earth. In fact, at the very moment it appeared that Satan was victorious over our Lord; he was actually putting the noose around his own neck and losing the keys to our chain. For it was at that very moment when, in Jesus’ suffering all seemed lost, our greatest blessing was being secured.

If we as Christians hand the reins of our joy over to the outcome of our ministry efforts, we are moving off the very rock upon which He told us to build. We are putting ourselves back under the very yoke of circumstances from which He died to free us. Jesus did not free us from dependence upon bad circumstances just to make us dependent upon good circumstances. For we have no such warranty that all the circumstances, and every outcome of Christian effort, will produce a joyous result. And many are the works of God that will wear out His laborers. Who said that you’’d never burn out doing God’s work? Paul writes:

Phil. 2:27 For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.

Phil. 2:30 Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me.

Where is the magic guarantee that warrants us against becoming broken down while serving God? There is none, because it’’s not from the work of ministry that we are to receive the Joy that reinvigorates us, but by going to Jesus Himself to receive the joy Who is our strength. As Jesus told His first disciples, so must we hear His advise today, that our own salvation must be the avenue of our joy.

Stay On The Path!

Luke 10:41 But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things;

Luke 10:42 but only a few things are necessary, really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

From the text of our previous devotional, ““The Life In Living””:

“Holy tasks do not give power. Righteous causes do not provide their own self-fulfilling strength. Blessings of provision cannot fill your soul with what it needs. Every wife and husband has eventually learned that even the best of earthly love cannot quench the thirsty soul. God has always challenged those, into whose hands He has entrusted His work or deposited His blessings, to hold them with a special understanding. Understanding that however faithful in our stewardship or intense in our service, it is to Him alone that we must continue to go for our fulfillment, our Life.”

In the beginning we received our comfort directly from our fellowship and prayer with Jesus Himself. We gained our sense of security from sitting at His feet, as Mary did, listening to His Words. It was from our personal attentiveness to Him that we drew our confidence. Our identity was formed unshakeable as we allowed the Lord Himself to handle all our needs and supply all our directions.

But with the passage of time every Christian discovers that there is a life of “ministry” that comes with following Christ. Jesus Himself outlined it in the cost of discipleship.

John 12:26 “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall My servant also be; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.

A close look at His statement will show that He calls those who would serve the ministry to make certain that they follow HIM. He doesn’t say to followers, to be sure to serve Him. The risk isn’t in Followers not serving but in Servants not following. Simply speaking, there is an occupational hazard that comes with serving in the ministry. Martha had fallen into it. And so have many of us. We begin to look toward the work we do for God to fill us with the same sense of security that sitting at His feet once supplied us. But the ministry cannot replace Jesus. Nowhere in scripture does God tell us that through our labors we will find ourselves and find contentment. True inner peace and security can only be derived by direct contact with Jesus Himself.

How many Christians today find themselves frustrated or even disillusioned because they are not receiving from their labors for God, the peace and security they expected. But if you look carefully His own example through the Gospels, it becomes quickly apparent that Jesus never presented Himself as a Servant of mankind, but always as the Servant of the Father. Jesus knew what all too many of us fail to remember; that people cannot fill the inner needs of your life. If you become a servant of man prepare to be used up and run over. Prepare to become disillusioned and bitter. Because whomever you serve, to that one will you look for your security. The approval and reward, if any, that they give you will be your only bread. And the sad thing is that what little reward we receive from serving people can easily be yanked away from us through one act of neglect, rejection or betrayal.

But Mary sat at Jesus feet “choosing the good part which could not be taken away from her”. And the security you receive from letting the Lord affirm you with His Word and comfort you by His Spirit, cannot be taken away from you by anyone.Jesus never took His eyes off of the Heavenly Father. In everything He did He looked to the Father for His guidance and reward. Consequently Jesus was able to do the Father’s work, which helped people, and never became embittered by their response or lack of it. Even when after laboring over the disciples, they abandoned Him at Calvary, He was able to forgive all, because His security didn’t come from the ministry, which seemed to be at it’s darkest moment, but from the Father, whose plans never fail.

No matter how great a work you’re doing for God, please take time to sit at Jesus’ feet and receive that affirmation which will secure you through all life’’s ups and downs.

Stay On The Path!