Remember how it was at first?
When you first met Him?
Ah...the lover of our souls.
His love (truly we discovered) was better than all other highs.
Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth:
for thy love is better than wine.
Song of Songs 1.2
And then we found that this Christian stuff wasn't so easy.
After a wonderful season with our "first love",
we entered into
a season of cold and darkness
where we wondered what the heck was going on.
I sought him whom my soul loveth,
I sought him,but I found him not.
Song of Songs 3.1
There were times where the pain of this relationship,
and all of its difficulty,
wrought a brokenness within.
Oh that I knew where I might find him.
Job 23.3
Would it not be wonderful if it could be as at the first?
When we were first enthralled with his loveliness and his grace.
Well, allow me be to be like one who comes from the mountains
bearing glad tidings. (Isaiah 52.7) That is exactly what God is doing
for many in this hour.
After the initial time of faith followed by the testing and prison of hope
there comes this season of love
where God promises to be to us like he was at the beginning.
Don't just take my word for it though- look at what God Himself has promised:
I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return
and I will build them as at the first.... And it shall be to me a name of joy,
a praise and an honor before all the nations of the earth,
which shall hear all the good that I do unto them.
And they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness
and for all the prosperity
that I procure unto it.
Jeremiah 33.7,9
Now I know that that was written to Israel but I have found
the same principle is found in promise to the church.
God is coming to us as at the firs and better.
He has saved the best wine for last.
Before, we had heard about him with the hearing of ear.
Now, like Job, after much suffering we say,
...now my eye sees you.
Job 42.5
I am come into my garden,my sister, my spouse:
I have gathered my myrrh with my spice,
I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey,
I have drunk my wine with my milk:
Eat, O friends, drink, yea drink abundantly, O my beloved.
Song of Songs 5.1
After seasons of faith and hope there comes a time of love-
a day of the gladness of our hearts
where the children of promise become
the mature sons and daughters of fulfillment.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Prayer is not so much what I do....
I thought that I must not consider prayer
in relation to that which I do
but rather
that which I am
Not as something that I must find time for
and then perform
but that which is now become so pervasive
and so permeating
that like my breathing
it is ongoing
oft unconscious
a function of my being
an atmosphere into which I am placed
something I watch for and yield to
as a Son
and with that Spirit within
a position where I now awaken
ship without oars
immersed in a mighty river
that quietly and imperceptibly
except to quickened eye
flows clear as crystal
Instead of an inner and continual sucking need
a fullness overflows
with thankfulness and praise
even adoration
to Him who sits on the Throne
not of heaven’s distance
but nearness to my very heart
The sacrificial fires ever burning
desolation no more
in relation to that which I do
but rather
that which I am
Not as something that I must find time for
and then perform
but that which is now become so pervasive
and so permeating
that like my breathing
it is ongoing
oft unconscious
a function of my being
an atmosphere into which I am placed
something I watch for and yield to
as a Son
and with that Spirit within
a position where I now awaken
ship without oars
immersed in a mighty river
that quietly and imperceptibly
except to quickened eye
flows clear as crystal
Instead of an inner and continual sucking need
a fullness overflows
with thankfulness and praise
even adoration
to Him who sits on the Throne
not of heaven’s distance
but nearness to my very heart
The sacrificial fires ever burning
desolation no more
Friday, October 15, 2010
Trousered Apes
See how they parade
all that passes for entertainment
across the brightly lit and colorful screen
Trousered apes
they are
reveling in beastly mirth
Encouraging the ungodly appetites of the unstable
and undiscerning
all for mammon, earthly pleasure and gain.
Has an idol ever both lived and spoken in the sight of men before this?
Shall we drink the wine of venom of asps?
Will we grasp vanity and the wind
and not reap
that which whirls
with violence
How hath the beast so surreptitiously worked his wiles?
What! is there no watchman?
How is it that ye do not understand…?
Matthew 16.11
all that passes for entertainment
across the brightly lit and colorful screen
Trousered apes
they are
reveling in beastly mirth
Encouraging the ungodly appetites of the unstable
and undiscerning
all for mammon, earthly pleasure and gain.
Has an idol ever both lived and spoken in the sight of men before this?
Shall we drink the wine of venom of asps?
Will we grasp vanity and the wind
and not reap
that which whirls
with violence
How hath the beast so surreptitiously worked his wiles?
What! is there no watchman?
How is it that ye do not understand…?
Matthew 16.11
Monday, October 11, 2010
Heartfire
The heart is for flames. The soul yearns for fire.
The human heart offers itself upon the altar of sacrifice to be consumed.
To what does the heart give itself?
On what altar is the sacrificial fire burning?
What fire is kindled there?With what is our heart inflamed?
What passion consumes us?
Peering across the landscape of human experience
we can discern many sources of fire.
For instance, most of us have experienced the fire and warmth
that a romantic relationship kindles within.
When we have found that special someone, incipient interaction sparks a fire
that begins to consume and to warm what before might have been a cold and empty heart.
Most of us have never felt so alive, so warmed within, so passionate.For many this type of burning within is so much to be desired that they will seek to kindle this flame
and continually fan even the idea of it, with romance novels and movies
when it is absent in an actual personal relationship.
We all long to be so consumed to kindle something in our heart.
The heart is for flames the soul yearns for fire.
Alcohol is another way that one seeks to kindle a fire within.
Whole nations experience widespread and epidemic abuse of this intoxicant
as its use has even been stamped with a measure of social acceptability.
Imbibing ‘spirits’ is another way anxious souls seek to meet the hearts yearning.
The scriptures talk about those who seek wine until they are ‘inflamed’ by it.
… they are inflamed with wine.
Isaiah 5.11
Most often it is a deeper thirst than a dry throat that many seek to quench.
In pubs across the world multitudes spend hour upon hour at wooden
altar like structures upon which they rest their elbows in prayer like fashion
while kindling a slow burn within.
The heart is for flames .The soul yearn for fire
In these ways and a multitude of others, the heart,being the desperate lonely hunter that it is, goes about seeking an altar on which to offer itself — a sacrificial offering
to be consumed by the flames of the altar.
Needy, the human heart will become inflamed with lust, greed, hatred, love (true and false), religion, idolatry, witchcraft, drugs, money, and on and on…
…enflaming itself with idols under every green tree.
Isaiah 57.5
A prophet addressed this issue when he wrote,
Behold, ye that kindle a fire, that compass about yourselves with sparks:
walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks that ye have kindled.
This ye shall have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.
Isaiah 50.11
Not coming to the Lord for fire, we all will seek something or other to warm us within.
And just as nature abhors a vacuum, so the human heart abhors the absence
of a filling and warming fire, and many abuse this reality
rather than accepting the heavenly cure.
For they have made ready their heart like an oven…
in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire.
Hosea 7.6
We all yearn to feel alive, to relieve the tension and the boredom;
to be warmed in such a way as to fight the cold, fear, and the loneliness.
We look for that which is beyond ourselves.
We look for that which will enhance our lives.
And there are many promising lights, and deceitful,
that attract our attention from out of the darkness.
…for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.
2 Corinthians 11.14
Yes, there are many and divers fires that would draw us
to their proffered light and warmth.
Evil is often disguised as a warming fire.
The heart is for flames the soul yearns for fire- but God’s judgment upon life
that is not found in Him is evident.
There are sad eyes everywhere.
Joy has withered away from the sons and daughters of men.
The rivers dry up, the land mourns, the harvest is not plentiful.
Hosea 4.3
Yes, that harvest of the human heart is mournfully thin—
all because men and women choose their own way,
following after the desires of their own heart, mind and imagination.
The heart is for flames and the soul hungers for fire but mankind
walking in the light of their own fires have this from the Lord’s hand – they lie down in sorrow.
In times past an empty hearth meant a cold house. But where a fire burned within
the inhabitants could rest comfortably. Likewise the human heart is restless
until it finds its rest in God-cold and hard until warmed by the fire that is God Himself.
“Our God is a consuming fire.” the apostle proclaimed.
God will consume the heart with a fire that will always be burning,
While all other fires burn out and leave the user sick and full of sorrow,self loathing and pain,
the fire of God burns with health and vitality, sure and eternal.
Jesus, proclaiming the salvation that would come after his departure
and knowing the need and hunger of fallen hearts, promised,
“Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire.”
O the wonderful fire that is God.He burns in our hearts with sweet assurance
of his presence and favor when we invite the Holy Ghost in.
Jesus promised that he would give the Holy Spirit to all who would ask saying,
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children:
how much more shall your heavenly Father
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
Luke 11.13
The heart is for flames the soul hungers for fire and God who gives
the Holy Ghost to those who seek and obey Him also provides that needed Heartfire.
The human heart offers itself upon the altar of sacrifice to be consumed.
To what does the heart give itself?
On what altar is the sacrificial fire burning?
What fire is kindled there?With what is our heart inflamed?
What passion consumes us?
Peering across the landscape of human experience
we can discern many sources of fire.
For instance, most of us have experienced the fire and warmth
that a romantic relationship kindles within.
When we have found that special someone, incipient interaction sparks a fire
that begins to consume and to warm what before might have been a cold and empty heart.
Most of us have never felt so alive, so warmed within, so passionate.For many this type of burning within is so much to be desired that they will seek to kindle this flame
and continually fan even the idea of it, with romance novels and movies
when it is absent in an actual personal relationship.
We all long to be so consumed to kindle something in our heart.
The heart is for flames the soul yearns for fire.
Alcohol is another way that one seeks to kindle a fire within.
Whole nations experience widespread and epidemic abuse of this intoxicant
as its use has even been stamped with a measure of social acceptability.
Imbibing ‘spirits’ is another way anxious souls seek to meet the hearts yearning.
The scriptures talk about those who seek wine until they are ‘inflamed’ by it.
… they are inflamed with wine.
Isaiah 5.11
Most often it is a deeper thirst than a dry throat that many seek to quench.
In pubs across the world multitudes spend hour upon hour at wooden
altar like structures upon which they rest their elbows in prayer like fashion
while kindling a slow burn within.
The heart is for flames .The soul yearn for fire
In these ways and a multitude of others, the heart,being the desperate lonely hunter that it is, goes about seeking an altar on which to offer itself — a sacrificial offering
to be consumed by the flames of the altar.
Needy, the human heart will become inflamed with lust, greed, hatred, love (true and false), religion, idolatry, witchcraft, drugs, money, and on and on…
…enflaming itself with idols under every green tree.
Isaiah 57.5
A prophet addressed this issue when he wrote,
Behold, ye that kindle a fire, that compass about yourselves with sparks:
walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks that ye have kindled.
This ye shall have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.
Isaiah 50.11
Not coming to the Lord for fire, we all will seek something or other to warm us within.
And just as nature abhors a vacuum, so the human heart abhors the absence
of a filling and warming fire, and many abuse this reality
rather than accepting the heavenly cure.
For they have made ready their heart like an oven…
in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire.
Hosea 7.6
We all yearn to feel alive, to relieve the tension and the boredom;
to be warmed in such a way as to fight the cold, fear, and the loneliness.
We look for that which is beyond ourselves.
We look for that which will enhance our lives.
And there are many promising lights, and deceitful,
that attract our attention from out of the darkness.
…for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.
2 Corinthians 11.14
Yes, there are many and divers fires that would draw us
to their proffered light and warmth.
Evil is often disguised as a warming fire.
The heart is for flames the soul yearns for fire- but God’s judgment upon life
that is not found in Him is evident.
There are sad eyes everywhere.
Joy has withered away from the sons and daughters of men.
The rivers dry up, the land mourns, the harvest is not plentiful.
Hosea 4.3
Yes, that harvest of the human heart is mournfully thin—
all because men and women choose their own way,
following after the desires of their own heart, mind and imagination.
The heart is for flames and the soul hungers for fire but mankind
walking in the light of their own fires have this from the Lord’s hand – they lie down in sorrow.
In times past an empty hearth meant a cold house. But where a fire burned within
the inhabitants could rest comfortably. Likewise the human heart is restless
until it finds its rest in God-cold and hard until warmed by the fire that is God Himself.
“Our God is a consuming fire.” the apostle proclaimed.
God will consume the heart with a fire that will always be burning,
While all other fires burn out and leave the user sick and full of sorrow,self loathing and pain,
the fire of God burns with health and vitality, sure and eternal.
Jesus, proclaiming the salvation that would come after his departure
and knowing the need and hunger of fallen hearts, promised,
“Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire.”
O the wonderful fire that is God.He burns in our hearts with sweet assurance
of his presence and favor when we invite the Holy Ghost in.
Jesus promised that he would give the Holy Spirit to all who would ask saying,
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children:
how much more shall your heavenly Father
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
Luke 11.13
The heart is for flames the soul hungers for fire and God who gives
the Holy Ghost to those who seek and obey Him also provides that needed Heartfire.
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