The Gospel is Salvation, …And So Much More

I came from a secular humanist family, so when I surrendered to Christ, attending church and reading the Bible was the start of a very long process of mind renewal. I realized I was a new creature but had no idea how to live it other than to try to do so in my own strength. Everywhere, teaching in Christian circles pointed in that direction, and today, most churches still do, but this is changing. I believe we will see a great and sweeping awakening to the truth of the gospel in Christian circles from today onward.

It took some years to realize the true gospel was that holiness comes not by effort but by surrender and rest. In self-defense, I read the Bible through a few times. I attended Bible school and seminary, investing much time in prayer and meditation. Eventually I was led to passages like Romans 5-8. There in the recesses of a small dorm room, I received the revelation that I was made righteous the moment He accepted me by faith in what He’d done at the cross. I grew ecstatic over the understanding that where sin abounds, grace SUPER abounds. Further, Ephesians and Hebrews made it clear that we have access to the very throne of grace, day or night!  But it was hard to hold onto these wonderful revelations while still being subjected to the legalistic preaching that was all around me everywhere.

On top of this struggle to get my theology straight, I had a lot of worldly wisdom and knowledge to eject or, at least, reprioritize. Nevertheless, as the decades passed, I came to love the kingdom of God more than the kingdom of this world, and despite intense family pressures, I began to distinguish the differences. As I lived out what God’s word was teaching, I experienced glory and victory. To this day, more than 50 years after being saved, I continue in a lifestyle of 80-100% immersion, whether praying, reading and studying the Bible, or hearing the Word through apps.

Diligent fact-checking of every sermon and every experience by the standard of God’s word – and more specifically the Pauline revelation of grace – along with the infilling of the Holy Spirit, our great Teacher, have brought me from glory to glory and continue to do so. And while I am fed and inspired by several great preachers, shockingly, none have proven to be perfect. As long as they are conduits to a deeper walk with Christ, I continue to listen to them, yet one must always use discernment.

As I’ve delved deeper and deeper into God’s Word, His love has become more and more real. He’s brought me to greater and greater degrees of goodness and success in this life, and yet it pales in light of His presence and the anticipation of things to come.

Absolutely none of what I have now came by mental strategy. My mind has been a wonderful servant along this path, but I never make it my master. The secular world gives the mind the role of the master because it doesn’t acknowledge the spirit realm. We are spirits, we possess a soul and a body, both of which should be subject to our spirit. Once you realize this, and your spirit is brought alive by belief in and full surrender to Christ, you’ll never go back to letting the mind run things. It would be like being licensed to drive and owning a great car but using a tricycle to get around instead.  

This is not a stance that sits well with the academic institutions where I once studied. It’s not popular anywhere, in fact. When asked to make a decision, the answer “Let me pray about it” will take most people aback. More acceptable is to say “Let me think about it.”

God made us in His image and also continually provides support and counsel, but in a society such as ours, and, frankly, for most of human history, this truth has been obfuscated. The great lies are that there is no living, caring God or if there is, he is not involved in every aspect of the affairs of men. The almost-ridiculous meme is that if there is a God at all, He takes a hands-off approach to His creation. As His kids, we are expected to figure it out for ourselves. He wrote a book. We are supposed to read it and extrapolate from there.

Even the founders of the Constitution understood that left to ourselves, corruption would set in. Checks and balances were established to prevent gross misuse of power, though they have proven inadequate and should be updated. Term limits would be a great start. However, I digress. The widespread ignorance of a present and loving God who will help in any situation, who can even offer marvelous ideas and powerful support for our earthly success – in relationships, health, career – has robbed us of our contentment, even our lives.

Thankfully, many believers know they have eternal life. They may stubbornly reject that God can do anything for them in other ways, obstinately insisting on living with illness, defeat, loss, confusion and strife, but they have what matters most, eternity. And if you believe that illness might be sent by God to teach you something, or even allowed by Him for that reason, my friend, you are woefully incorrect. I am not judging you. Like you, I had to get my theology straight.

Still, in the event that you as a reader are interested, let’s consider just one aspect of Jesus, his title as Prince of Peace. As the Prince of Shalom, Jesus bestows all-encompassing wholeness, health, provision, joy and peace through His death and resurrection. Our Prince of Peace came to restore everything our Father gave us in the Garden, and more.

He said as much in many ways. “I have come that they may have life and have it more and more abundantly.” “I will give you streams of living water springing up to everlasting life.” “I am the light of the world.” the list of these statements of His is long. In fact, this principle is asserted so many times in the Old and New Testaments that it is one of the constants of Bible truth. Living in victory, for ourselves and our family, should be a bedrock of every Christian’s faith.  

So why isn’t it? How has secular humanism managed to wrap its deceptive tendrils around our culture, even the believer’s psyche?

The fact that all the blessings of heaven come preternaturally and only in Jesus probably present the main stumbling block. After all, though believers may understand that Jesus is still alive, they know he’s seated at the Father’s throne someplace very very far away. And yet, wait, the Bible also says that He is within us. That sounds pretty intimately present to me.

I could go on with many other examples of why God in Christ designed it so that that He would live very intimately in our lives. I think of how Jesus explained, I am the vine, you are the branches. And yet, I know only too well how easy it is to be conditioned by the enemy’s propaganda, to be blind and unable to see what is real, to trade one’s blessing for a bowl of soup. To this day, there is a tiny corner of my heart where the seeds of skepticism will sometimes sprout, in the name of sophistication, or some old shame, or common sense. I will say that now it has gotten very easy to counteract them and pluck them out by the roots. I have memorized many scriptures for this purpose. I may be the last of all the world’s Christians, yet my faith has grown because I now have a track record where I have seen how living His way has racked up victory after victory. Not that there hasn’t been fierce opposition or setbacks. But greater has He proven to be, every time.

When you think about how a supernatural transfer of your sin onto Jesus was exactly how your salvation was accomplished, is it any more of a leap to believe that healing comes the same way, by His stripes, as Isaiah asserts? Or how about that the chastisement for your peace, your very mental health, was upon Him? Is it any more difficult to stand firmly on the truth that the Lord is like a shepherd who leads you to a place where you lack for nothing if you will listen to His voice?

We are all in different stages with our ability to use our faith. To those who may still be questioning, who haven’t completely shut down the possibility that God’s love is as good and powerful as any love can possibly be, I ask you to ask yourself what’s really stopping you from stepping out in faith and trusting His word? Have you perhaps allowed the world, a so-called scholar or a denomination that leaves out parts of the Bible, to dull your understanding? Has some wearisome opposition persuaded you that God can’t or won’t do what is needed or even desirable for you and your family? Perhaps you tell yourself that because it is a fallen world, great losses will come. I encourage you to learn more about what you have in Christ and how He has made a way where we can experience protection for ourselves and our loved ones. God is faithful. He does what He says, and He put all we need to know in the one Book He wrote (which by the way is earth’s all-time best seller). A good life is accessible to those who learn how to use it, His way.

Peace out

Lamb Duty

God’s word to mankind is a love letter, it’s a warning, a covenant document signed in the blood of His only Son. It is great literature, because what God does He always does with excellence. God’s love for His creation and His many messages for us earthlings shine forth in almost every page, as does His artistry. I think of the amazingly beautiful contrast between the grungy shepherds outside of Bethlehem where Jesus was born, and their visitation by a “vast host” of singing angels (NLT).

Now I’ve seen angels. Have you? I have seen them in my spirit, and lucid visions (the kind that appears before you like a movie, only it’s a living image). This is part of the wisdom gifts, some saints just “know,” some see, some both know and see, some hear, the method of perception varies but the result is the same – a transfer of information from God about your destiny and work on the earth, AND an encounter – the experience of God’s eternal heavenly kingdom in the now. This is explained further in I Cor 12 and 13, and revealed by example in the book of Acts as well as the gospels.

If you are one who sees, you know that it comes when you are seeking Jesus. When I’ve seen angels, my focus isn’t on having a vision or dream, it’s on learning new truth from Him, communing in His presence, and worshipping Him. I can honestly say with all the dreams and visions I’ve had, I have never sought a single one. Many were highly unexpected.

The visitation of the angels to the shepherds is a form of lucid vision. The Bethlehem sheepfolds, where the angels showed up on the night of Jesus’ birth, were the source of the perfect lambs presented for sacrifice at the Temple a few miles away in Jerusalem. The keeping of such sheep was not just a part of the food chain or Jewish garment industry, it was a sacred office held by Jewish ministers, probably Levites. To them was entrusted the protection of these sheep and perfection of their lambs. According to the law, one tiny blemish on their lamb meant a person’s sins were not completely covered, leaving an opening for wrath to enter their life during the ensuing year. The perfect lamb’s blood was required in place of theirs. It was a prototype of Jesus, though His blood not only covers but takes away sin for all time. No need for yearly sacrifice.

Lambing duty for the Temple was esteemed, though it was lowly. Not as lowly as a private shepherd because it was still apart of the Levitical priesthood. But lowly, nevertheless. It was like doing toilet cleaning at your church. Or more appropriately, like watching the babies in the church nursery, for hours and hours. It was an honor, but it was low in the hierarchy of Jewish politics and power.

Yet it wasn’t to the Levitical priests in the Temple that the angels appeared. Look what happens when you do what God leads you to do, no matter how humble, especially in His house, the local church.

These humble, grungy shepherds were the first to see Jesus after His birth! You know they were special, their heart was for the house of the Lord in ways others weren’t. They had agreed to dedicate their lives to helping the faithful bring a worthy offering to God. They had been willing to submit to this call assigned to them. How appropriate and wonderful that they were blessed to be given a front-row seat on the advent of God’s next covenant offering, Jesus, the final Lamb of a far better covenant!

Would they have understood the significance of the newborn savior? They sure as heaven knew something big was happening in the Kingdom of God and on earth. Evidence suggests they were actually trained men who knew the ancient scriptures, the law and the prophets and the poetry books, they had read of the mystery of God’s plan to put a “new heart” into His people. They had lots of time under the sunny blue and starry night sky to meditate on the prophecies, and, being Jewish students of the law, had probably discussed it with each other.

One lone angel showed up first (Luke 2:8-20). This advance scout had a radiant glory that was probably like 10 nuclear bombs going off at the same time, in terms of its brightness. The shepherds were utterly terrified, even before the angel was joined by an army of angels. God’s heavenly host! They sang the transcendent song thanking God and celebrating His gift in Jesus, while the shepherds marveled and quaked.

There must have been a reassurance imparted to them. For clearly, the shepherds moved from fear to faith, hope, joy and eager anticipation. This is what happens any time we turn from the natural understanding of things to the spiritual one. They were refreshed by their experience, and when it was over, they said, ‘let’s go and see what’s just gone down in Bethlehem that they were singing about’. They had the energy and enthusiasm to travel what was probably about 6 miles to the city in the wee hours of the night, to search for and find the newborn Messiah.

Whether they knew what they were seeing or not, our Abba God certainly knew. Who better to rejoice with than those who tended the original sacrificial lambs?

If you are feeling a call to lamb duty or some other form of humble job at your church, don’t despise it. One eminent pastor started out cleaning toilets at his church, and did so for six years before he was promoted to greeter. His preaching was eventually known worldwide. Whatever you do, as you do what you are called to do, you will receive a crown of glory in heaven which eventually will be all of our home if we are in Christ. Start somewhere and stay connected with a church or body of believers where you can find good teaching and fellowship. God promises that you will flourish by committing your time and energy to your church. You may even get visited by angels (but don’t look for them, look for Jesus!).

Those who are planted in the house of the Lord will flourish in the courts of our God. Ps 92:13

On Writing a Sequel

The good news is the sequel to my novel Hope’s Motel is well underway. What’s interesting is how the process is different from writing the first one.

My how time flies! Hard to believe it’s been six years since the publication of my debut novel, but here we are. Graduation from nursing school and entering that new career surely contributed to the delay. These landmarks show the way along the path of trusting the Lord, listening in prayer and doing/obeying the instructions by His Holy Spirit.

All of this has brought growth. And another novel, not to mention. From this vantage point, I am receiving ideas for the sequel. As my readers should know by now, I write what I am led to write, not what my soul’s creativity shows me. In this way, God harnesses the creativity He has put in me for His purposes.

Confirmation has come forth. The astounding accuracy of the prophetic tone of my second novel is one example, which not only predicted much of what happened in 2020 but also was rushed (by the Holy Spirit) for publication in 2019.

So it is that I’m noticing how God is weaving my current WIP into the times. A new movie featuring the wonderful brother in the Lord, Jim Cazaviel, is telling the world about human trafficking, sending this issue into high relief on the world’s list of concerns (as it should be). My sequel is featuring this theme, as well, has been for months before we could know how important the theme would become this year.

But what I want to talk about is the process of writing this book. No longer plagued by doubts or anxiety about my ability to complete a novel, I find myself confident in the face of the many obstacles which are encountered in telling a full novel story. I’ve been here before, and God has always provided. I know I’ll have the answer to plot tangles and character glitches. It’ll be good once God and I co-write this thing. I say this after seeing it starting to take shape.

The sequel, I’ve come to realize after much prayer, will be different in one salient aspect: It will no longer be exclusively told from the first person.

First person writing was new for me when I wrote Hope’s Motel. The issue with it was how to tell a story involving lots of other characters without switching into their heads. This is what we know as point of view, by the way, affectionately called POV in writer’s jargon. With Hope’s, there was always a way to get the story across by putting Hope where she could tell it from her perspective. Dialogue filled in where her own understanding was not enough.

In the sequel, for which I still have no working title, I will delve into the point of view of the other characters. This is really different. There will be whole chapters dedicated to another character’s thoughts and actions. I’m not sure how much this will change the character of the book. I do believe it will give depth to it.

What I am sure of though is that the book’s tone will match the first one: The beautiful perspective of a life of faith, lived in full confidence of God’s love and His leading, without fear, and without compromise with the world’s confusion and drama. Because, after all, it’s Hope’s sequel.

One snippet which may or may not make the cut into the novel describes how Hope has been doing all this time. I don’t wish to give a spoiler but as you readers know, she is now a married lady, very happily, too. She has also grown.

God gives you a dream. Like a suit or a dress that’s been tailored just for you that hangs in your bedroom. You look it over, deciding whether you want to wear it, admiring it, thinking maybe it’s too much, or maybe it’s not enough. After awhile, though, you try it on and you love the fit. You love how it moves with you. Pretty soon you are calling it yours. But really, it was God’s dream to start. Now it’s both your dream, God’s and yours, because God has shared it with you. He knows you can fulfill it, in fact, He’s created you with all the potential for it from your inception. So when God gives a dream, and it becomes yours, He touches it with fire and your whole being lights up with it. It becomes yours just as if it always was. God is good like that. He shares. Soon the dream is carrying you as much as you carry it. It can carry you through all the world’s love and all the world’s sorrow, until you understand you are free. Yet, like the horse that needs no bit or bridle, your heart returns again and again to serve the will of the master, the dispenser of every good dream.

Hope is back.

The world is confusing. Hope has it sorted out.

copyright 2023 all rights reserved

Buonissimo Cesare Dressing

Sauces are the crowning event of food preparation. This recipe for the king of dressings, known as Caesar, was invented by an Italian restauranteur in Mexico on an American holiday. Cesare Cardini founded Cesare’s Restaurante and Bar on Tijuana’s main drag in the early 1920s. On July 4, 1924, a crowd of Mexican workers and vacationing Americans simultaneously filled his establishment. Cesare was low on stuff and, well, his weakness became his strength.

From there, the stories are varied, with a handful of cooks (all Italian) taking credit for the dish. What is sure is how fast it became a worldwide success, helped by the movie industry not far to the north. Clark Gable and Jean Harlow travelled from Hollywood to Tijuana to be able to have wine with their dinner during the Prohibition era. They were told about the new sensation at Cesare’s. Once they sampled it, they returned often. Most likely, the Gables told friends who told other friends, because the restaurant became a Hollywood favorite. And guess what? It’s still there.

I love how easy this is to make. This dish originally used lime juice. As its fame has spread, lemon has been substituted for lime, probably because the lime is “limon” in Spanish. Try it with lime juice for a truly authentic touch.

Nota Bene: This version of Casare’s dressing substitutes fish sauce for anchovies. The sauce I buy at any ethnic foods aisle is derived from anchovies. Use the real anchovies for a thicker dressing.

Ingredients

3 medium egg yolk
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp garlic granules or two fresh cloves chopped
2 tblsp fish sauce or 6-10 anchovies
1/2 c lemon juice freshly squeezed (remove seeds) – originally lime juice
2 tsp course salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 cups mild olive oil
1/2 c pecorino romano or parmesan cheese, grated

Assembly

Place egg yolks, mustard, garlic, fish sauce, lemon juice, slat and pepper in a bowl. Using a handheld blender, mix until smooth. Slowly pour the oil into the mixture while the handheld is running, until thick. Add the grated cheese and pulse a few times without totally emulsifying the cheese, for texture.

Use for salads and as a topping for vegetables, seafood and meats

Buon Appetito

Maximum Swoop and Breakthrough

In the spirit-realm as in the natural, there are laws by which energies operate. Gravity, velocity, thrust and lift, for a few examples, will operate with reliable intensity given the same conditions. They are natural laws. In the spiritual realm there is faith, hope, unbelief, vision, love, joy, peace, speech. These are some of the principles which will work effectively and reliably as well, when put to use.

One principle for using these might be termed the Law of Maximum Swoop. Picture a pinwheel – why does the slightest breeze make it move? Its blades are shaped first to catch the greatest amount of wind per square centimeter, and second to channel it directionally for maximum power. Third, the blades are made of the lightest material possible. The end result is an efficient toy to respond to a child’s breathe with ease.

There is a spiritual equivalent to this, if we liken ourselves to a pinwheel. The wind is like the Holy Spirit. Jesus likened the Holy Spirit to the wind, a powerful force which cannot be seen with earthly eyes, only felt and heard. Wings of birds and airplanes catch it and soar. We have to keep our own wings open to receive it. sing the pinwheel illustration, our blades must be open.

It starts with faith, the leaning of our entire human personality on Christ Jesus in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom and goodness. (See Colossians 1:4 AmpC)

After this, comes opening the mind to the Bible. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding.” Prov 3:4. But you lean instead on God’s truth and God’s perspective on things, the Bible, as the definitive, trustworthy, accurate Word of the living God through Christ.

Finally, we become a human/divine hybrid by the infilling of the Holy Spirit. What the Bible calls a “new creature”.

From this strong foundation, we can use many tools, such as prayer, including our powerful heavenly prayer language, meditation on the Word of God, and fellowship as ways to expand our ability to receive. We can eliminate distractions. Our hearts stay tuned to the *KOG channel through our ears and eyes, reinforced by our mouth, and by the choices we make of what to read, what to listen to, where to work and recreate.

In this process, we are not only receiving, we will also be giving, often inadvertently, by setting an example, or deliberately by our words and actions.

To increase our responsiveness, we need to stay featherlight in terms of the weight of our lives in the natural (like the featherlight blades of a pinwheel). Not that we cannot enjoy things, possessions, relationships, this is not about asceticism. We are meant to be abundant in all good and healthy material blessings. Rather, the weight of our possessions is determined by our focus. As we first seek the Kingdom of God, all things are always being added. The burden is light. We need not fear lack or want. On the other hand, if we start to seek things for the sake of things, or relationships for the sake of relationships, it becomes a heavy yoke.

The world doesn’t value maximum swoop. It thinks it’s strange that you don’t chase after goods and physical pleasures, pursuing them as a primary objective. Relationship is defined by sharing this pursuit. As you age, the world reasons, the pursuit is directed toward creating a legacy for one’s children.

When we become a new creature, our definitions change. We find far more pleasure in that which has eternal value. This doesn’t eliminate having fun, being responsible with money, enjoying earthly pleasures or leaving a legacy. In fact, it incorporates these in a healthy way, one that brings no sorrows. Priorities are aligned by a divine perspective.

The world thinks it’s crazy to ignore or make of lesser importance earthly pleasures and treasures in favor of seeking to save the lost, spiritual encounter, growth in God’s Word, and relationships based on Christ. But really, it’s crazy not to. There is one who invests in eternity, and one who squanders their time on temporal things. Who is really crazy here?

Maximum Swoop is my whimsical term for full surrender and diligent application of the Word of God. The desired outcome is the realization of the unseen into the seen, a wonderful experience often described as breakthrough.

*KOG=Kingdom of God

Small-Batch Smoked Mayonnaise

This amazingly simple mayonnaise is good for you for several reasons. One is healthy oil. Most oils are either GMO or hydrogenated. Others are known to be inflammatory to humans (even if organic and cold-pressed). Unhealthy oil can contribute to diabetes, hypertension, atherosclerosis, heart failure, and arthritis.

So what are the good oils? The ones you can count on to be helpful and not harmful are olive, coconut, and avocado. Make sure you cook with the latter two, as olive oil becomes hydrogenated at higher temps.

Finding storebought mayonnaise made exclusively of the “good” oils is getting easier. However, doing it yourself at home will ensure the ingredients are fresh and of the best quality. You will taste the difference. Supremely easy to make, your slow-food mayo will taste better and probably cost significantly less than store-bought specialty mayonnaises.

It takes about 10 minutes to assemble the ingredients for and create this healthy mayonnaise. For a more standard mayonnaise, leave out the smoke flavor and cut the garlic. Add some of your own spices. I often use rosemary from my herb garden. Making your mayo in a small batch, a cup or so at a time, will help you gain confidence in seasoning it.

I’ve often heard and read that getting homemade mayo to thicken is a problem. While weather conditions affect how well mayonnaise will congeal, I’ve found an extra egg will solve the problem. If you want to limit your intake of eggs, you can start out using one – then if it stays liquid after blending, just add the second egg.

Keep in mind, this slow-food mayonnaise does not contain preservatives or additives, nor is the oil hydrogenated to keep it fresh on a shelf. The 8 oz. batch in this recipe and pictured above stays fresh in my fridge up to 2 weeks. The question is, will it even last that long once you and your family taste it?

First, assemble the following:

Ingredients:

8 oz avocado oil
1 capful apple cider vinegar
1/2 t salt – or to taste
1 t garlic powder – or to taste
1/2 capful Wright’s Liquid Smoke, any flavor
1-2 large eggs

Pour the oil into mixing bowl, or a wide-mouthed glass container such as pictured above. Add all the other ingredients. Mix with your favorite high speed mixer, or insert an immersion handheld blender and blend on high speed. In 30-60 seconds, your mayonnaise will go from a clear oil to creamy white. It should also thicken to the consistency of pudding. Target any lingering pools of oil until all is whipped.

Now your easy-peasy, mega-healthy mayonnaise is ready to use or refrigerate.

Once you taste this mayonnaise, you may never use store-bought regularly again. I use it on meats, fish, vegetables, even mixed into a broth for soup.

Many variations are possible with this. So experiment with some of your favorite spices, add sweetener for a dressing for fruits, some horseradish for a great accompaniment to red meat, or add turmeric for a mock Hollandaise sauce.

Be creative, have fun, and bon appetit!

Slow food is the antithesis of fast-food. It is prepared in small batches, with carefully chosen ingredients, by one or two cooks. Fast food is, by necessity, prepared on an assembly line, usually using heavily processed foods and pre-made mixtures which have been frozen, denatured and injected with preservatives (there are a few exceptions). Because of these differences, including its freshness, slow food is generally healthier than fast-food. Though usually enjoyed in the intimacy of one’s home, it may be adapted to larger gatherings. Its preparation will always take more time than processed food with pre-formulated mixes, resulting in superior flavor and health benefits.

The Author and Finisher

Years ago, when I was struggling against self-sabotaging fears about the worth of my writing and my ability to finish a novel, I labored in prayer. I wasn’t interested in marketing in the sense of gaining the most sales possible. If that were my sole aim, I’d have chosen different content. I wanted to be sure that God was really calling me to this endeavor. Writing is big in my family, my father was a writer and editor, then a publicist, who made his living with words. I wanted to be sure I wasn’t merely doing something that came naturally.

Sounds pretty pretentious to think one can hear from God on specific matters, I suppose, especially on the bland, secularized diet most religious institutions feed people. There may be homey stories that make us feel good about ourselves, perhaps teaching on morality and ethics, the ten commandments and maybe the two that Jesus gave on loving God and each other. But God’s will is better understood as a relationship demanding total surrender which transforms the heart, which in turn leads us to turn toward goodness, and delivers us from deeds of the dark. In His Presence we rejoice in His grace, we walk by faith, giving secondary consideration to what we see, feel, and hear. We develop our spiritual sixth sense.

Psalm 19 gives wonderful insight into hearing from God. “Day to day utters speech, and night to night reveals knowledge,” it states, further explaining that the voice of God which is always ready to reveal more to us is speaking in a universal language: “There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.”

Further, God is capable of tailoring His utterance to each heart. God has a specific will for each of us, a plan which can be discerned, a path which has many turns and twists but in which we have His imminent guidance. Check out John 16:13, Jer 29:11, Jn 10:27; the many examples of Paul in the book of Acts including Acts 18:9-11. “Oh, that’s just for Paul, Peter and John, and Jeremiath was a prophet, they were all special.” Yes, they were, but the word of God is clear that we, too can have the same closeness with God, albeit unique missions.

“And let us run with endurance the race set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.” (NKJV)

This is one of the verses which I have prayerfully adapted to my writing. Appropriating Jesus as the Author and the Finisher of my books, I write what He’s shown me to write. Every part of the process is subject to Him, to the best of my ability (it’s always going to be through me as the imperfect filter and the lens). It’s my job as an author to keep consulting with Him, and in this He is ever faithful. I know I will always have a ways to go in hearing accurately and fully, but at least I’ve left!

I wonder what scriptures Paul was leaning on as he ministered with Priscilla and Aquila in Ephesus? What did he mutter to himself as he was making a tent? Surely his letters are full of the utterances of God for the new covenant. We know what the verses were that were flowing through David, as they are documented in the Psalms, Chronicles, Kings, and by Solomon in Proverbs.

My verse is not a formula, some mantra I began to say before and after every writing session. It is a meditation of the heart. As I meditated on its truth while writing, God spoke to me through it. He showed me how to write, led me to resources I could learn from, gave counsel on how to budget my time, advised on character, plot and dialogue. God is an awesome writer. Just look at the bible!

This is not meant to imply that my books have the validity of scripture. No one may add or take away from the canon that makes up the law and the prophets, or the writings of the new testament which emerged from them after the life and finished work of Jesus the Christ.

Gathering it firmly in my mind the truth that Jesus is the author and finisher of my novels has helped me to rest in His guiding hand over my writing sessions. I want only to communicate how this has allowed me to co-create with joy, in a rich flow of His Spirit. As revisions mounted in number, I had to place my faith all the more on the great Finisher that the story would one day be done. And eventually, with each piece of fiction, there has come a time when I knew that it was ready.

College: Should you go?

During the Renaissance, after the invention of the Gutenberg Press made the bible available to all, the world’s vortices of intellectual pursuit converged with the aim of developing the human mind. Institutions like Oxford and Harvard sprung up. Their mission statements clearly set forth an understanding of soul and spirit under the guidance of an Almighty Creator through the New Covenant in Christ’s blood. A quick read of their original mission statements reveals this. It wasn’t long though before they began to deviate in the name of honest inquiry (yea hath God said?). Soon – as God counts time – the door opened to the possibility that there was no God and too soon that became accepted fact. Atheism, agnosticism, and spiritual principles of the kosmos mixed with truth and weeds of doubt and unbelief were planted and have sprouted into the society we have today. And it’s only escalating.

So is this stew of bonafide information, secular indoctrination, and myths based on debunked theories worth the soaring cost for a B.A. today? Many of you have been asking this question. I’d like to propose a different, much less expensive route, yet one which puts you indisputably in the same intellectual “league” as any college grad. Here in a nutshell is one potential godly “curriculum” to launch anyone into the next level of fulfilling the will of God for their life and to being able to hold their own among the world’s intelligentsia, without the high price tag. I would add that this is a basic structure, one which may be refined and added to according to personal desire and – above all – God’s leading.

Part One: Spiritual Development.

The best development of the human mind is to be able to read and understand the bible within its context and with spiritual insight. A steady diet of putting the bible into practice develops the mind in the context of an infinite, eternal purpose; it establishes the soul in this truth: that the mind is a servant, a useful tool of the spirit. This leads to a balanced mind, a “sound mind”, which encompasses both mental and emotional stability, good judgement, and accurate critical thinking. There will be humility instead of hubris, assertiveness, not grandiosity, honor rather than self-promotion, responsive and flexible leadership over insecure croneyism, Isaac instead of Ishmael. Could we possibly see our youth receive an education which launches them into the world with joy and peace, certitude and victory, with mental acuity, yet without depression, suicidality, doubt, substance abuse, loneliness and fear. How refreshing would that be?

But I have confidence in better things for you, beloved!

Where to get grounded in God’s Word is up to you. A good bible school can be one way. Some churches are like bible schools and will provide a great grounding as well.

Part Two: Academics.

This can be taken in a secular or Christian institution. Use discernment here, and be sure that the person can handle the secular environment, if that is what is chosen.

First, embark upon the study of an ancient languages: Latin or Greek. I recommend traditional academic study, apart from or in conjunction with biblical studies at first. Two to three years of ancient Latin or Greek will develop the ability to think logically, expose the learner to ancient cultures and other ways of thinking. It will ultimately bring a deeper perspective on the modern world. As a side note, Hebrew is another option here, but I don’t recommend it for a first choice because it is almost impossible to study ancient Hebrew without studying Torah and in this case, gaining a secular perspective, yet at an objective distance, is part of the process.

You might ask, Is language study really worth my time, given that there are wonderful translation apps now? For at least one language, it is worth your time. After that, you will possess enough knowledge to exegete with an app. Take tenses, for example. A tense is the time-frame of the verb’s action. In English, the verb “save” has three possible time frames, past, present and future. Within these, four modulations are possible, simple, continuous, perfect and perfect continuous. In Greek, there are either 6 or 7 tenses, depending on who is teaching it, with at least 6 modulations, plus a number of “moods” which color their meaning as well. So you might say Greek has two to three times the options for verb meanings than English. This is one of the reasons it is said that reading the bible in English versus Greek is like going from black and white to technicolor. Knowing Greek will let you understand beyond what the English translation states. Even an understanding of Latin, which is less complex than Greek, will help you understand better what the Greek and the Hebrew of the bible are saying, using an app.

Today it is possible to take college level language courses without enrolling in a degree program. I am sure there are other ways to learn an ancient language, as well. To be clear, you are not aiming to become a Latin scholar or fluent in ancient Greek. A basic foundation will be enough: two years is enough, and you won’t be doing it full time.

Along with this, a useful and profitable academic course will be history, particularly ancient history. Through the study of history you will delve into the philosophical world views and sociopolitical environments of various historical eras, with insight into how these panned out. The saying, ‘those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it,’ has some truth to it.

So we’ve got secular academic and biblical studies. (If math or science is your thing, don’t worry, I haven’t left it out, I’ll address it below.)

Part Three: Learn a trade.

Vocational expertise builds a good life and a stable society. To learn a practical skill or applied science is to have the ability to make a nice living, perhaps to live off the grid, start your own business, provide a service. These basic skills and stability are something many Ph.D.’s are lacking. There is also great benefit to your community and to your nation, for a nation which produces its own goods and has trades and skilled labor is a prosperous one. Often you will wind up hiring others. In other cases, you will work closely and successfully with other people. Under the blessing of God, your income will go up and up, as will your giving. You will become a pillar in your community and your community will grow stronger. There was a reason the Babylonians took the skilled laborers back home with them when they conquered a city.

It bears mentioning that many trades involve academic study in math and the sciences. Again, go the most direct route to getting these . A course or certification for a license can be enough. As you grow, and aim for excellence, you may add more.

One other element of a college education which I’d like to address is that of instilling respect for learning itself. College will teach you how to use a library for research, so you can actually learn to teach yourself many other subjects throughout life. Originally, there were no degrees higher than a bachelors. A basic foundation was expected to impart the ability to teach oneself any other given subject. This wisdom is available at many libraries where the reference librarian and others can introduce you to various databases and rooms housing special collections. Perhaps your high school offered this, as well.

There are times when a B.A., masters or doctorate are essential to doing a job you know you are called to do. However, it would be worth investigating the field you are interested in to see if you can do pretty much the same thing with less costly and less time-consuming credentials. Exorbitant costs for less value are causing many to think rationally yet outside the box when it comes to setting up a life. New certificates and majors are springing up which serve this purpose.

PS, one other component does not have anything to do with launching into a career but everything to do with living fully, that of having a hobby. From music to painting, to sewing to gardening to tinkering in the garage, a hobby will enrich your life. Do not however, get lost down the rabbit trail that confuses your hobby with your profession. Hobbies are fun, something we are passionate about. However, passion alone is not enough to support you. Opportunity is a door opened by God through which you can bring your passion and apply it. The main thing is to be led by God as you choose what to do with your life, and where.

“I know the plans I have for you, Declares the Lord.” Jer 29:11

Seasons

The creation of seasons in nature reveals God’s pattern for all of life. “To EVERYTHING there is a season… .” (Ecclesiastes 3:1) Each of the great covenants handed to us by the Creator has been a season. And each of us goes through many seasons from birth to passing into eternity.

The world will define personal seasons according to its carnal way of looking at things. A person over 55 is termed a senior, those in their 80s, “elderly”. A person in their 20s may be deemed immature or “not ready”. If you’re not careful, you’ll buy into all this. In truth, an old eagle can fly stronger and higher than a young one. Caleb was ready and able to take his mountain in his 80s. David defeated Goliath as a teenager who couldn’t fit into a warrior’s armor. A widowed Ruth left country and family to follow the God of her mother-in-law and wound up with a new husband, giving birth to a child who would become Jesus’ great grandparent. What do these have in common? They had heard from God and had the faith to carry out His directives. By doing so, they each entered their next God-ordained season.

Before I go on, I must add that if you are in a season of overcoming ill health, there are spiritual laws that promote health which are clearly outlined in the Bible, corroborated by many such as Kenneth Copeland and Dodie Osteen, Andrew Wommack (who is a youngster compared to those two), and many many many others of lower profile (to us, though not to God). Investigate these ministries and you’ll find the testimonies of living people who are enjoying the good, abundant and healthy life Jesus paid dearly to purchase for us, against many attempts to rob them of it.

But I digress.

What I’m really led to write about today are these seasons which extend from birth to our passing into glory. Now, even if you die young and broke, God is going to welcome you who trust in Jesus with open arms and dry every tear. But there is victory in living supernaturally that the world has no idea is possible and hopefully this will inspire a few people to stop settling for less. More to the point is that we respect that we are all going through different seasons, and that we do our best to honor each other where we are at. The important thing is to be asking God, and always checking in, with regard to His will for your life’s seasons.

From a divine perspective, there are seasons in a human’s life never understood or thought about by those who are not spiritual. The seasons of slaying dragons, moving mountains, going through a wilderness, seasons of learning how to wield the sword of the Spirit and how to walk by faith, of sowing and reaping, receiving and resting. In fact, there are too many to mention. No one person will live every possible season available to the human spirit, however, we are all meant to live a few, for we are going from glory to glory in this life.

For everyone, there will be change. Billy Graham, one of the greatest preachers who ever lived, had a season of retirement before he died. There are numerous people now in the ministry who had seasons of preparation and regrouping before they answered the call to ministry. And there are those who begin in one ministry and segue to another. Young worship leaders often move into preaching or teaching, for instance. Moses had to leave a pharaoh’s palace to get a fix on who he wasn’t so that God could help him understand who he was. That had to be an interesting transition, to say the least. In the same way that autumn begins to be felt at the end of summer, or spring overtakes winter, we might notice these shifts for ourselves. If you keep your ear to the ground, as they say, you will hear from the Father how to navigate the new terrain.

Our Lord Himself would do nothing without hearing from God about it (Jn 8:38, Jn 12:49, etc) and then He instructed us to abide in Him (Jn 15) so we could do the same. If it was important that Jesus listen to God, how much more so that we do? A study of the book of Acts will show how Paul consulted the Lord personally over his itineraries, even going against a prophetic warning (Acts 21) after he’d gotten the clarity he sought. (I’ve heard it preached that this was Paul being pigheaded, an example of an error in judgement. They base this on Paul’s escape from Jerusalem many years earlier and on the fact that Paul was repeatedly thrown out of synagogues in many cities. Actually, persecution is not proof of disobedience but obedience, as confirmed by our Lord and many scriptures. In fact, would we not see Paul’s message to synagogues as his way of following the pattern Jesus Himself set forth, proclaiming the gospel “to the Jew first.” There is also the fact that every time he preached at a synagogue, “some believed” despite his being kicked out, and of these, a few became fellow messianic Jews who accompanied Paul on his journeys. Paul refers to how much their support meant to him, mentioning them separately from the Gentiles on his ministry team. Unfortunately, I don’t have space here to reference the multitudinous other scriptures which directly and in principle confirm that Paul was almost surely being guided by the Holy Spirit in this visit to Jerusalem late in his ministry. As one more piece of the puzzle, before I move on, consider the prophetic warnings themselves, which never said, “Thus saith the Lord, Don’t Go!”, they simply said there would be bonds awaiting him. There’s a huge difference! But, let’s be honest, while the important points of our faith are well defined in the Bible, exegesis of this particular point will always amount to speculation by sanctified imagination. Nothing fully states Paul’s motives or God’s will concerning this visit by Paul. All we can say is “probably” to an interpretation of the event. Given the evidence of scripture as partly outlined above, it’s more likely that Paul’s determination to continue on his way to Jerusalem was probably not hubris disguised as nobility, but rather grounded in the leading of the Lord Himself.) To wit in regard to the current discussion, the scriptures show us with many other examples and teachings beyond any doubt that following God’s leading is vital, that we are each responsible to gain direction from Him, and that sometimes it will fly in the face of what others, even other spiritual people, might think or advise. If so, it’s not necessary or even advisable to argue. Stay in love, but stay the course God has called you to.

Your spiritual connection with God is inviolate. No one can tell you what God is telling you to do. There is much to learn and practice when hearing from God for guidance and direction. This becomes clearer when one starts living one’s life by it, rather than a one-off. Anyone can catch a worm if they dig enough ground up! Like any other gift, practice strengthens and refines it. Prophetic words of wisdom and knowledge given to you should resonate with what you have received from God. Similarly, your spirit, now indwelt by God’s Spirit, will not contradict the Word which is found in the Bible. We are all of a piece with Jesus!

Seasons are real, and as long as they are God-given, they will bring great blessing, understanding, peace and provision.

“Joyful is the person who finds wisdom, the one who gains understanding. For wisdom is more profitable than silver, and her wages are better than gold. Wisdom is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her.

“She offers you long life [and length of days] in her right hand, and riches and honor in her left. She will guide you down delightful paths; all her ways are satisfying [peace].

“Wisdom is a tree of life to those who embrace her; happy are those who hold her tightly.”

Prov 3:13-18 NLT

Glimpses of Jesus bar-David Part Two

This post is part of the l’Chaim! series on topics related to the Jewishness of the Messiah Jesus and how this can further our understanding and the living under the power of Holy Spirit in this generation.

As a Jew, Jesus was capable of acting in the role of rabbi. He knew every law and tradition, and could have certainly risen to the rank of chief priest, had this been His mission. However, the mission of Jesus went far beyond that of being a Jew, for Jesus bar-David was also Yeshua bar-Yahweh, or more appropriately, Yeshua bar-Elohim, the Son of God as well as the Son of Man. I believe this is why the Savior’s own Judaism in His earthly life has easily been overlooked, because He Himself explodes out of it. No culture can contain Him!

And yet, the Creator chose a people on earth to represent Him. Their mission was to be a light to the nations. So when He came to die for us, He came as a Jew, fulfilling all that His Father had intended in setting a people apart. As many Jews today will readily agree, Jews have never existed to hoard the goodness or the revelation of God, but to share it. In Jesus, our loving God has provided a new covenant, one which when received and lived frees anyone and everyone from the curses originating in the Fall in Genesis 3. This is the Blessing! The Blessing as promised to Abraham and to his seed through Isaac, the children who come through Faith.

There are many examples of how Jesus points to this mission to the entire world in His earthly ministry: His encounters with the non-Jews as written in the gospels are probably only a few of many more times when He offered them the same blessings He gave to His fellow Israelites. A centurion (one of the Roman oppressors, no less), a Samaritan, and a woman with enough faith to plead with Him on His own terms, “even the dogs get to eat the crumbs beneath the table,” she said. There are probably many others, those who in those days were known as God-fearers, people who believed in the God of the Jews, who read and revered their scriptures.

Returning to the prophetic decree declared over Simon Peter, if we look at this with a different lens, understanding that Jesus is not only bar-David but also bar-Elohim, the son of the Creator, we understand the astounding truth Jesus is proclaiming.

“‘And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’” MT 16:16-17

Here is a truth whoever believes on the Name of Jesus can stand on! It is not only for Jews but for everyone who accepts the grace offered in Jesus as the One Who represented us all on the cross! He makes us the Church, Jew and Gentile, male and female, barbarian, uneducated, ignorant, educated and civilized, all, all, all, all, all of us who believe, we have the promise that the gates of hell will give way, and are even flimsy, compared to the might that is within us.

My friend, I understand if churches have let you down. But churches are not the Kingdom of God, they are human organizations and they have flaws. You are the Church when you believe on Jesus in a way that produces evidence and substance. You have that power to tread on serpents and see the gates of hell cave as you advance upon them.

Still, if one can put a thousand to flight, two can vanquish 10,000! Our Lord’s purpose was to build you up as part of a body. Get to a fellowship where you can experience this Church blessing if at all possible. That is to say, find a Spirit-Filled, Bible-believing church which stands in the supernatural, the anointing and the blessing you can count on.

I find myself groping for a way to get across the full import of this promise which Jesus verbally proclaimed (and I SAY to you) to Simon Peter. I encourage you to study this topic out for yourselves. Tell me if it doesn’t make you hungry to learn from our Lord how to put this into practice in your own sphere of influence.

Receive everything that is yours, dear friend and family, as you pursue the One who is always pursuing you.