Fire Eyes Wake: The golden dawn returns over the hills of darkness The sky turns red and burns The forest makes its noises The earth continues its return Rise: The heavens open like a newly torn veil Angels everywhere, covered in mail Bright white garments, saints all around They beckon me, “Come,” without a sound As I rise in…
READ, LINGER, PROCESS… Knowing how trivial we are, how depraved, should keep us humble in the pursuits of life. Just as the bud of a flower injured by the frost will not open, so too a child or person injured without encouragement or warm praises of affirmation may not open themselves to the world outside themselves. Retreat into oneself is…
A Summary of the Seven Metaphors 1. The Sheep and the Shepherd. a. This is the leadership metaphor. b. The chief shepherd leads by means of his voice. The mind-thinking of Jesus Christ is now preserved in the completed canon of Scripture. c. The leader has the best intentions for the church – abundant life. d….
READ, LINGER, PROCESS… Before the cross became the symbol of Christianity, it was used to mark graves. It is interesting that the cross of torture, suffering, and shame became a symbol of hope and faith and honor. The cross of death is the symbol of eternal life. The vertical beam points to Heaven, to a Holy God. The horizontal…
READ, LINGER, PROCESS… What we see around us is the evidence of God’s existence. Try to think of something that doesn’t exist. What did you come up with? Honestly, you can come up with nothing. So, this is how we know that God must exist, because we can conceive of Him. Incarnation Time is a creative extension of God….
The answer to the question is yes. But God does not seek to prove this to be so. He simply states it. Individuals are free to do with that what they will. “The Word of God is alive and powerful” (Hebrews 4:10). All scripture is given by inspiration (“God-breathed” in the Greek) of God (2 Timothy 3:16), meaning God literally…
Webmaster’s Note: A deeper understanding of both God and the Living Word comes not only from accurate Bible study materials and proper instruction, but also from you. When you take your time, meditate upon key points, and look up given verses for yourself, in your very own Bible, your walk with the Lord takes on a whole new meaning; consider…
READ, LINGER, PROCESS… Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. No need to. God is the street light, the city light, the heavenly light – God is light. Look out for number one, Make your own rules, Win at all costs, Nice guys finish last, The power is within you, blah, blah, blah, ad nauseum… These clichés certainly expressed the…
READ, LINGER, PROCESS… Our Lord Jesus Christ anthropomorphized God so we could form an understanding. This is called the incarnation. Even if each person set their own standards of morality, they still could not keep those standards. We cannot even be true to self. How then can we be so blind to not see our own wretchedness? We live…
THE PRODUCTION OF THE HUMAN SIN-NATURE People are basically the same wherever we go and wherever we find them, except for certain characteristics such as: culture, color, language, personality, and physical appearance. These differences are distinguishable, but they are only superficial. Man’s nature is inherently human. Thus, all mankind share a common denominator – the human nature, the nature to…
There can be no effective cultural change until a spiritual change takes place in the individual. For this to occur, the local church must teach and equip each believer to be an informed and effective communicator. Spiritual transformation occurs when the individual trusts the cross-work of Christ and begins to metabolize and store Bible doctrine in the soul ready for…
Lord, I am older now and your wisdom and love have patiently humbled me. I can see more clearly now that the rain is gone and the clouds of my ego are dissipating. I see you more than I see myself. Lead me in justice – I walk on my knees. God, teach me your humble ways. When pride begins…
Webmaster’s Note: A deeper understanding of both God and the Living Word comes not only from accurate Bible study materials and proper instruction, but also from you. When you take your time, meditate upon key points, and look up given verses for yourself, in your very own Bible, your walk with the Lord takes on a whole new meaning; consider…
Want to worry less? Pray more. Rather than look around you for answers, look up. Rather than look for someone else to blame, look inward. Inhale God’s Word every day… and watch worry go away. Rather than living in denial, make a study of you. If a believer stays in Christ and in Truth and another doesn’t, which one has…
If moral choices remain relative (no right, no wrong), we will witness the death of reason, the loss of shame, and the loss of our ability to define meaning. Without absolutes, there is no shame, no meaning, no authority, no truth – reason itself will have lost meaning. Remove God, who is the absolute meaning of Truth, and there is…
Ah, the adventures we can have in imagination – the wonderful tales which can take us to the places full of fun and fancy that await. Pretense? Yes, that’s it – make believe. It can be some truth with more myth, or much truth and some element of myth attached. Oh, but what a wonderful adventure fairy tales can be…
CHRISTIAN INTELLECTUAL STIMULATION Look around you. It is evident everywhere. Humanity is in a “frantic search for happiness.” The pleasures people seek are physical, and physical pleasures are always short-lived, futile, and often have future consequences, which are many times more harmful than the enjoyment they first brought. Self-control, prudence, and recognition are prerequisites to finding true inner-happiness, not fleeting…
The sufferings of my afflictions, whether temporary or permanent, achieves an eternal weight of glory that does not – cannot – hold me down, but rather lifts me up forever. This physical, earthly dwelling is temporary for my time limit on earth while separated from my Savior. My spiritual dwelling in Heaven has been especially prepared for me as an…
READ, LINGER, PROCESS… The fog-mist settles at evening over the Shenandoah River, then at morning it rises to a point of the vanishing – and so are the days of our lives. We appear for a little time and then… vanish away (James 4:14). One must understand that eternity is written upon the hearts of us all, therefore eternal…
People spend much time pursuing ambition, material possessions, and lusts of the flesh and of the sin nature, when infinite peace and joy are available to them every day. People allow peer pressure in the work place, social groups, and other relationships to keep them distracted and competing for temporary happiness and material possessions. Inordinate ambition and materialism are a…