from him through him to him

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My 50th Post!!!!

Hurrah! this is my 50th post! If you read this blog at all please leave me a comment. I like to hear from you guys!

Psalm 29 – the Roar and the Power of Worship

Ascribe to the LORD, O mighty ones,

ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

To “ascribe” is to assign a specific attribute to a person place or thing. For instance to Ascribe Glory and Strength to the Lord is to say that He has or is full of Glory and Strength. – this is a call to WORSHIP!!!

Who are the mighty ones? – the word here actually is referring to the angels it is literally “sons of the gods”. The same term is applied to angels and to demons in other passages. Whatever the particular usage here he is commanding worship arise from the Heavenly realms, but not ONLY the Heavenly realms look to the next verse.

2 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
worship the LORD in the splendor of his ^[a] holiness.

The last line could mean two different things either it means what we read there. Worship Him because He is holy OR worship him in holy array. In other words he could be speaking to the levitcal priests to worship the Lord dressed in the ephod and the holy robes of linen worn by the priests as they worshipped before the Lord. Either way I do not believe this command is restricted to the heavenly realms but includes the earthly. My belief is that he is there in the Tabernacle of David and he is exhorting those present to worship both angel and human. Then he chronicles the Lord’s response to the worship that arrises.

3 The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the LORD thunders over the mighty waters.

This pictures the voice of the Lord as He spoke over the waters of precreation earth. In Genesis 1 the Spirit of the Lord hovered over the waters in anticipation of one thing – the VOICE of the Lord. When he spoke the Holy Spirit moved with creative power. As we worship the voice of the Lord moves out in creative POWER! To unleash potential and to call that which will be out of that which is not!

4 The voice of the LORD is powerful;
the voice of the LORD is majestic.

As we worship the voice of the Lord is released! His voice is powerful and majestic!

5 The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;
the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.

6 He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
Sirion ^[b] like a young wild ox.

The cedars of Lebanon were the pride of their nation and symbolized what would last forever. God’s voice lays them low, God’s voice breaks them to pieces. His voice is released as we worship

7 The voice of the LORD strikes
with flashes of lightning.

OH let His voice strike me!!! The lightening and thunders before His throne released to break out on the EARTH the sound of HEAVEN!!!!!!

8 The voice of the LORD shakes the desert;
the LORD shakes the Desert of Kadesh.

The Deserts of Kadesh are where the children of Israel stayed immediately before they entered the Promised Land. Many chose to stay there. The voice of the Lord breaks out to release men from their comfort zones and take us from waiting to promise!

9 The voice of the LORD twists the oaks ^[c]
and strips the forests bare.
And in his temple all cry, "Glory!"

The mightiest of trees is the oak – God’s voice strips it bare. His voice humbles even the mightiest thing in creation

10 The LORD sits ^[d] enthroned over the flood;

Judgment is released as we worship. In Revelation it is the prayers and the worship of the saints that release the judgment of God over the earth
the LORD is enthroned as King forever.

Worship establishes Him as king. He was king already but He COMES and releases His kingdom rule and authority out of the worship of His people!

11 The LORD gives strength to his people;
the LORD blesses his people with peace

Worship brings strength and peace to His people as we rely upon Him.

Isaiah 62

Isaiah 62 is one of my all time favorite verses. It, like so many other places in the Bible, reveals the deep abiding passion God has for His people. This verse, if we can believe it, will unlock love and passion in our hearts like very few verses can. There is one portion of the chapter that has been foremost in my mind of late. It is verse 3:

“3You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD,
and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.”

This verse is spoken over “Zion” and he meant it for Jerusalem and his people Israel, however I am on of those people that hold the belief that we are grafted into Israel and therefore the promises are applied to all those that name the name of Christ. Not, instead of Israel, but with Israel. I will blog about that another time.

Hear what the Lord is saying here: We will be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord and royal diadem. The world will know that He is a King because He holds us in His hand. This hints to me about something deep.

What is our final destiny as the church? What is it we are saved FOR. I mean, right now our main job in the Earth is to spread the Gospel. Right? That isn’t WHY we are saved however.

I am of the deep conviction that the Bible is a God Centered Book and the God is a God centered God. If God does ALL that He does because He values His own Glory above all else and loves who HE is above all else, what is the purpose of our salvation? Why does He love us so much? The Bible makes no bones about the Love the God has for us. The question is, “WHY?”. I know it I don’t think it is supposed to be a mystery. I believe the Bible tells us in no uncertain terms WHY He saved us and WHY He loves us. He does it for His Glory! Rom 11:33 MY FAVORITE VERSE says, “For From Him, Through Him and To Him be all things, to God be the Glory Forever”. So God loves us because it brings Him glory to do so AND, this is the most important part, His loving us for his Glory is the MOST LOVING THING God can do! Because His Glory is so WORTH all He does to promote and shine it forth AND His Glory is OUR INHERITANCE!!!!! His Glory is our highest joy and pleasure! It is the best thing God can do for us. Make us partakers of His Glory.

Ok now back to the Isaiah 62 passage. So why are we saved? For the Glory of God. What does Isaiah 62 say about this? We are a crown of Beauty in the Hand of the Lord. Ok follow me now: this is where it gets really really good.

The end purpose of the church, God’s people, those that are saved and made partakers of this Glory is this…. He is going to shine through us to the earth to all of creation! His purpose in us is to display His glory through us! Through what He did for us, in us, and through US. The Bible says that angels long to look into these things. I tell you YOU are the WAY the Lord will derive praise from the nations AND indeed, the universe in the coming ages. Not the Only way but there is a glory that is displayed in His salvation of you that He cannot display in any more pleasing way.

Isn't he wonderful?

Lord give us a taste of this that goes beyond our damaged minds and ravishes our hearts. I love you.

A vision

A vision – 8/3/07

I saw the tabernacle a simple rough tent made of purple cloth. It was rectangular and at each of the corners the poles stuck up through the cloth with golden heads on each of the poles. At each corner and above it were boiling pots, the looked like the black cast iron cauldrons you would see potions being mixed in over fires etc. At each of these pots were different angels stirring the pots and making them ready. The pot closest to me and on the right side of the rectangular tent was poured out on the tent. It was full of colors and paint. It fell like confetti down into the tent, coloring the tent but also passing through the cloth into the interior of the tent. These are the colors and hues of the heart of the Father, creativity being released in to the hearts of the intercessors and worshipers who inhabit the tent. I also knew that this would draw creative people from all around. . This release of creativity would draw them near and they would come to the tent. They were being called and positioned to make a place for the Lord. Then the Spirit of the Lord said, “Did I not breathe upon the artisans and artists and enable them to release creativity through their gifts in the building of the tabernacle in the wilderness? Did I not breathe on them and let them go to make a place for my habitation!”

This pouring out of the pot did not stop it was continuous. Then I looked at the pot on the far right side of the tabernacle although for some reason I was looking at the rear of the tent not the front but to me it was the far right side of the tent. And I saw boiling water and meat in that one but I did not understand its meaning so I looked on the far left side and saw a pot filled with gold. This one began to be poured out, I could not see the angel that was pouring it out. The Spirit spoke, “Did not Moses have to tell the people to stop giving of their gold and jewels to the house of prayer when they built the tabernacle? So it shall be with you!” I then knew what the second cauldron held. It was the sacrificial giving of the people in the pot. I looked and saw a seraph with 6 wings putting in a fork and pulling out the meat from this pot. It was then poured out into the tent. The Spirit spoke, “Did not the Levites live off of the portion of the sacrifice that was given? They put the fork in and took what came out. So shall it be with you! You shall put the fork in and take out what you need from the sacrifice of the willing.”

I then saw the forth pot full of wheat. The pot on the corner on the left hand side that was closest to me. It was filled with wheat. I saw the people waiving the wheat before the Lord and it was put in the pot. I said “it is the waive offering before the Lord! The first fruits” The Spirit spoke. “This is for two things even three things. 1. It is worship; the waive offering before the Lord. 2. It is the tithe offering brought to the house of prayer to feed the poor. 3. It is the fellowship meal with the priest and in the presence of God.

This wheat will be made into the bread of His presence placed in the house of prayer forever. Hear me; in these you will find me; in the giving, the receiving and the sharing. Some you will give, some you will keep, some you will share. Then the presence of Yahweh God shall be among you; the manifest presence.

These four blessings are given to the tabernacle of David as God is raising it up again in this final hour. He has chosen this rough tent over the beauty of Solomon’s temple. He has chosen the tent of meeting over the beautiful buildings.

After I wrote this God said look at 8/3/07 so I looked at

The eighth book

the third chapter

the seventh verse this is what it says

Ruth 3:7 - When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down.

Hmmmmmmmm.......

To Be

To Be –

The poem I have posted below, not one of my own, speaks deeply to me. Not about poetry but about my life and my heart and my faith. This morning the Lord spoke in a powerful way to me about Christianity and the state of the church. There is so much wrong with the church today, and so much right. I believe we all have good intentions. I believe we all want what we think Jesus wants. We want to be obedient, we want to serve him. We want to make accomplish all He has set before us to accomplish. There is only one problem. The Bible does not talk about how to accomplish much of anything! It really doesn’t! Read the thing. It speaks VERY LITTLE about doing. It mentions doing and that we should DO this or that but it does NOT, in the majority of cases, tell us how. The Bible is not a self help book as much as we would love it to be. It doesn’t tell us much about how to run a service. It doesn’t tell us much about how to run a church. It doesn’t tell us much about how to share the gospel. It doesn’t tell us much about DOING anything! It tells us a lot about BEING. It teaches us how to BE a church how to BE a lover of God, how to BE a good husband. I think this is the over all problem of the church in America. We have ceased to BE the people of God and become doers of God’s things. Now I know what is flashing before your minds right now. “Didn’t Jesus say not be only hearers of the Word but doers of the word?” you are thinking. Yes he did. That is what is RIGHT with the body. We are seeking to be doers of the Word and I LOVE THAT!!! The problem is that Jesus teaching as well had very little to do with DOING. I don’t think that Jesus meant we should go do do do and lose our understanding of who we ARE in Him. All of our Doing should flow forth from the fountain of that knowledge. We do this because it is WHO WE ARE. The doing is only a witness to our being, not the other way around. We don’t do what Jesus said so we can become who He wants us to become we do what he said because we ARE who He has MADE us. We are the Children of God. So my version of the poem would end like this:

“A Christian should not do but BE.”

A poem I can't get away from

I am a big poetry person and the last line of this poem has haunted me for years. May it haunt you.

Ars Poetica-

A poem should be palpable and mute
As a globed fruit

Dumb
As old medallions to the thumb

Silent as the sleeve-worn stone
Of casement ledges where the moss has grown -

A poem should be wordless
As the flight of birds

A poem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs

Leaving, as the moon releases
Twig by twig the night-entangled trees,

Leaving, as the moon behind the winter leaves,
Memory by memory the mind -

A poem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs

A poem should be equal to:
Not true

For all the history of grief
An empty doorway and a maple leaf

For love
The leaning grasses and two lights above the sea -

A poem should not mean
But be

 -- Archibald MacLeish