|City on a Hill - Writings for Refuge

One thing is needed: Luke 10:38 Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” 41 And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” One thing is necessary above all others: knowing God and being known. Loving Him with all of my mind, soul, and strength. The First Commandment, to have nothing before Him, not even doing things for Him. To not be distracted with anything...even too much serving. Cain and Able both offered sacrifices to God, but only one was acceptable. The other was actually consider...

Isaiah 35:10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, And come to Zion with singing, With everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, And sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Joy and gladness. This is the point of all that God has done for us, is doing, and will do. This is "God with man." Not an army,not a work force, but a royal family filled with joy and gladness, because Jesus,the Father, and the Holy Spirit are FILLED with joy and gladness. It is who God is. He isn't nervous about what is on the horizon, or angry that we stumbled. What is happening on earth certainly hasn't ruined His day. God is zealous and intense, serious about judging rebellion, but it is because of His desire for us to live like Him, with joy and gladness...He came that we would have life abundantly! The last supper is an excellent example of what is really on God's mind. It is possible to lose so much in the "ritual" of communion, sometimes it is good ...

I love to backpack. The journey itself is the adventure when you are hiking. I have hiked in a lot of different places, but one thing remains constant: I have never found a totally flat trail, and the weather has always brought sun and clouds. To travel any distance, I have encountered high spots and low spots, open fields and dense woods, easy walking and stretches I wished would be over quickly. Any place worth exploring has taken some work to get to. Living a life turned over to God is no different. God wants to take me to a place worth going to. He created me for a plan and a purpose. He created me for a journey. There are peaks and valleys, plains and jungles, muddy stretches, and times when the bright sun dances all around me. I like the high and bright places, and I tend to not like the low and stormy parts. When I am backpacking, I prepare for all the conditions I might encounter. In my pack are shorts and long pants, rain gear, a stocking cap, and even a swim suit. I know that...

On one day, this promise was fulfilled: Isaiah 56:1 Thus says the Lord: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, For My salvation is about to come, And My righteousness to be revealed. In a feeding trough, surrounded by animals, the righteousness of God was demonstrated to the world. Angels announced it to the lowliest first, but the wise and powerful were welcome, too. Outcasts, and everyone else, were welcome to share in the great promise born in Bethlehem one night, over 2,000 years ago. On one night, the whole experience of mankind changed. What was available to man changed. That generation witnessed a revolution in the idea of who God is...His righteousness revealed. The baby born in the manger was Jesus...the Word made flesh. Moments before He was born as the Son of Man, He was God and He was with God. Surrounded by Seraphim and elders in a continuous worship procession our minds can hardly imagine: the Seraphim crying out new revelations of the beauty of God, while the elders, hear...

Faith and fear grow together, both build in strength as our personal history is written...both reinforce themselves when practiced. Strength to strength...faith to faith...fear to fear. Usually faith has a positive connotation associated with it and fear a negative, but each is defined by what it is attached to: is my faith in God, or people, or luck, or me? Is my fear of circumstance, or people, or the odds, or God? The true answers to these questions will shape my entire life. I heard a preacher say once that faith and fear are both spiritual connectors. I have found this is true. Faith and fear both connect me to whatever they are "in." Faith in God draws me into choices that put the outcome squarely on God's shoulders. These look like risky choices to the rest of the world, but if I have a personal history of seeing God break in, not choosing to let my future rest on Him is a much bigger risk! Fear of God, or making His opinion the one that matters most, draws me into...

I want to see my life in a way that agrees with God. He made me. He knows what He has placed in my heart...the desire, the skill, the strength, and the weakness. God knows how to extract from my circumstances what will satisfy the desires of my heart. Jesus said my "eye" is the lamp of my body. What I keep my "eye on" determines the amount of light I am filled with. Keeping my eye trained on what God says is good fills my whole body with light. Training my eye on what the world says is good diminishes the light...to the point I no longer see things in God's light, but in the world's light. This is like the difference between seeing things in the light of day, and then seeing things illuminated by a blacklight at a party...these different lights highlight different things. The true light reveals things the way they really look. The blacklight distorts how I see. Matthew 6:22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will...

My words move heaven. When I "set my heart" to a purpose that agrees with God, and move my lips and extend my voice into the earth's atmosphere, unseen spiritual shifting occurs...every time: Daniel 10: 11 And he said to me, “O Daniel, man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.” While he was speaking this word to me, I stood trembling. 12 Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. Jesus spoke and the world we live in was created: Genesis 1: 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. In fact, before Jesus was born to Mary, He is the Word: John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was m...

Relationships are full of conditional promises. Both spouses take vows in a marriage, an employee and an employer agree on the terms of employment, you know what to expect of your best friend and they know what to expect from you. There are conditional promises in our relationship with God, too. If I think about it, this blows my mind. God, who made everything, owns everything, can create or destroy with one word, can "lay bare the depths of the sea," and measures the earth with the span of His hand...this same God has offered to enter into a conditional relationship with me! If He wanted to, He could set the terms of our relationship with no conditions on Himself, demanding what He desired, but He doesn't. The very nature of His words show the gentleness and kindness of His heart. He is so loving towards even those who have no interest in the terms of relationship with Him. This humbles me when I consider it. One of the most amazing conditional promises God makes to man ...

Elisha the prophet is one of the greatest examples in the Old Testament of a man carried in the power of God, while at the same time carrying the power of God. This man was a farmer before the day he met Elijah and his life changed forever. When Elijah found Elisha, there were very few people loyal to God in Israel. Under the reign of an evil king, Ahab, and his wife, Jezebel, most of the followers of God were in hiding. Elijah thought he was the last prophet...to be a prophet of God in those days was a deadly occupation! Jezebel was killing all of the prophets of God at this time. The Bible says God told Elijah to go and find Elisha and anoint him to succeed Elijah as the main prophet in Israel. This is what happened: 1 Kings 19:19 So Elijah went and found Elisha son of Shaphat plowing a field. There were twelve teams of oxen in the field, and Elisha was plowing with the twelfth team. Elijah went over to him and threw his cloak across his shoulders and then walked away. 20 Elisha left...

Luke 12:49 “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished! 51 Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. Jesus spoke these words to the disciples in response to Peter's question "Lord, do you speak the parable only to us?" Later, Jesus addresses the crowd, but here, He is telling those closest to Him, "I came to set you on fire, and this fire is going to cause division". The question nagging Peter began with Jesus telling His disciples to "seek the kingdom first". Jesus told these men following Him, men who had worked hard for a living, that instead of giving any concern to the necessities of life: food, drink, and clothing, they should seek after God's kingdom, and God would provide what they needed. Jesus said: Luke 12:31 But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shal...

A couple of days ago I wrote just a little about the specific plans Jesus is executing right now. He is allowing free will to bloom and blossom on earth in a unique way...not only for evil, but for good, as well. We can choose to ignore Jesus, but we can choose to love Him back. The door stands open to a full and exciting relationship with Him, like the relationships He had with John, and Peter, and Paul: John 13:21 When Jesus had said these things, He was troubled in spirit, and testified and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.” 22 Then the disciples looked at one another, perplexed about whom He spoke. 23 Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. 24 Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask who it was of whom He spoke. 25 Then, leaning back on Jesus’ breast, he said to Him, “Lord, who is it?” 26 Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I shall give a piece of bread when I have dipped it.” And having dipped the bread, He gave...

When God began creating the things we experience, we find out darkness was present. Darkness isn’t a created thing, it is the absence of creation. Light was created and displayed the darkness’ lack. With His words, Jesus, in agreement with the Father’s perfect plan, and the power of the Holy Spirit hovering over the uncreated canvas of darkness, created all things seen and unseen, for Himself. Genesis 1:1-3 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. Colossians 1:16-17 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. God created man for Himself, to be ...

The Bible has so much information in it about the specific events that will unfold leading up to the return of Jesus. The tragedy that shook our country yesterday is unspeakably horrendous. Many, in a genuine effort to try to address what we all see happening everywhere, (not just in CT), want to limit the weapons available to those who have lost all regard for life. I understand and respect the genuine love and concern behind this sentiment. The problem is that the question we are asking: "how can we stop this tragedy from happening again" is, in my opinion, a futile question. The better question is where are you standing right now, Jesus? Why are these things happening with increasing frequency at this time? What time do you say it is? This event didn't catch God off-guard. His eyes are going back and forth across the earth, looking for those who will agree with Him about the time we live in, and then use their words to speak to Him, and about Him, in agreement with His...

The triune God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, made man in His "own image": Genesis 1:27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. The triune God made man triune: body, spirit, soul. The body is our outer man, the soul (or our heart) is our inner man (mind, will, and emotion), and the spirit is our most-inner man. We "feel" our body easily, we experience our soul, or heart, a little less easily (kind of in our chest and our head), and our spirit we relate to at a "gut" level. When something moves in your spirit, you feel it, but it is hard to put your finger on it...you feel it in your gut, but it is usually hard to express. When we accept Jesus as our savior, He sends the Holy Spirit to live in our spirit...our spirit becomes the dwelling place of the same God that spoke light into being and decided the depths of the ocean: John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another H...

Psalm 34:8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! 9 Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. 10 The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing. 11 Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. 12 Who is the man who desires life, And loves many days, that he may see good? God woke me up this morning in the middle of a dream. The last phrase I remember hearing was this: "Most people have a very shallow experience of life, because they don't know that more is available." It is kind of like going to the best restaurant in town, and the waiter handing you the kid's menu: hot dog, mac n cheese, chicken fingers...but you had heard this place was so good. Every once in awhile you get a whiff from the kitchen, and you know there is some good stuff back there...and they have a chef you have heard about! there must be more than h...

Amos 9:11 “On that day I will raise up The tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, And repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, And rebuild it as in the days of old; This is one of the most amazing prophecies of what will be happening on earth in the days leading up to Jesus' return. It is amazing not only because of what it means, but because it is actually happening right now! David's Tabernacle, the physical tent of God's presence during David's reign as king of Israel, was a significant thing. By design given to Him by God, David arranged for night and day worship of God by priests and musicians. The Bible says David paid 4,000 full time musicians, not to mention all the priests and other workers connected to the Tabernacle of David, to worship God 24/7. This was not David's idea. David told Solomon that God laid out the design when he passed on instructions to Solomon before giving him the kingdom. The prophet Amos foretold that "in that day...

This word struck me hard today. If this was true when the wood was green...how much more true is it when the wood is dry? Many will teach what seems right to them, but Jesus said we would know a true prophet by their fruit what was actually produced in their lives and the lives of those in agreement with them. Look for fruit before accepting any burdens or direction. Also, many people will attach titles to themselves or to you. Titles are so common now they seem right, but Jesus warned that every title beside "brother or sister" has the potential to defile not only the heart of the title bearer, but the heart of the title acknowledged. How much has tradition replaced truth? I want to stand for what Jesus says...no matter how unpopular or forgotten ...this will be a paradigm change for me :) Matthew 23:1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 "The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses.3 So practice and...