|City on a Hill - Writings for Refuge

Psalms 37:4-5 Delight yourself also in the Lord , And He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord , Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass. What do you want? What is your desire? This is the question all of history has been asking since the fall of mankind in the Garden. Everyone eventually gets the fruit of their desire. In Psalm 37 David said that if you seek the kingdom of God first, all the rest of your true desires will be added unto you. This is the truth of why God made man, for Him to have life, which is full satisfaction, in the presence of God. This is the truth of the Gospel: Delight yourself in the Lord and out pop all the other desires of your heart. What a glorious promise! David's son, Solomon, found this same truth. After Solomon set his heart to make worshiping God the foundation of his government, God appeared to him and said "what do you want?" II Chronicles 1:6-12 And Solomon went up there to the bronze altar befo

Psalms 1:1-6 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord , And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish. Understanding the season you are in is essential to agree with God's plan for your life. It is important to know the time you are in. Different responses are required for different seasons. This is why David, in Psalm 1, says those who delight in knowing God are like well watered trees that "bring forth fruit in its s

Love is the programming language...the code...all of creation was written in. Love is sacrificial commitment to relationship. Commitment at cost is the bond of unity...this is what love is: the perfect (complete) bond: Colossians 3:13-14 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. But this is where it gets sticky: We don't know enough to really direct love... to manage it. It takes faith to love, because we are committing to a relationship we haven't seen the end of and don't fully understand. The heart of mankind is very "slippery": Jeremiah 17:9-10 “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the Lord , search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings. If I put my faith to love in pe

Isaiah 30:15-21 For thus says the Lord God , the Holy One of Israel: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” But you would not, And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses”— Therefore you shall flee! And, “We will ride on swift horses ”— Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift! One thousand shall flee at the threat of one, At the threat of five you shall flee, Till you are left as a pole on top of a mountain And as a banner on a hill. Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you; And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; Blessed are all those who wait for Him. For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; You shall weep no more. He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry; When He hears it, He will answer you. And though the Lord gives you The bread of adversity and the water of affliction, Yet your teachers will not be moved into a co

Psalms 65:4 Blessed is the man You choose, And cause to approach You, That he may dwell in Your courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Of Your holy temple. All the earth is looking for satisfaction. From the newborn baby ready to eat again, to the 90-year old man channel surfing for something interesting to watch...and everyone in between...everyone is looking for some sort of satisfaction. we were designed to live satisfied. Adam and Eve were placed in a garden of satisfaction where the eternal source of life, God, let them live in the light of mankind: John 1:1-4 In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. Mankind is hard-wired for this kind of satisfaction. It is what our heart desires. Worship is the highest e

1 Corinthians 14:8-9 For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle? 9 So likewise you, unless you utter by the tongue words easy to understand, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into the air. We live in the hour that world is supposed to be hearing a warning. Over and over the Bible speaks of the events of our day…literally hundreds of chapters describe what is happening around us…and literally few are sounding a CLEAR warning. The Church in this hour is making a VERY uncertain sound. Who is preparing for battle? If you want to be ready, you must decide for yourself what is happening and what to DO ABOUT IT. This last generation is promised to be the most intense. It will be very great for those that are ready, and very terrible for those who are not. Joel 2:1-2 Blow the trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the LORD is coming, For it is at hand: 2 A day

Psalms 27:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid? God is the source of life...the light of mankind. when Adam and Eve fell in the garden, the biggest cost was the presence of God in a face to face way on earth. Life left the garden when God left. The Father has made a way, through His Son, to reconnect with the light of mankind, but between us and Him there is a "way"...a path that must be walked out. Jesus isn't just a "gate" into the kingdom...He showed us the way to walk across the divide between us and God. Jesus described this reality in the Sermon on the Mount, then warned His disciples that there would be false ones in the Body that wouldn't care about the way. They would look like sheep, but their motives were really to fill their own appetites, not die to themselves so they might live: Matthew 7:13-15 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the w