|City on a Hill - Writings for Refuge

To be mature in love for God is really to be dead to all other loves. Letting God set himself as a seal on my arm and heart means I want Him to be both my source, and reward. He defines love, and He is the only lasting reward for making decisions that agree with love. He is the "gate" all love must pass through. Song of Songs 8:6Set me as a seal upon your heart, As a seal upon your arm; For love is as strong as death, Jealousy as cruel as the grave; Its flames are flames of fire, A most vehement flame. 7Many waters cannot quench love, Nor can the floods drown it. If a man would give for love All the wealth of his house, It would be utterly despised. Everything in fallen creation must die to be resurrected in life. God doesn't want me to wait for my physical death to experience the glory of resurrected life. I can die right now...today...where it really matters: in my definition of life. I can change my mind today about what it really means to be alive. John 1:1In the begi...

Satan will always attack the exact area where God is establishing. God allows the attack in controlled and limited ways to strengthen you for the weight of what He is establishing!! Getting insight into the way the enemy is used of God helps us flow in confidence...not to accept the attacks from our enemy but to resist them in confidence that we will prevail! Everything God makes gets stronger with use, including your faith. Satan is not a force equal and opposite to God. Satan is created, limited...finite. Anything less than infinite is infinitely less. Satan is no match for God. Because Satan is so outgunned, he is very careful in the use of his resources...he can't afford not to be. If Satan is resisting a certain area of your heart, your body, your family, your church, or your city, it is because he sees God establishing something there and satan is fighting with all he can to resist Jesus' kingdom coming. Jesus, in brilliant superiority, allows Satan limited access in orde...

Maybe you didn't know this, but the Book of Colossians was written to the Church in Laodicea: Colossians 2:1 For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, Laodicea thought they were wise and wealthy, but Jesus was clear that what the world thinks is good common sense, is literally stealing the future of God's people right from underneath them. Colossians 2:8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. Right now, the Church in Laodicea is bantering back and forth about things that seem right, according to the basic principles of the world...which is faithless, unbelieving, values "wisdom" and humanistic love over the prophetic, intense, and true love promised in the Bible. Laodicea is having silly distracted conversations that have no real impact ...

God made you to be kind to you. God made you to be a target of His kindness...the breath in your lungs, and the light in your eyes...the happiness you feel, and the sorrow you overcome...these are all evidences of His continual desire to love you. He won't force His way into your life, and He will not occupy any role but that as un-created leader, but every moment in your life He is inviting you to open your heart to His leadership so He can increase your capacity to receive His kindness. Truth requires He forever stay in the role as Father, and you forever stay in the role as child...for He certainly IS a Father before all was made, and I certainly was not. But, even as we rebel against His role as leader, He is patient and kind to correct us. His desire is for you, otherwise, He wouldn't have made you. The devil is a liar. He accuses God of being hard and unkind in an attempt to get us to quit drawing near... Satan attempts to get us to give in to arrogance...the same arrogan...

"Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you." -Jesus If, when you hear about end time events, you comfort yourself to disengage by saying "no one knows the day or hour," you are actually speaking a curse over yourself. You will suffer loss. Revelation 3:1“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, ‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. 2“Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. 3“Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. 4“You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for th...

Mark 6:38 But He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they found out they said, “Five, and two fish.” 39 Then He commanded them to make them all sit down in groups on the green grass. 40So they sat down in ranks, in hundreds and in fifties. 41And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and the two fish He divided among them all. 42 So they all ate and were filled. 43 And they took up twelve baskets full of fragments and of the fish. 44 Now those who had eaten the loaves were about five thousand men. Later that evening: 49 And when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost, and cried out; 50 for they all saw Him and were troubled. But immediately He talked with them and said to them, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” 51 Then He went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased. And they were greatly amazed in ...

People that believe Jesus is returning soon tend to want to build Him a throne in their lives. People that aren't so sure tend to want someone else to build them a throne. One of the most helpful things the Lord has ever done for me is show me how it is possible He is returning very soon, and then have me publicly commit to that idea by stating it in no uncertain terms. It awakened my heart in a way that really only happens one way...it put "my skin in His game" of returning. I might be wrong... It wouldnt be the first or last time, im sure. I have been wrong many times in my life... But I will never regret living like Jesus is returning in 5 years. I have been living this way for two years now...my family is tighter than ever, my heart is burning, my vision is vibrant...my marriage is good...my soul is alive, by God's mercy and grace. Believing the light of mankind is coming has given me huge incentive to get near Him. When you get near the author of life, you live b...