|City on a Hill - Writings for Refuge

The more I get to know God and the longer I follow Him and listen to Him... The more I learn to hear Him... One thing has become plain to me:  He has made provision for my weaknesses, which are many. The strength of my relationship with God doesn't depend on my ability to do anything except learning to be honest about who I really am and learning to fully want (pray) to be faithful and obedient to Him. All God wants from me is an open, and honest, heart. Religion is the enemy of relationship.  It puts the weight of abiding in God on what we do, rather than what we want God to do.  God isn't pleased by my anxiety about my righteousness. He hates it when we teach others to be anxious about their sin and need.  Anxiety is incompatible with the Gospel, but most evangelists operate in the flesh and teach man's ways, not God's. Philippians 4:4-8 NKJV — Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be an...

True freedom isn't found in my control. Satan is always enticing us to false freedom, which is the vain idea that if I control my time, money, opportunity, reputation, etc., I am somehow free. Everyone was born with this logic in our programming and Satan knows how to expertly exploit it with fear... the fear of not being free later if I obey God now. This lie makes up the walls of the prison of our own self leadership. Only God, in our day by day decision making, can lead us step by step into true freedom. BUT, I have to trust Him when the steps to freedom aren't the ones I would choose. Freedom isn't necessarily what we choose to walk in when God begins to set us free. 1 Peter 2:16 For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. Galatians 5:13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh , but through love serve one another. My brain, on its own, can believe in t...

The character traits of Yeshua most necessary to successfully be transformed from the church that needs to change in Revelation 2 and 3 into the ready bride in Revelation 19 are patience and faith.  The events of shaking/tribulation described in Revelation 6-18 are the perfect circumstances for those that want to be purified to experience it in patience and faith. The Lord is leading me over and over to pray, "let patience have it's perfect work in me." This prayer effectively opens my eyes to see where I lack patience, and consequently, I can follow that lack of patience back to a lack of faith. The two are intertwined.  If I trust God, I can wait on Him confidently.  If I don't trust God, then I cannot resist the feeling in me to push and pull all the levers in life to make my world good. It's mankind pushing and pulling the levers of life that has broken everything.  We will never find the right combination of what to do and what not to do to make the earth, ou...

The world really doesn't need "world changers." It's God's world.  Mankind corrupted it with self will and self leadership. What the world needs is less corruption... Purity.   That's what Jesus did.  He showed a way to stop changing the world God made and start letting God lead us out of corruption. John 8:28 NKJV — Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. Unless we deny ourselves, take up a cross (which includes laying down will and strength, even under persecution) and FOLLOW Him, we cannot be with Him. Most of the lies about how I should be a "world changer" I learned in church settings.  This isn't the true Church... It's a corruption of the truth, that God ALREADY knows exactly how to save the world. It isn't up for debate. He doesn't need new ideas.  He is looking for humble hearts.  He changes o...

Struggling with flesh and blood is frustrating and a vain waste of time. God does not struggle against man, though we naturally struggle against Him.  God loves man and wars against things that are spiritually opposed to Him. Those who don't know God cannot possibly be in agreement with Him.  His ways aren't our ways. His thoughts aren't like ours: Isaiah 55:7-9 NKJV — Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. If I want to live a victorious life over all that resists my freedom, I need to learn to see where the real war is.  It is never with people. People who resist good are unwilling tools in the rage of Satan against man.  God loves...

  2 Peter 1:20 NKJV — knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, We don't get to make things mean what we think they should mean. The Bible interprets itself. For example: Romans 10:6-7 NKJV — But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down from above) or, “ ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). We are told directly that ascending to heaven is a spiritual reality that lowers the value of what God says is holy in the eye of the flesh... Obviously nothing could bring Christ down in truth. It's a delusion to ascend to heaven, yet man tries (i.e., the tower of Babel) and the earth experiences physical consequences for our spiritual lawlessness. So, in light of what the Bible says, not what man thinks it should mean, we rightly interpret a prophecy like this: Daniel 8:10-11 NKJV — And it grew up to the ho...