Into The Wind

"Now the people were filled with expectation, and all were asking in their hearts whether John might be the Messiah. John answered them all, saying, 'I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming...He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.' Exhorting them in many other ways, he preached good news to the people" (Luke 3:15-18, NAB).

Threshing and winnowing are two different things. In threshing, the grain is beaten with sticks. This process loosens the chaff (the useless husk) from the grain. In winnowing, the grain is thrown into the wind. The chaff is blown off and away by the wind, but the grain (the useful seed) falls back to the ground, where it is gathered and stored.

Jesus arrived with his winnowing fan in his hand, and he's committed to winnowing us, removing the chaff from the grain, the useless from the useful, the precious from the worthless (Jer. 15:19). The process is for our good, that we might share his holiness and bear much fruit (Heb. 12:10, John 15:2). He is faithful to throw us into the wind, the Holy Spirit; and once the chaff is blown away, we fall back to the earth useful. "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (John 12:24).

Holiness, Repentance, Obedience and Prayer

"O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness" (Psalm 96:9).

Recently, the Lord begin to emphasize to me the need for holiness. At first, the thought of it didn't appeal to me. I didn't really want to face my sin and my lack of holiness. But, as the Lord began to expose and unearth my sin, I began to experience something wonderful that I had not anticipated: joy. I began to laugh more. I really began to feel lighter on the inside. I began to really want to love people; I felt genuine compassion. I began to understand why God says holiness is beautiful.

Repentance is the potting soil of Holiness. Holiness flourishes within the context of ongoing repentance. Really, they are two that become one; and like any other union, they bring forth new life.

Obedience has become of late the recurring theme of the Lord's dealings with me. One of my mentors, Major W. Ian Thomas, used to say, "For a Christian, there are no decisions to be made, only instructions to obey." Obedience gives expression to repentance and holiness: what you desperately desire, you set yourself apart to; what you set yourself apart to, you will obey.

The pursuit of holiness has also awakened in me a new desire to pray.  Being with Jesus, encountering His unquenchable love for me, experiencing His mercy freely given to me, a sinner, melts my heart.  As it melts, the contents - the needs, the love, the fears, the motives - pour out freely and I'm filled with the joy of forgiveness and cleansing.  I'm loved, and love wants to share itself with the one loved and with others.

Holiness, repentance, obedience and prayer: all of these fuel a blue flame in my heart, a flame that many waters cannot quench, the vehement flame of the Lord - Love. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

God's Sweetener

In Exodus 15:22-25, the children of Israel have just seen God deliver them by parting the Red Sea, leading through on dry ground, and then, closing back the waters on their enemies, swallowing them forever. They have seen the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud. They have seen the dreadful and awesome plagues, through which God made a distinction between them and all other peoples. In short, God has displayed His love for them and His power to them through miracles, signs, and wonders that were indisputable and "over the top". Now, three days after the miraculous Red Sea deliverance, they arrive at Marah, tired and thirsty. But the water there is bitter and undrinkable. And the people began to grumble against Moses and against the Lord. Moses goes to the Lord, asking, "What shall we drink?" "And the Lord showed him a tree; and he (Moses) threw it in the waters, and the waters became sweet" (v. 25).

Lately, I've been doing a lot of complaining and griping about my circumstances and situations. I've been bitter and ungrateful toward the Lord. Today, I was sharing this story with a friend and the Lord spoke to me the following:

The waters are circumstances and situations in my life. The tree is the cross. Only as I allow the Lord to apply the cross to my circumstances (i.e., throw it in the waters) will they ever become sweet and drinkable. If I do not, every situation will be bitter and intolerable. The circumstances never change physically (they were at the same pool of water), but the fruit of the circumstances does. The difference is in letting Him apply the cross. The cross always bring forth new life and brings the sweetest fruit.

Only Jesus

"I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills His purpose for me" (Ps. 57:3, NIV).

"The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me" (Ps. 138:8, NIV).

"For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13, NIV)

"May the God of peace...equip you with everything good for doing His will, and may He work in us what is pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ" (Heb. 13:20-21, NIV).

"And so He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us" (Rom. 8:3-4, NIV, using alternate rendering).


All of the scriptures quoted above say that God Himself will fulfill all of His good pleasure and holy purposes in me and through me and for me. Then why do I spend so much time trying to figure it all out? Why do I think that reading the "right book" will give me the information I need in order to cooperate with Him, so that the fulfillment will come sooner? While I do believe that I have a cooperative place in His purposes, I often find myself discontent with my present state. My part is to trust; His part is to fulfill and to do. But here's the "catch": even my ability to trust is the activity of the Trusting One who lives in me. I can not, through my efforts or my self-education, produce anything worthy of Him, much less pleasing to Him. It's Jesus - He is all in all. Only He can behave like Himself; only He can believe like He believes; only He can do what He does - and He does it in you and me on our behalf. Jesus gladly died for us; now He will gladly live for us. Jesus said, "I always do those things that please my Father" (John 8:29). He's still saying it, and He's still doing it - in us, for us. Thanks be to God!

Welcome To My Blog!

The purpose of - really, the heart of this blog - is to share and explore and discover the depths of the love of God in Christ, but from the basis of union with Jesus Christ. For anyone to be a Christian, Jesus Christ Himself must be living inside of them. That's the real decisive factor: Christ in you, the hope of glory (Col. 1:27). But discovering the depths of Jesus living in me in my day to day world is an ongoing journey of intimacy with Him at all levels of my life, inside and out. I welcome any one who wishes to seek, to share, to fully enter into this glorious mystery of oneness with Christ. It doesn't matter where you're at on the journey; what matters is that you're on the journey. Welcome!