A life where there’s no believin’ is a life where there’s no livin’.
Have you noticed lately that the things worth believin in are quickly disappearing?
Sadly, many marriages and romances are vanishing. I’m not talking about Hollywood’s shallow relationships but marriages of our friends and family members. I think marriages fail because people, once in love, stopped believin in the important things.
It’s not about the type of groom we were during the wedding. That’s the easy part. That day was fanciful, romantic, and ceremonial. It’s the kind of man that we’ve become in the crucible of marriage, and while the ceremony has long since faded, romance and passion are still alive and well. That’s the sign of a good marriage and of a good man. We need more good men and healthy marriages these days.
A good man brings out the best in his woman. Likewise, a good woman does the same for her man. A marriage becomes ugly when we forget those things.
I love the movie “Secondhand Lions,” starring Robert Duvall. It’s a movie rich with quotable dialog.
“… True love never dies. Doesn’t matter if it’s true or not. A man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believin in.”
True love never dies. It’s certainly true of our faith, isn’t it? Christ’s love for his Bride will never die, neither his love for you, if you believe in those things, and in Him, because, “those things are worth believin in.”
As a matter of fact, it’s Christ in us, which makes us into a good man and a good woman. And, the trinity of Jesus, a man, and a woman together as one creates an unbeatable marriage.
The reason why so many good marriages fail is when one or both walk away from Jesus as the center of their individual lives and the center of their marriage. The reason why the world hates marriage is because it is the physical manifestation of the Holy Trinity. It is a Living example of Christ loving the Church and giving up His life for her, His Bride.
“I’m Hub McCann. I’ve fought in two World Wars and countless smaller ones on three continents. I led thousands of men into battle with everything from horses and swords to artillery and tanks. I’ve seen the headwaters of the Nile, and tribes of natives no white man had ever seen before. I’ve won and lost a dozen fortunes, KILLED MANY MEN and loved only one woman with a passion a FLEA like you could never begin to understand. That’s who I am!” The movie, “Second Hand Lions”
Who are you?
What kind of Man are you?
What kind of woman are you?
When you have no firm identity, you have only weakness against the things out to destroy your love for your wife or husband. You have very little strength to fight the enemy of your relationship with God.
So goes your relationship with God, so goes everything else!
A good and lasting marriage vitally depends on your relationship to God through Jesus Christ. Remember? It’s the three-fold cord of Christ Jesus, a man, and a woman. That’s your superpower against the enemy of your marriage.
Don’t settle for the passion of a flea. Have the passion of a ferocious lover, willing to surrender and sacrifice your life for the one you love and for God, the Lover of your soul.
I know that so many of you, even my close friends, have given up on their marriages and God. You’ve walked away searching for meaning, significance, and identity. You’ll not find it in another lover if you never had it with the one you left.
You’ll only find meaning, significance, and identity in God. Not in sex, romance, and one-nighters. Turn back to Him, and turn back to your First Love.
“These are the things worth believin in.”
So, don’t be a flea brain! Believe in the things worth believin in.
Doubt is the gravitational force that keeps you from piercing through the atmosphere of the impossible.
Doubt is a killer of dreams and all that gives your life meaning.
Your faith is the rocket fuel that allows you to violate the forces of nature, doubt, and even physics.
Faith destroys doubt despite fear.
Faith in the ability and will of God can only win when you reject all other options. The more primary your faith becomes, the more God can do through your faith.
Are you asking God how? Author John Eldredge has written that “the question how?” is faithless. The question “how” can cause a failure in launching your faith and your ability to break through the gravitational forces of doubt…
… God wants your immediate obedience because this shows how much you trust him for all the unseen details.
When you break the gravitational forces of doubt, angels gather in excited anticipation, and demons become unsettled and defeated.
Now, do what you’ve been called to do. Sometimes, the equipping and provisions are developed during the journey, and this, too, will cause your faith to soar.
What are you waiting for?
You already have permission from God’s Word to do the impossible. When you step out to do the impossible, God shows himself in each impossible step. His miracles become the breadcrumbs for others to follow and a testimonial to your faith and to God’s faithfulness.
Doubt is a killer of trust and belief. Doubt keeps your relationships shallow and creates distance between you, God, and eternity.
You will never enjoy life to the fullest or know the depth of God until your trust becomes bigger than your doubt.
Break through the gravitational force of doubt. Until you do, you’ll never know your true purpose in life—You’ll never see the impossible happen.
When Toni and I were called to do the impossible, the doubters came out of the woodwork! Not because they were afraid for us but because they were afraid of us. Doubters love doubters, but those who break free from the gravitational force of doubt are a threat to their excuses.
Many years ago, August 4, 1984, to be exact; God called Toni and I to Youth With A Mission (YWAM). We needed $4,500.00 tuition for the Discipleship Training School and traveling money from California to the city of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, some 3,500 mile distance.
We embarked on our cross-country journey with our two small children, Josh and Jordan. Toni and I had only $300.00 cash and a gas and oil guzzling, 1973 Chevy station wagon. Needless to say, we were over $5,000.00 short. Yet, we truly believed that God would provide.
On our way to Canada, and after driving all night, the following morning, an 18-wheeler hit our car clocked by a Nevada State Trooper doing 90 miles per hour! The truck burst into flames on impact, skidding 600 feet before it exploded, catapulting debris 100 feet in the air! The impact to our Chevy station wagon thrusted us while inside our large vehicle, up the steep embankment, some thirty feet!
The truck driver jumped out safely, seconds before his rigg exploded! Later, the State Trooper told us that the truck driver had dosed off, which was why he collided into our car. Miraculously, none of us were seriously hurt, even though our Chevy station wagon was totaled. Our trip to Canada appeared to be cut short.
I put my family up in a Motel 6 in Elko Nevada, using part of the $300.00 we had started out with to cover the hotel expense. Yes, my wife and I were confused and dismayed, but soon experienced God’s peace over the crisis.
Within 24 hours of the accident, we received a knock on our hotel room door. It was an insurance adjuster, representing the trucking company responsible for the accident.
The adjuster wrote Toni and I a check for $25,000.00! At that time, it was more money than I had ever held or seen! Way more than enough for our YWAM tuition and traveling expenses!
Since our car was totaled, we took a bus ride to Salt Lake, Utah, to eventually catch a flight. While staying at another hotel, It was the next morning that God took me to a passage of Scripture:
“Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Since you have forgotten me and turned your back on me, you must bear the consequences…’ — Ezekiel 23:35
This verse popped up three times within 24 hours! It took me a while, but I began to understand what God was saying. Because we had received such a large sum of money that our faith and trust shifted, ever so slightly, from God to the money. In other words, we put our trust in the gift and not the Giver.
Later that morning, I lost my wallet with all the money in it! That Ezekiel verse kept echoing in my mind. Fortunately, I had kept part of the $25,000 settlement in the form of a certified check for $4,500.00, the rest in cash. But the certified check was also in my wallet!
You see, it is so easy and subtle to shift our trust and focus in God to other things. Because God loves us and that he’s a good and faithful Father, he won’t leave us in our sins. He corrects every son and daughter he loves.
Two weeks after we had arrived in Quebec, Canada, the Salt Lake Police Department in Utah sent me a letter, asking me to call or write back and describe the wallet’s contents. I want you to know that I didn’t have time to file a lost wallet report, and nothing in my wallet could’ve led the police to our temporary stop in Quebec. I still have this letter!
It was an absolute miracle that the Salt Lake Police Department found Toni and I while staying on a dairy farm in Quebec, Canada! I still, to this day, do not know how they found us!
Everything was still there in my wallet, except the $20,500.00 cash. Fortunately for us, the Canadian exchange rate in 1984 was 130%. Turning that certified check from $4,500.00 to $5,850.00! Because we had repented and adjusted our hearts, God gave us back just enough. As a matter of fact, because of God’s faithfulness, we were the only students who paid the required tuition in a lump sum!
When God calls us to obedience, he also provides the essentials. For us, his essentials came after each stage of obedience. The miracles were His way of rewarding our faith. Just like a father rewarding his son for doing a good job—God delights in our obedience!
I want you to know that when God calls a man, our response is critical. If we ignore His purpose for our lives, He sees this as rebellion—as stubbornness, which, God can be quick to show His displeasure. Just like He did for me, when I shifted my focus to money and away from Him.
Author and speaker John Eldredge has written that God wants you and me to become His “intimate ally.” He invites you and me to join Him in an adventure—a mission, if you will—a divine purpose that He uniquely planned for us. His mission is so critical for us that He planned it in every detail before He laid the foundations of the earth!
Dudes, did you just hear what I said?
Whether your name is John, Gary, David, or Steve, God thought of you, planned for you, and created a unique purpose for you outside of space, matter, and before time began! Let that sink in for just a moment—you matter so much to God, that you were, and are, in His thoughts, before He created the world and before you were even a twinkle in you parent’s hopes and dreams!
What will you do with this information? Don’t you want to connect with God’s mission for your life and His glory?
I can promise you this; when you do discover God’s divine purpose for your life, it will blow your mind so powerfully that your only response is to weep, tears of deep satisfaction and humility!
That’s what happened to me, I know God wants it to happen for you, too.
When I was twenty-one, my father-in-law, Gary Waltz, took me out to lunch to depart some fatherly wisdom into me, as I was about to become a father. One of the things he spoke to me didn’t make any sense at the time. He said, “Tom, you may never become a good speaker, but you will become a great writer.” By the way, I also became a public speaker!
Honestly, being a speaker or a writer wasn’t even on my radar. I was about to become a father, and that in itself was terrifying enough!
So, in 1981, my father-in-law spoke over my future, and in 2006, over twenty-five years later, it became true! Let’s take a look at a passage in Romans:
“As the Scriptures say, “I have made you a father of many nations.” This is true before God, the one Abraham believed—the God who gives life to the dead and speaks of things that don’t yet exist as if they are real.” Romans 4:17
God used my father-in-law to plant a seed of mission and purpose into my heart and soul. This mission was planned by God, our Creator, before He created our world!
So, back to the year 2006, around Spring time…
… I was about 46 years old when I had met a few people at a ministerial conference. I was there because my brother-in-law, Dwayne DeFount, known by most of you; he and I had started a men’s ministry titled Call To Courage. It was for that reason I was invited.
One of the individuals I had met was an editor of a bi-monthly publication titled America’s Good News, newspaper. We discussed nothing more than brief pleasantries and answered a few questions about our new men’s ministry.
A few days later, I received an unexpected call from a staff person from the newspaper. They invited me to become a columnist and to join the newspaper as a regular writer! I was shocked! I spoke to no one about writing, nor was it on my mind! I acted like I knew what all this meant. The staff-person explained what type and size font to use, how many words to include in each article, and the submission deadlines. Then the call ended.
As I hung up my phone, I placed my face into my hands and burst into tears! Tears, not of fear or sadness, but tears from an unexplored depth within my heart and soul! Those tears were of great humility and of purposeful fulfillment.
God had united His divine purpose and mission, for which He had planned before space, matter, and time existed, to be His writer! Now, do you see why it was so important for my father-in-law to plant God’s seed of mission and purpose into my life, so many years, prior? My father-in-law didn’t have a clue what and why he said that I was to become a writer, but God did.
Remember Romans 4:17?
“… Abraham believed—the God who gives life to the dead and speaks of things that don’t yet exist as if they are real.”
That is exactly what God did to me. He spoke those “things that were not yet, as if they are real!”
And this is why I’m here, speaking with you young men and even the older men here today. God has planned a mission or missions for you, too. I know this as I know the sun will rise in the East and settle in the West.
No man here today, in this place, at this moment and time is missionless or without divine purpose. As a matter of theological fact, you being here tonight was so ordered by God! This message was crafted, especially for you! You were and are in the mind and heart of God before He spoke the world into existence. In His timing, the seed He planted into the depths of your heart and soul is either being watered or harvested in you this night.
God longs for you to join Him in His adventurous mission for your life and for you to become His trusted and intimate ally. God trains the stouthearted during the journey. He looks for men, like you, who’ll not ask the faithless question about how? but will be brave enough to ask, when?
When God? I am willing. I know you are able. Prepare me as you have done with the men of Scripture. So that one day you will say to me, “… we’ll done my good and faithful servant.”
Oh, and remember to never trust the gift more than the Giver! Amen
“Be careful that no one fails to get God’s grace. Be careful that no one loses their faith and becomes like a bitter weed growing among you. Someone like that can ruin your whole group.” —Hebrews 12:15 (ERV)
A simple yet profound question from a friend has stayed with me:
“Tom, are you bitter or better?”
Life’s trials will come, but our choice determines our sense of peace. Bitterness isolates; betterness unites. By embracing God’s redemptive grace and forgiving others, we unlock a life of freedom, love, and meaningful relationships.
We are all confronted with hurt and pain from others. The choice to become bitter or better is available to all of us. The choice always comes down to two letters, the letter i or the e, b(i)tter or b(e)tter.
Bitterness is a collection of wrongs done by others, causing emotional constipation, psychological disfigurement, and spiritual disconnection from God and others.
The Holy Spirit wants to move us away from bitterness and leads us towards betterment. That is what God’s grace means here—the empowerment to avoid bitterness.
Matter of fact, the verse from Hebrews warns us to be careful that no one fails to receive God’s grace and that no one loses their faith. In other words, we need to watch each others back, rather than plunging knives into them.
Bitterness is the absence of God’s grace, as it displaces his presence, his wisdom, and conviction of the Holy Spirit. A bitter person is always looking to recruit people into their cesspool of bitter complaints. If you join them you’ll get drawn into their emotional quicksand with no one to rescue you!
We become bitter only when we reject God’s grace whispered to us by the Holy Spirit, and when we follow and listen to bitter people. Bitterness is a contagion; it is contracted through casual gossip and always corrupts the mind before it rots the soul. Bitterness has destroyed marriages, families, businesses, and especially churches.
Stay with God’s Word and his distinct and clear voice. Obey the Holy Spirit and become better. If not, you’ll destroy your faith, and walk away from God and the people who truly love you!
Even if you are bitter, you can become better. According to Hebrews 12:15, the antidote against bitterness is ensuring that not one person is missing out from God’s grace. Doing that leaves little time and opportunity for bitterness to take root.
When you stab yourself and others with bitterness, you also forfeit God’s grace that could be yours.
People will love a better you, but bitterness will drive even your closest friends away. Bitterness is a pill, whereby its side effect causes loneliness and detachment. Not only between those who love you, but even within yourself. Your bitterness makes you dangerous—a danger to yourself and others.
Bitterness grows within your heart and soul, like a destructive and evasive tree root. It enters into areas it doesn’t belong, causing emotional disfigurment, and psychological damage. But its damage is reversible. There is hope and healing!
Do you want to live a better life?
Then forgive the offense of others, and you’ll live a bitter free life.
I know—I know, you’ve been terribly hurt or offended. But your bitterness puts you in competition with God. You’re actually saying, “I know better than God,” and therefore you feel justified to condemn. That’s pretty tragic, don’t you think?
But the longer you hold onto bitterness, the more impossible it is for you to forgive. The longer you wait to forgive those who’ve hurt you the further away God’s grace becomes.
I don’t want you to miss out on God’s grace, I want you free and full of life, just like you used to be. I want you to find your faith again in God and to enjoy his presence in your soul.
I want you to love and to be loved again. I want you to stop the cruelty to your heart and soul!
Don’t you see?
Bitterness is not the cure—it’s a poison! The real cure may seem impossible, but it’s the only cure that will set you free and put you on the road to recovery.
The only cure to bitterness is forgiveness. Forgiveness is even more powerful if you were to lead in it. I promise that if you do, you’ll be right as rain and feeling better and not bitter.
It’s those forgotten little memories that can change everything!
Early in 1998, my brother called and told me that my dad was dying of cancer and that dad was asking for me.
When I heard this, I was very upset. Not that my father was dying, mind you, but that he’d asked for me. I needed him all my life, and now, he’s asking for me?
“Tell Dad I’m not coming!” I replied.
I have four brothers and a sister, and they all called me, urging me to visit Dad. A week or so went by, and I finally caved into the pressure.
I first visited my dad in the Contra Costa County Hospital, as the VA in Martinez, California, was short on beds. There, he lay in a bed surrounded by adjustable rails. My younger brother, John, and my mother were present.
My mom pulled me aside to tell me the seriousness of Dad’s esophageal cancer. She said, “It doesn’t look good, I’ve researched the prognosis, and he doesn’t have much time left.” By the time I had visited my father, he’d already been battered by chemotherapy and every other treatment.
The cancer had permanently closed up his esophagus, and he could no longer swallow but was fed through a feeding tube, which was surgically inserted through the side of his abdomen and directly into his stomach. My father was so frightened; I had never seen him so fragile and helpless.
Since things did not look good for my dad, I called one of my pastors from our church in Danville, California, called East Bay Fellowship, which I was attending with my wife and kids. I asked if Pastor Allan Shrewsbury could come by and pray over my father in the hope that it would give him some comfort.
Pastor Allan quickly arrived, praying with my dad and confirming my father’s faith and trust in Jesus Christ as his Savior.
It was getting late, and we began to ready ourselves to leave when I noticed tears filling my father’s eyes, along with the room filling with a sense of heaviness. It seemed as though this might be our last goodbye. I think the feeling of; “he may not make it through the night” hit all of us at the same time.
Compassion began to rise within my heart. I leaned over his bedrail and gently kissed my father’s unshaven face. His prickly whiskers caused my lips to tingle. My brother John leaned in and kissed our dad, as did my mom, and then we all tried to convince and reassure him that he would be fine as we slowly left the room.
As John and I walked out together towards the parking lot, my lips still tingling, I said:
“John, there is something strangely familiar about kissing dad.” I continued:
“My lips—they’re still tingling!”
John responded:
“What’s up with you, Tom? Don’t you remember when we were little kids, we’d line up in front of dad’s favorite chair and kiss him goodnight on his cheek, and he’d say with a smile,
’… Don’t let the bedbugs bite!’”
All of a sudden, good memories came flooding into my mind. That gentle kiss on my father’s unshaven face was a key to my dungeon of despair and loneliness. All my years of anger, bitterness, and hatred; all my doubts and unforgiveness, all swallowed up from the tingly whiskers of my father’s unshaven face!
After that moment, I couldn’t wait to see my father. I saw him over the next several months as often as I could.
Several weeks before my dad passed away, a nurse came into his hospital room, asking:
“Who is your executor and healthcare director?”
My father lifted his feeble arm and pointed in my direction. I turned to see if one of my two older brothers was behind me, but there was no one.
For some, this would have been an unwelcome appointment, a burden, but for me, it meant I had my father’s complete and utter trust and respect. The significance of my dad’s appointment was a paradigm shift for me, possibly one of my most life-affirming events.
Later, I learned that my father had consulted with my mother about whom he should appoint as Trustee of his estate and healthcare. My mother agreed with my dad on his final choice. My sister, Laurie, was also named co-trustee. Simply amazing!
A few weeks later, my dad’s condition was worsening. His organs were beginning to show signs of shutting down. At this point, my siblings and I would trade off, spending the night with Dad alone.
Finally, it was my turn. It was October 7, 1998. I arrived shortly after the dinner hour. A nurse brought in a cot with a blanket and a pillow for me to sleep on. My dad and I talked for quite a while, mostly about politics, which was my dad’s favorite topic. Soon, it was lights out, which never happens in a hospital.
As I lay there, realizing the significance of this moment with my dad, I knew if I didn’t say what was indeed on my heart now, that this moment would be lost forever. You see, my father had never told me that he loved me. I was thirty-nine years old, and my dad was about to turn sixty-nine the next day. I wanted so much to hear those words from him; no, I needed to hear those words from him—something in me was guiding me and granting me the courage to say what I needed to say:
“Dad?”
“Yes, son?” he replied
Dad … I love you!” I said cautiously.
Only mere seconds passed by, but it felt like years.
“… I love you too, son,” Dad replied.
I exchanged “I love you” with my dad for what seemed like all night long! I said those precious and life-giving words, which he echoed back:
“I love you too, son.”
All my hate and anger against my dad had washed away, and now for good! I heard the three most important words every son or daughter needs to hear:
“I love you, son!”
“Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the LORD arrives. His preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.” — Malachi 4: 5-6
The days of the “curse” were finally over for me. For a greater spirit than Elijah had entered that hospital room that night. The Spirit of the Living God had softened the hearts of father and son, and the mess I had made of my life suddenly became beautiful!
“His wrath, you see, is fleeting, but His grace lasts a lifetime. The deepest pains may linger through the night, but joy greets the soul with the smile of morning.” — Psalms 30:5
My dad, while broken with cancer, poured into me so much life and hope, and, in such a short time! The man whom I had despised all of my life was my dad, with whom I just fell in love but who is now leaving.
The morning came, with it, a smile and a “Happy Birthday, Dad!”
It was October 8, 1998, and my father wanted to get cleaned up for his Birthday. He said:
“Tom, get my shaving bag, it’s over there, in that cabinet.”
“Here it is, Dad,” I replied.
“Okay, get my Electric Shave lotion and my razor out,” my dad directed, and then he asked:
“Son, will you shave my face?”
This may sound silly, but this was the most intimate moment I’ve ever had with my father. The whiskers that tingled my lips and softened the hardness of my heart, the mouth that finally spoke: “I love you too, son,” was the face I was about to care for and shave.
“The deepest pains may linger through the night, but joy greets the soul with the smile of morning.”
… and I shaved my father’s face.
That is why I would not change a single moment of my life. The pain is swallowed up in the sweetness of heartfelt forgiveness and the “I love yous.” For what had become broken has now been given, and the mess of my life has now become beautiful!
Four days later, on October 12, 1998, my father passed away. At his right-hand side, I stood a restored and beloved son, loved and approved. As life was quickly draining from my dad, he looked up towards the ceiling, letting out his final breath; he smiled, his heartbeat stopped, and we wept loudly in the grief of our great loss! I then reached over his body and closed my father’s eyes.
He died my hero triumphantly and bravely; he faced death and passed from this life into the heart of God.
“Death swallowed by triumphant Life! Who got the last word? Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now?” – I Corinthians 15:55
While this was both a painful and magical time for me, these events with my father were a new beginning and a paradigm shift for my present and future.
I can honestly say that God used the final moments of my father’s life to make me into a better man, a restored son, and a better father.
Letting my anger for my father go allowed love to come bursting in. Becoming my father’s beloved son made it possible for me to believe I could be God’s beloved son, too.
Good night. Sleep tight. Don’t let the bedbugs bite. I’ll see you in heaven. I love you, dad!
We can’t live a happy life with an unforgiving soul and a stubborn heart.
When we refuse to forgive ourselves and others, we split our identity. One part loaths the offender, and the part hates self. It is the inner voice of self hatred and toxic unforgivness, which curses the outer self of life and the inner self of peace.
I know you know what I’m saying. I’m not trying to gulit you, but to help you!
I don’t want you to end up with two personalities in one body. That’s a horrible way to live!
One world is real, full of life, hope, and dreams. The other is false — filled with lies, masks, and illusions. Sure, you can survive in your false world, but you were made for so much more than surviving…
… and I think you know that!
You’ve felt it your entire life, that there’s something wrong. You don’t know what it is—you feel trapped inside—imprisoned by offense. Maybe you feel like a hostage, only it’s you that holds the key to your own prison cell.
In the movie The Matrix, Neo asks Morpheus a question:
“If you’re killed in the matrix, you die here?”
Morpheus:
“The body can not live without the mind.”
The book of James puts it this way:
“The splinter of a divided mind shatters your compass and leaves you dizzy and confused.” —James 1:8
Do not yield to thoughts of condemnation for others and hatred of self, for the end of such thoughts are self-destruction and death. You need to yield to, and desire wisdom from God, who understands both the body and the mind. But if you reject his wisdom and truth, your inner thoughts, no matter how untrue and false, will become reality. For either the wisdom from God and the belief of self-hatred are both initiated by faith. You see, faith activates the power of both truth and lies.
If you believe in the truth and wisdom from God, you will live and thrive. Conversely, if you believe in self-hatred and unforgivness, you will become lifeless and die. For the body obeys the mind, and a double minded person is unstable, confused, and lost.
I don’t want you lost—I want you found and freed!
The standard of God’s Word, Wisdom, and Truth never changes, so anchor all your thoughts, fears, and doubts on him, and you will find your way again.
This very moment, you are standing at the crossroads—as Jeremiah puts it:
Yet the Lord pleads with you still: Ask where the good road is, the godly paths you used to walk in, in the days of long ago. Travel there, and you will find rest for your souls. But you reply, “No, that is not the road I want!” —Jeremiah 6:16 (TLB)
Don’t yell an angry, “NO!” Cry a humble “yes,” and find rest again.
If you will not turn to God, The Holy One of Truth and Wisdom, not even your loved ones can help you. Until you’re willing to expose your false self and cease your fake salvation, you can’t be helped. Until you ask to be rescued, you’ll continue to drift further and further away.
Unrelenting unforgivness hurts no one but yourself. The one who offended you is unharmed by your hoarding of anger and offense. They’re free, but you’re not!
I plead with you, turn to God and be honest. Be brave. Be loving to yourself again and live! You may not realize it, but you’ve had the keys to your own prison all along.
“… You will weep no more. He will be gracious if you ask him for help. He will surely respond to the sound of your cries.” —Isaiah 30:19
Jesus Christ died that you may live and was raised to life that you may never die.
For there is no peace and no rest in wasting your life being unforgiving. There is life and peace in Jesus Christ.
Here, please read Psalms 23 — it’s a beautiful passageway to life!
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” —Psalm 23
Trust Him—He will give you rest for all your weariness and heal your splintered mind!
Maybe you’ll be restored enough to even feast in the presence of those who once hurt and offended you.
What stands between many of us and the life we’re supposed to live is our ability to bullshit.
No, this is not a treatise on global warming or climate change or the negative impact of cow flatulence on our environment—far from it!
This is about fleeing pretense and duplicity and becoming the real you. It’s about breaking down the fake areas in our lives and being honest with ourselves and others.
Wholeness can only be achieved by utter and complete brokenness. This is a universal principle. This is also the opposite of what the world thinks.
I like what Jerry Maguire said in his moment of a breakthrough:
“… Two nights later in Miami at our corporate conference, a breakthrough. Breakdown? Breakthrough. It was the oddest, most unexpected thing. I began writing what they call a mission statement for my company. You know—a Mission Statement—a suggestion for the future. What started out as one page became twenty-five.
Suddenly, I was my father’s son. I was remembering the simple pleasures of this job, how I ended up here out of law school, the way a stadium sounds when one of my players performs well on the field… And suddenly, it was all pretty clear. The answer was fewer clients. Caring for them, caring for ourselves, and the games, too. Starting our lives, really. Hey, I’ll be the first to admit it. What I was writing was somewhat “touchy-feely.” I didn’t care. I had lost the ability to bullshit. It was the me I’d always wanted to be.” —The Movie “Jerry Maguire”
You see a breakthrough, I mean, the kind of breakthrough we know we really need is always preceded by a breakdown. And, when we lose—no, rather, when we refuse to bullshit ourselves and others, we’ll become the people that we’ve always wanted to be.
You’re divinely purposed to become a living act of God’s love and glory. You can’t become what your Creator has intended until you surrender your own mess. That is, your constant self-effort to holding the broken pieces of your life together. Living in fear and dread that your secret life will be exposed at any moment to a live audience.
Living life on constant defense and acting co-dependently, or as a self-enabler, justifying the actions of your false self at the expense of your true self. This is the definition of what I’m referring to as a “mess.”
You can not become assembled in body, mind, and spirit, all the while holding everything together. You are robbing yourself of the very strength and energy you need by wasting it on supporting your falseness and phony facade. Stop being driven by voices inside your head, echoing the curses from your mother or father, or from the other significant persons in your life.
These curses are the voices of “false coaches,” driving you to repeat a cycle of self-destruction and family dysfunction. These curses are carcinogenic to your desire for wholeness and wellness. They are the cancerous agents eating away at the divine purpose for which God has created you.
“Gloria Dei est vivens homo,” wrote Saint Irenaeus, which means:
“The glory of God is a living man.”
The glory of God is you fully living, and not your daily self-destruction and learned dysfunction.
In the human body, you can not build muscle without first tearing down the muscle you have. Tearing down the muscle requires a determination to submit to the pain and deny yourself comfort. Likewise, you must have a willing determination to submit your very life and comforts to God.
James says it this way:
4-6 “You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way. And do you suppose God doesn’t care? The proverb has it that “he’s a fiercely jealous lover.” And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you’ll find. It’s common knowledge that “God goes against the willful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble.”
7-10 So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God, and he’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet.” —James 4:6-10 (MSG)
Pride is self-destruction, low esteem, self-loathing, and such, is what’s been behind your self-effort of “holding it all together.” This is why pride always precedes a profound fall. There is nothing good in this kind of a fall because it’s always a fall from grace and not towards it.
Do you want God’s grace? Become truly humble. Oh yes, it is painful to stop your self-salvation and accept the truth, and act on it. But the light, which will come flooding into your darkness, will bring the wholeness and wellness you’ve been searching for.
The problem with bullshit is that it is no respecter of person, race, religion, or age—it flows from all of us! Far too many of us hide behind B.S.
“Men love darkness, rather than light,” this is true. But you can not become the man or woman you were meant to become all the while remaining in darkness. Just as painful as it is to build muscle, is it painful at first to step out from darkness into God’s marvelous light!
The gain from the pain of coming into the light is worth the life of wholeness and holiness.
Did you know that embracing your brokenness rather than hiding it will cause collateral beauty?
There may be a divine and strategic purpose behind your brokenness that, when shared with others, may cause a chain reaction of hope and healing in you and in them.
At this very moment, you’re standing at a crossroad—at a turning point; your next decision can create a paradigm shift of unprecedented emotional and spiritual change.
“The Lord said to his people…
“’You are standing at the crossroads. So consider your path. Ask where the old, reliable paths are. Ask where the path is that leads to blessing and follow it. If you do, you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not follow it!’” —Jeremiah 6:16 (NET)
Stop hanging out with the “We will not follow it” crowd!
You no longer belong to the crowd who refuse to follow the right path.
Stop staring at the crossroad in front of you and follow the right path. Stop saving yourself and fall into the grace, mercy, and love of God, and you will become the man or woman you’ve always wanted to be. After all, God put the desire to be his love and glory in you so that you may be fully living, fully alive to a world content with dying and taking you with it.
A breakdown is always before a breakthrough. God is waiting if you are willing. Open up to God or find a trusted friend to help lead you to God’s grace.
God can turn the ugliness of your brokenness into something beautiful!
May I be honest and a bit crass?
… It’s my prayer that you’ll lose your ability to “bullshit!” – Amen
Misery and slavery are certain for those who ignore the warnings
I will post and repost this article until enough of us wake up to reality.
There is no doubt that we’re living in the time of Joseph and Elijah. A time when it’s wise to gather and store. A time when it’s wise to trust the Lord for ravens and hidden streams.
Gather for your friends and family. Gather to be in a position to give and provide. Trust the Lord to guide you and marshal unexpected resources that He sends. Move closer to the Lord than ever before, and be ready to tap into His presence for strength.
Be ready to let go of life as you know it, and cling to the Lord as never before. Bolt yourselves to God’s Word. Anchor yourselves to God’s promises. Dig deep into the Holy Spirit. Train your hearing on the voice of your Shepherd. Discern and obey God’s commands.
The Years 2020 and 2022 were dress rehearsals for what lies ahead in the remaining months of 2024. A “Great Economic Reset” is coming and it won’t be pleasant. The rumblings began in our financial institutions at the close of 2022, and fissures are now undeniable present throughout domestic and international banking. Commercial real estate is crumbling as I write.
The Far Left and its shadow government has revealed its insidious plans and is poised to do whatever it takes to hold onto power.
Government is not your God. The Feds are not your Lord. The Network News Agency isn’t the Holy Spirit. Stop acting as though they are!
Turn back to The Lord God Almighty!
Prepare and train yourselves for endurance. Ready yourselves and your families to do with little and live without. Your value was never in what you owned or in your career. Your value and worth are your identity as a child of The Most High God and not as a son or daughter of this world.
Remember, our warfare is not against flesh and blood. Our enemy is unseen and entrenched in high powers and principalities. Therefore, remember to whom you belong and the might and majesty of our God. Saints of God, stand firm in your calling. Heroes of our Faith are watching. Angels are positioning. Demons are strategizing. Something is breaking out.
Remember, you’re on the winning team, no matter what you see or hear. God is well pleased with His sons and daughters. Act like it and know it to the core of your being, deep within your heart. They will try to demoralize, defame, and demonize us. Many will doubt and fall prey to their wicked schemes.
Protect your minds with the Helmet of Salvation. Guard your hearts with the Breastplate of Righteousness; wear the Belt of Truth firmly; take up your position with the Shield of Faith, and your feet dressed with the Readiness and Power of the Gospel. Grip tightly the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God! Ephesians 6: 10-17
Stand firm and sure in your faith.
Jesus never promised safety and security; rather, he said;
“For if you want to save your own life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for my sake, you will find it.” Matthew 16:25
… You will soon learn what this means.
Your belief in the empty tomb will help you during the time of empty banks. Memorize that!
You were not saved for an easy life but were chosen and equipped to become Saints. The world will soon be paying attention to those whose God is the Lord. Let the Daniels, the Josephs, and Elijahs of our time rise up!
Evil is rapidly burgeoning beyond belief and it must be met with unyielding devotion and allegiance to God.
Wake up your faith ~ you’ll not survive without it!
Whether you realize it or not, we are in a bulletless revolution.
Did you know that our liberty is directly tied to our economy?
“He who controls the money controls the world.” — Henry Kissinger
The W.H.O. the C.D.C. and the Federal Bureaucrats, along with Corporate Mongrels, got their teeth into the heart of our Great Nation. Rogue governors, mayors, and district attorneys are destroying the rule of law and justice.
The Blue States and Blue cities wouldn’t release the masses to go back to work until they caused irreversible financial damage and civil unrest. But, they’ve released murderers, rapists, thugs, and thieves into our cities and towns without a thought.
The Oil Barrons are involved, too. Our crude oil dependency must also be destroyed, according to them. So they’ll raise the price of crude until we can’t afford to drive our vehicles. They’ll even sabotage the Petrol-Dollar just to create hyper inflation here in America and abroad.
Their lust for power and financial gain, all willingly granted to them by the scared masses, in exchange for the people’s security and safety.
‘Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.’ — Benjamin Franklin
The perfect trifecta is happening: Destroy health, wealth, and our monetary system and capitalism will collapse. The Left has avoided a bloody revolution by using the over-sensationalized and politicized COVID-19 virus and the creation of a digitized currency to be controlled by a centralized Federal Banking System. This new monetary system will be known as the Federal CBDC, Central Bank Digital Currency.
All of us have proven to the world rulers how easily we gave up our liberties and how willingly we allowed them to disregard our Constitution and Bill of Rights. All for the avoidance of a virus that has been present among us during every flu season. They just picked the COVID-19 virus to scare us all into submission. Now their planning on replacing our currency to programable digits.
The “pandemic” was the dress rehearsal, preparing us for the next emergency, the ruination of our currency. And, yes, the federal government will step in and save the day because that’s what they do.
“We create the chaos, and then we move in and capitalize on that chaos.”
At first, you’ll love all the incentives they’ll provide so you’ll give up your dollars, your gold, and silver in exchange for a fiat digital currency that you can’t see, hold, or feel. “You’ll own nothing and be happy,” as the World Economic Forum, puts it.
Our foolish COVID compliance was the “test-run” that showed those in power how easily it was to control our lives and suspend our liberties. The crisis of that most dreadful hour has assured the powerful that any hyped-up crisis can be a useful tool against useful idiots. (I hope this offends you into action and not passivity).
Big Pharma, Hollywood, Big Tech, and politicians told us all to get injected with an mRNA vaccine cocktail. These are the very people that argue for population control, they are the pro-abortionists, and pro-euthanasia; they are the main purveyors of The Green New Deal and a Global Economic Reset.
Now, their next agenda is called: “Project Icebreaker.”
“Project Icebreaker is unique in its proposition. It first allows central banks to have almost full autonomy in designing a domestic retail CBDC.”
President Biden signed Executive Order No.14067, back on March 9, 2022.
In part, “The Order calls for interagency coordination to implement the Order, and it articulates the “highest urgency” to research and develop the design of a United States Central Bank Digital Currency (“CBDC”) that is consistent with the priorities outlined in the Order, to ensure the global financial system has appropriate transparency.”
It is likely that the up and coming Great Financial Collapse beginning early 2023 and exploding into 2025 will make it difficult to govern no matter who wins the presidency.
“Buckle your seatbelt, Dorothy,” cause America, well, it just might be going bye-bye!
I hope not!
Are we a nation of sheep and cattle? Have we so easily forgotten the miracle of our liberty and the price for which it was won?
Liberty first won and then lost is far costlier to gain back, as those that have taken it keenly understand the significance of their long-awaited goal.
Honestly, people, do you not see with your own eyes and hear with your own ears what’s happening even the day before July 4, 2024? A former president being prosecuted by a sitting president, that’s about to be tossed out by his own party! This is unprecedented, and is driving America towards a constitutional crisis!
The Democrats have painted themselves into a corner. They have trapped themselves with their own trap! Trump must be defeated at all costs, but their “lawfare” has granted him the keys of the Kingdom.
The Left’s hatred for Donald Trump has nothing to do with his orange tone, awful tweets, or salty character. They hate him because he’s ant-CBDC and an outspoken opponent against their Marxist-Socialist ideology and agenda.
Will the America we love be lost without a shot fired?
Yes, because COVID-19 compliance is all the proof the Marxist-Socialists needed to confirm our passivity. They are hidden within our government, news media, and multibillion-dollar corporations. They are the ones secretly pulling the levers of power. The Bident / Trump debate should have made that crystal clear to both parties.
They’ll try to win at all costs because they know you can’t shoot an enemy that you can’t see!
“Above all else, guard your heart, for from it flows the wellspring of life.” – Proverbs 4:23
Your heart is so critical to your redemption that it is the first thing the enemy attacks! He attacks it when it’s very young, vulnerable, and imaginative, able to believe in the unbelievable.
“For one believes with his heart and is justified, and declares with his mouth and is saved.” – Romans 10:10
If The Evil One is successful in his assaults against our hearts, his work will cancel our justification and shut our mouth’s declaration of salvation.
This warfare is so profound that it’s the last thing mentioned in the Old Testament and the first thing in the New Testament! If our hearts are not restored, our land and lives will be cursed. And this is the plight of so many lives—lives, whereby the heart has been so treacherously wounded that everything is cursed.
But, there is hope! Please read on.
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the LORD. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.” – Malachi 4: 5-6
Who was the great prophet spoken of by Malachi?
It was John the Baptist. His preaching, as it says, prepared people for the Messiah. – Luke 1:17…
“… And he will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to make ready for the Lord a prepared people.”
Our hearts do indeed matter, and unfortunately, it is the battleground that the Enemy first strikes.
I can think of no greater scene than from the movie Spider-Man (2002), which powerfully demonstrates the evil one’s scheme…
Green Goblin: Spider-Man is all but invincible; but Parker, we can destroy him.
Norman Osborn: I can’t.
Green Goblin: Betrayal must not be countenanced! Parker must be educated.
Norman Osborn: What do I do?
Green Goblin: Instruct him in the matters of loss and pain. Make him suffer, make him wish he were dead.
Norman Osborn: Yes?
Green Goblin: And then grant his wish.
Norman Osborn: But how?
Green Goblin: The cunning warrior attacks neither body nor mind.
Norman Osborn: TELL ME HOW!
Green Goblin: The HEART, Osborn. First, we attack his heart.
If you’re going to live from and believe with your heart, and I highly recommend that you do, you must armor up and ready yourself for the onslaught of your life. Why? Because the Enemy fears and hates nothing more than a man or woman living from their heart. The heart is where the God of the Angel Army dwells!
This is why before most of us had reached the age of eleven or twelve, that we encountered “heart attacks,” that is, a vicious assault on our heart— the very center of our being.
“The cunning warrior attacks neither body nor mind—first, he attacks the heart.”
If you, like me, have suffered attacks of the heart, while young and impressionable, there is hope and healing. As a matter of fact, there is nothing so vital as the healing of your heart. Your heart is so vital that Jesus of Nazareth read the following from the ancient scrolls at the very beginning of his earthly mission:
“The Spirit of the Almighty Lord is with me because the Lord has anointed me to deliver good news to humble people. He has sent me to heal those who are brokenhearted, to announce that captives will be set free and prisoners will be released.” – Isaiah 61:1
Your heart matters to God—you matter to God. The cunning warrior shall not win this battle against your heart. The battle belongs to the Lord. He’s defeated the enemy on the cross. All you must do is believe in your heart and confess with your mouth, and you shall be saved and healed. Don’t be afraid, be saved! Amen
Call To Courage 