Oh Holy Men of God

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Oh, holy men of God.  I salute you with an earnest heart.  I would have gone with you as you engage the enemy on that bloody ground in the land of lies.  But I allowed my hands to be tied with sin.  How I cried as I watched you go.  How regal you appear as you marched in the feet fitted with the Gospel of peace.  But it is given to me to carry firewood and water for your families.  How earnestly I desired to go.  But I find myself fit for the task He has given me.  And in my amazement, He has granted me this task!  Peace to you who fight the good fight.  Glory to He who calls us both.

My brothers go in assurance.  Your families are well cared for.  I will carry the wood and water till my hands bleed.  I will break my back for you.  You go to accomplish that which I can only dream.  Though imagination fill my heart with grand visions which belong to you, still I am but dreaming.  He has chosen you to fight with a strength I will never have.  He has gifted you with a righteous life behind you.  He has raised you up with a holy history that man cannot assail.

And now, I pause to wipe my eyes.  Look at how beautiful He has made you!  Look at the sparkling among your ranks from the Holy Sword of the Word of God.  How beautifully it is wielded in the hands of a righteous man!

Go in peace my brothers. Your back is where I belong.  Through tears of regret I watch you go.  But I will now turn, with all my might, to care for those you are sent to defend.  In the end, we serve the same Glorious Lord!  And we will celebrate with great joy on the marvelous day of God!  Bless you, that He has considered me worthy to serve those who rise so tall.  Glory to Jesus!

I wipe my tears and pray for iron hands, a backbone fitted with steel, and a heart filled to over flowing with purpose, for the Holy One they serve.

As I turn I consider you who laugh at this display of love.  Subduing wrath, I will speak to you.

There is a place where the wickedness of man will be decimated!  You laugh now, but you will ache with a deep and eternal sadness.  You revel in rebellion now.  But you will desire to run for shelter from the face of the Most High God.  You celebrate every wicked thing, and even call God a liar.  But it is you who will shudder as your lies are brought out for all to see.

Those men of God I salute tell you the truth.  As a man I beg you to listen to them.  For now you hate those gallant men.  But there is a day coming when you will desire even the strength to look at them.  Listen to the Gospel they speak.  They speak the truth from lips blessed by the Most High God!  They speak what is true and it will not be taken from them.  Please, please, listen to them!

REACH!

Each of us, who worship the Lord Jesus, must seek out the truth.  We seek the truth of the Father that He has revealed in His Son Jesus.  And we seek out the truth of our standing in His kingdom, both in heaven and on earth.  All this seeking begins in faith and ends in faith.  This faith we own begins as a granting of God’s grace to us that we might believe in the name of His Holy Son.  But as we mature in that seed of faith the Father grants, we enter certain understandings. As we grow in the knowledge of our Lord we perceive that we are able to accomplish certain things according to the place we hold among men.

The question is presented to us, even at the first glimmer of our granted faith; “Who are we in the kingdom of Heaven under the Lordship of Jesus, and what is the limit of blessing the Lord is willing to grant us that we might serve Him in the redemption of souls from this place of testing?”

It is no sin to desire to serve the Lord.  Regardless our history, regardless our past willingness to obey His Lovely Commands, regardless our

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hypocrisy, fellowship with sin and wickedness of this world, it is not a sin to desire to serve Him.  It is a sin to remain in rebellion to the receiving of the things He stands willing to give His people.  But it can also become a sin to allow yourself to expect that which you are not worthy to bear.

Many assume that they are pronounced as important in the Kingdom of Heaven.  Their assumption can easily be proven false by the fruit they are able to bear.  Some resort to lies, which their wicked hearts make up from their evil desire to be important.  Others proclaim what is true with an authority that they do not own.  And some, sadly, turn away from seeking the fullness of His blessings because they do not believe the Gospel of peace sent from He who cannot lie.

We are cautioned to consider ourselves with sobriety.  And it is not possible to say that with the proper urgency and power of words.  We serve the Living God through Jesus.  We have not come to a man who dispenses the riches of the world as he desires.  God is not a man that He can be manipulated to granting our personal desires, yet so many live as if this were true.

Consider carefully what it is you are asking for.  Consider carefully who you are, who your history has proven you to be.  Are you a man of integrity?  Does your heart allow you to bear the full responsibility of a position in Christ Jesus’ kingdom?  At the same time, let us also consider what we have left in the hand of the Lord.  What has He been willing to give that we have not even asked to receive?  Is your heart clean?  Have you led a life before men that is able to stand up before their prying eyes of hatred?  Are you able to bear the full responsibility of a position in Christ Jesus’ kingdom, but have decided not to receive it?  Have you rejected this position out of a fear of men?  Where is your faith?

Both men, he who is not able and he who is able, sin before the Lord in differing ways.  The first robs the Lord of Glory because he asks for something selfish and that without understanding. This one perceives the Most High God as a simple dispensing machine.  The second robs the Lord of Glory because he fails to ask the Lord for the very things the Lord has been willing to give him for years.  And both rob the people of the Lord at the very time when they needed truth and integrity the most.

Please consider these words carefully.  Let us bring the Lord a bountiful store of gifts on the day of His appearing.  Let each of us seek to serve Him to the fullness of His intent.  And let each of us aspire to that which is holy, lest we fail to grasp the fullness of the life He has granted by the freedom to do what is good.  Remember what our Lord has said, “He who would save his life will lose it.”  Seek what is good; both the restraint of selfish desires, and the sacrifice of life that the Lord commands.