Looking unto Jesus.

Living fearlessly is not the same thing as never being afraid. It's good to be afraid occasionally. Fear is a great teacher.

~MICHAEL IGNATIEFF


Confession time.  Did I ever tell you I'm not very brave?  Because I'm not.  Oh, I'm not scared of tiddly things like snakes & spiders [though rats & mice rather do my head in].  Nope I save it for the good things, like drowning.  And I live on an island!  I tell you my imagination can make quantum leaps from .00 to 90 an hour in 0.00 seconds.


Like coming home from church on Sunday in Dino's tinny.  There I was, perched in the bow like Jacky enjoying how big the sky was, how wide the vast expanse of sea was,  & how big the stars pulsed & reflected in the deep, dark water.  Whole 'nother thing when the motor cut out.  I promptly envisioned us drifting out to sea, never to be found, dying slowly of thirst, starvation & salt madness.  Yep.  I'm that good.

I have to live with me & it's not always fun.  I have the sort of conversations with God where I get told to shut up & listen, where I'm shown the sort of things to have me looking for the largest, highest rock around with the deepest, darkest cave ~ & the mindset to hibernate there for the duration.  I am not allowed.  Honestly.

So the question is, how then should we live? 

I know the time is growing short; just how short I'm not sure, but much shorter than I want to think about or am comfortable with.  See the above.  I have been aware for several years that the Lord is gathering His remnant together to address the End Times: His Bride, the church within The Church that is wholly Christ's regardless of denomination.  He is raising up intercessors & prophets. He is raising up evangalists & preachers.  We are seeing Acts 2:17 fulfilled in our time And it shall be in the last days, saith God, I will pour forth of my Spirit upon all flesh: And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams...

The Harvest stands ready in the fields.  I am watching the workers go out to gather it in, a great harvest that is being redeemed by the Lord.

BUT...

There is a second crop & it is to be found within the churches because the people of God have grown soft & lazy.  It is weak & grown thin & spindly & it is not producing fruit as it should because we have forgotten the first lessons of love:  We have been redeemed at a price; we must lose our lives to save them; we must pick up our cross & follow Him. 

As a people we have been called to holiness.  All that is is to be set apart for the sole use & purpose of our Lord ~ but how many of us live our lives as if we actually believe that?  It is time, & past time, to do a little house cleaning.  To examine ourselves in the Light of Christ & make the necessary changes.

The warning is not given to the church to generate a spirit of fear.  That is never it's intended purpose.  No, the warning is given that we might prepared ourselves, be ready, that we might listen attentively to what the Living Word is saying to us & be strengthened & enabled to go out into the world to perform those good works that have been prepared ahead of time for us to do.

God's spirit is not a spirit of fear. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Isaiah 26:3

There is a place in the ocean so deep that no light shines, no wave breaks.  Whatever the froth & turmoil on the surface of the ocean the deepest place remains untouched, unmoved.  So it should be with us.  We should rest so deeply in Christ that His perfect loves casts out all fear but we cannot enter into that rest if we allow the things of this world to distract us, tempt us, divert us, corrupt us.

I cannot overemphasis the importance of personal holiness because it is clear evidence of the new life, of the presence of the Holy Spirit manifesting in our lives. Without it we will not see God.  That aside, I am convinced it is the one thing that can convince a non~believer of the reality of Christ.  Nothing attracts ~ & nothing repels~ like genuine holiness.  It brought Christ all the way to the cross.  It will bring us there too.  The only way through is to cling tightly to the Lord's hand, looking constantly unto Jesus as the waters rise around us.

For a moment there even Peter walked on the water!