“As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;

And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” Luke 3:4-6

And this is the wilderness, and the valleys, and mountains and hills and crooked paths, and rough places – none less than my heart, my mind my soul, and my deeds; all territory eligible for transformation, transcendence, new life where again, by the grace of a Holy, faithful, merciful and loving God.

Obedience for New Life-Giving Fruit

Young Minister Elisha Green of Abundant Family Worship Church, impressed upon  listeners attending a recent prayer call, that our obedience is the thing that protects the seed we are given – whether the seed is vision, calling, or promise for example. It was another great prayer experience.

For me  throughout the entire Christmas season, there has been just this strong and increasing sense of everything meaningless and superfluous being stripped away – leaving only what we have to offer Christ – the gift of ourselves for one another; mainly the gift of The Fruit of the Spirit. Spirit fruit is visible to onlookers, and the key to causing The Fruit to germinate – the central thing –  has been the seed of obedience. It is the sacred thing being continually implanted in me. it is at once the seed, and the fertilizer and the protection and the preservative of the good fruit (produced only by the sacred cultivating work of The Holy Spirit)  

Obedience remains an essential element of our saltiness and our light. The salt and light needed by the world yes – but needed also to fortify the fruit in order for it to be fit for consumption. It’s like a life-giving trace mineral; producing the essential spirit-filled energy in our fruit. It represents the best part of ourselves, and giving away the best part of ourselves performs work that properly stewards God’s plan to reconcile us to Himself and bless the earth.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Galatians 5: 22-23

And such is God’s expectation of us, in keeping with His strategy, stated as His command according to Jesus in the Book of Matthew

 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Matthew 22:37-40

Repentance and Release –  

 And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; Luke 3:3

When we are being prepared for New Life, we’re reminded that releasing the former things is necessary, but releasing them in Repentance is the powerful differentiator.  We’re reminded to humbly and quickly release old ways and even old direction – sinful or virtuous – laying them down at Christ’s feet in order to become a new life form, adopt new lifestyles, to allow The Holy Spirit to empty us, so we be free to host or carry and then extend new life to others.

You’ve heard it said that we can’t carry the new blessing The Lord wants to release to us while our hands are full. We must first release what’s in our hands to Him, but The Lord supplies even greater grace in that He says He will reveal the New Things even before they materialize. Like the kids say: He’s extra!

1. Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them. Isaiah 42:9
2. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19

Water & Wine

Heading into this new season, we submit to immersion; submerged anew into those life-giving streams, and healed by that cleansing flow. But what will be the evidence of this baptism and transformation? The Holy Spirit seems to specifically be encouraging us over and over to be careful of how we treat others whether near or far; in or out of range/earshot – especially of how we treat our Brothers and Sisters in Christ.

“Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil, and do good, seek peace, and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.  … Evil shall slay the wicked, and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate.” Psalm 34:13-21

The righteous in this context are those who “keep their tongue from evil, and their lips from speaking guile; who depart from evil, and seek and pursue peace.” The text distinguishes this group from “the haters.” As is often the case throughout Scripture, The word “hate” in the Psalm 34 passage is not merely the passionate form of hatred that motivates men and women to commit unspeakable acts against one another, but equally sinister is its more subtle form – the slights, the innuendos, the barbs, ridicule, “gossip light,” jealousies, neglecting the needs of others. These “minor” hatreds also carry great weight when tabulated by Kingdom standards. So much so that the Scripture cites a severe penalty for errant Believers – suffering, desolation and pre-mature death. Yikes!

It would seem that the righteous in the passage appear are they who hold fast to the command to love your neighbor as yourself. They surrender to the undulating tide of God’s Word, to His Voice to perpetually wash their stains away, and quench the fiery darts of hatred that resound loudly (or pierce quietly) when thrust into a target. Then the Healing Flow, medicinal, and red like wine, mends those repentant hearts, the circumstances, the plans and the lives we may have injured. Our God is awesome. He’s extra.

Thanksgiving for God’s Forgiveness and Remission of Sin

Forgiveness: Merriam Webster defines forgiveness this way: “to grant relief from payment of; forgive a debt”

And there’s explanation: “Psychologists generally define forgiveness as a conscious, deliberate decision to release feelings of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group who has harmed you, regardless of whether they actually deserve your forgiveness. … Forgiveness does not mean forgetting, nor does it mean condoning or excusing offenses.”

Remission: the cancellation of a debt, charge, or penalty.

When we sincerely repent before a Holy God, The grace we receive provides for a trans-formative, trans-dimensional, trans-generational washing and cleansing

We receive immediate forgiveness, immediate relief from and cancellation of the sin debt – death (in all its various forms). And although He doesn’t condone or excuse our bad behavior; unlike in the case of human forgiveness, an incredibly generous God extends an incredibly generous bonus: forgetting – our sins are forgiven, cancelled and forgotten – cast away:

“He will turn again; He will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities. And Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” Micha 7:19”

The Road Ahead …
Agape, love emanating from The Light within us is layered: from the unmistakably demonstrative to those more subtle acts toward God and man. Agape is engineered by The Holy Spirit and bares good fruit. So in preparation for the season ahead of us, we’ll allow Our Savior to tenderly wash away our sins great or small and prune and heal the damage they’ve introduced into the earth. Together in brotherly love, we’ll help each other to hand over hate’s heavy load wherever it may lie; trading it for His yoke. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light,” (Matt. 11:30), remembering that Emmanuel remains with us; full of glory and full of grace; continually perfecting His redeeming work in us to execute His redemptive plan in the earth – even faster in times to come as we are quick to yield and release.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:19

See what The Holy Spirit about to me about yielding in preparation for 2019 and beyond.

Original Photo by J. Theodore