Forged By Faith

Ezekiel 36:26 NIV Our penchant for preferring to focus only on the half of God that brings us a sense of peace and security will eventually find us shattered as the other half proves more concerned about our renewal than our rest. The simple fact is that many of God’s promises involve the bestowment of something new. A new life. A new spirit. A new heart. A new hope. A new home yet still to come. And as many of His promises bring the hope of rebirth and renewal, much is made of the rewards held in such tremendous blessings and new beginnings. But, there’s a half of this story that is often untold. And it’s that half that we talked about a bit yesterday. Misunderstanding the duality of God is setting many a soul on a collision course with a divinity they know nothing of, a divinity that will shock them with the work He works in their lives. Many are preaching this message of a God who works miracles in the most peaceful of ways. To them, He is a God who exists to only complete the good ...

Lamentations 3:32 NIV There's a blatant duality to our God that sparks many a great misunderstanding and potentially grave confusion unto those who assume either to be the complete depiction of His existence. However, much to our dismay, God has been described by many for quite some time as a being of immense, endless, entirely undeserved love. And He is. He is the very epitome of love and all that love entails and offers. He is kindness in its most perfect form, as He indeed authored what kindness even is. So it stands to somewhat good reason that so much has been shared of His merciful and provisional nature. But the danger in focusing on merely half of God is that it instills an expectation that renders people ill-prepared for their inevitable encountering of the part that few like to talk about. All of these messages aimed exclusively at His kindness shared at the expense of acknowledging His justice are creating in many a faith that assumes this path to be free from hardship, ...

Romans 9:22 NIV As the storm of His wrath tarries upon the horizon, we've the opportunity of this fleeting moment to seek our chance at His promised peace. That’s kind of the whole point of His incredible patience. All this ugliness we see around us is evidence that we need His refuge from what's coming. The sheer amount of benevolence displayed in God's patience is without question one of His most merciful attributes as it shows just how deep His compassionate forgiveness runs. His kindness and its inspired relenting that's being witnessed upon all of us in this time is all the excuse we need to turn from our ways onto the path which leads toward Heaven that was paved by a cross which now forever forms the crossroads between where we've been and who we can become. Just the mere fact that hope is something within our grasp is evidence of a love so powerful that it can even bridge the chasms we've carved between the shattered remnants of our hardened hearts. For ...

Romans 1:18 NIV Why should we worry? Why should we fear? Why not pretend that God isn't here? The current rapidity of society's debasement is offering for all to see a glimpse of what a place, a life, a time without God might look like. It's giving us all a chance to determine for ourselves what kind of peace we truly wish for ourselves, for our loved ones, for even those who have been against us in the past so far. Not wishing such a distasteful demise upon even our worst enemies is a sign of at least a shadow of compassion. And it's that compassion that ought to be driving those of us who know the Good News to spread His hope as far and as wide as possible so as to contend against the wickedness that's driving humanity apart from Him forever. Why? Because we're seeing with our very eyes a taste of what it's like to be apart from Him as this society goes down hard into the hatred of self and the corresponding adoration of sin. It's getting bad out there...

Acts 17:30 NIV Seems the only ones still overlooking ignorance are the very ones lost within its bliss. Across the last few posts there's been this overarching idea of lazy faith and the resulting complacency within the death that is sin that has shone forth quite clearly, at least I hope. It's a product of a few more days spent watching a little bit more of the downfall spurred onward at increasing speed by more of the wicked goings on going on all around us in this place that is so clearly set upon wasting itself in the most depraved and therefore depressing manner possible. There's just this relentless realization that I pray never leaves me alone that reminds me constantly that what's coming is coming and that it's our duty to remain ready as well as to help others prepare and encourage them to stay ready themselves. And although I know other topics need to be discussed as well, and God does place differing things upon my mind and in my heart that I feel compell...

Proverbs 1:32 NIV This cuteness being shown toward complacency is earning nothing for humanity aside from a sort of recompense that we cannot possibly satisfy. What's strange is that we're not asked to satisfy it in the general understanding. We've been graciously gifted an opportunity to have our debts absolved by the blood of another. Yet, for some reason, of which I think we all likely know without divulging too extensively, most aren't interested in that gift. It's likely because, as we've talked about lately, this gift carries with it the expectation of a particular response. And seeing as how that response is expected to be a clear combination of humility and repentance which inspire change, it's fairly easy to see why much of society remains disinterested in accepting His mercy or disingenuous as to their claims of having chosen to accept it. But still, as yet another topic it seems we've discussed in recent days, our ability to ignore, deny, deba...

Romans 1:32 NIV I know you’ve heard it said that “the heart wants what the hearts wants.” Problem is that God wants better. You see, all of these human attempts at the justification of sin do indeed sound quite lovely. They offer this image of love and compassion aimed at bringing both contentment and joy to those listening and learning. But hopefully you’ve also heard that looks can be deceiving. Because those pretty attempts to nullify God’s Word will ultimately prove unable to change God's mind, as He's told us that He does not change like the shifting shadows of our selfish delusions. Yet, somehow, as with every other clear truth and obvious warning laden throughout Scripture, we've apparently not saw fit to care what He says. At least not on the large scale. On the large scale, this society is still happily steaming toward all the indulgence they can handle, willfully ignorant as to what we've been told lies just beyond the final breath spent indulging our idiotic ...