and that their fire stayed bright

in the sometimes helplessness in being

from You, that we’re delivered from in

their pretending to be happy.

I ask You to rescue them from not praising You,

not waiting for You, on their knees.

Let them, Father, have every moment with You.

Help them find You in their emptiness and worship You

and cry for You in their not-so-melodious life.

……….

You made me what I am and this is why I pray this …………….

this is why I remember to remember my past waywardness

and stumbling and fallings down in my stupor,

for You reached down …….  for You reached down,

grasped my arms and pulled me up to standing in my heart

many times now …… no, I wasn’t far too gone and neither are they,

Lord, You know this.

Take their turning-away from You, from them and move them,

carry them from their sandstood feet to Your Rock of Holiness.

You’d think they’d know but they don’t, like I didn’t.

My thoughts were futule until You lit up my heart now,

Father, Lord Jesus of my hope, Holy Spirit !

Take their sometimes and make them always on their knees,

in their tears more than not.  Break their unchanged ways to a

“God be with us!”, song, please Lord, OK?

Put us all on our knees in Your Graceful Way, Father.

Thank You.

……….

We are all weak so often.  We all doubt and wonder about the unseen things in our life and our future.   We all get on our knees to pray to our Father in Heaven, and we all occassionally  have the same feeling cross my mind   :      

We feel so worthless, so little, so much of a failure, and we often wonder why, right?

So what is wrong with us??      What are we  NOT  getting?    

……….

So, when I personally have such times of doubt and wonder,  I think about the Scripture above:  it says, if I am reading it right, that faith and repentence do not make me  “right”  with the Lord but, rather, His Grace and  HIS  Grace only, right??           Not even my service to Him and my faith  IN  Him willl make me right with God;   but Christ will  !    HE will make me right with our Lord and Father  !!              It  IS  Biblical that our life is a work in process but  JESUS’  WORK  IS  DONE.      Yours and my identity in God is not about you and I at all, for even our best efforts are totally inadequate for God in that, on Judgment Day, our Savior’s work is seen by the Father and nothing at all about us is even considered.     For the Last Day, if we are in Christ Jesus, we are not judged but He is, and HE is perfect!    

THIS  is where our faith, yours and mine, must lie.    And because of this fact, that it is Jesus’ Righteousness in front of the Father and not ours that is measured,  WE CANNOT MESS UP OUR CHANCES TO GET TO HEAVEN, for Chrit’s Power does the saving, not anything that  WE   do at all.    Do you see this wonderful fact??       Yes,  THIS  is the Good News of Christ Jesus’ Salvation.

………

What I am trying to stress over and over on this site is that anything that you or I or anyone who has accepted Jesus as their Savior, can do or  NOT  do can affect our purity in Jesus.         HIS Righteousness is perfect and ours becomes perfect through the Father’s Grace ……..  period.   

And these facts bring me to the point of this post, OK?           It is:  lay down your guilt and shame and doubts and anxieties and stresses and worries …….  can you do that?       Examine your faith, is what I am asking of you.        Do you, personally, right this very moment, know of Jesus Christs’ Work on the Cross ??         Do you??         Do you ponder this often or not at all??   

And I also ask, “Why walk around in doubt about your spiritual destiny?  Why ??”             And, also:  “Why do you walk about all the time thinking about yourself and talking to yourself  ABOUT yourself all the time?”                  THIS  is exactly what the Introduction to my web site is all about.  Have you read it?     LET  JESUS  BE  YOUR  HOME  PAGE,  OK?    Let  HIM  take away your doubts.

……….

Dear God, help us remember to remember to have  ONE  reason to love you:  help us see Your Grace as the one Thing that lifts us up.   Help us, Father, not to hang our heads in our failures to impress You.    We need so much to know daily that  IT’S  NOT  ABOUT  US, Lord!      In  YOUR   Grace we no longer have anything to hide or even prove to you anymore.          Help us, Father, to receive Your Joy in this!

……….

You are clean when you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, my Friend.    So try so very hard to picture yourself as clean in Jesus, and recognize through your prayerlife and worship and study of God’s Word that this is true,  SO  true.      Be who you are, exactly the way God made you.   BE  a child of your Father God, and hold up your head in love and confidence in Him, and let Jesus save you, OK?

……….

“If the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He Who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you.”    (Romans 8:11)

……….

“If My people who are called by my Name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My Face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”   (2 Chronicles 7:14)

……….

“Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the Grace that could be theirs.”    (Jonah 2:8)

……….

“Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness and all things shall be added to you.”   (Matthew 6:33)

……….

Have the confidence, my Friends in Jesus Christ, that the promises which God has told us are true.  You don’t have to wonder anymore about some lifeless  “higher power”  that may or may not hear you at all, and surely could not love you and care for you.             Would you want to have even a shadow of a doubt just before you die, where you might end up after that inevitable death touches you?           I say this because  I KNOW    Whom I believe in and have  ALL  of the confidence in the world that what I have entrusted to Him,  HE WILL  safeguard until that day when He comes for me.

Only  HE knows what street I will find myself walking down out East, and who I will have a conversation with, and who will need to complete a Divine Appointment with me, when we share our experiences with the One and Only Savior.       I have seen the other side of the spiritual coin, my Friends in Christ.  I  KNOW what it’s like to tap dance along the edge of satan’s precipice, thinking myself so wise about what was true and what was fantasy.  I lived a fantasy existence for almost 30 years, never  ONCE  realized just what my Father God had in mind for me ……. yes, for  THIS  moment in eternity.

………

Heavenly Father, show the person reading this now that they   NEVER   have it right about the world.  This is satan’s kingdom and he rules it with authority and precision.  He  KNOWS  how to trick the humankind.      He   KNOWS   how our minds work and how much we thirst for pleasure.  He  KNOWS   how we are driven and how weak we are in his temptations and accusations.   Thank You, Lord God, for showing us,  EACH one of us, how to get to You, how to  REACH  You.    Thank You for loving us more than we will  EVER  understand.

……….

My wife and I have been called about everything from “brave”  to  “crazy” in our readiness preparations of giving away  at least 90% of our belongings and saying goodbye to the most wonderful church family a couple could  EVER  dream of.        But, my Friends, we are not on  OUR  agenda anymore;   we are on His.   We have let go of the burdens, the load which we ourselves put on our own shoulders.   We have allowed the Holy Spirit to help us realize just how addicted we were to our belongings, our stuff.             We can only now begin to thank our Lord in Heaven that He forgave us for our idolatry, our blaspheming of  HIS  image on us.     We have learned our lesson in ways beyond description, and  HAVE JUST BEGUN  to learn what a life of following Jesus Christ is all about.

I pray that each person reading this will one day realize that they need to humble themselves and pray to their Lord God in Heaven to forgive their sins and foolish ways.  I pray that the very person reading this will look up right now, in their heart and mind, and wonder what   THEIR   God, the Only  ONE  God, has in store for them, and that they choose to meet that Divine Appointment that the Lord has waiting for them, to choose  HIM  as their Master and not the world or the things  OF  the world, or even their pride of life.

May God show you your blessings and that you be thankful for them while you still have time.

……….

“And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  Therefore God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name;  that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in Heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”         (Phillipians 2:8-11)

……….

May God Speed you in this endeavor.       Tommy

……..

“Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.  Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.  But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.  Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”      (James 1:12-15)

……….

The point I want to look at in this post is that us Believers  MUST  acknowledge  AND CONFRONT   satan’s power  AS  we also acknowledge and confront  GOD’S  Power.                  WE MUST  constantly remain sober-minded and vigil and take our Lord Jesus Christ  VERY, very seriously.           WE WILL NOT BE PUT IN A SITUATION WHERE WE CANNOT SUCCEED IN OUR SAVIOR!              O.K.  ????               We  MUST   know our fraility but we  MUST  give it to God.      

THIS is what we are dealing with …………..  our own fraility.              We deny our Lord and Savior daily in our many thoughts and actions.  We are asleep, and will stay that way, unless and until we yield to God  ……………..  if we don’t, then we yield to sin ……….. there are no two ways about it.         And the only way to step away from satan’s daily temptations is to give ourselves to prayer.     Without prayer, our desires will continue to run rampant and we will then just be led to temptations.

……….

In my old life I had no problems with temptations at all, because I didn’t believe in sin.                Yes, I  WAS NOT ACKNOWLEDGING  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  GOD  !!                   There  ARE  no two ways about it.     I told myself, and convinced myself, that I had free will and that was that.   If I was tempted to commit a particular sin, and really wanted to do it, all I had to do was to come up with a plan, a way of committing the sin so that I wouldn’t get caught.            You see, I was a really,  REALLY  good thief.   I could shop-lift about anything I wanted to, and I got by with it for years.   I’d just pick stuff up in a store without concealing it, and walk out the door.    Sure I had to be very observant, watch my timing, and then do it.       It was simple and I never got caught.         And my rationalization was that, “Hey, these big chain stores have  PLENTY  of insurance for theft!   No one took a loss!”                        Yeh, right.    The store had its product-value shrink and I had another sin accounted to my already-bad credit with God.       No big deal  !  

Time for another, “Yeh, right!”   ??     Surely.           

We fool no one in our sinful escapades, dear Friends.  Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, stands right beside us all the while, seeing all and knowing all that we do or don’t do.

……….

Satan’s power:          we have no control over it.  He is in  ALL  of our thoughts, even when we are praying or getting ready to go to church.   He hits us at our weakest moment and in our weakest areas of life.     He knows us better than we know ourselves.    And the moment you think you have him figured out,  THAT’S  the moment that he has you trapped in his deceit.     He’ll make you  THINK  that you have your sins under control.             He’ll make you  THINK  that your  “little sins” are O.K., in comparison to some folks sins.    In the paper you can read every day about someone robbing a bank or killing someone, right?   You’d  NEVER  do something like  THAT, would you?   Yep, there are millions of people in prisons that have done things that you haven’t even considered doing!      You’re in the clear, right?   You go to church regularily, right?   You tithe, to really study the Bible and pray every day, right?    You give to orphanages and the food bank, and even put extra money in the offering for special funds, right?        So do I.       And  THOSE THINGS  make us feel good, don’t they?   They make us feel we’re loving the Lord and doing good.        Yes, and these thoughts distract us from looking at the little sins;   the insignficant stuff that seems so minor.       

But we surely don’t think about those little sins much, do we?     We bother, why fret ourselves with guilt, right?     We’re upstanding in the church and even maybe even serve on a prayer team or lead a Bible study group!     WE’RE GOOD TO GO, man!     Heaven is our next stopping point, right?

……….

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and he shall direct your paths.               Do not be wise in your own eyes.               Fear the Lord and depart from evil.  It will be health to your flesh and strength to your bones.”                   {Proverbs 3:5-8)

……….

Heavenly Father, please enlighten my eyes daily on my ego-tripping.  I so often take for granted the Freedom which I did not earn in You.  I so often do not remember to remember what Jesus did for me, so that I might be clean in Your eyes.       I am unGodly, Lord, and will never be anywhere near righteous without acknowledging that only Jesus can save me from satan’s attacks.    Thank you, God, for keeping me alert in You.     In my Savior’s Name I pray.

……….

I was chatting with someone I had not met before the other day.  He was a little younger than I and had some very insightful questions about my faith-practice.  He has know the Lord for years but said that he was “faltering” some in his following, being doubtful at times about just how  “faithful”  he really was.             I told him that all people, even most Believers, have their individual up’s and down’s in their emotions.              Strong some days, REALLY  strong other days, and then often there are days when faith seems distant.          And then there are times when you can’t really feel the Lord at all in your walk.                   It’s normal, I told him.   No human being is always  “UP”  in their attitude, mood, basic demeanor, even if some folk try to let on that they are.

So the mans finally asks me, “What can I do, Tom, to keep motivated …… to keep going, so that I know that I am following Christ Jesus?          Sometimes I just don’t have the enthusiasm that I think I should.”              So, after a  few moments thought, I told him that it is often so very easy, even with seasoned Believers, to be either lulled into a false sense of spiritual security or often just forgetful of one’s priorities in life.

So I told him that I regard my faith-practice like a knife and whet stone.  If you want the knife to stay effective you have to keep it sharpened.  You have to keep an edge on it.            And a person’s faith-practice goes the same way.              You have to re-vamp your practices now and then, to remind yourself to stay active and interested in the Lord’s Work.      To me, it’s a very, very healthy thing to do quite often.

Witness your faith, even now and then.                 Get on your knees and think about what you are doing there.  You are bowing before the Lord God of Heaven and Earth, Who is eternal and all-knowing, and is everywhere at all times.              Feel God, in other words.               And stay active in your church.  Volunteer for things, even if you are shy or maybe withdrawn, or maybe it’s something you haven’t done before, like help in the nursery or visit a hospital.         You are never alone in this, OK?   Every one has things that they feel uncomfortable doing.             Other shy folks are there serving, too;  it’s just that they are acting a little bold.                Read the Bible VERY often and think about what you read.  Take notes and ask folk in your church if you can’t understand certains things.              I recommend  VERY  highly to memorize passages and review them often.  The rewards in this speak for themselves, once you begin doing it, I promise.

I ask God to guide me daily in the different aspects of my faith-practice.  I ask Him to tell me when I am faltering.              The same goes for our thankfulness.  Remind yourself   VERY  often of the things that have happened in your life and what things you have around you in your home that are of value to you.   It’s all a gift.                            Ask yourself often just  WHAT  your priorities are in life.              And, mostly, get tired of your habitual sins, OK?  Avoid the places and people and situations where you are drawn back to the sins you want to divorce.  Ask God to lead you in this, for it’s  SO  important.

Exercise your faith-practice, is what this post is about.  Keep your knife sharp.  Ask yourself often if you are doing these things.

………

I keep a small slip of paper in my shirt pocket that I look at, at least once a week. 

Here’s what I have written on this little piece of paper, OK?    

CAN YOU LIVE THIS WAY?   1) Am I trying to imitate Christ’s compassion and forgiving nature?              2)  Let love guide your life.              3)  Let the peace of God rule your life.                 4)  Always be thankful.               5)  Keep God’s Word in you at all times.        6)  Live as Jesus’ representative.

Yes, I know this is a high bar to place before Tommy, but Tommy wants to have that high bar there, OK?            Tommy doesn’t want to get lulled into a false sense that he is O.K. with God, that’s it’s all smooth sailing, now that he’s asked Jesus into his life.           You see, I can no longer be the Christian who tells himself, “Hey, I’ve been baptized and I believe that Jesus died for my sins!”, and then goes about life as usual, never giving repentence another thought.

……….

Please read again the passage at the top of this post.  Yes, especially the part in bold.  Do you know what it means?

……….

Dear Lord, You are  SUCH  an awesome God.  You wait for us to look for You.  I just can’t believe it!  Why would You do this?   Why do you love us so much?   Will we ever know?   Surely Heaven will have such a reward!  Thank you, Father, for wanting me to love You.  In Jesus Name I pray.

……….

Do you have a whet stone? And do you know how to use it?                  It’s all in the angle of the blade of your knife, as you apply it to the sharpening material molded into the stone. It’s also about the pressure you apply to the blade as you move it on the stone.  It’s also about the motion you use with your hand and the direction of the knife as you apply it to the stone.                   The application of yourself to your faith-practice is very similiar.         Pay attention to details and don’t be in a hurry.  Go easy into the details of how you want to serve your Lord and Creator.  He will guide you.  God has invested eternity,  YES ETERNITY, into your shaping.          You were made in His Image and He wants to perfect you into a honed tool for His Word here on earth.  

The Lord  WILL  lead you on the paths of righteousness for the Sake of His Own Name, I am assured.  Allow your old nature to be trod on, my Friend, by a renewed faith in Him Who died for you on The Cross.          And never  EVER let your faith-practice slide into a state where you are meerly pretending to be a Believer.         Remember to remember, also, that  ALL PEOPLE   have or will experience either an eternity of blessings or condemnation in hell.  

……….

“Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son on Man is coming.”   (Matthew 25:13)

               Take care.  Tommy Two Feathers