The Dark Card

‘Watch out now, take care beware of thoughts that linger

Winding up inside your head

The hopelessness around you

In the dead of night’

(‘Beware of Darkness’ from the 1970 triple album ‘All Things Must Pass’ by George Harrison)

        Have you ever found yourself suddenly with a thought..

                            that you know has no place in Christ?

Weeds in the garden.

        Realizing you are suddenly held captive

                    by these ‘things’ that…

                                         if you put ‘them’ on display

                               in the picture frame…

                                        Sadly …

                                                   ‘it’..   would be a ‘self’ portrait.

Matthew 30

          The Parable of the Weeds

 ²⁴ Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵ But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. ²⁶ When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

a ‘dark card’ from within…

 that is now brought before Light.

                    And has been turned from its…face down …

                        To face you.

1 Corinthians 4

He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts.

Hey…you and I have got to stop…

                                                Stop blaming Satan for everything.

                                  

       He uses time and circumstance

                                          to get you to play with your ‘toys’.

    That it is not just without…but within..

                                                sprouts the weeds.

                        Captivated..

you cannot fathom this …

                                         that this ‘thing’ is in ‘your hand’ .

Matthew 30

³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

Yes…He came that we may be ‘new’ creations in Him.

                Yet…

                        we walk with shadows.

!Why?

        This…. Maybe a clue.

2 Corinthians 12 – Pauls vision and His Thorn

⁷ To keep me from becoming conceited…

And..

  the Way.

 ⁹ ..He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

as I run along...it is 5:50 am

I begin the incline..up Prospect Street.

                My pace slows with the added stress of the hill..

with a mile to go…quiet save my footfalls…and I ask God-

        ‘What about miracles…do we need more miracles?..’

John 10

³⁸ But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” ³⁹ Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.

What about miracles?

  Faith..through the writings in scripture, which have been written on your heart and mind.

                                           Faith..that what has been written about Him has happened.

           Faith..that He has done the very thing He set out to do.

                                     Faith..that He has done everything that has been written.

                                            Faith…that you hold a miracle in your hands..every time you open your bible.

     And that,

                        well, maybe what we would consider a ‘miracle’

                                                    a Lazarus..a withered hand restored…a blind man seeing…

is not for you….or me..

                              But for someone else.

John 15

¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

                            like that someone else…sees the dead come to Life

in the resurrected Christ walking before them..

                                

    in you and me.

   We won’t notice..because we have made the most important decision in our lifetime..

                To look at Him in Spirit through Faith, rather than looking at someone ...or something else. 

Well, I have arrived back home..nearly 6.0am.

        As I look at my ‘watch’

                                I think 'my time sucked'..

but isn’t that the Way sometimes?

                              As you go Today..with a head full..

        Stop being so concerned with ‘other people’ getting ‘It.’

They will..

        When you and I do. 

Faith...is the Word

    Read it...Believe it.

It has been done...for you and I.

Ishmaels Filter

 ¹⁹ Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. ^[d] I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. ²⁰ And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. ²¹ But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year." ²² When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.

                Getting down a couple tools to work on the Harley I thought..

                                   'and there's the ‘fork’ in the road..'

                                                                                          

                I put the wrench on the filter, 

                                                            thinking of Gods Love, caring for Ishmael.

                                                                                        .

                  ( hmm..and a whole mess of gentiles.) 

                                                           

                                                        and it is always Gods will...

                                                                                         ... even that One died for all our sins.'

³⁶"Abba,^[a] Father," he said, "everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will."

                                                                         

                             how by yielding to Gods will, the fork in the road came back together in One..

                                                                                                            ..how Jesus became Ishmaels' descendants'...(and our) ultimate 'Filter'

                    well, those thoughts lasted for a moment..and I found myself in a familiar situation…

                                                                     another 'mess' in the garage.

      so.. I pass along this 'insight'...

          

 'removing an oil filter, while looking out the garage door thinking about Ishmael..

                                                             is not the best reciepe for hitting the catch pan with the waste oil..'

                                                                                                                                 

        the waste oil, dark with disposits, now draining into the repositioned catch pan...

                                                                                     

                                                           ...I looked at what I caught on my hands and thought..

                                                                                                                                                                            

                                                                                      sin.

                                            if it was this clear to everyone...our sin...just dripping off our hands..maybe..

                                                                   

                                                                our need of an ultimate 'Filter' would be more ...tangible..

    I rolled my hand over, and regarded the contaminated oil..and thought…                         

          if our need was this evident ..and someone brought me the News of a Filter that IS the only one I will ever need..

                                                                ..One that would that will take all of that filth, and purify my oil..forever..

                                                   

                                          ...yeah, it would be hard to imagine...and sure.. to want it, it helps to know about your own dirty oil..           

                                               but... just how quickly I would accept it ..this 'Filter'..   

                                                                     

                                                                                         would not be because of the idea of it ....but the evidence.. of the Filter.

                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                             in the ‘messengers’ own pure oil.

As we Go, knowing a Filter that is just to unbelievable to be true.. remember..

                                                                            Prayer....is everything… in ‘seeking‘ that it is His will to be done.

 

          ³⁸Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest

   

                                       for it is only He that gives the Gift. this 'Filter'

                                                                              how that with Him..it is Today.

                                                                                                                               

                                                                                                   but without Him.. it is just someday.

Weed

I want a new drug
One with no doubt
One that won't make me talk too much
Or make my face break out

(I Want a New Drug’ from the 1984 album ‘Sports’ by Huey Lewis and The News)

    Luke 1

³Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, ⁴so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. 

 ‘Time is a gypsy caravan
                     steals away in the night ,
                           to leave you stranded in dreamland....’
                                                                 (Rush 1991- 'Dreamland')
                                  I want to first take you back... Way back...to 1986.

 - Apartment life came to a close..
              I had put my fucia colored spandex on for the last time,and left the ‘road band’...('selah')
                                                                     and began playing gigs with area bands.

       As we started a new chapter of life ...Rosemary and I, with our 2 terriers, headed out to the country .
                  We bought a Log cabin on 11 acres.
                           As we pulled into the driveway to the cabin… my eyes locked onto these beautiful small trees...
          a little group of them...between the birches ..that contributed to the canopy over us, as we drove beneath them toward the house.

 I said  'Rosemary...I just love those trees. Just look at the flowers on em. Those leaves are really cool !
         

 My wife replied..
’They’re weeds, Paul. They never cut them back, and they just grew out of control.’
                                 

                                         'Weeds???'
                                                              'Weeds.'
 They were right in there with the silver and white birch..weeds, left unattended,grew huge.
                                                It was sumac. You've probably seen em.
                I hadn't...till Today.
                                           Till they were pointed out to me for what they were.

 By the end of the summer, I had removed them from amongst the birches.
man, the ‘weeds’ had roots that went everywhere. I didn't realize how many, till I started digging.

Funny..
          knowing they were really weeds, changed their appeal to me,and I wanted them out .

My wife didn't want to spoil the moment of joy when I thought they were 'trees'...
she just called a spade a spade. (little digging pun there)

                     think about weed for a minute..and how they can really grow...
                       

                                                    -2011-

 

The Holy Spirits purpose in our life, can go beyond and beneath the place that our prayerful words end.

                      Receiving Him..is stepping Out with the Indescribable...
                                                                                                       to accomplish the unknown..what is beneath.
                            your True Life with the Spirit, is so personal...
                                                                                            and so foreign to 'control'...

                                                      (by the Way..'control' is the 'weed' satan wants you to believe is a 'tree' .)

                                            that we are deceived to see 'the Kingdom' within us..

Luke 17

²¹nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within^[a] you."
                                                                                                 

                                                                                                         for the weeds we've let grow.

                                                                    

                                                                              The Kingdom within..

 -you choose-

                 
                                             

                     ⁵⁵But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

                       ¹⁸When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money ¹⁹and said, "Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit."

¹⁶Then I remembered what the Lord had said: 'John baptized with^[a]water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'

⁶When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues^[c] and prophesied

               

  and if it is to step into the 'unknown' with something you can't see... 

                                               

                                                                                in faith...where you run out of words.
                                                                                                       

                                                     

                     

                                                               you will be amazed to find Who is waiting for you there. 

             Personal baby..

                             personal Savior...

                                    and still..to this day...He Gives His 'gifts'

                                                  To Have faith in God through Jesus...and stop reasoning away all His evidence.

                                                                                  .. that every moment has Purpose... like it or not.

               As followers of Yeshua..we will live life in a 'tension'...

                                                                    where we are not 'done' or 'undo-able'...

                                                                                            but striving forward...drawn to Him.

       

        Our hearts are so complex...we need the Holy Spirit beyond words..’to weed’.

                                        We can identify the flower, the stalk, the leaf, and even the dirt where the weed resides in us.

                                  We can use words and illustrations to capture what we see, and say it is a weed..but the roots..
                                                                                   we can’t see the roots.
                                                        And that...
                                                                     that is where receiving the Holy Spirit..is an adventure that words can't capture.
                                                                                               
                            It is His job...His work as Spiritual coordinator...
                                            for the One that has a claim on you, even Jesus.

 ²⁶In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

            Intercessory Spirit...

                                         Prayer language..His

Sometimes I believe the very thing that is holding back revival in the hearts of believers everywhere.. are our ‘words’.

          Not necessarily spoken,

                              but even thought..typed.

                                                       even though they are well intended to convey..subdue or capture our thoughts.

                     That I believe more than ever, the words of our Savior.. 

²⁹Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you"; ³⁰and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, "See that no one knows about this."

                               That it is the changed Life within,that will speak for you.

                                                 that He.. is beyond words,

                       and that words are only the springboard to the Water that awaits you...when you choose to dive in

                                                                                to Spiritual Reality

To ‘think’ it is ‘this’ or ‘that’..or that you have a 'plan', when it comes to the intercession that is afforded us through the Holy Spirit..

                     compromises your potential in Jesus the Christ...
                                                         

                                   and postpones the greatest Mystery to be revealed to you.

 ²⁵At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.

That you know of Him..

                and that there is but a little farther you need to go ...alone..
                                 

                         to be embraced by Him. .. He, that is more than anything you know..
                                                    

      You must let Him have you ...
                                 like... your hands off the wheel ...kind of have you.-

          

    Hey man, I am no pioneer in this experience...
                                                      we all are.

Forget about your words..

    and don't try to understand His.. as He speaks on your behalf, from the place within you,

                                                                            we try to describe as 'our heart'.
                           

        I am here to testify..that even if a Spiritual gift is revealed in you..

.                ³⁹Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.

                                     

                                                 He is a wild thing..and He is.

           Hey, letting go,?
                               It is not easy...can I get a witness?

                                 and it will not happen till you run out of words, and that place within you says to Him-

                                        

                              Have me.
                                                             Now...

                                                                              and 'be filled.'
            

 The revelation of the Gift is a step into the unknown...

                 it goes beyond the point 'as far as we know'

                  

                        that the voice of an interceeding Holy Spirit calls out to God from within us...and yes..audibly

                                      on our behalf to our filter, Jesus Christ.
                     

                                               -The worlds Filter-
'

                                 Our release of 'control'- satans 'weed.'. in His Name...
                                                                                         

                                 to be His,
                                            that the Counselor may speak for us        

                                                                            guide us ...teach us..

                                                                                       the root of our problem.

                                                              

                                                                                       He is.. ‘The Building Inspector’-

                                             and will bring you the greatest peace and understanding of God that you have ever known.

 

                                            Is our time here still trying? Can it suck? Feeling persecuted??

                               Well, what does the Savior say about it?

                                ¹²Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

                                ³³"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

                                                       - Believe Him-

                                                                  Choose Him to be all...or none.

 ³²"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. ³³But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.
 ³⁴"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵ For I have come to turn
   " 'a man against his father,
      a daughter against her mother,
   a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law -
    ³⁶a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.'^[e]  
37"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; ³⁸and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

                                   ..and the Comforter?                      

                                          Hey…maybe it is time you just stop trying to drive..
                       

                                                                          let go of the wheel and...and Let God.

                                           

                                                He is an amazing Driver