(Gen. 18:14, Jer. 32:27, Luke 1:37, & Matt. 19:26 keywords: With God all things are possible) Nothing is impossible for God. (Rom. 11:33 & Col. 1: 16-17) God knows all things, by Him all things consist (Psa. 147:5 keyword: infinite) and God is infinite (all, limitless, endless, impossible to measure or calculate). (Isa. 55:8-9) Man is finite (limited). Man can only see this side of death; “There he lays, he’s dead!”
God sees the other side of death. Jesus has been on both sides of death (John 19:38-42 then 20:1-9) and He came back. (John 11:25-26) Jesus said; “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: (V.26) And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?” SCRIPTURALLY HERE IS HOW JESUS ACCOMPLISHED WHAT HE DID WITH MY SON AND ME.
Meditate/meditation:
(Job 37:14) “Hearken (listen and ponder) unto this, O Job: stand still (tarry and dwell on), and consider (understand and perceive) the wondrous works of God.”
(Gen. 1:1-31): God did not consult Job, or you, or me, or any man when: (V.3-5) God came from a place called forever with everlasting in His power and looked into the great formless void of the darkness of nothing and said; “let there be light” and God named the darkness Night and the light Day: when: (V.6-8) God casually made the heavens and the waters and divided them: perhaps it was there that He said; (Psa. 33:7-9) “I’ll set the bounds of the seas with bowls of sand;”
(Eccl. 1:7) “all the rivers of the earth will run into them but they will not run over; (Job 36:27-28) I will make laws that fresh water moisture in molecular structure will evaporate from the salt sea and form clouds, I will have the wind carry the clouds over the land to fall as rain and cleanse the land and take the trash back to the great salt seas to be destroyed and this fresh water from the clouds shall sustain life on land:”
“I am God, I said it and it will be so”: when: (V.9-10) God contoured the land with His thoughts and gathered the seas with His finger: when: (V.11-13) God, with beauty and taste in mind, set the genetic profile of the plants and trees as He created them: That was when God said; “they will be self-sustaining with their berries, seeds and nuts: I said it and it will be so because I am God”:
when: (V.14-18) God, with effortless ease, (Psa. 136:7-9) cast the lights (luminous body) into the great darkness to form the cosmos, our tiny universe, and our very own minuscule solar system: (Gen. 1:14-17, Job 9:7-9, 38:31-32 keywords: Pleiades, Orion, Mazzaroth & Arcturus- which are constellations of stars & Col. 1:16-17) For effect God had said; “I will hang the luminous bodies upon ropes of nothing, they will wheel across the sky on invisible roads and my greatest creation will stand in wonder and in awe at my power:” when: God thought the great gene pool into existence and went to work with a will.
That’s when (Col. 1:16-17 & Eccl. 3:21) He said; “Let them figure all this out and when they figure it all out they will still know nothing because they cannot find the source of the life that throbs there!” when: (V.20-22) God filled the waters with an abundance of dazzling creatures and filled the air with breathtakingly beautiful birds; and He must have smiled at how our jaw would drop with breathless wonder at the endless variety, when: (V.24-25) God, with humor and ingenuity, filled the land, the grass, shrubbery, flowers, ferns, leaves, moss and trees and the mountains, meadows, valleys and plains with chirping, crawling, creeping, bounding, running, mooing life:
That’s when God said; (Col.1:1-17) “I will set instinct in all these creatures and they will do what I say because I am God and by Me all things consist. (Isa. 43:16) I will set the paths of the fish in the waters and they will go in those paths.” (Joel 1:18-19 & Rom. 8:22 then Rev. 11:18 keyword: destroy) Perhaps God frowned a bit here when He thought how His greatest creation would rape and destroy this beautiful creation because of greed, pride and lust for power; but man must have the power of choice.
(Psa. 50:10-11 & 104:11-25) God set the paths of the roe (deer) and hart (rabbit); “I am God and I said they will walk there. My greatest creation will marvel because My animals will follow the paths I have set; My greatest creation will build his puny roads across My paths; he will wreck his automobiles in collisions with My animals and spend his millions for repairs and he will marvel but My animals will still go because I am God and I said they would.” (Job 38:4-9 esp. V.7) And the angels had sang while God was creating (Ezek. 28:13-14) so, obviously, the angels were created first.
THEN MAN
#1) (Dan. 3:25) The Hebrews were in the captivity of the Babylonians and the Son of God (Jesus) appeared in the flesh in the fiery furnace with the 3 Hebrews.
#2) (Josh. 5:13-15 esp. V.14 keyword: worship) Jesus appeared in the flesh to Joshua to help conquer Jericho. Key: an angel would not have accepted Joshua’s worship.
#3) (Matt. 17:2 keyword: transfigured–>from the Greek word–>metamorphoo–>which means–>to change, metamorphose, transform.) <–Jesus, in reverse to #1 & 2, manifested Himself as God in front of Peter, James and John.
(Matt. 3:16-17 key: Jesus standing, Spirit of God descending and God speaking from heaven) God can separate Himself and assume any form He desires any time He pleases.
God’s presentation of Himself to man is (Gen. 1:1-31) #1 God -spirit (life itself, sometimes called the spark of life)-/Creator, (John 4:29-42) #2 Jesus-body/Saviour and (John 14:15-23) #3 Holy Spirit-soul/Comforter. (Col. 2:8-9) In Jesus dwells all the Godhead bodily. (Gen. 1:26) #1-3 is the US of God!
(Col. 1:13-17 esp. V.15) Jesus is the image (representation) of the invisible God. (Gen. 1:26) When God said; “Let US make man in our image” God’s body, soul, and spirit (the essence of life that has nothing to do with breathing) was the US and man, made in God’s image, (1Thess. 5:23) is also body, soul and spirit, (Luke 16:19-31) Each of us, You, will forever be you and you will be alive. (Matt. 28:18 & Rom. 13:1) God can do anything and can come and go as He pleases (Psa. 19:1 & 24:1 then Col. 1:16-17) because He is sovereign.
Obviously (Gen. 2:1) the Spirit of God manifested into His Jesus Person for this special creation. Before this God had said; “Let there be, Let the waters bring forth and Let the earth bring forth.”
That’s WHEN: But for this one, (Luke 24:39) His greatest creation, God gave it His personal touch by using His hands, fingers and mouth. (Gen. 2:6-7) (V.6) “There went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.” (V.7) “And the Lord God formed (to squeeze into shape, mold into a form as a potter, fashion) man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” This is explained once again in depth below.
(Eph. 3:9 keywords: who created all things by Jesus Christ) The Spirit of God had slowly transformed into the body of something. The angels had never seen a man so they didn’t know what it was!
The angels must have looked with rapt attention as they (Job. 38:7 keyword: sang) sang and surely they wondered while God/Jesus knelt there (Gen. 2:6) on the moist soil and started squeezing and forming something out of the damp dust of the earth. The idea had not sunk into their thoughts when God had said (Gen. 1:26) “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:”
NOTE: (Gen. 2:17 & 3:23-24) Time did not start until man was cast out of the garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve stepped out of the garden of Eden hour one of year one of their lifetimes began. (Gen. 3:22 keywords: for ever & Rev. 10:6 keywords: there should be time no longer) In forever, timeless, it is now. Since we are presently trapped in time and always is actually a type of a frame of time to us, I will say it in a more understandable way. It is always NOW. END OF NOTE.
(John 1:1-4 & 1John 1:1-4) Can you see Jesus? He was surely crouched there on His knees, He had forever to work and He surely took as long (a frame of time to promote your understanding) as He wanted because He was working on His greatest creation, (1Cor. 6:3) who, in the far, far future, would judge those angels!
With “hands on” care, infinite patience, gentle kindness and the greatest loving detail Jesus formed a skeleton of joints, cartilage and bones out of the never trod upon, moist, dust of the earth. It was Jesus’ special time because this one, like none of the others, was in His own image.
With infinite grace and a Master Potter’s hands Jesus molded and built layer upon layer of bones, vital organs, muscle and connective tissue. Jesus, the wise master builder, with tender hands, laid the earthen endocrine, nervous, respiratory and circulatory systems.
He carefully fashioned the earthen brain to sit squarely on a knob that was on top of the string of earth that would be a spinal cord housed, for right now, in its formed earth, protective housing of flexible un-jointed bones which were cushioned by discs. How loving and kindly the God/Jesus of everlasting must have been when He placed part of the autonomic nervous system through all the parts of the brain just like an invisible overlay.
That knob is where God placed part of the autonomic nervous system. Perhaps God smiled a bit right then when He thought how mankind would work, connive, theorize and study and try to figure out how every part of man’s body operated and man would put a name on everything.
Man would eventually give names to all parts of this precious, wonderful brain (Gen. 21:33) so the God of everlasting had simply placed the rest of the autonomic nervous system through all the parts of the brain just like an invisible overlay. Now, let them figure that out! With this autonomic nervous system man wouldn’t have to consciously think to breathe, beat his heart, dodge an unexpected flying object by reflex, regulate his temperature, tell his glands to secrete chemicals, digest food and etc. Of course God did, its there isn’t it, and it works too, doesn’t it?
(John 1:1-4 keywords: beginning, Word & 1John 1:1-4 keywords: beginning, Word) The Great God of glory already had His sacred scriptures written in His magnificent mind AND: (Matt. 13:10-16) He loved His secret things, His mysteries, His scriptures that many times had a depth of many meanings that He would reveal to those whom He chose. He would have the writer of Hebrews (Heb. 9:27) write; “And as it is appointed (reserved) unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”
ALSO: (Heb. 2:9-14) “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” God knew His children would think this concerned eternal life and eternal death and they would be right BUT: (Heb. 2:9-14 esp. V.11 keywords; “they who are sanctified” and “BRETHREN”) those who lived and believed in His Son Jesus, JESUS’ BROTHERS AND SISTERS (BRETHREN), would have a special surprise when they realized God’s wonderfully tender mercy extended far beyond their expectations!
SO: God had a greater purpose for that autonomic nervous system. He knew His Son would make a promise to people who would one day be called Christians and that promise would be recorded by a faithful servant called John; (John 8:51 & 11:26)“And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?”
God knew, with this autonomic nervous system, the human body could live on its own for a while even though the soul had departed. (Ex. 3:14 & John 14:6 keywords in both: I AM) After all, “I AM” is the God of Glory Who came from everlasting; those who lived and believed in His Son Jesus had an appointment with death (Heb. 2:9 & 11) but His precious Son would keep that appointment for them on the bloody cross at a place that would be called Calvary.
THEN: (1Tim. 6:20) God frowned a bit because He knew some men, those who believed in evolution, would call this knob at the base of the brain the reptilian brain and they would say the little knob had developed while man was evolving from some single cell bit of life in a sea side pool, through the reptilian stage, on into the mammalian stage of evolution. Yes, it did hurt that men could be so foolish but mankind MUST always have the power to choose what he wanted to believe. (1Tim. 2:4) It would be nice if all them would come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved BUT:
If God forced mankind against their will to love Him they would say; “I love you.” but they would hate Him in their silent souls for hurting them. OR: If God created mankind to say; I love You.” it would be robotic, no more than a gumball machine or a pop-up toaster, without choice, will, emotion or personality. OR: If God gave mankind great wealth to love Him their “I love you.” would be empty words, they would say them because they loved the wealth. (Gen. 1:26-28 & 2:4-25 then John 3:16-21, Mark 12:30-31 & Phil. 2:5-8) God wants people to choose to love Him for who He is and what He is; His personality, His SELF.
They could believe in His precious Son, (John 10:27-30) the God of life, and (John 11:26) go live with Him in forever living or they could accept Satan, (2Cor. 4:4 & Heb. 2:14) the devil, the god of death, (Rev. 20:10-15 esp. V. 10 keywords: for ever and ever then V.15) and go be with him in forever dying. After all, each and every person, every human, would be an eternal creation (Luke 16:19-31) because the spark of life, the spirit of life from God, would always be connected to the soul even if the body was dead. Choices!
Picture yourself dead! (Eccl. 12:5-7 & 2Cor. 4:16 keywords: outward man, inward man) God gave man the ability to distinguish that the inward, eternally alive man can look at the outward, temporarily alive man (your lifetime) as a warning message from Him. You will always be you (Rom. 10:8-13) and your eternal destination is determined by your choice.
when: While He worked in there His infinitely gentle fingers gently laid the stirrup, anvil, and hammer that would be the hearing bones and He tenderly covered them with earthen eardrums. He set the teeth, voice box and trachea. Ahhhh, perfect hands and feet to feel and run.
Carefully, ever so carefully, the greatest Sculptor fashioned the perfect features that composed the earthen face; the slightly bulging eyes beneath their earthen lids, the arched earthen eyebrows, the delicate sweeping eyelashes, the arch of the nose with its delicately flared nostrils, the curling whorls of the external ear, the slight bulges of the cheekbones, the flat planes of the cheeks that curved into lips that would someday smile and curse.
He lovingly covered the bare earthen skull with skin and full, sweeping, earthen hair. (Gen. 2:19) Jesus already knew he would call this first man Adam (to show blood in the face, rosy) as soon as He finished the creation sequence.
when: God/Jesus sat back for a timeless moment and looked at the beauty of the dead, grey earthen body before Him; “in His own image”. There must have been a look of sorrow upon the face of the One who came from forever (1Tim. 6:9-10; 2Tim. 3:13; & Rev. 11:18) when He thought how this, His greatest creation and his progeny, in lust and greed would fight, war, connive, hurt and steal so they could rape, rob and destroy this gorgeous planet (Eph. 4:29-32 & 2Pet. 3:9) and of all the pain, suffering, sorrow and grief they would cause Him.
Then His face must have changed from sadness to at least the hint of a smile (James 5:11) because some of them would also bring happiness and joy to His tender heart.
There was no other way though; (John 6:64-69 & Heb. 11:25) man must have the power of choice for God to obtain what He wanted most; (Mark 12:30) that some of them would freely, of their own free will, choose to love God/Jesus with all their hearts. This one of a kind world He had made teemed with beautiful, surging life He had created and He was happy to give all this wonder and beauty to His greatest creation; this wonderful creation “in God’s image” who was the centerpiece of Jesus’ creative efforts.
when: (Gen. 2:7) All of creation must have stilled and come to motionlessness because of the intensity of the moment when the Beautiful God of Glory started slowly and steadily bending, bending, bending closer and closer to the lifeless earthen face. The forever face finally touched the cold, emotionless earthen face that knew not and lived not. For a split second their faces touched and all life on planet Earth held its breath; then Jesus gently breathed into the earthen nostrils the breath of life.
NOTE: That breath the Creator gave is the breath of eternal life and it had nothing to do with breathing. (read this scripture: John 5:26) God is Life itself; Jesus is life itself; eternal life. (2Cor. 4:16 keywords: outward man, perish, inward man) When you die your outward man (body) will perish but your inward man (soul) and (life itself) leaves together to go to whichever eternal destination you have chosen.
Here is the Biblical proof: (Luke 16:19-31) (V.25) One was comforted and the other was tormented. They both had their physical senses and mental ability even though they no longer had a body with a brain, lungs and heart but they were alive in their eternity and (V.23) they could see, (V.24) cry, talk, feel, (V.26) understand, (V.27) hear, pray (V.28) remember, reason, feel emotion- he loved and worried about his brothers, (V.30) and make an argument based on reason. END OF NOTE.
The heart began a hesitant, faint pounding; the living man gasped and started to breathe; oxygen laden blood slowly started surging through the living arteries; the grey skin pinkened and became rosy with life; the heart steadied down and blood sang its song of life through the arteries and veins. The breathing deepened, slowed and became regular.
The man’s eyes fluttered open, the pupils contracted from the sudden light; then the living eyes focused and God could see the conscious knowledge and the perceptive, reasoning awareness of a living soul in their depths. Creator and created, God and man, just a few inches apart, stared into the eternity in each other’s eyes.
Do you understand; really, really understand, how important you are to God? You are worth the life of God’s own Son. Take time to ponder (meditate) about it.
FOUNDLING, CHANGLING, GLADLING
Do you know there were actually three curses placed on mankind in the Garden of Eden? They are (Gen. 3:23-24) The curse of separation; (Gen. 3:19) The curse of death; AND (Gen. 3:16-17) The curse of sorrow.
I can only write with the burdening, leading and inspiration of God. If I write words inspired by me they will come to nothing. At all costs I must keep me out of it and depend on God. Part #1 was finished. During that time I “felt” that God wanted me to physically write two words on a note pad I keep at my computer desk. I did and they are Changling and Gladling; that’s all, just two words but there was a “sense” of waiting for more.
God knows just exactly when to show me He is in charge and that I am only the “pencil“. The third word came, Foundling, and I wrote it with a pencil on my note pad with the other two words. But I was not allowed to write, or more correctly, there was nothing to write. These three words are not in the Holy Bible. I looked in the dictionary and found Changeling and Foundling. Gladling is simply a new word. I “wondered” if there was such a word as ling. It is not in the Bible but it is in the dictionary and now God has “inspired me” to write about the three words.
Do not forget this sentence>>>These three words, FOUNDLING, CHANGLING AND GLADLING, have shined the bright light of spiritual understanding upon THREE SPIRITUAL EVENTS that will happen at different times in the life of every Christian because the redemption Jesus provided will wipe out the three curses placed on mankind in the “fall from grace” in garden of Eden.
ling: One that is young, one connected with, one having a specified quality.
(Rom. 8:14-17) Foundling: A deserted child who is not known.
(Phil. 3:21) Changeling: A child secretly exchanged for another.
(Psa. 46:4 & 126:3) Gladling: A child who is beginning to understand gladness.
Jesus said; (Matt. 18:3) “Verily (truly) I say unto you, except ye be converted (turn around, to reverse direction), and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” THINK ABOUT THAT. Little child=innocence!
The salvation aspect of the definition of Grace is; (to stoop in kindness to an inferior, be merciful and have pity upon).
(Eph. 2:6) “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:” SO: The faith to be saved is a gift from God because of God’s grace. PROOF: (Heb. 11:6) Without faith it is impossible to please God.
(John 1:14) Jesus is filled with grace.
(Heb. 10:29) The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of grace.
(Eph. 2:4-8 esp. V.7) God is grace (Psa. 86:15) because He is gracious.
(John 3:14-17; then 1John 1:1 – 2:3; then John 15:10-19 esp. V.15)
Didn’t I leave beautiful heaven
to die for your awful sin?
Didn’t I search until I found you?
Didn’t I save you and become your Friend?”
FOUNDLING
Do you spiritually remember when you the inward person, you the soul, you the infinitely precious, living, eternal person realized you were destitute, abandoned and alone beside your road of life; (Luke 19:10 then John 6:44) the time when you really, really understood you were lost because God had revealed it to you during your time of drawing and you realized the awful reality of going to hell if you did not accept salvation? I personally experienced that before God saved me! (Matt. 18:3) Below is spiritually what happened from a child’s point of view. I know how it is because my three sons were saved as children and, of course, they told me how they felt.
You were in a desolate place. Mommy and Daddy couldn’t help. There was no hope; cringing in terrible dread because you were lost; eaten alive by the certain, awful knowledge that you would really die and really go to hell and there was not one thing you could do to prevent it! That awful feeling of being a child, crying in terror and everything spinning out of control; helpless, hopeless, horror filled because some horrid, evil thing is stalking you like a savage, bloodthirsty, (1Pet. 5:8) ravening lion ready to slash you, and destroy you, and devour you there in your darkness.
Spiritually you can smell its sickening, rotted breath. Its glaring, reddened, hellish eyes have you paralyzed (2Cor. 11:3 & Rev. 11:9 and 20:2) like a bird serpent charmed and its low, hoarse, grunted growls turn your spiritual bones to clotted blood. Nowhere to run! No way to fight!
Then the gracious God of Glory, filled with grace, stopped by because He felt tender pity and compassion for you. With His wondrous heart bursting with immeasurable love for you He stooped in merciful kindness and extended His hands. You, that terrified child, screaming, sobbing and clawing grabbed those beautiful nail scarred hands and held on for dear life and desperately scrambled to safety into His sheltering arms.
HOPE! HOPE! ESCAPE! (Gen. 3:23-24, John 14:14-18 & 23, then Eph. 1:13-14) REDEMPTION FROM THE CURSE OF SORROW! “OH GOD! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!” One curse from the Garden of Eden is gone and two are left! And those nail scarred hands tenderly held YOU, (Matt. 18:4) HIS FOUNDLING, close to His bosom in forgiving, tender lovingkindness while you snubbed and hiccupped the dregs of terror away. Then He gave you His name; CHRISTIAN. If you wish to see and understand how salvation is accomplished for an adult read the one article commentary BREATH OF LIFE on this website and please. please give a copy to the lost people you know.
(Matt. 18:3 keywords: little children) If you wish to see how a strong, stubborn, self-righteous adult became like a little child please see the true story article Part 2: Jesus, My Daddy and Me on this commentary. The article in the menu above that one, The Holy Spirit is Truth, contains the true story about the same kind of man, a dear, dear friend to three generations of my family, who would not become as a little child. WARNING: it is a horror story and I lived it with him!
You may have a problem believing the rest of this so; FIRST READ: (John 15:14; Prov. 18:24; Rom. 8:15-17; & John 11:26) Below are two spiritual events that are the result of, through the power of Jesus, a Christian’s victory in his fight, his war, with his own attitude toward and his own reaction to how the devil, the world and its people have affected him.
BUT FIRST A QUESTION: If you had experienced the awful agony of every cell, every nerve, every organ, every bone dying in a time that seemed endless and with a final explosion of pain that killed you just like Jesus did on the cross, then you came back with the power to prevent that agony from happening to those you love best would you prevent it from happening to them? Even with your finite capacity to love of course you would prevent it. (John 15:13-15 & Heb. 2:9-11) Jesus, with His infinite capacity to love, will and does prevent those He loves best from the agony of dying!
CHANGELING
Remember the autonomic nervous system at the creation? (Heb. 9:27) “And as it is appointed unto men once to die,” BUT: (John 11:26) Jesus said; “And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” The respirator is gently wheezing. The heart monitor is quietly measuring and beeping its little, spiky, ever slowing line.
There are needles, and tubes, and bags of mysterious liquid flowing into my ever-narrowing veins. Sadness and tender pity etching their faces, my dear friends and loving family have gathered there in the white room to bid me a fond, loving farewell. They don’t care that the chairs are hard and uncomfortable; they don’t care that the room is a little too cold; they have come to be with me, their dear one, in the final futility of life.
They are already whispering those charming little stories of my bright, smiling life lived; it’s the only eternity they have to give me, there in their warm hearts. Perhaps there’s a bit of selfishness in it too; they want to affirm their own being and if they can keep me alive in their memories maybe they won’t have to think about their own coming final, futility of life. I have experienced emotional pain and physical pain to get here but now I am changing!
The hospital must grind on about its business of doctoring, nursing and administering hopeless hope and those sounds penetrate the room; the clatter of a dropped tray, the bump of a cart, a disembodied voice over the intercom, the sounds of hurry and bustle. I can’t hear so it doesn’t matter.
My lovelies may already be thinking of choices; what were his favorite clothes, will we put praying hands on the casket, what will I wear to his funeral, what kind of flowers will we get?
My dear ones can’t help but stare, count and wonder; “It’s down to minutes now, maybe even seconds.” (Luke 16:22) But they don’t know I’ve already slipped away because some angels came to help me. (Gen. 3:19) “REDEMPTION FROM THE CURSE OF DEATH.” I’ve got things to do and I’m in a hurry. After all, the Son of God made me a promise one time. That old wore out body can go ahead and die all by itself when its autonomic nervous system finally quits; I’m already gone!
Two Eden curses down and one to go! (John 8:51-56; 11:26 & Heb. 2:9-14 key: Jesus beat death when He came back from death) “And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” (Rev. 1:18) Jesus has the keys of hell and death. (1Cor. 15:55) “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”
(Matt. 16:24-27; 2Cor. 7:4-5 & Rom. 7:18-19)
There’s been fear and grief
and sometimes weak belief.
Sometimes more than I could stand
but I held tight to Jesus’ hand.
Failure and pain, I could not bear
but Jesus was always there.
Over and over, Satan’s vile refrain
but I always called on Jesus’ name.
His love and strength are mine
and sad sorrow is left behind.
GLADLING
(Eph. 6:10-18) Remember the spiritual armor mirrored in the physical armor? I’ve hurried and the angels have started back to help somebody else. Right there, right there in front of me is a sandy shore beside a river of darkness and over on the other side is the prettiest light I’ve ever seen and faint voices are singing: “Amazing grace how sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me!” There is a sure peace and contentment that surrounds me.
(Eph. 6:10-18) I stick my sword of the Spirit up in the sand. There’s spiritual chips, nicks and bloodstains where I fought the evil that came at me. “Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,” I take my great shield of faith off my arm. It’s covered with spiritual cuts and slashes where it has protected me so well; and I drop it in the sand. “And grace my fears relieved.”
It is silent around me but over there, over on the other side; over where the beautiful light is glowing they’re still singing and some of the voices sound familiar. “Tis grace that brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home.” That’s when I notice the haft and guard of my sword of the Spirit form a perfect cross and I grin and shiver a little bit.
A little quicker now, I slip off my helmet of salvation and silently regard the spiritual dents, and dings, and bangs from the battles I fought. I’m breathing a little faster as thrilling trills of joy race over me. I can’t help but whisper; “Oh my, oh my, there’s a feeling in the air! I’m close! I’m close! I’m close!”
Impatiently I kick off my shoes of the gospel of peace and ungird my loins so long protected by Jesus’ truth. With glad, excited, trembling fingers I fumble at the buckles of the straps that hold my breastplate of righteousness in place. (1Cor. 2:9) There’s love in the air and the scent of wonder, and joy, and beauty far beyond my wildest imagining.
There’s a light coming across the darkness toward me and I’m breathless with excitement. I finally get my breastplate of righteousness off and I don’t even notice that it is fiery dart scarred, and battered, and scraped. All that don’t matter anymore because I’m too glad to remember the bad things.
With a careless hand I drop my breastplate on the pile of armor scattered around my sword; I’ll never need it again. It’s easy to run; it’s never been like this before; because I’m already filled with forever as I dash effortlessly with thrilling gladness toward the coming light.
(Eph. 3:8-9) There is a changing and suddenly I’m like a child laughing, and laughing, and laughing with pure joy and I’m all caught up in the vast anticipation of the goodness, kindness and immeasurable love that’s coming to get me.
The singing is rising, rising, and I can hear my Son and my Dad and Mom’s voices clear as a bell; my goodness I didn’t know they could sing so pretty; “Bright shining as the sun; We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise, Than when we first begun.” THE PROMISE:
(John 15:14-15) Creator and created, God and man; we stare into the eternity in each other’s warm, loving, friendly, smiling eyes. (John 10:30) With soaring gladness and loving, humble trust I take ABBA’S warm, (Rev. 5:6 keyword-slain) nail scarred hand. His voice is musical beyond compare and I, all of me, inside and out, am bathed in His love and kindness. Remember the creation? (Gen. 3:16-17) “REDEMPTION FROM THE CURSE OF SEPARATION” The third Eden curse is gone!
(John 11:26) “Come on in my good and faithful servant. I made you a promise one time so let’s go into SHOUTIN’ GROUND.” “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.”
Jesus said it, Jesus did it, it will happen and that too is just the way it is!