This Day; This Battle

A silent mantle of mist slowly rises as sunlight creeps down the coniferous hillside.  

I walk. I run. I wrestle. I pray.

It is a theme I cannot deny. 
Everywhere I turn, everywhere I go, I see fresh reminders of its undisguised reality.

Thoughts in the shower,
     wood-splitting with my brother,
          conversations with friends,
               work with saws and sanders,
                    recent blogposts,
                         a walk with my dear Mother,
                              family worships and personal devotions…

Evidences are everywhere.
There is a real battle to fight. Conflicts to engage in. Souls to be won.

Rest is not an option. There is no time to live mediocre Christianity.
I’m learning, a part-time Christian is no Christian at all.

In my half-asleep reality, it seems so real. The wrestling arena is filled. 

The atmosphere is intense. And then I see Him. His powerful form causes 

the strongest black-cloaked wrestler to shudder. There is no question who 

will come off Victor. My Savior can win every wrestling match. 

So it’s off to the thick of battle…
I must wrestle for those who cannot wrestle for themselves, holding the arm of the Divine.

“If God be for us, who can be against us?”

"You Shall Call Me, Father…"

{Jeremiah 3}

Christ’s chosen bride, His beloved, has utterly violated the sacred vows of marriage—despite the fact that an incalculable dowry had been given to claim her as His own.
Time after time she has renounced her promise to faithfulness and fallen into a life of whoredom and harlotry.

See the tears running down the face of the Bridegroom as He watches her turn from the path of righteousness up a winding path leading to groves of trees waving on the hilltops.

“My beloved,” He cries, “Return unto me, for I am merciful and will not remain angry with you. Only acknowledge your sins and return unto me, for I am married to you…”

Still married after such absolute desecration of sacred trust? How can that be possible?
No earthly marriage patterned after such disloyalty would endure.

Yet divorce is not an option for Christ. He will ever remain faithful to His bride.
And the Father, watching this abomination to His Son’s reputation, what will He do?

He claims her still, as His daughter.
“You shall call me, Father…”

There is no greater love.

no. greater.

A Noble Vine

{Jeremiah 2}

Nobility: “the quality of being noble in character, mind, birth, or rank.”

It was the right rootstock planted in the hearts of the right people,
yet somehow something had gone wrong,  
terribly wrong…

They had carelessly slashed the living vine, grafting an inferior, degenerated one in its place.
And they were reaping the results.

Yet God still pleads with them and offers to re-graft the right vine into their lives.
He longs for them to be representatives of nobility, pinnacles of His creation—noble vines.

He longs for you. He longs for me.

How will I respond to the Grafter’s plea?

Touched by God

{Jeremiah 1}

I cannot speak. I am just a child. I am unqualified.
Excuse. Excuse. Excuse.

When God touches your life, excuses hold no validity.

God says what He means.
His word enables.

"We are to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect, not by struggle and effort, but by the impartation of that which is Perfect." {Oswald Chambers}

“Be ye therefore perfect…”

Yes… Be.