Stevemidkiff's Blog

There is no fiery furnace!

There is no stormy sea!

There is no impossible situation!

Where God can not rescue us from it all

It is God & God only that can give the grace

to walk on, or walk through a gross & impossible

circumstance

We learn from prayer our unworthiness

It’s disturbing how independent we are! It’s shocking!

We’re proud, we’re haughty,

we’re snarky & we think

we got it handled.

We need God to constrain us to pray.

We need Him to put us up against raw impossibilities.

Gods mercies aren’t cheap.

His responses aren’t automatic.

We are poor.

We are beggars.

So what do poor beggars do?

They beg! They cry out!

We vocalize our lacks.

We can’t be shy about inventorying our needs,

Lets get at it!

Why not catalog all our necessities,

Lets expose every wound,

Go ahead & let’s reveal our true insufficiency & inadequacy.

Fill out every imaginable application for Gods

unfathomable wealth,

Don’t hide anything!

Just admit how humanly

empty & totally bankrupt we really are!

We may think we have it together!

We make think we have a plan.

Actually we’re a vacuum.

We can’t deny it!

We’re destitute!

We’re actually dependent for each breath we breathe.

We can’t make another step without the Lord

We need Him for everything.

We can’t make It another moment

without His grace & mercy.

Why not admit it every moment?

Why not be poor in self & rich in Jesus?

It is through our personal weaknesses we’re

made strong in God’s Spirit of prayer!

We don’t really have any dependable resources.

Its by praying to Jesus that we’re able to do the smallest things.

Its by coming to Jesus that we admit our needs.

Its by praying to Jesus that we’re made mighty through

God to do great exploits.

It’s by prayer that we attempt to describe Jesus & His incredible worth

It’s by prayer that we adore our God. Isn’t He worthy of our veneration!

This is where we need to be

humble creatures in the very dust

loving on God for His indescribable, inexpressible wonders!!!

God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need Him.

We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom, courageous in seastorm & earthquake

Before the rush & roar of oceans, the tremors that shift mountains.

Jacob-wrestling God fights for us, GOD -of-Angel-Armies protects us.

River fountains splash joy, cooling God’s city, this sacred haunt of the Most High.

God lives here, the streets are safe,

God at your service from crack of dawn, day & night.

God rejecting nations rant & rave, kings & kingdoms threaten,

but Earth does anything God says.

Psalm 46:1-6 MSG

It’s amazing that God in what appears chaos raging all around is in control.

To see God as the Jacob wrestling God is an effective imagery by Eugene Peterson

in his masterful paraphrase.

The image God of angel armies is another clever characterization.

Only a third of the Angels fell in revolt with Satan becoming demons.

This was not a sign of intelligence or of power.

So we have this Angelic Army of God twice as large,

no doubt more powerful & intelligent.

So, we’re fearless, because God is our safe place-and

this is not only stimulating

this is totally exhilarating!

Do we get juiced by the things around us,

is it feasible to arrive in this state where nothing

can upset us or disrupt our calm?

Can we be imperturbable, unruffled & unflappable?

Paul could see his future was “bonds & afflictions”, but he wrote triumphantly,

“But none of these things move me.”

Everything in Paul’s life & experience that could be shaken had been shaken,

and he no longer counted his life, or any of life’s possessions, dear to him.

And we, if we will let God have His way with us, may come to this same place,

so that neither the fret & tear of little things of life, nor the great & heavy trials,

can have power to move us from the peace that passes understanding,

which is declared to be the portion of those who have learned to rest only on God.

Jesus, when facing arrest, false mocking witnesses,

and a kangaroo court of non-sensical accuser.

Jesus, when knowing this charade would result in

His torture & grueling crucifixion.

Set His face as a flint to go to Jerusalem.

So Jesus says to us:

in Me you have peace

In the world you have tribulation,

but take courage;

I have overcome the world

John 16:33

Paul notes: But in all these things we overwhelmingly

conquer through Him who loves us

Romans 8:37

This is a high bar.

“Beyond the storm,

Where blue sky

Still cradles

The morning sun.

In the clearing,

Where shafts of light

Hold back the shadows

Of the ancient wood.

Beyond conflict and pain

And the inhumanity of man.

Beyond duty

And this journey

That has seemed so long.

Beyond the history

That has brought me

To this sacred place,

This spiritual sanctuary.

This peace,

This silence,

This love.”

Chris Roe

So it’s the middle of the night

How successful would we be if we went around to our neighbors banging on their door asking for 3 loaves of bread?

It’s 130 AM.

Actually just pounding on someone’s door in the middle of the night is not a real sane method of getting a hand out.

I’m sure it might become a grievance committee issue.

Then rules & regs would have to convene.

This is worse then your dog pooping in the neighbors yard.

Not a socially gracious, positive when your trying to survive in a hair trigger

environment fired up by bitter old cranks.

But here we have Jesus endorsing this as good methodology for receiving answers

Luke 11:5-9

So we knock!

And we yell!

Neighbor, be a friend & give us three loaves of bread.

We need it.

We’re out of bread!

We hear the answers,

I’m in bed, ‘Don’t bother me.

Your acting weird & freaky.

My door’s locked;

We’re sleeping. Get out of here!

Obviously, the police might get called.

We look like We’re acting like we’re off our meds

Now Jesus has some odd advice here

He says!

Be pushy!

stand your ground,

Keep pounding, keep knocking, keep yelling!

waking all the neighbors! Huh,

They’ll finally get up & get you whatever you need.

“Here’s deal:

Ask & you’ll get;

Seek & you’ll find;

Knock & the door will open.…

I love the paradoxes of Scripture

The Word of God is bulging with paradox

G.K. Chesterton, noted that a paradox is

“truth standing on its head to gain attention.”

He added, sometimes, not only is the truth on it’s head but it’s waving it’s legs

This is unusual wisdom. Because we live in an upside-down kingdom,

biblical paradoxes explain how something seemingly on its head is actually right-side up.

There’s a minister named John Day who pastored in Bellevue, Wa. He wrote an intriguing

First sermon called the paradoxical Beatitudes.

Paradoxical blessings are “mind-expanding & life-transforming” experience.

Our Lord wants us to employ prayer persistence

Be tenacious

Be determined

Be passionate

Be indefatigable, tireless & even stubborn

There’s nothing like Brother Square-Toes’—Rewards & Fairies BY RUDYARD KIPLING

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

Deeps & doubting in our staggering uncertainties of the unknowns of our real condition,

Are we tossed up? Are we smashed down? Are we dangling between hopes & fears,

Do we pine for the peace of God that passes understanding?

Do we want the comfort & stabilizing of Gods Spirit?

Are we face planted in the sorrows of our problems?

Get above it: push into action.

Stir ourselves to pray,

Dig into scripture

meditate on Jesus voice,

press to the throne of grace

Dripping with pleading persistence

And behold God our salvation

TENDERLY LEANING OVER US

I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy

2 Corinthians 11:2

Oh, how the old harpist loves their harp!

They cuddles & caresses it, as if it were a child resting on their lap.

Their life is consumed with it. But watch how they tunes it.

They grasps it firmly, striking a chord with a sharp, quick blow.

While it quivers as if in pain, they lean forward,

they intently listen to catch the first note rising from it.

But, Just as they feared, the note is distorted & shrill.

They strain the strings, turning the torturing thumbscrew & though

it seems ready to snap with the tension, they strike it again.

Then they lean forward again, carefully listening,

until at last a smile appears to their face as the first melodic sound arise.

God to is dealing with us.

He’s Loving us more than any harpist loves their harp,

Our Lord finds you nothing but harsh, discordant sounds.

So He plucks our heartstrings with torturing anguish.

Tenderly leaning over us, He strikes the strings & listens.

Hearing only a harsh murmur, He strikes us again.

His heart bleeds for us while He anxiously waits to hear the strain

“Not my will, but yours be done” Luke 22:42

Now, this is a melody as sweet to His ears as angels’ songs.

And He will never cease from striking the strings of our heart until

our humbled & disciplined soul blends with all the pure & eternal harmonies

of His own being.

A selected adaptation

Oh, the sweetness that dwells in a harp of many strings,

While each, all vocal with love in a tuneful harmony rings!

But, oh, the wail and the discord, when one & another is rent,

Tensionless, broken & lost, from the cherished instrument.

For rapture of love is linked with the pain or fear of loss,

And the hand that takes the crown, must ache with many a cross;

Yet he who has never a conflict, wins never a victor’s palm,

And only the toilers know the sweetness of rest & calm.

Only between the storms can the Alpine traveler know

Transcendent glory of clearness, marvels of gleam & glow;

Had he the brightness unbroken of cloudless summer days,

This had been dimmed by the dust & the veil of a brooding haze.

Who would dare the choice, neither or both to know,

The finest quiver of joy or the agony thrill of woe!

Never the exquisite pain, then never the exquisite bliss,

For the heart that is dull to that can never be strung to this.

Unknown

As a deer drinks from the creek;

We want to drink God,

deep swallows of our glorious God.

We’re thirsty for You Jesus our source of life.

We doubt & we wonder, “Will we ever get through this—

Will we arrive & drink in Your holy presence?”

We’re on a diet of the tears of disappointments

We’re so embarrassed by our nauseous

self—destructive discouragements

We mope in the morning,

We moan inside through the day.

We avoid people. We are a bundle of nerves

We’re haunted & pestered by our being such a drag,

We feel like we’re targeted by ridiculing haters

They blather at us in caustic put downs

They bloviate in blaming raspy rawness

They mockingly ridicule: so you’re so fond of Jesus

Where is He, You phony old worthless thing?

You’re nothing but a nuisance & a fraud

Psa. 42:1-3 Paraphrased

Please-please-please, We’re begging You Lord

We’re surrounded! We’re boxed in!

Everywhere we look there’s caustic antagonists

They’re like an incurable plague,

They are taunting us in raging disparagements

We feel the jagged edges of their betrayal

They are merciless in their badgering mockery:

They drag us through the mud

They exaggerate -They harass-They ridicule

They specialize in the tortures of character assassination.

They use mind games & say we’re a danger to society

They say You don’t care about us God!

But we’re certain You are with us;

We know Your speaking.

We know Your guiding

We know You’re hearing our voice & feeling our feelings

Give us the words to express to You

Let us wash Your feet with our tears

Let our moaning prayers be Your favorite incense

Let us feel the embrace of Your arms around us

Lift us up to Your loving presence

Let us anoint Your head with the fragrance of Your tender compassion

Psalms 3:1-4 paraphrased

Theres nothing more satisfying then the Lord Jesus!

Nothing!!!

We may try this & that to fill us,

but it never meets our needs.

We can surround ourselves with stuff

We can hoard & gather & clutch things

But it’s never enough.

We fill our ships

We burden them down

We’re heavy enough to sink,

We don’t have an inch of space to hold more.

It just doesn’t satisfy,

It’s a bloat to our souls.

None of it leads to true contentment

And It warns: “its not in me”

Nothing has value.

Not even a perfect paradise is enough if Jesus isn’t there.

All our longings-all our strivings-all our grabbing

It’s sinking our ship.

We’re listing.

We’re Leaning

We’re taking on the engulfing sea into our vessel

It’s the things of this world,

It’s been weighed in the balance & found wanting.

We need God’s Holy Spirit to fill our hearts,

Not stuff. Not this & that,

We need our infinite desires to be satisfied with Jesus

We need His voice in our ears

We need to find our all in the bosom of our Maker.

No one! Nothing! Only Him! Only He fully satisfies

I love Your dwelling place, Lord God

I hunger to worship You,

I thirst to gather with Your people & commune with You.

Like a sparrow in its nest, or a swallow sheltering in a chimney,

I am utterly at home in Your presence,

O LORD Almighty, my King & my God.

I love Your house;

I love Your people.

I love being around those whose strength is in You,

Yes, those who enter Your house intent on worship.

Thank You for those who worship You wherever You show up,

in a tiny chapel or a majestic cathedral,

in a desert or a rainforest.

You lead such true worshipers from strength to strength,

You show Yourself to them without fail.

Hear my prayer, O LORD God Almighty;

listen to me, O God

Look upon us, Lord God;

look with favor on Your people

Better is one day in Your courts

than a thousand anywhere else;

I would rather sweep Your floors, O Lord,

than be exalted in the palaces of the wicked.

For you, LORD God, are a sun & shield;

You bestow favor & honor;

You withhold no good thing

from those who walk with You.

O LORD Almighty,

I am thrilled & honored to trust in You & I call You mine.

Psalms 84 paraphrased

“But God.”

I was dead-set against God,

“But God.”

I was dead to any love for God at all,

I was buried into my self.

I was disoriented & blind in my sins

“But God.”

I was deceived by lust for pleasure;

I was deluded by “the prince of the power of the air”

I was a total slave to me

I was tossed between the impulsive winds of my self whims

I was drowning in the sea of my fleshly mindset

“But God.”

I was God’s enemy

I really hated God

I was a child of wrath.

I hated my parents

I hated my name

I hated myself

“But God.”

But God being rich in mercy,

but God showing His incomprehensible love for me

while I was a sinner

When I was dead in my sin

When I was God-dead,

When I totally wanted to ignore God,

When I was God enemy,

“But God.” Said. No! Your going to live! Spiritually live

“But God.” Changed everything

He said

I’m going to make you alive to real beauty,

I’m going to make you alive to true glory,

I’m giving you full hope,

I’m giving you real pleasure,

I’m making you alive to incredible joy!

You now Live to God

You now live forever

“But God.”

Did all this by placing my sin on his Son,

Jesus the Life

Jesus the truth

Jesus the way,

and God said to my sin “die”

And Jesus was made sin for me

the righteous for the unrighteous,

Now I’ve become the righteousness of God in Jesus

So now I live forever secure in Jesus

“But God.”

So now, I’m saved only by God’s grace.

Not by anything I’ve done.

Not based on my performance

No it’s all based on God

Now I’m in awe of “but God.”

Now I worship nothing “but God.”

Now I want only “but God.”

So here we are.

420 plus years later…

So does Shakespeares words still fall on deaf ears?

Is anti-semitism any less. No.

The Jewish are still very hated.

But they’ve up there game. They are armed to the teeth. There’s only 13 million of them.

That’s like a fraction of less then 1 %.

Yes, every other nation individually far exceeds there population.

There enemies want them liquidated.

Most want them disarmed & neutralized

Will that’s not happening. The final wars will be fought over Israel, this little piece of land

That’s amazing! And what’s more incredible is what God has done calling them back to this

Small country & what He’s going to accomplish there.