Stevemidkiff's Blog

When we find ourself in a place of weakness,

It is the stage God uses to display His power.

Jesus in His first few phrases of Mt 5 says

we’re blessed when we’re at the end of our rope

When there’s less of us there’s more of God

as we turn to Him to control our circumstances

we’re blessed when we feel we’ve lost what is most dear to us.

Only then can we be embraced by the One most dear to us

we’re blessed when we’re content

with just You

Just You! no more, no less.

This is when we find ourselves in possession of everything that only God can give us in His enabling grace

Matthew 5:3-5 paraphrased

In all these things we are more than conquerors

through Him that loves us

Rom, 8:37

God ways through Christ are so great

that we can take the very enemies that fights us &

the forces that are arrayed against us & make them steps up to the very gates of heaven & into the presence of God

Like the eagle, who sits on a crag & watches the sky

as it is filling with blackness

The Raptor watches

as the forked lightnings are playing up & down &

he is sitting perfectly still,

He majestically turns one eye & then the other toward the storm.

But he never moves until he begins to feel

the burst of the breeze & knows that the hurricane

has struck him;

Then, with a scream, he swings his breast to the storm,

He uses the storm to go up to the sky; away he goes,

borne upward on it.

This is God way for every one of us,

to be more than conqueror,

turning the storm-cloud into a chariot.

There are spoils to be taken!

Defeat is not an option.

When we go into that terrible valley of suffering

we are to come out of it with spoils.

When injury strikes we can fear that everything is gone.

But no, we’re to trust in God that we come out

richer than we went in.

To be more than conqueror is to take the spoils

from the enemy & appropriate them to ourselves.

Where our enemy arranges for our overthrow,

take & appropriate that for ourselves.

When Dr. Moon, of Brighton, England, was stricken with blindness, he said: ”

Lord, I accept this talent of blindness from You.

Help me to use it for Your glory that at Your coming

You may receive Your own with usury.

Then God enabled him to invent the Moon Alphabet

for the blind, by which thousands of blind people were enabled to read the Word of God & many of them were gloriously saved. —Selected.

God did not take away Paul’s thorn;

He did better –

He mastered that, thorn & made it Paul’s servant.

The ministry of thorns has often been

a greater ministry to man

than the ministry of thrones.

—Selected.

Father,

Please lead us not into temptation

but deliver us from evil!

This can be translated

rescue us from nasty stuff

It can also be translated

deliver us from the Evil One

It can also be translated

protect us from the devil the father of all that’s nasty

We’re in a battle.

We’re in a fight against the evils that

emanate from the devil’s kingdom

We need Gods deliverance from

everything that threatens our bodily welfare!

We need Gods deliverance

from all the self-centered

evil inside us

We need Gods protection from the evil outside us,

We need Gods deliverance from malignant forces

in the world,

especially our enemies who wish

to do us harm

We need Gods rescue & provision

in our needs,

through our troubles,

over our limitations,

We need Spiritual penetration into the truth of

God’s complete sufficiency for us

We need Gods help to concentrate on the reality

that nothing can ever snatch away

His kingdom,

His power, and

His glory from us in

the joy of our heavenly, loving Father.

For His is the Kingdom

For His is the Power &

His has all the Glory forever

O God of earth and altar,

Bow down & hear our cry,

Our earthly rulers falter,

Our people drift & die;

The walls of gold entomb us,

The swords of scorn divide,

Take not thy thunder from us,

But take away our pride.

From all that terror teaches,

From lies of tongue & pen,

From all the easy speeches

That comfort cruel men,

From sale & profanation

Of honour & the sword,

From sleep & from damnation,

Deliver us, good Lord.

Tie in a living tether

The prince & priest & thrall,

Bind all our lives together,

Smite us & save us all;

In ire & exultation

Aflame with faith & free,

Lift up a living nation,

A single sword to thee.

G. K. Chesterton

Counting our blessings. How do we pull that off

It may be arduous at first—

It is an act of obedience rather than an overflow of joy—

but in the end it opens up space in our heart.

When we choose to focus on what we have been given, rather than linger on what we’re missing,

We will feel happier.

We will feel More content.

We will feel Less agitated.

And when we choose to face our miseries directly

When we find blessings in our distress,

Then something miraculous happens.

We view all of life differently.

We see our circumstances through a lens of faith.

And we are able to declare with confidence that,

even in the worst of circumstances,

God is still good &

there is so much to be thankful for.

Do not be so deceived & misled!

Evil companionships

bad company &

weird associates

corrupt & deprave

good manners &

defile & destroy

good morals &

ruin & wreck good characteristics

1 Cor. 15:33 Amp.

Defining evil is not that difficult

Even in the shifting boundaries of our age.

We’re surrounded by corrupting influences &

there’s a flooding storm of depraving rot

It pollutes our attitudes,

soils our feelings,

twists our moral decisions, &

corrupts our ethical conclusions.

Paul noted:

I fought the wild beasts at Ephesus,

I thought it wouldn’t be the end of me!

Not on your life!

Christ’s resurrection life, yes, His resurrection,

undergirds what I do & say,

His life within is the way I live.

But don’t fool yourselves.

Don’t let yourselves be poisoned by

this anti-resurrection crowd of dead beat filth spreaders

One rotten apple

One moldy orange

Can ruin the whole bag of fruit

Stay away from trash & rot

Pour out Your fury on the Christ rejectors that refuse to know You,

and on the families that call not on Your name: they refuse & reject prayer

they seek to destroy my people, they devour Gods special ones,

they plan to consume the Lords own & destroy our possessions

Jeremiah 10:25

So please, Father God

Vent Your anger on all the godless,

All those who refuse to acknowledge You,

Destroy all the people who won’t honor You

They reject You &

They won’t bow down & pray to You—

These are the very ones who’ve made hash out of Your creation,

yes, they’ve trashed & ruthlessly devoured everything that’s descent

They haven’t honored or cared for those we tenderly love!!!

Jeremiah 10:25 paraphrased

It shall turn to you for a testimony

Luke 21:13

This phrase is taken from the context of the end times. Everything is falling apart.

We no longer have a stable environment.

It’s a time in history when the social foundations are shifting radically

There’s insecurity everywhere. You’ll be hunted down,

You’ll be dragged to court. Some will even be imprisoned

It will go from bad to worse, dog-eat-dog, everyone at your throat because we stand for Jesus name.

We’ll end up on the witness stand, called to testify.

Our Lord says not to worry about it.

Jesus says He’ll give us the words & the wisdom that will reduce all our accusers to stammers and stutters.

It will be a time when loyalties among relatives won’t exit anymore.

Even possibly our parents, brothers, relatives & friends will turn against us

Luke 21:12-19 Paraphrased

The word testimony is from the word test

I took some old teeth & broken artifacts into a jeweler for a test one time.

It was placed in a dish and a trial or examination of burning by acids were applied to test & examine the value of the metal.

Is it gold? The chemical test examines if it’s 12 karat or 18 karat or just gold plated. What is the value & character of the metal. What kind of testimony does it have.

This test tells you the correctness or phoniness of the item.

A trial proves if it’s fake & counterfeit or genuine & real

Our lives are full of trials & tests. Without tests we have a shallow testimony.

Life is a steep climb & we need help & encouragers on the high hills & ups & downs we face.

We were down in Seattle at the courthouse yesterday.

We had a variety of tests.

The traffic is a test.

The parking is a test.

The time sensitive scheduling is a test.

You go through a metal detector test.

But for us, the big test is the steep hills & uneven terrain. Navigating with a wheelchair is terrifying on a steep hill.

Jill has lost 50% of her eyesight so the fear while I’m securing her movements on a rough hill, as we dodge the homeless lends to a testy challenge.

We are all climbers together, and we need to help one another. It takes strength & steady steps to find the best route.

It’s hard to give an assuring testimony to Jill in the wheelchair hill navigation tests. As if I’m convinced of the outcome.

We got halfway down the hill & the terror of the incline caused Jill to cry & beg that I’d leave her there & go get the car.

But there we’re various homeless men relieving themselves in the alley. There was no place to park & the street was a one way heading the wrong direction.

The parking garage I was in was on the 5th floor. So if I left her there it may take 15-20 min. to return. I’d just watched an aid car scoop up an individual that was unconscious about a block before we got to our present spot.

So we call out to God. We cry for help in our storm of tests;

when the heavens thunder

and the earthquake shook the hill

Jesus bore us up & held us

In these dangers on this hill

To see Jesus face in this time;

We read He glows with triumph,

and His feet run in the race;

In these dangers on this hill

But there are mists between us

and our spirit eyes are dim,

We can’t see His glory,

And we long for words from Him.

But if we feel He’s heard us

when our prayer is in our cries

Do we feel He sees us

through the terrorizing sin-darkened hills

i could have gone a ahead,

but I couldn’t leave Jill there

We moved ahead into the test

As Our faithful Lord Jesus led

“We may as well doubt that all the waters of the ocean cannot fill a spoon,

as to think that God’s fulness can’t be enough for us,

if we should have nothing left in this world;

for all the waters that cover the sea are not so much as a spoonful, compared with the boundless and infinite fulness of our Lord’s all-sufficiency.

What refreshments are in Him

One drop of divine sweetness is enough to make any in the very agony of the cruellest death to cry out with joy,

The bitterness of death is past.

Now in Christ there are not only drops, but rivers;

not a scanty sprinkling, but an infinite fulness.”

Clarkson

Prayer Is Accepting Weakness & Dependence

“Prayer is an attitude of mind & heart, characterized by our deep sense of helplessness.”

Ole Hallesby

Do we see Jesus walking on top of the waves?

Do we see Jesus walking with us in the fires & tragic malfunctions of our circumstances?

We’re these things brought by His hand to exhibit our helplessness?

Why do we have to be forced to pray?

Why do we have to be pushed to helplessness?

“Prayer & helplessness are inseparable. Only those who are helpless can truly pray.”

Keller

When we confess our complete spiritual bankruptcy we receive Christ’s salvation.

If we can save ourselves why would we need a Savior?

Augustine told Anicia

that you cannot truly pray until you

account yourself desolate in the world.

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Our independence is awkward.

We want to be self-sufficient & self-governing.

But the kingdom of heaven is where Jesus is Lord.

The boisterous waves & tempestuous flames press us

to dependent prayer to rest in His sovereign strength