Tapestry of Life

For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little."
Isaiah 28:10

I remember my first experience with a bike. I had to get on my cousins bike and let her pump me on the handlebars. I had to learn to trust hers and my own sense of balance at the same time. It took more than one fall, a few scrapes and a bruise or two before we could master two on a bike. Later when I learned how to ride for myself, I began to build on those first principles adding to the new ones of steering, breaking, standing, wheelies, no hands and pumping others. Now, I’m learning to ride a motorcycle; and like the child who had learned to trust others as well as herself; using the same principles as riding a bicycle, I am again adding to those first lessons and implementing them in this new challenge.

Those lessons didn't discontinue and start over again with each new level of difficulty; they were built upon one at a time like the scripture in Isaiah. Life lessons woven into a beautiful tapestry of time, experiences, emotions and events. A piece of work so intricate in detail that the life it represents is not aware of until it is forced to look back through the windows of time. The patterns which appear random while unfinished begin to reveal a superb, matchless work of art only made possible at the hands of a unique and involved Artist. A day at a time, a moment stitched to a moment, bound by a week, a month, a year. The wool of ideas, ideals and concepts, ribbons of destiny, strings of events joined by the needles of an ultimate Weaver all coming together to form a piece of art so detailed and exquisitely designed as to give the Maker of it great pleasure at His own creativity.

Turn around. Look back over the years of your life and see the great work that has been done in you precept upon precept, line upon line, her a little, there a little. Appreciate every layered lesson learned through pain, joy, repitition, patience and love. You are a unique creation designed by the Master Creator. There is no other like you. There is no other like Him.

Old Wounds, "Ancient of Days" Remedy

“Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful. The Lord builds up Jerusalem; He gathers together the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name. Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite. The Lord lifts up the humble; He casts the wicked down to the ground. Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; Sing praises on the harp to our God, who covers the heavens with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass to grow on the mountains. He gives to the beast its food, and to the young ravens that cry. He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.

The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him,
in those who hope in His mercy.”
Psalms 147:1-11

I’ve come around the mountain again; another layer of the onion is being peeled. I’ve been told that if you are going through the same thing this year that you were going through the year before, then there is a problem and that is probably very correct. But, in this case, it’s just getting at something that’s been buried for a long time and it takes time to heal after each layer has been removed. I’ve discovered that things I thought were long resolved have only been lying dormant or scabbed over until the Lord could prepare me for the next round of spiritual surgery and antibiotics. We all have to go through trials and struggles of the heart as long as we are a part of this dying world. Sometimes it’s the testing of our faith or trust, "Regard it all as joy, my brothers, when you face various kinds of temptations; for you know that the testing of your trust produces perseverance. But let perseverance do its complete work; so that you may be complete and whole, lacking in nothing." James 1:2-4. Sometimes it’s just the wickedness of our hearts and the consequences of sin, "Righteousness protects him whose way is honest, but wickedness brings down the sinner." Proverbs 13:6. And sometimes it’s the weakness of others who have not yet yielded their own flesh to the Lord "And one will say to him, 'What are these wounds between your arms?' Then he will answer, 'Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends." Zechariah 13:6. Regardless of the situation, the Lord has knowledge of them all and nothing is too difficult for Him. The test for me, and possibly many of you, will be letting the Lord remove the infection while not yielding to the temptation to cover my wounds to protect them; even from Him. My very human response to pain is typical, I’m sure; a reaction to the foreknowledge that most cures can be as equally painful, if not more so, as the illness. This test is a one I’ve been through before. The Lord brought me through the first one and He will bring me through this one for He is faithful and just and will finish the good work He has begun. Though it feels bad, it is good because the Lord is with me. Everything the adversary means for evil the Lord will use for good, His and mine. He will get the glory and I will be free. So if you find yourself with another layer of the same onion being peeled off and wonder why you must endure this again, remember this: the Lord says, “See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.” Isaiah 49:16 Do you think that anything, anyone or any situation can remove you from His hand if He has tattooed you there, I think not. I am secure in the knowledge that I am His and He is mine and nothing shall remove me from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus.

What Is Your Opinion?

How many times have you been asked for an opinion that you didn't have one? Everyone has an opinion; a thought; a certain perspective or viewpoint about everything they are involved in. How many times have you been told that your opinion matters, you has a right to your opinion, or your opinion is vaulable? In today's world and by its standards we are encouraged that our opinions or viewpoints are permissable, and in some instances required, to judge whether or not a thing is right and true. But in the household of faith, that is a contradiction is terms! When "we" enter into the mix, we take the absolutes of God out of the picture. To follow that train of thought we will eventually eliminate the need for a Saviour. Remember! We are to be in the world but not of it (and it, the world, absolutely should not be in us). We are supposed to be transformed by the renewing of our minds into the image or likeness of Christ.

What is the likeness of Christ?

Romans 12:2
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

John 12: 49 For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. 50 And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak."

John 5:19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. 20 For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.

John 14:10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.

John 5:30
I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.

John 8:28
Then Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.

John 8:54
Jesus answered, "If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God.

In our Christ-likeness we are to be transformed into the image of the Father just as Jesus was:

2Corinthians 3:18
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

It is the reflection of the Son, which is the glory of the Father, that He should see in us just as silver or gold reflects the silversmith or goldsmith when it has been completely purified. The purity of Him should be seen in us after all impurities and dross have been removed through the seive of Jesus' blood. There is nothing in His pure word that allows the contaminate of our opinion to be the standard by which we judge, test, or interpret His word. Only the life (blood), death and ressurrection of the pure unblemished Lamb revealed through the Holy Spirit can be the litmus which determines the truth of His word; not our opinions.

When next you hear the request to state your opinion in matters of faith; guard well your heart, mind and mouth for pride and a fall will not be far behind. It may be a well laid trap of the adversary to get you to question, "you will not surely die"?