I Handle Snakes!

In the mountains of the southern Appalachians and eastern Tennessee some fundamentalist pentecostal congregations express their faith by occasionally handling deadly serpents during their services.
These verses below pertaining to serpents are taken by them as literal promises of protection, not from being bitten but from dying from it!
To them, the act of handling serpents is a great triumph of faith over fear. While under what they describe as the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the intent is to be obedient, to edify the church's members and to glorify God.

Luke 10:19
Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Mark 16:18
They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

One man lays down ten percent,another man trembles and shakes,I make my statement...

I say it with snakes!

"I handle snakes" by Ned (the band) from CD, "Little Vegas"

The Man on the left in the above picture is said to of been bitten some 80 times!

Once, directly on the forehead by a huge rattlesnake!

What I personally find so fascinating about all of this is that I see it as translating into my own life in some (until now) mysterious ways...

do you, handle snakes?

What, if anything... in your life or past do other Christian people seem to have an aversion to?

In my life, I see it as being my past history of drugs, and new age thinking. These are snakes I've handled that have bitten me quite savagely!

My familiarity with these things is a bit like the snake venom. Because of my past exposure to them, their "poison" now has little or no effect on me. No, I don't use drugs anymore...but I do understand why other people do. And because of that, I can handle that snake, or be around it, without the fear of it killing me. I can walk into the midst of it and not be distracted from doing the will of The Father, to testify about Jesus!

Ophis (through the idea of sharpness of vision) ; A snake, fig. (as a type of sly cunning) an artful malicious person, especially Satan;-- serpent. It then refers to the root word, Optomai which means to look at with wide open eyes, as at something extremely remarkable or fascinating.

Reminds me of being snake fascinated...

I wondered what was meant by the phrase, They shall take up serpents;

After some study in my concordance of the phrase "take up" I found that it means to apprehend, or perceive, to discern the "serpents" or the tricks of the enemy.

I "handle" snakes...

From the age of twelve I was indoctrinated into the world of drugs and into it's close relative of "new age" thinking. They sort of feed off of each other, it's all about the "enlightenment" attaining a higher state of consciousness, and it's very much so a " type of sly cunning"
I've written about this before in a blog called "Based on What?" Whats so cunning about it is that they talk about peace and serenity constantly, why? so that like a frog in a pot of water you won't notice the rising temperature until it's way too late! In practically every way it's a perfect counterfeit of the actual truth. It's a Utopian fantasy (lie) predicated upon the pretense that at his core, man is essentially good.

I understand that what I'm saying is controversial in some ways. I was compelled to write this because I'm saddened by the church's and my own spirit of fear about so many things in this world. As Christians, we have the power to handle snakes (to come against sin) and not be harmed. We also have the power (in Christ) to lay hands upon the sick and see them recover. We are the children of the most high God, who owns the cattle on a thousand hills and the hills they graze upon! I've seen it in a lot of places, the phrase...

"What would you attempt for Christ if you knew you could not fail?"

1 John 4:17 (King James Version)

¹⁷Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

Ephesians 3:12 (King James Version)

¹²In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.

I'm pretty sure that my calling in life isn't to handle actual snakes...

Instead, I see the snakes I handle as being the sin's that other people are poisoned by that Christ has empowered me to defeat in myself. I have no fear of getting right into the midst of them!

My intent is to be obedient, to edify the church, and to glorify God!

To have no fear of the enemy, and to actually be "more than a conqueror"

through Christ who strengthens me!

Down to the river...

Hi! Altonwoods here, (not my real name)...And I'll be your guide today as we go "down to the river" to do whatever it is that people do at the river! Yesterday was the last day of school around here and my daughter has been bugging me to take her. I've also been wanting to try out the new camera I bought my wife for mothers day, (awwwww, so sweet of me!) another reason is I wanted to try and get another shot of this plant that I found last year about this time down here!




This is it...It's like a giant pink honeysuckle that smells amazing!
(see why I wanted another shot?)

So , we went in search of it but we were too late! It had already bloomed. After that we decided to go down and see the big spring that's kind of back in the woods. These are pictures from last year but it still looks the same. We parked the car and started walking down the trail, the dirt down there is just amazing, black and moist, the product of hundreds of years of composting, plants and flowers blooming, sun is shining, life is so good!



That's when something happened, my wife Grace (not her real name) slip's and falls trying to cross a small creek in a very muddy area. I heard her saying that she was going back to the car and a moment later she falls AGAIN! Boni (her real name) and I are over by the spring and I hear her screaming! When we got to her she was laying on the ground, crying, telling me that she thinks that she's torn her rotator cuff and that she feels like she may pass out from the pain! (she fell backwards and "caught" herself, that's the way I tore mine)

So, several things go through my mind just then...

1) All week long we've been talking about Jesus,healing, doctors, prayer, medicines, Christians, etc...

2) Then there was that woman in Minnesota who took off with her son who has Hodgkins lymphoma. That sparked even more discussion!

3) Was I going to have to take her to a hospital?

What happened next went exactly like this.

It's Boni and me, crouched down next to Grace, listening to her wail, and then my daughter Boni say's...

"Somebodies gotta do something!"

I knew what I had to do, so I reached down and laid my hand on her arm, and asked for her to be opened to the healing that was promised to us by Christ, and that her pain would go away, then I stood up and watched as she, after just a moment, got up and walked off a distance, I heard her say "Thank You, the pain is gone!" Which I really must admit was a surprise to me in a way. I believe in healing, I just was a little shocked that it could happen like this, all I know is what I saw, you can ask her about it if you like, here's a link to her blog

http://360.yahoo.com/profile-2dbsI9gyYqFNKnyGi_TSt_0-?cq=1

So we just went on with our day, thanking Jesus!





Here we are at my favorite swimming hole, we ate sandwiches and chips and we drank root beer! This is the Eleven Point River, most of the water comes from Greer Spring a few miles upstream. It's a trout stream, the water temp is about 58 degree's and it takes your breath away when you go in! Here's a few more pic's...



Beautiful Boni! with a ham sandwich in hand



Our heroine, "Grace"



And of course, yours truly! signing off from, "Down at the river"

The Kingdom Of Heaven

How ironic, coincidental, or even serendipitous....that I should come to this point in my life, and my writing, at the same time! "What point is that?" Well, since you asked...My home is going up for auction on the 8th of May and so consequently I will be "Seeking A New Kingdom" in which to live. Then there's my writing, maybe you've noticed, the titles of my last three blogs...

It's in there, somewhere in the middle, Of legalism and Liberalism, What is it?

The Kingdom Of Heaven!

I'm a little anxious today, but I have a slightly different attitude about whats happening than what some people might. It has to do with control...and how you understand it or how you define it, and even how you practice it! Most peoples definition of control goes something like this

Control: the ability to affect the outcome of a situation.

I wholeheartedly believe in this definition, and I attempt to practice it to the overall betterment of myself and everyone else whenever I can! Then there's this definition, but there's a twist to it!

Real: a: That which is unthreatenable. b:not false or counterfeit
Control: a: to exercise restraining or directing influence over. b: to have power over...

If you ask most people their definition of control you'd probably get an answer similar to the first one...but in their minds, they comprehend it more like the second one, and so, when unexpected stuff happens, or abrupt change like whats happening in my life right now occurs it messes them up because they believe that they have the second type of control instead of the first.

Not clear? an example...You have control of your vehicle driving down the road...it appears to be absolute. What happens to your control if a tire should blow out? It takes a hike that's what! Then, after your car goes off in the ditch and you hopefully get out of it you're "incredulous" that this event has occurred...in shock even, it's a symptom of a shattered belief system. It's a little bit like the serenity prayer.

Lord, grant me...
the courage to change the things I can,
the ability to accept what I cant change,
and the wisdom to know the difference

But there's a difference when you start to think in terms of "The Kingdom Of Heaven" or to be spiritually minded in that we still need courage the ability to accept and wisdom, but it's much more than just some words we say! Stepping out in faith takes courage which is expressed by our actions which show what we really believe on the inside!

The ability to accept sounds like we merely tolerate our circumstances, but we can find "real" peace and joy in knowing that it's our Heavenly Father who's "really" in control, and that, He's promised to work out all things to those who love Him and who are called according to His purposes' benefit. Finally comes wisdom, which really isn't as difficult as it sounds...


As children of the most high we should know how to act,
and when we should act, and when it's WAY over our heads!
We have the greatest counselor possible in the Holy Spirit to keep us on the right path which leads us to Jesus!

I may be relocating my physical body and my possessions...

but the Kingdom goes with me... I have the keys!



Matthew 16:19 (King James Version)

¹⁹And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Matthew 13:44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

⁴⁵Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:

⁴⁶Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

To become dis-invested in this world, to not only choose to be heirs of a much greater inheritance but to begin to realize in this life the manifestations of the fruit of the Spirit which are...

^{Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness}

Acts 26:18
To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

^{Romans 8:6
6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.}

^{The first blog I ever wrote was called "The Pearl", and in the 115 or so since I've been compelled to do just one thing, which is to, despite my unworthiness, act on behalf of my Lord and Savior to fulfill that great commission He left us with through the revelation of His spirit to as many as will hear.}

John 12:32
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

Psalm 34:8 (New International Version)
Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

The Kingdom Of Heaven is what having a personal relationship with Christ is all about, I see it as being a member of the greatest, beyond our ability to understand, and so much better than we can imagine, family! There will be times here on earth that will push us to our limit, and the circumstances of this life can be difficult to understand. But with all my heart and soul I believe that the present hardships we must walk through are not to be compared to what our Lord and Savior has in store for those who love Him

Of Legalism and Liberalism

Two very similar words that to me both describe forms of extremism, one indicating too much the other to little. My initial experience with legalism goes back to when I first became a Christian. I didn't have a very good working knowledge of the "New Covenant" of grace and I was trying to be good enough on my own to merit my salvation, it wasn't very long until my tenuous grip on holiness gave way to my feelings of discouragement...

Liberalism was much more fun!

It's ideology seemed to me to be one of encouraging everyone to play fast and loose with the sin in their lives and to place total faith in the never ending indulgence of a loving, forgiving God. I was really estranged from Jesus, it became awkward spending time with Him only when I wanted something from Him. I was just too embarrassed or convicted to spend any other time with Him. From that time on I just assumed the position of "pilot of my life" because I couldn't understand how to have a relationship with Jesus, but He never abandoned me...

I believe that Jesus was a "real" person, not someone who seemed contrived or that had the stink of religiosity on Him...
(He wasn't legalistic)
But at the same time I see Him as being someone who wasn't afraid to challenge hypocrisy or spiritual pride when He found it.
(He didn't "liberalize" the truth to please others)

Just like the greatest show on earth, life must go on! Three rings? At times I felt as if I must of had a half dozen!...There was always something worthwhile happening in at least one of them that had the potential to either confirm or deny my suspicions or to perhaps clarify my confusion. I was a man in search of answers, but It wasn't until years later that I was taught about belief systems and the ways in which we perceive ourselves, others, and God. In a legalistic perspective, the focus is on us and our ability to earn our salvation which is of course incongruent with what the Gospels teach. Liberalism is very similar in that we become our own God, except that it's a more relative "everybody's doing it" mind set. So then, instead of having faith in our own abilities to keep the law, (as in legalism) we're deluded into thinking that we're above it...also out of step with Gods word.

It's impossible to have a good relationship with someone you're not on the same page with or if you have a confused concept of the expectations involved on both sides. I needed a simple explanation, but that's one of the hardest things to find! It was in the lyrics of the song "When you gonna wake up" by Bob Dylan that I got it...

"Do you ever wonder, just what God requires? Do you think He's just an errand boy to satisfy your wandering desires? when you gonna wake up and find strength in the things that remain? There's a man on a cross and He be crucified for you, believe on His power that's about all you've got to do"

Sounds simple right? and it is, Just believe! Not in a vague or ambiguous concept of a God, or of a Jesus that we saw in a stained glass window of a church, but in a more real, personal, friend who's closer than a brother that walks with me and talks with me Jesus! To believe with at least the same faith we have in our physical senses and with as much certainty, much in the same way that I wouldn't step out in traffic if I believed that a car was coming!

But there's so much more!

It's in the believing that the omnipotent God of the universe loved me so much that He would send His son to die for me, not because He had to, but because it was the only way that we could spend eternity in heaven with Him. It's in this belief that we find the source of our joy, that we find an order to our steps in life, that we need only to seek His face as we walk beside Him as His children. Jesus raised the standard or the conception of what was previously seen as love, to die for someone else is a rare thing but to die for a pitiful sinner? Not because He had to, but because He chose to, because He loves us all and will do everything He can to make sure we spend eternity with Him in the place He has prepared for us, but we must choose to receive it, to accept His cleansing blood that was shed for our sins on the cross.

This is a commentary I got from bible gateway,

Jesus Christ, for obtaining the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. The gospel so much exceeds the law in glory, that it eclipses the glory of the legal dispensation. But even the New Testament will be a killing letter, if shown as a mere system or form, and without dependence on God the Holy Spirit, to give it a quickening power. (2Co 3:12-18)

sure, you're free in Christ...just don't forget where the power comes from or the great price He had to pay to buy it...I've heard it said that the thing Satan fears the most is a Christian who knows who he is in Christ, why? because it makes them proud, or humble? neither answer seemed to be right to me...maybe it's that when we become one with Christ, that we're able to get beyond the self and the ego and tap into the great power we're heirs to being the brethren of Christ...

Somewhere in the middle...

I’m not the sharpest crayon in the box…nor am I the dullest.

As a young man I so wanted to be “special”…most of my deviant behaviors and rebellions were a ruse to throw people off from seeing who I really was, to appear to be somehow above the rules or to be an exception of some kind while at the same time, acting out in such a way that perhaps someone might interpret my actions and help me.

Since then life’s taught me that it’s in the expression of love where I’ve most fully experienced God. It’s a very personal, individual thing for each of us. We use the word relationship to describe those places where we share a common ground with something or someone. That’s so important because it’s our connectedness that opens up our lives to all that God longs to give us, it also allows us to experience a greater meaning through the abandonment of ourselves.

Then again, sometimes it’s just all about the tuna salad…

this is how I roll…and whatever you may do, don’t forget the woven wheat crackers (just sayin)

I don’t normally prepare food in the bathroom but I’m in a motel room… I know, EWWWWW

I’ve always been a believer of “that which does not kill us, (can make us deathly ill) and then we become resistant to it”.

I’m really glad to be tucked away here in this room today, I’ve been wanting to write lately but I’ve just been unable to get that first sentence or working title to compel me to do more with it. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to write about how glad I am that I’m not one of those really smart people who won’t accept anything that they can’t understand completely or who reject the notion that there had to be “intelligence” behind intelligent design. (Personally, I’m not interested in a God that I can completely understand) I still want to know why, if we evolved from apes, there are still non-evolved apes today.

What happened there?

Another recurrent (and connected) thought I’ve been having has to do with how we try to put God into a box, limiting the ways that He can show us love or how we can experience Him. Some people don’t believe in using medicine’s because God is their healer,does that mean that God can’t work through doctors? Some won’t listen to any “secular” type music because it’s not considered to be Christian…but God spoke to Moses through a bush! They’re unable to understand that sometimes people are challenged or even inspired more by mediocre preaching than they are by some really great preachers. That it’s primarily through the presence of need that the best in people is stirred up enough for them to take action…

Wait a minute Alton, you’re starting to sound like one of those liberal theology, back slidden, lukewarm, types that the bible says will be spewed out of His mouth for being “neither hot, nor cold”. Well, the truth is that I am feeling colder towards “religion”, and warmer towards relationships. Colder towards rules and laws and the condemnation that’s heaped on people in the name of “Christian love”, warmer to a personal ministry that firstly bonds itself to people through a shared compassionate understanding of sin and the effects it’s had on our life before one ever quotes even one bible verse to them. Do you ever wonder why people, maybe even some that you know, will stand up and cheer,scream,and shout at a kids baseball game…and then sit there like the living dead on Sunday morning while the pastor stands on his head spittin out nickles to get a rise out of them. I wonder if it’s got anything to do with where they “see God” or with how they see themselves being involved in this relationship as “the father”. maybe it’s just, somewhere in the middle…

It's in there...

Last Friday I took off from Myrtle, Mo. on a bus trip with the F.F.A. teacher and students for a preliminary state qualifying meet in Cape Girardeau,Mo. We drove for about an hour or more and I was getting tired so I started talking to the Ag teacher about a variety of topics related to agriculture. The drought in California, soil conservation, even the mineral depletion of our soil and the resulting lack of nutritional value in commercially grown vegetables. As I drove along I began to understand that different people perceive “excellence” in different ways and that in some peoples eye’s quantity does equal quality. When it’s all about the money, (and what isn’t these days) success is seen as profits to the farmer. I certainly don’t have a problem with that but wouldn’t you know it I would have a problem with the whole idea of money being more important than people.

I was reminded of this passage from one of the greatest novels of all time…

He loved the land no more than the bank loved the land. He could admire the tractor, it’s machined surfaces, it’s surge of power, the roar of it’s detonating cylinders but it was not his tractor…The driver sat in his iron seat and he was proud of the straight lines he did not will, proud of the tractor he did not own or love, proud of the power he could not control. And when the crop grew, and was harvested, no man had crumbled a hot clod in his fingers and let the earth sift past his fingertips. No man had touched the seed, or lusted for the growth. Men ate what they had not raised, had no connection with the bread. The land bore under iron, and under iron gradually died; for it was not loved or hated, it had no prayers or curses.

John Steinbeck The Grapes Of Wrath

Look at all of the different ways we raise food in this country, giant hog farms that Iowa Governor Tom Harkin had to ask for millions of dollars to be tacked on to the stimulus bill so that they could do something about the horrendous smell there, the toxic slurry from which has done terrible damage to streams and rivers wherever they are.

And chicken farms? we raise poultry under conditions that would land you in jail if you tried them with the family pet. Cruel just doesn’t cover what we do to chickens, it’s sickening…they’re no longer animals, they’re only seen as “stock” inventory, they’re fed hormones and antibiotics to make them grow that have harmful side effects on us when we ingest them.

These are Gods creatures, do you care?

Whats my “beef” on beef? they’re unnaturally fattened on grain so that they’ll weigh more which also increases the LDL cholesterol (the bad kind) content of the meat as opposed to being pasture fed which is much healthier for us and them! Of course throw in all of the hormones and antibiotics and we’re still just scratching the surface of the problem.

My last blog was about what I see as the state of our relationship with our health care system and how similar the church’s relationship is at times to the people we’ve been “commissioned” to be reaching for Christ. I’ve been wondering lately to what degree the modern institution we call “the church” resembles that first century church. Of course I understand that things change, and that instead of home based groups of worshipers we now have mega church’s that are run like corporations.

Here’s an example of the perception of Christian corporate thinking…

Another “Dandy”

I looked up the definition of the word “corporate” , here’s what I found…Corporate, is a word used to describe the shift of individual responsibility or liability from individuals or from a group of people who have come together with a single minded purpose. It’s kind of like having a scapegoat to blame your rotten behavior on, a nameless,faceless,heartless, impersonal, entity.

Nature has it’s own system of checks and balances that play out in man regardless of how intelligent man thinks he is or how special he believes he is. I see corporate farming as an unethical,unnatural, unhealthy, unfortunate, reality. I think that we were meant to live close to our food source’s, to have a connection to them, to occasionally do as Steinbeck said and crumble a hot dirt clod in our hands, to perhaps have a decent regard for the animals that sustain us. When man, for whatever reason, ignores these check’s and balances, the repercussions are always against himself, in spite of his mindset that he is the rooster who climbed upon the dung heap of love to crow.

It’s all about the relationship’s we have, to our food, to other people, and most importantly to our Heavenly Father. I wonder if Steinbeck’ s motivation to write the Grapes Of Wrath was how much money he’d make on it, or any artist’s motivation for that matter…what about you?

Someday, when it’s all been said and done, what will matter most about the way you’ve lived your life? Will it be the number of zero’s in your bank account, or will it be the difference you’ve made in other peoples lives for the better.

Our system of providing food is making us sick and starving us, it’s robbing us of critical vitamins and trace minerals that either aren’t found in our foods anymore or that are lost during processing as a result of non-ripe picking, transportation, and various profit motivated activities that I covered before relating to all different types of food. It’s got a lot to do with why we’re so overweight in this country, we keep eating and eating to try and get the nutrition we need while ingesting thousands of empty calories and unneeded fats. Is it really such a shock that we’re also spiritually starving in this country too?

So, whats your deal Alton?

Are you some kind of “chronic malcontent” ?

No, What I’m trying to say here is that man has allowed satan to pervert every blessing that God has given him into some kind of carcinogenic counterfeit…

This verse applies to everything having to do with man except that which God has had to do with man.

Proverbs 16:25 (King James Version)

²⁵There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

So, that seems to be the central question, exactly what IS in there?

Is it love? if it’s not…then Gods not in it.

Is it just there? or is it the re-lationship.

E.R. Theology

One of the primary reasons our health care system is in so much trouble is that as a society we tend to wait until we’ve reached the critical stage of a condition or a sickness before we decide that the thing to do is walk through the sliding glass doors of the emergency room of our local hospital. It’s by far the most expensive option that's available to us in just about every way possible… monetarily, physically, and even psychologically!

Why is it this way? Opinions vary, (that seems redundant)Here’s mine,

The powers that be, (aka insurance companies,hospitals) Are playing a statistical numbers game with us. By paying lip-service to the idea of preventative care they know that they’ll come out ahead if they just let people show up at emergency rooms for health care because there's a high probability that you might just go ahead and die while your there and that's a bunch cheaper for them than it would of been to,

A) Provide an accessible health maintainence structure
B) Treat the conditions they couldn’t prevent
C)Couldn’t think of a C but I left it open (this is an interactive blog, you fill it in)

The cockle bur under my saddle today has to do with what I see as people in the church operating from an eerily similar mindset.

At times it reminds me of a scenario like this, You walk into a hospital E.R. and tell the doctor “I’ve got a sharp pain right here in my chest,close to my heart” what does the doctor do? He hands you a medical book that covers all known sicknesses and illnesses both mental and physical and says “Son, the answer to your problem, your treatment and subsequent healing, are here in this book! open it and start reading, when you get to a point that you don’t understand something look in the back…there’s a glossary of terms and other helpful stuff to answer all of your questions, Okay? thanks…”

Should you press your case, or return later after having read the book and still don’t have the answer to your problem or feel any better they’re ready for you with the stock answer of “there’s lots of stuff we just don’t know, we try to do the best we can with what we’ve got”
listen, here’s a thought…why not lay down here on this gurney,we’ll take you up into our operating room and cut a few things out of you that we think may be involved! rest assured that we’ll bring to bear ALL of the vast medical knowledge we posess where your treatment is concerned…you remember how impressive that was to you before? You’re not in anyway hesitant or reluctant to trust us are you? afterall, we are the “only game in town” we’re sanctioned by the AMA, Please, please, just trust us! Oh why doesn’t anyone seem to trust us anymore? Where was I when you just needed someone to talk to about your stress issues, or your diet concerns? I was here! doing my best to deal with my own stressed out life with my huge belly hanging over my pants…I don’t understand why you never came to me before!
Years ago I saw a billboard that asked this question…Would you do for the truth, what the enemy does for a lie?

I can assure you that our enemy wastes NO opportunity to infuse his lies and deceptions upon mankind as a whole and upon us as individuals. I’m talking home field advantage here, the fix is definitely in, and the only way that we as Christians can ever hope to “beat the house” is through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I’m talking about what The Apostle Paul meant when he said that we are “more than conquerors, through Christ who strengthens us” At His ascension, Christ told us that he would leave us with the comforter,the counselor, the friend who is closer than a brother, and that it was good that he should go because the “Spirit” could be in all places at all times as opposed to He (Jesus) who walked in the flesh. Many people in the church know this and are perhaps frustrated or even discouraged because they haven’t seen a move of the Spirit in their congregation. I believe that the Spirit longs to move, longs to pour Himself out upon us and empower us to be the church of the book of Act’s,

So whats stopping Him?

He’s looking for a church that truly is “broken and spilled out” A church thats become so sick and disgusted with the ways of this world being crammed down their throat that they’ve vomited then out and are laying there prostrate with absolutely no other option than for Him to come and fill them. He’s looking for a church where the self has been crucified, that the gift of His presence will only glorify Christ! Not any man… and in today's world that's getting to be harder and harder to find.

How can I tie all of this together somehow, or in what direction should I go from here?
These thought’s come to mind. I must be the change I want to see in the world, My ability to affect or to ”change the world” for Christ begins and ends with my own openess and subjection to the only real power available to me to effect that change upon myself, that power being the Holy Spirit of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the blood that was shed that made available that power and victory to you and I, which was done for us while we were yet sinners, not after we shaped up and started to fly right! Where more forgiveness is needed the grace of our Heavenly Father abounds even more unto us. I’m going to start walking, there’s no need to wait for everything to be given to me, When does a father give his son the ticket to ride the train? right before he steps on board thats when.