DRY EYES...OLD FAITH...HARD HEART...COLD PRAYERS

Hello friends...how are your eyes, faith, heart and prayers doing? Is your fairytale world not panning out like you expected? Did you start out in your faith blazing...and now you are smoldering? Have you lost the joy of your salvation and replaced it with the despair of your fears? Well... welcome to my world.

Our first collage is from the classic movie...IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. It is a wonderful tale of how circumstances, choices, obstacles, people can...if we let them...dictate our joy level. Our lives can either be a Bedford Falls existence...or a Pottersville Hell. Does your life reflect the emptiness of Mr. Gower...George Bailey...and the citizens of Potterville? NOTE: Do get the full effect of this Ramblings...go rent you It's A Wonderful Life...pop some corn...and enjoy the movie.

I can remember moment that I accepted Jesus Christ as my Saviour...it was like a release from prison...like a long,slow rain after a long, hard drought ...like a rough, hard piece of leather soften by oil. The problem was...after a period of time...a few years later...I began to feel the prison walls close in again...I felt the the drought returning...I felt the leather stiffening up again. It was not something that happen immediately...but it was a slow process...and then suddenly... I could not figure out what was wrong with me. Actually...I was wondering...what was wrong with everyone else...except me. After all...ya gotta blame someone for the way you feel. All I know is this...I was dry, empty, and my prayers seemed to leave my lips...hit the ceiling...and drop back on top of me...unanswered.

What could I possibly do to restore the joy of my salvation... to be refreshed...to do what the Beatles sang about...to Get Back...to where I once belonged.

I chose...and it is a choice...to RUN....run away...as far as I could from the people who loved me, to the people who would speak truth to me, to a place that was more empty, more dry, more cold than where I was in the first place. I surrounded myself with people who would pander to my pity rather than speak the truth in love...with the cause and effect was a journey deeper in to despair.

NOTE: This is a water tank from Kenya Africa....for fresh water in a dry, polluted land. In the first collage you see the woman at the well...where Jesus told her that she would never thirst again...because the well...is within when you have Jesus in your heart. Jesus spoke later about rivers of living water flowing out of your innermost being/belly...with those flowing waters being the Holy Spirit. There may be something in our lives damming the flow of waters...but when we repent...times of refreshing will start to flow again.

When things are dry, old, hard, and cold...what can be done? I can't speak for anyone else...but only speak from my personal experience...I have to apply the Acts 3:19 Principle.

"Repent (change of mind, attitude, direction) and return (to my first love) that your sins may be wiped away (the thing that breaks our connection)...in order (cause and effect) that TIMES OF REFRESHING MAY COME (aaaaaaaaaaaaaah) may come from THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD."
(Acts 3:19)

Keith Green had a great song from back in 1978...that is still fresh and alive in 2009...called MY EYES ARE DRY. If you are at a place where you are dry and crusty, where what once was vibrant faith, where you heart is hard and stiff to the people you love and your prayers are cold as last night fire...think about what Keith was singing (even better if you can find a copy of the song).

MY EYES ARE DRY

My eyes are DRY...my faith is OLD...my heart is HARD...my prayers are COLD
And I know how I ought to be...alive to You...and dead to me
But what can be done...for an old heart like mine...soften it up with oil and wine
The oil is You and Your Spirit of Love...please wash me anew
In the Wine of Your Blood

"If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; BUT if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from ALL sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins; He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (I John 1:6-9)

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY

I have found that I can choose to walk away from God...and I also can choose to return. I can choose life and blessing...I can choose curse and death.

My eyes are now wet with tears of repentance and joy...my faith is fresh and alive...my heart is softened and pliable and usable for the Father...and my prayers pierce the heavens and are now effectual and fervent.

Love and Refreshed Kisses
Rodney "The Ball Is In Your Court" Boyd

THE OUTLAW

Greetings fellow Chewers of the Cud. The saga continues. In 1968...I was a sophomore at Central High School...hiding out in my room. In my room...I had everything I needed. I had a radio...a T.V...my guitar...books (comic and other). It was in this room that I watched the Elvis Christmas special...later renamed...the 68 Comeback Special. I had a few friends...but was more and more...staying in my room. As mentioned in previous Ramblings...Dan Bogle and Bruce Fortner rescued me from my room by enlisting me to play in a band...later known as THE BLIND DISTORTION. 1969 brought a relationship with Brenda...which led to a relationship with Jesus.

I played my last gig with the Blind Distortion at the Moose Lodge...and then quit playing guitar...because that's what I thought I was suppose to do. I thought I would be limited to listen to bad singers sing old songs. I did write one song...called THE JESUS SONG...that was a peppy little ditty about Jesus...but other than that...no music...UNTIL...Larry Norman. He wrote songs like...WHY SHOULD THE DEVIL HAVE ALL THE GOOD MUSIC...and THE ROCK THAT DOESN'T ROLL...READER'S DIGEST...WATCH WHAT YOU'RE DOING...and many others.

One song...that became a favorite about Jesus was called THE OUTLAW. Jesus to the Jesus Freaks...was considered to be outside the mainstream...religious...church world...an OUTLAW. Of course He was not on the level of those outside of the LAW...but he was the fulfillment of the LAW.

The song THE OUTLAW...was an ode to who or what people thought Jesus was...outlaw, poet, politician, sorcerer. The question finally leaves us with the question...WHO DO YOU SAY JESUS WAS? This is the question we all have to answer...sooner or later...either now on planet earth or before the Father. You answer determines your destiny.

As mentioned in C.S. Lewis' book MERE CHRISTIANITY...the choice does not include a great teacher or a prophet...those are not options. As Lewis writes... the choices are...Jesus is either...a LUNATIC...a LIAR...or who He said He was... LORD.

THE OUTLAW (Larry Norman from Only Visiting This Planet)

Some say He was an OUTLAW...that he roamed across the land
With a band of unschooled ruffians and a few old fishermen
No one knew just where he came from, or exactly what he'd done
But they said it must be something bad that kept him on the run


Some say he was a POET , that he'd stand upon the hill
That his voice could calm an angry crowd and make the waves stand still
That he spoke in many parables that few could understand
But the people sat for hours just to listen to this man

Some say a POLITICIAN who spoke of being free
He was followed by the masses on the shores of Galilee
He spoke out against corruption and he bowed to now decree
And they feared his strength and power so they nailed him to a tree

Some say he was a SORCERER, a man of mystery
He could walk upon the water, he could make a blind man see
That he conjured wine at weddings and did tricks with fish and bread
That he talked of being born again, and raised people from the dead

Some say He was the Son of God, a man above all men
That He came to be a servant and to set us free from sin
And that's who I believe he is cause that's what I believe
And I think we should get ready, cause it's time for us to leave

Well...great song...makes you think. People have their own image about who Jesus is. There is nothing new under the sun...that same question was posed to the disciples..."Now when Jesus came into the district of Ceaserea Philippi...He began ASKING His disciples, saying...'WHO DO PEOPLE SAY THAT THE SON OF MAN IS?" (Matthew 16:13)

They answered....(1) John the Baptist (2) Elijah (3) Jeremiah (4) one of the prophets. (Matthew 16:14)

Jesus then brings the point home..."BUT WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?"
(Matthew 16:15)

At this point Peter stepped up to the plate and boldly declared..."THOU ART THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD." (Matthew 16:16)

Jesus response to Peter's perspective of who Jesus was..."Blessed are you Simon Barjona...because FLESH AND BLOOD did not REVEAL this to you...but MY FATHER WHO IS IN HEAVEN." (Matthew 16:17)

Jesus then contrasts Peter's strong revelation from the Father...with Peter's weak name...reflective of his character. "And I also say to you that you are...peter (petros...little stone)...and upon this ROCK (petra...massive rock) I will build my church...and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it (the church). (Matthew 16:18) The church will not be built on an earthly man...but will be built on the DIVINE REVELATION that JESUS (God is Salvation/Immanuel/God with Us) is the CHRIST/MESSIAH (anointed with yoke destroying, burden lifting, oppression removing, healing power of the Holy Spirit [Acts 10:39] )...the SON OF THE LIVING GOD (God in the flesh...in the beginning, with God...was God John 1:1). NOW THAT REVELATION IS THE ROCK THAT THE GATHERING OF THE SAINTS WILL BE BUILT ON...THE FOUNDATION OF THE APOSTLES REVELATION OF WHO HE IS...and who they are NOT. (Matthew 16:17)

Along with this revelation...there is not only the roots of the church...but authority of the church (not a building...but the people...who adhere to the revelation that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the Living God). "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you shall bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven , and whatever you shall loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven." (Matthew 18:19)

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY

Well we know who Larry Norman said Jesus was...and we know what other people of Jesus' day said He was...and we know what Peter's impression of who Jesus was...and we know who Jesus knew He was (notice He did not refute Peter's revelation but underscored the accuracy of the revelation)...we know who C.S. Lewis reasoned that Jesus was and was not...BUT...the question is NOT who other people say Jesus was...BUT...WHO DO YOU SAY JESUS WAS...AND MORE IMPORTANT...WHO HE IS NOW. Your answer will set the course of your destiny.

Love and Outlaw Kisses
Rodney "I Choose The Christ, the Son of the Living God" Boyd