GOD'S FRESCO Part Two

Divine Fresco; a work commissioned by the will of God the Father, paid for by the blood of  Jesus Christ and wrought by the power of the Holy Spirit.

This work is not for sale at any price.

The heavenly host witnessed in hushed silence as God created the heavens and the earth.  Now they sing praises, as they behold the colors of the fresco. Human eye truly has never seen the magnificent colors that God is using on this work, after all things on earth are just shadows of  the heavenly.  This divine fresco is alive, for it is comprised of living spiritual beings, it absolutely pulsates with the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the Giver of spiritual gifts, He determines where each believer is placed in Kingdom work.  There is nothing haphazard about this work, so detailed is His work that even the very steps are planned for each believer individually! What is the depth of God's indescribable love for the world? To measure that you would have to know how wide and deep was the blood of His beloved Son that was poured out on that little hill outside Jerusalem. The answer is incomprehensible, unfathomable to our finite minds.

God is intimately acquainted with every aspect of our lives and His eyes are always upon us. He may break us but He will never bruise us, He takes our smoldering wicks and breathes life, zeal and fire into our tired bodies. He may withdraw the awareness of His presence but know He has promised to never leave us or forsake us.  He began the good work in us when we were born again and He will finish what He started in us! Wonder of wonders He never stops loving us for it pleases Him to do so.

Therefore comfort one another, encourage one another, build one another up, exhort one another and above all, love one another even as God has loved us. We must love Him and place Him above all other loyalties in our lives, love Him with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength! May our personal relationship with Jesus Christ usurp every other demand on our heart, our mind, our time and our money. Absolutely nothing and no one is more important in our life than our relationship with Christ! 


This divine fresco will soon be finished and we as believer's in Christ are all an intricate, vital part of it. The time is short and the image is clearer now than ever before.  By now I'm sure you know, you've figured it out, God's ordained fresco could only be one thing; the image of His beloved Son, our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ! This has always been God's plan for us, it has never changed. "For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son..." Romans 8:29.  

All of us together in unity are being changed into Christ's image, one believer at a time. We must be about our Father's business, by working in His harvest fields, reaping souls by witnessing to the gospel of Jesus Christ. God alone knows exactly where each new soul that is saved will be placed in His fresco. Our part is to gather as many souls as we can before night comes when no one can work. And no one but God knows when that is. May we labor shoulder to shoulder to bring every lost soul in before it is too late.

 

GOD'S FRESCO Part One

Fresco; the art of painting with water colors on plaster.

Divine Fresco; a work commissioned by the will of the Father, paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ and wrought by the power of the Holy Spirit.

This work is not for sale at any price.

It is a glorious day in the third heaven as the angels go through their daily shift change. They meet with their counterparts to discuss the latest happenings of their charges. Their charges are the "called" of God, these are the born again sons and daughters of God who have put their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation and have been sealed by the Holy Spirit. These believers are the delight of the Lord. Yet many times the angels wonder with absolute astonishment at how often their charges display worry, fear and doubt! Don't they understand that their Father is the Creator of the entire universe? Don't the realize that He is Sovereign,  nothing is outside of His control? But the angels know their place and they know better than to criticize or condemn God's kids.

The returning angels ask where the Father is because He isn't in the throne room. Gabriel the outspoken angel spoke up and said; "He is where His heart is of course, He is working on His fresco. The time is drawing near and there is much work remaining to be done."  The angels are filled with awe as they watch God at work, lovingly, intimately, individually with each believer. The angels wonder to themselves if the believers have any understanding of their worth in God's eyes? Probably not because human eyes cannot detect the blood of Jesus Christ that covers each and every one of them.  The host of heaven are filled with reverence and wonder at the over-flowing love of God for these vessels of clay and they rejoice at the top of their voices every time God's grace is met by faith and another sinner is saved!

God alone knows the day the Fresco will be completed. God alone, knows who will come together to form the left eye, God alone knows all those He determined before the foundation of the world to  become the right hand.  Only the wisdom of God knows the millions upon millions of souls redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ that will comprise the finished masterpiece. Just as in the beginning...God spoke the heaven and earth and Jesus, the Word of God, brought them into existence and the Holy Spirit moved on the face of the waters, all Three working together, so too all of the Trinity is at work to bring about the sanctification, the unity, the transformation and the agape love required to complete the Fresco.  It truly is just as Scripture says; "For it is God who is at work in us both to will and to work for His good pleasure." Philippians 2:13 NASB.

Part two, the conclusion, of God's Fresco will be posted Monday the 30th.

"With all my heart I will praise You, O LORD my God. I will give glory to Your name forever." Psalm 86:12 NLT

O LORD You are glorified;
In every act prompted by faith, for without faith it is impossible to please You.
In a child of Yours that stands their ground against evil, for You came to destroy the works of the enemy.
In every good act prompted by love, for You alone are good.
In every child of Yours who seeks You in Your Word, for that is where You reveal Yourself to us.
In every child who shares the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for You commanded us to go and be Your witnesses.
In the life of every child who fulfills their God given purpose, for apart from You we can do nothing.
With every Word of Yours that comes out of the mouth of a believer, for You watch over Your Word to perform it.

O LORD You are glorified;
In the heart of every soldier of Yours, because the battle is Yours.
When we forgive one another, for You forgave us of all of our sins.
In all of creation, the universe, for You spoke them into existence.
By the cry of every newborn baby, for You alone give life.
In the sunrise and sunset, for You command both.
By our every act of obedience to You, for You receive obedience as love.
In our prayers, for You are the God who hears our prayers and answers them.


O LORD You are glorified;
By our spiritual worship, for You abide in the praises of Your people.
In every act of selflessness, for that is Your will.
By every bowed knee and prostrate child of Yours, for You dwell with the humble.
In every sinner who is born again, for You are not willing that any should perish.
By our tears of true repentance, for You orchestrate godly sorrow.
In praise and thanksgiving, for You alone are worthy to be praised.
By the extended hand given to the poor or lowly, for You left the glory of Heaven to tabernacle with Your lost sinful creation.
In the innocent laughter of a child, for You alone give true joy. 

O LORD You are glorified;
In our total surrender to You and Your will for our lives. 
When a believer says, Here am I! Send me Lord!
When we say; Any time, Any where, Any cost and mean it with all our hearts.
Every time we say Jesus Christ is Lord!  
When believers dwell together in unity, each one counting the other as more important.
When we love You with all of our heart, all of our mind, all of our strength and all of our soul.
When we love one another in the body of Christ. And pray and witness to the lost. 
 

An Intentional Life

If you were to assess your life right now would the word intentional come to mind? How about purposeful? Or does haphazard apply? Or even drifting, carried along day in and day out like a leaf in the wind or a piece of driftwood in the ocean or does a tumbleweed in the desert best depict your life? 

Several years ago Covey wrote a best seller called Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. The premise being if you applied these seven habits you too could be highly effective in your life.  There is another book that was written two thousand years ago that contains everything you will ever need to know about living an intentional life, a life that has purpose, a life that has true meaning, a life that counts for something. The Author of the book knows a thing or two about living intentionally, purposefully, because He is the author, the Creator of all things, He gives life, and knowing Him and living your life according to Him results in abundant living. The book of course is the Bible.

There is a plan, a purpose for everyone who has ever lived.  That includes you! Jeremiah 29:11-12 says; "For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you."  The prophet Jeremiah lived an intentional life, God's plan for Jeremiah was to be a prophet to God's people Israel. "Now the word of the LORD came to me saying, Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations." Jeremiah 1:4-5

God created you, gave you life, numbered your days (Psalm 139:16) and He has a plan for you that is like no other. That is why there is only one of you, you are unique and special to God.

Jesus came to earth by the will of God and though Jesus is God, He came to die in our place for the sins of the whole world so that all who believe would never perish but have everlasting life.  Shortly before the cross Jesus prayed for His disciples and for everyone who ever would believe in His name through out time. Listen to the statement Jesus makes to His heavenly Father; "I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do." John 17:4. On the cross Jesus words say it all; "He said, It is finished! And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit." John 19:30. Jesus Christ is the epitome of a life lived intentionally! Note; when we live our life according to the will of God and the plan He has for us, we too can bring glory to God!  

God created you and gave you talents and abilities that fit what He has called you to do. We are provided examples of this in the book of Exodus.  "You shall speak to all the skillful persons whom I have endowed with the spirit of wisdom that they may make..." Exodus 28:3.  "I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship. And in the hearts of all who are skillful I have put skill." Exodus 31:3,6

God is sovereign over all things that includes your life and mine, we see examples of that in Exodus 35:21 "Everyone whose, heart stirred him and everyone whose spirit moved him came and brought the LORD's contribution." God directs us and places within our hearts the desire to do a certain thing, He has a plan and a purpose for you and that purpose will never change. 

So if you have been living your life like driftwood or a leaf or a tumbleweed, don't despair go to the Lord and talk to Him, seek Him and you will find Him and He will pour out His love to you and reveal Himself to you.  And He will stir within your heart the purpose He has for you, and He will enable you to do it.

 

"These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did." 1 Corinthians 10:6 NLT

Scripture is full of warnings for God's people, God always lets us know the blessings and peace that will come if we keep Him as the number one priority in our lives, and He warns us of the trouble that will come to us if we pursue evil rather than godliness. Scripture also says that sin is pleasurable for a season, once you are born again sin becomes less and less pleasurable until you reach the point that David reached when he said he hated sin as God did. 

 

Sin was what necessitated Jesus on the cross, the sins of the whole world upon Him. Sin separates us from God, sin can be forgiven but we live with the consequences of our willful sinning.  And many times so do the ones around us. Romans 6:8, 11-12, 14;  "Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace."

What are the evil things that the children of Israel did in the desert that God uses them as an example of the things we are to avoid at all costs?

 

Idolatry any person, or material thing, that gets our time, money, attention or love over God

In our country we have hundreds of thousands of idols; ourselves, fame, wealth, prestige, our homes, cars, boats, pleasure, sex, athletes, singers, movie stars, fashion, careers etc. You can add others I'm sure.  1 John 5:21; "Little children, guard yourselves from idols."

Immorality  inclined to lustfulness, lewd, lascivious photographs, pornography

The great nations of  the past, like the Roman empire were not conquered by another nation, they imploded from the immorality within. The same could be said about Greece, Persia and other great empires. Immorality is a direct attack on the family, life no longer has dignity, morality is laughed at, marriage between a man and woman is mocked, life is cheap, so is abortion, and when these things become the norm in a country could implosion be far behind?

Trying the Lord mocking God thru our actions, our disobedience, our rebellion against Him and His Word

Jesus says we love Him by our obedience to His commands (John 14:15) then what does our disobedience to Him say to Him? Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft (1 Samuel 15:23) Dare we mock God when Jesus said we are not to try or test God?  (Matthew 4:7)

Grumble to murmur or mutter in discontent, complain sullenly

This may look innocuous as compared with the other three, yet this may be the most insidious of all!  Jesus said in Matthew 12:34; "For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart."  Words can and do hurt, consider the victims of bullying who have chosen death over one more day of hate and torment through the mouths of bullies.  Our grumbling, complaining, murmuring is grieving the heart of God, He has given us everything we need to live our lives abundantly, in Him! What we are really saying with our grumbling is I know what all You have done Lord, but its just not good enough...God forgive us!

"These are all warning markers, danger! In our history books, written down so that we don't repeat their mistakes. Our positions in the story are parallel, they at the beginning, we at the end, and we are just as capable of messing it up as they were. Don't be so naive and self-confident. You're not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it's useless. Cultivate God-confidence."  1 Corinthians 10:11-12 MSG

"The fruit of the uncompromisingly righteous is a tree of life, and he who is wise captures human lives for God, as a fisher of men-he gathers and receives them for eternity." Proverbs 11:30 AMP

I'm sure that most of you have heard the joke about you've never seen a U Haul behind a hearse, referring to the truth that we cannot take anything with us after we die.  For those who have placed there trust in Jesus Christ for salvation, they have confessed Him as Lord and believe in their hearts that God raised Him from the dead, they never die, they just leave this earth and their fleshly body behind and go to be with the Lord in Heaven forever. 

And for those believers you cannot take possessions or wealth with you true enough, but you can take souls with you! Oh what glorious reunions there will be in heaven for those who became fishers of men on earth and lived their lives in God's harvest field here on earth! Those who win souls are those who are employed by God in His Kingdom Work.  "The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life." John 4:36 NLT. God says His fields are white for harvest, won't you come be a harvester?

I am so thankful that our responsibility is to carry the Good News of Jesus Christ, a.k.a., the Gospel to those around us that are unsaved. We cannot save them, that is the work of the Holy Spirit of God, we don't cause them to grow, God causes the growth, all we have to do is share the Gospel, the Word of God, and the Word does the work, we are blessed to be able to share the greatest news this universe has ever or will ever hear!  

Our sins have separated us  from Holy God, and we cannot get to Him with good works, or morality, or religion, so Jesus came down to us on earth, in the flesh, incarnate, God/man and lived here without sin and He chose to die in our place to pay the sin debt we owed so that we could have peace with God, forgiveness of sins and spend eternity with Him!

If you are born again, sins forgiven, a child of God not by the will of man but by the will of God and you died right this second as you are reading this sentence.....how many souls will be in heaven because you were faithful to share the gospel with; those at work, to those in your own family, to the kids dance teacher, or their teacher at school, to the person who picks up your trash or cuts your hair or does your nails, or the person on the commuter train, or the person who is serving you a meal or the cashier where you buy your groceries?  How many souls will be in heaven because you cared enough about them to share the gospel?

This morning in church one of our college interns gave his testimony, and wow was it ever powerful! I thanked God and gave Him glory for this young man and the way God's light shined thru him. He shared many things but one thing he shared I wrote down as soon as I heard it because it is so applicable to the Bible study course we are doing and it is the topic of this blog. 

He said; "There are only two things that are eternal on this earth, God's Word and the souls of men."  It has been given to us as believers by Jesus Christ Himself to be His witnesses.  Our responsibility is to take God's Word and connect it to the souls of men in our sphere of influence, so that they might be saved and have eternal life with Christ.  

Are there souls in heaven right now because of you? When you get to heaven will any come after you because you faithfully carried the Good News to them?

Can you imagine in your minds eye what that will be like to see one another in heaven? Oh the rejoicing there will be!!

Who shared Jesus with you? Who cared enough about you to lead you to Christ? Thank God for them right now.

Galatians 1:24 says; "And they were glorifying God because of me."  Is anyone glorifying God because of you....?

"In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." Romans 8:26 NASB

Today's title Scripture says it right out; We do not know how to pray as we should, therefore we are assured that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us and not only the Holy Spirit but Jesus Himself makes intercession for those who draw near to God thru Him. (Hebrews 7:25)  How encouraging is that, Jesus and the Holy Spirit help believers in prayer because most of us just aren't very good at it!

There are many reasons why our prayers fall short; Scripture teaches us to pray, it gives us examples, it supplies us with intercessory prayers. But if we don't know Scripture, we really struggle. Often we don't have our prayers answered the way we wanted because we were asking with wrong motives.  Many of our prayers are answered with no not because God does not want us to be happy, far from it He says no to things that will bring us harm.  Remember God is all knowing and you and I are not. But know this, God wants the very best for His children so yes or no we can thank Him for His answers.

On one occasion a leper came and knelt before Jesus and said,  Lord if You are willing You can make me clean. Watch what Jesus did; He stretched out His hand and touched the leper and said I am willing, be cleansed. Jesus spoke healing to various individuals all the time without touching them, why then did He touch the leper? Jesus saw the lepers heart. He knew what the leper needed most was  for Jesus to physically touch him! But the leper either didn't know the need or was embarrassed to ask, so Jesus met his deepest need and then cleansed him from leprosy.  How many needs does Jesus meet in our lives, that we aren't even aware of?  (Matthew 8:2-3)

Shortly before Jesus was arrested He was talking to Peter, when Peter made his bold confession that he would die for Jesus, to which Jesus replied before the cock crows you will deny even knowing me three times. But then Jesus reassured His disciple by telling him, but I have prayed for you Peter, that your faith may not fail.  You would think that Jesus would have prayed for Peter not to sin by denying Jesus, not once but three times. No that was not what Peter needed, his denial would humble Peter, he would feel horrible about himself, even despair, but Jesus prayed for his faith to stand the test and told Peter when you turn or repent, strengthen your brothers, saying in effect, Peter My plans for you have never changed!  (Luke 22:31-34)

Again Jesus spoke to His disciples  about the things He would suffer in Jerusalem, including His death on the cross. Peter rebuked Jesus  saying God forbid it, Lord! That was Peter's prayer, that the cross would not happen, if the cross did not happen, no one could ever be saved and made right with God! Jesus said to Peter, Get behind Me, Satan! When we set our minds on mans interests rather than Gods we are the same as Peter.  (Matthew 16:21-23) There is a beautiful promise in Scripture that says if we ask anything according to God's will, He will hear our prayer and answer it! God's will, not mans.  (1 John 5:14-15 )

Faith in intercessory prayer on behalf of others pleases God and prayers are answered. On one occasion some friends took the roof off of a house where Jesus was so they could lower their friend down to Him and He would heal him. Scripture says Jesus saw the faith of the friends, and Jesus spoke to the greater unspoken need first; He spoke to the man and said, your sins are forgiven. Then He spoke and told him to get up take up his pallet and go.  (Luke 5: 19-26)

I pray that in these few accounts that you have been encouraged in your prayer life. We truly do not know how to pray as we ought, but Jesus and the Holy Spirit do know and they are interceding for us! Thank You Lord for Your provision and thank You Lord for desiring to hear our voices!