Growth in the Storm

“And when they were come into the ship,
the wind ceased.”
Matthew 14:32

For the disciple of Christ there is purpose in the storms of life. God’s design for His Own is never random and without intent. Nothing is haphazard or arbitrary. The storm in which the disciples found themselves was intended to enlarge their comprehension of the majesty of Christ. It was also an opportunity to experience this wonder in their own lives. The main beneficiary of this “lesson” was Peter. Peter had a desire to identify with the living Christ; his heart was not content in seeing Jesus walk upon the water! There was an inherent need within him to walk as Christ walked; to step into the storming seas of life because faith propelled him. True Faith can never find contentment in seeing Jesus only. It will inevitably compel the one in whom it resides to invest in the experiential life of identification with Christ.

The wind will cease, and the storm will become calm once the vital lesson is learned! How glorious is the inspired Word of God: “and when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased”! Let the “they” impact our hearts and stir our souls to greater faith and larger living. When Jesus and Peter step back into the boat, Peter is not the same man he was moments before. His understanding has been transformed by stepping out of his current knowledge of Christ into a larger revelation of the power of Christ.

The storms of life are designed of Him to not simply be endured, but to be the very instruments of our enlargement and growth. While many cling to the “safety” of the boat there are those who see Christ upon the waters and have the passion to walk as He walks, to overcome as He overcomes; to know within that a greater life is available. May the Lord work within us that faith that sees beyond the confines of our experience and propels us to walk outside the scope of human possibility.

“If it be thou, bid me to come”
Matthew 14:28

Jesus has one response to such faith:

“Come…”
Matthew 14:29

Brian Troxel

Warfare the Sign of Life

Warfare: The Sign of Life

“I have fought the good fight…”
2 Timothy 4:7

The surest sign of the life of God within His own is the unconquerable will to fight the fight of faith. Life is always the antagonist of death. Faith is the adversary of sin. Victory over sin and iniquity is the result of warfare; warfare of the life of Christ Himself. When a heart ceases to fight it ceases to live.

“Fight the good fight of the faith…”
1 Timothy 6:12

We live in a day where “faith” is presented as a legal declaration of victory (regardless of the life lived) rather than the means by which we attain the victory. Paul was ever encouraging the people of God to remain active in the battle, to be diligent in their walk and to grow in the victory of the faith. The writer of the beauty and the power of all the truths in the Book of Romans also wrote this to Timothy… “fight the good fight of faith”! Compromise and concession are the harbingers of spiritual defeat and death. Life by its very nature opposes death and the scriptures declare that the “wages of sin is death”. The life of Christ within withstands evil in all of its deceptive and destructive forms.

The fight of faith is not won in a moment, nor is the crown easily earned, but we have been given the great gift of faith, the blood of Christ and the grace of God to stand in this evil day! It requires a walk of learning, growth and development in the school of His Spirit.

“Blessed be the Lord my strength,
which teacheth my hands to war,
and my fingers to fight…”
Psalm 144:1

Faint not at the battles which assail you; do not lose heart in the intensity of the conflict for we have this promise from God:

“But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you,
and keep you from evil”
2 Thessalonians 3:3

Ω

“The Christian life, then, is a battle,
so sharp and full of danger
that effort can nowhere be relaxed without loss”
Huldrych Zwingli

Brian Troxel

Quote for Today – George Warnock

Quote for Today

Change Comes…

“…When the Church of Jesus Christ begins to come to the realization of the greatness of her bondage…

When she realizes she has been so blinded in her understanding, that she did not even know she was a willing tool of the world-system…

When she realizes that she has been grinding out corn for the Philistines, all the while thinking she was working for God…

When her Nazarite vow of separation unto the Lord is renewed, and her hair of Glory is restored…

When she realizes suddenly that she is the laughing-stock of the world and not her friend…

When she realizes she has been led about by the whims of the world, and not by the hand of God…

And when finally she is prepared to lay down her life, if so be she might know the power of the risen Christ working within her…

God is preparing an army, beloved, who will go forth in the Day of the Lord to put an end to the reign of Evil, and to deliver the people of God from the Oppressor”
George Warnock – From the Book “Who Are You”

The Secret of Receiving from God

“To him that overcometh will I give…”
Revelation 2:7, 2:11, 2:17, 2:26-28, 3:5, 3:12, 3:21

His table is set for us in the midst of our perplexities and adversaries (Psalm 23:5). His bread is rich in the spiritual nutrients of grace and the fruits of His Spirit. It is not in the absence of trouble that we grow and develop; rather it is in the midst of the very things which seek to undermine us. It is in the very face of our adversities that we are outfitted to walk and apprehend his call.

Little did Joseph’s brothers know that in their treatment of Joseph they were in fact unwitting vessels setting in motion the fulfillment of God’s purpose. Saul did not comprehend that his pursuit and envy of David were the means through which God raised a man after His own heart. Whether it is apathy, envy or distrust of our brothers and sisters, the forgetful butler (Gen. 40:23) or the unfeeling jailers of God’s people, the vision stands sure. God will accomplish His ends if we hold fast to the faith He has placed within our hearts.

It is not simply those who have vision who will receive of God’s gracious hand. It is those who overcome through hope in God’s vision who receive the prize of the “high calling of God in Christ Jesus”. Doctrinal visions fade with the passing of time. However, a vision received in the heart, held by hope in the ONE who cannot lie, is an unassailable power which will persevere until the day dawns and His purpose is fulfilled.

Overcoming is simply the result of His Life beating within our breast. His Life is the resurrection from death itself. No grave or disappointment can withstand Him. So not only do we hold to His promises but with the passage of time is the realization that we are held by Him! Through the mountains and valleys of our journey the flame of hope lights our way even in the darkest of nights. The flicker of the eternal keeps us bound to the vision He has birthed. As Paul stood before Agrippa bound in chains, held fast within the Roman penal system, he declared with all boldness…

“Whereupon, O king Agrippa,
I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision”
Acts 26:19

True vision holds one to a life of obedience regardless of the circumstances. This was not a personal vision which held Paul; it was a “heavenly” one and as such it could not fade because of earthly circumstances. This vision supplies to the beholder faith, obedience and the wonder of Hope as an anchor to our soul. Those who let the vision fade become weary, pragmatic and compromised in a world which seeks to undermine the intense fire of all true pilgrims.

Overcomers are those who keep their feet moving forward, their hearts beating with the fervor of a love which cannot be quenched. In their times of discouragement and failure they rise because of a Hope that cannot be denied. True overcomers are those who follow the “heavenly vision”.

“So often we have a kind of vague,
wistful longing that the promises of Jesus should be true.
The only way really to enter into them
is to believe them with the clutching intensity
of a drowning man”
William Barclay

Brian Troxel
www.aword.info

Deeper Into the River

The following is a message delivered at Boulder Street Church on March 19, 2017

The Open Door

“For a great door
and effectual is opened unto me,
and there are many adversaries“
1 Corinthians 16:9

Difficult and adversarial situations have no bearing upon the child of God. The Open Door into the things of our Father must be filled with opposition for this door can only be entered on the grounds of Faith; a Faith that is living, pressing and teeming with the life of God. Men who wait for all the conditions to be right will never know the hidden glories of God’s provisions.

“Thou preparest a table before me
in the presence of mine enemies”
Psalm 23:5

The rich provision of God’s table is served in the midst of our enemies. It is there we find the nourishment and faithfulness of our God to provide all that we need to accomplish His works in and through our lives. John on the Isle of Patmos was banished to a forlorn and desolate place for his testimony of God. It is there that he sees a great door opened and the heavens drawn back to unveil the deep and dramatic unfolding of the Revelation of Christ! We must not draw back from the doors presented to us. We must not consider the opposition and the obstacles that stand in our way; for faith never walks by sight. Many men and women of God sit in faithless inactivity waiting for the opposition to be removed before venturing into the things they have been called to.

“He that observeth the wind shall not sow;
and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap”
Ecclesiastes 11:4

The reaping in a man’s life is always in proportion to his sowing. Great testing is about to unfold in our day and it is incumbent upon us to be in the now of His Will; to step out of the confines of our world and into the open doors of His world. The way of truth is not an intellectual commodity; it is the Life of Jesus being lived out in my life today. When Jesus said “I am the Truth” He proclaimed truth to be His Life in me; not some doctrinal understanding of a teaching, but the very breath and power of His life in my own heart. Men who accomplish the works of faith are blind to the obstacles that stand in their way. They see through the barriers, they see through the weaknesses in their own lives and the limitations of their own resources for faith sees His Will and nothing else. It is a day to “lift up our eyes”, in order to see past the circumstances and be found “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith”.

Brian Troxel
www.aword.info

Hearken, Hearken, Hearken Part Five

“HEARKEN”

PART FIVE
(Part FIVE of a Five Part Series)
ISAIAH 51

To Those who Know Righteousness

“Hearken unto me,
ye that know righteousness,
the people in whose heart is my law;
fear ye not the reproach of men,
neither be ye afraid of their revilings.
For the moth shall eat them up like a garment,
and the worm shall eat them like wool:
but my righteousness shall be for ever,
and my salvation from generation to generation”
ISAIAH 51:7-8

The Hebrew Word used here for “Hearken” is the same as the one used in Isaiah 51:1 for it is unto a people whose walk is pleasing unto God. This is a people who “know righteousness”. This Word is addressed to those who know the reality of a righteousness which is empowered and made real by FAITH; for the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus is alive within their hearts. They know the battle of Faith, that victory over sin is through the wonder of faith, and that by faith are they held in the beauty of His Life. It is to such that we see the gracious WORD of God encouraging and strengthening them to not be fearful of the reproaches of men, their reviling and scorn. It is a word to empower them; to consider the temporary state of their persecutors; the substance and eternal nature of their salvation in Him. We are reminded of our Lord and Saviour who for the JOY set before Him endured…

“Looking unto Jesus
the author and finisher of our faith;
who for the joy that was set before him
endured the cross, despising the shame,
and is set down at the right hand
of the throne of God.
For consider him
that endured such contradiction
of sinners against himself,
lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds”
Hebrews 12:2-3

The power of this Word in our day is intended by Him to be a strong one of encouragement and exhortation to LOOK and CONSIDER HIM in the things that are to come upon us. In so intently seeking HIM we will be found living in the HOPE of the Joy set before us. We will find the same divine enablement to despise the shame and suffering. It is in the unction of this living hope that we find the same graces of spirit, the same peace and comfort of heart, and the same spirit of Glory to reveal in those moments HIS LIFE and Resurrection! How good is our God to send forth His Word to us now, before the storm breaks forth upon us, that we may be comforted, empowered, free from fear and hidden with Christ in God. He invites us to flee to Him, to enter into the very bosom of His LIFE even as Noah entered into the ark.

“…as it was in the days of Noah,
so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
They did eat, they drank,
they married wives,
they were given in marriage,
until the day that Noah entered into the ark,
and the flood came, and destroyed them all”
Luke 17:26-27

Ω

“And so,
after he had patiently endured,
he obtained the promise”
Hebrews 6:15

Brian Troxel

Let No Man Deceive You

“LET NO MAN DECEIVE YOU”

“For this ye know* (see note below),
that no whoremonger (sexually impure),
nor unclean person, nor covetous man,
who is an idolater,
hath ANY inheritance
in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Let no man deceive you with vain words…”
Ephesians 5:5-6

How clear is the call of the New Testament to LIVE righteously! Men and woman who declare anything contrary to this are deceptively speaking empty and “vain words”. The Church in our day has been “deceived” with another Gospel; one in which people are comforted and excused for sin rather than delivered FROM sin by the power of God through faith. Faith is the means by which we are empowered to live a life of victory over sin, self and the world.

“For whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world:
and this is the victory
that overcometh the world,
even our faith”
1John 5:4

We live in a day where sin is sympathized with, excused and tolerated. We speak as if the LOVE of God overlooks our sin and rebellion. God’s estimation of SIN is revealed by the necessity of the sacrifice of HIS SON at Calvary. By faith we have access to the “law of life in Christ Jesus” whereby we are enabled to live righteously in God! The true LIFE which Jesus came to give to every believer is one of victory and power. This life is known in reality by the power of the Holy Spirit putting to death the DEEDS of our body…

“For if ye live after the flesh,
ye shall die:
but if ye through the Spirit
do mortify the deeds of the body,
ye shall live”
Romans 8:13

The true life that God gives is one of righteousness. The Kingdom of God is not in having the necessities of this life rather it is “righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit”! Somehow the “gospel” of today absolves men and women from living righteously by a teaching that relieves them of any accountability. Woe to those who preach such a word and woe to those who listen to such things that are clearly contrary to the WORD of GOD. All will be without excuse.

“Who will render to every
man according to his deeds”
Romans 2:6

Jesus presents the Kingdom as a narrow way in which few will find its glory and wonder. We read in the Book of Revelation concerning those who will ENTER the gates of the CITY of God…

“And there shall in no wise
enter into it (The City of God)
ANY THING that defileth,
neither whatsoever worketh abomination,
or maketh a lie:
but they which are written
in the Lamb’s book of life”
Revelation 21:27

Righteousness lived here on earth by faith is the hope we have that is set before us. Faith is the divine enablement to LIVE righteously, HOPE is the power to energize our will to do so and LOVE is the fruit of this life! (Faith, Hope and Charity)

“And, behold, I come quickly;
and my reward is with me,
to give every man
according as his work shall be.
I am Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the end,
the first and the last.
Blessed are they THAT DO his commandments,
that they may have right to the tree of life,
and may enter in through the gates into the city”
Revelation 22:12-14

*NOTE: Obviously this was common knowledge in the days of the early Church from which we have strayed greatly.

Brian Troxel