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Well it's been almost a year ago that Livingwalk.com came quietly online, and I am thankful to Our Lord and Shepherd who deems to make this little online journal a blessing to whomever He wishes. I am sincerely grateful for all of you who have included us in your hearts and prayers. We are deeply aware that in us there is no good thing, and that for the Lord to work through we who are so imperfect a reflection of His Son, is a wonder indeed. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2Cr 4:5-6) By the Father's grace and patient wisdom, we have learned so much this past year and much of it we have shared openly with you here on these very pages. Oh that He would pour us out even more that life might come to all and any who would stumble on these words. In so many ways I feel the Father continues to draw me deeper and further out of myself and into His loving care, revealing more of the shining wonder of His Son. And in beholding Him more perfectly, I am also coming to see myself for all that I am. My oh my, what a contrast! For to see Him fully and clearly as He is, is also to see ourselves. And yet this is at the core of the Christian life is it not; that in coming to know Christ, and to behold Him more perfectly in all of His matchless glory as the express image of God, we also come to see how puny and pathetic we are; how insufficient and powerless; how deeply corrupted and corruptible. Why then will we not allow ourselves to die at His altar that he might live and rise again in us? Why still do we persist in perpetuating this old man who lives only for this world and to drink from its bitter cup? This is why we can do little more than fall on our face before the Mystery and Majesty that is Our Lord and our God, and praise Him unceasingly for His merciful loving-kindness. This is why He must become our only reality, and the living force and personality that enlivens and empowers us. Dear friends, this past year has witnessed the loss of control and even the need for control, as faith becomes our only reality. In giving all away and letting it go, and in allowing ourselves to be reduced that He may advance and increase - this my friends is the peace and poverty of heart which He spoke of on the mountain so long ago. Oh that the self-life would be broken, and our confidence in it and the world it serves abandoned once and forever. Oh dear brethren, the hour is close is it not? And yet where are those who will stand up unafraid, and testify of the truth, and of the God of all truth? Where are those who have not sold out to the devil and all of his machinery? Where indeed are those who will be His faithful witnesses at the close of this age? All is precisely as He said it would be at the end of this age isn't it? Look around around you people, especially those who keep drawing at the world's well, and trusting in it's wisdom and ways... Wickedness all around us and rising with the very winds of hell. Defenseless children and innocents subjected to war and abuse and the the hellish lusts of perverted beasts. War on the horizon, and the threat of war being shouted from far away lands - words we have heard before, and a spirit we have seen before, in Rome and Munich and Moscow. Israel surrounded all around by murderous enemies bent on her destruction, and yet why doesn't she fall on her knees before her God and Champion? Why does she trust in her armies and political wiles, and not in the Holy One who brought her forth from the womb and taught her to stand and walk? Politicians and leaders at every level and stature feeding their faces at the public trough wholly sold out to greed and the love of mammon and power. Lies and ever more lies filling the public square, shattering whatever remains of the people's trust. Corporate scandal and fraud abounding as corporations grow bigger and bigger, stretching beyond nations and borders and all accountability. The harlot church, clothed in purple, seducing so many carnal sheep with their sordid gospel appealing to the lusts of the flesh and the pride of life; preaching everything and everyone but Christ Jesus. Yes, my friends, events are mounting and the stage is being set for the saint's finest hour. We must be absolutely sure that it is God we want and nothing else, for very soon He shall be all we have. We who are truly His are also being loosed from the dread fear of men; of the need for any commendation and approval. So we can say with Paul to the Corinthians, that we have no need of commendation of men. Indeed, let our lives spell it out in bold letters, whether we are authentic and true or not! Let the love we share for each other as brethren and fellow disciples of the King say more than any fleshly endorsement or pat on the head. If you desire the love and approbation of men, then I dare say you are of no use to the King. You may as well stop pretending! Here is why the apostle Paul poured himself out in preaching Christ alone in every town and place. Not a new religion or teaching or school of thought - but a person, a life and indeed the most wondrous life - that of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh that we might behold Him in all of His wondrous glory, with unveiled face, emptied of our need for any other! Oh how our words groan and fail and stumble in attempting to describe the indescribable; He whose light and glory will replace the sun in the Kingdom of Our God. Yes, the past year has also been a time of releasing and letting go, and the wilderness remains all around us. Yet He is with us isn't He brethren?. Never before have I felt so utterly disoriented and out of control as I do now, and yet He is my only way, and my compass. He is my food and provision! Yes dear saints, and He is so much more, and all we need. If your church or pastor or guru is teaching you otherwise, then show him your back immediately; have nothing more to do with him! All of my life, the only confidence I knew was that borne of self-reliance, and yet this cannot serve me any more. Only in hearing His voice, and in trusting His wisdom will I survive and even grow in this strange place. There is both life and death here, pain and loss, and yet there is also a wondrous and mysterious peace and power. Unless the grain fall to the ground and be broken, new life cannot spring forth. Here are the eyes of faith opened by the Spirit. Yet how can He bind us and spring forth in us if we will not allow ourselves to fall and be broken? If you can read the entire New Testament and not see that the Lord and His disciples were being rejected and broken and poured out as a drink offering on every page, then what else can we say to you? Oh but that is not for me, you say. Well then, you have ascended higher than our Lord Himself, and we have nothing for you here. Dear reader, I speak sincerely when I say that If you have wandered here looking for neat and tidy, packaged sermons, then I am sorry for this is not what we are being led to do. If you have come for a pat on the head, then again, you are perhaps more likely to find a sword and a challenging word. Yet if you have a hunger for what is real and true, for that which lives and breathes in the heart of one groping for Him alone, then may our Heavenly Father bless and fill you, for He and His Son are faith's reality; and by His grace we shall preach Christ with every last breath and word that we can muster. Dearest and Holy Father, If it is your will and desire to perpetuate Livingwalk beyond this day, then we ask only that your words and your heart appear here. If not, then let it die on the vine. For we alone have nothing, and are nothing of heavenly value. Yet you are Spirit and Your truth is life, and the life is in your Beloved Son who alone is worthy. Pour us out that many shall live and see your grace and truth here, shining in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you Father for all those who have come, and will come, and will surrender all that they are to Him. In Jesus' Name. Amen. *********************** Please pray for us here at Living-Walk, that we would watch and see the Master at work, and understand what He would have us do. Your friend and servant in Christ Jesus, Wayne |
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