Where Is The King?

Where is the King? Where is the King?
All eyes on the throne
yet where is the King?
Isn't this where He ought to be sitting?
Observing His Kingdom
His face, strong, stoic and statuesque
A testament to holy silence
Enthroned in heaven upon glory, eternally vibrant
Where then is the King?
heavens throne abandoned
How can this be?

Don't be afraid
O eyes do you see?
Behold the King walks
He walks among the living
Ruler of all, his residence among the
Unseen, unheard and unknown
No crown, no scepter, only royal humility

Feet muddied by desert clay, knee deep in poverty
The same knees bent to reach the oppressed
The broken, sick and abused
To His right and His left
Gentle hands outstretched
Near to the brokenhearted and grieving
Behold, Our King, the Lord, with them He is weeping
Divine tears mingled in the dust of human pain
Eye to eye with the lame, perfection close enough to the guilty, daring to be stained
Majesty meeting men in the midst of their shame

Our King stirred by compassion, Love led Him to action
The Most High swept low
What no mind could imagine
A kingdom brought to life by death
!For the King rose, freeing Grace to ascend
His reign established by what He gave not by what He took
It was Love's pain that unlocked Heaven's gates
Open to all, The Kingdom awaits

For He is infinitely more connected to you
than He is to His crown
And should your voice cry out,
to his throne He's not bound
Surely He shall come, should His children cry out

God close the distance, extinguish the dark
come near o King of Kings,
Come near to our hearts

God close the distance, extinguish the dark
Come near o King of Kings
Be King of our Hearts!

Fear! Really?

As I was reading Hebrews 4:1, it seemed to jump off of the page at me; “Let us fear lest you miss the promise that comes from entering His rest, and you come up short of entering it.”  “Let us fear?” Doesn’t  God say, “Fear Not, be not dismayed, for I with you!” and, “we have not been given a spirit of fear, but love, power and a sound mind!” but this text says, “Let us fear!”  The Message Bible says, this resting in Him pulls us on to His goal for us, so we should fear that we are disqualified or miss out.

This is not a contradiction but a collaboration of truth.  Which means….there are things you are not to be afraid of.,… “don’t be afraid of their faces, I will make your face like flint!  Stand Up against them!  But there other things that we should Fear!

So what should we fear?  My first thought was, death.  But I’m not afraid of death as long as I live first.  What I’m afraid of is if I live without living!  The worst thing would be to live and die like the Children of Israel in the wilderness, and not go in and possess the promised land. 

Carol and I see so many people living life with uncertainty, no purpose, not sure, would have done it different, could have had it, afraid of success or just not even trying!

I know we all grow up hearing, Don’t run up there!  Don’t touch that!  Don’t do that, you’ll fall!  But….to live and die and not know your purpose?  Settle for mediocrity?  Settle for less because you are more afraid of your opposition than the One who empowers you to be Amazing!

So what I believe the writer in Hebrews is saying, you need to fear living life by just existing.  I can’t imagine any of you living and dying without fulfilling all you were created to be! 

Think about this question: What leaves people stuck in a place where they never touch what they were called to do or be?  Is it intimidation?  I don’t thing so!  I believe it’s refusing to dare to live life fully alive.  It’s failing to get up everyday ready to fight against the fear of falling short of your greatness, or settling for less!

Faith is not only a noun but a verb!  You must work it!  When will you say things like; Enough is Enough?  I’ve lost enough stuff?  Nothing and No one will steal away my marriage?  I will not give up on my children?  I will do whatever it takes to land that new job?  I refuse to be a Passive Christian!  Enough is Enough!

I love Blind Bartameus, yelling, and with everyone around him telling him to be quiet, but No!  He keeps yelling for Jesus to Help him!  Faith is not passive, but aggressively at work yelling, “See Me Jesus?”  You don’t’ need to show Him that you’re cute, but that you are a mess.  “See what I lost while I was trying to get to You?  See Me Lord?”  I love the fact that Jesus noticed and gave him what he desired.

Don’t be afraid to yell, scream and chase Jesus to get a Miracle!  It’s no wonder God says, “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life!”  Part of this happens because we fear doing nothing and letting life kill us.  We must rise up and take back everything that has been stolen!  Reverse every curse that has been placed upon us.  Defeat and destroy everything that was meant to take us down! 

Later in Hebrews it says to be diligent to press into that place of rest and promise.  That’s what God wants for us as His children; let’s get aggressive and go after it in the Name above all names, Jesus!  

Push to Win or Walk Away

Push to Win or Walk Away

Last summer I was captured by so many magic moments at the US Open.  There were so many moments over it’s two week period that I watched the body language of so many of the players who were on the verge of defeat, go deep to some inner mental battle to either press on to win or walk away.   This inner conversation with self, “Do I press beyond the ceiling of pain, refusing to quit or give up, and go to the next level, or just accept this is my best and walk away?

The power of the mind is only recently more fully understood through medical and scientific research and discovery.  They have found that thinking is much more important then previously thought.  The Bible says, “As we think, so are we!” 

I followed Djokovic more than usual, not only in his championship match with Roger Federer, but the matches leading up to achieving number one.  Not one of his last matches were easy.  He could have lost four or five times, but instead he reached down deep into the mystical reservoir within and made a decision to push into that inspiring miraculous supernatural place.  That place where you draw the strength needed to push forward and own the win.  But it started in his thinking.

Dr. Leaf says it’s only a myth that genes shapes us.  Scientifically it has recently been proven that thoughts shape our genes and cause them to do what they do.  In other words, we are not at the mercy of our genes, but our thoughts.

I believe there is another ingredient that is even more important.  It is faith.  Many times in my life, thoughts alone have come up short, but when I exercised my faith to invade my thinking, a normal moment turned into a miraculous memorable event. 

Faith is God’s gift to us.  I value that gift because to follow Jesus, takes fait to tap that arena where dreams are reached.  The benefit of trusting and exercising our faith, moves us into this reservoir of provision to see an overwhelming impossible situation transformed into a stepping stone into a future filled with hope.  Jesus told us why He came!  He said, I came that you might live life abundantly and fully alive and accomplish the impossible.

Faith mixed with our thinking is powerful.  Love Sting’s words; “You may say I lost my faith in the Holy Church.  You may say I lost my direction.  But if I ever lost my faith in You, there’d be nothing left for me to do……Lord, help me not to loose my faith in You!”

Jesus gave up His life so we could have ours back.  He died like us so we could live like Him.

Have you lost hope, lost direction, lost trust?  Feel angry, out of energy, stress has pushed you to make a decision to walk away?   Go to that deep place and gather your thinking power, and believe that Jesus will join you, and push on to a win! 

Decide to take responsibility, evaluate your performance, and assess why you are failing.  Affirm the truth, embrace it, think on it, allow these thoughts to shape you, and believe and determine you were created to be a winner.

Blessings Upon You,

Dr. Paul Morgan

Next blog I will catch you up on what Carol and I are presently doing to build up people and the Kingdom.