Author Archives: Brian

Spiritfire Proverbs 29:3, “The Path of The Damned”

A person’s own folly leads to their ruin,
yet their heart rages against the Lord.

Proverbs 19:3

This was the Proverb of our last Spirit Fire. The raging heart against God for the person’s own folly IS the folly that leads to ruin. Raging at the only One who can save us only serves to lock us in the dungeon and throw away the key. Repentance is the only path we can take that won’t lead to our destruction.

Repent, lay down your arms against the One who made you. Your anger can’t save you, only Jesus the Son of God can. All the rest is the path of the damned.

Speak Over Me

Speak over me Lord.
For when You speak, things exist
where before there was nothing.

The heavens and earth were made
by Your voice.
By Your call
the sea opened and at the right time
a path for Your people was made.

Speak over my family Lord.
May this reality crumble and melt like wax
before You.

You overflow storehouses
as You let fall the rain upon a farmer’s field,
multiplying the harvest.

Speak over me Lord.
May Your will be done
and Your Name be praised.

It is getting hard to see Lord,
but I know when You speak
things change.

Jesus, when You invited Your disciples to follow,
You showed them a Kingdom not of this world.

Jesus, when You called Lazarus from the tomb,
You revealed a power greater than the grave.

Jesus, when you uttered, “It is finished,”
You opened wide the door of our salvation.

Speak over me Lord.
I trust in You more than these horses.
They threaten to trample me if I don’t succumb.
Their pounding hooves batter against the gates;
they buck and kick at me.
Their intent to oppress and crush falls short
of Your shadow over me.

Your words give Life!
Your words are Life!
Your words give Truth!
Your Word is Truth!

Speak over me.
Deliver and rescue me,
You are mighty to save.

Lift me up out of this mire,
Purify me in Your fire,
Though the times are dark and dire,
I’ll sing Your praise with the choir.

Among Those Who Do

Have you ever stared into the eyes of a lion? I did once at a zoo. Even behind the bars, his glare was fierce. He sat atop his hill truly the king of his now miniaturized domain. I was the only person there. He looked down at me and stared right into my eyes. Within moments I wanted to look away, but I didn’t. I remember the intimidation I felt but suddenly memories of staring into my dog Rex’s eyes soon washed it all away. It was the lion, that only knew the zoo, who looked away first.

I know there are those who don’t know the love of the Master. Leave the zoo of this world and come among those who do.

Future, Present, Past

Prophets, artists, or scholars. It all just depends on the timing…

I was recently reminded from an article that September 1 was the anniversary of the extinction of the passenger pigeon, which is a case in point:

The prophet warned it would happen even when all signs said it was impossible. The artist commented on the experience of wonder as a flock a mile wide flew overhead and blocked out the sun. The scholar writes about the loss and reminds us of lessons learned.

This Moment

The day comes when you realize you are a terrible and tragic Captain of your
family’s vessel always doomed to crash upon the rocks,

When you’ve done everything, checked and rechecked, only to come up empty and find the rocks are upon you yet again,

You know it shouldn’t be this way, you know the stories, you can picture it easily, the answer is something you’ve memorized but is always out of reach,

When you are there, remember this life is but a moment, but a moment, the sun will rise!

Oh this life is a moment, it rages so,

You can feel its anger and desperation as it tries to overwhelm, listen to its siren call, “You are a sinking ship no matter what you try,” the song echoes over and over, over and over,

What does it want? It wants eternity.

Deceive you it will, it knows, oh it knows, Time will serve its purpose revealing the Truth even a moment cannot deny,

Soon it will all be over, and that is its doom,

There is One who conquered over all, He is the Rock this moment’s ship cannot outmaneuver.

We may crash, we might be perpetual strangers here, but the Son will rise!

This time will end, the sharp edges of this broken life that cut so deep they threaten to puncture hope itself will cease,

It isn’t keen enough to sever us from His Promise signed by His Blood and it knows, Oh it knows,

Be comforted, this moment will end.

Sex and the City

The American community is a very consuming community. Sex is huge over here. It is one of the greatest powers given to us by God through which we, mysteriously, take part in His divine role and create life. The American community has been at work destroying that life confusing the gift of God with its tragic obsession over lesser things.

Sex is a power we can harness in the role God created for it, which blesses a community by establishing a strong foundation of identity: this is a family, here is a father and a mother honoring marriage (the image of God), with boundaries in place that keep order to the chaos of passions and desires. It is by wantonly giving over to such elements of degradation that the erosion of the strength of our vows, our spoken word, by which God created the heavens and the earth, begins.

Think of it like a plot of land or a city with walls built around it. The walls create definition; here is inside a city, here is outside a city. Inside a city, there is protection. Outside its walls there is no authority or agreed state of terms and laws put in place by which to protect against the warring opinions of control. Inside a city there is a government/leader who creates identity- this is who we are and what we do, this is who we are not, and laws are kept in place to solidify that identity by taking away freedoms to those who don’t adhere to them.

Family is a microcosm of the city definition as stated above. The agreed set of terms were stated in the vow ceremony upon which the couple embarks the great adventure of establishing a new city, a new plot of land defining who they are and what they do.

Evangelism is the act of communicating a better way to build. People don’t know by and of themselves that there is a better way. It is foolishness to think a child knows better than a parent before their mind is even awakened. It is by education that we learn, and being educated in the ways of God, the ways set by the Creator, we are made complete in a world that is perpetually fallen and incomplete.

Name Calling

One evening I heard my kids fighting about something. They were calling each other names like, “You Meanie!”, etc. I called for a time-out and we all sat down to talk about it. I said to my daughter, “Listen, if I told your brother to tell you to do something right after you called him bad names, would you do it?” She had calmed down by then and answered me honestly, “No.” I asked the same of my sons and they too answered, “No.” But then I asked them if they would obey their sibling after they had said all kinds of good things about them, and they all said, “Yes.”

There was so much truth in that short intervention. Obedience is why we go to Church, read the Bible, and worship. Communion, prayer, all the practices and disciplines of the Faith like fasting and offerings are centered on it.

Over the years I’ve heard all kinds of debates over worship music. I’ve also heard many recent thoughts currently dominating the scene of how we corporately interact with God: “Calling down heaven”, “Seeking His presence”, etc. These seem like good things to me, but along with just singing a tune, it has very little to do with obedience. Should we then save worship singing for only those who are perfect? It would be a solemn service practicing the sacrament of silence if we did.

It seems more fruitful to me to corporately and individually speak good things about God no matter the circumstances. It all lines us up for obedience when no other eyes are watching but His.

So no matter the style: one word over and over or doctrine loaded hymns, as long as it is a good Name we are calling Him by, may it lead us to obedience. Let us lay it down before His throne and use it to help us carry our crosses till we see Him face to face.

Psalm 40:1-17
Luke 14:1-34

The Twisted Lock

LORD, I don’t want to be that guy. I don’t want to be filled with fear because of a past I can’t shake. I don’t want to bury mine because I’m afraid I’ll lose it again. The servant buried his because ‘life isn’t fair’. Do I do it for anything less? I don’t want to be that guy. I don’t want to watch for others to fail. I don’t want to speak poison into those who have not experienced my past like a dead leaf trapping a Mayflower. I don’t want to be that guy…

Oh Jacob Marley, why did you only warn Scrooge about one side of greed? Surely you knew more. Surely you saw others floating in the afterlife, those who because of sorrow have robbed the rest of the world of that which the LORD sought to give. What chains of burden shackle them?

Oh Greed, in each hand you grip those who have gained and those who have lost. They both, in turn, grasp onto that which they cannot bear to lose and can never keep. And for those who spread only the ashes, those Keepers of the Ash, like Shimei son of Gera, they proclaim of the palaces of faith they once had now burned to the ground. They curse God and choose not to build anymore, neither on the rock or sand. It made no difference before. In their greed, they believe ash is all they can cling to. Ash can’t be destroyed, it is destruction.

“One can’t lose if one doesn’t have”, like a Muddy Waters’ song it speaks a dark comfort to the bereaved and the cowardly. Such a twisted lock the devil has made: if you are advanced, you willfully take a step back. An evil doubt and fear-driven Hokey Pokey. A bit of madness keeps them dancing. Fully manifested they will target those who are blessed and tear at them with all their strength. For them, the ones who are blessed are the lie. They would crucify again the perfect One to satisfy their rage at this imperfect world.

Oh Marley were you too afraid to mention the bonds crafted on those Scrooge neglected? His misdeeds did more than cause deprivation. Your story fails to mention that they also gave rise to a lust rivaling that of Jezebel’s. Naturally one cannot be responsible for another’s actions, unless it is as an avalanche caused by a small stone. Marley, you wicked witness! You are in death what you were in life. Ever closing your eyes to the truth and only seeing that which will change your name in the history books. Did you see Hezekiah there, casting small insignificant stones upon a mountainside just waiting to crumble?

May I leave such paths behind, may they ever remain ‘the road not taken’. May any bond, any shackle, any chain that has ever been forged for me by my own actions, be loosed in Jesus’ name. I want to be born again. I want to be free from a past that mocks hope. I want to run and jump like a deer. I want to “taste and see that the LORD is good”. I want to see Scripture fulfilled in my days. I want to witness the good plans He has for me. I want to become the man with 5 minas turned to 10. I want to have to build extra barns to hold the incoming harvest.

Yes LORD, I want to believe again in Your goodness. For You alone are God, whether or not any of this ever makes sense. May Your Name be praised.