Dale Cresap's blog

What does mystery mean to you? Things you haven’t figured out yet? For some it is a type of who-done-it story, with clues and plot twists until it is resolved at the end of the book. This becomes a mental exercise for the reader to try to out-sleuth the author and figure it out before the end. Mystery has a larger meaning as well, pertaining to your faith. My word teaches you to hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. Do you want every question answered? The mystery of faith implies that not everything will be resolved with what you have available now, and you can’t skip ahead to the end of the book. Learn to walk with unresolved questions and you will gain insight and maturity and wisdom even before you get answers. 

My word teaches you to forgive others. Does this bother you? Does it seem like you are letting them get away with murder? The primary benefit of forgiving others is to prevent you from becoming a toxic waste disposal site. You know that there are two sides to every business transaction. The same is true of personal interaction. Some of these are pleasant for both sides, but others are offenses on at least one side. If you refuse to seek the closure you obtain by granting forgiveness, then you retain poison within yourself. There is no benefit from hanging onto this, and the cost is great. Let it go.

You live in a world subject to the limitations of time, space, and distance. Do you pray according to the principles of Newtonian physics? Yet prayer is free of these limitations, and Newton himself would have affirmed this since we was a serious theologian. The effects of prayer are not diminished at a distance, and according to my promise that while you are yet calling I will answer your prayers are not subject to the conventional constraints of time. Do you see that the mindset of the mechanics of matter and time and space are deeply embedded in you? I want you to learn to think according to spiritual dynamics that you may understand and practice prayer. 

When people become more spiritual, do you expect them to become more connected with other people, or less? The hunger for connection is deeply inherent in the human heart. Your soul is restless until it is connected to me, yet this does not happen in isolation. For I added to the church those who were saved, and you too are saved into a community of believers. It is not good for man to be alone, and this does not apply only to marriage. How can a man say that he loves God if he does not love his brother? Let he who loves me love his brother also, and he who has left all to follow me will have in this world a hundredfold of brothers and sisters. 

Have you heard it said that you are what you eat? Those who say this are usually making an argument for a healthy diet. There is an element of truth to this at the level of molecules and biochemistry, but you understand that people are so much more complex than chemical reactions, for you are a spiritual being. Yet could this also be true at a spiritual level? For I said that I was the bread of life, and also that unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man you would not have life in you. Do you find this to be a disturbing passage? Meditate on this to see how you are what you eat spiritually to an even greater degree than physically. 

I promised a blessing to those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, that they would be filled. Do you remember when you first met me how great your hunger was to know more about me? And now you do. Has this caused your hunger to diminish? Your body requires frequent nourishment. You can satisfy your hunger and you will still be hungry again. Your spirit requires frequent nourishment as well, and so you can remain in a state of spiritual hunger and continue to receive the blessings of those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Be filled with the Spirit continually. 

Can you see me in your rearview mirror? Have you gone through difficulties with no conscious awareness of my presence and intervention at the time, yet looked back and realized that I was with you all along, and that it turned out better than you expected? Or perhaps you have gone through a situation of risk when nothing bad happened and looked back and realized that I was keeping you safe. I promised to be with you always, even if you don’t realize it. As you look back and see I was with you let it build your faith to know I will continue to be in the future. Objects in the mirror are larger than they appear. 

Do you assume that anything supernatural that does not confess my name is of the devil? You live in a supernatural world and have a real adversary who is actively engaged. Those who are unaware of this walk in darkness but you are not ignorant of his devices. Yet do not be quick to attribute things you don’t understand to him, for I work in mysterious ways. My word records supernatural experiences by those you would not regard as covenant people, and I myself was falsely accused of driving out devils by the power of the devil. People find me by circuitous routes that you should not be eager to judge. 

Do you ever judge someone else’s gospel work? You should strenuously avoid this. If no man can serve two masters then you cannot judge someone else’s servant, and those who are engaged in the work of spreading the gospel are serving me, so this principle clearly applies. My apostle Paul saw others declaring my word and noted that some preached Christ out of strife. Did he mount up opposition against them? No, he rejoiced that Christ was preached. The fact that other people do it differently than you do doesn’t make them wrong. Be diligent to reveal my name as it is revealed to you. 

I taught you not to seek after the things the gentiles seek, what to eat and drink and what to wear. This is not an exhaustive list. The gentiles seek many more things. Was this commandment because you didn’t need these things? Yet in the same passage I acknowledge that your Father in heaven knows that you need these things, and he will provide them. I urge you to change your perspective from these ordinary concerns that you may seek the Kingdom of God. If you seek those things above where I sit at the right hand of the Father you can trust me to meet your needs in this world.