Dale Cresap's blog

Are you familiar with the concept of upward mobility? Even if you don’t express it in these terms you expect to make progress in life, to make more money, to have more things. This isn’t only monetary. You expect to make progress in every area of endeavor you engage in. I spoke highly of John the Baptist, but he didn’t get it. Referring to me he said that I must increase. Referring to himself he said that he must decrease. I taught that those who seek to save their lives would lose them, but that those who would lay down their lives and lose them for my sake would find eternal life. John the Baptist was the forerunner of those who get this. Do you? 

Do you accept that when I walked the earth I was fully God and fully man? How often did I refer to myself as the ‘Son of Man’? For in my time here I lived as fully human. Do you assume that to lead a life in the fullness of your own humanity is to lead a life of sin? And that your humanity is somehow in conflict with your spirituality? The example of my life should convince you of the error of these positions. I want you to understand that the fullness of your humanity is not opposed to your spirituality, but in harmony with it. I meet you in the here and now reality of your life and this is where you will find me. 

Do you understand that prayer can be both spoken and unspoken? It is common for believers to describe their daily devotional time with me as a quiet time. How much quiet time do you have in church? People in social groups are uncomfortable with silence and seek to fill it up. Yet my house was not meant to be an ordinary social group. Do you long to hear from me? I am always speaking but it is easier for you to hear me if you will be quiet. Is your own “quiet time” really quiet or do you fill it with your own structured programs and thoughts? Try some silence before me by deliberate intent. Be still and know that I am God. 

You know that I walked on water. Peter did too. He sank, but remember that first he walked. He showed the initiative to do so by asking me to bid him to come. I replied to this with a single word and he got out of the boat. Have you ever been in a situation where you faced a great opportunity to test your faith? Were you uncertain as to whether I was calling you to respond? You can follow Peter’s example and inquire of me, if that is you then bid me to move onward. I will respond and then you too will be able to get out of the boat and walk on water, even if you are on dry land. 

I was challenged on the question of paying taxes to Caesar and asked to see the coin with which the taxes were paid. I said render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars, and unto God the things that are Gods. This reply silenced my critics, but does it leave you with any further questions about my purpose? Was this an affirmation of civic duty? Was it instruction to distinguish between this world and my Kingdom? It was these and more besides, for it was an even greater affirmation that the things of God are better than the things of Caesar. The same principle applies to any earthly government. Pay your taxes, but lay up your treasure in heaven. 

The wind blows where it will. You don’t know where it comes from or where it goes. I spoke this of the Spirit of which wind is an illustration. You see the effects of the wind, and these are well known enough that men build windmills to capture the power of the wind. Do you see yourself as a windmill? These devices can do nothing on their own, but they receive power from the wind and capture it to perform some useful task. Even so, as you abide in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit being led by the Spirit, you will be able to receive power from the Spirit by which you can perform ministry for others.

When you first learned to drive did you have a death grip on the steering wheel? Did you find this to be fatiguing? Did you later discover that it was unnecessary and made the task more difficult? Have you discovered the same thing about life? My yoke is easy and my burden is light. You can create stress for yourself where none really exists, but this is not my will for you. I want you to be diligent and fully engaged, but at the same time I want you to be at peace. This is the way you can fulfill your destiny and accomplish the exploits I have set before you. The key is to place your trust in me. 

Do you know that you have desires that originate in your head, and others that come from your heart? I want you to understand how to identify them. Desires from your head can have a self-indulgent quality, wanting luxury items or things better than those of others. They are usually focused on satisfying physical or material appetites, or wanting more for the sake of more, the things that all the gentiles seek. The desires of your heart are unique and it may be hard to explain them but they are a true part of your identity, for they are from me. I gave you the desires of your heart and I will fulfill them. 

Do you ever wonder whether you are deserving of my love or not? If you think you are, then you have no reason to be awed and grateful, for you are only getting your due. If you think you are not, then you may lack peace and security in my love. I tell you that deserving is a concept inconsistent in the realm of love. My grace is freely given regardless of your merit. In this sense it is undeserved. Yet you have no reason to feel insecure about receiving it. If you understand this you can have even greater confidence in my love, knowing that it does not depend on your performance, and you will be transformed as you abide in it. 

I gave you a unique set of fingerprints that uniquely identify you and you leave them on everything you touch. Do you know that I have fingerprints too, and leave them on everything I touch? I created the heavens and the earth and they declare my glory. Doesn’t their beauty make you think of me? I made you in my image, so my fingerprints are all over you. You may readily accept this concept for believers. Can you accept that those who are not yet believers are made in my image just as much as you are? Detectives use special equipment to detect and identify fingerprints. I want you to learn to see mine everywhere you look.