Dale Cresap's blog

You want to hear my voice and you have my promise that you will hear and know it. How do you expect this to work? Do you expect it to come as orders from afar; instructions for the many choices you face every day? It is that and more besides. I am near rather than far so that you may hear my still small voice. You understand the need to obey me, but I speak to you more as a friend than a servant, for I am revealing myself to you as well as giving you instructions. I revealed my acts to the nation of Israel but I taught Moses my ways, and it is this greater level of revelation I want to give you. Since you are my son I want teach you my ways and instruct you in the wisdom that is from above, imparting my character to you that you may be transformed into my likeness. 

My word teaches you not to be overcome with evil, but to overcome evil with good. Does this seem impossible to you? Do you think of evil as powerful and goodness as weak and vulnerable? I would not ask this of you if it were not true. Have I not already walked this way and provided myself as an example for you? All of evil came against me and appeared to win but in the end and for eternity my goodness triumphed. This is a universal principle and I invite you to believe it and see it work in your own life. Have you not already seen that it was my goodness and not my wrath that led you to repentance? 

Do you consider yourself to be honest? This involves more than telling the truth to other people. You must tell the truth to yourself as well. In the things you think about, do you seize upon the first answer that confirms your preferences? This is intellectually lazy. It is more honest to consider all the evidence and let the question remain open until the evaluation is complete. If you think about spiritual things the same arguments apply. Is it spiritually lazy to be satisfied with easy answers? Spiritual honesty may require you to leave some questions open while you consider them. Even some of the concepts in my word are held in tension. Does this make you uncomfortable? Yet I have called you to be a seeker and a sojourner. As you follow me I will reveal the mysteries of my Kingdom to you and lead you into all truth. 

I said suffer the little children and forbid them not to come unto me for of such is the Kingdom of God. Do you want a clearer vision of divine presence in your life? I already taught you that you minister to me by ministering to the least of these. Do you think this refers only to the poor? I tell you that it applies to children also. They are small in stature and lacking power and influence and wealth. This makes them ideally suitable vessels for me to manifest myself in, for they are still fresh from heaven. Do you structure your life to avoid contact with them? This would impoverish you for I have much to teach you through them. Don’t forget that you must become as a child to enter my Kingdom. 

I taught my followers to seek first the Kingdom of God rather than the things the gentiles seek – what to eat and drink and what to wear. Isn’t life about more than these things? Ye the gentiles still seek these things and the list has expanded considerably with new inventions – cars and computers and all manner of diversions and possessions. Do these things seem more attractive since they are available in such great variety and abundance? Yet my teaching is enduring and eternal. Life is about greater things. All that the world has to offer is available only to the very wealthy, but the Kingdom of God is available to all who seek it. I know that you have need of these things and I will freely provide them but I want you to have your priorities straight for I also want to freely give you my Kingdom. 

Do you like to play games? Structured contests are a worldwide human passion, either to participate or as a spectator. Some believers say they are frivolous and renounce them. Does this seem too legalistic to you? Yet others take them too seriously and their fortunes rise and fall with their team’s victories and defeats. I don’t expect you to give up games, but how can you fit them into my Kingdom which is the greater context of your life? You can play to learn how to live. This is what children do. Give your all, be generous in your support of your fellow team members, be gracious in both victory and defeat. 

You have my promise that my sheep hear my voice. How often do you hear from me? Do you expect me to speak frequently or seldom? Do you assume that you hear everything I say? I am correctly called the Living Word. How shall I not speak? I always speak. If you do not always hear then you would benefit by learning to hear. Look and listen to the beauty of my creation, to words you overhear that come alive to you even if the speaker did not intend them for you, to unexpected thoughts of divine wisdom. The first step to hearing is to know that I am speaking and pay attention. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. 

You have my promise that when you minister life unto the least of these you have done it unto me. Do you take this seriously? Do you understand that it means you have access to me through the needy? If you are spiritually mature you will see my presence and my hand at work in all people, even the proud and affluent, but this takes a higher degree of discernment. I have chosen the poor to be rich in faith. If you struggle to see my involvement in everything around you this is a good place to start to learn. See my presence in those in need, and minister life to them in tangible ways and I will receive it as a heavenly sacrifice. 

When I performed ministry on the earth most of the people who heard my message were common people, and they heard it gladly. Members of the religious establishment were also present and they did not receive me. When you received the gospel message did you do it as one of the common people? Have years of involvement in the religious establishment of your own generation made you a member of it? I want you to understand that this is a real danger and you can make the transition without being aware of it. As you examine yourself for any type of sin be sure that you remain a common humble seeker who receives my word gladly. 

The sick came to me and I asked them if they wanted to be healed. Does this seem like a stupid question to you? Yet consider what I did not ask. I did not ask about doctrines and denominations. I did not ask if they were worthy. I did not dwell on sin in their lives although I did forgive one man’s sins before healing him. In the light of the moral and doctrinal judgments that people make do these omissions seem conspicuous by absence? So perhaps a question that elicits a verbal response of a desire for healing is not a stupid question after all. I have given you an example to follow in your own prayers for the sick.