Dale Cresap's blog

Some schools have low entrance requirements but the more prestigious the school the more exclusive and selective they are about applicants. In like manner desirable jobs attract many applicants and employers can afford to be choosy. These are important matters so applicants are highly motivated and those who are unsuccessful are disappointed. Whether you succeed or not you can take comfort in knowing that in the most important matter of salvation that I am not exclusive or selective. I open the door for whosoever will knock, and save all who call on my name. 

I told a story about old and new wine and wineskins. Even if you no longer store beverages in skins you should get the concept of contents and containers, and that the expansion potential of new wine required a flexible container to accommodate it, because it would burst an inflexible container. I spoke this to my disciples concerning the birth of my church, but this story illustrates a perpetual principle. Behold I will do a new thing. I am always serving new wine. The forms and customs of the past will not provide an appropriate container for it. Will you represent a vessel with enough flexibility to contain the new wine? 

You have my promise that wherever two or three are gathered in my name, that I am there in the midst of them. You can count on this, but I can do even more. Have I ever failed to show up just for you? For you also have my promise that I am with you always, even unto the end of the age. Gathering in my name with someone else focuses your attention on me. Do you find this more difficult to do when you are alone? Yet if you do you will find that I am as present with you as at any other time. Since I am always present, you walk in light and truth if you have a constant awareness that I am with you. 

What is the essence of your faith? Isn’t it a relationship with me? Yet have you encountered believers for whom it seems it is a relationship with the Bible, with a church, or with a pastor? These are all good things, and those who love me love my word, and my people, and my shepherds. Yet loving these things is a consequence of loving me and not the other way around. I asked Peter if he loved me more than these. The story does not make explicit what ‘these’ were, but it doesn’t matter, and Peter was distressed nonetheless. Do you love me more than anything? This is the essence of your faith. 

Do you watch the news and pray according to what you see? This is better than watching the news as a detached and disinterested observer. Yet there is a still better way. Prayer is traditionally done in a closet. You can pray anywhere, but the principle of seeking me in secret that I may share my heart with you is still valid. Do those who produce the news have the mind of Christ? My Kingdom comes not with observation, but I will reveal it to my servants. The things on my heart for you to address in prayer may not yet be visible in world events, but if you look to me I will lead you to pray according to my eternal will. 

Everyone has an outward appearance, and this is your first impression of them. Is this all you see? You know that your own identity runs deeper than your appearance, and that this is true of others as well. You use the term essence to describe the true nature of anything as opposed to superficial appearance. You have one as well. Don’t you long to have people know and accept you for who you really are? They feel the same way. The most essential way of knowing is by the spirit. This is how I know you and this way of knowing is available to those who are spiritually alive. Look past the flesh which profits nothing to the true essence of the spirit in others. 

At the end of my ministry on earth I called my disciples my friends. By extension this applies to you. During the time I spent with them, I accepted their humanity and at the same time sought divine purpose in their lives. I do the same with you. Have you found that this is the highest ideal of friendship, to offer human acceptance and jointly seek the noblest things? Some people aren’t interested in either of these and some only one or the other, so you should recognize those who are interested in both for the rare and precious treasure they are. Seek them as friends and seek to be such to those you would befriend. 

When you encounter unmarried unbelievers living together, do you think they should get married? Would this put them in a state of holy matrimony? This would not deal with their true condition and needs. Wouldn’t it be better for them to come to me? Then they could inquire of my intentions for them. Isn’t it possible that I would say, Go (your separate ways) and sin no more? If this is the case, wouldn’t it be better if they were not married? If you have a high regard for the sanctity of marriage then you should not recommend it to be entered lightly or unadvisedly. I am the Lord who turns two into one. 

Do you lead a busy life, with a constant unbroken sequence of events? Do you make it a point to spend time with me early and in deliberate structured ways? A regular daily devotional or your attendance at church with fellow believers would be examples of this. These are beneficial habits but you may find even greater blessings seeking me in unstructured ways. Have you ever devoted time to me without an agenda, but sought to follow where I would lead? Your time is always at hand. Be about your Father’s business even as you go about your business in the marketplace and I will give you unexpected opportunities to minister life in my name. 

Modern technology makes it possible for you to talk to your friends anywhere you go. Do you see this as having only advantages? For it also makes it easier for you to ignore the people around you. In many cases these are also your friends and family members, but you also encounter strangers and casual acquaintances in the course of your day. Not all of these are random, for some are appointments that I made for you. Will you have the awareness to know which ones these are, and to be present in your immediate surroundings to minister life in my name? Beware lest a technology meant to connect you serve to isolate you and diminish your abundant life.