Dale Cresap's blog

My word says my sheep hear my voice and teaches you to be led by the Spirit. What do you expect me to talk to you about? Do you want to develop doctrine from the scriptures? Yet this is a specific calling and not something done in isolation, for no scripture is of a private interpretation. Not everyone is called to this, but everyone needs guidance for their daily life, and this I am eager to provide for all. Meditate on my word and I will give you insights into it for the clarity and understanding you seek. Walk with me and I will direct your steps, guiding you clearly in the path I have prepared for you. 

Have you noticed that nearly everyone seems to be concerned about their weight? Your culture values slenderness even as the multitude of abundance pushes people away from it. Yet there is a spiritual parallel to weight in which abundance is not a bad thing. Have you noticed that mature believers of any age have a sense of gravity about them? You take them seriously whether they speak much or little, and their very presence can change the atmosphere of a gathering even if they don’t speak at all. You may be aware of the number you get when you step on a scale, but you can have this quality without being aware of it. Moses did. My presence in you carries more weight than you know. 

Does your identity involve a strong attachment to your city, state and nation? What about your school and your team? Yet I see you as a citizen of my Kingdom, which is not of this world. The narrow distinctions you choose to build your identity also isolate you from others. Do you notice that those who are most effective in my service and have the greatest reach of ministry have a transcendent quality that goes beyond worldly distinctions? My apostle said he became all things to all people. Even if your descriptive traits remain unchanged I want you to hold them with a relaxed grip that you may be equipped for every good work and by any means save some. 

My word describes encounters between me and the Pharisees. I had some strong words for them. They were serious about the practice of their faith in every aspect of life, but they made the law into harsh judgment, without life or mercy. The gospels refine some expressions of the law and the rest of the New Testament adds some more. Have you met modern day Pharisees who take the same approach to the New Testament that the Pharisees of my time took to the Old Testament? I feel the same way about this practice whenever and whoever manifests it. I have given you my word. Declare it in such a way that it gives life. 

Do you know anyone who professes faith but only practices enough of it to make them miserable? In my word I take issue with those who are lukewarm saying that I would rather they be hot or even cold. Your faith is meant to express a deep inward transformation and manifest in every aspect of your life. Those who make only a superficial showing have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof. The little they have deceives them against progress into true righteousness. Aren’t the happiest people you know those with a deep and abiding faith that controls everything they do? Be one of them. 

My word teaches you to be led by the Spirit. Would you say that you are? Are you concerned that your understanding of the Spirits leading may be faulty and that you will make mistakes? Do you share these concerns about others and wonder how there shall be unity and cohesiveness in my body if each person seeks their own direction this way? It is indeed possible for you to make mistakes but if you are led by the Spirit I can correct them. How shall you be corrected from your own errors if you are not led by the Spirit? And if all my followers are led by the Spirit it is a testimony to me that my body functions in harmony as a single entity with many members. 

My people understand that they have an adversary and when they are assailed by fear and doubt they recognize it as an attack from their enemy. These are often entirely within their minds but they are real for those who experience them. You can also be attacked in the form of temptation. This is something attractive rather than repulsive. It is even more dangerous because it is something you are drawn to instead of something you are eager to fight. Yet it comes from the same enemy. I want you to be like Moses who refused the pleasures of sin for a season that he might obtain a better resurrection. 

You are familiar with the Bible story of the prodigal son. He left home and in the end he returned home. Do you conclude from this that everything was restored the way it was in the beginning? Yet everything had changed even though the characters in the story were back in the same places and relationships at the end. Do you think the son’s maturity had improved? Do you think that he saw both himself and his father in a different light? It is the older brother who appears not to have learned anything. Are you frustrated by seeing little change in the circumstances of your life? My Kingdom is within you and so is my work. I can transform you in your current conditions. 

You know you need to repent of your own sins. Have you ever felt the need to repent of someone else’s? Isaiah came before me and acknowledged that he was a man of unclean lips and lived among a people of unclean lips. I accepted his repentance on behalf of his people. If you understand that in Adam all have sinned then you know that all humanity is tainted by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Have you ever repented specifically for this? The resulting problems may not be obvious because they apply universally rather than by contrast between individuals. Yet if you have eyes to see that you may turn from this I will deliver you into life. 

Have you heard jokes about those who want patience right now? You know that patience is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. It takes time to grow. Procrastination is not a fruit of the Holy Spirit, but many people practice it and mistake the one for the other. Are you frustrated by the slow pace of circumstances beyond your control? This calls for patience to stay diligent and focused even though you have to wait for results. If you are slack concerning things you do have control over it is procrastination rather than patience. I want you to act with all diligence to perform everything that I have commanded you even while you patiently wait for other things to come about.