Dale Cresap's blog

If you examine your life closely you will see that you have some special ability in which you excel. This may not be something that is widely valued or lucrative. It may not be something that is highly visible to bring fame and the recognition of men, but in my love for all and my generosity, creativity, and impartiality I have neglected no one in my distribution of talents. Do you know what yours is? You honor the giver of your gift when you develop and exercise it, and if you look to me you will sense my pleasure when you do so. I put the desire in you to lead you into your destiny. Delight yourself in me and I will give you the desires of your heart.

Have you ever sacrificed for something that didn’t benefit you personally? Environmentalists are willing to make personal sacrifices for the purpose of benefitting the planet even if the benefit is small and indirect. What is the direct benefit from your activities as a Christian? Are you willing to do them even if they don’t benefit you personally? Yet if environmentalists can make such sacrifices for a world that will perish regardless, how much more should you be willing to do so for my Kingdom that will endure for eternity? Every faithful act you make in obedience to me has a positive effect even if you are unaware of it now, and I am saving your reward for you as treasure in heaven.

Do you long for world peace? Would you settle for peace in your heart? The peacemakers are blessed, but there will still be wars and rumors of wars. There is strife even between fellow believers, and many with inner turmoil. Yet you can have peace within, even as you live in a world of conflict. You understand that light drives out darkness. Do you understand by faith that love casts out fear? Have you observed examples of this? In like manner peace is a spiritual entity rather than the absence of conflict.  You receive it internally from the Prince of Peace. It is more powerful than conflict and when brought to bear will drive it away. Receive peace from me and manifest it as a peacemaker, my child.

Are you familiar with the parable of the wheat and the tares? Tares from the enemy are discovered in a wheat field. The workers propose to tear them out, but the owner shows greater wisdom in allowing them to grow up together until the time of the harvest. Are you familiar with the law of reaping and sowing? Each type reproduces after its own kind, so that wheat begets wheat, and tares beget tares. Yet there is a higher law of redemption in which tares can be changed into wheat. This involves a transformation at the most elemental level, a change in spiritual DNA to bring you into adoption as my son. This is the radical good news of the gospel I have commissioned you to preach.

You know that I love you. You know that I called you while you were yet a sinner, and reached out to you while you ran from me. I love you the way you are. Yet I want you to change. If you see a contradiction here it shows that you don’t understand the difference between affection and approval. I do not love you because you are righteous, but because I love you I made it possible for me to impute righteousness to you. My redemptive work in your life begins with your salvation, but it continues with your transformation into my likeness. If I loved you while you were far from me, I will continue to love you while my image develops in you.

Do you think it is enough not to curse and condemn others to live in good will towards them? I tell you that love is more than indifference. This is a first step, but it leaves you neutral and disengaged. Love goes beyond this to be an active involved blessing in the lives of others. I have given you an example to follow. I did not come into the world to condemn the world, but that through me the world may be saved.  Commandments not to do evil are followed by commandments to do good. You may point out that it is not possible to be an active blessing to everyone because the task is too great, but I faced the same limitations you do and was still able to do my Father’s will toward those he had given me.

Do you understand the importance of evangelism? My apostles asked me for boldness in proclaiming the gospel message and you should make it a priority as well. Yet it is still a process that calls for patience. It is an area in which pushing faster and harder doesn’t always give better results. People react badly when they feel they are being coerced or turned into a project. They become defensive and resist even when there is no reason to resist. Look for and respond to every opportunity to obey me, but realize that there are times when you plant and times when you water, but only I can give growth and increase. 

Do you meet believers who say they wish they had lived when I lived on earth? This is not available to you and is not as desirable as you may think. Many who saw me in person did not follow me. Yet you have something better available to you. A witness in my word recounts that though he knew me in the flesh, henceforth he knows me in the spirit rather than the flesh. This same relationship is available to you. This is a superior way of knowing, transcending the limitations of appearance. It is the ultimate reality, and the way you are able to know me as I know you. 

Have you ever seen an altar of human sacrifice? This phrase conjures up images of ancient pagan civilizations and blood rituals, but every church should have one. The shape, size, and construction are not really important but every church should have a place where people can consecrate themselves to me. In this case it is for the living rather than a place of death, but in a larger sense it is a place to lay down your life that you may really live. For I have called you to lay down your lives bearing about in your body my death that the power of my resurrection may also be manifested in you. 

Have you ever heard of fertile ground? This is a misnomer. The fertility is not present in the soil, but in the seed planted in the soil. In my parable of the sower and the seed, the soil represents the hearts of people on whom the fertile seed of my word falls. The soil can bring forth nothing by itself even as without me you can do nothing. Yet it is only in good soil that the seed can bring forth fruit. In like manner you are to abide in the vine, for I am the vine and bear you as the branches. This is such a simple concept and readily understood by natural illustrations. Are you walking in the reality of it?