Dale Cresap's blog

Are you able to discipline yourself in areas of your life in which performance is important to you? For some people this involves health and fitness. For more people it involves a career, and there are some who are more diligent about their recreational activities than they are their careers. How important is performance in your spiritual life to you that you would subject yourself to spiritual disciplines? A soldier narrows his focus to ignore superfluous things and disciplines himself that he may perform well as a soldier and please his commander. I have called you as a solider in my service. You will find spiritual disciplines to be more beneficial than any others you practice. 

Do you see positive qualities in other people and think that serves as a basis for loving them? Don’t confuse love and admiration. What about people in whom you can identify no virtues? Yet I have called you to love them as well as the righteous, even as I do. You describe my love as unconditional and you are right. My love is limitless and unfathomable and not based on your behavior or performance. I have called you to follow me. This mindset does not come naturally for you and is only available through your transformation into the likeness of the one who loved you enough to die for you while you were a sinner. 

Do you think that a curse is a formal invocation of a pagan god such as Baal or Dagon, or even of me? Do you think that curses must involve the word ‘curse’, or profanity or vulgarity? Let no unwholesome communication proceed from your mouth or from your heart. Do you make pronouncements of discouragement or despair regarding yourself or others? Do you affirm the inevitability of bad situations, declaring that they will never change? In the larger sense that really matters these too are curses and you will eat the fruit of the words of your mouth for better or worse. Speak the truth of my word and redemptive power and you will see it come to pass. 

Have you ever had your dreams die? Perhaps you wanted something badly, and even thought that I was promising it to you. You may be right about that, even if it slipped away or never materialized. If I promised it or put it in your heart I can give it back. The death of a dream can be a part of the process of fulfillment. I promised Isaac to Abraham and then required him to be given back again. The story had a happy ending as you know, but this event made me central in the lives of both of them. It will do the same for you. Your circumstances may not be as extreme but the same principle applies. I may require you to lay down the things I give you even if I give them back. 

Do you understand the power of the words you speak? You know that you are to bless and not curse, and so you are careful not to articulate curses. Have you ever prayed silently? You know that I hear your spoken words, and also the ones that go through your mind without being spoken. You hear from me in this manner and I hear from you. Can you see how this higher standard could be applied to curses as well? Thoughts are precursors to spoken words. Cursing in your heart is harmful to your heart even if you do not articulate your thoughts. Let your heart be full of blessing rather than cursing, and your words will be full of grace. What is impossible with men is possible with me.

Do you select certain unbelieving friends as ‘projects’ for your evangelistic efforts? Do you tell them that this is what you are doing? Do you think it would make the effort more or less successful if you did? You may have the noblest motives in wanting your friend to enter my Kingdom out of genuine affection, but there is an unwritten code that nothing should be done between friends by ulterior motives. You are called to be children of the light and live in transparent openness. You will find that this is the most effective way to convey my message of truth. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify me.

I told a story of two men who prayed. One was self-justifying and full of himself. The other would not even raise his face to heaven but cried out for mercy for his sins. I said that he went away justified rather than the other man. Ever since it has been accepted that humility and contrition are necessary in prayer. You don’t have to hear many prayers of the first type to realize that they are wrong. Humbling yourself under my mighty hand that I may exalt you in due time is a universal spiritual principle, but it is especially true for prayer. Are you aware of how much you need mercy? If you ask me for it you can be certain that I will give it to you.

Do you follow the lives of celebrities or athletes? They do not follow yours. The fortunes of some people depend on their fame, even if there is no real connection between them and their followers. You are under no obligation to take an interest in them. When I called you to follow me I implied that you would not be following others as well. The abundant life I have called you to is not lived vicariously through a select few. It is a destiny, a future, and a hope I have prepared for you alone. Even people who are not believers will tell you to get a life. I invite you to come to me to have a real everlasting life. 

Are you generous to everyone, or just to your friends, or where it will do the most good? In my word I said that if you give a feast and only invite your friends who are able to reciprocate, then you have your reward, but if you invite the poor who cannot repay you then you have a great reward in heaven. Aren’t your friends about as well-off as you are? The poor have greater needs and your giving to them will be more effective, yet this does not suggest that you should not also be generous to your friends. If you internalize generosity as a virtue then you will want to be generous to everyone and I will give you enough that you will be able to. 

Did you grow up learning the truth from your parents? Blessed are those who are instructed in the gospel from an early age, for whom it is a tradition. Yet tradition alone will not give you a vibrant relationship with me. For I spoke clearly in my word about the commandments of God and the traditions of men. As you grew older did you continue your search for truth outside your home? The process of seeking and finding that I promise to reward is a lifelong search. If you are willing to move beyond the familiar you will find that there is truth outside of your tradition. Cast your net wide, prove all things, hold fast that which is good.