Dale Cresap's blog

Do you have questions about my Kingdom? Does it bother you to live a life of faith if you have unanswered questions?  Do you realize that I prompt you with questions about things I want to teach you? Teachers engage students by posing questions to their classes. I do the same thing with you to encourage you to seek me for the answers. For you have my promise that if you seek you will find. Yet those who have no unanswered questions are self-satisfied and no longer seeking. Let your questions prompt you to ask of me, and I will delight to share the treasures of my Kingdom with you. 

Are you afraid when you are popular? Who doesn’t thrive on the approval of those around them? Who wouldn’t like to have a fan club? Yet my word says beware when all men speak well of you. You can become addicted to approval, and compromise your character to obtain it. Your fans will not hold you accountable for your actions. Who can maintain purity and self-discipline under these conditions? There is a steady supply of those who fall because their visible success makes them think they can make their own rules. It is true that you can gain the whole world and lose your own soul. Blessed are those who seek my approval, whether anyone else approves or not.

When you ask me for something do you expect an answer? If you do not receive an answer do you assume that the answer is no? If you try to get an answer from your friends in response to some inquiry and get none, you may assume that they are not interested, but that is not the same as a definite negative answer. Paul made a definite request of me three times, and I gave him a definite answer. I told him that my grace was sufficient for him. This was a definite negative answer to his prayer, but it was still full of divine wisdom and redemptive grace. I am capable of saying ‘no’, or ‘wait’, but it furthers my transforming work in your life for you to keep listening until you get an answer from me.

You may excel in righteousness in one area of your life by sheer determination, but have weaknesses in others. Yet my word teaches you to be pure and holy in every area of your life. This is the meaning of integrity, referring to the soundness of anything that requires every part to work properly for the whole system to work. One faulty part can cause a car to break down or an airplane to crash. So one area of failure can ruin a life as well. Does this discourage you because it seems like an impossible standard to meet? Let not your heart be troubled. Continue to trust in me and I will complete the good work I have begun in you.

Have you ever experienced the chastisement of the Lord? The Bible makes clear that he scourges every son he receives, so if you do not experience his discipline you are not within the household of faith. Yet like a good earthly father he will protect you from real harm even as he gives you the discipline you need to form your character. You have a real adversary who is only interested in inflicting real damage. Chastisement is not pleasant, but it is pain with a purpose. Your light afflictions are but for a moment, and they bring forth the peaceable fruit of righteousness, and cannot be compared to the glory to be revealed in you. 

Do you hear stories of open visions and angelic encounters and think that people who receive them have a high level of spirituality? You may as well ask why it takes so much drama to get their attention. I speak constantly and in many ways. The condition of your spiritual life determines the ways in which you are able to listen, as I said to my audiences, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. If your heart is turned toward me and your spirit is attuned to me, then you will hear my still small voice and I can guide you with my eye. Those who are not and require great drama for me to speak to them should not be proud of the fact. 

Are you aware that you practice a transcendent faith? This is not a widely used term, and many believers shun it because of the association with transcendental meditation that they reject. Yet you believe in a reality beyond this present world. You know that I created this world by my word, and that I came from heaven to become flesh and dwell among you. This world is passing away so you seek a more permanent and enduring substance, a city whose builder and maker is God. Do not be ashamed to practice a transcendent faith and I will not be ashamed to have you called by my name.

I’ll be gone for a few days, to Portland to celebrate my parents 60^th anniversary. 

Do you lead your life according to ideology? Do not mistake this for leading a life of principle. It is easy to align yourself with the mindset of the liberals or conservatives and this gives predetermined answers to nearly every question. Yet truth is a stronger concept, and to seek the truth requires you to consider every question on its own merits. This may put you in the position of approving some actions of people you generally don’t like, and disapproving of some actions of people you do, but to seek the truth without compromise requires this. If you continue to follow me, you will know the truth and the truth will make you free. 

Do you find some people to have an enormous force of will, and an eagerness to impose that will on others? They may succeed, but they also succeed at driving you away. Such mannerisms are oppressive and you run from them with good cause. In like manner are you not attracted to those who are kind and gentle? You know that my power is unlimited, yet it is my goodness that leads you to repentance. It is my will for you to turn from darkness to light. Do you think this method is too gentle for other people? For yourself? Yet in the process I want to draw you to myself rather than driving you away, for this is the same thing as drawing you to the light. Respond to my goodness and turn to me.

My word declares itself to be living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. Do you perceive it this way? Does it leap off the page and come alive to you? It is an accurate account of events that have taken place, and also of events that are to come, yet it is presented to you as text on paper. I give you permission to do whatever it takes to make it more vivid to you. Do you hold the Bible in reverence and tremble at my word? If so I invite you to use your sanctified imagination to place yourself in the role of Bible characters and situations that you may live them yourself. Better yet, entreat me to do this for you and I will speak to you through my word.