:: Holy Spirit ::

I saw Him as a Person apart from flesh and blood, and He said to me, "As the Saviour had a body, so I dwell in the cleansed temple of the believer. I am a Person. I am God, and I am come to ask you to give your body to Me that I may work through it. I need a body for My temple (1 Cor. 6:19), but it must belong to Me without reserve, for two persons with different wills can never live in the same body. Will you give Me yours? (Rom. 12:1) But if I come in, I come as God, and you must go out (Col. 3:2-3). I shall not mix myself with your self."

He made it very plain that He would never share my life. I saw the honour He gave me in offering to indwell me, but there were many things very dear to me, and I knew He wouldn't keep one of them. The change He would make was very clear. It meant every bit of my fallen nature was to go to the Cross, and He would bring in His own life and His own nature.

It was unconditional surrender.

I knew the only place fit for the old nature was on the Cross. But once this is done in reality, it is done for ever. I could not run into this. I intended to do it, but oh, the cost! How I wished I had never seen it!

He had only come to take what I had already promised the Saviour, not in part, but the whole. Since He died for me, I had died in Him, and I knew that the new life was His and not mine. He had only come to take what was his own: and I saw that only the Holy Ghost in me could live like the Saviour. Everything He told me appealed to me; it was only a question of the loss there would be in doing it. I didn't give my answer in a moment, and He didn't want me to.

:: vertigo ::

This is the Truth
If we turn things upside down
We can't expect goodness to win in the world
I would be lying to you if I said that
The human race has a great future ahead
That altruism could replace egotism
That your lives could be filled with joy
That your children could be safe and healthy
Before anything you must know
The human race does not deserve these things
And I am convinced of this because I know you
Corruption and hypocrisy are in your nature
Compassion breeds weakness when only the strong survive and
I refuse to believe under any circumstances that
You can turn things around in the coming years
This world may be sinking to new depths but
There are even more revelations to come
The human race has only one destiny
And whether you like it or not
This is what is real
I am the Lord, your God
You should know I believe exactly the opposite

*now read this backwards*

:: love is deliberate ::

Love is patient.
Love is kind.
Love isn't envious; doesn't boast, brag or strut around.
There is no arrogance in love; 
It's never rude, crude or indecent - it's not self-absorbed.
Love isn't easily upset.
Love doesn't tally wrongs or celebrate injustice,
But truth - yes, truth - is love's delight!
Love puts up with anything and everything that comes along.
It trusts, hopes and endures no matter what.
Love will never become obsolete.

Love is HARD.

Love is PAIN and SACRIFICE.

For one human being to love another human being; that is the most difficult task that has been entrusted to us.  And in order for us to love well, we must understand that love is NOT for OUR benefit; it is not a self-serving action.

Love is a GIFT.

Love is a CHOICE. 

Love is SERVICE. 

And whether you realize it or not, the task of loving another begins by answering the question, "What does love require of me? How am I going to leverage my power, my assets and my time to benefit YOU?"

If you can do that, the difficulty of love is then expired and, consequently, experienced to its fullest potential.

Love is DELIBERATE.