an easy death

at the end
of 33 years of following Your Abba
thru
the tangle of our sin-shattered world
our mangled lives
our broken bodies
our over-powered spirits
always giving in...to Your Abba's leading...
in word
in deed
in heart
after the dark-of-night-struggle
     with the enormous bulk of our sin-load...
after never really considering DIS-obeying
     Your Abba's lead...
after begging
     for another way
     for any other alternative...
the dying
was easy...
until the dark descended like a midnight
on Your heart & ours.
at noon.
then
the heart that always listened first
before speaking...
the soul that always watched Your Abba
for a clue before acting...
pushed thru the DARKest DARK
to offer up Your Own Spirit
to Your for--the-first-time-ever silent Abba
breaking 
the DARK.
our sin.
death.
into pieces.

our hosanna-prayer-hopes
came true.
real.
forevermore.

loving God's ways #2 (matthew 4:8-10)

anger
&
hatred are bad
companions
to clear thinking.
the evil one has been angry
for a long time.

that day
in the desert, his anger
burned
hot.

You saw through each
deception
&
hung onto Your Abba's every
word.

he was outclassed
&
he knew it.

"fall down," he demanded,
"worship me...and all power will be
Yours!"

"get out, satan!"
"YaHWeH alone is to be worshiped."

the tempter left.
defeated.

loving YaHWeH
above all else
is the only defense that
will kill each
&
every plan of the devil.

love worships.
love wins.

hearing God's promise #2 (matthew 4:5-7)

who
could possibly overlook
such a big chance?
a once-in-a-lifetime chance
to be noticed?

the tempter always knew
how
to cut corners...
to get what he
wanted.

he tried to help You
learn
the same lesson he'd taught
adam
&
eve.

he did not understand
one
very important thing about
You...
after 40 days of hanging out
with YaHWeH's Spirit,
testing God was the
LAST
thing you would want to do.

ever.

instead You waited on YaHWeH
one more time
to speak with You.

His words are
Life.
everything else is
less.

loving God's ways (matthew 4:8-10)

alone
powerless
You were offered...
every
kingship on earth
&
all power here
to go with it.

the price You would pay
for all this?
simple...
worshiping anything, anyone
other than
YaHWeH...
in specific:
bow oneself to God's enemy.

this
is the always-choice
we each
face.

suddenly
&
with growing force
in Your heart
these words grew huge...
"Hear,
O Israel,
you shall love the LORD
with ALL..."

these words
burned
their way through Your
heart
onto Your lips.

into satan's face
they flew...
killers
all & each of the
darkness
dripping
out of him.

FINALLY...
a man stood on the earth
Who could force
satan
to back down!

the DAY began to
shine
for us all!

hearing God's promise (matthew 4:5-7)

unknown
You were asked to
show
some of Your real glory so that
amazement
would bring people into
the Light of God.

instead
You waited again for YaHWeH's
Voice
to speak.

in the fire of being
tested
most severely
You refused to
test
Your Own Abba.

more light
breaking
out over the deep dark.

killing it.

obedience
always trumps
power.

crazy #5 (Isaiah 42:1-7)

crazy
is the man
or woman who
sees the invisible
God.

or so the world
thinks.

You
were crazy,
Lord...
for You saw the Invisible
One
everywhere.

You heard Him
in every
conversation.

You saw invisible
to us
opportunities to obey Him
in the most unlikely places.

and
You obeyed Him when
it made no sense.

crazy.

why
do we cling so hard
to our sanity,
Lord?

why
are we so afraid of
being like You,
Lord?

conformed #4 (Romans 8:28-31)

an invisible,
infinite hand
moves through our lives
shaping
us into someone
that begins to resemble You,
Lord.

to look much at all like You
we must cooperate
with the YaHWeH-hand
each day…
and
like You did
we must bend ourselves
to the YaHWeH-will
until
at last
there is only,
“Your will be done,”
left to say…
and do.