"For my Unconquerable Soul"

Daniel 3:16-18 "Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up""

This is right before they get thrown in the fire.

This past year I find myself seeing God in a new way. It seems that almost every time I read the Bible I see God having an attitude, or men of God having an attitude. I feel a deep need for this attitude. I was reading Daniel and verse 18 jumped out at me"But even if he does not, we want you to know". I yearn for such a conviction in my life. Not to just piss people off, but to stand up for whats right, to stand for truth. Not because that is what God wants, but because it is masculine. To stand and to defend. To get in the face of an advisory, and be stubborn with a conviction, even if your conviction proves to be wrong, that is besides the point. Fight and never get an inch. This verse reminded me of a poem that I hold dear, and constantly think of.

Invictus
by William Ernest Henley (1849-1903)

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishment the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

"O'Lord open my conviction to the world, not that can show off, but that I may stand. Thank you Father for the attitude that you have given me. Thank you for my unconquerable soul".

Cloth Me

Revelation 16:15 "Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake & keeps his cloths with him, so that he may not go naked & be shamefully exposed."

Chapter 15 is the seven plagues, and chapter 16 is talking about the seven bowls. After the sixth bowl, Christ says this (vs16).

You can be asleep & be robbed of your cloths. Only God could cloth Adam & Eve, and only the Holy Spirit can cloth us. The Holy Spirit doesn't cloth us with anything other than Himself. He wraps himself around us, He lays on us, and breaths into us life. Just like Elijah dose with the widows son. The Holy Spirit can only resurrect the Son, not the flesh. We keep ourselves dead. It is only when the Holy Spirit lays on us that we can be alive. Alive only in Him, Clothed.

"Holy Spirit fall upon me, just like Elijah did. Breath into my lungs the breath that keeps me from myself. Cloth me O'God. Cloth Me... I'm broken, naked and need a touch from you."

Covenant

Ezekiel 16:60;62-63 "Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, & I will establish an everlasting covenant with you" [62-63]"So I will establish my covenant with you, & you will know that I am the Lord. "Then, when I make atonement fore you for all you done, you will remember & be ashamed & never again open your mouth because of your humiliation, declares the Sovereign Lord"

Ezekiel is talking about how Israel sinned & that God will bring them back.

It is alway good to keep fresh in our minds the covenant we have with God. We are His Sons, not servants. He is faithful to come through for us. He has never left.

"Father help me to teach your covenant to others, not my assumptions."

Long Suffering

Jeremiah 15:15 :You understand, O'Lord; remember me and care for me. Avenge me on my persecutors. You are long-suffering - do not take me away; think of how I suffer reproach for your sake."

Jeremiah is prophesing.

I picked this verse because when I read, "You are long-suffering" my heart pulled. I love the verse in itself but what I felt meant most was just the fact of seeing God's Heart in it. God suffers long. I believe we as a people are quick to forget. In our selfishness we put our needs before the Father's and in so we neglect Him. How He must hurt, He suffer longs.

"Father I care about you. Open my heart & teach me to care for you"