“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be.  Now put foundations under them.”        –Henry David Thoreau

“Any god who promises to fulfill all of our desires is the devil in disguise.”           –Donald W. McCullough

I heard not too long ago that in the pews (oops, seats) of the church sit “future billionaires” along with future professional athletes, musicians, businessmen, etc.  each vocation mentioned had something to do with money or glamour.  I never heard it once mentioned:  future missionaries, future cooks, future farmers.  Everyone wants to look for the pie in the sky or the garden variety type of life.  Few will pick up their cross and carry it.
There is the thought today that “God will make me great.”  Now ponder that for a minute.  Before going further, let me say that the above professions are not necessarily wrong in themselves.  However, the attitude and the heart behind why they want that profession might be something to reevaluate.  It is important to remember that the Holy Spirit primarily seeks servants.
The questions need to be reaffirmed, “Who is the greatest?”  “Who is the richest?”  If a person has been given wealth by the Lord, what then is his responsibility?  Is it to hoard, to gloat, or to lord it over others?  It seems as if we get too caught up in our special little dreams, or in some cases, grandiose dreams, that we don’t really bring the Lord into the picture and ask Him what He wants with our lives.
What would be wrong if a person wanted to be a hog-farmer?  After all, how many people do you know that don’t like bacon?  But to think that God may want me to slop the hogs for a living, well, that just ain’t kosher.  Hmmm, it’s better to be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord….
On the other hand if you are made great, then the Lord has allowed it for a reason.  The problem is that so many are not good stewards of the blessings that God has bestowed upon them.  They waste it on themselves or they seek more blessings, more blessings, and for what?

“He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”         –Micah 6:8 (NKJV)

Is there a deep cry out there in the Church?  I would surely hope so, but there seems to be more entertainment rather than tarrying for the power of the Holy Spirit.  How much do we really want from God?  This is not talking about blessings, but about a daily walk with the Lord.  There is a cry for “relationship” but do they strive to develop that relationship?  I think that C.P Jones had the answer, or at least the cry of the heart.

          “Deeper, deeper in the love of Jesus
           Daily let me go;
           Higher, higher in the school of wisdom,
           More of grace to know.”

The school of the Holy Spirit; do we dare to enter those sacred halls?  Walking down those corridors may mean suffering and hard work; there may be obstacles that we do not know how to handle only with the help of the Spirit.  We are to worship; to love God with our total being and that means to do it with our wills.  To be lost in the will of Christ, oh my, could we handle it?

          “Deeper, deeper!  blessed Holy Spirit,
           Take me deeper still,
           Till my life is wholly lost in Jesus,
           And His perfect will.”

To walk that road with Jesus may bring trials.  It may be a time of hardship and toil.  A person may want to walk that way.  James and John wanted to sit on the right and left hand of Jesus, and He asked if they were able to drink of His cup.  They said of course, not knowing what they were saying, and Jesus said to them that they surely will.  The only way a person can make it if they want to truly wanting to know the deep things of the Lord is to be rooted in Him.

          “Deeper, deeper!  tho’ it cost hard trials,
           Deeper let me go!
           Rooted in the holy love of Jesus,
           Let me fruitful grow.”

Scripture declares that we are more than conquerors.  I have often pondered that idea.  Jones, I believe, has hit on the truth of that statement.  We are more than conquerors when we finally hear the words of Jesus when He says, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord.”  With that then we are truly more than conquerors, for this evil world did not defeat us.

          “Deeper, higher, ev’ry day in Jesus,
           Till all conflict past,
           Finds me conqu’ror, and in His own image
           Perfected at last.”

               “O deeper yet, I pray,
                And higher ev’ry day,
                And wiser, blessed Lord,
                In Thy precious, holy word.”

“Hope in Christ deepens and strengthens your faith.  It increases your love and makes your truly compassionate.  It broadens your horizons and makes your actions dynamic.  It brings sense and meaning to every moment of your life.”          –unknown

Yesterday we took communion at church and the pastor made reference to the idea that there are thousands of Christians throughout the world sharing communion.  That started me to thinking.  For the past two millennium the Church has been sharing the Lord’s Supper.  It is done in obedience to Him and He said to do it until He returned.  That is quite a legacy; think of all of those millions who have broken bread together.  That is quite an honor; think of individuals who have shared it.
I think of the last phrase of Ira Stanphill’s song, “Supper Time”, in which he wrote, “The banquet table’s ready up in heaven, It’s supper time upon the golden strand.”  One day all of us will share in that Marriage Supper and break bread together and with the Lord.  Now that will be something.
But one more thing.  The sharing of the communion should build up hope in us.  Jesus said that He would not share it again until the kingdom of God has come.  That should stir up hope within us.  Hmmm, is that the smell of bread baking up in heaven?
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Annie said that I should write a devotion on those preachers of the West that I mentioned last week.  That would be fine, except for the time involved; something called research.  I do have some work by a cowboy-preacher that went by the name of Buckskin Brady – or Brother Brady, who did most of his work in Montana.  Here is an excerpt from one of his sermons.

“The devil never brands a man at a baseball game, or at an opera, or ball-room, or at a whiskey bar, or gambling-table, but he always brands him before he gets him there by putting temptation in his way, the thought in his mind and the desire in his heart.  He just starts a little fire, just a tiny one, but it is always hot enough to heat his irons.
The first willful step that you take in the wrong direction the devil puts his brand on you.  It must be that he took advantage of you, dogged your steps night and day with temptations, till at last he caught you off your guard, or sleeping when you should have been watching.  You allowed him to fan the evil desire into a little flame that heated his iron for the work.  Then he made the tiniest little mark, so small at first that no one could see it.  He just touched you lightly, softly, gently, found the place on your soul where he could make the easiest impressions, and then applied the hot iron so easily, so gently, that it almost had been a caress.  But the step had been taken, the fire kindled, the hot mark made before you were aware of it.
So the fire grew hotter and hotter, and the mark burned deeper and deeper, till at last you felt the hellish fire blazing within you, awakening you up to the fact that the devil had put his brand on you–but it was too late.
You tried to get rid of the hideous mark by endeavoring to overcome the fire, but it was of no use.  Then you tried to cover it up, to smother it with your conscience but, like so many others, you forgot to ask God to do the work for you; and so it proved to be a miserable failure….
What will you do, then, with the devil’s brand?  You can’t cover it up, your conscience can’t smother it, ink won’t blot it out, talk won’t rub it off, water won’t wash it away, nor is there any vent recorded with it, any mark making it of none effect; but there is one thing left for you to do, and only one–that is, to have the blood of Jesus Christ our Savior applied, which will remove the old sin brand inside and out, and will do it at once and forever if you ask Him in true repentance and faith….”
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Now, I’m not much good at this here advertising, I guess they refer to it as marketing.  But here goes, take a notion and round up the book, “The True and Unbiased Life of Elias Butler.”  If you read the story of Miles Forrest that I write you should like this book, in fact, this is where Miles and Elias first meet.  You might remember Elias if you have kept up with the Saga of Miles Forrest.
It is the story of Elias when he left Tennessee after the Civil War and headed for Texas.  It tells of his acquaintance with a rancher and of his work on a cattle drive from Waco to Abilene.  It may be purchased from Amazon.  Look up the title, or D. C. Adkisson.

“Our great security against sin lies in being shocked at it.”          –Moffat

“No man need be the slave of the environment in which he happens to find himself.”          –William Barclay

I’ve been reading about some of the early cowtowns, such as Abilene and Dodge City.  They were rough and rowdy places.  For a short time in both of those places there was no law, and when they did bring in the law they had to bring in hard men to enforce it–men like Hickok and Earp.  I’ve also been reading about the early mining towns, primarily in Colorado.  If possible, they were worse than the cowtowns in rowdiness and bawdiness.  Tincup, for example, boasted that it had never had a church.  Four of the first five marshals were killed and the fifth one went insane.  Boswell stated that in his first year living in Central City that there was a murder every night.  Wickedness prevailed and in the mining towns little was done to stop it, especially since many of these places only lasted a few years.
I’m still in my study of 2 Peter and have been dwelling on Lot.  I have often pondered Lot.  I understand why he went to Sodom, but it escapes me why he stayed.  The place was pure evil, but Peter writes that Lot was righteous and was even tormented day to day by the people around him.  Look at 2 Peter 2:7-9:

“and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteousness soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)–then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations…” (NKJV)

Why did Lot stay in such a place?  Perhaps it was because that the Lord didn’t tell him to leave.  It seemed though that he was preserved from the infection of sin.  He was oppressed by what was happening around him; his righteous soul was tormented, but still he remained.  No matter the reason he did not accept what was happening.  The true danger is when sin is accepted as part of the normal order of things.  This is now happening in America.  It is important that the believer does not become complacent with his environment and accept it as the routine part of life, and compromise truth and thus his soul.
Also, remember there was a time for Lot to leave Sodom.  God sent special visitors to Lot and they had to convince him to leave.  In fact they had to take him by the hand.  It is a terrible story to read of that night in Sodom and the events that transpired.  Sodom was already doomed, but before the destruction Lot was rescued.  Hmmm, this old earth is doomed, but before the destruction the trumpet shall sound!