Category: Articles

“This is the fight of our lives, everything’s at stake. We’re fighting for our kids, our wives, our brothers in Christ. Here we stand as one, victory is sure as we stay strong!”  song lyrics by tim cook;awaken. (timcookmusic.com)
Today,  I believe these words are the wake-up call for us all -thus the title of Tim Cook’s album: awaken.
It’s illegal to write of other’s song lyrics without permission? “Thank you, Tim Cook for permission to share the words, (and the songs) God impressed on your heart.
You see, we go on our merry little way each and every day, until there is trouble or trial or crisis or pain. Then we’re ‘stopped in our tracks’. Isn’t this true?
There is no walking when we stub our toe hard. We stop and well, …(perhaps yell, some clean, some not so clean !@#) and we rub our toe.
“Wake up!” “There is urgent need here – it’s time to give attention to the pain.
If we can, we avoid the difficult situations. We simply ‘don’t look,’ we ‘don’t have time for this right now!’ Until it lands before our eyes,(or gets the way of our toe). Or, seriously leaves us broken and empty, full of pain, and sorrow.
Our souls are tempted to despair, but God awakens what was dead: “today I woke up in a war raging all around, the enemy is strong … My God is stronger!”
I speak the lyrics of Tim’s song. Why? Because today in our weakness and regret,  the words ignite breath into our lungs that have been deflated: “I won’t lose hope! I won’t back down! I will stand my ground to the end!”
There is life and power in the spiritual songs and the Word of God:
“…for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.” 1 John 5:4.
1John 5:4, the Word of God, once more: “This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith!”
Overcoming victory comes from faith, period.  Faith in God. To some, He is the ‘unknown God’ (Acts 17). To others, He is the ‘forgotten God’:
“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” (Jeremiah 2:13).
But faith in gods of pleasure, and gods of intellect, and gods of money have no arms. These gods have no ears. These gods offer no help when the world crashes and the way is dark and lonely.
“cover up- shift the blame, all these schemes, we create…”
“There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” Proverbs 14:12. 
” This is the fight of our lives. Everything’s at stake. We’re fighting for our kids, our wives, our brothers in Christ! Here we stand as one, victory is sure as we stay strong!”
“No more lies, no more games…” 

“The time has come to stand. I’m never looking back. The enemy is crushed my heart is steadfast…
I’ll be the man, that You made. 
Take my cross, hit my knees.
Pour Your Word inside of me.
Arm in arm, in unity, in Jesus’ Name – the victory!”
“But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” (1 John 1:9). This is the Word of God for all time.
There is no end to the power of God. The True and Living God whom Jesus Christ He has sent. To pay the debt of every sin, past present and future forever and again.  He is Living Water. His Word cleanses and restores. He  makes all things new. When we ask Him to come in our lives, He says, I will do.”
“The time has come to stand. I’m never looking back. The enemy is crushed my heart is steadfast…
I’ll be the man, that You made. 
Take my cross, hit my knees.
Pour Your Word inside of me.
Arm in arm, in unity, in Jesus’ Name – the victory!” Thank you Tim Cook for obediently writing and recording what God so powerfully gave to you.

“God is not the author of confusion,” (1 Corinthians 14:33).
“The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. ” (Psalm 145:8).
“The LORD is good to all…” (Psalm 145:9).
“Well, if God is good as you say, then how can a God of love allow this, and that, and all the rest? How can God be good?” you might ask.
What question are you asking?  Are you ready to receive an answer? Do you ask simply to argue or are you desperately wanting to know? I share from my own story, in my brokenness, loss, and sorrow.
If your ears are open, I will share the bottom line: ‘If God’s  law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.’ (Psalm 119:92, NIV). 

“I don’t believe in all that stuff. I believe in love and nature and peace and such. I seek to live my life in simplicity. You’ve got your Truth and I’ve got, what I make it to be.”
I get it. I’m with you. I was as you are in the past. Seeking health and goodness and all the rest. But I was empty and anxious, without the peace I so desired – oppression wouldn’t cease.  I was exhausted and always tired.
Children, children, my heart breaks for you because you’ve been lied to for so long, that your hearts and minds are confused.
The voice of the culture streaming in every direction, and then terror and natural disasters, and loss among us.  Of course we’re confused. But beware of these voices:
“Don’t trust the church, those people are fake!” “Stay away from those doors, their people bring hate.” “The Bible is religion, from all that, stay far. “There is no need for such things, we’ve got plenty of knowledge and philosophies, and we’ve got the stars.”  
Children, children we have been created! The stars and moon and universe are His. He is the author of the heavens, He’s created the seas, and He holds the love that we so desperately need.
The God who made our seeing eye and ears that hear, brains so complex, He longs for us to see Him and hear and understand what He says.
I write for myself the things that God shows me in His word that saved me from this world and myself. I pray that God gives the children discernment to know good from evil, that He draw each one near, that they might finally discover,
His is the One who can make their hearts … still.
I will speak my own story, but unless you’ve been broken,it is most certain, you will not hear: “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey God’s word.” (Psalm 119:67).
You see, the hands won’t come down from the ears until then. The eyes won’t see, until there is humility within. God is God. It doesn’t matter what you and I think.
He is. and He was. and He is to come:  “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:8).
So, today, I pray … for all the children of the world. That blind eyes would see and hearts be no longer cold. You see, ‘the devil is the god of this world’ today, God even tells us in 2 Cor. 4:4. But the Book that society hates and disregards, …
…is actually the life and hope for each who take hold. “Peace be still” are the words of Jesus. He is God. And He is a Person, who comes very near, when a broken child calls out His name through their tears, …
Oh, yes, I can tell you my story is true, I called His name and He answered.   He is waiting for you. Seek His face evermore. He is faithful and loves you more, and more – He loves MOST!

There are a few walking narrowly along. The light shines within. Old Words guide the Way and they sing, … as they travel on their journeys each day. (1)
From the rising of the sun until it goes down, their praises flow and their petitions are made. The few on the road that is narrow and hard, talk to their Father as if they can see. (2)
They tell Him their troubles and He … gives them back hope. Hope beyond sight and a Faith unseen. Each day they travel with their face in The Book, with a heart soft as clay, letting Him mold it His way. (3)
But they are now hated. ‘The few’ are viewed with scorn. They that believe, and sing of the old Story, and have love for others that abounds. (4)
“Keep silent,” are the words often heard from the crowd. “Truth is what each of us make in ourselves. You ‘few’ take your Truth and you go far away. We are the world and we have the say. 
You ‘few’ teach that your Way is, … the only.  Who do you think you are? You teach hatred of other’s beliefs to our children. What ‘the few’ say are ‘lies’, we say are ‘truth’. What you ‘few’  say is ‘evil’, we say is ‘good.’ Don’t take away our choice.  You now be silent. We are more than you anyhow. We have the voice.”
But a still small voice that rises in ‘the few’ gives courage and breath for the words to speak: “The children are led by the blind in this day.  There is a dangerous pit ahead. We can see. We see. (5)
There is an enemy that wants to bring the children of the world to destruction. (6) ‘Turn, turn around. There is death in your way.’ This is what love is, not ‘hate’ as you say. (7)
Hey we know your thoughts, let us speak up at last. Many of us were as you in the past. But there was a moment, a moment in time,  like the shepherds in that old Story told every year, at the time when the stores are filled with the man in red and a beard –
we were trudging along in our fatigue and our fret.  We had no peace, we had no rest. We were tired and depressed. We were as the shepherds that cold and dark, mysterious night, when an angel came with a flash of God’s Light.
Just like that story, but this time, our own.  There was fear, because we heard for ourselves, of this Savior that was born. (8) Oh, His name we knew, all too well. Many a time to throw it around when life felt like …
Well, OK, there was a change. Suddenly, it came –
– as if a heavenly host of heaven’s angels sang, ‘Glory to God in the highest (9) heaven, and on earth,  even  in your earthly situation, peace with men, (with you that is), personally God is well pleased. Turn to Him!’
“Don’t be afraid of what others will think. I’ve come to bring Good News to you. News of great events that you know through and through.  But today the Light will shine in you as the stars, …
“This day is born to you, a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord”, (10) 
“I Am here, and I know who you are.  I come to  bring you joy and happiness.” This wasn’t the voice of an angel, this was God drawing me near. No longer a stranger. No longer a distant thought. God came flooding into my heart …
In an instant, just as the shepherds in Luke 2, I had to see if these things were true. A new hunger and stirring found its way in my heart. A new-old Book had to be taken from the shelf.
By searching to see,  and asking, ‘do I believe’, I began to understand the purpose of the Tree.  (11) He came to die, not for ‘them’ but … for me.”
and I believed. Wouldn’t you?
I became one of ‘the few’. I could no longer worry what ‘everyone else thought.’ Were they my idol? Were they my deceivers? To walk with the mainstream and frown on the ‘believers’.
What if ‘the few’ did stay silent? What if the Word stopped going out? Well, it is reported –  that even the rocks would cry out. (12)
Thank you for taking a ‘few’ to listen.  You see, God is love. And He loves all the children. Even all the children of the world who hate Him.
He came to suffer and He came to die, that we might live and tell others why. As those smelly shepherds, that mysterious night, when the angels came and the sky was lit with light,
when they went to see if what was said was true,  they then proclaimed the baby’s Life was truly given, as Savior of the world, to bring peace and  rest and happiness. Truth is discovered to be…
a Person.
Oh, that the world would turn today. Then a Merry Christmas each would have, everyday.
Merry Christmas, the Christ has come. In summer and fall and each season long. To the world whom He knew, would largely reject Him. But today, Today, can be the day you receive – eternal life. How? Simply, Believe.
Jesus is our Immanuel. Oh how glorious The Story, that ‘the few’ will gladly tell!
______
(1) Matthew 7:13,14. “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell^[a] is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. ¹⁴ But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.”
(2) Psalm 113:2-4. “Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore.  From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised. The Lord is exalted over all the nations,his glory above the heavens.”
(3) Matthew 6:9-13 NLT . “Pray like this. Our Father in heaven,may your name be kept holy.  May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.
(4) Matthew 5:10-12. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
(5) Mathew 15:14. “… they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

(10) Luke 2:11.
(11) John 10:7-11. “…so he explained it to them: “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.  All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them.  Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.  The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”
(12) Luke 19:40, (Jesus said), “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
 

Jose forever lives …
Have you recently lost a love who was a lover of Christ?
I’m not sure our finite brains can even come close to comprehending eternal life, but we try to visualize streets of gold, and sapphires and pearls, and harmonious praise, and mansions built next door to our loved one’s gone home. Time to fellowship with David and Moses, and ask Jonah what it was like to be in the belly of the whale –
Oh, we love to imagine what it’s like. So we pray, “...Your kingdom come, Your will be done,
on earth,
as it is in heaven.” (The Lord’s Prayer, Matthew 6:5-13).
God answered so many of my questions yesterday at a ‘Celebration of Life Service’ for a man of God, Jose Rivera. You might know him, you might not – but you most likely know a man or woman of God who ‘walked the talk.’
Everyone gathered in the honor of this man, and gave thanks to God for all that He worked inside of him. Words were shared: Crazy. The life of the party. Compassionate. No one was a stranger. Forgiving and forgiving again, with a vision of hope that never ends. Believing the best. A smile that never quit.
As each person shared from their heart how they were helped and they were changed – by this man who chose to walk, in the way that Jesus did.
The glory of the Lord shone, the testimonies were given:  Hard stoney hearts were turned into to flesh. Doubtful minds believed in themselves because he lived a life choosing to be – like his Jesus.
He was ‘fruitful’ in his life, and crazy, amazing to me – I saw that he multiplied himself that very hour!
Each person that came that day was inspired to be ‘just like this man!’ “I want to be like Jose,” was the thought of each person that left.
God had a plan, and He blessed him, Jose, with His Spirit,  “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.” (Gen. 1:28).
That’s it …
God had a set of days numbered for him, and he obeyed and he lived them according to His plan. And, Jesus from heaven looked down to earth, and said, “Jose, it’s time. You have done an excellent job. My good and faithful servant, come home now to Me.”
So on that day, in that hour of expression, each person in that house said, “I want to be like him.”
And Jesus and Jose were watching from heaven, rejoicing in salvation and hearts desiring joy …
“Well done my faithful servant, you have been fruitful, and now, you will multiply!”

The news I will focus on today? “Draw near to God and He’ll draw near to you.” Now, that is the good news that I will center myself on today. How about you? Do you need some good news to focus on? Of course you do!

“Jesus loves me this I …
… I don’t know. I don’t know that He loves me anymore.
I let the world whirl me into believing that He wasn’t worth knowing. That I could do it on my own. That God didn’t matter. That ‘He’ wasn’t there. Ultimately, believing He didn’t care.
I believed the words that people shared. This culture has caused me to walk elsewhere.
But like roaring seas surrounding me. The screech of city sounds abounding. Anxious thoughts, and restlessness, made my pillow spin, endlessly, loudly.
“Jesus.” I call. Not in curse but desperation. Can You hear my voice? It’s solo. no congregation.
Just me … It’s only me.
“Did you turn and call My name? Look to Me and not your misery. Hand Me your griefs and your pains and all your stains. I am not the accuser. I will not bring shame.
“I Am the God Who hears.  I will answer, call me continually. I AM the God Who sees.
Do you choose to believe?
Turning to Me, is like a seed in the ground, dying. Your crying out my name offers new life, it’s true. O, … how I’ve been waiting – I’ve waited for you.
About the shame? I’ve taken it all. Your crimson stain washed white as snow. Call to Me. I will answer and show you great and mighty things …
you do not know.
Yes, I will do exceedingly abundantly, just as a seed in the ground, that dies, but then sprouts and makes glorious beauty.
I will give you back a simple melody. Look up, not out Turn to Me, not away.  We’ll soon be singing together … Love’s harmony.
I love you forever. I love you right now. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound!”
 

“You should write a book.”
It’s funny, but when you think about it, people don’t say that because the road has been smooth and  the seas slick for sailing.
No, they say, “You should write a book,” because of great conflict and struggle. Because what was impossible has become realized.
When sailing the seas and a ‘furious squall’ erupts and the ‘waves break over the boat, so that is was nearly swamped’ (Mark 4:37),  but God’s Hand held you somehow.
God’s words, “Peace be Still” were heard in the depth of the soul, and the strength to persevere took hold. Circumstances didn’t ‘immediately’ change as the Bible story told, but there was hope that brought light to the darkness so deep.
Walking through thorns, hurting and bleeding. But God reaches out His Hand, with a hanky to catch every tear.
This is why one would say, “You should write a book.” How we long for the stories that inspire and bring hope.
So I write not to bring impressive focus on me, but that in this world of great confusion and ‘truth’ I might bring focus on the Person who is our Peace. That I might share the stories, one at a time, of His hands that saved me and saves me still.
He shows me His Hands –  in my sickness and sorrow. In my losses and trials. He shows me His Hands in other’s stories, past and present. And He says,
‘Write in a book, for yourself,’ (Jeremiah 3o:2), but perhaps for others too, ‘the things I have shown you.’
So I will write each day for God’s glory, that we all might discover that we’re all part of His wonderful Story. Seeking life, and light, and truth, and frighteningly discovering …
He’s in our boat. Life is a person. Truth has a Hand. Light is given.
This is the book that is being written.
Would you like to write a book too? I say, “Yes! Let’s write it today, publishing God’s great faithfulness and glory!”
^{Mark 4:35-41:  “}That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.”  Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him.  A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.  Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
 
 
 

When you’re ready  . . .
when you’re ready to know.
I wait, patiently. My ways are not like man’s ways you know.
The blind seem to be leading the blind somehow.
so much knowledge, yet, so little care.
So much violence, everywhere.
Are you broken and hurting inside? I AM compassion. Bow your head, I will abide. Selah. Pause and think quietly on this:
I AM the same, yesterday, today, forever.  I patiently endure. I AM here.
I bring Comfort in time. I bring rhythm and rhyme – but not now,
while your cut-heart bleeds . . .
There is a time to grieve. There is a time to mourn with sadness. But the tears will stop, your face will see.
I overcome what you can’t. My ears hear. I hear hearts. I hear tears.
Do you rememberI have engraved, on the palms of My hand, your name?
You have heard. It’s been told you before. The words always sound the same. But, this time, can you hear My knock on your door?
“I Am faithful. I AM True. I give eternal life to all who call, . . . to you.
They shall never perish, those who believe. There is no sin, it has been covered. I was willing, . . .
do you receive?
Greater than all, is My Father in heaven.
We are one, My Father and Me.
We are one. Yes, I, Jesus, I tell you – truly.
No one can snatch them or you, out of His hand. Our Father in heaven, He is Almighty, whose  name is so great you will never comprehend. And know this,
yes, this you must hear, let these words ring clear in your ear:
‘No one’ can snatch you out of His hand.   No trouble or tragedy or persecution or pain, no hunger, or danger, not even death can ever separate you from Him. God is love. Me and My Father are one. No one can separate you from Me.
I wait ’till the day you understand. I have your name engraved in the palm of My hand.
I love you forever. I wait each new day. My knock will not cease, I have prepared for you My Table of Comfort and Peace.
The tears will end.  My song will return.  Watch and be free. Rejoice in Me.
 
Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
Psalm 23:4, ^“Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me.” (NLT)
Isaiah 49:16, “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.”
John 10: 28,30, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.  I and the Father are one.”
Romans 8:31-39,  ^“What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?  Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?  Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself.  Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.
 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?  (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”)  No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. ³⁹ No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
 
 

Happy 30th Anniversary Mike! You are a faith – full man! Faith is your gift – trusting God always and forever – and I will prayerfully keep growing in faith- oh yes, I have faith, but not the ‘gift of faith’ like you! It is because you trust God that we have 11 amazing children who color our world and add song to each of our days, as we bow our knees and seek God in praise and prayer each day. I love you Mike Rypkema!

John 9:1 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.

² And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

³ Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. ⁴ I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. ⁵ As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
⁶ When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. ⁷ And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.
⁸ Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, “Is not this he who sat and begged?”
⁹ Some said, “This is he.” Others said, “He is like him.”
He said, “I am he.”
¹⁰ Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”
¹¹ He answered and said, “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of  Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.”
¹² Then they said to him, “Where is He?”
He said, “I do not know.” (John 9:1-12).
“While it is day.” Jesus passed by the way. He saw me in my darkness. All the people had their opinions, but He  quieted their thoughts. “While it is day,” . . . He spat on the ground, and began to make clay.
Clay in the eyes?! Only pain is my thought! How can He be so mean? How could He allow such pain? 
My story has noise and whining and doubt. My story of darkness has  an attitude and pout. 
But Jesus, Who knows the end from the beginning, His will be done. His heart and mind are higher than mine. He allows for clay in the eye that I might see and not be blind.
“Go to the pool, that is called Sent.” 
Choices, choices . . . This just doesn’t make sense! But I have no choice. Great pain I am in. “O God, I’m a mess. There’s anger and stress!”
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Begunning and the End. I am the First and the Last.” (1) I sit on the throne, I’ve paid your debt. ” I make all things new. Write these words, they are faithful and true.”(2)
But I still struggle. I don’t yield with grace. I fight and grown and turn away from His face. The notes in my song are flat and out of tune …
But He waits in His loving  silence until I’m all through. Then somehow the light comes into my heart, and I have again in me breath and I have in me hope. 
How are you so happy? Why write with exclamation points? Trust me, I don’t . But He’s making me new. Even right now , He’s as the morning dew.
Jesus loves me, sometimes I don’t know how. But He loves me and loves you, and while it is day, we best stop our fussing and choose to thank Him. Yes, I choose.
So I’ll sing this morning a song that is old. And let the Light shine in me, His  amazing grace be told:
1 To God be the glory, great things he has done;
so loved he the world that he gave us his Son,
who yielded his life an atonement for sin,
and opened the lifegate that we may go in.
Refrain:
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord; let the earth hear his voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord; let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father through Jesus the Son,
and give him the glory; great things he has done.
(1) Revelation 22:13.
(2) Revelation 31:5.