The Voice of One

Laying Down and Taking Up

Sketch by Patrick Murphy This is why the Father loves Me, because I am laying down My life so I may take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down on My own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it…

The Tabernacle of Christ (Part 3)

Please read Part 1 and Part 2… More Than Enough “Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: ‘No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.’ And so the people were restrained from bringing more, because what they already had was more than…

The Tabernacle of Christ (Part 2)

In part one, we began comparing the building of Moses’s tabernacle with the body of Christ building itself up in love (Eph. 4:14-16). We will continue this comparison in this post… According to the Pattern Revealed “Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all…

The Tabernacle of Christ (Part 1)

(The following is excerpted from my booklet, “The Consummation of All Things in Christ: Ephesians Chapters 1-4“) *** “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and…

Resurrection Wounds

Recently, I mentioned I’m a fan of the Lord of the Rings books and movies. In the first book/movie, Frodo comes into possession of a magic ring. This ring is so powerful it controls all other magic rings in middle-earth. The ring’s original owner, Sauron, learns Frodo has the ring and sends a group of…

A Daunting Love

Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another (1 John 4:10-11). As I read these verses today, I found myself overwhelmed by my…

Death!

Image from Lord of the Rings: Return of the King I love the book and movie series, Lord of the Rings. LOTR’s author, JRR Tolkien, was Catholic. The world of LOTR is deeply imbued with Christian realities. One of my favorite moments occurs in the third installment, Return of the King. A hoarde of orcs and other…

This Cross

This cross, this cross I know so well, each wood-grain scar, each bloody dell; each splinter broken from this tree, which once in him, is now in me; each splinter growing like a knife that plunges deep with worship’s life; a sacrifice my life to be, for Him, for Him who died for me.

Rest in Peace

In a previous post, I mentioned the Lord has me in a season of rest. Besides limiting my pursuit of hobbies, the Lord has limited my pursuit of Him. Intense study and prayer are off the table; I too easily turn these points of divine relationship into tasks to be achieved. This season has been…

Down the Drain

When I wrote the following poem, I was still VERY non-Christian. One day I sat thinking about how arrogant it was for Christians to say they knew THE Truth. I remembered Jesus’s words: “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). More arrogance. But then (courtesy of the Holy Spirit, I’m sure) a thought…