12/16/25 AGAINST THE CURRENT

12/16/25 AGAINST THE CURRENT

You are either moving closer to Christ, or you are moving away from Him. Whether moving forward or remaining firm in your relationship with Christ during times of extreme trial (which is actually moving forward), it requires obedient faith and spiritual determination. Being faithful is not a passive position; it is a deliberate decision.

Drifting is allowing the prevailing currents of the world (wind and waves) to determine your direction. In other words, to drift is to be carried away from God.

An anchor (a stationary anchor) is used to keep a vessel from drifting while it is at rest. This can be during a storm or for other reasons essential to a safe voyage.

Sea Anchors and Drogues can be used during storms or heavy, following seas. It allows you to maintain your course as you head into the storm. This keeps you from capsizing or being blown off course. It maintains a "Steady as you go" posture. Sometimes these two kinds of anchors are used to hold your course while fishing a specific location.

Too many "Christians" are "adrift". They are not "staying their course"; they are not "holding fast"; they are being "tossed about by every" contrary wind and wave of life. They are focused on the carnal, the worldly, the nether worldly, the cultural, the empty forms of "godliness" but they do not have the power of God, the power of salvation.

If you are already adrift or if you sense that you have loosed your moorings, then you need to draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. God is calling you. If you hear Him, then now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation. If you are not sure that you are hearing Him call you back to Himself, then you need to cry out, asking and believing that God will hear you and call you to repentance.

Following Christ is essential to the Christian life, from the time you are called to salvation until the time He calls you home.

(copied from a post I made 6 years ago)
12/31/19 POWERED BY PERFECT LOVE

Christians are powered by perfect love:
for God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit),
His word,
other people (family, friends, foes).

An original DLG poem (from the 1960s) , appropriate for the New Year.
(with Background, Poem, Imagery Explained & Personal Challenge, copied from my 2015 Blog).

BACKGROUND
In the late 60's a hurricane threatened Carteret County. Just before it was suppose to hit I ventured out on the Sportsman's Fishing Pier (Atlantic Beach). While standing there, God gave me a poem. The night was like pitch, the wind was howling, the pier was shuddering as the waves pulled at its underside and crashed against its pilings. The only lights were the white caps reflecting the lights reaching out from the shore.

POEM
Staring out at the deep dark sea,
Arouses thoughts that challenge me,
To shove my Bark through the crashing waves,
And reach a land that my spirit craves.

In spite of dark and tossing brine,
And chills that grip this mortal spine,
My soul cries out for that waiting shore,
Where wind and wave offend no more.

Though darkness and the strength of hell,
Are bound up in each rising swell,
My chart and compass point above,
I'm steered and powered by perfect love.

IMAGERY EXPLAINED
The sea is the life, darkened by sin, corruption, temptation, loss and suffering.
A "Bark" is a type of sailboat.
Heaven is the desired destination.
Each test, each trial, each temptation is meant to intimidate the believer, but it only sets our resolve.
The recurring testing of life is each ground "swell."
The Chart is the Bible.
The Compass is the Holy Spirit.
Perfect love is the life of Entire Sanctification lived in the power of the Holy Spirit.

PERSONAL CHALLENGE
God intends for us to be victorious in the trials of life. I hope you attend a church that teaches and preaches that Christ is greater than any problem you will ever have; that where sin did abound, grace did much more abound; that Jesus came to save us from our sins; that the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin; that God always leads us in triumph; that the Holy Spirit bears holy fruit in our lives and thereby bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.