May the Lord give me strength to fight the good fight, and give me the strength to open my mouth to the words of truth. It is my prayer that I might please you, my God, and Father. From the beginning you have formed my life; these things I have were not of my choosing nor were they conceived in the barren heart of man. It has benn because of Your Hand, that I have crawled through on hands and knees, and that my sightless eyes beheld thy intentions. What has driven the Almighty to reach our to me, what is within Him that holds such unsearchable intentions? I was once but a creature of the Creator, now I am a son…a daughter in likeness with God. Is there anything I lack? Is there anything I’ve missed that can fulfill me like the rain fills and satiates the sea? I am a cup boiling over unable to hold and control what is given me, a son once an orphan, the abandoned, and infidel, who received such and beyond the abundant of life and inheritance. What shall be offered, held in equal to the mercy of God. Nothing! Not silver nor gold, not the vast standing armies of the four winds, nor the estates of all the wealthy stand in equal to what God has prepared for me. The earth is but a servant to my Father, the vegetation, but a covering as a cloak, and the beasts and men that dwell upon it stand in wait for me and mine. There is no fierce beast or reptile that does not know me and bow to the intended plan for me that my Father and Brother oversee. Is there such a grace other than that of my Father’s that gives beyond generosity itself, that is God. It is grace that causes me to stand and speak, that has taken many a brother and sister of mine to the cross. And what, if anything can I withhold from those who listen for this message? Has it not been brought to me through the fire, carried upon the lips of those whose bodies have fallen to fire, sword, spear, and beast–those whose spirits have risen to the Father in the joy of The Promise that awaits them? These of whom I speak have endured all…threat, punishment, and promise, and I will not, myelf in such a place withhold it either. The Word whose value is what keeps in balance the existence of men, and carries all whom it calls to this ultimate fight from a single word, “Come…come”, says the Lord Almighty to the children of promise. For who, but He can say…we were placed here for such a time as this. Calling to him, the child, to shake his body into the rigor of hard and sustained strength as the multitude of witnesses who have already gone ahead in faith– that royalty of a family rising from every walk of life… from the slums and the gutters, and the bars and the pubs, from the grunge of the prison yards, and even those of high station. What will it take for the ears of children to be open to hearing, for their eyes to shed their scales, and for their spirits to be awakened from their deep slumber? Shall we be like imitations who look for signs, calling out for the seas to be parted, and the mountains to smoke and tremble, or shall we walk with God in knowing? Yes, because I have already entered the fury of the fire, having weaknesses, and fallen in the eyes of God, but it is the faith within me that says, “I shall not be consumed: though I feel pain and tears of my eyes flow upward as steam, like incense upon a great altar, and though my flesh is roasted like a sacrificial lamb, my spirit within me and that which is one with my Father cries, “I shall not be consumed!”. For only what is holy can remain after the furnace is cooled.
What is this love of God that allows the blood of the saints to flow up the horses’ bridles? Is there such a thing as this love? Indeed yes, this is that one love–all else is unfounded and cravings of lust. But this is the love that caresses me like a strong storm, not measured nor its fury contained by any strength. It is the storm that lays waste all in its path, not withheld, yet the lilies of the field endure and are refreshed by the rain. What shall I say to the children, Lord? What will you open my lips to speak? Shall I not speak to them of the birth of the children—those babes that you have given into the care of all kinds of men. Shall I speak to your children as a child once spoke to me? Have you not given me one desire, that I should in all places I tread search for them calling to the lost child of God. Then indeed, I will cry as a voice in a wilderness place and as a pen on parchment of a indelible kind as those who have gone before me have sounded. This is my love, and this is my story that fills me and sustains me. From a child you moved me to search for those I will call family, even when I was ignorant of your persuasion. Indeed you have me a stranger to those who hear and see me as an earthen vessel who holds the light, for by your Word you gave, I willingly obey and break all constraints placed over me to keep fruitful in my quest. But your grace and hand has been exceedingly good and faithful to me, and daily you clear my way you’ve set before me. It is with the deepest part of me that prays, I remain faithful and virtuous toward you, My Redeemer. Though many times I have fallen short being so very close to those I’ve searched for, you have covered me that I might not be a harm to the vulnerable. This I speak openly to you, my God in praise of your mercy and forgiveness, for the zeal you have for your own many a day has become my salvation from our enemy.
In this time I have… I will not falter from giving for the sake of my brethren all that is within me, losing nothing to weakness. So dreariest child I speak to you from my own life, that God will surely one blessed day pour out as a drink offering the life of many a found children. Take my life not lightly, when it is for your life, the life of the unnamed whom I bear upon myself as with Christ on the altar as a worthy sacrifice before God. I pray that there is absolutely nothing I will not give for one single brother or sister as the faithful have done, who for the love of the will of the Father surrendered all–not loving their lives to the death.
But as it is written: “ Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”[1 Corinthians 2:9 NKJV]
Let not those who wait for You, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed because of me; Let not those who seek You be confounded because of me, O God of Israel. Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; Shame has covered my face. I have become a stranger to my brothers, and an alien to my mother’s children; Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.” [Psalms 69:6-9 NKJV]
Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. [Revelations 12: 10, 11 NKJV]
Written by Clifford James Moss II