The end of the Human spirit.

The human spirit is a remarkable thing, It is so resilient. Some men and woman have suffered incredibly and somehow they survived, yet at what cost? Whether one lives or dies there is an end to the human spirit. Look on every street corner of ghettos, look into the eyes of a drug addict, an alcoholic. If you have eyes that can see, you can see that the human spirit has an end, it simply lays down and it dies. Now the person may go on ” living,” but the spirit is dead. It may not be a drug addict, it may be the woman next door who lost her son and along with that loss, lost her spirit. It may be a co-worker who has been rejected by her husband and divorced and years of marriage have simply fallen through her hands like it was only ever shifting sands between her fingers. When she opens her hand there is nothing left.

I was young one time and I took the blows. I was strong. I had been knocked over but I always got up. Survived an alcoholic childhood. Survived, barely, the loss of my first son. He had been on a life support machine and they asked us to turn the machine off, my wife and I were 17. A few years later came the final blow. We had another son after the loss of our first and he was a beautiful child. We came home one day and came in just seconds after the babysitter had dropped a full kettle of boiling water over him. He was 60% burned, third degree. I just sat beside him in the ambulance and my spirit screamed in agony. A death blow, but not quite yet. They saved his life in the next couple of days but warned that if he got infected, he would undoubtedly die. And so the final blow. He had to be immersed in salt baths every day for endless days. He screamed and cursed and his little two year old eyes burned into my spirit with these words ” why are you doing this to me?” And my spirit died. ………………….

THE HUMAN SPIRIT

Oh brightest of the brightest stars
You shine out greatly in the darkest night
And all around the darkness falls
Yet you do not, you stand and fight

Time and again, wave after wave
The darkness assaults your soul
Threatening to smash to a thousand pieces
Yet you still stand tall and whole

Relentlessly the scorching fire rains down
And you are battered from every side
Weaker now, to your knees you fall
Desperately seeking for a place to hide

For one who once stood tall and strong
Now forsaken and lost and no more fight
Surrounded by darkness on every side
You must now flee into the darkest night

A dark night engulfed me and I was overwhlemed with death. Only drugs and alcohol could give some moments of relief. Reality was my full-time enemy. I was addicted to oblivion. For several years I was a dead man walking, cold and hard as steel. Who can raise the dead? Who can deliver me from this body of death?

And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? Eze 37:3

Can dead bones live? Can that which has rotted away until there is nothing left but bones live? Can there be anything more dead than just bones? And in my dead state, through the mist and through the haze a voice began to call out to me. I ran from the voice but He would not let me go. Where can I hide from His Spirit? To the ends of the earth? To the very darkness of hell? I tried both. I had hell covered, so I moved 4000 miles away. Hell came with me. Yet the voice of the Lord was calling.

Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: Eze 37:5

But I dont want to live Lord. I am dead in my sins, I died because I did not want to live. Yet the Lord said to me ” But I love you with an everlating love.’

I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, and shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live. Eze 37:13,14

Oh Lord, but I am afraid to live. And the Lord said ” Do not be afraid.” I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. Eze 37:6

And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Frank come forth. John 11:43

And suddenly I was alive, snatched from the gates of hell by my Lord and my Savior Jesus. And life poured into me with the breath of the Spirit. No longer a dead man walking, but a man called forth from death, from darkness into His marvelous light. There is a valley brothers and sisters. Can you shut your eyes and see the valley? Its full of bones, dead mens bones. The walking dead walk past us every day. Son of man, can these bones live? Do you believe brothers and sisters, do you believe that these bones can live? ” Yes, I know that they shall live again in the ressurection of the last day.’ And Jesus says ” I am the ressurection and the life, he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.”

So , can you hear the Master calling? He speaks life into death, He breathes and restores the unrestorable. Who could bring life to nothing but bones? Jesus. He is life itself and He is calling. And when he breathes life into you then suddenly you see the world and the wonder of it and the magnificent beauty of all that He has created, but there is nothing more beautiful than life to spring out of death. From the darkness of a black and white movie, to brilliant technicolor!

You made the sun and the moon
And all this with Love
You put the stars in the heavens
And the clouds high above

I see the mountains so high
They stand in your name
I see the birds in the sky
I hear them sing of your fame

Man praises man for painting these things
Yet it is because of God that the bird sings
Open your eyes and watch the dolphin dance upon the waves
Open your heart and know that our creator Jesus saves

Watch a baby crawl
Hear a man laugh and sing
See a mothers tears of anguish
And know that life is not a simple thing
To laugh, to cry, to feel, to see
I am truly amazed just to be

To hear, to touch, to breathe, to sigh
A walking miracle from the one on high.
As you live your lives no matter where
Dancing or crying, always be aware
Its better to have lived than not at all
For this is your chance to hear the Masters call.

Brother,you write.......

"When this world crushes a person, they can find themselves despairing of their existence, indeed despairing of ever being conscious. Their spirit becomes like a dried river bed, still retaining it's shape as fading evidence that perhaps this desolate place once flowed fresh clear water.

The social, political, or religious victories that we often pursue can never bring water to the lifeless riverbed at the bottom of our beings. Perhaps it is the awful realization of this that causes men to become so self destructive.'

Brother, that is profound, thank you for sharing, you are exactly right. At the very heart of the children of God is a heart that wants to comfort others with the comfort they themsleves have been comofrted with, its the very heart of God.

"Having found the source of our life, the spring of our river, we are then able to carry living water that reaches the hidden places in others."

Thats it brother, thats it exactly..........brother Frank

Pilgrim 777 writes........

"He is able to bring us to a place where we can say, "Though He slay me, yet will I praise Him."

Yes brother, He is able indeed. Can there be a higher profession of faith that that of Job. Even if God were to kill him, he would still trust Him. Its like the Hebrew Children said to that old king that their God would save them, but even if he did not, they would never bow down to the gods of this world. Praise the Lord, He makes beauty from the ashes of our lives...........brother Frank

Thank you Frank.

Blessings, Brother Frank & Family.

"Praise the Lord, He has visited our souls in mercy and bound up the broken-hearted."

Indeed brother, Amen!!!! .........brother Frank

Precious Lord Jesus, thank You for stepping down beyond what we know and going far deeper than we'll ever know. Thank you that You are not a man that You should lie. You know the deepest of suffering. You identify with us, holding our hand tight, with blood shot eyes of compassion, flowing with tears. You tell us that it will be alright. You took our place. Thank you for rescuing Frank, Your precious child. O that all men would receive you!

"Thank you for rescuing Frank, Your precious child. O that all men would receive you!"

Yes thank you Lord Jesus. You glorify yourself in the works that you do in the hearts of men.......brother Frank

Lylewise writes........

"Christ would have each of us recognize that we have been forgiven much and therefore we love much because of it."

Love much indeed lylewise. I believe that is what brother Carter was preaching on, the Love of God that rescues sinners, and we should be vessels of His love.......brother Frank