Time for Reformation

Time for Reformation
Everywhere I go there is a dissatisfaction with what we have all been taught about God and church. Everywhere I go I talk to people of all colors and social classes and the talk is the same: there has got to be more than this. I believe that God is helping me to see why.
The enemy has so far succeeded in creating a religious society within “Christian” nations that in most places one cannot differentiate between the “real” Christian and simply a religious person. There is no visible difference because there is no visible power, so therefore people come to the logical conclusion, based on their premise and their experience, that Christianity is not for real and it is no different than any other religion. See, people are looking at a structure that the enemy built and put the label “God’s House” on it, so they look at it and rightly say, “That is not God.” So people say, “Heck with this” and they just live the best they know how. Those people are not full of evil intent, they are simply speaking what they see. They are simply living out what they have been shown. In other words they are in the dark because the light has never been shown to them. They have HEARD about it, but they have never SEEN it. Some people know deeply within them that God is for real, but that is all they have to cling to as they struggle through their lives. They believe He is for real, but they are never led to really experience Him. If the church of Jesus wants to see a transformation then we must undergo a reformation. Not an awakening, not a renewal, not necessarily a revival, but a reformation. This reformation will be where God Himself forms us into a loving and radiant bride for His Beloved Son. She is to be perfect, spotless, and without blemish. She is to be the perfect match for the Perfect King. That word “radiant” is there for a reason. Radiant things emit light and that is what a world of darkness needs. Yet God must be the author of such a work. No work of man could ever achieve this place of intimacy with God, nor could any work of man, no matter how extravagant and costly, ever put us into that place where He longs for us to be, emitting the light of His love. When we arrive there, the enemy will have no ability to counterfeit God’s intimacy with us. God is love and God Himself cannot be counterfeited. Sure, the enemy will have his alternatives, yet just like when the magicians of Pharoah stated, “This must be God for no one can do miracles like this” so will the reformation of the church be.
This reformation is not God’s call for the distant future. It is not to come to be in the millennial “sweet by-and-by.” It is not for us to simply say, “That is for heaven after I die.” NO. It is for now. The responsibility is on us for now. We can no longer ignore the promises of God that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea, nor can we ignore our Lord’s commands (not suggestions, not requests, COMMANDS) to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons, and spread the good news of the kingdom to the poor. We have changed His commands to our simple deeds of pray for the sick, comfort the survivor of the dead, give medicine to the leper, ignore the demonic or send them to the psychiatrist, and tell the poor about their future in heaven. I wish God would have destroyed this false gospel much sooner than He is going to, but I would probably not be here if He had. Yes we are to do good works, but they are to be the works that the Father has ordained, not the ones we simply achieve with our good planning, fund raisers, and organizational skill. Many cults and religious organizations can do that. It is time for those who call Jesus Lord to let Him be. It is time for those of us Who God has named “Son and Daughter of the Living One” to be just that. The time for reformation is upon us and many people are crying out for it to be birthed. Congratulations! You have been chosen. You are a part of making history!

Spontaneity

Spontaneity
Time for some spontaneity
And in that statement is no spontaneity at all
For it is bound within earth and time
And schedules and pressures and all sorts of rhyme
That even takes the spontaneity out of the spontaneous
And turns it into rigid rules
Where life dies
The phone rings again
Bringing up a spirit of sin
I am so sick of the ring
That would change if I would sing
The goodness and graciousness of God
Instead of the praise of the devil, which is complaining
Complaining is praise in reverse
Where my entire being grows terse
And my health and my happiness fade
My heart turns as cold and hard as jade
But isn’t nearly that colorful or beautiful
And it smells bad too.
I say I long for the new
Yet I am not willing to choose to walk in it
Until now when the spirit was able to overcome my brow
And the Light of the universe let out a spark
That quenched the hot and fiery dart
That the complaining spirit had in me
My spirit now set free
Will release a “thank You” to the only One
His light much brighter than the sun
It even makes my jaded heart turn warm
It turns from stone to flesh
And the aroma of Jesus starts to rise
It reaches my spirit, reaches my eyes
And I can finally see that what is bothering me
Is nothing in His presence
I have His life, I have His essence
And there is nothing else I want or need
His life is the very wondrous seed
That I want planted in me
In good soil that grows a hundred fold
In a good heart that lives and never grows old
Plant it deeply, Lord,
Plant it deeply
I receive it freely, I give it freely
Plant it deeply, Lord,
Plant it deeply
I receive it freely, I give it freely


K. Duane Carter
1-3-09

The Cascade

The Cascade

you don’t have to tell water to flow
it just does
you don’t have to tell the waterfall to be beautiful
it just is
you don’t have to instruct the trees to praise
they simply do so with no striving at all

you don’t have to tell me to dwell with God
I just do

you don’t have to tell me to be His son
I just am

you don’t have to teach me what to do to please Him
I simply do so

I simply do so by being what He has made me to be
Just like the water
Just like the waterfall
Just like the tree
Just be

K. Duane Carter
12-27-08

Frozen

Frozen
I am always amazed how You speak through creation
Things going on in our natural world
Secrets of the depths now unfurled
That tell of the supernatural One
We have lived long in a dry and thirsty land
Created by our own fleshly hands
Where there is no water, yet
The rains have come, and come hard
The soil is drenched but is hardened by the long dry
The parched earth does now let forth its sigh
So now with water pouring in
You send the frozen
The frost that goes deeply
The frost that goes deeply
It begins to overturn the soil
It begins to divide asunder
Things that have been dormant for years
Now are disturbed and stirred and awakened
Because You have promised they are never forsaken
The soil is fit for growing something now
The ice has crushed our souls, our brow
The soil has been tilled, tilled from the depths
Tilled by the frozen, I hear His steps
The seeds that no one thought would grow
Now have been stirred by the dividing ice
Those buried seeds are now ready to receive
Moisture and nutrient, warmth and light
Get ready for the harvest
Get ready for the harvest
Things you never thought imaginable
Are coming into bloom, so very, very soon
For He is doing His work
His creation is speaking it
So now do we

K. Duane Carter
12-23-08

the mystery

the mystery

there is a cloud of mystery
surrounding everything on earth
it falls today like a misty shroud
yet I know it is much, much more
it is a sign of the coming
a sign of the coming Mystery
He will bathe us in His Water
It will come as we don’t expect
And though all it covers appears lifeless and gone
We will see life spring forth in beauty
He is coming
He is here
I see it in His cloud of mystery

K. Duane Carter
12-18-08

First Snow of Winter

First Snow of Winter
I see the snowflakes falling like the gifts of God
Innumerable but soft
Pure and white
Breathtaking all the while
Bringing to my face a smile
For I see it is a promise of things to come
Now they dance, now they fall
A picture of my worship of the All
The All-powerful, All-knowing, Ever-present One
He lifts the flakes on swirling winds
The Spirit moves just so within
Yes, it never ceases to amaze me
How God can speak in any way He pleases
The sound of the snowflakes falling
Is just like the sound of His voice
You can hear it if you’re listening
You can hear it if you’re listening
I pray we take the time to listen
For His whispers fall like the snowflakes
Innumerable and pure
Secrets and wonders just for you
They cover up the old
Getting ready for the new of spring
He whispers now, but then He sings
And only when we listen in
Will the new begin in us again
You can hear Him if you’re listening
You can hear Him if you’re listening
We see the snowflakes; we hear His voice
We hear them land; we see His love
It does not melt away to nothing, no
It places water where there will be life
Get ready for the new; get ready for the new
The snow does tell of the coming dew
Where the water of His Spirit will cover us every day
His goodness will bring us into His life, His Way
You will see it if you are listening
You will see it if you are listening

Let me see You, Lord, I am listening

K. Duane Carter
12-1-08

Still Life

Still Life
There is something in this image that captivates me
I have looked and looked and looked at it for weeks
Knowing that it says something yet not knowing what it says
There is a message that death brings life
And Light is there to reveal it
There is nourishment for the soil in this death
The leaves speak it with mouths shut
The black walnut bears it with promise of life and abundance
There is life within this covering of God’s feathers
This downy pillow He has made for His new ways to spring forth
This sealing in the earth and of the earth
I know there is a message here
I feel it in my spirit, yet, I cannot speak it in my hands
God is in the places where we just don’t understand
Yet we trust Him just the same
That is where the might of His name
Springs forth
Ah, I understand the message

K. Duane Carter
11-28-08