Talents, What Did You Do With What I Gave You?

July 7, 2015

Talents, What Did You Do With What I Gave You?

July 7, 2015

Tonight, Ezekiel and I took a little bit of a break. We watched a movie called "Camp". It was about under-privileged children, orphans and that kind of thing that went away to a camp. It was a very touching movie - I highly recommend it. We watched it on Netflix. Just to give you an idea, the story line was kinda centered around this one little boy, where the mother is a heroin addict and totally wrapped up in herself. She doesn't even have food in the refrigerator for the child, is

constantly telling him to stay in his room - he can't go anywhere, do anything.

It's his birthday, and she goes out on one of her dates and leaves him alone at home with nothing to eat, nothing at all. Then, along comes his dad, bursting into the house looking for money. Because the boy was hungry, he'd gotten up in the cookie jar and taken out what money was there. When the dad saw that (I guess he didn't live with them) he wanted to know where all the rest of it was - the boy only had a little bit - and the dad beat him to a pulp. He broke a broomstick and beat him with the broomstick. Then, the next scene, they're taking him away in an ambulance to nuture him back to help and send him to this camp. Which is a real

- life camp, by the way - Camp Hume, by Hume Lake in California.

Along comes this businessman. He's on the fast track, you know - he has it altogether, has this Porshe and everything. He's going to this camp to try to impress a woman who is very, very wealthy and needs a financial advisor - an elderly woman. So, he pretends to be a camp counselor, he offers to do that. So, they take this guy on, and he's on the sofa all the time making deals - obviously his heart is not on what he's supposed to be doing - be a camp counselor.

The rest of the movie is about this transformation taking place in this little boy and this businessman. It was really very touching - I cried at the end of it. I don't like movies I cry over, but I just had to cry. A little later I was sitting with the Lord to listen to Him, to see what He had to say tonight, and He didn't change the subject. He stayed right on track with what I was experiencing emotionally. As we spent some time together, He was trying to comfort me and I was trying to comfort Him, because I know He has to deal with this stuff. But, at one point He asked me to stop worshipping and just sit with Him and listen. So, I did - and this is what He had to say:

"That's just a mere drop in the ocean of suffering I must deal with every day. You cannot even begin to imagine how widespread this kind of abuse is. And so, I have My "angels", those who are willing to put aside their lives to tend to these little ones that in truth have no hope. A mere drop in the ocean. But, don't let it get you down or discouraged. To everything there is a purpose, a plan, and a season. And, although now suffering seems to come out of the woodwork for these little ones, I am coming to restore humanness to humanity."

Oh, but Lord - what about these that didn't get a chance?

"Clare, no one in this world is without a chance of some kind. What kind of a God would I be if I did not respond with opportunities? How could I be God and not respond?"

Lord, you know how the evangelicals talk about the lost and unsaved who have no one to preach to them the Good News?

"Shall I cast My Creation into the Abyss without first bringing it opportunity? Man has formulas. I have Mercy."

Some would say that's blasphemy, Lord!

"Some, if not all, have very limited knowledge of My workings. They think they know, based on My Word, but they don't truly know Me in My depths, especially the depths of My Mercy."

So, You are saying ALL have an opportunity?

"I am saying that I have a plan of escape for all. It is up to them whether or not they take it. But, believe Me, I leave no one without recourse. I found you, didn't I? I had to wait until you were ready, but I found you and delivered you out of the hands of darkness and into My marvelous Light, did I not?"

You did.

"Then, trust Me. I have plans for each and every soul. Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, and even Plan D. Oh, Clare I am relentless in following up on souls until they flat out reject Me or accept Me. Relentless. You needn't worry, there will be so many surprises in Heaven. Children of My Mercy.

"Man has rules and formulas. I have Mercy. It has been given into My hands: "I shall have mercy on whom I will have Mercy, What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on

whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.' It does not, therefore, depend

on human desire or effort, but on God's mercy." Romans 9

"Again, religion has become a stumbling block to My Favor upon the children of men. Had they but known Me, truly known Me, there would be no need for all these rules. For you see, the way I run the universe is that for each there is a lesson and I need men to teach only to recognize My ways, My workings, that My children may learn from Me. Men's ways are a poison. God's ways are life."

But, Lord! You've been so big on obedience and how you bless obedience.

"Yes, because man's way is not My way. Nevertheless, one must learn from the examples set before them. So, in this case I place people in your lives that help you to recognize My ways. But of course, people will always be people and exploit who they can through fear and manipulation. Yet, I have come to set My people free from the yoke of bondage to the law, and now love becomes the law. And, through My Love, dying on the Cross, I have opened the way of Love and have given ample examples of what love looks like.

"Clare, if you don't get anything else, understand this: I wish that all would come to an understanding of Who I AM, and stop trying to attain their idea of holiness by climbing the rungs of men's ladders. I wish for all to come to a knowledge of My Love through the example of My ambassadors of love shown to others. Yes, there will always be failures, those who cannot carry the load of love that is necessary for a proper example. But, we will never stop trying, never give up, but carry on even in the bleakest corners of the world.

"So much will not be understood until you are here. But for now, it is so important that people get it. I am about Love and Mercy, I am just and kind. I am looking for the fruits of righteousness in My People. I have loved, and now I look for the sweet clusters of love to be passed onto the broken for their healing. There is no greater failure in My eyes, than to fail at love. That is the supreme test of discipleship: love one another as I have loved you. No matter what you did as a Christian, if you failed that test, you have failed as a Christian. Rather, you will find yourself outside the gates with the hypocrites where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

"But understand, to each I give just so many talents. One, two , three, ten, twenty... each has a specified number of talents, places where love has been taught and nurtured - where opportunity and discipleship are offered to souls. And then comes payback time. If you are raised in a family that is whole and healthy, where great care was taken in your upbringing, where many opportunities for growth and happiness were scattered

along the way on your journey, then so much more is expected of you. But, if you come from a family like this little boy's where nothing was given him but harshness, cruelty, rejection, and neglect - you are greatly handicapped along the path of life. I do not expect from an abused child what I would expect from one reared under the very best circumstances. And yet the grace I impart to the poor child is sufficient to get them out of their pit if it is used correctly.

"Sometimes, there is nothing else to do but take them early. Other times, I will watch them struggle until they die of old age, lonely, broken, alcoholic, fading away of liver disease with no one to comfort them. This life is about giving, in case you hadn't noticed, and those who choose to withdraw and keep it all for themselves are the very worst losers. And yet I come to them, with opportunities to repent, especially because of the kindness of my disciples whom I send to them.

"So you see, right before your eyes I have set one of these before you. The bitterness of her losses was so overwhelming she chose to hide away and waste her life. Some do that. Some never learn. Some find out at the last moment and they are ripe for the picking. Yes, that is what I am biding My time for. Yes, that is my strategy. At that fateful moment, I will reveal the poor choices they made to the soul and give them one last chance to repent and accept My forgiveness. They, in that moment, are totally broken down and have no more fight in them. That is when I visit them with My Love. They have no more resistance...pray that in that moment she will embrace Me, the lover of her soul.

"But, to each I do give graces, and to each it is up to them; bury them or use them, work them, bring forth fruit. Some have 50 talents, some have one, it's all in what they do with what they have. I am always just, understanding and giving more chances. Life is so complex, so burdensome, but I visit each with the grace of the day, whether believer or non-believer - I visit with grace."

Oh, yes, Lord. I remember when you visited me with the grace to choose to fight and live my dream. "And you invested your talent until the time when I needed to call you away and prepare you for your next

mission. So, you see I have a plan and resource for every single soul. It is up to them how they handle it, and up

to those who have, to provide for those who have not and need a foot up.

"So, to you I say, My Bride: do not in any way be puffed up over your status with Me. You have been given the talents and used them wisely. But there are others among you who have been given a pittance of what you have and they are bringing forth more abundant grace with their widow's mite than those who began with a spiritual bank account full of them. Never look down upon the little ones. You do not know how very little they began life with, compared to you, whom I have endowed with many, many talents.

"So, no man may boast before Me. No man can claim the good 'he' had done as his own. All returns to His Creator Who invested, after all, His very own substance into each and now comes to reclaim His investment.

"Part of being prepared My Bride, part of having oil in your lamps, refers to bringing Me a substantial profit at that midnight hour. With what has been given you, what have you to show? What have you done? Where are the souls you have touched with My investment in you? Where are the spiritual children and grandchildren from your life long labors? No one ever really knows what fruit they have reaped. This will not be revealed until the last day when all things are brought to the great tribunal of God.

"Then, we shall all see the hidden fruit that no one but I knew about. We shall also see the hay and stubble - what looked good on the outside but was a mere vacuum on the inside that sucked up resources and returned nothing. All will be exposed to the light, at that time many will receive honors and gifts beyond what they had in this life, even though, to men their lives looked fruitless.

"Others who boasted of all they had done, will stand empty handed before Me."

"I alone know the truth about your lives. Live for Me in these last hours and days, live for My Kingdom to come. My Will to be done. Live only for Me and on that Day you will have nothing to be ashamed of."