By the Way...

By D. P. Baldridge

Though the words do encourage righteous living, By the Way... is unique in that it is more a collection of messages from the Lord cheering us on not only in our Christian walk but in the working of our ministries, and you may be surprised to know he wants us to have fun while doing it. God is doing the exact same thing for all his children, but it looks different to each of us because of our varied ministries and personalities. No matter where your life has taken you, the Lord will use your experiences to save a segment of the lost to Christ. God needs the efforts of us all to bring in his great soul harvest. It is my prayer that these messages he sends us will encourage and inspire all who read them to a deeper relationship with him. And to the youth of this world, I say this: If you feel the need to have serious conversation with someone but have no one you can trust to confide in, God will always hear you and is ready to respond, and you can trust him with your every word.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 27, 2022
• ISBN: 9798885409636

Book preview

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By the WayaEUR|

D. P. Baldridge

ISBN 979-8-88540-962-9 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88540-963-6 (digital)

Copyright © 2022 by D. P. Baldridge

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

About the Author

And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh.

—Ezekiel 47:9 (KJV)

I dedicate By the Way…

in loving memory of my parents,

Jerry and Lois Hamilton,

without whose prayers and

godly example I may never

have come to know the Lord

in the way that I do.

Acknowledgments

I would like to extend a special thanks to my husband, Bobby, whom I dearly love, for supporting me in this endeavor; to my sisters in Christ, Sally McBee and Rosemary Boyter, for their prayers and encouragement throughout the process; and to Pastors Jeff and Anna Plant, of Impact Faith Ministries, for their obedience in preaching the unadulterated word of God, and for bringing God's confirmation on writing this book to me. Iron sharpens iron!

Boom!

There's nothing that gets the old adrenalin moving quicker than the sound of an explosion. A zillion thoughts cross your mind way before your feet get the Run! message: Where are my kids? Is anyone hurt? Are we under attack? What should I do!

In a split second, your senses are completely surrendered, either to the action of bravery or the inaction of fear. There is never an in-between at this second.

So would the same people react differently if, by some means, they were given, say, a one-minute warning of the explosion but not the location? In the first scenario, they only heard the explosion; they were not the target. But the second scenario leaves wide open the door to what's called the come to Jesus moment.

Just because you've not yet experienced that explosion, there's no reason to get all snuggled-up-comfy in your happy place. Bombs are Satan's specialty. His bombs are death, and his target is your soul.

His evil footfall pounds through the streets and homes and hospitals and schools and theaters and corporations and cruise liners and malls in every city in every country on earth. His nemesis is Jesus the Messiah, the Savior of all who ask him into their hearts. But time is of the essence. The devil could send his bomb of death your way at this very moment, and if it reaches you before you reach for Jesus, you'll spend eternity in hell with the very devil that put you there.

You are not guaranteed the next second, the next breath. Your come to Jesus moment is now.

And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave, and every free man hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand? (Revelation 6:15–17 NKJV).

The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged each one according to his works. Then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:13–15 NKJV)

Do I hear something ticking?

Cargo

I am the way, the truth, and the life. My light of life shines to make clear the path of my children, to bring the light of hope into the dark places. I've brought you here to do the same. All that I do, I send you to do. You carry precious cargo in your heart—love, the love that is me. It's the most pure love, the highest truth. Love is not mere emotion but a most mighty power. Nothing can defeat my power of love; it is the very reason for all I created. The power to create is love. I created all out of the power of love; can you now see why I commanded you love one another as yourselves? Love activated betters every situation. Your greatest achievement will be your full assimilation of my deep love for you. Each day, over and over, take it to a deeper place in your understanding, and even then, you'll likely never grasp its depth. Make this your confession: My Lord loves me immeasurably, and I believe it! I rest assured in my safe place in him. I am loved!

Exposed

This world is not expecting the powerful pushback of my children. You are viewed by them as weak, silly, ineffective. This is the very reason I give kingdom wisdom to the babes and not the worldly wise. It is my spiritual camouflage for my army. With it, you will maneuver below their radar, killing out generations of death roots whose tendrils have intertwined every aspect of earthly life. My power is the power of love, and under its radiant light, all demonic influence will be exposed and vulnerable to the advances of my army. The battles are all won. Every victory, a trophy for me. Never fear to strike, but always seek me first. What general is not sought for the movement of his troops? All my store of glory, I rest upon you.

Glass Eyes

Your perspective is not mine. I see from all sides and angles. I know what has and ought and will be for your good and all good eternally. You are entering your dream, not in sleep but in reality, spiritual reality. You are seeing with glass eyes, spirit eyes, through the spirit into the natural now. Just a short time ago, you only saw the natural through natural eyes; that's transformation. Exciting, isn't it? Not just for you but for me who needs you to see as I do in order to do my works. I will not fail you. Others don't have to believe; if you believe, I produce. I love our times together. We will have much more very soon.

No Comparison

I really do wish you would chill out. I do not have a stopwatch in my hand, nor a yardstick. I don't run comparison studies as to how your abilities stack up to Paul's. You are you because I planned you that way. Paul was very specially suited to a very special work, so are you. There are millions and millions of my children who've learned very valuable things from Paul, but there are also many who could have taught him a thing or two. No, even he was not a perfect man, even after his awakening. The thing with Paul is that he understood clearly who he was in Christ; it changed and empowered him. The more you understand, the more it will change and empower you.

Stitch

Wait a minute; don't rush. Stay in my presence, that extra moment or two. I am so busy about you knitting together the many supernatural strands that surround you, your purpose, and your desires. There is so very and extremely more to the unseen realm than what your natural eyes take in. Your body and soul could not bear up under the shock of it without my insulating you, like I insulated Paul. Don't be so hasty to move on; linger, soak in my presence like warm sunshine on your skin. Allow me to knit together all you are believing for. So many times as I move to make the last stitch on a healing or a dream, you scurry off and unravel my work. Tarry with me. You and I can do more together in warm silence than in months of your toil and sweat. I breathed life into you; now silent in my presence inhale my love, deeply inhale. I never stopped breathing life's abundance into you; you merely forgot the supply was available.

Call

Years ago, my husband and I lived way out in the country on a small homestead surrounded on three sides by cornfields. I recall one summer when the corn was high, we came into possession of two young pups that had recently been weaned; people who live in the country rarely run short of freebie animals. Well, it was love at first sight for me. The pups followed me everywhere, their fat little bellies dragging the grass, constantly underfoot and crying out to me, their surrogate mother, for affection, protection, and food.

One evening while I was in the backyard with them, I ran into the house for something, maybe the phone rang, I don't remember, leaving the pups outside the door as I slipped in. After what I'm sure was no more than a minute, I returned outside to find them gone. I sprinted the perimeter of our yard in seconds flat. Then panic struck my heart, for the probability of their location was the worst I could imagine; they're in the corn, miles and miles of high, thick cornstalks. It was evening, and I had only a few short hours to get them back, before packs of coyotes would be prowling the darkness, surely to hear those tiny cries for help coming from the corn. I had only one choice, only one possibility of getting them back—I had to call them back.

I stood at the edge of the corn and called out to them by their names, with kissey-kissey sounds, whistling and clapping my hands. Nonstop for hours, I stood at the edge of that cornfield calling out so loudly I feared I might damage my vocal cords; I persisted; no pups.

Darkness was closing in on my hopes with alarming speed. I fought the temptation to cry, for I knew it would weaken my voice; I persisted, yet still no sign of the pups.

Soon darkness fell upon me, and I had not the strong voice I started out with. My husband called to me through the light streaming out from the kitchen window to give it up and come inside. But I knew I would only lay awake that night thinking of the horrors that might befall them. I shook off the visions and kept calling, knowing full well that as surely as there was to be a first call, there was also to be a last.

My mind began to reason with my heart that I had to stop calling soon and accept that the pups either weren't listening or had wandered too far to hear my urgent cries of love to them.

I stood quiet for a moment, calling up what was to be my very last blast of pleas into the darkness. It was in the silence of that moment that I began to hear a faint rustling of the cornstalk leaves before me, and as though the corn had had its fill of those pups for one day, they were rocketed through the edge row of that corn, stumbling and crying their way to my feet. I fell to the ground in tears myself and let them have their way with me for a while. Such a sweet feeling of victory filled every space in my heart as I thought, My babies are home, safe and with me forevermore!

Many years have come and gone since the evening I spent beside the cornfield. It's a bittersweet yet mostly sweet memory. It reminds me of the love my Lord has for each of his children who are yet lost in their own cornfields of life. How he stands patiently and hopefully at the field's edge calling, pleading they come to him before falling into the hands of doom lurking in the darkness. Without the Lord's call, they cannot know the way. His call goes out to all, but only his chosen will answer.

For whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestinated, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified: and whom He justified, these he also glorified. (Romans 8:29–30 NKJV)

Soon the Lord will utter his last call, and darkness will settle in; the saved will be safe, the lost will be damned. It's getting dark. Answer his call while you can still hear it.

I Touch What You Touch

Let me take over; you're trying too hard to connect. I'm already here. Your hand is just an extension of mine. Why do you not trust the power that flows through you?