I'm going on outreach today but I had a quick thought I've been meditating on as I think and pray about talking to people today.
Have you ever been frustrated or perplexed about something and spoken to someone only to find yourself more frustrated and perplexed afterwards? I have. Perhaps the person you spoke to wanted to help but it was just the wrong time to talk or the person had a frame of reference that was not helpful.
If someone comes to me and they need to talk I want to be ready.
"Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened." - Matthew 7:6-8 ESV
I guess what I am saying is that I don't want to be a swine when someone is sharing things that matter to them. I need to go to God first and cast my care on Him and get his mind on something... anything He wants to give me. Whatever crumbs He wants to give are more than good enough. If I knock and have a thought from Heaven to chew on then I can be in the flow for all the things He has ever given me to rise to the surface of my mind. Then when I run into someone who is at a crossroads the door into eternal perspective will already be clearly in sight by faith.
"Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.' " - John 14:6 ESV
Yes. The maker of all things also has a resolution for all perplexities. Will we be dogs or grace and mercy people who carry seed that will produce an eternal harvest?
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Showing posts with label Answers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Answers. Show all posts
Saturday, July 9, 2016
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Logical Fallacies - Part 4
"You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions." - James 4:3 ESV
While looking at my list of logical fallacies I'm scanning the questions it lists and marveling at how wrong we can be. We think our answers are the issue but it goes deeper. Our questions are often wrong and so there is no answer from God for what we are asking.
"Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint." - Isaiah 1:5 ESV
A LOADED QUESTION as something that has an assumption already built into it. When we are BEGGING THE QUESTION we have an answer already embedded in the request.
'Why don't you love me God?' or 'Why won't you help me God?' are just such questions. They are based on a wrong premise and God must work around us because He can't work with us until we are on the same page.
"Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?" - Amos 3:3 ESV
or in the KJV
"Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" - Amos 3:3 KJV
No. They can't. If they do meet it will just be an encounter and there will be no lengthy discourse because those conversations take time.
"Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool." - Isaiah 1:18 ESV
What a great verse! Many times the red to white part is emphasized because it talks of cleansing but I also like the 'shall become like wool' part... the natural color and texture is restored.
Our questions can be caked and stained with condemnation and judgement but then we reason with God and the first thing He points us to is redemption. The cross kills my wrong questions and gives me new ones. God reveals the natural weave of our being and can impart something real to us because we walk with Him in agreement about that which is most fundamental.
Now we say things like, 'Since You love me so much will You guide me in this situation? I know You will. You didn't bring me this far to leave me now.'
"... for he has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' " - Hebrews 13:5b ESV
Scripture arms us with good facts to ask good questions and life is full of good questions to ask as we walk together with God.
--
While looking at my list of logical fallacies I'm scanning the questions it lists and marveling at how wrong we can be. We think our answers are the issue but it goes deeper. Our questions are often wrong and so there is no answer from God for what we are asking.
"Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint." - Isaiah 1:5 ESV
A LOADED QUESTION as something that has an assumption already built into it. When we are BEGGING THE QUESTION we have an answer already embedded in the request.
'Why don't you love me God?' or 'Why won't you help me God?' are just such questions. They are based on a wrong premise and God must work around us because He can't work with us until we are on the same page.
"Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?" - Amos 3:3 ESV
or in the KJV
"Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" - Amos 3:3 KJV
No. They can't. If they do meet it will just be an encounter and there will be no lengthy discourse because those conversations take time.
"Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool." - Isaiah 1:18 ESV
What a great verse! Many times the red to white part is emphasized because it talks of cleansing but I also like the 'shall become like wool' part... the natural color and texture is restored.
Our questions can be caked and stained with condemnation and judgement but then we reason with God and the first thing He points us to is redemption. The cross kills my wrong questions and gives me new ones. God reveals the natural weave of our being and can impart something real to us because we walk with Him in agreement about that which is most fundamental.
Now we say things like, 'Since You love me so much will You guide me in this situation? I know You will. You didn't bring me this far to leave me now.'
"... for he has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' " - Hebrews 13:5b ESV
Scripture arms us with good facts to ask good questions and life is full of good questions to ask as we walk together with God.
--
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Seated Together
"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." - Ephesians 2:4-9 ESV
Which is more miraculous? Is it the fact that we are seated with Him in Heaven or that we are seated together with Him?
Fisherman and tax collectors... together. Protestants and Catholics... together. Generations of families will finally be together. Great great grand fathers will have animated conversations with their children's children's children. All of us will be ageless.
Our differences will be nonexistent. Our relationships will be closer. There will be no skeletons in our closets. Our scars will not hinder us from trusting.
At our Church we have something called a 'rap' and during this time people can ask questions. My old friend and I were at one a few nights ago and he leaned over and commented on how he loves that people who are struggling to apply what they just heard can ask questions even if they are struggling even to get the words of the question right. A long time ago we were in many raps together with all sorts of characters. He had his young son with him at this one. Who would have thought we would get so old and responsible.
The rap is a safe place. People who are hungry for more are there. People who have seen the value of fellowship are there. Some just have no where else to go but that is fine if the one place that remains is safe and has love with answers.
On the great day when we are all seated together with God we won't have anywhere else to go either... or will we? I don't know. I imagine however no one is going to go take a smoke break out back. No one will want to miss a moment of it. When Jesus opens His mouth to say something we will be hanging on every word.
I want to bring that rap everywhere I go. I want to bring it to dark places. I want to walk into heathen living rooms and have there be an oasis of safety where love can be communicated and exchanged. Then I want to visit again only to find that the living room is not heathen anymore.
"But Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.' " - Matthew 19:26 ESV
Yes. Just getting us all to sit together is impossible with man but God makes a space for us to be together. It is a space filled with grace, mercy, love and answers.
Oh God! Heaven on Earth. Can it happen? Some of us have seen first hand how You unite people. Fill our spaces God. We want to sit in places with You here on Earth. We want to see people in chairs who are being loved and are being set free in safety. Your message can create these spaces. The Gospel of grace is the content that dissolves cliques and makes us all equal. Give us the stamina to linger longer. Give us the desire to meet where others are to afraid or unwilling to go. Make us missionaries right where we are and send us places. You are the One who builds Your Church but we long to see what You do planted in needy places.
--
Which is more miraculous? Is it the fact that we are seated with Him in Heaven or that we are seated together with Him?
Fisherman and tax collectors... together. Protestants and Catholics... together. Generations of families will finally be together. Great great grand fathers will have animated conversations with their children's children's children. All of us will be ageless.
Our differences will be nonexistent. Our relationships will be closer. There will be no skeletons in our closets. Our scars will not hinder us from trusting.
At our Church we have something called a 'rap' and during this time people can ask questions. My old friend and I were at one a few nights ago and he leaned over and commented on how he loves that people who are struggling to apply what they just heard can ask questions even if they are struggling even to get the words of the question right. A long time ago we were in many raps together with all sorts of characters. He had his young son with him at this one. Who would have thought we would get so old and responsible.
The rap is a safe place. People who are hungry for more are there. People who have seen the value of fellowship are there. Some just have no where else to go but that is fine if the one place that remains is safe and has love with answers.
On the great day when we are all seated together with God we won't have anywhere else to go either... or will we? I don't know. I imagine however no one is going to go take a smoke break out back. No one will want to miss a moment of it. When Jesus opens His mouth to say something we will be hanging on every word.
I want to bring that rap everywhere I go. I want to bring it to dark places. I want to walk into heathen living rooms and have there be an oasis of safety where love can be communicated and exchanged. Then I want to visit again only to find that the living room is not heathen anymore.
"But Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.' " - Matthew 19:26 ESV
Yes. Just getting us all to sit together is impossible with man but God makes a space for us to be together. It is a space filled with grace, mercy, love and answers.
Oh God! Heaven on Earth. Can it happen? Some of us have seen first hand how You unite people. Fill our spaces God. We want to sit in places with You here on Earth. We want to see people in chairs who are being loved and are being set free in safety. Your message can create these spaces. The Gospel of grace is the content that dissolves cliques and makes us all equal. Give us the stamina to linger longer. Give us the desire to meet where others are to afraid or unwilling to go. Make us missionaries right where we are and send us places. You are the One who builds Your Church but we long to see what You do planted in needy places.
--
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Answers Are Shared
The person in despair has come to a conclusion, 'All is lost.' The settled person also has come to a conclusion. Did they ask a question? Do they really have an answer?
If we don't form questions we may not get answers. If we don't request provision we may not get it.
"What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions." James 4:1-3 ESV
Many times we can be empty with nothing to ask. We can also be so full of the wrong thing so we strive without asking or ask amiss in our sense of great need.
Questions can connect us. Requests can open supply.
When I am empty I like to read scripture because that is a place I can reconnect. God can love me there. I need to need Him.
"And David built there an altar to the LORD and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings and called on the LORD, and the LORD answered him with fire from heaven upon the altar of burnt offering. Then the LORD commanded the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath. At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there. For the tabernacle of the LORD, which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering were at that time in the high place at Gibeon, but David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the LORD." 1 Chronicles 21:26-30 ESV
A gracious relationship is one of exchange and intimate connection. God's Word is a sword but we need not fear it. We can inquire of God.
Jesus gives a model of an inquiry here:
"But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen." Matthew 6:7-13 KJV
Even though verse seven says not to make empty repetitions this prayer has likely been repeated more than most. Why? We see a connection here. There is a depth of exchange. Jesus' questions have answers in them already but they are questions shared with the Father and the answers are shared answers.
We can sit in a spiritual corner and twiddle our thumbs or we can rage in our wanting. There is another option. Grace demands nothing of us but love wants to meet with us today. There are places to go and provisions needed in places. We can make memories today that last. Wisdom is not solitary. Answers are like gifts... they are given.
"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another." John 15:16-17 ESV
I love this translation. If we ask of the Father and have true exchange with God we will love one another. The answer will be something shared with us that we want to share with others.
If we don't form questions we may not get answers. If we don't request provision we may not get it.
"What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions." James 4:1-3 ESV
Many times we can be empty with nothing to ask. We can also be so full of the wrong thing so we strive without asking or ask amiss in our sense of great need.
Questions can connect us. Requests can open supply.
When I am empty I like to read scripture because that is a place I can reconnect. God can love me there. I need to need Him.
"And David built there an altar to the LORD and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings and called on the LORD, and the LORD answered him with fire from heaven upon the altar of burnt offering. Then the LORD commanded the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath. At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there. For the tabernacle of the LORD, which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering were at that time in the high place at Gibeon, but David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the LORD." 1 Chronicles 21:26-30 ESV
A gracious relationship is one of exchange and intimate connection. God's Word is a sword but we need not fear it. We can inquire of God.
Jesus gives a model of an inquiry here:
"But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen." Matthew 6:7-13 KJV
Even though verse seven says not to make empty repetitions this prayer has likely been repeated more than most. Why? We see a connection here. There is a depth of exchange. Jesus' questions have answers in them already but they are questions shared with the Father and the answers are shared answers.
We can sit in a spiritual corner and twiddle our thumbs or we can rage in our wanting. There is another option. Grace demands nothing of us but love wants to meet with us today. There are places to go and provisions needed in places. We can make memories today that last. Wisdom is not solitary. Answers are like gifts... they are given.
"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another." John 15:16-17 ESV
I love this translation. If we ask of the Father and have true exchange with God we will love one another. The answer will be something shared with us that we want to share with others.
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