"Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; When he closes his lips, he is considered prudent." Prov 17:28 NAS
"But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more; that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing." 1 Thess 4:9-12 NKJV
Sometimes the best thing to do is to just be quiet and listen.
"Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you--The sure mercies of David." Isaiah 55:3 NKJV
Friday, February 15, 2013
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Old Ways
I was thinking last night about 'old lines' of thinking. How they hinder us and prevent us from accomplished what it is we set out to do.
"And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell." Matt 5:29
This image along with the one that follows that involves your right hand is so graphic and yet it provides the right kind of urgency for the task. I must cut off my old value system and my old preferred methods. Nothing short of that will work because those old things will creep back in and cause offense.
Let's say I was right handed and wanted to learn to use my left hand instead. I could tie down my right arm so it was immobile. Then in time my left hand would grow stronger and stronger. There would still come a day when I would justify setting my right arm free. After all who wants to live with one are tied down. Which arm do you think I would soon favor again.
"And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver." Acts 19:18-19
Burn baby... Burn! Toast a marshmallow over the old life. Celebrate the death of the old way and set your face like a flint. That way was complicated and expensive. Grace is simple and free.
"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. And in this matter I give my judgment: this benefits you, who a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it. So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have. For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have." 2 Cor 8:9-12 ESV
God has given us things to do. It is good if we finish what we started. Christ has finished what He started on behalf of the welfare of others. Our new thinking brings us down new pathways but those pathways are not aimless. They involve giving and building. This life is no 'yoke of service' it is a life oriented away from self and lived in love.
"For we aim at what is honorable not only in the Lord's sight but also in the sight of man." 2 Cor 8:21 ESV
In a way it is a bit shocking that Paul says this. He is clearly 'anti-world' in his teaching but not a separatist. Really God's goals are similar to men's loftiest desires. Spirituality allows us a method outside of our ability to function in the best of what men and women can do and be. That is not the goal of spirituality but it is a pleasant byproduct of it.
Spiritual people can have a tenacity that is unmatched by anyone. New thinking provides the renewal that the philosopher seeks but can never attain to.
At the core the message is 'Don't Quit!'
Don't quit letting God love you. Don't quit asking God for provision. Don't stop looking at the cross and letting it change you. Sing salvation songs even with tears in your eyes. Do the next thing. Think with God by letting Christ's mind in. Draw close to people who love Jesus. Have a vision and be part of a vision that will impact lives and communities.
'Don't Quit!'
We don't put the cart before the horse and life in works. That is a trap. We live in the application of freedom. We go with God. God isn't striving.
Burn the old books but let your life pen a new one and don't quit until the last chapter is written.
The thoughts you think are so important... Now and in the coming days and stretching into forever. Burn those old books and don't go looking for them on eBay later after you have some strength. Trade all the old self-talk in for the good news of what Christ has done and you will have a 'readiness that matches what you have.'
"And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell." Matt 5:29
This image along with the one that follows that involves your right hand is so graphic and yet it provides the right kind of urgency for the task. I must cut off my old value system and my old preferred methods. Nothing short of that will work because those old things will creep back in and cause offense.
Let's say I was right handed and wanted to learn to use my left hand instead. I could tie down my right arm so it was immobile. Then in time my left hand would grow stronger and stronger. There would still come a day when I would justify setting my right arm free. After all who wants to live with one are tied down. Which arm do you think I would soon favor again.
"And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver." Acts 19:18-19
Burn baby... Burn! Toast a marshmallow over the old life. Celebrate the death of the old way and set your face like a flint. That way was complicated and expensive. Grace is simple and free.
"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. And in this matter I give my judgment: this benefits you, who a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it. So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have. For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have." 2 Cor 8:9-12 ESV
God has given us things to do. It is good if we finish what we started. Christ has finished what He started on behalf of the welfare of others. Our new thinking brings us down new pathways but those pathways are not aimless. They involve giving and building. This life is no 'yoke of service' it is a life oriented away from self and lived in love.
"For we aim at what is honorable not only in the Lord's sight but also in the sight of man." 2 Cor 8:21 ESV
In a way it is a bit shocking that Paul says this. He is clearly 'anti-world' in his teaching but not a separatist. Really God's goals are similar to men's loftiest desires. Spirituality allows us a method outside of our ability to function in the best of what men and women can do and be. That is not the goal of spirituality but it is a pleasant byproduct of it.
Spiritual people can have a tenacity that is unmatched by anyone. New thinking provides the renewal that the philosopher seeks but can never attain to.
At the core the message is 'Don't Quit!'
Don't quit letting God love you. Don't quit asking God for provision. Don't stop looking at the cross and letting it change you. Sing salvation songs even with tears in your eyes. Do the next thing. Think with God by letting Christ's mind in. Draw close to people who love Jesus. Have a vision and be part of a vision that will impact lives and communities.
'Don't Quit!'
We don't put the cart before the horse and life in works. That is a trap. We live in the application of freedom. We go with God. God isn't striving.
Burn the old books but let your life pen a new one and don't quit until the last chapter is written.
The thoughts you think are so important... Now and in the coming days and stretching into forever. Burn those old books and don't go looking for them on eBay later after you have some strength. Trade all the old self-talk in for the good news of what Christ has done and you will have a 'readiness that matches what you have.'
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Dear Ones
"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." 1 John 3:2
That first word 'Beloved'... in Greek it is Agapētos... It is term of great affection like darling or dear. Now we are the adult children (Teknon) of God. The is another Greek word for little children or babies. Teknon is a word that denotes real adult exchange and impartation.
In a real way we are princes and princesses although that image can conjure up Disney characters in our minds. We are not sons and daughters clothed in satin and pastels. We are not perfectly formed or behaved. Many of us do not break into song at the sight of an open meadow and blue birds do not follows us in graceful chirping little groups.
It does not yet appear what we are and will be. We do know we are adopted and each of us is incredibly special to God. So special and important that we are destined for greatness and transformation at the sight of the the One who saved us and made us this way.
"And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." 1 John 3:3
It is this hope, the hope of the finished work of Christ, that makes us want to jump into the spiritual shower and be clean. Today is a great day like a wedding or a graduation. We have a dignity that makes us want to be clean. We want to brush our hair because it is picture day.
It is the hope that cleans us up. It is not vanity or self-importance it is dignity and the expectation of greatness.
Let the little girls wear their princess dresses and don their tiaras. We love to watch them swirl and sing in shiny little shoes. Enjoy the moment and think of it again when they are 13 or 14 because they will likely be singing a different song then.
It does not yet appear what they will be or what we will be. When we see Christ there will be great music and it will issue from our lips. He has assured us a clean, new glorious future. Today let us jump into the shower of that hope with expectation of what is to come.
That first word 'Beloved'... in Greek it is Agapētos... It is term of great affection like darling or dear. Now we are the adult children (Teknon) of God. The is another Greek word for little children or babies. Teknon is a word that denotes real adult exchange and impartation.
In a real way we are princes and princesses although that image can conjure up Disney characters in our minds. We are not sons and daughters clothed in satin and pastels. We are not perfectly formed or behaved. Many of us do not break into song at the sight of an open meadow and blue birds do not follows us in graceful chirping little groups.
It does not yet appear what we are and will be. We do know we are adopted and each of us is incredibly special to God. So special and important that we are destined for greatness and transformation at the sight of the the One who saved us and made us this way.
"And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." 1 John 3:3
It is this hope, the hope of the finished work of Christ, that makes us want to jump into the spiritual shower and be clean. Today is a great day like a wedding or a graduation. We have a dignity that makes us want to be clean. We want to brush our hair because it is picture day.
It is the hope that cleans us up. It is not vanity or self-importance it is dignity and the expectation of greatness.
Let the little girls wear their princess dresses and don their tiaras. We love to watch them swirl and sing in shiny little shoes. Enjoy the moment and think of it again when they are 13 or 14 because they will likely be singing a different song then.
It does not yet appear what they will be or what we will be. When we see Christ there will be great music and it will issue from our lips. He has assured us a clean, new glorious future. Today let us jump into the shower of that hope with expectation of what is to come.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Gentle Questions
The power of a gentle question from God is amazing.
"Adam, Where are you?"
"Peter, Do you love me?"
"Who touched me?" Christ says in a crowd addressing a trembling woman hiding there. Coaxing her out but not exposing her.
Jesus asked the political schemers of the day, "The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men?" exposing their love of lies and disdain for truth that would not promote ambition.
The gentle question has such power. It does not knock down a wall it knocks on a door. Christ is quite harmless in His approach to us. Condemnation is not His method.
"Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" He says to the woman caught in her trespass. "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more." He was her champion not her enemy.
Those questions hold answers for us. Our God is the God of all grace. His gentleness produces greatness in us because through it we let him into our life.
I want his gentleness to wash over me and transform me. My old man is a brute at times. The new one is like a lamb. Not skittish and shy prone to be made a victim but gentle in strength. A strength that reveals a powerful divine love.
"Adam, Where are you?"
"Peter, Do you love me?"
"Who touched me?" Christ says in a crowd addressing a trembling woman hiding there. Coaxing her out but not exposing her.
Jesus asked the political schemers of the day, "The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men?" exposing their love of lies and disdain for truth that would not promote ambition.
The gentle question has such power. It does not knock down a wall it knocks on a door. Christ is quite harmless in His approach to us. Condemnation is not His method.
"Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" He says to the woman caught in her trespass. "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more." He was her champion not her enemy.
Those questions hold answers for us. Our God is the God of all grace. His gentleness produces greatness in us because through it we let him into our life.
I want his gentleness to wash over me and transform me. My old man is a brute at times. The new one is like a lamb. Not skittish and shy prone to be made a victim but gentle in strength. A strength that reveals a powerful divine love.
Monday, February 11, 2013
Distilled Down to Jesus
"And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole." Mark 5:25-28
Have you ever 'exhausted all' to try and have something vitally important done. I have. We are taught that if we 'Give it all we've got.' then we can get whatever it is we want in American culture. It is not a biblical teaching.
This verse was one of the main texts at our Church service last night. It was a healing service. This next verse was mentioned also.
"For he had healed many; insomuch that they pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had plagues." Mark 3:10
Likely this woman heard about what had happened in Mark 3 and that is what gave her the idea. It turned out to be a very good idea.
"They took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus." Acts 4:13b
She had done what other people had done. She did what she heard worked but it was more than that. I hear about a spirituality that is linked to imitation of some kind and that may be an early stage of our Christian life. We do as other Godly people we see and know or respect do.
"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." 1 Cor 13:11
There must be a time where our faith is distilled down. A young person may imitate his Father or older brother but there is a point where he must become an individual and decide to take on the code of honour not just the outward trappings of it.
The outward actions of faith can be imitated but the inner condition of the heart can not be. This woman had exhausted the outward action before she made her way through the crowd. Her thought was distilled down to Jesus Himself and His person.
Then after she touched Him and she was healed. She was very willing to quietly slip back into anonymity. "Who touched me?" said Jesus. Another challenge to faith but no imitation was possible here. Trembling she responds.
Then Christ says, "Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague." Christ was not going to let her faith go unnoticed. She had seen Him and He made sure she knew that she was seen and sensed. He didn't 'out her' He initiated in a way that caused her to reveal herself in another act of faith. This would be no isolated act of faith it would be a momentum that she could live in and walk in. It was to be a lifestyle not just an event.
There is something very personal about our walk with God. It is not solitary. It influences others and is influenced by them but at it's root it is personal. Walking in faith brings to our attention God's personal nature.
We may want God to be personal to us as a condition of walking by faith but it just may be the other way around.
God is on His way somewhere today. Let's go with Him. Let's go in faith wherever He leads.
Have you ever 'exhausted all' to try and have something vitally important done. I have. We are taught that if we 'Give it all we've got.' then we can get whatever it is we want in American culture. It is not a biblical teaching.
This verse was one of the main texts at our Church service last night. It was a healing service. This next verse was mentioned also.
"For he had healed many; insomuch that they pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had plagues." Mark 3:10
Likely this woman heard about what had happened in Mark 3 and that is what gave her the idea. It turned out to be a very good idea.
"They took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus." Acts 4:13b
She had done what other people had done. She did what she heard worked but it was more than that. I hear about a spirituality that is linked to imitation of some kind and that may be an early stage of our Christian life. We do as other Godly people we see and know or respect do.
"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." 1 Cor 13:11
There must be a time where our faith is distilled down. A young person may imitate his Father or older brother but there is a point where he must become an individual and decide to take on the code of honour not just the outward trappings of it.
The outward actions of faith can be imitated but the inner condition of the heart can not be. This woman had exhausted the outward action before she made her way through the crowd. Her thought was distilled down to Jesus Himself and His person.
Then after she touched Him and she was healed. She was very willing to quietly slip back into anonymity. "Who touched me?" said Jesus. Another challenge to faith but no imitation was possible here. Trembling she responds.
Then Christ says, "Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague." Christ was not going to let her faith go unnoticed. She had seen Him and He made sure she knew that she was seen and sensed. He didn't 'out her' He initiated in a way that caused her to reveal herself in another act of faith. This would be no isolated act of faith it would be a momentum that she could live in and walk in. It was to be a lifestyle not just an event.
There is something very personal about our walk with God. It is not solitary. It influences others and is influenced by them but at it's root it is personal. Walking in faith brings to our attention God's personal nature.
We may want God to be personal to us as a condition of walking by faith but it just may be the other way around.
God is on His way somewhere today. Let's go with Him. Let's go in faith wherever He leads.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
The Secret of Faith Rest
Last night's study was one of those times where even late at night when I needed to sleep I didn't want to go to bed because what I heard was so important that it needed to be 'set' into my thought processes. Even now that I am awake again it shines in my mind and I am so glad I haven't somehow lost the truth. Instead it is incorporated into my line upon line of thinking.
I am very thankful. Faith rest is a kind of secret. It is how we can live when we are abased and also when we abound. Our conscience remains 'undefiled' as we rest in Him.
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." Rom 5:1-2
Faith rest lies outside of sight but inside of truth. It is blind to the heat but sees the good. By this confident assurance in what Christ has done we have access to the grace we are standing in.
"Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith." 1 Tim 1:17-19
"Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." Heb 4:11
"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us" Heb 12:1
Our labour, our fight and our race is to enter into faith rest and then stay there. The challenge is often to find that rest and to stay in that place of rest. To not be distracted and brought back down to a place of low thinking and old lines.
"The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." Ps 23:1-3
The finished work is our frame of reference for this kind of rest. Christ Himself is our peace and wisdom. He is our strong tower and in Him we find rest. He is our hiding place. He is our Sabbath. He is our Shalom.
He is like the eye of the storm. There a calm in that place that can be described but must be experienced to be understood.
Thank you P Tom Sliva for that message last night. We were all privileged people to be there and hear it.
I am very thankful. Faith rest is a kind of secret. It is how we can live when we are abased and also when we abound. Our conscience remains 'undefiled' as we rest in Him.
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." Rom 5:1-2
Faith rest lies outside of sight but inside of truth. It is blind to the heat but sees the good. By this confident assurance in what Christ has done we have access to the grace we are standing in.
"Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith." 1 Tim 1:17-19
"Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." Heb 4:11
"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us" Heb 12:1
Our labour, our fight and our race is to enter into faith rest and then stay there. The challenge is often to find that rest and to stay in that place of rest. To not be distracted and brought back down to a place of low thinking and old lines.
"The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." Ps 23:1-3
The finished work is our frame of reference for this kind of rest. Christ Himself is our peace and wisdom. He is our strong tower and in Him we find rest. He is our hiding place. He is our Sabbath. He is our Shalom.
He is like the eye of the storm. There a calm in that place that can be described but must be experienced to be understood.
Thank you P Tom Sliva for that message last night. We were all privileged people to be there and hear it.
Friday, February 8, 2013
Just Go Home
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." 1 Pet 1:3-5 NKJV
I love these verses!
To think that in a moment of faith our far away Creator became our Father. Who knew that God had so much mercy? To be taken out from under dark power and placed in a kingdom of light with Christ as our brother where we have an inheritance is more than my little mind can handle most days.
Perhaps our time has been misspent like the prodigal. Just go home. Your Father will be waiting there. Our inheritance is many things but the most precious of these is the embrace of our eternal Father who is always happy to see us.
I love these verses!
To think that in a moment of faith our far away Creator became our Father. Who knew that God had so much mercy? To be taken out from under dark power and placed in a kingdom of light with Christ as our brother where we have an inheritance is more than my little mind can handle most days.
Perhaps our time has been misspent like the prodigal. Just go home. Your Father will be waiting there. Our inheritance is many things but the most precious of these is the embrace of our eternal Father who is always happy to see us.
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