"If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear." - Psalm 66:18 NKJV
What an interesting passage. 'Regard' is the Hebrew word ra'ah (Strong's H7200). It means to perceive or observe. 'Iniquity' is aven (H205) and it means trouble, vanity or idolatry.
The picture is one of a person who sees something out of place but just leaves it there even though they have the power to remove it. In this case it's not dirty dishes in a sink. The place is the heart which is the center of a person's being.
Here is the verse in context.
"Come and hear, all you who fear God, And I will declare what He has done for my soul. I cried to Him with my mouth, And He was extolled with my tongue. If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear. But certainly God has heard me; He has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer, Nor His mercy from me!" - Psalm 66:16-20 NKJV
This is a person who is aware that God has already done something great for them and lives with thanksgiving in the center of their being. They weed their garden and iniquity is removed as soon as it is seen.
"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." - James 1:5-8 ESV
Do doubts arise? Of course they do. But the person who weeds them out and dwells on the finished work of Christ is asking and receiving. They see their heart as a stewardship.
"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice." - Philippians 4:4 ESV
This person commands their soul like a gardener commands a garden and has power because God's mercy is a good water source.
"In that day, "A pleasant vineyard, sing of it! I, the LORD, am its keeper; every moment I water it. Lest anyone punish it, I keep it night and day;" - Isaiah 27:2-3 ESV
"A garden enclosed Is my sister, my spouse, A spring shut up, A fountain sealed." - Song of Songs 4:12 NKJV
God help us. Help us to quickly weed blame out of our life and live a life of thanksgiving for what you have done. We all deserve Hell but You have given us grace. Make us quick to pull weeds as we see them so they do not multiply.
Thank You God. You answer prayer. We live now in what You have done and we know that your mercy is turned toward us and not away from us. Thank You God.
--
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Monday, May 16, 2016
A Judas In Every Graduating Class
Before I became a believer I never prayed. I can count the times I remember praying on one hand with fingers left over. Then when I became a believer I had little capacity to do it but like a person who doesn't know the native language of the land they are living in I tried to learn. Bible College was a time rich in prayer. I was the prayer chaplain one semester and much of my time was spent in prayer. Hours at a time. I had prayer homework assignments. I prayed for leaders on the mission field. Some of them I met later in life. Some no longer talk to me but I still pray for them today. I found that I never pray for someone just once. God seems to bring people back to remembrance no matter how long it has been or how things have gone in my relationship with them. If they are alive God has me praying for them. If they go on before me to Heaven I stop because there is nothing else to say.
My prayer life has changed. I have been changed by prayer. Prayer and love are intertwined in my heart. I see the relationship more clearly now.
"Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots." - Luke 23:34 KJV
Wow. Jesus loved these people. He wasn't praying by principle alone. His principles mingled with his passion. He loved... really loved.
Maybe some of the people you are close to now won't like you later. Actually I shouldn't say 'maybe'... it is a certainty that this will happen. But if we dig ditches by prayer then God will fill those ditches with water and we will still love people even when they don't like us and cast lots for our garments.
Are you built up yet? {smile}
Love is power. God's love is anyway.
Bible college taught me how to study the Bible but I also learned how to pray there. If you want to make Godly friends and learn to love your enemies (some of which were once your 'Godly' friends) I recommend Bible college... there are other ways to learn of course... sickness... trials... extreme pressure... most of the others that I can think of are kind of unpleasant. {smile}
There are some happy ways. Having a baby is one. Some men and women learn to fall on their knees that way. I hear around 15 years in is when the graduate school course starts.
Well... Pray about it... Bible school that is...
God's language is certainly worth learning. That I know for sure.
.
..
...
Any Bible school worth it's salt is bound to produce a Judas in every graduating class. {smile}
Legalism will try to weed him out and choose the wrong candidate.
--
My prayer life has changed. I have been changed by prayer. Prayer and love are intertwined in my heart. I see the relationship more clearly now.
"Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots." - Luke 23:34 KJV
Wow. Jesus loved these people. He wasn't praying by principle alone. His principles mingled with his passion. He loved... really loved.
Maybe some of the people you are close to now won't like you later. Actually I shouldn't say 'maybe'... it is a certainty that this will happen. But if we dig ditches by prayer then God will fill those ditches with water and we will still love people even when they don't like us and cast lots for our garments.
Are you built up yet? {smile}
Love is power. God's love is anyway.
Bible college taught me how to study the Bible but I also learned how to pray there. If you want to make Godly friends and learn to love your enemies (some of which were once your 'Godly' friends) I recommend Bible college... there are other ways to learn of course... sickness... trials... extreme pressure... most of the others that I can think of are kind of unpleasant. {smile}
There are some happy ways. Having a baby is one. Some men and women learn to fall on their knees that way. I hear around 15 years in is when the graduate school course starts.
Well... Pray about it... Bible school that is...
God's language is certainly worth learning. That I know for sure.
.
..
...
Any Bible school worth it's salt is bound to produce a Judas in every graduating class. {smile}
Legalism will try to weed him out and choose the wrong candidate.
--
Behold The Excellent God
Have you ever gone into a restaurant where the food is good and the service is good and think, 'Wow, This is how a restaurant can be if people really care.' The bathrooms are clean and nice. The staff doesn't treat you like you're invisible because they understand customer service and have set a high standard of excellence.
Or maybe it is a person's home. The style of decoration may be different but you are knocked over when you enter each room because of the care and taste these people have and the ability they have to express themselves in the way they keep their living environment.
Excellence. We can envy it or we can just have it ourselves and appreciate it without envy.
My God is an excellent God and He makes those that know Him excellent.
"And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day... And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth... And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day." - Genesis 1:3-5, 25-26, 31 KJV
Everyone in the world has value and every person is important but not everything is excellent. When you find something excellent you can appreciate it and it always has people or one person behind that excellence. If that influence wanes then the quality goes downhill.
The bathrooms aren't as clean. The recipes may be the same but the food isn't as hot and the waiters care more about talking to each other than they do about creating an experience for their guests.
{Sigh}
As I wake up this morning I'm tired and very aware of my frailty as a human being but I turn my face to an excellent unchanging God.
"Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy gentleness hath made me great." - 2 Samuel 22:36 KJV
Yes! Not just good. Greatness. Not just going through the motions. Creative excellence that stands out as cleaned, oiled and firing on all cylinders.
"Shake yourself from the dust and arise; be seated, O Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion." - Isaiah 52:2 ESV
Shake off the bands of mediocrity. Arise and rest in the excellent God of all grace.
Let's joke and laugh and shake off the dust. Let's look in God's direction and behold His Majesty. Sure if we looked at the circumstances we might have reasons to be discouraged but let's look past the circumstances and gaze at a perfect throne where everything is in place just as it should be. It is the best of the best and we are transformed just by beholding it.
"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--" - Ephesians 2:4-5 ESV
"Plead my cause and redeem me; give me life according to your promise!" - Psalm 119:154 ESV
"My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word!" - Psalm 119:25b ESV
We are quickened by grace. We can be quickened by truth.
Mediocrity isn't an option this morning. 'No' to that thinking. Oh God... We say 'Yes.' to you this morning. We look at you and marvel. Let the dust of accusation and depression be far from us. Let our faces be warm with the light of your presence this morning and all through the day. Thank you God. What would we be without You? You are our light and our salvation.
--
Or maybe it is a person's home. The style of decoration may be different but you are knocked over when you enter each room because of the care and taste these people have and the ability they have to express themselves in the way they keep their living environment.
Excellence. We can envy it or we can just have it ourselves and appreciate it without envy.
My God is an excellent God and He makes those that know Him excellent.
"And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day... And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth... And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day." - Genesis 1:3-5, 25-26, 31 KJV
Everyone in the world has value and every person is important but not everything is excellent. When you find something excellent you can appreciate it and it always has people or one person behind that excellence. If that influence wanes then the quality goes downhill.
The bathrooms aren't as clean. The recipes may be the same but the food isn't as hot and the waiters care more about talking to each other than they do about creating an experience for their guests.
{Sigh}
As I wake up this morning I'm tired and very aware of my frailty as a human being but I turn my face to an excellent unchanging God.
"Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy gentleness hath made me great." - 2 Samuel 22:36 KJV
Yes! Not just good. Greatness. Not just going through the motions. Creative excellence that stands out as cleaned, oiled and firing on all cylinders.
"Shake yourself from the dust and arise; be seated, O Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion." - Isaiah 52:2 ESV
Shake off the bands of mediocrity. Arise and rest in the excellent God of all grace.
Let's joke and laugh and shake off the dust. Let's look in God's direction and behold His Majesty. Sure if we looked at the circumstances we might have reasons to be discouraged but let's look past the circumstances and gaze at a perfect throne where everything is in place just as it should be. It is the best of the best and we are transformed just by beholding it.
"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--" - Ephesians 2:4-5 ESV
"Plead my cause and redeem me; give me life according to your promise!" - Psalm 119:154 ESV
"My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word!" - Psalm 119:25b ESV
We are quickened by grace. We can be quickened by truth.
Mediocrity isn't an option this morning. 'No' to that thinking. Oh God... We say 'Yes.' to you this morning. We look at you and marvel. Let the dust of accusation and depression be far from us. Let our faces be warm with the light of your presence this morning and all through the day. Thank you God. What would we be without You? You are our light and our salvation.
--
Friday, May 13, 2016
Drunk With The Power Of Reason
"But the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.' So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate." - Genesis 3:4-6 ESV
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is a delight to the eyes and looks nourishing. The serpent hisses his invitation, 'No, It's not going to kill you. It is going to make you powerful.'
The comedian who thrives doing stand-up comedy get drunk with the power of bringing an audience outside the box. Have you ever been drunk with that power? I'm sure you have seen someone who has been.
Oh, The knowledge is pleasant to the eyes and looks nourishing but it is an illusion without substance and the end of it is death.
"For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God." - Philippians 1:8-11 ESV
Yes. Jesus is a different tree. The nourishment we get from Him has real substance.
"Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!" - Psalm 139:23-24 ESV
"[Pe] Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them. The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple." - Psalm 119:129-130 ESV
"How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light." - Psalm 36:7-9 ESV
Thinking with God.
Having friendships with people where there is doctrinal rapport and not just intellectual overlap. Oh it is vital. It is life giving to have a friend who gives grace because of deep conviction.
Hidden in the Gospel is the possibility of doctrinal rapport. It is outside the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It is truth free from infection. It is eternal and unchanging and if a person eats it they are born from above. The serpent divided mankind from below with his well placed words. Jesus makes something brand new with His.
Oh God search us. Illuminate our thinking so that we can identify and reject the fruit that will kill us and sit at the table that will truly nourish us. Make us people who speak words of grace that don't just weight right and wrong. We want to hear You and then speak what you have spoken to us. We want to be filled with your Spirit and let the days where we have been drunk with the power of reason fall forever into our past and be forgotten.
--
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is a delight to the eyes and looks nourishing. The serpent hisses his invitation, 'No, It's not going to kill you. It is going to make you powerful.'
The comedian who thrives doing stand-up comedy get drunk with the power of bringing an audience outside the box. Have you ever been drunk with that power? I'm sure you have seen someone who has been.
Oh, The knowledge is pleasant to the eyes and looks nourishing but it is an illusion without substance and the end of it is death.
"For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God." - Philippians 1:8-11 ESV
Yes. Jesus is a different tree. The nourishment we get from Him has real substance.
"Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!" - Psalm 139:23-24 ESV
"[Pe] Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them. The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple." - Psalm 119:129-130 ESV
"How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light." - Psalm 36:7-9 ESV
Thinking with God.
Having friendships with people where there is doctrinal rapport and not just intellectual overlap. Oh it is vital. It is life giving to have a friend who gives grace because of deep conviction.
Hidden in the Gospel is the possibility of doctrinal rapport. It is outside the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It is truth free from infection. It is eternal and unchanging and if a person eats it they are born from above. The serpent divided mankind from below with his well placed words. Jesus makes something brand new with His.
Oh God search us. Illuminate our thinking so that we can identify and reject the fruit that will kill us and sit at the table that will truly nourish us. Make us people who speak words of grace that don't just weight right and wrong. We want to hear You and then speak what you have spoken to us. We want to be filled with your Spirit and let the days where we have been drunk with the power of reason fall forever into our past and be forgotten.
--
Thursday, May 12, 2016
Balance
I started reading another booklet this morning called, 'Taking Care of Your Soul' and it has me thinking about the desires we might have for balance in our life. The booklet starts off talking about Adam and how after the fall his spiritual development fell behind his emotional and intellectual development which caused imbalance.
"then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature." - Genesis 2:7 ESV
"but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."" - Genesis 2:17 ESV
Adam had lived as he was created. God's breath sustained him in the garden but after the fall his spiritual capacity was dead but his body was alive for a season without it and there was imbalance. The whole world became that way.
"Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned--" - Romans 5:12 ESV
We long for balance. Maybe we want more vacation or relaxation time. Perhaps we eat to much and exercise to little. It has been raining here so much lately and I'd like a little more sun to balance this rain.
Some think that full time ministry will fill a certain void and it is an understandable desire. I think what we really need is to have the breath of God regulating us again. We need what Adam needed. We will never have what he had but our needs can still be met because of what Jesus did. He took our bullet and there are many mansions in His Father's kingdom that we will see later but right here in the in-between of life we can have balance.
"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall." - 2 Peter 1:3-10 ESV
An intake of the Bible keeps our spiritual airways clear and functioning. Grace is oxygen for our spiritual life. If we are cut off from it in our thinking then we lapse back into a purely biological life of imbalance.
We don't have to strive. We inhale acceptance and then exhale in a steady flow. This simple balance is what we need to function and go forward in our calling.
--
"then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature." - Genesis 2:7 ESV
"but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."" - Genesis 2:17 ESV
Adam had lived as he was created. God's breath sustained him in the garden but after the fall his spiritual capacity was dead but his body was alive for a season without it and there was imbalance. The whole world became that way.
"Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned--" - Romans 5:12 ESV
We long for balance. Maybe we want more vacation or relaxation time. Perhaps we eat to much and exercise to little. It has been raining here so much lately and I'd like a little more sun to balance this rain.
Some think that full time ministry will fill a certain void and it is an understandable desire. I think what we really need is to have the breath of God regulating us again. We need what Adam needed. We will never have what he had but our needs can still be met because of what Jesus did. He took our bullet and there are many mansions in His Father's kingdom that we will see later but right here in the in-between of life we can have balance.
"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall." - 2 Peter 1:3-10 ESV
An intake of the Bible keeps our spiritual airways clear and functioning. Grace is oxygen for our spiritual life. If we are cut off from it in our thinking then we lapse back into a purely biological life of imbalance.
We don't have to strive. We inhale acceptance and then exhale in a steady flow. This simple balance is what we need to function and go forward in our calling.
--
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
Adam's Alarm Goes Silent
"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us." - 1 John 4:18-19 ESV
I was thinking this morning that fear can be like an alarm bell. Love silences that alarm and replaces it with something greater. The law was given in part to trip the alarm.
"By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." - Genesis 3:19 ESV
'Ding. Ding. Ding.' Get up Adam. Your time has come. Do. Do. Do. Because soon it will be to late. All your progress is going to regress so make your impact now!
Panic is organic and fear is the primary trigger.
Believing the Gospel silences the fears. Some go all at once and others die out slowly or take time. Truth becomes reassuring. Hymns can replace the silent mantras of condemnation. Love casts out fear when grace is understood.
"We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything. We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also." - 2 Corinthians 6:3-13 ESV
If a person is motivated by fear they can't comprehend this passage. Calamities reinforce fear based motivation. Do. Do. Do. Becomes a preventive measure. Pain traumatizes and reinforces the organic cycle.
Grace establishes different motivations. Grace wants no obstacles to be put in a person's spiritual growth. Grace enlarges the heart. Grace sees calamity as a painful stepping stone and looks past the tragedy and sees something greater.
If this was a different medium I would draw a small heart inside someones chest then draw a bigger one. The heart would get larger and surround people. God's heart is larger then the night sky. God's heart is big and if you know Him yours gets bigger and bigger. Awareness of grace facilitates that process.
Paul says, 'Widen your hearts.' but knows as he is saying it that it is something you might say to a child. We must see Jesus and His large heart. When we see Him we are transformed. The alarms are silenced and the heart is widened.
"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith..." - Hebrews 12:2a KJV
"For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: 'Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?' " - 1 Corinthians 15:53-55 ESV
One day the alarm will no longer be needed. The organic panic will be replaced by imperishable glory. What a great day that will be. As for now we keep taking doses of the antidote and fear is chased out of our lives.
Oh God. Please flood us with love this morning. We pray for the people we know that seem to live with the alarms blasting in their souls. Peace. We pray for peace. We pray that saving grace would be illuminated to us and to them. Grace saves and grace also keeps. We want to see the power of your resurrection today. Fear has a purpose but please silence the alarms for those who have moved past the danger. We want your words to be heard and for them to do a deep work. Thank you Lord. You are the amazing God.
--
I was thinking this morning that fear can be like an alarm bell. Love silences that alarm and replaces it with something greater. The law was given in part to trip the alarm.
"By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." - Genesis 3:19 ESV
'Ding. Ding. Ding.' Get up Adam. Your time has come. Do. Do. Do. Because soon it will be to late. All your progress is going to regress so make your impact now!
Panic is organic and fear is the primary trigger.
Believing the Gospel silences the fears. Some go all at once and others die out slowly or take time. Truth becomes reassuring. Hymns can replace the silent mantras of condemnation. Love casts out fear when grace is understood.
"We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything. We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also." - 2 Corinthians 6:3-13 ESV
If a person is motivated by fear they can't comprehend this passage. Calamities reinforce fear based motivation. Do. Do. Do. Becomes a preventive measure. Pain traumatizes and reinforces the organic cycle.
Grace establishes different motivations. Grace wants no obstacles to be put in a person's spiritual growth. Grace enlarges the heart. Grace sees calamity as a painful stepping stone and looks past the tragedy and sees something greater.
If this was a different medium I would draw a small heart inside someones chest then draw a bigger one. The heart would get larger and surround people. God's heart is larger then the night sky. God's heart is big and if you know Him yours gets bigger and bigger. Awareness of grace facilitates that process.
Paul says, 'Widen your hearts.' but knows as he is saying it that it is something you might say to a child. We must see Jesus and His large heart. When we see Him we are transformed. The alarms are silenced and the heart is widened.
"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith..." - Hebrews 12:2a KJV
"For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: 'Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?' " - 1 Corinthians 15:53-55 ESV
One day the alarm will no longer be needed. The organic panic will be replaced by imperishable glory. What a great day that will be. As for now we keep taking doses of the antidote and fear is chased out of our lives.
Oh God. Please flood us with love this morning. We pray for the people we know that seem to live with the alarms blasting in their souls. Peace. We pray for peace. We pray that saving grace would be illuminated to us and to them. Grace saves and grace also keeps. We want to see the power of your resurrection today. Fear has a purpose but please silence the alarms for those who have moved past the danger. We want your words to be heard and for them to do a deep work. Thank you Lord. You are the amazing God.
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Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Closing Our Fiscal Year
"I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent." - Revelation 3:1b-3a ESV
Jesus' work is complete. He breathed His last doing the will of the Father. We still have breath. Our generation needs us. If we stop before a project is complete then why did we start it in the first place?
The ministry I'm a part of has an international convention at the end of June. People gather and in a way it has become the end of my spiritual fiscal year. Around this time I start to reassess things. For some this may sound clinical or even works oriented but I see it as a planning tool and a way to fulfill my stewardship of God's possessions. It is a way to say, 'Where are we?, and 'What should we be doing to finish out this year?'
It is not a time of critical self analysis as much as it is a time where I question God because I find it easy to slip into, 'I wanted this and I want that' but what does God want?
It sounds harsh but I think it is very possible to have a reputation for being alive but really be dead. We can talk the talk but like an organization our spending may have far outpaced our debt and a financial collapse is imminent even though from the outside the things may looks sound.
I think most of life should be a moment to moment inhale and exhale. Breath in grace and make a choice (as if it is an exhale) then breath in grace and continue to live that way moment by moment.
"And he said to his disciples, 'Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?' " - Luke 12:22-26 ESV
Amen.
But then there is also this...
"For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'" - Luke 14:28-30 ESV
I still have the end of June to close out my year. That's how I choose to think about my life. Large things need a lot of prayer and some flexible planning or they may not happen. God gave Israel already planted fields when He gave them the promised land but they still needed care and tending in order to be maintained.
To be very transparent I look at my life at times like this and say, 'Am I walking by faith?' or 'Have I walked by faith this year?' and I not sure I can answer that question with a full affirmative. But there is still time. The year isn't over. My life isn't over. The questions when I face God are going to be more about faith then accomplishment. Did I start by faith? Will I finish by faith?
All the accomplishments are His anyway. We are stewards and by His grace co-laborers.
Help us God. Steer us away from self analysis but make us good stewards and responsible managers of time and resources. Be glorified in our midst. Thank You God! Thank You for this generation. We want You to be made visible here and now in this time and this place. Thank You. You have given us so much.
I also want to pray for anyone who is in a season of doubt. Strengthen them God. Help them. Bring clarity and eternal perspective. Let the word of God light their path and illuminate each step. Your grace has made a space for them. Please reveal that in a fresh way. Thank You God.
--
Jesus' work is complete. He breathed His last doing the will of the Father. We still have breath. Our generation needs us. If we stop before a project is complete then why did we start it in the first place?
The ministry I'm a part of has an international convention at the end of June. People gather and in a way it has become the end of my spiritual fiscal year. Around this time I start to reassess things. For some this may sound clinical or even works oriented but I see it as a planning tool and a way to fulfill my stewardship of God's possessions. It is a way to say, 'Where are we?, and 'What should we be doing to finish out this year?'
It is not a time of critical self analysis as much as it is a time where I question God because I find it easy to slip into, 'I wanted this and I want that' but what does God want?
It sounds harsh but I think it is very possible to have a reputation for being alive but really be dead. We can talk the talk but like an organization our spending may have far outpaced our debt and a financial collapse is imminent even though from the outside the things may looks sound.
I think most of life should be a moment to moment inhale and exhale. Breath in grace and make a choice (as if it is an exhale) then breath in grace and continue to live that way moment by moment.
"And he said to his disciples, 'Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?' " - Luke 12:22-26 ESV
Amen.
But then there is also this...
"For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'" - Luke 14:28-30 ESV
I still have the end of June to close out my year. That's how I choose to think about my life. Large things need a lot of prayer and some flexible planning or they may not happen. God gave Israel already planted fields when He gave them the promised land but they still needed care and tending in order to be maintained.
To be very transparent I look at my life at times like this and say, 'Am I walking by faith?' or 'Have I walked by faith this year?' and I not sure I can answer that question with a full affirmative. But there is still time. The year isn't over. My life isn't over. The questions when I face God are going to be more about faith then accomplishment. Did I start by faith? Will I finish by faith?
All the accomplishments are His anyway. We are stewards and by His grace co-laborers.
Help us God. Steer us away from self analysis but make us good stewards and responsible managers of time and resources. Be glorified in our midst. Thank You God! Thank You for this generation. We want You to be made visible here and now in this time and this place. Thank You. You have given us so much.
I also want to pray for anyone who is in a season of doubt. Strengthen them God. Help them. Bring clarity and eternal perspective. Let the word of God light their path and illuminate each step. Your grace has made a space for them. Please reveal that in a fresh way. Thank You God.
--
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