Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Walls Are Coming Down and Walls Are Going Up
With God all things are possible ! When I first understood that His ways are different than ours, I understood His ways are higher, that is better so don't sweat it too much.
When I understood that He was willing to move mountains at my request I became concerned. Really, mountains , like the mountain that Zerubbabel spoke "Grace, grace " to ? Or like walls of Jericho falling down ? Or like mountains Paul realized possible to move by faith but said that it would profit him nothing, if he did not have love.
My hope is that soon I am going to connect with another Christian who is believing that God can do anything.
That He would not invite us to pray that the hearts of the fathers be restored to the children and the hearts of the children be restored to the fathers , if He did not intend to answer that prayer.
My hope is that they too will see that there is major renovation going on in the body of Christ .
Walls that once separated people from the power of God's love are coming down. Walls that would house and protect His beloved are going up , as in the mission Nehemiah served in the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. Forever, I hope that people will begin to understand the harm they inflict on new believers by not giving them Biblical grounds for boundaries. An all to often mis-understood concept of love and be loved has given way to many people the idea that it means to be walked on and taken advantage of. Not so in the Bible. We are to have protection from our enemies and if you are planning on walking on me, you are my enemy. If you are planning on making fun of me, sorry once again you are not my friend.
Jesus has made the way through this fantastic place we are in time.
I am desperately seeking Him for more light . He has a lot of life to give us that I am sure we never ever took the time to consider could be ours. A life filled with renewal and hope of the love of Christ being shed abroad in our hearts. A life fruitful and joyful always abounding with the work the of the LORD .
Our pastor talks about life abundantly being a life full of ups and downs. He has the right idea because to follow Christ means in this world you will have troubles , but be of good cheer because He has overcome the world.
If we commit our way unto the LORD , He will sustain us. Even as Rahab put her trust in a God that she had only heard He had opened wide the Red Sea for the children of Israel to cross. We need only to put our trust in a God who said He is the same yesterday , today and forever. And that He will never leave us or forsake us.
And though the world around us may fall down as it also did for Rahab, we can be sure our God is faithful to protect and defend us. Another wall will come up. We will be protected as those who make their habitation the LORD.
When I understood that He was willing to move mountains at my request I became concerned. Really, mountains , like the mountain that Zerubbabel spoke "Grace, grace " to ? Or like walls of Jericho falling down ? Or like mountains Paul realized possible to move by faith but said that it would profit him nothing, if he did not have love.
My hope is that soon I am going to connect with another Christian who is believing that God can do anything.
That He would not invite us to pray that the hearts of the fathers be restored to the children and the hearts of the children be restored to the fathers , if He did not intend to answer that prayer.
My hope is that they too will see that there is major renovation going on in the body of Christ .
Walls that once separated people from the power of God's love are coming down. Walls that would house and protect His beloved are going up , as in the mission Nehemiah served in the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. Forever, I hope that people will begin to understand the harm they inflict on new believers by not giving them Biblical grounds for boundaries. An all to often mis-understood concept of love and be loved has given way to many people the idea that it means to be walked on and taken advantage of. Not so in the Bible. We are to have protection from our enemies and if you are planning on walking on me, you are my enemy. If you are planning on making fun of me, sorry once again you are not my friend.
Jesus has made the way through this fantastic place we are in time.
I am desperately seeking Him for more light . He has a lot of life to give us that I am sure we never ever took the time to consider could be ours. A life filled with renewal and hope of the love of Christ being shed abroad in our hearts. A life fruitful and joyful always abounding with the work the of the LORD .
Our pastor talks about life abundantly being a life full of ups and downs. He has the right idea because to follow Christ means in this world you will have troubles , but be of good cheer because He has overcome the world.
If we commit our way unto the LORD , He will sustain us. Even as Rahab put her trust in a God that she had only heard He had opened wide the Red Sea for the children of Israel to cross. We need only to put our trust in a God who said He is the same yesterday , today and forever. And that He will never leave us or forsake us.
And though the world around us may fall down as it also did for Rahab, we can be sure our God is faithful to protect and defend us. Another wall will come up. We will be protected as those who make their habitation the LORD.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
The Slough of Despond
1 Corth. 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
Like Help in Pilgrim's Progress I have tried again and again to help those out of the Slough of Despond. Perhaps my stance should be that of the master who returns to the servant who has hidden his talent under the tree.
It seems hard when others are ridiculing you but again I am reminded of the story in Pilgrim's Progress . Christain also received much ridicule from his acquaintances in the town of destruction.
Psalms 11:2 For, lo, the wicked bend [their] bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart.
Isaiah 35:3-4 Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.Say to them [that are] of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come [with] vengeance, [even] God [with] a recompence; he will come and save you.
Like Help in Pilgrim's Progress I have tried again and again to help those out of the Slough of Despond. Perhaps my stance should be that of the master who returns to the servant who has hidden his talent under the tree.
It seems hard when others are ridiculing you but again I am reminded of the story in Pilgrim's Progress . Christain also received much ridicule from his acquaintances in the town of destruction.
Psalms 11:2 For, lo, the wicked bend [their] bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart.
Isaiah 35:3-4 Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.Say to them [that are] of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come [with] vengeance, [even] God [with] a recompence; he will come and save you.
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Learning To See Without A Log In My Eye
I see with my eyes but I also see with the eyes of my heart.
These eyes of my heart are the ones referred to in scripture time and time again.
While living life in this world (but not being of this world) I duel vision.
What my fleshly eyes see and what my spiritual eyes see.
Now I changed my reference to my eyes of my heart to "spiritual eyes" because it is my hope and intent that these eyes would watch The Spirit.
However, to give them the name spiritual eyes may be misleading because I do not always see The Spirit .
The Spirit is always leading me and The Spirit is always visible to me , it is I that may have logs in my eyes . (Ref. to believers in Christ being able to follow the Spirit found in Romans 8 and ref. to believers having logs [beams] in their eyes found in Matt.7:3)
Whenever a log is removed from my eye I feel it ! Oh yes, I feel it ! Just like a small tooth being removed from my mouth at the dentist's office. For days I feel as though the Grand Canyon has moved into my mouth.
Same way with a log in my eyes of my heart. Removal may also be painful and getting accustomed to the loss of the log may take some getting use to .
However, JOY, great JOY is added to my life as I can see more clearly now.
Seeing Myself With Value.
Here is a story that helped me recently.
The parable found in Matt.25:14-30 about the servant who hides his talent under the tree seems pretty easy to understand. Don't be lazy , right ? Yes, but here is more .
The servant's excuse for hiding the talent under the tree could be his excuse for laziness . However, it could also be his reason for why he thought that was all that was expected of him. Have I placed my talent where I think my master would want me to place it ? Have I perceived myself to be of less value than others because my master has given more to others ?
In a world of "don't think more highly of yourself than you are" it seems unlikely that a master who gives a servant just one talent , when he has given other servants more, would expect much at all from the one talent.
Yet I know he does because this is a parable about the kingdom of God.
This servant might not be lazy, he might not know the value his master has placed on his choices pertaining to the kingdom of God.
There are preparations to be made for His arrival as well and He is expecting His saints to be doing them. Yet if a servant who has been given a talent and believes that his choices are of no value or out of fear hides what little he has been given, the sin is not laziness but unbelief .
My word of testimony today is that the sin of unbelief is forgiven and cleansed from all who confess this sin to our Father who is in heaven.
(1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.)
Forgiveness is instantaneous but cleansing may take a while. I will not give up until I am certain I have not laid even one talent under the tree. I will believe that the talent He has given me is of value and He does care what I do with it. He not only cares He is expecting me to have something to show for it.
These eyes of my heart are the ones referred to in scripture time and time again.
While living life in this world (but not being of this world) I duel vision.
What my fleshly eyes see and what my spiritual eyes see.
Now I changed my reference to my eyes of my heart to "spiritual eyes" because it is my hope and intent that these eyes would watch The Spirit.
However, to give them the name spiritual eyes may be misleading because I do not always see The Spirit .
The Spirit is always leading me and The Spirit is always visible to me , it is I that may have logs in my eyes . (Ref. to believers in Christ being able to follow the Spirit found in Romans 8 and ref. to believers having logs [beams] in their eyes found in Matt.7:3)
Whenever a log is removed from my eye I feel it ! Oh yes, I feel it ! Just like a small tooth being removed from my mouth at the dentist's office. For days I feel as though the Grand Canyon has moved into my mouth.
Same way with a log in my eyes of my heart. Removal may also be painful and getting accustomed to the loss of the log may take some getting use to .
However, JOY, great JOY is added to my life as I can see more clearly now.
Seeing Myself With Value.
Here is a story that helped me recently.
The parable found in Matt.25:14-30 about the servant who hides his talent under the tree seems pretty easy to understand. Don't be lazy , right ? Yes, but here is more .
The servant's excuse for hiding the talent under the tree could be his excuse for laziness . However, it could also be his reason for why he thought that was all that was expected of him. Have I placed my talent where I think my master would want me to place it ? Have I perceived myself to be of less value than others because my master has given more to others ?
In a world of "don't think more highly of yourself than you are" it seems unlikely that a master who gives a servant just one talent , when he has given other servants more, would expect much at all from the one talent.
Yet I know he does because this is a parable about the kingdom of God.
This servant might not be lazy, he might not know the value his master has placed on his choices pertaining to the kingdom of God.
There are preparations to be made for His arrival as well and He is expecting His saints to be doing them. Yet if a servant who has been given a talent and believes that his choices are of no value or out of fear hides what little he has been given, the sin is not laziness but unbelief .
My word of testimony today is that the sin of unbelief is forgiven and cleansed from all who confess this sin to our Father who is in heaven.
(1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.)
Forgiveness is instantaneous but cleansing may take a while. I will not give up until I am certain I have not laid even one talent under the tree. I will believe that the talent He has given me is of value and He does care what I do with it. He not only cares He is expecting me to have something to show for it.
