Hi readers. Just wanted to put a small plug for my friend John Bob. It is a great cause if you are interested.
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kickstarter.com%2Fprojects%2F1208808421%2Fthe-longing-debut-cd-and-amateur-community-studio&h=wAQH64mBeAQEpwcx-xQ48GUFAKSaDb_G2K21V1NuoTg3wFg
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Glowing (Warning: THIS POST MAY BE A LITTLE GRAPHIC!)
Warning: THIS POST MAY BE A LITTLE GRAPHIC!
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD.When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. -Exodus 34: 29-31
Could you imagine spending so much time with God that your face glowed? This is an amazing thought.
How about to have communion with God so much that his radiance was reflected by you.
Moses was unaware of the glory he shone. This is because he reflected it. He even veiled his face so that the radiance would not cause fear in the hearts of the people.
When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face.But whenever he entered the LORD's presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded,they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the LORD. - Exodus 34:33-35
It was believed that to see the face of God meant death. Which is still true. While we are in His presence, we don't matter.
This is something to be in awe just in it's self.
What is even more amazing is that we can enter into His presence with confidence. He wants us there. A major purpose we exist, if not the purpose.... is communion with God. All else dims and fades while we are with Him. Emotions cannot explain this. It surpasses situation and "feeling."
To stay in His presence we must accept that EVERY corner of our darkness is exposed and dealt with. Places that shake us to the very core sometimes. All we can do is fall on our face before Him who is our portion to make us in His image. An illustration I think about when I think of His Exposing and purification of our being:
Cockroaches. Anyone who has ever seen them knows exactly what I'm talking about. They HATE light. If you want to know if you have them, turn your kitchen light at night. The second the light goes on, the scatter. I've never met anyone who likes them and they seem to come if you have food(not always though!). Often you can catch one or two out and can deal with them, if you want to kill them you have to call an exterminator. God wants not only to turn on the light of our "kitchen" but every room in our house. Sometimes even the rooms we have "spotless" are lit. He turns on the light and the infestation is exposed. When we allow Him to do this, He allows a closer relationship. It becomes less like a "sacrificial life" to the life being a response to His love.
Obedience leads us to Friendship...Friendship leads us to inheritance...Deeper still is intimacy with Christ as the Bride. The one who has the heart of the Bridegroom Christ.
LET US RUN THIS RACE TO WIN!!!!!!!
Sunday, November 27, 2011
A pinch of salt....
May the Father be revealed to us, in us, and through us.
(I may think alot, but this is worth pondering and asking God to do for us!)
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Cheese and Crackers
This story is a repeat from my Teen challenge group by the lead Facilitator:
Once there was an old man, who wanted to go on a cruise before he died. So, he spent 4 years saving up and afterward bought his ticket. Since this man had very little money he could not afford to buy the fancy dinners on the cruise, so he packed his suitcase full of cheese and crackers. During the cruise, while everyone else sat inside eating luxurious dinners of steak, seafood,and many other delicacies..the old man ate his cheese and crackers.
On the last night of the cruise, as the old man sat eating his crackers..a man walked out to see him from the dining room.
The man asked the old man why he would not come eat with the everyone else. He exclaimed "I haven't enough money"
The man then said "The meal was a part of the ticket price..you were supposed to eat with everyone"
How often do we just sit outside being settled with eating our "cheese and crackers" instead of entering into the fullness of Christ? He paid our ransom from sin and we are okay with just floating along.
Instead let us seek his fullness no matter what it may cost.
Our lives?
HE IS NO FOOL THAT GIVES WHAT HE CANNOT KEEP TO GAIN WHAT HE CANNOT LOSE
-Jim Elliot
Our reputation?
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
ISAIAH 53:3
Family?
If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple.
Luke 14:26
When we follow Him and enter into His fullness, he adds to us: His Life, His reputation, and His family which are all eternal.
Lets not be satified with even the place we are now with God, but go FURTHER UP AND FURTHER IN!
Once there was an old man, who wanted to go on a cruise before he died. So, he spent 4 years saving up and afterward bought his ticket. Since this man had very little money he could not afford to buy the fancy dinners on the cruise, so he packed his suitcase full of cheese and crackers. During the cruise, while everyone else sat inside eating luxurious dinners of steak, seafood,and many other delicacies..the old man ate his cheese and crackers.
On the last night of the cruise, as the old man sat eating his crackers..a man walked out to see him from the dining room.
The man asked the old man why he would not come eat with the everyone else. He exclaimed "I haven't enough money"
The man then said "The meal was a part of the ticket price..you were supposed to eat with everyone"
How often do we just sit outside being settled with eating our "cheese and crackers" instead of entering into the fullness of Christ? He paid our ransom from sin and we are okay with just floating along.
Instead let us seek his fullness no matter what it may cost.
Our lives?
HE IS NO FOOL THAT GIVES WHAT HE CANNOT KEEP TO GAIN WHAT HE CANNOT LOSE
-Jim Elliot
Our reputation?
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
ISAIAH 53:3
Family?
If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple.
Luke 14:26
When we follow Him and enter into His fullness, he adds to us: His Life, His reputation, and His family which are all eternal.
Lets not be satified with even the place we are now with God, but go FURTHER UP AND FURTHER IN!
Sunday, November 20, 2011
May this be true of us!
Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
Psalm 73:25
Psalm 73:25
Thursday, November 17, 2011
A Cry of the heart
One of the things God has shown me is that he is not content with just "saving" us. Throughout the scriptures...both Old and New Testament he shows his continual desire to commune with man. I'm finding that many, if not all of the lives of the ones that he used actually have deeper meaning than we may understand. For example, the story of Ruth and Boaz. Ruth accepted the God, culture,and life of a Jew, even though she was a Moabitte woman (one of Esau's descendants) whose forefather lost favor with God. Ruth walked away from her heritage and people to a desolate Jerusalem. Being that her husband was a Jew, she could be redeemed through a "Goel" who in this case became Boaz. Before he could take on this responsibility, he had to make sure the kinsman closer to her than him would not. Although it is true that I am near of kin, there is a kinsman-redeemer nearer than I. -Ruth 3:2
As everyone who has read this story remembers, the nearer kinsman cannot. So Boaz redeems Ruth and she is included in the lineage (inheritance)of Christ.
As Ruth was redeemed by Boaz,so we have been redeemed by Christ. Though our nearer kinsman ( the law) was to bring us repentance and turn us to the Father, it took Christ staking a claim over us with his blood. That is no small matter.. it has been made to such a small thing what was done at Calvary and the Resurrection. Not just something that was for one time to cover sins but a purchase price for his Bride and people.
He wants Men and Women devoted to him. Ones that will leave their earthly inheritance to live NOW for him and not wait till he returns to fellowship with Him. Hope this has encouraged you and may the Ruler of our lives fully own all of us, inside and out without reservation.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Greetings again readers,
I am rejoining the blogging world after much change. The Father has put many things on my heart lately. One of which is my continuation of involvement in Teen Challenge. I am looking to help lead groups to talk about the one person who is worth our entirety. I'm pretty excited that I get this opportunity!
I am rejoining the blogging world after much change. The Father has put many things on my heart lately. One of which is my continuation of involvement in Teen Challenge. I am looking to help lead groups to talk about the one person who is worth our entirety. I'm pretty excited that I get this opportunity!
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Quiet thought
Been thinking lately what God is doing through my life. I can sum the past few weeks with a thought.
God often moves when we stop.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
Receiving Christ...the way it should be.
Let me get right into it...
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.
In the beginning, God created man. He made us to walk with him and to be with Him.
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.
20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to *put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
- Ephesians 4:17-24
*To me.. this sums up what Christ opened up for us. We put off our "old man" of and put on the "new man."
Let me throw out an analogy to you.
A friend and great man had recently been diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia. For those interested in reading his blog and don't know him.
Anyways...he just went through chemotherapy to kill all of the leukemic cells in his bone marrow.
They are looking at doing a bone marrow transplant as soon as he has a "clean" biopsy. Which he has now.
Okay. Fun part.
When Sin entered our hearts...it was like leukemia in our cells. It fed off the functions of our being. It corrupted what God had made sacred.
So the great physician sent a piece of Himself to us. Jesus Christ.
He came to heal us from our illness.
The cure was inside of Him.
The catch was.. we had to die.
The "good" along with the bad.
Many have tried to just inject their old self with this new life.They say that all you need is a little of Him to heal you.
Trying to have Christ but never change.
They convince others that they can do the same, going on with their lives, but they remain sick.
And often unless they become truly crucified and buried with Christ( kill all of their being), the sickness will be rampant throughout them.
Our DNA has to be completely destroyed (clean biopsy)and His DNA (like a bone marrow transplant for a patient) replaces ours. We cease to be... completely, apart from Christ. This is not to say that the old self will try hard to fight even to the end, but we would be Christ in the earth!
We would be healed from our sickness...what's more. WE COULD HEAL OTHERS!
Sunday, July 24, 2011
A Meditation
When vision fadeth
And the sense of things
and powers dissolve
like colors in the wind
And no more can I bring any offering
Nor an ordered prayer....
Then like a great wind from paradise...
Falleth a healing word upon mine ear.
Let the lifting up of my hands be as the evening offering
THE LORD DOES HEAR
Amy Carmichael
Friday, July 22, 2011
Fragrance and fruit
I'm writing this post so late at night..well it's 1:45 in the morning, so I hope it is coherent.
Song of Solomon
13 Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates
with choice fruits,
with henna and nard,
14 nard and saffron,
calamus and cinnamon,
with every kind of incense tree,
with myrrh and aloes
and all the finest spices.
These are the words of the Lover to the Beloved. The scent of the beloved attracts the Lover.
Christ created in each of us a garden. A place in which we can walk with him in the cool of the day.
A tabernacle of the Most High.
In this place, fragrant aromas are wafted out. They bring many into the place of worship. Is your life fragrance Love? The aroma that comes from a drying, crushing, and a burning in most cases of your very being.
Through those trying times in which Christ seems to have turned his back, you feel pressure from all sides closing in, and those times you feel absolutely spent. Out of those times, the greatest fragrance can come. Those times give us something to draw out of both while in the circumstance and the fragrant offering afterwards.
The fruit we bear by taking in the light of the Son, is transformed into the nourishment of ourselves and others.This is a perspective of a good friend of mine who does that subject justice. (From-sunlight-to-food-or-aspiring-to-be-more-of-a-vegetable)
To deny the process of converting Christ into a living example causes us to shrivel up. Our life is connected to His. When we called on Him to enter our lives to be like Him..He makes us Him on earth.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Meaning now. We must now be Him on earth. Feeding His sheep and bringing the world back to Him.
OK.
That makes you cringe a little.
Good.
I myself feel my flesh rise up against it many a time. This body in it's self is about preserving the self. But I am owned by Christ. He is inside the garden and is illumining the darkness of my soul and causing a lot of shaking.
But also don't forget that God's mercies are new every morning. That you are His delight and He created you for a great purpose.(Not always grand in our eyes, for we are made of dirt!) Also most of all He lived and died so that you would have a path to walk out.
I hope that you are encouraged more to be a fragrant tree that brings delight to the nostrils of the Lover.
Song of Solomon
13 Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates
with choice fruits,
with henna and nard,
14 nard and saffron,
calamus and cinnamon,
with every kind of incense tree,
with myrrh and aloes
and all the finest spices.
These are the words of the Lover to the Beloved. The scent of the beloved attracts the Lover.
Christ created in each of us a garden. A place in which we can walk with him in the cool of the day.
A tabernacle of the Most High.
In this place, fragrant aromas are wafted out. They bring many into the place of worship. Is your life fragrance Love? The aroma that comes from a drying, crushing, and a burning in most cases of your very being.
Through those trying times in which Christ seems to have turned his back, you feel pressure from all sides closing in, and those times you feel absolutely spent. Out of those times, the greatest fragrance can come. Those times give us something to draw out of both while in the circumstance and the fragrant offering afterwards.
The fruit we bear by taking in the light of the Son, is transformed into the nourishment of ourselves and others.This is a perspective of a good friend of mine who does that subject justice. (From-sunlight-to-food-or-aspiring-to-be-more-of-a-vegetable)
To deny the process of converting Christ into a living example causes us to shrivel up. Our life is connected to His. When we called on Him to enter our lives to be like Him..He makes us Him on earth.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Meaning now. We must now be Him on earth. Feeding His sheep and bringing the world back to Him.
OK.
That makes you cringe a little.
Good.
I myself feel my flesh rise up against it many a time. This body in it's self is about preserving the self. But I am owned by Christ. He is inside the garden and is illumining the darkness of my soul and causing a lot of shaking.
But also don't forget that God's mercies are new every morning. That you are His delight and He created you for a great purpose.(Not always grand in our eyes, for we are made of dirt!) Also most of all He lived and died so that you would have a path to walk out.
I hope that you are encouraged more to be a fragrant tree that brings delight to the nostrils of the Lover.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Be Salty
What is food without salt? Some of it is very tasteless.
Let me throw an aspect which I'm sure is not new to most of you.
First , a common fact. Salt makes you thirst. It makes you crave liquid. Simple.
We as disciples should, in our lives, cause people to thirst after the everlasting water of Christ. Our lives should not need to answer. Because the answer is Christ. We are a means to show others (together) what He looks like.
Like a mirror.
The "greatest" men and women in history have pointed to Christ as their strength.
If we as disciples lose our ability to point to Christ as our refuge and salvation..we become useless.
Monday, June 27, 2011
A great poem from Union And Communion or Thoughts on the Song of Solomon by Hudson Taylor
The living Vine, Christ chose it for Himself
— God gave to man for use and sustenance
Corn, wine, and oil, and each of these is good:
And Christ is Bread of life and Light of life.
But yet, He did not choose the summer corn,
That shoots up straight and free in one quick growth.
And has its day, is done, and springs no more;
Nor yet the olive, all whose boughs are spread In the soft air,
and never lose a leaf,
Flowering and fruitful in perpetual peace;
But only this, for Him and His is one,—
That everlasting, ever-quickening Vine,
That gives the heat and passion of the world,
Through its own life-blood, still renewed and shed.
* * * * * *
The Vine from every living limb bleeds wine;
Is it the poorer for that spirit shed?
The drunkard and the wanton drink thereof;
Are they the richer for that gift's excess?
Measure thy life by loss instead of gain;
Not by the wine drunk,
but the wine poured forth;
For love's strength standeth in love's sacrifice
; And whoso suffers most, hath most to give.
Taylor, James Hudson (2006). Union And Communion or Thoughts on the Song of Solomon (p. 65). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.
— God gave to man for use and sustenance
Corn, wine, and oil, and each of these is good:
And Christ is Bread of life and Light of life.
But yet, He did not choose the summer corn,
That shoots up straight and free in one quick growth.
And has its day, is done, and springs no more;
Nor yet the olive, all whose boughs are spread In the soft air,
and never lose a leaf,
Flowering and fruitful in perpetual peace;
But only this, for Him and His is one,—
That everlasting, ever-quickening Vine,
That gives the heat and passion of the world,
Through its own life-blood, still renewed and shed.
* * * * * *
The Vine from every living limb bleeds wine;
Is it the poorer for that spirit shed?
The drunkard and the wanton drink thereof;
Are they the richer for that gift's excess?
Measure thy life by loss instead of gain;
Not by the wine drunk,
but the wine poured forth;
For love's strength standeth in love's sacrifice
; And whoso suffers most, hath most to give.
Taylor, James Hudson (2006). Union And Communion or Thoughts on the Song of Solomon (p. 65). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Finding God: Part 2 God's Kingdom! Trust Him
I just got done listening to a fellow housemate read the scriptures to their young ones. In the end, the parable of the mustard seed was mentioned.
He set another parable before them, saying, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field; which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches." -Matthew 13:31–32
Wild mustard is a weed. This "weed" is not cared for by man but grows into a gigantic plant..from a small seed.
Often we forget that it is HIS kingdom to come. Not our own. We (especially me) get discouraged when things seemingly go bad. We feel like the kingdom is under attack and all is lost unless we fight (standing in Christ is one thing, but believing God needs you to defend him is another)
One thing, whether controversial or not is that we need to face that God does not need us to have his kingdom. He states that even if the apostles didn't speak of him, the rocks would cry out. God is in control.
So often I forget this. He shows me how little faith I really have....the faith of a child in the arms of their father. Like a child trusts its parents to care for it, even more God cares for us.
He wants us to be beside him. We the adopted children are his delight along with Christ. We get to be a part of his kingdom, not in control of it.
He set another parable before them, saying, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field; which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches." -Matthew 13:31–32
Wild mustard is a weed. This "weed" is not cared for by man but grows into a gigantic plant..from a small seed.
Often we forget that it is HIS kingdom to come. Not our own. We (especially me) get discouraged when things seemingly go bad. We feel like the kingdom is under attack and all is lost unless we fight (standing in Christ is one thing, but believing God needs you to defend him is another)
One thing, whether controversial or not is that we need to face that God does not need us to have his kingdom. He states that even if the apostles didn't speak of him, the rocks would cry out. God is in control.
So often I forget this. He shows me how little faith I really have....the faith of a child in the arms of their father. Like a child trusts its parents to care for it, even more God cares for us.
He wants us to be beside him. We the adopted children are his delight along with Christ. We get to be a part of his kingdom, not in control of it.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
A man of Faith
I just wanted tom take a moment to honor someone who is a major hero in my life. A man who through all the hardships in his life has ran the race to win. A man who when the enemy came..stood firm with a boldness that is very admirable. This man takes no glory to himself and glorifies the Father with his very life.
That person is my Dad.
His name is David Eric Wilson. Though he goes by Eric, he has definitely represented "a man after God's own heart." Like David of the scriptures, he has stumbled and fell many times, has been attacked...but stood firm in Christ. Like David, he has made Christ his strength. He knows a peace and a relationship with God that not many have.
He is also pretty quirky. That part makes me smile. It is what has made him Christ's own.
My dad loves to help people. He is a mechanic, inventor, and a visionary. He has been a good person for me to watch.
That person is my Dad.
His name is David Eric Wilson. Though he goes by Eric, he has definitely represented "a man after God's own heart." Like David of the scriptures, he has stumbled and fell many times, has been attacked...but stood firm in Christ. Like David, he has made Christ his strength. He knows a peace and a relationship with God that not many have.
He is also pretty quirky. That part makes me smile. It is what has made him Christ's own.
My dad loves to help people. He is a mechanic, inventor, and a visionary. He has been a good person for me to watch.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Finding God: Part 1
"All things in His hands"
This past week I took a trip down with my family to Destin, Florida to spend some time on the beach. But got more than I bargained for...well sorta.
I learned this week that God really is everywhere. Not only is he in the faces of fellow brothers and sisters (and all created things) but he is in all that goes on.
"Good" and "bad."
I don't mean that he is evil, but only that we could possibly be mistaken on what is "bad."
God promised in scriptures that he would care for us.
Almost every Christian can quote (or at least knows) the following:
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11
Have you ever meditated on this verse? Many know this verse is true. Others just quote it.
How about this one?
"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Luke 11:11
This past week..or more likely this past month. I've been thinking about this thought.
We ask God to make us like his son, to cleanse us from sin, and to enter our lives. Do we really know the cost though?
To me it has meant leaving the things I see as "right" or "wrong" behind. I don't mean those things I know God called me out of..like sins. Only that I start realizing that he placed me in the place He saw as the best to change who I am.
Many non-believers ask when things like 9-11, Katrina, and Columbine happen: If God is so loving, why does he allow these things to happen?
God knows what to do. He does not have to explain himself to anyone.
It is for HIS glory that the whole earth shakes. I believe the verse that He does have plans for us.
I believe maybe one day we may get to see it. When we do we can marvel at the glory of the Creator who holds the whole world in His Mighty hands.
This past week I took a trip down with my family to Destin, Florida to spend some time on the beach. But got more than I bargained for...well sorta.
I learned this week that God really is everywhere. Not only is he in the faces of fellow brothers and sisters (and all created things) but he is in all that goes on.
"Good" and "bad."
I don't mean that he is evil, but only that we could possibly be mistaken on what is "bad."
God promised in scriptures that he would care for us.
Almost every Christian can quote (or at least knows) the following:
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11
Have you ever meditated on this verse? Many know this verse is true. Others just quote it.
How about this one?
"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Luke 11:11
This past week..or more likely this past month. I've been thinking about this thought.
We ask God to make us like his son, to cleanse us from sin, and to enter our lives. Do we really know the cost though?
To me it has meant leaving the things I see as "right" or "wrong" behind. I don't mean those things I know God called me out of..like sins. Only that I start realizing that he placed me in the place He saw as the best to change who I am.
Many non-believers ask when things like 9-11, Katrina, and Columbine happen: If God is so loving, why does he allow these things to happen?
God knows what to do. He does not have to explain himself to anyone.
It is for HIS glory that the whole earth shakes. I believe the verse that He does have plans for us.
I believe maybe one day we may get to see it. When we do we can marvel at the glory of the Creator who holds the whole world in His Mighty hands.
Monday, May 30, 2011
In need of Him
Have you ever realized that God is most closest to you when you really are in need?
The times when you are aware of your failure, inadequacy, and lack? That he covers you when you repent of your sin?
I've been becoming more aware of this fact lately.
Even throughout the Old Testament , he shows his devotion through his people.
Judges 3:1-6
Judges 4:1-23
Judges 3:12-30
Many times the children of Israel turned to the Baals and Ashroths, so God delivered them into the hands of their enemies.
When they cried out to Him for deliverance from the oppression, He would deliver them.
Over and over...God shows love!
How often do you get into sin , you repent, and God forgives you?
He has done this for me many times. What is more, he shows us that there is no way... apart from HIM stepping in...can we be purified each day by him.
Think of sin as a person. No matter what you do, you cannot get away from it. No praying, fasting, or ANYTHING you do..apart from calling on him, He stands in-between you and Sin. Each time you repent.. to truly turn away from Sin and ask to be freed, he steps in.
That is love! Never give up my friend!
The times when you are aware of your failure, inadequacy, and lack? That he covers you when you repent of your sin?
I've been becoming more aware of this fact lately.
Even throughout the Old Testament , he shows his devotion through his people.
Judges 3:1-6
Judges 4:1-23
Judges 3:12-30
Many times the children of Israel turned to the Baals and Ashroths, so God delivered them into the hands of their enemies.
When they cried out to Him for deliverance from the oppression, He would deliver them.
Over and over...God shows love!
How often do you get into sin , you repent, and God forgives you?
He has done this for me many times. What is more, he shows us that there is no way... apart from HIM stepping in...can we be purified each day by him.
Think of sin as a person. No matter what you do, you cannot get away from it. No praying, fasting, or ANYTHING you do..apart from calling on him, He stands in-between you and Sin. Each time you repent.. to truly turn away from Sin and ask to be freed, he steps in.
That is love! Never give up my friend!
More great thoughts
"To fall in love with God is the greatest of all romances; To seek him, the greatest adventure; To find
him, the greatest human achievement." -St. Augustine
"Thou are never at any time nearer to God than when under tribulation; which he permits for the purifications and beautifying of thy soul." Miguel Molinos
him, the greatest human achievement." -St. Augustine
"Thou are never at any time nearer to God than when under tribulation; which he permits for the purifications and beautifying of thy soul." Miguel Molinos
Sunday, May 22, 2011
His alone
"Whom I have in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My heart and flesh may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."
-Psalm 73: 25-26
Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, [which is] new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and [I will write upon him] my new name.
-Revelation 3:12
These are two incredible verses.
First of all. The first verse shows absolute love for God. It represents absolute dependency on Him alone. He is our daily bread, our life-blood, and our only desire. It doesn't matter that we may be a mess, our lives are going the way we think they should go, or even that we look non-spiritual. Because our lives cease to be about us. We, like a bride, become his.
Which leads me on to the next excellent verse.
"Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out."
Isn't that an incredible thought?
Never to leave the presence of the Most High?
To be a part of His work?
A pillar upholds a building...fairly simple. It does not move, do it's own thing but stays forever in place until the end.
Can you imagine that?
Not to live "Your own" life
but to be FOREVER in His presence?
"And I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, [which is] new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and [I will write upon him] my new name."
Normally, when a bride gets married, she takes on her husband's name. She is no longer who she was. She has no rights apart from her husband...she is his.
On the other side... She gains him. Everything that he is hers.
They belong to each other.
It is fairly similar to what Christ calls his bride to be.
We cease to look like ourselves, lose who we were, and are joined to Him. We are then changed by him until we are a reflection of him. We no longer move on our own, go anywhere he doesn't, and He is our delight.
These are my thoughts on two verses.
I hope these thoughts have encouraged you, that you realize how much it costs to be with Him, and that you are ready to be His alone.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Francis Chan's thoughts/ New Book!
This is worth a look at. I watched it yesterday via a friend and thought it was VERY relevant to what is going on in discussions these days.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Committed?
I want to ask you an honest question. Are you committed to Christ?
There is no right or wrong answer...but it is between you and Him. Please be honest. I'm not asking for an answer, just that you think on it, meditate on what it really means, and ask Him to show you what it is. Please have the courage to ask.
A small confession of myself
I know for me, even being "single," I am owned. I belong to someone. Christ has committed Himself so that no matter how much I fall or how much I want to give up (and have!) He will never : give up or let up.
Without Christ, I am nothing. I realize that I'm only 25, but he has shown me a little of me. He has revealed that on my own: I am a blasphemous, wicked, cowardly, lustful,and SELF-RIGHTEOUS thing .
But he also promised never to leave.
How can I say more?
There is no right or wrong answer...but it is between you and Him. Please be honest. I'm not asking for an answer, just that you think on it, meditate on what it really means, and ask Him to show you what it is. Please have the courage to ask.
A small confession of myself
I know for me, even being "single," I am owned. I belong to someone. Christ has committed Himself so that no matter how much I fall or how much I want to give up (and have!) He will never : give up or let up.
Without Christ, I am nothing. I realize that I'm only 25, but he has shown me a little of me. He has revealed that on my own: I am a blasphemous, wicked, cowardly, lustful,and SELF-RIGHTEOUS thing .
But he also promised never to leave.
How can I say more?
Saturday, May 7, 2011
A corporate and personal relationship
Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hidden. -Matt 5:14 (KJV)
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. -Matt 22:37 (KJV)
You need both.
Without a corporate relationship through the people of God you have no accountability...
Without the personal closeness with Christ.. life would not be full of the joys of the Lover.
Even in the scriptures Christ talks to both the corporate and the individual person.
.....
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. -Matt 22:37 (KJV)
You need both.
Without a corporate relationship through the people of God you have no accountability...
Without the personal closeness with Christ.. life would not be full of the joys of the Lover.
Even in the scriptures Christ talks to both the corporate and the individual person.
.....
Monday, April 25, 2011
"Compliments" by Francois Fenelon
Don't let compliments you receive from worthy people go to your head. On the other hand,do not let false humility keep you from accepting God's comfort when He sends it through others.
God wants you to take what comes and not run after what doesn't come. Simply accept what is given to you. Look only to God. Learn to live without things God sees fit to take away from you. There are certain things that God wants you to be detached from. Do you see that God allows people to respond to you in many different ways in order to mold you?
Trust God without fear. Learn to accept your weakness as you allow God to change you. There is no use being impatient or depressed about your faults. Make a habit of inwardly bringing yourself before God as often as you can during the day. Doing this can calm you down.
God wants you to take what comes and not run after what doesn't come. Simply accept what is given to you. Look only to God. Learn to live without things God sees fit to take away from you. There are certain things that God wants you to be detached from. Do you see that God allows people to respond to you in many different ways in order to mold you?
Trust God without fear. Learn to accept your weakness as you allow God to change you. There is no use being impatient or depressed about your faults. Make a habit of inwardly bringing yourself before God as often as you can during the day. Doing this can calm you down.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Union with who?
What happens after the vows are said?
Imagine your self at a wedding. The bride and groom are at the altar,the vows hage been said,and the rings are exchanged. Then as they exit,the bride walks away with a different man.
That would shock anyone.
It is the same with us. We can pray the prayer and say the right words. But, in the end, if our life is no different, it would be like the bride bringing her "ex-boyfriend" along. God wants our entirety. The bible states that God is a jealous God. Like the the groom, his entire being is poured out for his bride. He wants us, woos us,and desires to be with us. We need to leave everything for him. We lose our old name,who we are,and become joined with him when we enter into union with him. What we are given far outweighs our old life.
Imagine your self at a wedding. The bride and groom are at the altar,the vows hage been said,and the rings are exchanged. Then as they exit,the bride walks away with a different man.
That would shock anyone.
It is the same with us. We can pray the prayer and say the right words. But, in the end, if our life is no different, it would be like the bride bringing her "ex-boyfriend" along. God wants our entirety. The bible states that God is a jealous God. Like the the groom, his entire being is poured out for his bride. He wants us, woos us,and desires to be with us. We need to leave everything for him. We lose our old name,who we are,and become joined with him when we enter into union with him. What we are given far outweighs our old life.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Neat quotes to think about this week by one of my favorite people.
James "Hudson" Taylor
It is the consciousness of the threefold joy of the Lord, His joy in ransoming us, His joy in dwelling within us as our Saviour and Power for fruitbearing and His joy in possessing us, as His Bride and His delight; it is the consciousness of this joy which is our real strength. Our joy in Him may be a fluctuating thing: His joy in us knows no change.
..........................................................
Our heavenly Father is a very experienced One. He knows very well that His children wake up with a good appetite every morning...He sustained 3 million Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years. We do not expect He will send 3 million missionaries to China; but if He did, He would have ample means to sustain them all...Depend on it, God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply.
............................................................
In Shansi I found Chinese Christians who were accustomed to spend time in fasting and prayer. They recognized that this fasting, which so many dislike, which requires faith in God, since it makes one feel weak and poorly, is really a Divinely appointed means of grace. Perhaps the greatest hindrance to our work is our own imagined strength; and in fasting we learn what poor, weak creatures we are - dependent on a meal of meat for the little strength which we are so apt to lean upon.
.........................................................
We are supernatural people, born again by a supernatural birth, kept by a supernatural power, sustained on supernatural food, taught by asupernatural Teacher from a supernatural Book. We are led by a supernatural Captain in right paths to assured victories. The risen Saviour, ere He ascended on high, said: 'All power is given unto Me. Go ye therefore."
...............................................
The branch of the vine does not worry, and toil, and rush here to seek for sunshine, and there to find rain. No; it rests in union and communion with the vine; and at the right time, and in the right way, is the right fruit found on it. Let us so abide in the Lord Jesus.
(I wish I would have read that last quote a while ago! I could have used it. But, that is God's timing.)
It is the consciousness of the threefold joy of the Lord, His joy in ransoming us, His joy in dwelling within us as our Saviour and Power for fruitbearing and His joy in possessing us, as His Bride and His delight; it is the consciousness of this joy which is our real strength. Our joy in Him may be a fluctuating thing: His joy in us knows no change.
..........................................................
Our heavenly Father is a very experienced One. He knows very well that His children wake up with a good appetite every morning...He sustained 3 million Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years. We do not expect He will send 3 million missionaries to China; but if He did, He would have ample means to sustain them all...Depend on it, God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply.
............................................................
In Shansi I found Chinese Christians who were accustomed to spend time in fasting and prayer. They recognized that this fasting, which so many dislike, which requires faith in God, since it makes one feel weak and poorly, is really a Divinely appointed means of grace. Perhaps the greatest hindrance to our work is our own imagined strength; and in fasting we learn what poor, weak creatures we are - dependent on a meal of meat for the little strength which we are so apt to lean upon.
.........................................................
We are supernatural people, born again by a supernatural birth, kept by a supernatural power, sustained on supernatural food, taught by asupernatural Teacher from a supernatural Book. We are led by a supernatural Captain in right paths to assured victories. The risen Saviour, ere He ascended on high, said: 'All power is given unto Me. Go ye therefore."
...............................................
The branch of the vine does not worry, and toil, and rush here to seek for sunshine, and there to find rain. No; it rests in union and communion with the vine; and at the right time, and in the right way, is the right fruit found on it. Let us so abide in the Lord Jesus.
(I wish I would have read that last quote a while ago! I could have used it. But, that is God's timing.)
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