That Good Part

Bethany

2011-02-28T07:45:00.000-08:00

If you're a chick and a Christian, you know about Mary and Martha. They are often portrayed as opposites in fundamental ways-the spiritual one vs the fleshly one. The gentle one vs the driven one. I pretty sure that, like most of us, they were more than their brief story in the gospels revealed, Mary probably gossiped at the well and Martha probably mentored young Hebrew girls. No one is every all one way or the other. That, however, isn't what this post is about.

We have read about Mary, Martha and Lazarus in the gospels, siblings whom Jesus loved. The focus for me has always been on the individuals, these two sisters with their very different personalities, their brother who we don't know much about except after his illness and subsequent death, Jesus raised him from the dead. For some reason though, this little family seemed to hold a special place in the heart of Jesus. I learned something lately that shed new light on their relationship, why it may have been so special.

The last week of Jesus life, He spent time in the area surrounding the city of Jerusalem. The first few days of that week we see Him traveling from Jerusalem, where He spent the day, to Bethany, where He spent the night. Bethany. It was a place He spent time, among people He loved. The meaning of the name “Bethany” is “the house of the poor, the humble and the oppressed”. This is where you will always find Jesus. When you see the poor, the humble and the oppressed, you know that those are people that Jesus loved, who live in a place He is not only willing to go, but willing to stay. While He no doubt had much personal affection for Mary, Martha and Lazarus, they seem to represent the people in the village named for the type of life they lived. He didn't just love them, He loved all those of Bethany.

We all have people in our lives that live, sometimes literally, some times spiritually and emotionally, in a place of poverty, humble position, even oppression. Maybe they are people you hear about thorough a missions ministry, or a homeless person you see on your way to work everyday, or even someone in your family or among your friends. These are the people Jesus always saw, the people He came for. It begs the question-who were Mary, Martha and Lazarus BEFORE Jesus came? I don't know, maybe they were always faith-filled people who lived a difficult life of poverty. Maybe they were a radically dysfunctional family. We do know who they were after Jesus came to where they lived. I love what we saw earlier in Mark-

Mark 2:15-17-“Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi's house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him. 16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, "How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?"
When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

If you want to walk with Jesus, you need to be willing to go where He goes-to love who He loves, to serve who He serves-this is challenging, for those of us who love our ease, our comfort zone-but this is His heart! Pray to have His heart in this-to go and spend time in Bethany, whatever that looks like in your life.

Fake Dogs

2011-02-15T14:32:00.000-08:00

As the glow of the Super Bowl fades, and the post season withdrawls begin, there is light beckoning from New York City-the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show!!! Known as the Super Bowl of the dog show world, it is two days filled with nearly 3,000 dogs at Madison Square Garden. Now days, you can go on line and watch all 3000 dogs in their individual breed classes. Back in the olden days, (like 5 years ago) you could only watch the groups compete for best of show on t.v. but oh, the joy for me. Even though I'm sure I'll spend plenty of time in front of my computer watching a seemingly endless parade of dogs, I still stayed up and watched the groups last night.

I have two purebred dogs, both Cavalier King Charles Spaniels which is the pretentious name for lazy but sweet lap dogs. One I named after a literary hero and he does not live up to his name. He is actually a bit of a rogue. The other I name after a t.v. character who is a bit of a rogue, and he is the epitome of a literary hero. Go figure. It is of the latter that I write today, Alistair, the dog who is, among other things, discerning.

As I sat on the couch with the boys watching the show last night, during the hound group, Alistair suddenly leaped to his feet and seemed to be staring at the screen. We've had both t.v. and dog for a long time, so I doubted that was what caught his attention since he'd never done it before. But sure enough, it was the close up of a Beagle that had him riveted to the screen, and as the camera panned to the next dog, a larger hound, he got off the couch and stood in front of the t.v., just staring. This is the dog who, thinking a dog three doors away might invade his front yard will bark his hair off to warn the household of an intruder. He never made a sound, just watched the dog on the screen. After a minute, he went to the back door, looked outside, came back to the t.v, took one more brief look, returned to the couch and went back to sleep.

Here's what I think happened. Our t.v. is in front of a window, and it would seem he thought he could see a dog outside-but something wasn't right.  After watching the dog, he suspected it wasn't real, he checked outside to be sure no one was there, and went back to sleep.  I think this makes him smarter than the dog who sits and watches and barks at the t.v. when they see a dog-if your dog does that, don't feel bad, we've always know Alistair was exceptional. ;) He's just not interested in fake dogs.

Most of what you see on t.v. isn't real. Even reality t.v. is barely real.  There is lots of stuff that looks real when in fact, it isn't. But like a Beagle in High Definition, it can look awfully real. I dig shows where people bring in things they think are priceless, or sometimes they think is junk, only to discover it's true value. Sometimes they are ecstatic, sometimes, they've been had. I feel really bad for the people who have been had. I feel sorry for their despair, and angry at the one who sold them a fake dog.

I've talked to too many Christians who have been had, by teachers, books, even well meaning friends who have counseled them from their feelings rather than the Word of God. It's heartbreaking. I was once one who spent considerable time with fake dogs, as a Christian, and you can trace the greatest wreckage of my life to that period of time. Until one day, it occurred to me, that there was a source, a starting point, a place to begin again. So I picked up my long neglected Bible and beginning in Matthew chapter 1, began to read. And read. And read. And weep. And get it.

How I love the truth. I love that there is truth. I love that I can know truth. I love that YOU can know truth.  I love that it's right there in front of us, in black, white, and sometimes in red. I love that the Spirit of truth will guide us in all truth (Jn 16:13). I love that even when you been had so badly that you told everybody the fake dog was real, Truth takes you back.

"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life....." John 14:6

Still Tasty

2011-02-03T07:58:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you, but I hate throwing food away. Not scrapping the plate into the trash when I can't possibly take another bite, I mean taking out a bottle of salad dressing, or leftovers, or box of baking soda and not having any idea if it's still good. More often than not I throw it away, because here's a fun fact about me-I have essentially no sense of smell. While you may simply sniff the dressing, I just stare at it.

Here is a new question I've been pondering lately-if tomatoes are in an unrefrigerated bin at the store, why do I put them in the fridge when I get home? My mom puts every vegetable but potatoes in the fridge, as well as the peanut butter, but that's a different blog post. As the fourth child, my mom didn't explain a lot of kitchen mysteries to me, when I was underfoot in the kitchen she just told me to go read a book instead. That explains a lot of things.

So here I am, a late blooming kitchenista, wanting to unlock the hidden secrets of the most unfamiliar room in the house. I recently discovered a website that has answered many of my questions, so I share it here, where you kind find out if things are still tasty. I'm sure most of you already possess most of this information, but I love the section on shelf life where you can find out proper storage for open and unopened items and how long they are safe to eat. I printed several pages and put them in a plastic sleeves to keep in my kitchen for those details I can never remember, like which vegetables to store in plastic bags and which vegetables to never, ever store in plastic bags. I'm cooking a lot more of what I bring home and my husband is happy to never hear the words "Can you smell this?" again.

Do you have any kitchen sites you like? Post them in the comments. I want to be a good steward with both the money and the time I spend on meals and can use all the help I can get!

Perspective

2011-01-26T21:11:00.000-08:00

I'm reading a lot of material these days. New product for our church book kiosk, studying for our Journey With Jesus through the gospel of Mark, three books on the history of the middle east (how did that happen?) and then the usual time in the Word. Today I was looking at the various stacks of books I'm plowing through and I thought to myself, "You know, one would think that you'd have a profound thought or great quote in your head from all that stuff!" So I waited a while to see if one floated to the surface. Waited some more. Flipped through a book. Two books. Four books. Sigh.

A thought did float into my head and it had nothing to do with the stack. It was something Pastor Rob said at the beginning of our Sunday morning study in the book of Acts. He said we have the tendency to read Acts and think every day was action packed when in reality, the book covers a thirty year span. THIRTY YEARS. Well now, that certainly puts a different spin on things.

Every day doesn't get illuminated with a God bomb. That's the spiritual version of a flash bang grenade that police use when they want to make sure you are paying attention. Sort of like Paul at his conversion, you can read about it in the book that covers THIRTY YEARS. There were a lot of regular days, filled with regular life in between getting dragged before the council and baptizing Ethiopians and getting stoned by angry mobs. In those regular days, you can bet there were regular times with the Lord, regular time in His word, regular times of fellowship and discussion about what God was doing and what they were learning. It's in the ordinary stuff that God prepares us for the extraordinary. So if you read the Word today and didn't get knocked down by a flash bang grenade, don't worry. Just wait, keep reading, keep praying, keep doing the regular things on regular days. Because one day, you will find yourself in the middle of something extraordinary. Phillip didn't wake up expecting to dunk a guy from a foreign land. Peter didn't go to prayer expecting to heal a lame man. But they did. On an ordinary day.

Refresh

2011-01-21T22:17:00.000-08:00

Today I helped someone set up their first blog. We went through every field, looked at all the gadgets, and along the way, I gave her the basic instructions for each function. When I could remember, that is.  On the gadget for links, and she asked me to make a link to this blog. When I did, the link has shows not only the title of the blog but the title of the last post, and the date of that post.

No wonder I couldn't remember how to use anything! Six months has gone by since I last visited my own blog.  I didn't want anyone visiting her blog to see how inactive my blog was, so I decided I better write something. Not that I care what anyone thinks. Well, maybe a little. ;)

The morning sort of refreshed my creative juices for the whole blogging thing. If I was to come up with some spiritual application for this post, it would be this: it's a good thing to go back to the basics, look at the framework of what you know and believe, evaluate how it is being worked out in your life, and how productive it's been.  How active has your walk with the Lord been lately? Growing and bearing fruit, or like my blog, there, but unchanging?

"By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples." John 15:8

Rewind

2010-07-13T20:41:00.000-07:00

I picked up what I thought was a new journal the other day, but it was actually a journal I finished a little over a year ago. I love to journal, ever since I read "Harriet the Spy" when I was little. I've gone through several journal options over the years-everything goes into one journal-sermon notes, study research, personal devotions, recounting of my days so I know where I was three days ago. Every now and then I try something new-one journal for church stuff, one for my devotions, one sort of a diary so I know where I was three days ago. I kind of like each option for different reasons, and it makes me wonder what fellow journalers do. One for everything? One per subject? Stay in a calender year or just write until it fills up?

Re-reading that journal from the last two years was not my favorite perusal of the past. In fact, it bummed me out quite a bit, and has caused me to be spending a lot of time in prayer.

I always encourage people to journal, among other reasons it gives us a great rewind of God's faithfulness in our lives, the work He's done, the prayers He's answered. This week, I'm experiencing some of my theory becoming reality in my life in a new way. You see, as I read this journal I realized, it's not better. Not much of it anyway. My circumstances, my struggles, my day to day isn't really any better. In fact, what I wrote last Monday is almost verbatim to Monday of the same week one year ago. Here's the kicker-both are almost the same entry as Monday the same week TWO years ago. What's up with that?

It's just life. Everybody has one. At some point, we grind, it's hard and there isn't any different for the Christian and the non-Christian in the events we experience. However, it is different in the WAY we experience it. Because God IS always faithful. God IS always working. God IS always in control. If you don't have your faith in that, if your faith is in your own ability to deal with the stuff of life, the grind will inevitably grind you down. I'm not twenty anymore. I'm also not the oldest chick with a blog, but I've seen the marked difference in people long enough to know there are two columns with people walking through the same things, and aside from that, nothing about their respective journeys are the same. Not when it gets hard. Not when the waves get higher. Not when the storm doesn't stop.

So, it's been good for me to do a rewind. I've got some perspective on where I've been, where I'm at, and I'm in it for the long haul-but I'm not in it alone. It's given me a wider perspective, one that includes how the same things I'm experiencing are being experienced by people that are alone, whether they realize it or not. Another thing they haven't realized is this-Jesus is real, and to you He says, "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest...." Matthew 11:28. Real rest, rest for your soul, rest that gives you what you need for what's in front of you, as well rest from what's behind you.

What happened to you today? Write it down. What did you read today? Write it down. Rewind is good for us. It reminds us, rejuvenates us and redirects us. We're not in it alone, He's all over every page.

New. Sort of.

2010-07-07T09:08:00.000-07:00

I have a new laptop. Well, new to me, as it once belonged to my daughter before the hard drive blew up, causing the loss of a multitude of pictures, information and subsequently, dollars when she replaced it with a Mac. Wanting one computer for work and one for the rest of everything in my life, I decided rescue it from the trash, and replace the drive so here I sit, with the technological equivalent of a clean slate.

It's odd to have a computer that looks almost exactly like your old one, only to find it empty of everything familiar. Click the favorites-empty. Click My pictures-empty. Click Documents-empty. It is as if all the points of reference in my life have been removed, the landmarks gone, like when someone cuts down the tree on the corner that you always included in your directions so people could find your house.

The first thing I did on this computer was get some Internet going, because I was afraid something would happen in the universe and I wouldn't know it. It was here that I really noticed the absence of the familiar. I have a ridiculous amount of websites bookmarked, and because of the aforementioned concern about the universe, I check them a lot. To open a computer, click the favorites and start reading is so routine to me I don't even decide what to read, I just click, read, click, read. So when I clicked and saw nothing, I heard the sound of screeching brakes in my head. What?!? What had been there? Where do I start?

So I began to google a few news sites and bookmark them and as I went along an interesting thing happened-I had the random thought that I didn't really want to read that. Or that, or that either. Then I tried to remember some blogs I read regularly, and I realized I didn't really want to read that, or that, or that either. When I had to stop and think, then type the name into the search engine before clicking a link to read it, I found I had no real desire to read a multitude of things that before this clean slate, I read every day. Every stinkin' day. EVERY day.

Here I should insert some deeply spiritual application making several references to scripture and give an exhortation but you know what? I got nothing. Well, I've got this. Obviously, there is stuff we do everyday where we really don't think through our choices. We just do things by rote.You know, a good portion of those bookmarks are things that pertain to the Christian faith. They are what's good about the Internet, Biblical, informational, profitable reading. But are they the right choice for this morning, or at all? I don't know, I don't think about it, I just click and read, click and read.

Sometimes it takes a clean slate to see the wide open vistas of our choices. A blank calendar page. An empty refrigerator. No Favorites. What will you fill your clean slate with? Don't make a knee jerk statement here, like a vacation, chocolate cake and YouTube. "Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established." (Proverbs 4:26) Thinking, free will, the ability to choose, these are all amazing gifts from God, and with the gift comes opportunity to use it or lose it. Think or don't think. Choose, or by default, let your choices be made for you, especially those that concern what influences you. Act, or react, thoughtfully and prayerfully or with that uncontrollable reflex like when the doctor whacks your knee with the little hammer. The choice is really mine. Yours.

I'm leaving my favorites empty.

Hey! It's almost summer!

2010-05-25T17:17:00.000-07:00

Every now and then I'll be reading a blog and suddenly the thought occurs to me "Hey! I have a blog!" Unfortunately, a pithy quote or cohesive thought doesn't follow, so I don't post anything.

I don't know about you, but I'm pretty good at talking myself out of doing things. Things like sending a card (I don't really have a cute one and I certainly do not possess card making abilities) or I should call (but I don't have a lot of time, they're probably in bed already, blah blah blah). Oh, this is good one- I should offer to pray for them (but they'll think I'm nuts or reject the offer, blah, blah, blah). Or, post on my blog.

But what if, maybe, just maybe, that thought was actually a prompting of the Holy Spirit? You know, the One who teaches us, empowers us and oh, yeah, prompts us? I've been thinking about two things lately. Well, more than two, but I just read how multi-tasking is actually counter productive and slows your brain function so I'm trying to narrow it down to only thinking about a couple things at a time. For about two weeks it's been these two things: Obedience and procrastination.

These are not new thoughts for me, in fact, there are probably at least two other posts on this blog about this, but who can remember when you post semi-annually? God digs obedience but does He care about timing? Let's consider a parable. It's called the Parable of the Puppies.

A woman once owned two dogs, sweet dogs but very different from one another. She loved both her dogs. One day, both dogs were smelling every blade of grass in the back yard. The woman called to the dogs to come in the house as she was running out the door for the millionth time that day. One dog immediately lifted his head, spun around and ran to the door, tail waving like a banner. The other dog continued to sniff the remaining blades of grass. Another call. More sniffing. Another call. Dog looks up. A staring match ensues. Another call. Dog takes several steps at the pace of a mosey, then runs to the door, tail waving like a banner. Though the woman loves both the dogs, with which dog is she more pleased-the first or the second?

Yep, I'm gonna ask-which dog are you? All too often I'm the pokey dog, doing one more thing before I respond to the call, or worse, talking myself out of it. God digs obedience, and He digs it when it's immediate. Part of obedience is the timing, it's not just doing the deal but doing it when and how He directs. Those thoughts are not so random, and you never know what's on the other end of your obedience-a need that's met, a word given that comforts, a problem solved. So the next time you have the seemingly random thought to pray for me, just do it, right away! I'm probably trying to get dogs in the house.

Longing for Eden

2010-01-12T08:46:00.000-08:00

I read a sad article in the news today. It seems that instead of enjoying a few hours of entertainment by going to see the movie "Avatar", some people are coming away from the film with depression and suicidal thoughts. They are flocking to online forums and chat rooms to lament the fact that life isn't worth living after being exposed to the land of Pandora that is represented in the film.

I haven't seen the film. From the reports I've read about it, it seems that Pandora is a type of Eden, and after seeing it, comparing it to the stark reality outside the movie theater leaves some people with a growing sense of hopelessness about their own lives and the world in general. This morning I read this in the book "Jesus, Our Man in Glory" by A.W. Tozer:

"It has been my feeling that the whole [human] race has harbored a yearning to go back to God's presence, to return to Eden. I do not mean that everyone in the race wants to be a Christian. Too many are satisfied with the world, the flesh and the devil. But when you come to really know men and women, you often will find a wistful yearning, a longing probably not identified, to know what it meant for Adam and Eve to be able to dwell contentedly in the presence of their God and Creator. In it all we see the blinding effect of sin. Men and women do not really want to be good. They do not want to submit to the will of God. Yet the longing for that Presence still is there.

But no one, unaided, has found a way back......the search for a way back has been an empty disappointment.......And then Jesus came to live among mankind. Through faith in Him, all who yearn to may enter again the very presence of God."

Unlike Pandora, Eden was real. One day, there will be a return to all that this world and mankind was created to be-but despite the yearning for it all will not see it. To be there, you have to start here: Jesus.

"I am the way, the truth and the life. No one come to the Father except through Me".
John 14:6

Some people see that as exclusionary. In fact, it is the ultimate open invitation to the only sure route that leads to the place every soul longs for whether they name it so or not. Pandora pales in comparison to the presence of God in your life today and the guarantee of Heaven in your future.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T08:45:00.000-08:00

Nancy Leigh DeMoss is doing a series on Isaiah 40 over on Revive Our Hearts, titled "Behold Your God". This passage caused me to pause and ponder-

"Some of us have so much theology, but what good is it doing us in the course of every day life if we fret or we’re anxious? So what if we say we believe God is all-powerful and all-knowing and gracious and merciful, but we live as if there were no God? We’re practical atheists.

So the answer for most of us is not getting some new insight, some new key to life, but it’s exercising faith in what we already know.

And what do we know? “The Lord is the everlasting God.”

In conversations with women who are dealing with some circumstance, which would be anyone breathing, I've occasionally been told in response to some biblical counsel "That's just not practical." You know, counsel like trusting God, dying to self, walking by faith, not compromising. We want solutions, we want something practical, something we can do about what is happening. What could be more practical than looking to and obeying the Word of the everlasting God?

I'm not big on New Years resolutions. I've always figured if you know you're doing something wrong, not good for you or stupid, you should just stop it, not wait for a date. But since the new year probably puts the thought in your head to do something new, lets start by asking ourselves these questions-

Are my reactions and responses to the circumstances in my life more in line with a practical atheist or a practicing disciple of Christ? Do I act in a way that is consistent with what I say I believe?

Head over to Nancy's site and read or listen to this series on beholding our God. Let's immerse ourselves this year in His Word, His presence and His available power to glorify Him and make Him known in new and practical ways in 2010. Happy New Year!

Facebook, multi-tasking and college football

2009-11-22T19:53:00.000-08:00

What do these three things have in common? Each one has contributed to the brain melt down that occurred at 9:27 p.m. last night. I think it actually started with multi-tasking, which I have elevated to a level previously unknown to mankind. This does, of course, violate the command by which I try to live: "Let all things be done decently and in order" 1 Corinthians 14:40. At some point, doing thirty two different things within a period of thirty two minutes will cause you to not only get out of order, but usually something will come out of your mouth which necessitates repenting. Not orderly or decent. Sigh.

Then there is Facebook. I haven't developed the addiction to it that I was warned about, I rebuke all attempts to get me to buy a farm, a zoo, an aquarium, or take a quiz. Okay, I took one quiz. It was the one to find out what state you should live in-and it was right. But what Facebook has done is rendered me unable to formulate a thought of more than five words without a prolonged period of thought. It's that tiny box that only lets you have a tiny thought before you run out of space. You may think that is a good thing. I am reduced to monosyllables in normal conversation. Again, you may think that’s a good thing. It gives me a headache. Sigh.

Then there is college football. It was the last straw. I love football. Grown up football. Where I understand the rules. I never watch college ball (I know, or NASCAR, but I'm trying to convert.) I tried to watch some of a college game last night and could not figure out what was going on. Maybe I was tired, maybe too much multi-tasking and tiny thoughts in tiny boxes but something in my brain snapped. I could not learn one more new thing. Sigh.

Here it comes. The busiest time of the year, the time that's suppose to be the most joyous time of the year. It’s time to be thankful, time to rejoice. This is not a good time for the hard drive in my head to crash. So I shut off the TV, started to read "Nicholas Nickelby" which is written by someone even wordier than I, and slowly, oh, so slowly......reboot.

I wish my head could defrag the way my computer does, but for now I think I'll try only running one program at a time, think outside the tiny box and wait until next season to learn one more new thing. Sigh. (of relief)

Keep the main thing the main thing. Be thankful. Rejoice.

Tell it like it is, Oswald!

2009-10-21T09:38:00.000-07:00

Impulsiveness or Discipleship?

But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith . . . —Jude 20

There was nothing of the nature of impulsive or thoughtless action about our Lord, but only a calm strength that never got into a panic. Most of us develop our Christianity along the lines of our own nature, not along the lines of God’s nature. Impulsiveness is a trait of the natural life, and our Lord always ignores it, because it hinders the development of the life of a disciple. Watch how the Spirit of God gives a sense of restraint to impulsiveness, suddenly bringing us a feeling of self-conscious foolishness, which makes us instantly want to vindicate ourselves. Impulsiveness is all right in a child, but is disastrous in a man or woman—an impulsive adult is always a spoiled person. Impulsiveness needs to be trained into intuition through discipline.
Discipleship is built entirely on the supernatural grace of God. Walking on water is easy to someone with impulsive boldness, but walking on dry land as a disciple of Jesus Christ is something altogether different. Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus, but he "followed Him at a distance" on dry land ( Mark 14:54 ). We do not need the grace of God to withstand crises—human nature and pride are sufficient for us to face the stress and strain magnificently. But it does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four hours of every day as a saint, going through drudgery, and living an ordinary, unnoticed, and ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus. It is ingrained in us that we have to do exceptional things for God—but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life, and holy on the ordinary streets, among ordinary people—and this is not learned in five minutes.

Attention All Married Women

2009-10-15T13:27:00.000-07:00

I just got done listening to this awesome study by Denise Salvato. This was recorded at the 2003 CCV Women's Retreat, and it is an amazing study for married women. I've heard it before but it is as fresh and relevant to my life and marriage as it was then, and I'd encourage you to sow abundantly in your marriage and listen to this word from the Lord through Denise. It will change your marriage-if you'll let it!

Break it Down-Yo!

2009-09-06T10:45:00.000-07:00

For fellow finance workers everywhere.........

School Daze

2009-09-02T08:28:00.001-07:00

I just read a post from a young friend whose oldest child has begun......preschool. For her, the experience of standing at a classroom doorway and watching her daughter hug her little brother goodbye was that flavor of bitter and sweet, emotions in a blender on high for a moment. I remember those feelings more tangibly from Ashley's kindergarten experience. All us parents in front of the school, meeting the couple and their daughter who would soon become Ashley's best friend, and who God would use powerfully in our lives as a witness. Wondering if she'd miss us, or never notice we were gone. Sounds cliche but wasn't that just yesterday?

Now, she is a wife, a good wife. She and her husband are praying and planning for their future, and enjoying their present. She's a godly woman with a ministry God has chosen for her, which she is entering into with fear, trembling and admit it Muffin, an excitement. She loves to read, (big surprise) bake and entertain. She is smart, witty, compassionate and fearless with computer buttons. And when she was five, on that September morning, I had no idea that this is who she would be in this season of life.

Oh, the privilege of raising a child. More importantly, privilege of raising a child in the Lord. How grateful I am for the grace of God, the power of the Spirit, and the gift of the Son. So Moms, standing at that classroom door, be it preschool or a college campus, rejoice! Today the Lord has put your child on a new path, and when the classroom door closes to separate you, He remains at their side, with love that exceeds yours, to work in them both to will and to do for His good pleasure. He is the Faithful Father.

End of Summer?

2009-08-24T10:55:00.000-07:00

Signs summer is coming to an end:
1) Last Bible study at the beach
2) Pre season FOOTBALL!
3) Your change your driving route to avoid school traffic.
4) Weeping ensues when you realize it's getting dark earlier.
5) Pre season FOOTBALL!

It Is Well With My Soul

2009-07-17T07:06:00.000-07:00

So, we did not really hear what we wanted to hear yesterday after twelve hours at the hospital. Yet, I can say, even though I cried.....

It Is Well With My Soul
When peace like a river, attendeth my way,When sorrows like sea billows roll;Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well, with my soul.

It is well, with my soul, It is well, with my soul, It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, Let this blest assurance control, That Christ has regarded my helpless estate, And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought! My sin, not in part but the whole, Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:If Jordan above me shall roll, No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life, Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

But Lord, 'tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait, The sky, not the grave, is our goal;Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord! Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul.

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight, The clouds be rolled back as a scroll; The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend, Even so, it is well with my soul.

THE NOTION OF DIVINE CONTROL

2009-07-16T07:08:00.000-07:00

My friend is having surgery to remove a lump from her breast today. Just pray.

"How much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?" Matthew 7:11

Jesus is laying down rules of conduct for those who have His Spirit. By the simple argument of these verses He urges us to keep our minds filled with the notion of God's control behind everything, which means that the disciple must maintain an attitude of perfect trust and an eagerness to ask and to seek.
Notion your mind with the idea that God is there. If once the mind is notioned along that line, then when you are in difficulties it is as easy as breathing to remember - Why, my Father knows all about it! It is not an effort, it comes naturally when perplexities press. Before, you used to go to this person and that, but now the notion of the Divine control is forming so powerfully in you that you go to God about it. Jesus is laying down the rules of conduct for those who have His Spirit, and it works on this principle - God is my Father, He loves me, I shall never think of anything He will forget, why should I worry?
There are times, says Jesus, when God cannot lift the darkness from you, but trust Him. God will appear like an unkind friend, but He is not; He will appear like an unnatural Father, but He is not; He will appear like an unjust judge, but He is not. Keep the notion of the mind of God behind all things strong and growing. Nothing happens in any particular unless God's will is behind it, therefore you can rest in perfect confidence in Him. Prayer is not only asking, but an attitude of mind which produces the atmosphere in which asking is perfectly natural. "Ask, and it shall be given you."

Steps Toward Stupid

2009-06-25T09:17:00.001-07:00

This morning I read a post on another blog with this title, "Steps Toward Stupid." The guy was writing about the small things he is prone to do that sometimes produce spiritual train wrecks in his life. For him, it's listening to a certain type of music that he was into during a debauched time of his life. From listening a little to listening a lot, to withdrawing from friends, to blowing off church, to skipping devotions.....pretty soon he's wondering what happened. It all happens slowly, it's not like he listens to Stairway to Heaven and becomes a warlock the next day, but in almost imperceptible ways he is drifting from a close relationship with his Savior.

Of course, this made me wonder about my own "steps toward stupid". What are those things that dull my sensitivity to the Spirit, or choices of activities that seem like no big deal but end up totally not being pleasing to God?

I'm not telling. Okay, maybe I'll tell you later. The real reason I won't tell you today is
1) I really want to contemplate the consequences of some of my choices, not just blow off this question with an easy answer, and
2) if my step toward stupid isn't your step toward stupid, you may blow off asking yourself the question. It's easy to think "I'm not as much a heathen as her, I NEVER (fill in the blank).

Newsflash-you have a step toward stupid. Everybody does. This is a question worth asking ourselves if we want a life that pleases God and I assume that you want that. I do. Ask yourself what your step toward stupid is, and then pray for God to reveal the step toward smart He desires you to take. Most of the time, we know what we're suppose to be doing, but we like the path of stupid. It's natural and easy, but although the path He has for us may be one of abundant life, it's not as effortless as we might like. It's God who works in us both to will and to do His good pleasure (see Philippians 2) so it's not like is all on you and me to make it happen. But it is on us to decide which steps we'll take. Choose Him.

Are Women Born This Way?

2009-06-04T23:27:00.000-07:00

I found this question and video on another blog, and while I can't answer the question, I can say that this is eerily reminiscent of the dining room at Women's Retreat.

Are you a reader?

2009-05-13T10:49:00.000-07:00

I have a number of friends, whom I have made fun of before, that define themselves as non-readers. Then they ask me for a book, read it, love it and want another one. My assesment is that when they think of doing something fun, or that they would classify as a hobby or entertainment, reading isn't the first thing that come to mind. They are, however, all women who love God, love His Word, and love learning who He intends them to be and how to please Him. This story is for all my reading and (ahem) non-reading friends. By the way-my witty daughter sent me this story.

One morning a husband returns after several hours of fishing and decides to take a nap. Although not familiar with the lake they are visiting, his wife decides to take the boat out. She motors out a short distance, anchors, and pulls out a book to read. Along comes a Game Warden in his boat. He pulls up alongside the woman and says, "Good morning, Ma'am. What are you doing?" "Reading a book,"she replies, (thinking that it would be obvious.) "You're in a Restricted Fishing Area ," he informs her. "I'm sorry, officer, but I'm not fishing. I'm reading" "Yes, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment. I'll have to take you in and write you up." "For reading a book?" she replies, "You're in a Restricted Fishing Area," he informs her again, to which she replies, "I'm sorry, officer, but I'm not fishing. I'm reading" "Yes, but you have all the equipment. Again, for all I know you could start at any moment. I'll have to take you in and write you up. "If you do that, I'll have to charge you with sexual assault,"says the woman. "But I haven't even touched you," says the Game Warden. "That's true, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment." "Have a nice day Ma'am", and he left.

MORAL: Never argue with a woman who reads. It's likely she can also think.

Meaning of Life

2009-04-15T18:39:00.000-07:00

I hate a sentence that begins with "what if". Really. There is enough stuff in the world that I know I don't know, I really don't need to imagine what else there might be that I don't know. There are, however, some things I do know, and here's one. (click on "one")

Irony

2009-04-13T08:28:00.000-07:00

This beautiful spring morning I lingered over my coffee while watching a tiny bunny eat my grass.........for 7.5 seconds. Then I switched on my trusty Palm Treo (I love my phone, but that's another post) and my heartbeat shot up when I saw today's to-do list. Bye bye, bunny.

Top of the list this week is the deadline for my contribution to our annual women's retreat. Thirty items later is the bottom of the list so I vaulted into action. In almost every room in my house is a copy of "My Utmost for His Highest" so in an effort to keep my head from exploding before 9:00 a.m., I picked it up to read. I think you'll appreciate the irony. Especially since the retreat I'm frantically working on is based on Matthew 11-"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden...."

Cast your burden on the Lord . . . —Psalm 55:22

We must recognize the difference between burdens that are right for us to bear and burdens that are wrong. We should never bear the burdens of sin or doubt, but there are some burdens placed on us by God which He does not intend to lift off. God wants us to roll them back on Him— to literally "cast your burden," which He has given you, "on the Lord . . . ." If we set out to serve God and do His work but get out of touch with Him, the sense of responsibility we feel will be overwhelming and defeating. But if we will only roll back on God the burdens He has placed on us, He will take away that immense feeling of responsibility, replacing it with an awareness and understanding of Himself and His presence.
Many servants set out to serve God with great courage and with the right motives. But with no intimate fellowship with Jesus Christ, they are soon defeated. They do not know what to do with their burden, and it produces weariness in their lives. Others will see this and say, "What a sad end to something that had such a great beginning!"
"Cast your burden on the Lord . . . ." You have been bearing it all, but you need to deliberately place one end on God’s shoulder. ". . . the government will be upon His shoulder" ( Isaiah 9:6 ). Commit to God whatever burden He has placed on you. Don’t just cast it aside, but put it over onto Him and place yourself there with it. You will see that your burden is then lightened by the sense of companionship. But you should never try to separate yourself from your burden.

Ahhh, that feels better.

How I Spend Most Saturdays

2009-04-10T13:20:00.000-07:00

This is what I do most Saturdays, and not a few other days of the week as well. It does not involve a mall (but it does involve the occasional Starbucks), it does not involve a church building (but a lot of ministry happens) and it does involve a rockin' good time! Sonia's husband Oscar took the pics, which is why I show up in them occasionally, and he did the video too.

Oh, it's Sunday

2009-03-29T14:20:00.000-07:00

Do it Anyway

2009-03-17T09:05:00.000-07:00

Sound ominous, huh? I've been reading through Luke in my devotions, and something new caught my eye. Don't you love reading the Word and suddenly, a passage you may even have memorized has a newness to it that blows your mind?

Reading the account of Jesus healing the man with the withered hand, (previous God bomb: the guy put out his hand immediately when Jesus told him too, he didn't say "hey I can't!" Note to self: stop telling God I can't) and this time, these words jumped off the page...

"But he knew their thoughts, and said to the man who had the withered hand, "Arise and stand here." And he arose and stood."

He knew. He knew they were waiting, those people who always have a problem with Him, waiting to find an excuse to discredit Him, run Him out of town, even kill Him. And He did it anyway. Fulfilling His calling, bringing glory to God, touching the lives of broken people, it was worth doing no matter the cost. (Note to self: stop telling God I won't.)

In motorcycle safety classes, they talk about something called acceptable risk. The premise is that getting out of bed and starting your day carries risk. Living carries risk. Some things carry more risk than others, and you can do things to raise or lower the risk of the activity. For instance, you can wear a helmet but ride in sneakers, increasing the risk of losing your foot if your bike goes down. Or, you can wear riding boots and lower the risk of losing your foot if your bike goes down. May I just interject, I dress for the wreck, not for the ride.

The point is, following Jesus opens us up to a certain degree of risk. But at the end of the day, are you better for not getting on the motorcycle, if that be God's will for you? I mean, are you better for not serving God, when that be His will for you? We know, the enemy lies in wait. So what. A life paralyzed by fear is not really life, it's death. Be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. Suit up in the armor of God, and do whatever "it" is anyway.

It's worth the risk.

The apple doesn't fall far....

2009-03-07T07:24:00.000-08:00

Blogs are fun. I have some I read daily, because their authors are more inspired than I am and post regularly. I know it's not very interesting to check a blog for days (or weeks) on end only to see the same thing-sorry! One of the things I like about these blogs is reading what walking with God looks like in the lives of sisters whose seasons and callings are different from mine. A new blog I'm following is by a gal who is both like me and different all at the same time-Muffin!

Yep, my daughter Ashley has a new blog you can check out here, The Newlywed's Notebook. She is having the most fun in this season of life, married almost two years already! I can't wait to read what God is showing her about life, marriage and kitchen utensils. If you're a newlywed, an almost-wed, a want-to-be-wed or want to remember what it was like, check out my muffin's blog: and yep, the picture in the banner is from their wedding-aren't they cute!

Twelve Days

2009-02-23T21:51:00.000-08:00

In December we sing a song about the twelve days of Christmas. If I were a lyricist I would write a song about what currently brings me joy-

THE TWELVE DAYS UNTIL DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME!!!!

Yes, that's right, it's the most wonderful time of the year. Nothing says spring time like being blinded at the dinner table because the sun is still high in the sky. Living in SoCal, we don't really have crocus coming up through the melting snow, or robins returning. On my street, we don't even have tulips blooming, because my neighbor, get this, has tulips all year in their garden. How is this possible, even in sunny California? BECAUSE THEY ARE PLASTIC. They have real flowers too, but one bed in their yard is all plastic flowers. Weird. But I digress.

Mark your calendar and sing a little song, break out your Cobians and get a new beach umbrella at Costco, cause spring is almost here!

I Promise (source: God)

2009-01-15T07:27:00.000-08:00

My friend Debbie reminded me that I hadn't blogged anything since November, and that's because I spent December trying to avoid all things technological. I had sort of an electronic meltdown between three blogs, a zillion digital pictures, two new websites to work on and finicky printers and disc burners. Like most of you, December was really busy, so if I had five empty minutes, I wanted something with pages made of paper.

Our women's ministry has also just begun a study in the book of Joshua, which is shaping up for me as one of those books of the Bible that is like a good action movie-lots of fights, things being demolished and the good guys always win. I'm in the teaching rotation so that has kept me from blogging, too. It's a great book to be in for a multitude of reasons, but one that hits me today is the constant example of God's faithfulness. Joshua chapter one lays a great foundation for who God is, what He promises, and how He accomplishes what He intends-when we respond to who He is, what He promises and how He intends to accomplish it. Spurgeon had some neat insight on that in his devotion from "Morning and Evening"-

"Do as thou hast said." 2 Samuel 7:25

"God's promises were never meant to be thrown aside as waste paper; He intended that they should be used. God's gold is not miser's money, but is minted to be traded with. Nothing pleases our Lord better than to see His promises put in circulation; He loves to see His children bring them up to Him, and say, "Lord, do as Thou hast said." We glorify God when we plead His promises. Do you think that God will be any the poorer for giving you the riches He has promised? Do you dream that He will be any the less holy for giving holiness to you? Do you imagine He will be any the less pure for washing you from your sins? He has said "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Faith lays hold upon the promise of pardon, and it does not delay, saying, "This is a precious promise, I wonder if it be true?" but it goes straight to the throne with it, and pleads, "Lord, here is the promise, 'Do as Thou hast said.'" Our Lord replies, "Be it unto thee even as thou wilt." When a Christian grasps a promise, if he do not take it to God, he dishonours Him; but when he hastens to the throne of grace, and cries, "Lord, I have nothing to recommend me but this, 'Thou hast said it;'" then his desire shall be granted. Our heavenly Banker delights to cash His own notes. Never let the promise rust. Draw the word of promise out of its scabbard, and use it with holy violence. Think not that God will be troubled by your importunately reminding Him of His promises. He loves to hear the loud outcries of needy souls. It is His delight to bestow favours. He is more ready to hear than you are to ask. The sun is not weary of shining, nor the fountain of flowing. It is God's nature to keep His promises; therefore go at once to the throne with "Do as Thou hast said."

Are You New?

2008-11-12T07:54:00.000-08:00

From Oswald Chambers:

"If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17

What idea have you of the salvation of your soul? The experience of salvation means that in your actual life things are really altered, you no longer look at things as you used to; your desires are new, old things have lost their power. One of the touchstones of experience is - Has God altered the thing that matters? If you still hanker after the old things, it is absurd to talk about being born from above, you are juggling with yourself. If you are born again, the Spirit of God makes the alteration manifest in your actual life and reasoning, and when the crisis comes you are the most amazed person on earth at the wonderful difference there is in you. There is no possibility of imagining that you did it. It is this complete and amazing alteration that is the evidence that you are a saved soul.
What difference has my salvation and sanctification made? For instance, can I stand in the light of 1 Corinthians 13, or do I have to shuffle? The salvation that is worked out in me by the Holy Ghost emancipates me entirely, and as long as I walk in the light as God is in the light, He sees nothing to censure because His life is working out in every particular, not to my consciousness, but deeper than my consciousness.

Having a Bad Day.

2008-11-06T23:09:00.000-08:00

I love this story. I'll miss Barney and his antics.

A Hymn for Today

2008-11-05T07:32:00.000-08:00

Be Not Afraid

Be not afraid, ’tis I, ’tis I,
Though the storm rages wild;
In thy sore need I’m passing by,
Off’ring to help thee, hear thy cry—
Be of good cheer, My child.”
“Be not afraid, ’tis I,
Be not afraid, ’tis I”;
Though wild winds blowing,
My bark o’erflowing,
God rules in earth and sky:
“Be not afraid, ’tis I,
Be not afraid, ’tis I”;
The storm can’t harm my trusting soul,
For Jesus walks the waves that roll;
His voice I hear, which calms my fear,
’Tis I, be not afraid.”
Be not afraid, ’mid pressing foes,
Jesus is watching near;
He all thy deepest sorrow knows,
Walked every step thy pathway goes;
Trust Him, then; do not fear.
Be not afraid,
He knows thy heart,
And He doth care for thee;
Of all thy grief He shares a part,
Stands by thy side,
He’ll not depart,
If thou wilt faithful be.
Be not afraid,
O helpless one,
Trust in His boundless grace;
Say from the heart,
“Thy will be done,
Finish the work Thou hast begun,
Bring me to see Thy face.”

Words: Barney E Warren (1911)

Vote

2008-10-30T08:17:00.000-07:00

"In the end God alone can save a nation. When God chooses to work in a nation, He always does it through the individual choice of people."
Author Mary Farrar

Oh, No!

2008-10-27T08:29:00.000-07:00

I saw the most alarming item in our church bulletin yesterday: Daylight Savings Time ends this week. Words fail in the attempt to describe how great is the cloud of despair that gathers on the horizon. Sigh.

I've tried to ignore the way October is speeding to a close. But alas, it can be denied no more, and with great trepidation I acknowledge my least favorite time of the year is just around the corner. So I am buying some new jammie sweats today and the giant vat of hot chocolate from Costco in what will surely be a vain effort to find comfort. Good thing I don't live in Minnesota.

I should have seen it coming, since my yearly fall habits have begun to creep in. Some of them are....

I have begun to crave bologna. This stems from the fond childhood memory in which we drove to the only truly cold place nearby, Palomar Mountain, to play in the five minutes of snow that falls yearly. We would always take a thermos of hot chocolate and bologna on white bread with mustard. If you add Frito's, well, that's just a little slice of heaven.
I baked bread. If it gets dark before 7:00 p.m., I bake bread. Only bread. It had been so long since I baked bread that when I went to lock the Kitchen Aid, I forgot which one was the lock and which one was the power. Did you know that when you turn a mixer on full speed and all the ingredients are dry, you get to clean the whole kitchen and wash Mr. Knightley? Now you know.
I have been cleaning frantically. I never spring clean, as soon as I start to feel like it's spring my goal is to be outside every waking moment. A California spring and summer with every door and window open constantly produces a house that needs to be frantically cleaned.

So I will try to take comfort in a clean house, clean dog and warm bread. And really, though I fully expect to have some degree of my annual fall funk, I will rejoice and be glad. You know why?

Genesis 1:14-19 Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; ..........And God saw that it was good.

God made it this way, and He saw that it was good. When God says it's good, well, doggone it, it is good. Because He is good, and everything He does is good, I will call it good as well. Now, pass the Frito's.

Don't Forfeit Your Peace

2008-10-03T09:13:00.000-07:00

Don'tcha just love Elisabeth Elliot?

It would not be possible to exaggerate the importance hymns and spiritual songs have played in my spiritual growth. One of the latter, familiar to most of you, has this line: "O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer" (Joseph Scriven). Prayerlessness is one of many ways by which we can easily forfeit the peace God wants us to have. I've been thinking of some other ways. Here's a sampling:
Resent God's ways.
Worry as much as possible.
Pray only about things you can't manage by yourself.
Refuse to accept what God gives.
Look for peace elsewhere than in Him.
Try to rule your own life.
Doubt God's word.
Carry all your cares.

If you'd rather not forfeit your peace, here are eight ways to find it (antidotes to the above eight):
"Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them" (Psalm 119:165 KJV). "Circumstances are the expression of God's will," wrote Bishop Handley Moule.
"Don't worry about anything whatever" (Philippians 4:6, PHILLIPS).
"In everything make your requests known to God in prayer and petition with thanksgiving. Then the peace of God... will guard your hearts" (Philippians 4:6,7, NEB).
"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me... and you will find rest" (Matthew 11:29, NIV).
"Peace is my parting gift to you, my own peace, such as the world cannot give" (John 14 27, NEB).
"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts" (Colossians 3:15, NIV).
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing" (Romans 15:13, KJV).
"Cast all your cares on him for you are his charge" (1 Peter 5:7, NEB).

"Grant, O Lord my God, that I may never fall away in success or in failure; that I may not be prideful in prosperity nor dejected in adversity. Let me rejoice only in what unites us and sorrow only in what separates us. May I strive to please no one or fear to displease anyone except Yourself. May I seek always the things that are eternal and never those that are only temporal. May I shun any joy that is without You and never seek any that is beside You. O Lord, may I delight in any work I do for You and tire of any rest that is apart from You. My God, let me direct my heart towards You, and in my failings, always repent with a purpose of amendment."
--St. Thomas Aquinas

Looking Up

2008-09-26T21:39:00.000-07:00

Mark 14:62- Jesus said, "I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven."

Buh-Bye

2008-09-22T08:44:00.001-07:00

Summer is officially over at 8:44 this morning, which happens to be the time I am typing this. It is fall, a season that brings out the best and worst of me.

I like fall, for some reason this time of year always feels more like New Years to me than January. Maybe that comes from being five and walking to school with my mom in matching mother-daughter dresses for the first day of kindergarten. The most significant thing I learned that year-paste tasted good. September is the month of new, new school supplies, clothes and schedules. As I grew up and became a mom myself, my life revolved around the "new" in my daughters life: her new school supplies, her new clothes, her new running shoes for cross country and track, her new schedule.

She's married now, so I'm back to my own season of "new" again. New ministry, projects, and studies. And since I'm on the far side of mid forties this year, a new physical weirdness about once a week. It's an exciting season, full of promise and expectations of coming fruit from all this "new". But alas, there is the "old" competing for it's existence, the stuff I wanted to do and didn't get to, the stuff I do and don't want to lay aside, and this is the part of fall that brings out the worst in me. Daily the battle rages as I try to hold on to old while reaching for new. It's September 22 and I'm getting tired already. Could the fall funk be just around the corner?

So on this day when the length of daylight is equal to the length of darkness or some science thing that defines an equinox, (I heard it from a weather man when I was washing dishes, sorry, I didn't take notes) I'm stopping and taking inventory. "Hitting the ground running" isn't something I want as a defining statement of every morning. I've said it before, we don't make time, God makes time, you and I take time or we don't. We use time or we don't. We spend time or we don't but only God creates time. Since God made it we should at least use some of what He made to ask Him what He wants us to do with today. I know, I know, you've heard it all before, but consider how longsuffering and loving God is to tell us once again:
Psalm 127:1-2 "Unless the Lord builds the house,They labor in vain who build it;Unless the Lord guards the city,The watchman stays awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early,To sit up late,To eat the bread of sorrows;For so He gives His beloved sleep."
And this:
Psalm 139:16-17-16 "Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written,The days fashioned for me,When as yet there were none of them.
How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!How great is the sum of them!"

This day was fashioned for me, and one for you, too. Wave goodbye to summer and welcome fall with a fresh resolve to say every day "This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad! (and ask Your input on how to spend it, Lord!)

Spiritual Health by Dr. Warren Wiersbe

2008-09-18T09:28:00.000-07:00

I just got done reading about a million horrible stories on every major news outlet on the Internet. This is something I do the same way I eat potato chips: I start out tasting them but pretty soon I'm just plowing through them mindlessly. Today, as often happens with the potato chips, I feel sick over what I just took in and how much time I spent doing it. Having my head full of this stuff and the emotions it provokes is NOT what I needed to fill up with today, especially in light of some stuff on the days agenda. I needed not to be reminded of how vain, shallow and wicked man is, but rather how Holy, Sovereign and Perfect God and His ways are. So now I need cleansing and a nutritious meal, graciously provided by God through Warren Wiersbe's book "Prayers, Praise and Promises".

Read Psalm 105:1-4
Nutritionists remind us that we must have the minimum daily requirements of vitamins and minerals if we are to be physically healthy. Similarly, David gives God's minimum daily requirements we need if we are to be spiritually healthy.
The first requirement is praise. "Oh, give thanks to the Lord! . . . Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him" (vv. 1,2). Praise means giving thanks for all that God is, all that He does and all that He shares with us. Praise is rejoicing in the presence of the Lord because of who He is and because we are His children.
Prayer also is essential. "Call upon His name" (v. 1). We call upon the Lord when we need strength and grace and help in a time of need. And He always hears us.
Witnessing is another element. "Make known His deeds among the peoples.... Talk of all His wondrous works. Glory in His holy name" (vv. 1-3). If we only praise and pray but don't present the Lord to other people, our lives will become narrow, shallow and selfish. We need to tell others that He is the only Savior.
The final requirement is seeking His face. "Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His face evermore!" (v. 4). In other words, live in the light of God's countenance. Live with the smile of God upon your life and seek to please Him alone.
* * *
Just as your physical health requires care, so does your spiritual health. Are you taking proper care of your soul? God's minimum daily requirements help you maintain a healthy spiritual life. Make sure you meet your daily minimum. It will please Him and bring glory to Him.

The Lust for Security

2008-08-29T08:14:00.000-07:00

From Elisabeth Elliot......

Once we have set ourselves to be pilgrims and strangers on the earth, which is what Christians are meant to be, it is incongruous for us to continue to insist upon the sort of security the world tries to guarantee. Our security lies not in protecting ourselves from suffering, but in putting ourselves fully into the hands of God. The desire for physical and material security makes us sly and hard. No. We must be like little children. The child in its father's arms is not worried. It lies quietly at rest because it trusts its father.

We disobey sometimes because we say it is impossible to do what God asks. Impossible? Perhaps what we mean is impossible to do that and keep our security, impossible to obey without tremendous cost, or at least tremendous risk. Where, then, will we find safety? Is it likely that we will find it elsewhere than in the arms of the Father?
Teach me to rest in your everlasting arms. Make me know that all other security is illusion.

Christ-Awareness

2008-08-20T12:08:00.000-07:00

More Chambers on rest. . .

and I will give you rest —Matthew 11:28

Whenever anything begins to disintegrate your life with Jesus Christ, turn to Him at once, asking Him to re-establish your rest. Never allow anything to remain in your life that is causing the unrest. Think of every detail of your life that is causing the disintegration as something to fight against, not as something you should allow to remain. Ask the Lord to put awareness of Himself in you, and your self-awareness will disappear. Then He will be your all in all. Beware of allowing your self-awareness to continue, because slowly but surely it will awaken self-pity, and self-pity is satanic. Don’t allow yourself to say, "Well, they have just misunderstood me, and this is something over which they should be apologizing to me; I’m sure I must have this cleared up with them already." Learn to leave others alone regarding this. Simply ask the Lord to give you Christ-awareness, and He will steady you until your completeness in Him is absolute.

A complete life is the life of a child. When I am fully conscious of my awareness of Christ, there is something wrong. It is the sick person who really knows what health is. A child of God is not aware of the will of God because he is the will of God. When we have deviated even slightly from the will of God, we begin to ask, "Lord, what is your will?" A child of God never prays to be made aware of the fact that God answers prayer, because he is so restfully certain that God always answers prayer.
If we try to overcome our self-awareness through any of our own commonsense methods, we will only serve to strengthen our self-awareness tremendously. Jesus says, "Come to Me . . . and I will give you rest," that is, Christ-awareness will take the place of self-awareness. Wherever Jesus comes He establishes rest— the rest of the completion of activity in our lives that is never aware of itself.

Self-Awareness

2008-08-19T08:29:00.000-07:00

Come to Me . . . —Matthew 11:28

God intends for us to live a well-rounded life in Christ Jesus, but there are times when that life is attacked from the outside. Then we tend to fall back into self-examination, a habit that we thought was gone. Self-awareness is the first thing that will upset the completeness of our life in God, and self-awareness continually produces a sense of struggling and turmoil in our lives. Self-awareness is not sin, and it can be produced by nervous emotions or by suddenly being dropped into a totally new set of circumstances. Yet it is never God’s will that we should be anything less than absolutely complete in Him. Anything that disturbs our rest in Him must be rectified at once, and it is not rectified by being ignored but only by coming to Jesus Christ. If we will come to Him, asking Him to produce Christ-awareness in us, He will always do it, until we fully learn to abide in Him.

Never allow anything that divides or destroys the oneness of your life with Christ to remain in your life without facing it. Beware of allowing the influence of your friends or your circumstances to divide your life. This only serves to sap your strength and slow your spiritual growth. Beware of anything that can split your oneness with Him, causing you to see yourself as separate from Him. Nothing is as important as staying right spiritually. And the only solution is a very simple one— "Come to Me . . . ." The intellectual, moral, and spiritual depth of our reality as a person is tested and measured by these words. Yet in every detail of our lives where we are found not to be real, we would rather dispute the findings than come to Jesus.

One or the Other

2008-08-04T09:18:00.000-07:00

Over on "Revive Our Hearts" Nancy Leigh DeMoss is beginning a series on being a woman of discretion. As a Christian woman you, like me, may believe you are a woman of discretion. Your skirts aren't too short, your tops aren't too low, you don't use certain manners of speech. As always, what we are isn't just how we behave, it's what is in our hearts. Through this series Nancy will contrast the wise woman with the foolish woman, and show us how our heart attitude can be like the immoral woman of Proverbs 7.

Sounds fun, huh? Real feel good stuff? Maybe not, but in her usual warm, encouraging style Nancy shares some hard truths with grace and compassion. Without the conviction of sin we won't know the joy of forgiveness, without the exposing of lies we won't know the freedom of truth. So hit the link and be blessed by the opening session of this life changing series "Becoming a Woman of Discretion".
http://www.reviveourhearts.com/radio/roh/today.php?pid=9981

Reading Well Pt 3

2008-07-24T07:40:00.000-07:00

My husband recently went through Warren Wiersbe's book "On Being a Servant of God" with the other pastors at our church. I always like when the guys are going through a book, because he shares not only his insight with me but the general insights of the group, and I get a ton from that. I've read this book before, he's read this book before, and every time we look at it God does a fresh work in us for the current season and situations in our life.

In Wiersbes book he addresses some myths about reading, and one of them is that "reading books will of itself guarantee growth and success". He goes on to say that reading is only the key that opens the door to the vault, and it is in assimilating what your read, relating it to what you already know and of course, practicing it that makes reading anything profitable.

This was never proven to be true more than when I worked in a Christian bookstore. It was exciting to hook people up with good material and hear later how God used it to minister and bring change in their relationship with Him and situations. It was also grieving to see other people come back time after time for more of the same, in a sense "always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. (2 Timothy 3:7) They were filled with the principles found in good material, but never allowed the heart work of God that would have allowed them to walk in ways that would bear fruit.

This was, in my experience, mostly done by women, and mostly with relational issues. Be it with husbands, children or others, they came with the perception that a book on their issue would help them deal with the other persons faults in a way that would bring a solution pleasing to them. Rarely did they admit any culpability and if they did, it was excused as being a response to the other persons sin. They would go through books like I go through a bag of potato chips. And they would never change.

I often equate this idea of assimilating what I read to watering a plant. Because I move every ten minutes, I have my favorite plants in pots so I can take them with me when my landlord wakes up and decides to do something different with my house. I water these plants with a watering can, and it is easy to see how they are absorbing the water. Sometimes, if my dogs are being particularly cute, I'm watching them and not the water going on to the plant. Then I look and see that I have poured the entire contents of the can onto a single pot when I should have used only a quarter of the can. Water overflows and runs down the side, wasted. But when my dogs are not distracting me, I carefully watch the water go into the pot, slowly, allowing it to absorb into the soil. In this slow soaking, the plant receives all the benefits of the watering. Reading should be done in the same way.

Like wasted water, time in a book can be wasted when we overfill ourselves before we absorb what we have read. We don't seem to be thinking, pondering people these days. We live in every moment with an eye toward the next one, where do I have to be next, what else do I have to do today? That's why I'm a big advocate of rereading books, or chapters of books. It helps me in two ways: the returning to the material gives opportunity for a slow, continual soaking of the nourishment and also gives me a rule to gage where I am in relation to the first time I read it. Did I receive it, am I walking in it?

I decorate with books. I do this primarily because I have a bunch of books and not enough shelf space. So my cool classics like "Daily Light", my Vance Havner and Oswald Chambers books sit on end tables, the piano and the mantle, yes, even my bathroom counter. While they look neat, they are of no value unless someone picks them up and reads them, taking in and living out what is contained between the covers. Is this a myth you have been living with? Do you think because you've read something you have received all the nourishment it contained? Is there a book you've read and what you got was really more like a snack than a sumptuous repast? Perhaps it's time to revisit that book and dwell there awhile, allowing it to soak in and produce abundant fruit.

Reading Well Pt. 2

2008-07-09T22:06:00.000-07:00

Among the great books I’ve read by a contemporary author is just about anything by Warren Wiersbe. From his “Be” series commentaries to his compilations of Christian biographies, I dig this guy. His commentaries are full of application for the New Testament believer, while giving plenty of insight and context to literal interpretation of the scriptures. As a biographer, he never fails to make even the super-est of super saints human, real and inspirational.

Among my favorite Wiersbe books are the ones that he has written regarding Christian service. “Ten Power Principles” is a great one, and of particular note is “On Being a Servant of God”. Written for the ministry worker, it holds application for anyone who walks with God, since each of us have a “good work” we were created for. In this book is a fine chapter on reading.

In another of his books, he exhorts us to not just be buyers of books but readers of books. He is clearly a guy who enjoys reading for the sake of doing it, as well as the profit he receives from the material. In “On Being a Servant of God” he takes on, in his typical concise and balanced way, what he calls “several myths about reading that ought to be exposed, slain and interred once and for all.” They are:

You have to be a ‘student’ type to be a reader
Reading books will of itself guarantee growth and success
You have to read many books, especially best sellers to qualify as a good reader
The myth of the big library
The best book myth
The myth of the approved author

Since yesterday I ranted a little about book recommendations, I want to hit a couple of gems from the best book myth. Wiersbe relates how he is frequently asked for a recommendation of the best book on a given subject. He says, “I know what the best books are for me, but I’m afraid I can’t prescribe for everyone else.” In the general sense, I’ve found this to be true. One of the most difficult things I do is put out a recommendation list with ten categories that will be given to a group of women in every stage and season of Christian life. On an individual basis, when asked for the best book on end times, (or any topic) I usually respond with a bunch of questions-who’s it for, are they born again, have they had much teaching on the subject already? What I have found great value in may be completely over the head of someone new to the faith, or someone who has been in a church with a different eschatological position. What’s best for me isn’t the question, what’s best for them is. And by best I mean most helpful to their understanding of God, His word and what they should do with both.

Wierbe goes on to say, “A book is a tool, and the hammer that is just right for me might be much too heavy for the little boy next door. I once gave a book to an associate that I found very useful, and a few years later he gave it back to me. His honest explanation was “I don’t know how to use it.”
I love this thought, that a book is a tool. As I said, the objective of a book should be to help us to know God, His word and what our response should be. It should inform, instruct, inspire us. It should rightly represent God, line up with His word, and show us how to be disciples, followers of Jesus. It is a tool, and when handing a tool to someone, we should ask if they know how to use it. We should be equipped to tell them a little something about it other than “this is a hammer, bang something with it.” In fact, we should ask the Lord if this person even needs to be offered this tool.

My daughter scrapbooks. It is one of the three ways we prove she is not actually my clone. There is nothing about the art of scrap booking that I am capable of, not picking out paper, envisioning page design and certainly not using those funky scissors that make even funkier edges. Those tools in my hands will not produce the results they do in the hands of my daughter. Consider why you recommend a book, who you are recommending it to, and what you can do to help it be a valuable tool. We have opportunity to encourage and equip someone in their relationship with God-make it count.

Reading Well

2008-07-08T18:22:00.000-07:00

My old profile on Know & Believe shed some light on why I was doing a book review blog. When I created That Good Part, I lost the profile and couldn’t figure out how to get it back. Okay, being a technophobe I didn’t really try, and I couldn’t remember everything it said so I let it go.

In a nutshell, it said that I preview books for the Women’s Ministry at Calvary Chapel Vista and do the recommendations at our annual Women’s Retreat, as well as serving our churches current version of a book store. This makes me the logical choice to ask the question, “Hey, what’s a good book?”

On the way to discovering good books, I read an awful lot of bad books. Not necessarily heretical, blasphemous books, although I’ve hit my share of those. Usually they are just lame books, in the sense of the definition found on dictionary.com; Lame: weak; inadequate; unsatisfactory; clumsy. In one way, these are worse than heretical books. Heretical books are like pouring milk on your cereal and having it look like cottage cheese-it is obviously yucky and you throw it away. Lame books are like meals that come to the table looking like something out of a magazine-and they taste that way, too. Bland, tasteless, disappointing. They will, as my mother says, keep body and soul together but they are in no way a sumptuous repast.

There are tons of great books out there, more than I will ever have time to read this side of heaven. They are, however, rarely very popular new books. Sorry. My criteria for a great book and Christian Retailing Magazines criteria for a great book are decidedly different. And that, my book loving friends, is a post for another day.

Today, I beseech you who would recommend what you think is a great book to reflect a moment on the process. Just a couple questions before you recommend it:

Did you read the whole book?
Did you pray before you did?
Did it change your walk with God or only stir up your emotions?
Are you still living it?
When you read it, did you ask the questions “who would this be good for, or bad for?”
Did you ask “Was this book just for me to learn from, or would the Lord have me recommend it at all?”

In the next couple days, as the Lord allows, I want to share a couple insights from Warren Wiersbe and others on the subject of profitable reading. Since I don’t know any one with time to waste, I can only assume you want to choose well the books you invest both money and time in so join me for a little summer series on “Reading Well.”

Devo-Not the Band

2008-06-19T07:49:00.000-07:00

" . . do you love Me? . . . Tend My sheep —John 21:16"

Jesus did not say to make converts to your way of thinking, but He said to look after His sheep, to see that they get nourished in the knowledge of Him. We consider what we do in the way of Christian work as service, yet Jesus Christ calls service to be what we are to Him, not what we do for Him. Discipleship is based solely on devotion to Jesus Christ, not on following after a particular belief or doctrine. "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate . . . , he cannot be My disciple" ( Luke 14:26 ). In this verse, there is no argument and no pressure from Jesus to follow Him; He is simply saying, in effect, "If you want to be My disciple, you must be devoted solely to Me." A person touched by the Spirit of God suddenly says, "Now I see who Jesus is!"— that is the source of devotion.

Today we have substituted doctrinal belief for personal belief, and that is why so many people are devoted to causes and so few are devoted to Jesus Christ. People do not really want to be devoted to Jesus, but only to the cause He started. Jesus Christ is deeply offensive to the educated minds of today, to those who only want Him to be their Friend, and who are unwilling to accept Him in any other way. Our Lord’s primary obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of people— the saving of people was the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father. If I am devoted solely to the cause of humanity, I will soon be exhausted and come to the point where my love will waver and stumble. But if I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity, even though people may treat me like a "doormat." The secret of a disciple’s life is devotion to Jesus Christ, and the characteristic of that life is its seeming insignificance and its meekness. Yet it is like a grain of wheat that "falls into the ground and dies"— it will spring up and change the entire landscape ( John 12:24 ).

Get With the Flow

2008-06-13T08:23:00.000-07:00

So here I am, having my daily dose of Chamber's, when I hit this little gem...
"The one true mark of a saint of God is the inner creativity that flows from being totally surrendered to Jesus Christ. In the life of a saint there is this amazing Well, which is a continual Source of original life. The Spirit of God is a Well of water springing up perpetually fresh. A saint realizes that it is God who engineers his circumstances; consequently there are no complaints, only unrestrained surrender to Jesus. Never try to make your experience a principle for others, but allow God to be as creative and original with others as He is with you."

Here's where this totally rocks. I was just talking with a gal who thinks she is in a difficult situation. She thinks anyone who enters into a similar situation will find it as difficult. Because it is. In her experience.

I have been in her situation-it was a blast. I had a few rough days, but by and large my experience was great. Now here's the contradiction: she would give you four hundred reasons why my situation was different and therefore not difficult, but should you say "I'm thinking of entering into the situation" she would give you four hundred reasons why your experience will be just like hers. *What*!

In reality, she is having difficulties, like we all do, with the way that God has chosen to work in and through her life. It's one thing to say that God is in control and has allowed something but it's another to submit to it. My pastor calls this the need for our theology to meet our reality.

I dig this thought-look at it again, "inner creativity that flows from being totally surrendered to Jesus Christ. In the life of a saint there is this amazing Well, which is a continual Source of original life. The Spirit of God is a Well of water springing up perpetually fresh". Next to John 3:16 I think one of the most memorized Bible verses is Proverbs 3:5,6-you know, the whole trust in the Lord/lean not on your own understanding thing. See, even I remember it. Yet I am stunned think how often I live in complete contradiction to this, quenching the creative flow because I am not leaning on my own understanding, I'm fighting for it. My experience has become a principle, the way it is for me and will be for everyone else.

Dude, it's grace. His grace is what comes from that endless well, poured out by the Spirit in whatever your situation is. Don't let the excuse of "difficult" cap that well, and don't be the cap on anyone else's well.

"But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." James 1:4

Habits

2008-06-09T08:50:00.001-07:00

No, not nun dresses. It has been widely reported that it takes thirty day to make or break a habit. I was annoyed lately to discover that it usually take me thirty weeks, while it seems to take my husband thirty seconds.

We both take vitamin stuff, and he recently had to change the order in which he takes said vitamins. The day after he realized this change was necessary, he never reached for the other bottle first again. If you wonder why I would notice such a thing, in fact, keep track of such a thing, well, that's a post for another day.

We moved into a different house just about a year ago. I seem to have to move a lot, so one would think I was used to adapting to new surroundings. Not so. Every day, for nearly a year, I have banged my hand on a door jam at least once reaching for a light switch that is not there. It's on the other side of the doorway in this house.

I want to blame age but my husband is older than I am so it can't be that. I like to think I have a lot of important things on my mind and can't remember trivial things but my husband's a pastor and has way more important things on his mind. In reality, my brain is a sieve and a fair amount of information seems to drain out and my husband apparently has a mind like a steel trap. Sigh.

Those habits matter very little in the scope of eternity. Instead of moving the light switch I've decided to file this under the "Nobody Cares" category in my head. That is an increasingly large category where things, in the vast scope of time that I will be in Heaven with Jesus, nobody in their right mind would care about. You know, the stuff that we get all in a knot about, that next week you'd be hard pressed to even remember, let alone still be in a knot over. Nobody cares. Nobody should care, at least not enough that you find yourself ranting. This "NC" category is not a despondent, woe-is-me kind of nobody cares, but rather a dismissive, get-away-you-trivial-thing type of nobody cares. It ain't worth it.

There are habits I do want to care about that will prove profitable there, since they will be the things that make me more like Him while I'm here. Like these:

Put on the armor of light-Romans 13:12

Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts-Romans 13:14

Put off, concerning your former conduct....and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness-Ephesians 4:22-24

Put on the whole armor of God-Ephesians 6:11

But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection-Colossians 3:14.

That's worth caring about. That's worth the effort. That's what matters in the scope of eternity.

Great Quote

2008-06-05T05:00:00.000-07:00

From Warren Wiersbe:

"I don't recall too many chapel messages from my years as a seminary student, but Vance Havner gave a message that has stayed with me and often encouraged me. Speaking from Heb 11, he told us that because Moses was a man of faith, he was able to "see the invisible, choose the imperishable, and do the impossible." I needed that message then and I still need it today."

The Never-forsaking God

2008-06-04T08:34:00.000-07:00

I only have about three original thoughts in my head today and I need to save them for another project-I hope you're encouraged and challenged by Chambers today.....

"He Himself has said, ’I will never leave you nor forsake you’ —Hebrews 13:5

What line of thinking do my thoughts take? Do I turn to what God says or to my own fears? Am I simply repeating what God says, or am I learning to truly hear Him and then to respond after I have heard what He says? "For He Himself has said, ’I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: ’The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’ " ( Hebrews 13:5-6 ).

"I will never leave you . . ."— not for any reason; not my sin, selfishness, stubbornness, nor waywardness. Have I really let God say to me that He will never leave me? If I have not truly heard this assurance of God, then let me listen again.

"I will never . . . forsake you." Sometimes it is not the difficulty of life but the drudgery of it that makes me think God will forsake me. When there is no major difficulty to overcome, no vision from God, nothing wonderful or beautiful— just the everyday activities of life— do I hear God’s assurance even in these?

We have the idea that God is going to do some exceptional thing— that He is preparing and equipping us for some extraordinary work in the future. But as we grow in His grace we find that God is glorifying Himself here and now, at this very moment. If we have God’s assurance behind us, the most amazing strength becomes ours, and we learn to sing, glorifying Him even in the ordinary days and ways of life."

Our Careful Unbelief

2008-05-24T10:11:00.000-07:00

". . . do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on —Matthew 6:25"

Jesus summed up commonsense carefulness in the life of a disciple as unbelief. If we have received the Spirit of God, He will squeeze right through our lives, as if to ask, "Now where do I come into this relationship, this vacation you have planned, or these new books you want to read?" And He always presses the point until we learn to make Him our first consideration. Whenever we put other things first, there is confusion.

". . . do not worry about your life . . . ." Don’t take the pressure of your provision upon yourself. It is not only wrong to worry, it is unbelief; worrying means we do not believe that God can look after the practical details of our lives, and it is never anything but those details that worry us. Have you ever noticed what Jesus said would choke the Word He puts in us? Is it the devil? No— "the cares of this world" (MatthewMatthew 13:22 ). It is always our little worries. We say, "I will not trust when I cannot see"— and that is where unbelief begins. The only cure for unbelief is obedience to the Spirit.
The greatest word of Jesus to His disciples is abandon.

LOL Part 2

2008-05-21T18:47:00.000-07:00

These guys were laughing out loud!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24765324/

LOL

2008-05-21T08:34:00.000-07:00

Our pastor recently included a bunch of slang terms and their definitions in a study (do you still call it slang or is there a new word for that, too?). I still use a bunch of old ones like dig it, chick, and rocks. My daughter, Muffin, and I decided that we dig "boss" and want to bring it back. I have no understanding of the current text abbreviations, except LOL which I hope really means laughing out loud and some mean kid didn't snow me on it's true meaning.

I have a laugh you can hear down the street-sorry. If something strikes me as funny, and most things do whether you intend them to or not, you definitely know what I thought about it. I have a friend who is a snorter, it doesn't take much for her to rip a good snort when she laughs. I snort as well, but usually in sarcastic derision. I am not known for having a poker face, so the concept of having to tell someone what my reaction is (LOL) is totally foreign.

I read a variety of blogs, and this morning I read something that really struck me. Lately I have run across the statement by some Christian that goes something like this-"I don't want to be known for what I am against." I get the deeper philosophical-bone-chewing point behind this statement, but I'm just telling you I don't have a problem telling you what I'm against.

I do agree though, that since Jesus said people would know us by our love for one another we should take seriously the charge to reveal to the world and each other what we are for. And what we are for is not often reflected by joyous, rockin', fist pumpin', shout out kind of love. I thought what this guy said regarding Psalm 126 was boss-

Psalm 126:1-2 "When the LORD brought back the captives to Zion, we were like men who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them."

"Wow, that is sick. They were like men who dreamed. Their mouths were filled with laughter. When is the last time you heard a non-Christian say, "I'm not a Christian but you have to admit they sure do laugh more than anyone I know. The church is so full of laughter." I've never heard that."

So go ahead and snort. Laugh out loud enough that someone doesn't need you to text your reaction. Let those around you say "Dude, their God has totally hooked them up".

sim·pli·fy

2008-05-20T08:02:00.000-07:00

"To make less complex or complicated; make plainer or easier: to simplify a problem."

I once took a job that was suppose to be a no-brainer, part time deal, and promptly found myself in the position of in-charge-of-everything. This actually happened to me more than once. In this case, it was a business in which people with good intentions had driven it into a pit. One of the reasons for this was the systems they used internally to track and process stuff. There were folders for folders, files for files, most things were done not once but three different ways-for "backup". This wasn't a complex business, yet in their attempt to be efficient, they were completely ineffective.

Charles Hummel (no relation to us French Hommels) wrote a great book called "Tyranny of the Urgent" in which he makes the important distinction between efficient and effective. Read the book, it will be an extremely effective use of your time. The point is, it is possible to hold to a system and do it efficiently, yet have the system be totally ineffective for obtaining your goal. That was the case in this business.

The first thing I did was get a trash can. The trash can is your friend. Really. It took about two weeks for me to figure out what they were trying to keep track of and why, and five minutes to consolidate it into five folders in one file drawer.
Lesson One: Life is as complicated as you make it.
Lesson Two: God has a trash can for you.

Here's what God thinks you need to do today:
Deut 10:12-14 "And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord?"

Here's how Jesus told you to do it:
John 15:4-6 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."

So here's a good prayer for this morning:
Ps 5:3 My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up.
Ps 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.
Ps 119:133 Direct my steps by Your word, And let no iniquity have dominion over me.
Ps 25:5 Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day.
Ps 143:10 Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness.
Ps 86:12 I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart,And I will glorify Your name forevermore.

Now take out the trash.

Slow Down

2008-05-08T08:21:00.000-07:00

From the priceless little book "If" by Amy Carmichael.

"Perhaps prayer often needs to be followed by a little pause, that we may have time to open our hearts to that for which we have prayed. We often rush from prayer to prayer without waiting for the word within, which says, "I have heard you, My child."

Lighten Your Load

2008-04-21T08:44:00.000-07:00

"What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, o what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy-laden, cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our Refuge; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer.
In His arms He'll take and shield thee; thou wilt find a solace there. "

Hymn by Joseph Scriven

Interrupted Plans

2008-04-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

Wisdom from Elisabeth Elliot

We like things to go smoothly and as planned. Very often unexpected things intervene, and our plans go awry. We think we've got "problems." There is another level at which everything that happens is being engineered. "God has no problems," Corrie ten Boom said, "only plans." When ours are interrupted, his are not. His plans are proceeding exactly as scheduled, moving us always (including those minutes or hours or years which seem most useless or wasted or unendurable) "toward the goal of true maturity" (Rom 12:2 JBP). Believe God. Turn the interruptions over to Him. He is at the controls.

Take Every Thought Captive....

2008-04-08T11:28:00.000-07:00

From A.W. Tozer

"Distractions must be conquered or they will conquer us. So let us cultivate simplicity; let us want fewer things; let us walk in the Spirit; let us fill our minds with the Word of God and our hearts with praise. In that way we can live in peace even in such a distraught world as this. "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you." The Set of the Sail, 129-132.

What I Did Last Weekend

2008-04-03T12:18:00.001-07:00

Me and my husband (the amazing Pastor Dave) in the middle, along with the other leadership of Calvary Chapel Vista Motorcycle Fellowship. Mike (in the foreground) cooked us an amazing biker breakfast. We make Oscar park his bike on the end because it's not a Harley. We're praying for him. Check out our new blog over at http://www.ccvmf.blogspot.com/. Also pictured-Traci with Mike and Sonia with Oscar.

Get Busy

2008-04-03T09:47:00.001-07:00

"We are too busy to pray, and so we are too busy to have power. We have a great deal of activity, but we accomplish little; many services but few conversions; much machinery but few results." R. A. Torrey

Get Out of the Way

2008-03-24T07:20:00.000-07:00

From "My Utmost for His Highest"

Decreasing for His Purpose

He must increase, but I must decrease —John 3:30

If you become a necessity to someone else’s life, you are out of God’s will. As a servant, your primary responsibility is to be a "friend of the bridegroom" (John 3:29 ). When you see a person who is close to grasping the claims of Jesus Christ, you know that your influence has been used in the right direction. And when you begin to see that person in the middle of a difficult and painful struggle, don’t try to prevent it, but pray that his difficulty will grow even ten times stronger, until no power on earth or in hell could hold him away from Jesus Christ. Over and over again, we try to be amateur providences in someone’s life. We are indeed amateurs, coming in and actually preventing God’s will and saying, "This person should not have to experience this difficulty." Instead of being friends of the Bridegroom, our sympathy gets in the way. One day that person will say to us, "You are a thief; you stole my desire to follow Jesus, and because of you I lost sight of Him."
Beware of rejoicing with someone over the wrong thing, but always look to rejoice over the right thing. ". . . the friend of the bridegroom . . . rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease" ( John 3:29-30 ). This was spoken with joy, not with sadness-at last they were to see the Bridegroom! And John said this was his joy. It represents a stepping aside, an absolute removal of the servant, never to be thought of again.
Listen intently with your entire being until you hear the Bridegroom’s voice in the life of another person. And never give any thought to what devastation, difficulties, or sickness it will bring. Just rejoice with godly excitement that His voice has been heard. You may often have to watch Jesus Christ wreck a life before He saves it (see Matthew 10:34 ).

Power Source

2008-03-20T08:45:00.000-07:00

vigour [ˈvigə] noun:strength and energy

"The vigour of our spiritual life will be in exact proportion to the place held by the Bible in our life and thoughts."
George Muller

On Solid Ground

2008-03-14T09:00:00.000-07:00

"Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."

1 Corinthians 10:12

It is a curious fact, that there is such a thing as being proud of grace. A man says, "I have great faith, I shall not fall; poor little faith may, but I never shall." "I have fervent love," says another, "I can stand, there is no danger of my going astray." He who boasts of grace has little grace to boast of. Some who do this imagine that their graces can keep them, knowing not that the stream must flow constantly from the fountain head, or else the brook will soon be dry. If a continuous stream of oil comes not to the lamp, though it burn brightly to-day, it will smoke to-morrow, and noxious will be its scent. Take heed that thou gloriest not in thy graces, but let all thy glorying and confidence be in Christ and His strength, for only so canst thou be kept from falling. Be much more in prayer. Spend longer time in holy adoration. Read the Scriptures more earnestly and constantly. Watch your lives more carefully. Live nearer to God. Take the best examples for your pattern. Let your conversation be redolent of heaven. Let your hearts be perfumed with affection for men's souls. So live that men may take knowledge of you that you have been with Jesus, and have learned of Him; and when that happy day shall come, when He whom you love shall say, "Come up higher," may it be your happiness to hear Him say, "Thou hast fought a good fight, thou hast finished thy course, and henceforth there is laid up for thee a crown of righteousness which fadeth not away." On, Christian, with care and caution! On, with holy fear and trembling! On, with faith and confidence in Jesus alone, and let your constant petition be, "Uphold me according to Thy word." He is able, and He alone, "To keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy."

Nothing New Under the Sun

2008-03-09T22:35:00.000-07:00

"It is a remarkable fact that all the heresies which have arisen in the Christian Church have had a decided tendency to 'dishonor God and to flatter man.'" Charles Spurgeon

Feeling Spiritual

2008-03-03T14:09:00.000-08:00

The most significant information I received in the last week was this wonderful truth- Sunday, March 9.....DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME BEGINS!

Every year I experience what is whispered about in my house as the "Fall Funk". No, it is not a season of the year where we have a Soul Train retrospective, it is the descent of doom that arrives as we "fall back". Most years it only lasts a month or so, the year my daughter went off to college it lasted three months but this year-well, there are no good words to describe this year.

I've tried every remedy I've ever heard of and made up a few, but the real truth is that since last October, I have been in a dry toast, beige clothes, elevator muzak state. Desert time is a weak description. My husband, the wise, all-knowing Dave, informs me that the reasons for this are more than the usual fall funk, and after some consideration, I would agree. What those reasons are doesn't matter today in light of the fact that NEXT WEEK IS DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME!

Why does this delight me so? Because I haven't been feeling very spiritual. Hence the dog pictures. Oh, don't get alarmed, this is me-repeat it with me now: It's not about the way you feel, it's just the facts, ma'am. But when you tasted the sweetness of communion with the Father, when you've lived in the daily awareness that the ministry you do is by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, that when that funk comes it is like starving. The song "I'm Desperate For You" takes on a whole new meaning and you would pay good money just to feel.

Maybe you've never had a funk, you can't relate and you're sure my problem is sin. Not this time. Maybe you have one now, or you've never really lived without a funk. The fact of the matter is that most great men of God in the Bible spent some time in a funk, for a variety of reasons and you know what? Every funk has its end. That's right, one day, you wake up and the sense that God has said "That's enough" is a reality. For the Christian there is this guarantee-There is no room for funks in Heaven. So it may not be till then, but no funk lasts forever.

This particular one ended for me when I opened my church bulletin and saw next week was DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME! I can't tell you why, but I felt the weight come off my chest where it had sat crushing me for months. The promise of being able to stay awake past 6:00 p.m., long days without overcast skies, finally, finally my house might actually get warm again, and this years funk was gone. Go figure.

By the way-despite how I have felt since last October, the fact is God has been as He always is. Holy, Just, Faithful, Sovereign, Forgiving, Merciful, God-Who-Sees, God-Who-Provides, Fortress, Strong Tower, Everlasting, Father, and so much more. I have never doubted that. I have never forgotten that. I may not have always felt that, but that doesn't change the facts....

2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

And that's a fact.

For No Good Reason

2008-03-01T08:47:00.000-08:00

Alistair and Mister Knightley

Andrew Murray on Prayer

2008-02-17T12:48:00.000-08:00

"Beware in your prayers, above everything else, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do. Expect unexpected things, ‘above all that we ask or think’. Each time, before you Intercede, be quiet first, and worship God in His glory. Think of what He can do, and how He delights to hear the prayers of His redeemed people. Think of your place and privilege in Christ, and expect great things!"

Wisdom From Tozer

2008-02-06T08:39:00.000-08:00

"Important as it is that we recognize God working in us, I would yet warn against an over preoccupation with the thought. It is a sure road to sterile passivity. God will not hold us responsible to understand the mysteries of election, predestination and the divine sovereignty. The best and safest way to deal with these truths is to raise our eyes to God and in deepest reverence say, ‘Oh Lord Thou knowest.’ Those things belong to the deep and mysterious Profound of God's omniscience. Prying into them may make theologians, but it will never make saints."

In the Shadows

2008-02-02T10:17:00.000-08:00

"In the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft: in his quiver hath he hid me" (Isa. 49:2).

"In the shadow." We must all go there sometimes. The glare of the daylight is too brilliant; our eyes become injured, and unable to discern the delicate shades of color, or appreciate neutral tints--the shadowed chamber of sickness, the shadowed house of mourning, the shadowed life from which the sunlight has gone.

But fear not! It is the shadow of God's hand. He is leading thee. There are lessons that can be learned only there.

The photograph of His face can only be fixed in the dark chamber. But do not suppose that He has cast thee aside. Thou art still in His quiver; He has not flung thee away as a worthless thing.

He is only keeping thee close till the moment comes when He can send thee most swiftly and surely on some errand in which He will be glorified. Oh, shadowed, solitary ones, remember how closely the quiver is bound to the warrior, within easy reach of the hand, and guarded jealously.
Christ in Isaiah, Meyer

What?

2008-02-01T21:34:00.000-08:00

I was over on Charlie Campbell's apologetic site, www.alwaysbeready.com, the other day and checked out his blog. He has a link to a segment on CNN in which Dr. John MacArthur, respected Bible teacher, and Doug Pagitt, emergent church leader, debate whether Christians should practice yoga. While this is a topic worth looking at, what is really worth your attention in this clip is Doug Pagitt. If you want to see the redefinition of Christianity that is refered to in 1 John 2:18-29 in our day and age, check him out. Watch it to the end, the most telling portion is Pagitts final comments off camera. I'm too techno-challenged to post the right link here.

I'm not a big fan of naming names, it is one of the more unpleasant aspects of talking about false teaching. I'd much rather focus on the error than the person teaching it. People often get all bent out of shape when you name someone they like, thinking you're attacking the person. Deceivers come and deceivers go, but the lie remains relatively unchanged. The same lie rears it's head-you can be like God, it doesn't really matter what He said, and anyone who says otherwise is just trying to keep you from what you need. This clip, however, was such a stunning example of the differences between Biblical Christianity and what is sweeping through the Church I had to mention it.

The truth is, the truth is. His Word is truth, and reveals all we need to know about all we need to know. No new revelation, or redefinition is necessary. Return to the things you were first told, as John says in his first epistle. Remember what you first heard, abide in it, obey it.

Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. John 17:17-18

Personal Life: Choices

2008-01-28T09:21:00.000-08:00

Here's a little A.W. Tozer to start your week:

"I have chosen the way of truth; Your judgments I have laid before me. I cling to Your testimonies; O Lord, do not put me to shame! Psalm 119:30-31

The important thing about a man is not where he goes when he is compelled to go, but where he goes when he is free to go where he will....A man is absent from church Sunday morning. Where is he? If he is in a hospital having his appendix removed his absence tells us nothing about him except that he is ill; but if he is out on the golf course, that tells us a lot. To go to the hospital is compulsory; to go to the golf course, voluntary. The man is free to choose and he chooses to play instead of to pray. His choice reveals what kind of man he is. Choices always do....I think it might be well for us to check our spiritual condition occasionally by the simple test of compatibility. When we are free to go, where do we go? In what company do we feel most at home? Where do our thoughts turn when they are free to turn where they will? When the pressure of work or business or school has temporarily lifted and we are able to think of what we will instead of what we must, what do we think of then?The answer to these questions may tell us more about ourselves than we can comfortably accept. But we had better face up to things. We haven't too much time at the most."From " Man: The Dwelling Place of God", 158-161.

Look Again and Consecrate

2008-01-26T09:08:00.000-08:00

My oldest friend and I frequently encourage each other with the reminder that while the Christian life may not always be easy or effortless, it is, always, amazingly simple. Oswald Chambers had a little something to say about that.......

"If God so clothes the grass of the field . . . , will He not much more clothe you . . . ? —Matthew 6:30

A simple statement of Jesus is always a puzzle to us because we will not be simple. How can we maintain the simplicity of Jesus so that we may understand Him? By receiving His Spirit, recognizing and relying on Him, and obeying Him as He brings us the truth of His Word, life will become amazingly simple. Jesus asks us to consider that "if God so clothes the grass of the field . . ." how "much more" will He clothe you, if you keep your relationship right with Him? Every time we lose ground in our fellowship with God, it is because we have disrespectfully thought that we knew better than Jesus Christ. We have allowed "the cares of this world" to enter in (Matthew 13:22), while forgetting the "much more" of our heavenly Father.
"Look at the birds of the air . . ." (Matthew 6:26). Their function is to obey the instincts God placed within them, and God watches over them. Jesus said that if you have the right relationship with Him and will obey His Spirit within you, then God will care for your "feathers" too.
"Consider the lilies of the field . . ." (Matthew 6:28). They grow where they are planted. Many of us refuse to grow where God plants us. Therefore, we don’t take root anywhere. Jesus said if we would obey the life of God within us, He would look after all other things. Did Jesus Christ lie to us? Are we experiencing the "much more" He promised? If we are not, it is because we are not obeying the life God has given us and have cluttered our minds with confusing thoughts and worries. How much time have we wasted asking God senseless questions while we should be absolutely free to concentrate on our service to Him? Consecration is the act of continually separating myself from everything except that which God has appointed me to do. It is not a one-time experience but an ongoing process. Am I continually separating myself and looking to God every day of my life."

New Shoes

2008-01-24T09:39:00.000-08:00

"Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be" (Deut.33:25).

"Each of us may be sure that if God sends us on stony paths He will provide us with strong shoes, and He will not send us out on any journey for which He does not equip us well." Alexander Maclaren

Quote of the Day

2008-01-21T07:55:00.000-08:00

"I COME to do Thy will, O God."

That is what we are here for,--to do God's will. That is the object of your life and mine,--to do God's will. Any of us can tell in a moment whether our lives are right or not. Are we doing God's will? We do not mean, Are we doing God's work?--preaching, or teaching, or collecting money,--but God's will. A man may think he is doing God's work when he is not even doing God's will. And a man may be doing God's work and God's will quite as much by hewing stones, or sweeping streets, as by preaching or praying. So the question means just this, Are we working out our common every-day life on the great lines of God's will? HENRY DRUMMOND

Come Away My Beloved

2008-01-12T10:08:00.000-08:00

I just started to re-read the devotional classic, "Come Away My Beloved". Written from the perspective of God speaking to us, it takes the focus off our petitions and causes us to remember that we are already the recipients of more than we deserve or could ever think to ask.

"Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times, and the strength of salvation. Isaiah 33:6"

O My beloved, abide under the shelter of the lattice for I have betrothed you to Myself, and though you are sometimes indifferent toward Me, My love for you is at all times as flame of fire. My ardor never cools. My longing for your love and affection is deep and constant.

Tarry not for an opportunity to have more time to be alone with Me. Take it, though you leave the tasks at hand. Nothing will suffer. Things are of less importance than you think. Our time together is like a garden full of flowers, whereas the time you give to things is as a field full of stubble.

I love you, and if you can always, as it were, feel My pulse beat, you will receive insight that will give you sustaining strength. I bore your sins and I wish to carry your burdens. You may take the gift of a light and merry heart, for my love dispels all fear and is a cure for every ill. Lay your head upon My breast and lose yourself in Me. You will experience resurrection life and peace; the joy of the Lord will become your strength; and wells of salvation will be opened within you (see Song of Solomon 2:9-13).

Take time to read Song of Solomon 2, and stop to marvel at what God is saying to you in verse 14.
"O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, In the secret places of the cliff,
Let me see your face,
Let me hear your voice;
For your voice is sweet,
and your face is lovely,"

But You are lovelier still, Lord.

Need a Good Soaking?

2008-01-07T09:47:00.000-08:00

I'm looking out at the standing water on my back porch, left by the heavy and welcome showers overnight. The sun has broken through, and my yard is busy percolating, getting nourished in a way the sprinkler could never match. My mom has told me stories of catching rainwater in buckets to wash her hair when she was young, nothing makes your hair shine like rain water, she says. But nothing beats these showers from heaven......

"I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing" (Ezek. 34:26).

What is thy season this morning? Is it a season of drought? Then that is the season for showers. Is it a season of great heaviness and black clouds? Then that is the season for showers. "As thy day so shall thy strength be." "I will give thee showers of blessing." The word is in the plural. All kinds of blessings God will send. All God's blessings go together, like links in a golden chain. If He gives converting grace, He will also give comforting grace. He will send "showers of blessings." Look up today, O parched plant, and open thy leaves and flowers for a heavenly watering. --Spurgeon

Why Can I Not Follow You Now?

2008-01-04T08:41:00.000-08:00

From "My Utmost for His Highest"

Peter said to Him, ’Lord, why can I not follow You now?’
John 13:37

There are times when you can’t understand why you cannot do what you want to do. When God brings a time of waiting, and appears to be unresponsive, don’t fill it with busyness, just wait. The time of waiting may come to teach you the meaning of sanctification— to be set apart from sin and made holy— or it may come after the process of sanctification has begun to teach you what service means. Never run before God gives you His direction. If you have the slightest doubt, then He is not guiding. Whenever there is doubt— wait.

At first you may see clearly what God’s will is— the severance of a friendship, the breaking off of a business relationship, or something else you feel is distinctly God’s will for you to do. But never act on the impulse of that feeling. If you do, you will cause difficult situations to arise which will take years to untangle. Wait for God’s timing and He will do it without any heartache or disappointment. When it is a question of the providential will of God, wait for God to move.

Peter did not wait for God. He predicted in his own mind where the test would come, and it came where he did not expect it. "I will lay down my life for Your sake." Peter’s statement was honest but ignorant. "Jesus answered him, ’ . . . the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times’ " (John 13:38). This was said with a deeper knowledge of Peter than Peter had of himself. He could not follow Jesus because he did not know himself or his own capabilities well enough. Natural devotion may be enough to attract us to Jesus, to make us feel His irresistible charm, but it will never make us disciples. Natural devotion will deny Jesus, always falling short of what it means to truly follow Him.

A Good Word

2008-01-03T11:01:00.000-08:00

"The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety." --George Mueller

My Utmost-January 2

2008-01-02T16:40:00.000-08:00

"He went out, not knowing whither he went." Hebrews 11:8

Have you been "out" in this way? If so, there is no logical statement possible when anyone asks you what you are doing. One of the difficulties in Christian work is this question - "What do you expect to do?" You do not know what you are going to do; the only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. Continually revise your attitude towards God and see if it is a going out of everything, trusting in God entirely. It is this attitude that keeps you in perpetual wonder - you do not know what God is going to do next. Each morning you wake it is to be a "going out," building in confidence on God. "Take no thought for your life, . . . nor yet for your body" - take no thought for the things for which you did take thought before you "went out."

Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do; He reveals to you Who He is. Do you believe in a miracle-working God, and will you go out in surrender to Him until you are not surprised an atom at anything He does?

Suppose God is the God you know Him to be when you are nearest to Him - what an impertinence worry is! Let the attitude of the life be a continual "going out" in dependence upon God, and your life will have an ineffable charm about it which is a satisfaction to Jesus. You have to learn to go out of convictions, out of creeds, out of experiences, until so far as your faith is concerned, there is nothing between yourself and God.

Happy New Year

2008-01-01T15:21:00.000-08:00

We begin the new year with a word from Charles Spurgeon.....

"We will be glad and rejoice in Thee."—Song of Solomon 1:4.

We will be glad and rejoice in Thee. We will not open the gates of the year to the dolorous notes of the sackbut, but to the sweet strains of the harp of joy, and the high sounding cymbals of gladness. "O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise unto the rock of our salvation." We, the called and faithful and chosen, we will drive away our griefs, and set up our banners of confidence in the name of God. Let others lament over their troubles, we who have the sweetening tree to cast into Marah's bitter pool, with joy will magnify the Lord. Eternal Spirit, our effectual Comforter, we who are the temples in which Thou dwellest, will never cease from adoring and blessing the name of Jesus. We WILL, we are resolved about it, Jesus must have the crown of our heart's delight; we will not dishonour our Bridegroom by mourning in His presence. We are ordained to be the minstrels of the skies, let us rehearse our everlasting anthem before we sing it in the halls of the New Jerusalem. We will BE GLAD AND REJOICE: two words with one sense, double joy, blessedness upon blessedness. Need there be any limit to our rejoicing in the Lord even now? Do not men of grace find their Lord to be camphire and spikenard, calamus and cinnamon even now, and what better fragrance have they in heaven itself? We will be glad and rejoice IN THEE. That last word is the meat in the dish, the kernel of the nut, the soul of the text. What heavens are laid up in Jesus! What rivers of infinite bliss have their source, ay, and every drop of their fulness in Him! Since, O sweet Lord Jesus, Thou art the present portion of Thy people, favour us this year with such a sense of Thy preciousness, that from its first to its last day we may be glad and rejoice in Thee. Let January open with joy in the Lord, and December close with gladness in Jesus.

Thinking: Elisabeth Elliot

2007-12-27T10:58:00.000-08:00

Last night I watched about five minutes of a "news" program on Fox. In that brief viewing, I listened to three people talk over each other to spew what they thought happened at the zoo where a tiger attack took place. None of the shows participants were present at the zoo, none worked for the zoo, but all three experts has plenty to say about what they thought. I can't watch that blather. Is blather a word?

Anyway, when I read Elisabeth Elliot's thoughts on the subject, I couldn't sum it up any better. It's a long post, but worth the reading.

"Question-and-answer is a vanishing art. We are so drowned and smothered and deafened by panels, dialogues, rap sessions, discussions, talk shows, and other such exercises in the pooling of ignorance that, far from developing the art of asking questions and giving answers, we have very nearly lost it altogether. The time allotted for a program must, it seems, be filled--it doesn't much matter with what.

When is the last time you heard a clear, short question asked and a straight answer given? My heart sinks when it is announced that, following the lecture, there will be time for discussion. People put up their hands, but it turns out that it is not information they are after at all. They want the floor. They go on and on.

I was one of the panel of experts (i.e., married women) discussing the subject of marriage in a college women's dormitory a few years ago. Afterward there were lots of questions. But it was hard to figure out just what the questions were. Here is one of them (verbatim--I did not make this up. It was taped and then transcribed):
Um--like--um--I have a couple questions. Do you think--like--that--uh--do you think a woman could have a call just to be--like--a wife, but not--like--not just to be a wife--like, say, you know--if you're gonna be personal--like--my own engagement--like--I have a gift of--you know--a talent in music, you know--like--I mean, I know you're not saying--like--you know, especially in that case, I mean, you're saying more like--you have--like--I think our greatest thing in common probably is--um--is that--you know--is the dedication to serve God--you know--in the desire to, to follow--you know--to do his leading and--like--neither of us, you know, and especially in this kind of life you don't have a blueprint of what you--what he's gonna be doing necessarily, you know--and I'm just kinda concerned because like--you know--I've even thought about that cause I've kinda had a conflict--you know--growing up that way--you know--I'm talented musically--you know--so therefore I should probably look for somebody that's talented musically but he--he likes it--you know--I mean, he doesn't understand it totally but I'm sure we could live happily together with it, you know, but I don't expect him to have a--you know--yearning to go to all the Beethoven concerts or anything--you know--but I mean--I've heard of very happy marriages where--you know--there's quite different--you know--interests--you know--there.
(I apologize for not knowing the rules of punctuation for this kind of English.) Nobody on the panel knew what the girl was asking. She was confused--that came through loud and clear, but she might have seen through some of the fog simply by making the effort to clarify and shorten her question.

Sometimes I have been tempted to tell the audience that only questions of twenty-five words or less will be entertained. But I don't want to put people off any more than I can help.

William Strunk, Jr., in his wonderful little book, The Elements of Style, gives this advice:
To air one's views at an improper time may be in bad taste. If you have received a letter inviting you to speak at the dedication of a new cat hospital, and you hate cats, your reply, declining the invitation, does not necessarily have to cover the full range of your emotions. You must make it clear that you will not attend, but you do not have to let fly at cats... Bear in mind that your opinion of cats was not sought, only your services as a speaker. Try to keep things straight.

Americans dearly love to be polled for opinion. They feel that they ought to have opinions, to "hold views," on everything, and polls give them a chance to let fly. It is interesting to note how small a percentage of those polled admit to having "No opinion."
If the answer is Yes, say Yes. If it's No, say No. (The Bible will back me up here.) If it's I don't know, say that--if you possibly can. My daughter had a classmate in the seventh grade who, when asked a question by the teacher, never raised his chin off his hand, but looking into space said glumly, "I don't know." To a second question he replied, in the same laconic tone, "I don't know that either." I couldn't help wanting to know which boy that was. I liked him. It was discouraging for the teacher, I'm sure, that he didn't know, but it was not nearly so discouraging to hear him say so in three words as it would have been to hear three hundred words which came to the same thing. Every day in the mass media we have to listen to palaver, twaddle, and balderdash which, when interpreted, means "I don't know."

Some people are constitutionally incapable of admitting they don't know. "Well, let's just say I don't know the answer to that one," a woman once said to me.

Great people, however, can often disarm us completely with a candid acknowledgment such as Samuel Johnson's when asked by an indignant woman whatever made him define pastern as he did in his lexicon. "Ignorance, madam, pure ignorance!"

The Quechua Indians of Ecuador have a way of dropping the corners of their mouths, thrusting out their chins, and gazing off across the treetops, saying "Hmm hmm?" which is supposed to convey the impression that the matter is a mysterious one which they are in on but which would really be beyond you. At other times they come up with ineluctable answers like the one a missionary got when he wanted to know the name of a tree with yellow flowers on it. The Indian studied the tree for a little while, shading his eyes with his hand, and then said earnestly, "Well, I'll tell you, Senor Eduardo. That tree over there, the one you point to, the tree with the yellow flowers on it--that tree, Senor Eduardo...we call The Yellow Flower Tree."

The late W. H. Auden once appeared on a television interview and it was delicious to see his interviewers thrown completely off balance by the clarity and the brevity of his answers. They had their questions carefully worked out and the timing approximated, but long before the show was over they were casting about for new questions. When they asked if he thought of poetry as a means of self-expression, he said, "No, not at all. You write a poem because you have seen something which seems worth sharing with others." The ideal reaction from the reader is, 'I knew that all along, but I never realized it.' He could, I am sure, have lectured for an hour on that one subject, but he didn't. He had a sense of occasion.
"You will be living in Oxford, England, Mr. Auden. Do you expect to be teaching there?"
"No."
"You won't be teaching. (Pause.) Well, Mr. Auden, as you move into the more--shall we say--mellow years, would you say that you have any unfulfilled ambitions?"
"No."
One of my unfulfilled ambitions was to hear a simple answer on a TV talk show. Thank you, Mr. Auden"

Time

2007-12-21T13:51:00.000-08:00

I have been running around these last two weeks like a maniac. Really, like an actual maniac, someone in constant, yet disorganized motion. About every ten minutes an alarm goes off in my head that says “Don’t forget to….. (Fill in the blank). My response every eleven minutes is “I have to make time for that.”

So yesterday morning right after that alarm went off for the gazillionth time, I finally conceded that I can’t make time for one more thing. As I sat there feeling defeated, I had one of those thoughts that aren’t mine. The thought the Lord gave me was this: “Of course you can’t make time for this. You can’t make time for anything. You can’t make time, I already did.”

Okay, I was stunned at the truth in that statement. Duh, God made time. Every day has twenty four hours, and the Bible says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, so the steps I should take in those twenty four hours already exist as a plan. My part isn’t to make time. I don’t make time. I use time.

Prayed about the day? Check. Doing what God said? Check (mostly!) Asking the Lord if He made time for this today when the alarm goes off? Check. Get on with it, and as the old poem says “do the next thing.”

“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Matthew 11:29-30

Bearing Crosses Made by Ourselves by Mary Wilder Tileston

2007-12-19T07:39:00.000-08:00

And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. ISAIAH 30:21

The ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them. HOSEA 14:9

"Let us remember that it is not God who makes many of the crosses that we find in our way, such as we commonly call "crosses." Our Heavenly Father makes "straight paths for our feet," and, if we would go in His way, if we would straighten our wills to His will, and lay them side by side, there would be no crosses. But when the path that God points out goes north and south, and our stubborn wills lead us east and west, the consequence is "a cross"--a cross of our own making, not that which our Master bids us "take up and carry after Him," and of which it has been well said, "He always carries the heaviest end Himself."

Intercessory Prayer

2007-12-13T09:43:00.000-08:00

I'm sure you've noticed that everyday the newspaper and local newscasts are featuring stories that shed light on the practical needs in our area. These stories are often heartrending, and rightfully so. I read this morning about a local group that tries to provide a safe place for homeless teens in our area. They currently cannot provide a place for the kids to stay over night, so these kids are vulnerable to not only being victimized by a local gang trying to force them into prostitution, but pedophiles who prey on them for the purpose of finding participants for their on-line pornography.

So I read all this at 6:00 a.m, yet another day started with another plea for money and resources for people who clearly need it. I've got to tell you, it made me a little weary. Recently I heard that many charities are suffering from a lack of support, partly because of the economy but also from "disaster fatigue". People are just overwhelmed by the need in this world.

I'm part of a big enough church that I hear something heartbreaking every day-another cancer, another arrest, another backslidden kid on drugs, another divorce, another injustice. You and I can't send money to them all, can't call them all with a word of encouragement, can't visit them all and certainly can't save them all. But we can pray. Oswald Chambers gives us some good counsel on praying in the face of great need.

". . . men always ought to pray and not lose heart —Luke 18:1

You cannot truly intercede through prayer if you do not believe in the reality of redemption. Instead, you will simply be turning intercession into useless sympathy for others, which will serve only to increase the contentment they have for remaining out of touch with God. True intercession involves bringing the person, or the circumstance that seems to be crashing in on you, before God, until you are changed by His attitude toward that person or circumstance.

Intercession means to "fill up . . . [with] what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ" ( Colossians 1:24 ), and this is precisely why there are so few intercessors. People describe intercession by saying, "It is putting yourself in someone else’s place." That is not true! Intercession is putting yourself in God’s place; it is having His mind and His perspective.

As an intercessor, be careful not to seek too much information from God regarding the situation you are praying about, because you may be overwhelmed. If you know too much, more than God has ordained for you to know, you can’t pray; the circumstances of the people become so overpowering that you are no longer able to get to the underlying truth.

Our work is to be in such close contact with God that we may have His mind about everything, but we shirk that responsibility by substituting doing for interceding. And yet intercession is the only thing that has no drawbacks, because it keeps our relationship completely open with God.

What we must avoid in intercession is praying for someone to be simply "patched up." We must pray that person completely through into contact with the very life of God. Think of the number of people God has brought across our path, only to see us drop them! When we pray on the basis of redemption, God creates something He can create in no other way than through intercessory prayer.

Why We Have Hope

2007-12-10T09:49:00.000-08:00

From "Daily Light", English Standard Version

“No one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.”

I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.—The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom.—We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.—Your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

John 10:29; 2 Tim. 1:12; 2 Tim. 4:18; Rom. 8:37-39; Col. 3:3; Jas. 2:5; 2 Thess. 2:16, 17

"The Temple of the Holy Spirit"

2007-12-05T08:56:00.000-08:00

From "My Utmost for His Highest"

"only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you —"
Genesis 41:40

I am accountable to God for the way I control my body under His authority. Paul said he did not "set aside the grace of God"— make it ineffective ( Galatians 2:21 ). The grace of God is absolute and limitless, and the work of salvation through Jesus is complete and finished forever. I am not being saved— I am saved. Salvation is as eternal as God’s throne, but I must put to work or use what God has placed within me. To "work out [my] own salvation" ( Philippians 2:12 ) means that I am responsible for using what He has given me. It also means that I must exhibit in my own body the life of the Lord Jesus, not mysteriously or secretly, but openly and boldly. "I discipline my body and bring it into subjection . . ." ( 1 Corinthians 9:27 ). Every Christian can have his body under absolute control for God. God has given us the responsibility to rule over all "the temple of the Holy Spirit," including our thoughts and desires ( 1 Corinthians 6:19 ). We are responsible for these, and we must never give way to improper ones. But most of us are much more severe in our judgment of others than we are in judging ourselves. We make excuses for things in ourselves, while we condemn things in the lives of others simply because we are not naturally inclined to do them.
Paul said, "I beseech you . . . that you present your bodies a living sacrifice . . ." ( Romans 12:1 ). What I must decide is whether or not I will agree with my Lord and Master that my body will indeed be His temple. Once I agree, all the rules, regulations, and requirements of the law concerning the body are summed up for me in this revealed truth-my body is "the temple of the Holy Spirit."

Listen

2007-11-28T10:08:00.000-08:00

Listen: to give attention with the ear; to make an effort to hear something. To pay attention; heed; obey. (dictionary.com)

Two weeks ago I was looking at Thanksgiving clearance items in Stuff-Mart when I noticed that Christmas carols were playing overhead. I was struck by the fact that Thanksgiving was still a week away and the pressure was on-get this stuff out of here because the next season is just around the corner!

Is there a more pressure-filled season than Christmas? As a Christian I feel a new kind of pressure, the pressure not to fall to the pressure. After all, do I not know the real reason for the season? Do I not have different perspective on the whole month of December, from Advent to the glorious day when we celebrate the birth of the way of salvation for mankind? Do you?

Let’s just stop right there. Listen. Does any of that sound like the voice of the Shepherd? Today is the day to listen to something else.

I play guitar, and do some worship leading. This isn’t a particularly natural gifting; I have to work hard at guitar to learn to play a new song. This really works to my advantage playing worship, the repetition required to learn to play causes me to really have the lyrics, the phrasing and the instrument consume my thoughts. I have to attentively listen to all of it a bunch of times before I play it, as well as playing a bunch of times to get it down. If I don’t listen, really listen, I can’t get it.

A few years ago I had to lead worship at a drug rehab around Christmas. Most of the guys in the program were not believers. My husband taught the study, and would go around to all the rooms and talk with the guys, inviting them to the study and just trying to build relationships with them. Most didn’t come.

The room where the Bible study was held opened to a courtyard where most of the guys hung out, as well as their rooms. So, if you work at it, it’s pretty hard to escape the sound of worship. Often, guys who rudely rejected the offer to attend the study would hear the sound of a woman belting out singing and a guitar, and come just to:
1) Find out why a woman was there and
2) try to play my guitar after service.

It was awesome to see God draw these hard and broken men, to talk to them about everyone from Jimmy Page to Jimmy Vaughn and trade licks on my guitar. Some of them ended up saved and playing worship in churches today.

But at Christmas, I was challenged. Carols are not the easiest things to sing, and not written for guitar. A good guitarist can adapt, that’s not me. So I worked, and worked and prayed and worked on about five carols. “Silent Night”, of course. “Away In a Manger”. Somehow, all my Christmas songs sound like rocking blues songs, but the guys dug it. But it was “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” that blew my mind. I grew up in a time when you could sing carols in public school, these were songs I heard all my life. But as I labored to get the chord changes right, to sound more like Charlotte Church than Bonnie Raitt, I heard it.

Hail the heaven born Prince of Peace! Hail the Son of
Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings, risen with healing in His wings.
Mild He lays His glory by, born that man no more may die.
Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth.
Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the new born King!

Did you listen? Did you hear it? The gospel, right there in a song they are playing at Stuff-Mart right now. How many times had I heard that song in my life, and how had I missed it? The truth that sets men free from sin and death, the only thing really worth listening to, to only thing that saves. The worship of carols ministered to me deeply.

On the mount of transfiguration God said” "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him." He’s always speaking, always inviting us to listen, to pay attention, to take heed, because He loves you and has something sweet to say to you, just you. Let Him whisper in your ear right now and you will hear Him say, among other things,

“No pressure.”

On Reading

2007-11-06T14:54:00.000-08:00

"If you would tell me the heart of a man, tell me not what he reads but what he rereads.” Francois Mauriac

I know people who will only read a book one time. I have certainly read my fair share of books that didn’t deserve to be read even once, but there are some that deserve a second, third or even annual read.

Warren Wiersbe was the person who introduced me to the concept of planned recurring reading. He mentions it in his book “Living with the Giants: The Lives of Great Men of Faith”, a must-read compilation of influential Christians. In it he gives suggestions for reading the material penned by his subjects, and he mentions several titles he reads either yearly or every few years.

This has proven to be a profitable practice for me. I have several books that I try to read every year or so, and each time I am amazed to discover something new, be convicted by something neglected, and refreshed by something familiar. I’ve blogged about the benefit that I have received by using “My Utmost for His Highest” for the last few years and a friend mentioned to me Sunday that she has been using “Streams in the Desert” for more years than she can remember. Like an old friend or a favorite place, returning to something we’ve read before produces a sense of the past coupled with a promise of the future. Who are we now, in this season?

Have we grown in the Lord and the truths He showed us when we first read it? Why or why not? What’s different in our lives since the last reading, and what is the same? In a day when every check of the email brings another ad from another publisher, book club or store for new, new, new, we can neglect the treasure of the tried and true.

Books are not potato chips, devoured almost unthinkingly one right after the other. Good Christian books open up the Word of God, reveal Him, teach and instruct us, encourage and strengthen us and yes, even spank us. And when we are done, we should be different. We should be changed, maybe a little, maybe a lot, but not who we were when we began to read. If it doesn’t reveal who God is and make you more like Jesus, don’t read it again. But if it does, make a point to revisit that place where you heard Him and heeded Him.

My favorites?
Summer: Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss Fall: Christ Indwelling and Enthroned or Sufficient Grace by J. Oswald Sanders Winter: Lies Women Believe by Nancy Leigh DeMoss Spring: A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by Philip Keller

There are others, like Strategy of Satan by Warren Wiersbe and Charlie Campbell’s “One Minute Answers to Skeptics Top 40 Questions.” A healthy dose of Jan Karon is always good for the soul; I reread at least one Elisabeth Elliot book every year. Every now and then I reread one of Alan Redpaths devotional commentaries, Nehemiah is my favorite.

No, I don’t watch much television and yes, my child is grown. But every one has twenty four hours in a day and if you’re going to read, make it His Word, and if there is time, consider revisiting an old friend.

The Authority of Truth

2007-11-04T07:58:00.000-08:00

From "My Utmost For His Highest" by Oswald Chambers

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you —James 4:8

It is essential that you give people the opportunity to act on the truth of God. The responsibility must be left with the individual— you cannot act for him. It must be his own deliberate act, but the evangelical message should always lead him to action. Refusing to act leaves a person paralyzed, exactly where he was previously. But once he acts, he is never the same. It is the apparent folly of the truth that stands in the way of hundreds who have been convicted by the Spirit of God. Once I press myself into action, I immediately begin to live. Anything less is merely existing. The moments I truly live are the moments when I act with my entire will.

When a truth of God is brought home to your soul, never allow it to pass without acting on it internally in your will, not necessarily externally in your physical life. Record it with ink and with blood— work it into your life. The weakest saint who transacts business with Jesus Christ is liberated the second he acts and God’s almighty power is available on his behalf. We come up to the truth of God, confess we are wrong, but go back again. Then we approach it again and turn back, until we finally learn we have no business going back. When we are confronted with such a word of truth from our redeeming Lord, we must move directly to transact business with Him. "Come to Me . . ." ( Matthew 11:28 ). His word come means "to act." Yet the last thing we want to do is come. But everyone who does come knows that, at that very moment, the supernatural power of the life of God invades him. The dominating power of the world, the flesh, and the devil is now paralyzed; not by your act, but because your act has joined you to God and tapped you in to His redemptive power.

Contentment 101

2007-10-30T15:03:00.000-07:00

I know there are people out there who believe that they are the biggest control freaks in the world. They should be relieved to know that they are wrong. While I would like to crown someone else with this dubious honor, I must accept the title as my own.

Being a control freak would be great if it actually produced the results you were trying to achieve. But alas, it only brings frustration and discontentment, as does all self centered pursuits. So how does a control freak find contentment?

For the Christian, choosing to remember the fact that we gave control over our lives to Jesus needs to become like breathing. In bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, (2 Cor 10:5) our perspective becomes His perspective. It is then we experience that amazing work of being “transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Rom 12:2) Every thought of “What should I do?” should be replaced with the thought “What will You do, Lord?” After all, He’s the one with the plan.

I am re-reading a book by Linda Dillow titled “Calm My Anxious Heart”. This is a quote from the introduction:

“Contentment is accepting God’s sovereign control over all of life’s circumstances…..The following story of two monks helped me put my control versus God’s control into perspective.

“I need oil”, said an ancient monk, so he planted an olive sapling. “Lord” he prayed, “it needs rain that its tender roots may drink and swell. Send gentle showers.” And the Lord sent gentle showers. “Lord,” prayed the monk, “my tree needs sun. Send sun, I pray thee.” And the sun shone, gilding the dripping clouds. “Now frost, my Lord, to brace its tissue,” cried the monk. And behold, the little tree stood sparkling with frost, but at evening it had died.

Then the monk sought the cell of a brother monk, and told his strange experience. “I, too, planted a little tree,” he said, “and see! It thrives well. But I entrust my tree to its God. He who made it knows better what it needs than a man like me. I laid no condition. I fixed not ways or means. ‘Lord, send what it needs.’ I prayed, ‘storm or sunshine, wind, rain, or frost. Thou hast made it and Thou dost know,’”

One monk proved what was that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. One monk proved that apart from Him, you can do nothing. We know which monk we are and which monk God wants us to be. Take control over the circumstance that’s freaking you out and pray “Lord, send what it needs.”

And get ready for some oil.

Obtaining God's Help

2007-10-26T09:55:00.000-07:00

From Ray Stedman....
READ: Psalm 77:11-13

I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds (Psalm 77:11-12).

The crucial words in these verses are "I will." They indicate that the psalmist has caught hold of himself. He is no longer the victim of his feelings, and that is the point. The control of his life shifts from his heart to his head, and that is the way God intended it to be. He sees that the place to begin is not with himself, as he has been doing, or with his circumstances, but with God. And the proper order is not with prayer and then meditation, but the reverse: to begin with meditating about God, which leads to petition based on an understanding of who God is.

That is the way out, and it points up the trouble this man has had before. He began his prayer with himself at the center. You can see that in his words. This problem that has brought him to God occupies his mind. This man's whole thought is, "What is happening to me? Look how I cry and nothing happens."

The result of that is always the same. When self is at the center, then the heart takes over, and the mind is governed by the feelings. We then find ourselves limited to what the Bible calls "natural thinking," or thinking on a limited narrow plane, which does not take into consideration all the facts. Here is a picture of a man who is giving way to his feelings, allowing them to drive him into increasing distress and despair. He finds himself attempting to be logical, but only on this one plane of thought, related to self. That is why he misses the point so completely.

The heart is a powerful factor in human thinking. When the heart, the emotions, and feelings get hold of us, and control our thinking, then we discover that we are helpless to reason properly. But when something stops us, then the head and the will can assert themselves and take over.

What is wrong with beginning with myself? The answer is obvious. People are limited beings, so when you begin with the person, your thinking is necessarily limited. But when you start with God, you are starting with the great fact that includes all other facts. You have broadened your vision to take in every aspect of truth. Someone has described that kind of thinking as "cubical thinking." Truth is not a single level of thought; it is a cube. It has sides, other aspects, which need to be considered. All truth is related to other truth. You will discover that as you relate a fact to other truths that touch it on every side of the "cube," you see this fact in a different light from when you consider it by itself.

Have you begun to learn how to handle the temptations to doubt that come to you; how to systematically, thoughtfully, and carefully begin where God wants you to begin and work through from that basis? Have you risen above the limitations of natural thinking and begun to think spiritually?

Father, teach me to start not with me and my own limited understanding, but with You.

Remember Who You're Talking To

2007-10-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

“Listen, my beloved brethren…..” James 2:5

James is writing to believers that have been scattered to different areas by the persecution of the church. I love the book of James. It has been called the book of Proverbs in the New Testament, filled with practical instruction and correction. Since I need ample and regular doses of both, I read a chapter of Proverbs daily and James a couple times a year.

Verse five of chapter two comes on the heels of James exposing something that happens often in church: preferential treatment of people considered more desirable than others. While James is talking about the rich, well dressed people, there are several groups we may be tempted to give preference to in our churches. Maybe they are big donors, very generous with their financial resources. Maybe they are the ones filled with good words for us, compliments and encouragements that can border on insincere flattery. Maybe they are just the ones who don’t cause any trouble, don’t need much from us and are easy deal with. Whoever they are and whatever they do, James tells the church that no one deserves any preferential treatment.

And oh, how I love the way he does it. “Listen, my beloved brethren…” He begins his correction and instruction reminding them of how he feels about them and who they are. First, he calls them beloved to let them know that they are esteemed, valued, and dear to his heart. How easy it would be to speak with the weight of his authority behind his words. He held a position in the church that caused his words to be taken seriously, in fact, to reject his authority may have compromised a church’s standing as disciples of Jesus. If someone had a right to boss a church around it would have been James. Yet, just as he opened his letter in humility, identifying himself as a bond slave, he again exhibits that attitude that rightly represents Jesus. The motivation behind the correction? Love. Love for God, love for these people. Is that our first motive when we have to correct someone? Let our love not be for an institution or a rule or a policy, but manifesting God’s love to His people for their well being.

Second, he calls them brethren. He is one of them, just another member of the household of faith who is under the same Headship they are. We’re in this together, he tells them. This correction, this instruction, this warning is an across-the-board communication for every believer in every church. James makes sure that they know he is speaking to them as one who is of them, exhibiting the lack of partiality he is writing about.

What a wonderful example of humility in action. For us, whether it’s your kids, your co-workers, those serving with or under you in ministry, this serves as practical model for us to follow. If you’re like me, someone who can look at things as tasks to accomplish or rules to follow, considering James' motive is a great heart check to perform before you open your mouth, even if you’re right. Maybe especially if you’re right. After all, it’s about rightly representing the heart of the Father. Deuteronomy 10:17 reveals Him as “…the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe.”

May we seek to be and do the same.

Satan's Tools

2007-10-16T14:06:00.000-07:00

From "Streams In The Desert"

"Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and, let us run with patience the race that is set before us" (Heb. 12:1).
There are weights which are not sins in themselves, but which become distractions and stumbling blocks in our Christian progress. One of the worst of these is despondency. The heavy heart is indeed a weight that will surely drag us down in our holiness and usefulness.

The failure of Israel to enter the land of promise began in murmuring, or, as the text in Numbers literally puts it, "as it were murmured." Just a faint desire to complain and be discontented. This led on until it blossomed and ripened into rebellion and ruin. Let us give ourselves no liberty ever to doubt God or His love and faithfulness to us in everything and forever.

We can set our will against doubt just as we do against any other sin; and as we stand firm and refuse to doubt, the Holy Spirit will come to our aid and give us the faith of God and crown us with victory.

It is very easy to fall into the habit of doubting, fretting, and wondering if God has forsaken us and if after all our hopes are to end in failure. Let us refuse to be discouraged. Let us refuse to be unhappy. Let us "count it all joy" when we cannot feel one emotion of happiness. Let us rejoice by faith, by resolution, by reckoning, and we shall surely find that God will make the reckoning real.--Selected

The devil has two master tricks. One is to get us discouraged; then for a time at least we can be of no service to others, and so are defeated. The other is to make us doubt, thus breaking the faith link by which we are bound to our Father. Lookout! Do not be tricked either way.--G.E.M.

Patterns

2007-10-06T13:28:00.000-07:00

While I was at a pastors wives retreat this past week, I discovered a new word in my Bible. I don’t know if that happens to you, but it happens to me pretty frequently. I’m reading along in a section of scripture that I’ve read a many times before (the retreat theme was Titus 2:7) and suddenly a word or phrase strikes me in such a way it is as if it was not there the last time I read that section. I used to think I was just thick, but now I recognize the Spirit calling my attention to something significant I’m to learn. This is one of the ways the Word is demonstrated as being “living and powerful” as described in Hebrews.

This time, the Spirit was showing me the word “pattern”. When I came home from the retreat, I looked it up to see where else pattern was used in scripture. In the NKJV, this word is used a dozen times. In the Old Testament, it is used regarding things that are to be made. Every use has to do with the pattern given for the tabernacle, its furnishings, an altar or the temple. In the New Testament, it is primarily used regarding actions. Even in one reference to the Old Testament, it is for the purpose of giving an example of what obedience looks like. We’re told to look to Jesus and mature believers for a pattern, be a pattern ourselves, and to hold to a pattern. What pattern? Why, God’s, of course.

If you’re a Christian, to this you would say “Duh.” I am blessed; I have a pattern to look to in my senior pastor’s wife. Often when we are talking about biblical instructions to believers she will ask the question “What does that look like?” That’s where my theology has to meet my reality. I have to be able to give an answer that reveals the manner in which what I know is applied to the way I live. This is the difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge, between what you know and what you are. This is a challenge.

It is a challenge to articulate it because it is a challenge to live it. Living it can only happen when we allow ourselves to be changed from what we are naturally to what God wants us to be, the image of His Son. We are in the flesh self serving and self preserving. Even when we know what specific change needs to occur in us, we often resist the means that God uses to accomplish it.

Because it was a chick retreat, many of the illustrations of patterns had to do with a sewing theme. One word picture of the way God changes us had to do with seeing ourselves like a piece of whole cloth. To summarize, the cloth must be washed, then laid out with the pattern of what it is to become placed on it. Next comes pinning the pattern, then the cutting away of material that is in the way of the new thing that is being made. There’s more, but you get the picture. Think of the things the cloth experiences; washing, pressing, pinning, cutting, stitching, more pressing. They are a great picture of how God works in our lives to make us into something new. We are washed, often pressed or under pressure, pierced, have things cut away (never painless) in the process of being fashioned in the image of Jesus. But we resist, and I wondered as I listened to this study, if I could look at the picture on the front of the pattern and see what I would become, would I stop squirming?

My theology says “yes”. My reality needs a little work. What should (and will) this look like in my life? Looking at who I’m to be like can best be accomplished by immersing myself in the gospels, looking at who Jesus is and what He did so I recognize the ways I’m to change to be more like Him. Taking heed to the instruction of the epistles, where practical advice, warning and direction are given will show me how. Prayer and yielding to the Holy Spirit will enable me to do what God is showing me.

I don’t know what the outside of God’s package of the pattern for me looks like. All I see on the outside of my package is a middle aged blond. But you and I can know this-

”The LORD will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O LORD, endures forever; Do not forsake the works of Your hands.”
Psalm 138:8

From "Streams In The Desert"

2007-09-29T08:48:00.000-07:00

"I will give myself unto prayer" (Ps. 109:4).

We are often in a religious hurry in our devotions. How much time do we spend in them daily? Can it not be easily reckoned in minutes? Who ever knew an eminently holy man who did not spend much of his time in prayer? Did ever a man exhibit much of the spirit of prayer, who did not devote much time in his closet?

Whitefield says, "Whole days and weeks have I spent prostrate on the ground, in silent or vocal prayer." "Fall upon your knees and grow there," is the language of another, who knew whereof he affirmed.

It has been said that no great work in literature or science was ever wrought by a man who did not love solitude. We may lay it down as an elemental principle of religion, that no large growth in holiness was ever gained by one who did not take time to be often, and long, alone with God.

Seeking Him: Experiencing the Joy of Personal Revial

2007-09-26T10:57:00.000-07:00

Over on Reviveourhearts.com, Nancy Leigh DeMoss is doing a twelve week series on Revival. Revival is a popular topic, and one most of us would agree is necessary. But what is biblical revival? How does it happen and to whom? I would encourage you to check out Nancy’s site where you can listen to or read the past studies and purchase the companion study guide “Seeking Him”.

I did the Seeking Him study in a small group a few years ago. It was a sweet and very fruitful time for all of us, and each one of us came away changed by examining ourselves in light of God’s Word. Alone or in a group, this is one study that is well worth the investment of your time and attention. No simple exercise of looking up scripture to fill in the blanks, Seeking Him is a great balance of instructive commentary on scripture combined with questions designed to produce understanding and personal application.

As with all of the authors’ written work, the style is uncluttered, direct in its instruction and encouraging in its application. Her commitment to the foundational truths of scripture is the strength of her teaching. Never driven by circumstances or a horizontal view of life, this study focuses on how being rightly related to God according the truth of His Word not only prepares you for revival, but keeps you revived. If you want a study where you will really come away with a better understanding of God’s Word, and what His expectation is of your response to His Word, do this study.

Don’t forget to check out the website, where there are many great resources. You will never fail to come away with a clearer view of the Lord when you invest some of your profitable reading time in the teaching of Nancy Leigh DeMoss.

The Simplicity Of Christ

2007-09-24T11:57:00.000-07:00

This is from Ray Stedman's site.....

READ: 2 Corinthians 11:3-15

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ (2 Corinthians 11:3 KJV).

"The main thing about being a Christian is to see that the main thing remains the main thing." That is what Paul is saying. The "main thing" is that at the heart and center of your life is the "simplicity that is in Christ," a simple thing. I have noticed over many years of observation that when religion becomes complicated, it is always a sign that it is drifting away from the realities and centralities of faith. The world around us is getting increasingly complex, and it is because it is drifting farther and farther from God. Look around at the world of nature, and you can see the simplicity of God's design everywhere. He builds the year around four seasons that repeat themselves and never fail. Yet that simple pattern of four seasons contains within it all the possible variations of weather. Look at a flower and see how simple the pattern of its makeup is and yet what an infinite variety God produces in a field of flowers. You can see this everywhere. God basically is simple. When religion becomes complex, it is a sign that it is departing from Christ.

That is what Paul is concerned about here. When you ask yourself just what that simplicity is that he is talking about, the answer from everywhere in the Word of God is the daily companionship of the Lord Jesus. Do you sense that Christ is yours all day long? Do you reckon upon that, think about that, and live out of that relationship and out of that sense of the expectation of His presence? We often say, and rightly so, that Christianity is not a creed, it is a relationship; it is living with a Person. That is the simplicity that is in Christ. The danger that we constantly face is that we get involved in the things about Christ and fail to live in a relationship with Christ.

You can lose it in the midst of Christian activity. You can lose it when you get so involved in some of the fascinating aspects of Scripture that you lose "the simplicity that is in Christ." You can lose it in the pressures of daily living. You can get so busy and so worried and so anxious about yourself and the things that are happening to you that you lose the sense that Christ is with you, and He is adequate. This is the beautiful "simplicity that is in Jesus." The Corinthian believers were assaulted with teachers who were exposing them to things that caught their attention, but they were drifting from that central point. They were involved with fascinating philosophies based on the Word of God but that went off on sidetracks and rabbit trails of thought. They were being challenged with certain ego-appealing experiences and believed that if they could only grasp them, they would feel great, wonderful, and so God-possessed. Likewise people today are invited to explore strange and wonderful mysteries all involved with Christian faith, but these tend to move them away from the simplicity that is in Christ.

Father, grant that I may walk close to Jesus and not let anything take me away from that day-by-day, moment-by-moment companionship of His presence.

This daily devotion was inspired by one of Ray's sermons. Please read "Keep It Simple" (or listen to the audio file ) for more on this portion of scripture.

The God of all grace.

2007-09-19T11:04:00.000-07:00

This is from "Daily Light" by Samuel Bagster. All scripture today is from the English Standard Version.

“I . . . will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious.”—“He is merciful to him, and says, ‘Deliver him from going down into the pit; I have found a ransom.’”—Are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.—Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.—Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.—Grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.—As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace.—He gives more grace.

Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.

1 Pet. 5:10; Ex. 33:19; Job 33:24; Rom. 3:24, 25; John 1:17; Eph. 2:8; 1 Tim. 1:2; Eph. 4:7; 1 Pet. 4:10; Jas. 4:6; 2 Pet. 3:18

Arguments or Obedience

2007-09-14T08:27:00.000-07:00

Oswald Chambers is on a roll...more from "My Utmost For His Highest"

. . . the simplicity that is in Christ —2 Corinthians 11:3

Simplicity is the secret to seeing things clearly. A saint does not think clearly until a long time passes, but a saint ought to see clearly without any difficulty. You cannot think through spiritual confusion to make things clear; to make things clear, you must obey. In intellectual matters you can think things out, but in spiritual matters you will only think yourself into further wandering thoughts and more confusion. If there is something in your life upon which God has put His pressure, then obey Him in that matter. Bring all your "arguments and . . . every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" regarding the matter, and everything will become as clear as daylight to you ( 2 Corinthians 10:5 ). Your reasoning capacity will come later, but reasoning is not how we see. We see like children, and when we try to be wise we see nothing (see Matthew 11:25 ).

Even the very smallest thing that we allow in our lives that is not under the control of the Holy Spirit is completely sufficient to account for spiritual confusion, and spending all of our time thinking about it will still never make it clear. Spiritual confusion can only be conquered through obedience. As soon as we obey, we have discernment. This is humiliating, because when we are confused we know that the reason lies in the state of our mind. But when our natural power of sight is devoted and submitted in obedience to the Holy Spirit, it becomes the very power by which we perceive God’s will, and our entire life is kept in simplicity.

After Surrender— Then What?

2007-09-13T12:26:00.000-07:00

From "My Utmost For His Highest"

I have finished the work which You have given Me to do —John 17:4

True surrender is not simply surrender of our external life but surrender of our will— and once that is done, surrender is complete. The greatest crisis we ever face is the surrender of our will. Yet God never forces a person’s will into surrender, and He never begs. He patiently waits until that person willingly yields to Him. And once that battle has been fought, it never needs to be fought again.

Surrender for Deliverance. "Come to Me . . . and I will give you rest" ( Matthew 11:28 ). It is only after we have begun to experience what salvation really means that we surrender our will to Jesus for rest. Whatever is causing us a sense of uncertainty is actually a call to our will— "Come to Me." And it is a voluntary coming.

Surrender for Devotion. "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself . . . " (Matthew 16:24). The surrender here is of my self to Jesus, with His rest at the heart of my being. He says, "If you want to be My disciple, you must give up your right to yourself to Me." And once this is done, the remainder of your life will exhibit nothing but the evidence of this surrender, and you never need to be concerned again with what the future may hold for you. Whatever your circumstances may be, Jesus is totally sufficient (see 2 Corinthians 12:9 and (Philippians 4:19).

Surrender for Death. ". . . another will gird you . . ." (John 21:18 ; also see John21:19 ). Have you learned what it means to be girded for death? Beware of some surrender that you make to God in an ecstatic moment in your life, because you are apt to take it back again. True surrender is a matter of being "united together [with Jesus] in the likeness of His death" ( Romans 6:5 ) until nothing ever appeals to you that did not appeal to Him.

And after you surrender— then what? Your entire life should be characterized by an eagerness to maintain unbroken fellowship and oneness with God.