Friday, September 29, 2006

How Satan Gets a Foot in the Door (Friday)

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Friday, September 29, 2006

Let me share with you where many of God's people get hoodwinked by Satan. It is by getting out of balance on some issue or some doctrine.

Frankly, I've seen some godly women get way out of balance on women's issues, and I've seen it in both directions. Some are so focused on freedom for women and women's rights that they put that cause above everything else, lose the real focus of what the Christian life is all about, and start their campaign for equality. It usually ends in disaster for themselves and everyone around them.

Others are so legalistic about women's roles and judgmental of women who don't follow traditional paths that they get way out of balance on the other end. There is room in the body of Christ for differences of opinion on this issue, but there is no room in the body of Christ for crusaders who have lost the central focus of staying in first love with Jesus and dying to self. The history of the church is replete with people and groups who went off the deep end on one crusade or another, believing with all their hearts that they were right, and willing to fight for their point of view, but falling head first into Satan's traps.

We should be willing to stand against any onslaught of our Christian faith and values, and we should be willing to die for Jesus. But when we get focused on single issues to the imbalance of the full truth of scripture, we are opening the door for Satan to move in and cause major havoc in our lives and in the body of Christ.

I speak this to myself, because I am the type of person who believes strongly and is ready to fight for what I believe. That's fine, but I want to be sure I'm fighting for what Jesus would fight for. And I want to stay totally focused on Jesus, constantly asking myself, "Would Jesus be on this crusade?" I desperately want to stay in balance with the Word of God.

And friends, that's our touchstone. What does God's Word say? I have seen so many Christians rationalize their unbiblical behavior once they get out of balance on an issue, and totally ignore what the Bible says. They think they've gotten some special revelation, but God will never lead us in any path that goes against scripture. One of Satan's most effective tools is to deceive us into thinking that our issue is so right and we are so right, we can ignore the counsel of scripture and of godly people who tell us otherwise.

Remember that Satan is a master deceiver. He can make you think you are fighting God's fight, when actually you're fighting on Satan's team. I urge you to ask God for discernment so that your life is not out of balance in any area or on any issue. It is an open invitation for Satan to move in.

The best way to stay in balance is to stay in first love with Jesus, always thinking about Him and trying to please Him. Is He the focus of your life, or has some issue become more important to you than Jesus?


God's Love

The Goal of God's Love May Not Be What You Think It Is by John Piper

...

Both the Old and New Testament tell us that God's loving us is a means to our glorifying him. "Christ became a servant ... in order that the nations might glorify God for his mercy" (Romans 15:8-9). God has been merciful to us so that we would magnify him. We see it again in the words, "In love [God] destined us to adoption ... to the praise of the glory of His grace" (Ephesians 1:4-6). In other words, the goal of God's loving us is that we might praise him. One more illustration from Psalm 86:12-13: "I will glorify your name forever. For your lovingkindness toward me is great." God's love is the ground. His glory is the goal.

This is shocking. The love of God is not God's making much of us, but God's saving us from self-centeredness so that we can enjoy making much of him forever. And our love to others is not our making much of them, but helping them to find satisfaction in making much of God. True love aims at satisfying people in the glory of God. Any love that terminates on man is eventually destructive. It does not lead people to the only lasting joy, namely, God. Love must be God-centered, or it is not true love; it leaves people without their final hope of joy.

...

[see link for entire article]


Facing the Giants

Facing the Giants
Influencing the Culture through Film

By Charles Colson

Some churches have soup kitchens, and others have potluck dinners. Then there's Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia. Sherwood's ministry is creating major motion pictures. Yes, you read that right: a church making movies.

The new film is called Facing the Giants, and it will open in hundreds of theaters nationwide this weekend. It's a terrific example of what Christians can do when we stop hiding in our sanctuaries and boldly engage the culture.

Facing the Giants is the story of a football coach at a Christian high school who, in six years, has never had a winning season. After his team, the Shiloh Eagles, lose their third game in a row—to the worst team in the league—parents begin scheming to replace Coach Grant.

At home, the coach has other problems: A doctor tells him he is unable to father the children his wife desperately wants. There's no money to buy a much-needed new car, never mind pay the cost of adopting a child. Overwhelmed by fear and failure, Grant rises early one morning and begins a time of intense prayer. "Lord Jesus, would you help me?" he implores. "I'm tired of being afraid."

A few days later, Grant gathers his players together. "What is the purpose of this team?" he asks. "God put us here to honor Him. If we win every game and we miss that, we've done nothing. Football is just one of the tools we use to honor God."

When the team plays, he says, they have to give everything they've got—and leave the results up to God. "I want God to bless this team so much people will talk about what He did. If we win, we praise Him. If we lose, we praise Him."

I won't spoil the ending for you. Suffice it to say, it is a wonderfully inspiring film.

More than five hundred members of Sherwood Baptist Church took part in creating Facing the Giants, from directing and acting to serving meals. Jim McBride, executive producer and Sherwood's pastor, says modern technology enabled them to make the movie: The digitalization of film has dramatically lowered the cost of movie-making.

McBride explains, for too long, Hollywood has stereotyped Christians in a negative light. But now, "The lower cost of producing movies is going to enable grassroots Christians to more accurately portray who they are."

It will also allow them to influence the culture even from small-town America. Sherwood got into the movie business after reading a Barna report showing that films are more influential today than churches. If that's true, Sherwood's leaders decided, then they had better start making some films themselves.

Sherwood is absolutely right. For too long, Christians were AWOL from cultural engagement. That's wrong. And then we thought getting involved in politics was the answer. Well, politics and moral issues are very important. But as Claes Ryn notes in the American Conservative, "Society's long-term direction is . . . set by those who capture a people's mind and imagination." More than politicians, that's people in the media.

So talk this up with your friends and take your church youth group to see Facing the Giants. Who knows? They just might be inspired to go beyond holding potlucks and running soup kitchens—to making movies themselves.



Thursday, September 28, 2006

Byron Nelson

From "Grant Me This" by Grant Boone, Special to PGA.Com

...

Byron Nelson wasn't randomly respectable, not generically good. He was a follower of Christ, and his discipleship dictated his decency, demeanor, decision-making, and the way he dealt with people.

Nelson and my uncle, Pat Boone, are probably the two most recognizable names to ever come from the Churches of Christ, a technically autonomous but distinct body of Christ-followers concentrated primarily from tip to buckle along the Bible belt of the southern United States. This fellowship began in the first half of the 1800s as an attempt to strike a blow against sectarianism, even adopting the mantra, ?Christians only, not the only Christians.?

Though many through the years lost sight of that original vision of unity -- as so often happens when second and succeeding generations venerate the traditions of a group instead of the One the group set out to follow -- Nelson was not among them. He knew his Bible, mind you, and he believed strongly in what he believed. His theology wasn't casual, nor was he unafraid to lovingly share why he was convinced that salvation was found through Christ alone, why the Bible could be trusted, and why it wasn't just for the next life that we have hope.

But Nelson never brandished his faith as a weapon, choosing instead to extend an empty and open hand in friendship to all comers. And did they ever come. Wherever the debate over which golfer is the best of all time ends, Byron Nelson was the game's finest man, hands down.

[see link for rest of article]

Go .. The World of Work

Go ... and make disciples of all nations. ...
Matthew 28:19, RSV

"When Jesus said ,"Go ... and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age" (Matt. 28: 19-20, RSV), he wasn't giving a job description for the Christian but saying something about the stance a Christian takes into the world of work. If we don't see how everyday work in some way or another is a response to the command "Go .. and make disciples," we are going to become either very discontented with the meaning and worth of our work, or else very careless and blase about our obedience to Christ."

Like Dew Your Youth

"The World of Work", God's Message for Each Day by Eugene Peterson.

Being A Witness

From last night's men's class:

"... it is through witness that humans are led to recognize Jesus as the Christ. ... This function of witnessing is part of the meaning of discipleship ..."

Robert Kysar, John's Story of Jesus

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Battle for the Mind

Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:57

"For 11 years, a young lady was captivated by Satan's lies about food, her appearance, and her self-worth. She thought her problem stemmed only from a childhood experience. Once she realized that she was believing a lie, she rejected the lie for the truth about her identity in Christ and came to know victory. Winning the battle for the mind is possible for everyone who is in Christ!"

Neil T. Anderson, Freedom in Christ.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

God Says "Yes"

Jesus Christ, whom we preached among you ... was not Yes and No; but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why we utter the Amen through him to the glory of God.

2 Corinthians 1:19-20, RSV


"That word ["yes'] expresses, perhaps better than any other, the gospel message. God says "yes" to humanity. Humanity returns the "yes." ...

Yes in Hebrew is Amen. It is rich and allusive in meaning. It indicates firmness, solidity. It describes what is nailed down. God is "Amen" (Isa. 65:16) -- sure, faithful, affirmative. Because God is "Amen," people can live in "Amen," that is, in faith. We are taught to say "yes" to the God who says "yes" to us in Christ and so be connected in an affirmative way with the God who has redeemed us.

Five Smooth Stones


"God Says "Yes"", God's Message for Each Day by Eugene Peterson

Ever Been Bitter?

Elizabeth Elliot Devotional

Title: Ever Been Bitter?

Sometimes I've said, "O Lord, you wouldn't do
this to me, would you? How could you, Lord?" I
can recall such times later on and realize that
my perspective was skewed. One Scripture passage
which helps me rectify it is Isaiah 45:9-11
(NEB): "Will the pot contend with the potter, or
the earthenware with the hand that shapes it?
Will the clay ask the potter what he is
making?... Thus says the Lord, would you dare
question me concerning my children, or instruct
me in my handiwork? I alone, I made the earth and
created man upon it." He knows exactly what He is
doing. I am clay.

The word humble comes from the root word humus,
earth, clay. Let me remember that when I question
God's dealings. I don't understand Him, but then
I'm not asked to understand, only to trust.
Bitterness dissolves when I remember the kind of
love with which He has loved me--He gave Himself
for me. He gave Himself for me. He gave Himself
for me. Whatever He is doing now, therefore, is
not cause for bitterness. It has to be designed
for good, because He loved me and gave Himself
for me.

Is it a sin to ask God why?

It is always best to go first for our answers to
Jesus Himself. He cried out on the cross, "My
God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" It was a
human cry, a cry of desperation, springing from
His heart's agony at the prospect of being put
into the hands of wicked men and actually
becoming sin for you and me. We can never suffer
anything like that, yet we do at times feel
forsaken and cry, Why, Lord?

The psalmist asked why. Job, a blameless man,
suffering horrible torments on an ash heap, asked
why. It does not seem to me to be sinful to ask
the question. What is sinful is resentment
against God and His dealings with us. When we
begin to doubt His love and imagine that He is
cheating us of something we have a right to, we
are guilty as Adam and Eve were guilty. They took
the snake at his word rather than God. The same
snake comes to us repeatedly with the same
suggestions: Does God love you? Does He really
want the best for you? Is His word trustworthy?
Isn't He cheating you? Forget His promises. You'd
be better off if you do it your way.

I have often asked why. Many things have happened
which I didn't plan on and which human
rationality could not explain. In the darkness of
my perplexity and sorrow I have heard Him say
quietly, Trust Me. He knew that my question was
not the challenge of unbelief or resentment. I
have never doubted that He loves me, but I have
sometimes felt like St. Teresa of Avila who, when
she was dumped out of a carriage into a ditch,
said, "If this is the way You treat your friends,
no wonder You have so few!" Job was not, it seems
to me, a very patient man. But he never gave up
his conviction that he was in God's hands. God
was big enough to take whatever Job dished out
(see Job 16 for a sample). Do not be afraid to
tell Him exactly how you feel (He's already read
your thoughts anyway). Don't tell the whole
world. God can take it--others can't. Then listen
for His answer. Six scriptural answers to the
question WHY come from: 1 Peter 4:12-13; Romans
5:3-4; 2 Corinthians 12:9; John 14:31; Romans
8:17; Colossians 1:24. There is mystery, but it
is not all mystery. Here are clear reasons.

Monday, September 25, 2006

Success

Be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you. ... Then you will have success.
Joshua 1: 7,8

"Joshua's success hinged entirely on obeying God no matter how foolish the plan seemed -- such as marching around Jericho for seven days then blowing a horn. Let that be the pattern for your life as well. Accept God's goal for your life, follow it obediently, and you will know success. Success in life does not depend upon favorable circumstances. It only depends upon our willingness to do God's will."

Neil T. Anderson, Freedom in Christ.

Sermon

From Aaron's sermon yesterday.

5 P Stones (David and Goliath -- 1 Samuel):

Stone of the Past
Stone of Prayer
Stone of Priority
Stone of Passion
Stone of Persistence

The Master's Feet

The Master's Feet

2 Kings 20:6

"And I will add fifteen years to your life, and I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria;
and I will defend this city for My own sake and for My servant David's sake."

I have no idea who the Rev. James Harvey was, but as I was reading this week I came upon a quote by him.

The quote is probably at least 200 years old. It is one of the most profound statements I have seen in some time.

He wrote this in a letter to a friend just before he died. We can consider this ‘a dying ministers thoughts.’

"Were I to enjoy Hezekiah's grant, and have fifteen years added to my life, I would be much more frequent in my applications to the throne of grace: we sustain a mighty loss by reading so much, and praying so little. Were I to renew my studies, I would take my leave of those accomplished trifles, the historians, the orators, the poets of antiquity, and devote my attention to the Scriptures of Truth. I would sit with much great assiduity (diligence) at my Divine Master's feet, and desire to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified. This wisdom, whose fruits are everlasting salvation after death, this I would explore through the spacious and delightful fields of the Old and New Testament."

The story of Hezekiah is found in several places in the Old Testament. The reference here is to his having 15 years added to his life in 2 Kings 20:1-11. We might reference verse six especially.

It is interesting that the emphasis is upon prayer and spending time with the Lord. He is saying that if he had it to do over again, that is where his focus would be. He puts the hammer to me because I love history and poetry. He says he would spend less time on these things and more time in God's Word. He would spend more time listening to Christ and seeking to sit at His feet. It makes a lot of sense to me. Maybe that means I am getting old, but the above quote sure is attractive.

Colonel Gardiner is one of the more renowned people of the faith. It is said of him that he devoted two hours every morning to reading the Word of God and prayer. He was ever determined that nothing should rob him of his time with the Lord. If his regiment had to march at six o'clock, he would rise at four. If they needed to march at four, he would rise at two. Such is the dedication of the follower of Christ.

Nothing shall rob the servant of Christ from his relationship with Christ. I know that such faithfulness is something that most of us, including me, can only shoot for, but that doesn't mean we should not still strive to focus on sitting at the Lord's feet and seeking to soak in all we can from the Master.

"Retire often from this vain world, from all its bubbles and empty shadows, and vain amusements, and converse with God alone; and seek effectually for that divine grace and comfort, the least drop of which is worth more than all the riches, gaiety, pleasures, and entertainment's of the whole world."
--Jonathan Edwards

 

Soli Deo Gloria

How Satan Gets a Foot in the Door

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Monday, September 25, 2006

Paul wrote to the Corinthians that we must not let Satan outwit us, for "we are not unaware of his schemes" (2 Corinthians 2:11). Unfortunately many of us are unaware of his schemes and therefore we make his job easy. I want to point out some common ways that Satan gets a foot in the door, and I ask you to pray that God will show you where Satan is trying to get in your door.

First, Satan will try to get to us through our unmet needs. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, Satan came at him in a time of need. Jesus was physically hungry and so Satan worked on his physical need—"turn these stones to bread," he said to Jesus. Do you have some physical need right now? Perhaps it's a health problem. If you stay focused on the need instead of on Jesus, that need will consume your mind and you're open to Satan's deception.

Another unmet need that he often uses is our need for recognition and self-esteem. Satan tried that tactic with Jesus, too, by promising Him authority and splendor if first Jesus would worship Satan. Do you have a real need for recognition and reward? Maybe you've not been affirmed very much, and you have a big need to feel significant. If you become focused on that need, you will be very vulnerable to Satan's deception. You'll find yourself willing to lower your standards and start worshiping other gods to try to get that recognition.

Satan also tried to tempt Jesus with power, and if you're looking for power in your life, it could be a door you're opening to let Satan in. We all want to feel like we're in control, but when we feel most in control, with the most power, we are most likely to fall. We must continually recognize our weakness and our complete inability to make it on our own. Beware when you think you're standing, Paul wrote, because when you think you are standing firm, you are most likely to fall (1 Corinthians 10:12).

What unmet needs are in your life right now? For ten years I was obsessed with my unmet need—my desire to be married. And because that was more important to me than anything else, Satan got his foot in the door big time. If your eyes are on your unmet need, your door is open to Satan.

Keep your eyes on Jesus, not on your unmet need. Keep focused on His love for you; spend time with Him; stay in first love with Jesus. Get your eyes off of yourself and whatever unmet need you have, and keep fixing your eyes on Jesus. Pray Hebrews 12:2 into your life today: I will fix my eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of my faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Satan will have a hard time getting in your door if you keep praying that verse.


Sunday, September 24, 2006

Does God Allow His Children to Be Poor?

Elizabeth Elliot Devotional

Title: Does God Allow His Children to Be Poor?

God allows both Christians and non-Christians to
experience every form of suffering known to the
human race, just as He allows His blessings to
fall on both. Poverty, like other forms of
suffering, is relative, as Lars and I were
reminded while we were in India. Our country's
definition of the "poverty level" would mean
unimaginable affluence to the girls we saw
working next to our hotel. For nine hours a day
they carried wet concrete in wooden basins on
their heads, pouring it into the forms for the
foundation of a large building. They were paid
thirty cents a day.

On my list of Scriptures which give clues to some
of God's reasons for allowing His children to
suffer is 2 Corinthians 8:2: "Somehow, in most
difficult circumstances, their joy and the fact
of being down to their last penny themselves,
produced a magnificent concern for other people"
(PHILLIPS). It was the Macedonian churches that
Paul was talking about, living proof that it is
not poverty or riches that determine generosity,
and sometimes those who suffer the most
financially are the ones most ready to share what
they have. "They simply begged us to accept their
gifts and so let them share the honors of
supporting their brothers in Christ" (v. 4).

Money holds terrible power when it is loved. It
can blind us, shackle us, fill us with anxiety
and fear, torment our days and nights with
misery, wear us out with chasing it. The
Macedonian Christians, possessing little of it,
accepted their lot with faith and trust. Their
eyes were opened to see past their own misery.
They saw what mattered far more than a bank
account, and, out of "magnificent concern,"
contributed to the needs of their brothers.

If through losing what this world prizes we are
enabled to gain what it despises--treasure in
heaven, invisible and incorruptible--isn't it
worth any kind of suffering? What is it worth to
us to learn a little bit more of what the Cross
means--life out of death, the transformation of
earth's losses and heartbreaks and tragedies?

Poverty has not been my experience, but God has
allowed in the lives of each of us some sort of
loss, the withdrawal of something we valued, in
order that we may learn to offer ourselves a
little more willingly, to allow the touch of
death on one more thing we have clutched so
tightly, and thus know fullness and freedom and
joy that much sooner. We're not naturally
inclined to love God and seek His Kingdom.
Trouble may help to incline us--that is, it may
tip us over, put some pressure on us, lean us in
the right direction.

Fifteen Exhortations to Women

A Challenge to Women by John Piper
(see link for entire article)

  1. That all of your life—in whatever calling—be devoted to the glory of God.
  2. That the promises of Christ be trusted so fully that peace and joy and strength fill your soul to overflowing.
  3. That this fullness of God overflow in daily acts of love so that people might see your good deeds and give glory to your Father in heaven.
  4. That you be women of the Book, who love and study and obey the Bible in every area of its teaching. That meditation on Biblical truth be the source of hope and faith. And that you continue to grow in understanding through all the chapters of your life, never thinking that study and growth are only for others.
  5. That you be women of prayer, so that the Word of God would open to you; and the power of faith and holiness would descend upon you; and your spiritual influence would increase at home and at church and in the world.
  6. That you be women who have a deep grasp of the sovereign grace of God undergirding all these spiritual processes, that you be deep thinkers about the doctrines of grace, and even deeper lovers and believers of these things.
  7. That you be totally committed to ministry, whatever your specific role, that you not fritter your time away on soaps or ladies magazines or aimless hobbies, any more than men should fritter theirs away on excessive sports or aimless diddling in the garage. That you redeem the time for Christ and his Kingdom.
  8. That, if you are single, you exploit your singleness to the full in devotion to Christ and not be paralyzed by the desire to be married.
  9. That, if you are married, you creatively and intelligently and sincerely support the leadership of your husband as deeply as obedience to Christ will allow; that you encourage him in his God-appointed role as head; that you influence him spiritually primarily through your fearless tranquility and holiness and prayer.
  10. That, if you have children, you accept responsibility with your husband (or alone if necessary) to raise up children who hope in the triumph of God, sharing with him the teaching and discipline of the children, and giving to the children that special nurturing touch and care that you are uniquely fitted to give.
  11. That you not assume that secular employment is a greater challenge or a better use of your life than the countless opportunities of service and witness in the home the neighborhood, the community, the church, and the world. That you not only pose the question: Career vs. full time mom? But that you ask as seriously: Full time career vs. freedom for ministry? That you ask: Which would be greater for the Kingdom— to be in the employ of someone telling you what to do to make his business prosper, or to be God's free agent dreaming your own dream about how your time and your home and your creativity could make God's business prosper? And that in all this you make your choices not on the basis of secular trends or yuppie lifestyle expectations, but on the basis of what will strengthen the family and advance the cause of Christ.
  12. That you step back and (with your husband, if you are married) plan the various forms of your life's ministry in chapters. Chapters are divided by various things—age, strength, singleness, marriage, employment choices, children at home, children in college, grandchildren, retirement, etc. No chapter has all the joys. Finite life is a series of tradeoffs. Finding God's will, and living for the glory of Christ to the full in every chapter is what makes it a success, not whether it reads like somebody else's chapter or whether it has in it what chapter five will have.
  13. That you develop a wartime mentality and lifestyle; that you never forget that life is short, that billions of people hang in the balance of heaven and hell every day, that the love of money is spiritual suicide, that the goals of upward mobility (nicer clothes, cars, houses, vacations, food, hobbies) are a poor and dangerous substitute for the goals of living for Christ with all your might, and maximizing your joy in ministry to people's needs.
  14. That in all your relationships with men you seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit in applying the Biblical vision of manhood and womanhood; that you develop a style and demeanor that does justice to the unique role God has given to man to feel responsible for gracious leadership in relation to women—a leadership which involves elements of protection and care and initiative. That you think creatively and with cultural sensitivity (just as he must do) in shaping the style and setting the tone of your interaction with men.
  15. That you see Biblical guidelines for what is appropriate and inappropriate for men and women in relation to each other not as arbitrary constraints on freedom but as wise and gracious prescriptions for how to discover the true freedom of God's ideal of complementarity. That you not measure your potential by the few roles withheld but by the countless roles offered. That you turn off the TV and Radio and think about...
... more (see link)

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Nevertheless We Must Run Aground

Elizabeth Elliot Devotional

Title: Nevertheless We Must Run Aground

Have you ever put heart and soul into something,
prayed over it, worked at it with a good heart
because you believed it to be what God wanted,
and finally seen it "run aground"?

The story of Paul's voyage as a prisoner across
the Adriatic Sea tells how an angel stood beside
him and told him not to be afraid (in spite of
winds of hurricane force), for God would spare
his life and the lives of all with him on board
ship. Paul cheered his guards and fellow
passengers with that word, but added,
"Nevertheless, we must run aground on some
island" (Acts 27:26, NIV).

It would seem that the God who promises to spare
all hands might have "done the job right," saved
the ship as well, and spared them the ignominy of
having to make it to land on the flotsam and
jetsam that was left. The fact is He did not, nor
does He always spare us.

Heaven is not here, it's There. If we were given
all we wanted here, our hearts would settle for
this world rather than the next. God is forever
luring us up and away from this one, wooing us to
Himself and His still invisible Kingdom, where we
will certainly find what we so keenly long for.

"Running aground," then, is not the end of the
world. But it helps to make the world a bit less
appealing. It may even be God's answer to "Lead
us not into temptation"--the temptation
complacently to settle for visible things.

Paying Attention

When you come before God ... find a quiet, secluded place.
Matthew 6:5-6, The Message

"It takes time to develop a life of prayer: set-aside, disciplined, deliberate time. It isn't accomplished on the run. I know I can't be busy and pray at the same time. I can be active and pray; but I cannot be busy and pray. I cannot be inwardly rushed, distracted or dispersed.

In order to pray I have to be paying more attention to God than to what people are saying to me, to God than to my clamoring ego. Usually, for that to happen there must be a deliberate withdrawal from the noise of the day, a disciplined detachment from the insatiable self."

The Contemplative Pastor


"Paying Attention", God's Message for Each Day by Eugene Peterson.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

How Special Are You in Christ?

Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.
Galatians 4:7

"How special are you in Christ? First Peter 2: 9,10 says, "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him ... for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." You cannot earn what God has graciously given to you, nor become what you already are."

Neil T. Anderson, Freedom in Christ.

Changed by Worship

So come, let us worship; bow before him, on your knees before God, who made us!
Psalm 95:6, The Message

"Worship does not satisfy our hunger for God -- it whets our appetite. Our need for God is not taken care of by engaging in worship -- it deepens. It overflows the hour and permeates the week. The need is expressed in a desire for peace and security. Our everyday needs are changed by the act of worship. We are no longer living from hand to mouth, greedily scrambling through the human rat race to make the best we can out of a mean existence. Our basic needs suddenly become worthy of the dignity of creatures made in the image of God."

A Long Obedience


God's Message for Each Day by Eugene Peterson

A Lesson in Things Temporal

Elizabeth Elliot Devotional

Title: A Lesson in Things Temporal

I am upset when things are lost. Even small
things. I like to know that things have places
and are in them. It's much worse when something
like a manuscript is lost. I had worked for a
number of weeks on a certain piece, and when I
went to do the final rewriting it was gone. It
just wasn't anywhere. I looked, then Lars looked,
then we both looked. In all the likely and all
the unlikely places. We prayed about it, of
course, together and separately, but we could not
find it. At last I told the Lord that if I did
not find it today I would begin again from
scratch, as the deadline was closing in. That day
Uncle Tom, who was eighty-nine and was staying
with us, became very ill. There was no time to
think of manuscripts.

The next day we happened to move a piece of
furniture and discovered that moths were doing
their dastardly work underneath it. Lars went out
and bought a can of moth spray and proceeded to
fumigate every nook and cranny. The manuscript
was behind a desk. It had fallen down and lodged
standing up on the baseboard. If Uncle Tom had
not gotten sick I would have done a day's
unnecessary work on that piece that I was so
worried about. If the moths had not taken it into
their tiny heads to chew my carpet, we probably
would not have fumed up that sheaf of papers
until next spring. It was not for nothing that
the collect in my church that Sunday (the eighth
after Pentecost) was: "O God, the protector of
all who trust in you, without whom nothing is
strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply
upon us your mercy, that, with you as our ruler
and guide, we may so pass through things
temporal, that we lose not the things eternal;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and
reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for
ever and ever. Amen."

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Parable

Jesus tells a parable about the kind of people who will live with God forever.
It is a story of judgment, of God evaluating the kind of lives people have lived.
First he deals with the "righteous," who gave food to the hungry,
gave water to the thirsty, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked, and visited the prisoner.
These are the kind of people who spend forever with God.
Jesus measures their eternal standings in terms of not what they said or believed
but how they lived, specifically in regard to the hell around them. The judge then condemns a group of people because they didn't take care of the needy
and naked and hurting in their midst.
They chose hell instead of heaven, and God gives them what they wanted. For Jesus, this new kind of life is not about escaping this world but about making it a better place,
here and now.
The goal for Jesus isn't to get into heaven. The goal is to get heaven here.

Rob Bell

Call Upon His Name

"Satan's main strategy with God's people has always been to whisper, "Don't call, don't ask, don't depend on God to do great things. You'll get along fine if you just rely on your own cleverness and energy." The truth of the matter is that the devil is not terribly frightened of our human efforts and credentials. But he knows his kingdom will be damaged when we lift up our hearts to God."

Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala

Putting Your Past Behind You

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Do you really want to put your past behind you—whatever it takes? So many people are plagued with their pasts, and certainly God does not want His people to live that way.

Are you willing to admit you are in some ways a slave to that past? Have you come to the point where you know that your methods aren't working and you're ready to try it God's way? If so, there is wonderful hope for you, because believe me, God wants you to put that past behind you and move forward.

The truth of God's Word is our secret to putting our pasts behind us. But in our instant society, often people want quick fixes. To find the Bible's answers takes study and time and devotion. Also, the Bible always gives the truth, and sometimes people don't want the truth. If you are willing to face the truth of God's Word and apply biblical principles, you can put your painful past behind you. Let's look at one of those principles.

In Philippians 3:12-14 Paul writes, Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Paul is focused on one thing: winning the prize, doing what God has called him to do. He is candid to tell us that he doesn't have his act totally together, and he's in the process of becoming what God desires him to be. BUT in order to do that, he knows that he must forget what is behind and focus on the future.

The humanistic philosophy which pervades so much of our thinking today has caused many people to be very focused on the past. I think of a dear friend who, in trying to find help from a psychiatrist, has instead been driven to her past more and more until now she thinks of nothing else. The future is on hold for her because she is obsessed with her past.

Paul could put his past behind him because he had a goal in front of him. You know, when you're occupied with doing something worthwhile, when you have activities which are meaningful and important, you can put the past behind you much more easily. I notice that people who are inactive are much more likely to be consumed with their past. One of the great blessings of being involved in the lives of others is that it causes us to forget ourselves.

God's Love for Us and Our Love for Others

Faith: The Link Between God's Love for Us and Our Love for Others


John Piper

--

Here is a part of that message. See link for entire message.

--

What is it practically that converts the love of Christ for us into our love for others?

There are two answers in the book of Galatians. One answer is the Holy Spirit. The other answer is FAITH. And then there is a text that links these two answers in a way that is full of practical implications for living a life of love this week.

The Holy Spirit

Let's begin with the first answer: the Holy Spirit. Look first at Galatians 5:13-16,

You were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' 15 But if you bite and devour one another, take care lest you be consumed by one another. 16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

So walking by the Spirit is the way not to bite and devour each other but to serve one another through love. The Spirit is the key.

Then look at verse 22:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

The first fruit of the Spirit listed here is love. So it is plain that one crucial link between our being loved by Christ and our loving others is the Holy Spirit. Love for others is a fruit that grows in our lives by his doing. Somehow he makes it happen. It won't happen without him. And when it does happen we don't get the glory for it, God does.

The Christian life of love is a supernatural life. It is not produced by merely human forces. It takes resources that we do not have. This is very crucial for us to admit. It is humbling. Left to ourselves we cannot love. But this is very encouraging. Because what it means is that, if you are sitting there and feeling: I am not by nature a loving person, you are not at a disadvantage, because in fact nobody is by nature a loving person. If we were, love would not be a fruit of the Holy Spirit; it would be a fruit of our personality or our upbringing or our chromosomes. In fact you may be farther along than a person who feels that love is a natural thing. They will have a harder time learning how to love because they may not look for the resources in the right place.

So the first answer is that the Holy Spirit is the link between Christ's love for us and ours for each other. He works in us in some supernatural way to bear the fruit of love. We will see how—at least partly—as we look at the second answer.


----- see link for rest of the sermon ---


Monday, September 18, 2006

Christ Triumphant

The Lord sends forth from Zion your mightly scepter. Rule in the midst of your foes!
Psalm 110: 2, RSV


"The only way to understand history is to begin, openly and firmly, with Christ ... He is the Alpha in the alphabet of historical discourse. He is not an afterthought brought in as a rescue operaton. ...

The favorite psalm in the early Christian community was from the Psalm 110: 2, 5: "The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your foes! ... The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath." Biblical Christians do not sentimentalize Christ. There is fierceness and militancy here. The world is in conflict; our Christ is the first on the field of battle. High issues are decided every day. Christ is not only worshipped each Sunday, he is triumphant each week day."

Reversed Thunder

Eugene Peterson, God's Message for Each Day

The Angel in the Cell

Elizabeth Elliot Devotional

Title: The Angel in the Cell

My brother Dave Howard does a lot of traveling
and comes back with wonderful stories. One summer
when the six of us Howards with our spouses got
together for a reunion, Dave told us this one,
heard from the son of the man in the story.

A man whom we'll call Ivan, prisoner in an
unnamed country, was taken from his cell,
interrogated, tortured, and beaten nearly to a
pulp. The one comfort in his life was a blanket.
As he staggered back to his cell, ready to
collapse into that meager comfort, he saw to his
dismay that someone was wrapped up in it--an
informer, he supposed. He fell on the filthy
floor, crying out, "I can't take any more!
whereupon a voice came from the blanket: "Ivan,
what do you mean, you can't take any more?"
Thinking the man was trying to get information to
be used against him, Ivan didn't explain. He
merely repeated what he had said.

"Ivan," came the voice, "Have you forgotten that
Jesus is with you?"

Then the figure in the blanket was gone. Ivan,
unable to walk a minute before, now leaped to his
feet and danced round the cell praising the Lord.
In the morning the guard who had starved and
beaten him asked who had given him food. No one,
said Ivan.

"But why do you look so different?"

"Because my Lord was with me last night."

"Oh, is that so? And where is your Lord now?"

Ivan opened his shirt, pointed to his
heart--"Here."

"OK. I'm going to shoot you and your Lord right
now," said the guard, pointing a pistol at Ivan's
chest.

"Shoot me if you wish. I'll go to be with my
Lord."

The guard returned his pistol to its holster,
shaking his head in bewilderment.

Later Ivan learned that his wife and children had
been praying for him on that same night as they
read Isaiah 51:14: "The cowering prisoners will
soon be set free; they will not die in their
dungeon, nor will they lack bread" (NIV).

Ivan was released shortly thereafter and
continued faithfully to preach the gospel until
he died in his eighties.

Friday, September 15, 2006

Tribulations

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. James 1: 2-3

"Maybe you thought your goal as a Christian was to escape tribulations. But God's goal for you is maturity in Christ, becoming the person He designed you to be. And tribulation just happens to be one of the primary stepping stones on the pathway. That's why Paul says we should exult in our tribulations because our hope comes from proven character (Romans 5: 3-5)."

Neil T. Anderson, Freedom in Christ.

Where There Is Injury

Elizabeth Elliot Devotional

Title: Where There Is Injury

Have you ever found the taste of revenge sweet?
Does there lurk in your heart, as in mine at
times, a desire for at least the milder forms of
revenge if you have been hurt--a desire to see
the person apologize, an urge to remind him that
he was nasty to you, or even the temptation to
pay him back somehow? It was not God's plan that
man should take revenge. That He has reserved for
Himself, and when we seize that power we are
taking a huge risk. It is, in another form, the
risk Adam and Eve took when they ate the
forbidden fruit--arrogating to themselves powers,
lethal burdens, for which they were never
designed.

What if God paid us for our sins? What if He were
not Love? His mercy is everlasting and has
brought us salvation and forgiveness. Remembering
that, and how we ourselves have offended Him
times without number, shall we dare to retaliate
when someone sins against us? Think of the
measure of forgiveness God has offered us. Think
of the price. Think what the cross means. Then
pray the prayer of St. Francis:

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace--
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon....
For it is in forgiving that we are forgiven,
It is in dying that we are born again to eternal
life.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Carrying Around

As a Christian, I owe it to Jesus Christ to live for him,
to make him my consuming passion and the driving force in my life.
To do this, I have to die to my own desires daily.
I have to crucify the urge that measures every action and decision
around what is best for me.

Paul is eloquent regarding this fact:
"We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus,
so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body"
(2 Corinthians 4:10). Just as Jesus went to the cross, so I must go to the cross,
always considering myself as carrying around "the death of Jesus" so that his new life
—his motivations, his purposes, his favor—
might dominate in everything I do.


Gary Thomas

Enjoying God

I lift you high in praise, my God, O my King!
Psalm 145:1, The Message


"God is personal reality to be enjoyed. We are so created and so redeemed that we are capable of enjoying him. All the movements of discipleship arrive at a place where joy is experienced. Every step of ascent toward God develops the capacity to enjoy. Not only is there, increasingly, more to be enjoyed, there is steadily the acquired ability to enjoy it. Best of all, we don't have to wait until we get to the end of the road before we enjoy what is at the end of the road."

A Long Obedience

Eugene Peterson in God's Message for Each Day

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Hope

"Hope cannot exist in the past. When hope is directed toward the past it becomes despair. Hope cannot exist in anything that we have already obtained. ... Hope can only exist in the future. Living in the past is a graveyard for hope. Existentialism -- living for the now -- in the end will lead us to the same dead end -- a hopeless existence. When you refuse to let go of the past, you lose all hope. When you walk backwards into the future, you cannot see anything to hope for. This is one reason why a person who is embittered ultimately cannot be encouraged into a new frame of thinking. Until he is willing to let go of the past, he is not ready to take hold of the future."

Erwin McManus, Uprising.

Limitations are Gifts

Elizabeth Elliot Devotional

Title: Limitations Are Gifts

Yesterday as I was reading my brother Tom's book,
The Achievement of C.S. Lewis, I was admiring
again the scope of his knowledge, his ability to
comprehend another's genius, and his wonderful
command of English. By contrast my own
limitations seemed severe indeed. They are of
many kinds--analytical, critical, articulatory,
not to mention educational. But my limitations,
placing me in a different category from Tom
Howard's or anyone else's, become, in the
sovereignty of God, gifts. For it is with the
equipment that I have been given that I am to
glorify God. It is this job, not that one, that
He gave me.

For some, the limitations are not intellectual
but physical. The same truth applies. Within the
context of their suffering, with whatever
strength they have, be it ever so small, they are
to glorify God. The apostle Paul actually claimed
that he "gloried" in infirmities, because it was
there that the power of Christ was made known to
him.

If we regard each limitation which we are
conscious of today as a gift--that is, as one of
the terms of our particular service to the
Master--we won't complain or pity or excuse
ourselves. We will rather offer up those gifts as
a sacrifice, with thanksgiving.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Suffering

" ... the ultimate reason that suffering exists in the universe is so that Christ might display the greatness of the glory of the grace of God by suffering in himself to overcome our suffering. The suffering of the utterly innocent and infinitely holy Son of God in the place of utterly undeserving sinners to bring us to everlasting joy is the greatest display of the glory of God’s grace that ever was, or ever could be."

John Piper, Sermon on The Suffering of Christ and the Sovereignty of God



Jesus Calls Sinners

Christ brought us together through his death on the Cross.
Ephesians 2:16, The Message

"Churches are not Victorian parlors where everything is always picked up and ready for guests. They are messy family rooms.

They are not show rooms. They are living rooms, and if the persons living in them are sinners, there are going to be clothes scattered about, handprints on the woodwork, and mud on the carpet. For as long as Jesus insists on calling sinners and not the righteous to repentance -- and there is no indication as yet that he has changed his policy in that regard -- churches are going to be an embarrassment to the fastidious and an affront to the upright.

They are places, locations, where the light of Christ is shown. They are not themselves in the light."

Reversed Thunder


Eugene Peterson, God's Message for Each Day

Monday, September 11, 2006

Enable Us

Elizabeth Elliot Devotional

Title: Enable Thy Servants

Many of our prayers are for a quick and easy
solution. God is more glorified in his people
when they exhibit his grace under pressure. When
Peter and John had been discharged by the rulers,
elders, and doctors of the Jewish law with orders
not to speak again in the name of Jesus, the
Christians prayed about it--"They raised their
voices as one man and called upon God." Their
prayer was not, "Make these people stop
persecuting Thy servant," but, remembering the
word of prophecy concerning how the Messiah was
to be treated, they asked God only to notice what
was happening to his servants and to enable them
to speak with boldness (Acts 4:29 NEB).

We, too, may bring any difficult situation to our
heavenly Father, laying it before his eyes, and
asking not for instant escape but for
"enablement"--for strength to sustain the burden
and do what we ought to do without the fear of
man.

Anger

Let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. James 1: 19-20

"It's unhealthy for others when you respond emotionally by thoughtlessly telling everybody exactly how you feel. You may feel better after such an outburst, but in the process you destroy your family or friends. Paul said, "Be angry, and yet do not sin" (Ephesians 4: 26). Express yourself in a gracious way that won't hurt others."

Neil T. Anderson, Freedom in Christ.

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Disciple

From Dallas Willard’s The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’s Essential Teachings on Discipleship:

“For at least several decades the churches of the Western world have not made discipleship a condition of being a Christian. One is not required to be, or to intend to be, a disciple in order to become a Christian, and one may remain a Christian without any signs of progress toward or in discipleship. Contemporary American churches in particular do not require following Christ in his example, spirit, and teachings as a condition of membership — either of entering into or continuing in fellowship of a denominationn or local church. I would be glad to learn of any exception to this claim, but it would only serve to highlight its general validity and make the general rule more glaring. So far as the visible Christian institutions of our day are concerned, discipleship clearly is optional.”

----------------------

See Dallas Willard article in ChristianityToday.

"Generally, what I find is that the ordinary people who come to church are basically running their lives on their own, utilizing 'the arm of the flesh'—their natural abilities—to negotiate their way," he says. "They believe there is a God and they need to check in with him. But they don't have any sense that he is an active agent in their lives. As a result, they don't become disciples of Jesus. They consume his merits and the services of the church. … Discipleship is no essential part of Christianity today."

He says these problems are theologically grounded: "We don't preach life in the kingdom of God through faith in Jesus as an existential reality that leads to discipleship and then character transformation." He adds, "When you don't have character transformation in a large number of your people, then when something happens, everything flies apart and you have people acting in the most ungodly ways imaginable."

------------------

Also, related article by Cornelius Plantinga Jr. in Christianity Today:

"Extending a line of thought that runs through such Christian writers as Teresa of Avila, William Law, Jonathan Edwards, C. S. Lewis, and Richard Foster, Willard calls us to want and to plan for something much more ambitious, namely "thoroughgoing inner transformation through Christ" to "clean the inside of the cup." To rejoice in our forgiveness, teach right doctrine, and yearn for heaven are wonderful things. But, as Willard testifies in his classics The Divine Conspiracy and The Spirit of the Disciplines, and most recently in The Great Omission (HarperSanFrancisco, 2006), God has much bigger things in mind for us.

He wants us to join his mighty project. That's a main reason we need thoroughgoing transformation. He wants people like us to become fit enough to follow Jesus inside "the infinite rule of God," becoming searchers for his kingdom, agents within it, witnesses to it, and models of it. We now have little kingdoms of our own, just as God intended. Depending on our age and level of responsibility, we have a small realm "where our choice determines what happens." God wants us "to mesh our kingdoms with the kingdoms of others," all inside his master kingdom, "which pervades and governs the whole of the physical universe."

....

According to Willard, the problem is that a lot of us nod amiably at these instructions for a big Christian life in God's kingdom. Then we ignore them. For one thing, the instructions look like they're beyond us. For another, they are. The reason is that many of us are out of shape, spiritually speaking. God doesn't seem real to us, so we don't pray. And then God doesn't seem so real to us. When our own kingdom has a good year, we quit longing for the kingdom of God. We divert God's kingdom resources to our own side-projects and then lament when God doesn't bless them. (I'd like to see a cartoon of a Christian, palms up, complaining: "I stepped out in faith to build a Jesus Wins gaming casino that would employ hundreds, with a gospel singer lying on the King David Lounge piano and everything. But the casino went belly up. Where was God in my tragedy?")

Dr. Willard's diagnosis: A lot of us are doing Christianity at a putt-putt level. We want to be forgiven without following Jesus.

We're afraid to follow Jesus, because then we'd have to die and rise with him. We'd have to mortify our old self with its "fondest lusts," as Jonathan Edwards described them. Then we'd have to vivify Jesus' excellent virtues in their place. The truth is, we're mildly attracted to his virtues, but we're strongly attracted to our vices. We wouldn't like to lose them because they please us, and the prospect of a significant life with Jesus doesn't so much. Do we expect a new Christian life will just happen without our having to make inconvenient changes in how we live Monday to Sunday? If so, we are like people who want to be solvent and who also max out their credit cards. Or people who want to be sexually pure and who also bookmark porn sites. Or people who want to speak Japanese without all the tiresome study that's normally required. Here's Willard's devastating summary:

The general human failing is to want what is right and important, but at the same time not to commit to the kind of life that will produce the action we know to be right and the condition we want to enjoy. This is the feature of human character that explains why the road to hell is paved with good intentions."










Friday, September 08, 2006

The Price is Paid

God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law.

Galatians 4: 4-5, RSV


"All Paul's readers would have been familiar with the ... Greek process for freeing slaves. The word redeem describes this process. Sometimes a slave caught the attention of a wealthy free person and for some reason or other -- compassion, affection, justice -- the free person would then go to the temple or shrine and deposit with the priests the sum of money required for manumission. The priests would then deliver an oracle ... then pass the redemptive price on to the recent owner. The ex-slave ... was free.

That, says Paul, is what has happened to each of us. ... A price has been paid to free us. We are valuable beyond calculation."

Traveling Light


God's Message for Each Day by Eugene Peterson

Memorizing

Why Memorize Scripture? by John Piper

First, a few testimonies: I have it third hand, that Dr. Howard Hendricks of Dallas Seminary once made the statement (and I paraphrase) that if it were his decision, every student graduating from Dallas Theological Seminary would be required to learn one thousand verses word perfect before they graduated.

Dallas Willard, professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern California, wrote, “Bible memorization is absolutely fundamental to spiritual formation. If I had to choose between all the disciplines of the spiritual life, I would choose Bible memorization, because it is a fundamental way of filling our minds with what it needs. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth. That’s where you need it! How does it get in your mouth? Memorization” (“Spiritual Formation in Christ for the Whole Life and Whole Person” in Vocatio, Vol. 12, no. 2, Spring, 2001, p. 7).

Chuck Swindoll wrote, “I know of no other single practice in the Christian life more rewarding, practically speaking, than memorizing Scripture. . . . No other single exercise pays greater spiritual dividends! Your prayer life will be strengthened. Your witnessing will be sharper and much more effective. Your attitudes and outlook will begin to change. Your mind will become alert and observant. Your confidence and assurance will be enhanced. Your faith will be solidified” (Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994], p. 61).

...

For full article





Which Kingdom?

Elizabeth Elliot Devotional

Title: It Is Hard to Enter

The kingdom of god stands over against all other
kingdoms--that is, against all other authorities,
sources of power, objects of trust. It is hard to
enter the kingdom of God--not because an angel is
set to keep us out, not because God would
surround Himself with a highly selected elite,
but because the condition for admittance is
renunciation of all other kingdoms.

The wealthy stranger who ran up to Jesus, knelt,
and inquired how he might receive eternal life
"went away with a heavy heart" (Mk 10:22 NEB). He
did not want to pay the price of entrance--a
shift in the source of his trust, from money
(which seemed concrete and dependable) to this
"Good Master" who asked everything visible and
dependable in exchange for what was invisible and
seemingly very undependable.

Every day we are asked which kingdom we choose.
Is it, in the last analysis, "thine" or "mine"
which I most desire? What is it that my most
earnest prayers are directed toward?

Thursday, September 07, 2006

What Does God Require of You?

So now Israel, what do you think God expects from you? Just this: Live in his presence in holy reverence, follow the road he sets out for you, love him, serve God, your God, with everything you have in you, obey the commandments and regulations of God that I'm commanding you today—live a good life.

Deutoronomy 10: 12-13, The Message


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.

Deutoronomy 10:12-13 NKJV

Spiritual

"A 'spiritual life' consists in that range of activities in which people cooperatively interact with God -- and with the spiritual order deriving from God's personality and action. And what is the result? A new overall quality of human existence with corresponding new powers.

A person is a 'spiritual person' to the degree that his or her life is correctly integrated into and dominated by God's spiritual Kingdom. ...

The [spiritual] disciplines are activities of mind and body purposefully undertaken, to bring our personality and total being into effective cooperation with the divine order. They enable us to more and more live in power that is, strictly speaking, beyond us, deriving from the spiritual realm itself, as we 'yield ourselves to God, as those that are alive from the dead, and our members as instruments of righteousness unto God,' as Romans 6:13 puts it."

Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

sons of the Most High

32"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. 33And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. 34And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. 35But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

Luke 6:32

When Christ Comes

WHEN CHRIST COMES - - -by Max Lucado

You are in your car driving home. Thoughts wander to the game you want to see or meal you want to eat, when suddenly a sound unlike any you've ever heard fills the air. The sound is high above you. A trumpet? A choir? A choir of trumpets? You don't know, but you want to know.

So you pull over, get out of your car, and look up. As you do, you see you aren't the only curious one. The roadside has become a parking lot. Car doors are open, and people are staring at the sky. Shoppers are racing out of the grocery store. The Little League baseball game across the street has come to a halt. Players and parents are searching the clouds. And what they see, and what you see, has never before been seen.

As if the sky were a curtain, the drapes of the atmosphere part. A brilliant light spills onto the earth. There are no shadows. None. From whence came the light begins to tumble a river of color spiking crystals of every hue ever seen and a million more never seen. Riding on the flow is an endless fleet of angels. They pass through the curtains one myriad at a time, until they occupy every square inch of the sky.

North … South … East … West.

Thousands of silvery wings rise and fall in unison, and over the sound of the trumpets, you can hear the cherubim and seraphim chanting, Holy, holy, holy. The final flank of angels is followed by twenty-four silver-bearded elders and a multitude of souls who join the angels in worship.

Presently the movement stops and the trumpets are silent, leaving only the triumphant triplet: Holy, holy, holy. Between each word is a pause. With each word, a profound reverence. You hear your voice join in the chorus. You don't know why you say the words, but you know you must.

Suddenly, the heavens are quiet. All is quiet. The angels turn, you turn, the entire world turns and there He is.

Jesus.

Through waves of light you see the silhouetted figure of Christ the King. He is atop a great stallion, and the stallion is atop a billowing cloud. He opens his mouth, and you are surrounded by his declaration: I am the Alpha and the Omega.

The angels bow their heads. The elders remove their crowns. And before you is a Figure so consuming that you know, instantly you know: Nothing else matters. Forget stock markets and school reports. Sales meetings and football games. Nothing is newsworthy.. All that mattered, matters no more.... for Christ has come. . .


Amen and Amen!

Inside Out

"When Jesus prayed for His disciples that they would be one as He and the Father are one (John 17), the focus of His prayer was unity. While unity among ourselves was obviously a direct result of the oneness Jesus prayed for, I am convinced that it was His secondary, not primary, meaning. The oneness He spoke of first and foremost deals with our communion with God. This is critical because only in oneness with God do we find wholeness and integration.

God created everything to be in proper relationship with Himself. He is the source of all that is good. It is good for everything and everyone to be in relationship with Him. When we are one with God, we find both wholeness and integrity. Integrity is born out of relationship with God and flows into our relationships with others. Integrity is the personification of truth. When we build our lives on truth, and live by what we know is true, we begin to live from the inside out."

Erwin McManus, Uprising.

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Your Mission

God is at work in the world, and he wants you to join him.
This assignment is called your mission.
God wants you to have both a ministry in the Body of Christ
and a mission in the world.

Your ministry is your service to believers,
and your mission is your service to unbelievers. You were made for a mission.

Rick Warren

Calm

Elizabeth Elliot Devotional

Title: The Calm Spirit of Christ

Today is moving day. There will be plenty of
reason for fretting and stewing, impatience, and
turbulence. I am one who seems to feel that
unless I do things or unless they are done my
way, they will not be done right, and the day
will disintegrate. But I have been watching the
sea--very turbulent this morning because of a
tropical storm hundreds of miles away--and I
remember Him whose word was enough to calm it.

Speak that word to me today, dear Lord: peace.
Let your calm spirit, through the many
potentially rough minutes of this day, in every
task, say to my soul, Be still. Even this day's
chaos, with all its clutter and exertion, will be
ordered by your quiet power if my heart is
subject to your word of peace. Thank You, Lord.

Monday, September 04, 2006

Plans

11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.


Jeremiah 29

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Rest

“In a culture where busyness is a fetish and stillness is laziness, rest is sloth. But without rest, we miss the rest of God: the rest he invites us to enter more fully so that we might know him more deeply. ‘Be still and know that I am God.’ Some knowing is never pursued, only received. And for that, you need to be still.

“Sabbath is both a day and an attitude to nurture such stillness. It is both time on a calendar and a disposition of the heart. It is a day we enter, but just as much a way we see. Sabbath imparts the rest of God — actual physical, mental, spiritual rest, but also the rest of God — the things of God’s nature and presence we miss in our busyness.”

Mark Buchanan, The Rest of God : Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath

(From PreacherMike's Blog)





Saturday, September 02, 2006

Harmony

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8: 38-39


"Nothing can separate you from God. Disobedience, however, will destroy the harmony of your relationship with Him. Consequently, life will become difficult. Ask God to help you be a child who obeys so that you may live in harmony with Him."

Neil T. Anderson, Freedom in Christ.

Integrity

Elizabeth Elliot Devotional

Title: The Token of Integrity

"With a servant, a warrior, a child, a subject,"
writes Andrew Murray in The New Life, "obedience
is indispensable, the first token of integrity."

God is my Master, my Captain, my Father, my King.
I am servant, warrior, child, subject. What have
I to do in any of these cases but obey?

Integrity means wholeness, unbroken condition,
the quality of being unimpaired and sound. An
integer is something which is complete in itself,
an entity. No one can serve two masters. Divided
loyalty will mean impaired obedience. "A soldier
on active service will not let himself be
involved in civilian affairs; he must be wholly
at his commanding officer's disposal" (2 Tm 2:4
NEB).

O Christ, be Master and Captain of my life. Give
me a whole heart united to do your bidding and to
do nothing else. Let me hear your voice and no
other. Make my life an integer for your glory.
Amen.

Friday, September 01, 2006

Volunteer Slaves

Elizabeth Elliot Devotional

Title: Volunteer Slaves

"Slave" is not a word most of us nowadays feel
comfortable with. It is significant that most
modern Bible translations use "servant" instead.
For a slave is not his own, has no rights
whatsoever, is not in charge of what happens to
him, makes no choices about what he will do or
how he is to serve, is not recognized,
appreciated, thanked or even (except by his
absence) noticed at all.

Once we give up our slavery to the world, which
is a cruel master indeed, to become Christ's
bondslave, we live out our servitude to Him by
glad service to others. This volunteer slavery
cannot be taken advantage of--we have chosen to
surrender everything for love. It is a wholly
different thing from forced labor. It is in fact
the purest joy when it is most unobserved, most
unself-conscious, most simple, most freely
offered.

Lord, break the chains that hold me to myself;
free me to be your happy slave--that is, to be
the happy foot-washer of anyone today who needs
his feet washed, his supper cooked, his faults
overlooked, his work commended, his failure
forgiven, his griefs consoled, or his button
sewed on. Let me not imagine that my love for You
is very great if I am unwilling to do for a human
being something very small.

Humility

"But the realization that God, in all of His power and knowledge and wonder, is more humble than any of us is virtually beyond comprehension. The humility of God is perhaps one of His most overlooked and underappreciated virtues. ... God in His nature is humble. He relates to Himself in humility. The Father glorifies the Son, the Son glorifies the Father, and the Spirit never seeks glory for Himself but always gives it to the others. Even within God's triune nature, He is a model of humility."

Erwin McManus, Uprising.

Living Testimonies

"We were blessed every step of the way as we prayed and marvelled at God's hand in the midst of darkness. It is amazing to see and hear what God is doing in places that we know very little about or label as too hard to reach. We simply underestimate the power of the Gospel. Sometimes, what the Father wants from us is simply to go and live among people who do not know him, making our living and raising our families, living out faithful lives of prayer and service. Into this he will bring relationships with others who need him, those with life's problems with no answers. We become his witnesses. We must be intentional in how we speak for Christ and make our lives living testimonies. However, it is not in programmed, public typical western church approaches that we will reach these teeming billions. It is in simple lifestyles that are filled with grace and faith that flow from every pore."

From the June/July 2006 missionary report (Dan and Brenda McVey) speaking about early efforts in the UAE. I think there are insights for US missionary efforts as well.