“Be free, happy, simple, a child. But be a sturdy child, who fears nothing, who speaks frankly, who lets himself be led, who is carried in the arms; in a word, one who knows nothing, can do nothing, can anticipate and change nothing, but who has a freedom and a strength forbidden to the great. This childhood baffles the wise, and God himself speaks by the mouth of such children.”
Francois Fenelon
There is a mechanism inside of all of us, that was formed (or at least malfunctioned) during the Fall (Gen 3). This mechanism is capable of holding anger towards others. This mechanism stores up wrong done and resentment, it remembers others faults and holds other in the courtroom of our hearts for judgment. This mechanism must be cleansed and closed down. It must be forever broken so that we are not capable of hold anyone captive.
See that’s the nature of this type of sin you hold others captive by it. This is why we have to seek not only to forgive, but to live lives constantly conscience of who we are offending. We have to be willing (often for me) to humble ourselves before others and drop the awkward question of, “have I done anything to offend you?”
For us who believe and spend any amount of time with the Father, we are not able to hold too much in our hearts without Him correcting us. But for others who don’t know Him, our actions can cause hours, days, weeks, months, and even years of heartache because they have no way of healing and finding peace.
God hates sin. Sin holds people ransom and kills them. Don’t sin against yourself or sin against your neighbor.
Love your neighbor as yourself…. Forgive and be forgiven…. Live free from looking over your shoulder….. Live free of resentment.
Selah
“The life God bestows is imparted not once and for all, but each moment continuously, by the unceasing operation of His mighty power. Humility, the place of entire dependence on God, is, from the very nature of things, the first duty and the highest virtue of man. It is the root of every virtue.”
Andrew Murray
Baby Jesus knows the deal and throws up a blessing to ya.
Therefore this is what the LORD says:
“If you repent, I will restore you
that you may serve me;
if you utter worthy, not worthless, words,
you will be my spokesman.
Let this people turn to you,
but you must not turn to them.
I will make you a wall to this people,
a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you
but will not overcome you,
for I am with you
to rescue and save you,”
declares the LORD.
“I will save you from the hands of the wicked
and deliver you from the grasp of the cruel.”
A man cuts down a tree. He takes half of it and builds a fire and with the other half he makes an idol. 
He carves the wooden image and begins to worship it and thanks it for saving him.
This is a rough sketch of some of the prophecies in Isaiah and some of the other Major Prophets in the Old Testament. Originally this kind of speech was reserved for Israelites and the foreigners of their land.
As of recently I have been contemplating the way we as Bible believing Christians can be addressed by this same scripture. We are just as capable of creating a god in our image as a pagan would create his own god. For example without any divine guidance we can begin attaching Christian principles to our gatherings, forming lessons on the messiah, singing songs that place Jesus at the center.
So what are you saying you’re not making since? God is a creator. He is the maker of His Church. He chose His first twelve and He continues to choose those who will follow Him. He chooses those who He wants to use to plant ministries and those who will temporarily guide His church. Choosing to do a religious act will at best produce religion. But when God guides us He can accomplish eternal goals.
We have been preparing to launch a new season of ministry at our church and the Lord has been preparing us for it. Before a prayer meeting today we had a talk about how we have a tendency to use our time with God talking to Him like He is some type of cosmic psychologist. The truth is that He desires us to be still. So after our talk we began to pray and something happened. He happened. His presence was thick and calming. Yet it was almost arresting, kinda petrifying. He freed us our desire to lead His prayer meeting and made us revere Him. Half of our time was spent in His silence, corporately waiting and listening and interacting. It was an amazing act of God and of obedience among the people.
We must realize that God is not just here to pat us on the head and listen to our problems. He has an agenda.
When we begin to spend our time with Him listening to His counsel there are many huge benefits. One, He speaks the truth to us. He can say truths like, we are his children, we are loved, we are forgiven, or we should not worry about the future. As a result of just listening in our prayer time we are given confidence to walk with a boldness and peace.
Two, when we take time to listen to Him we get to know His character. His character is not a generic mail box where we drop off our request and give Him a token hand shake. He has a way about Him that when you get to know it in prayer you develop an ability to recognize Him when your eyes are open.
Three, when we listen to Him and quiet our hearts we gain His strength by His grace. Prayer can very easily turn into an act of work to achieve God’s favor. If you go into prayer striving for the right prayer, that will somehow unlock grace, we distort the truth of the Good News. But to find the stillness before Him reveals the true nature of God’s grace. You quiet your heart and still your body and God descends to lift your soul.
Four, you gain the power to resist evil. After spending time in the stillness of God you gain a peaceful strength that enables you to restrain from hasty speech or thoughtless actions.
What else can be said but, don’t waste your time flapping your arms pretending to be something your not. Be still and know that He is God. Find Him in the God infested place of complete silence and submit your insides to Him. He is trustworthy; He really is God, when you get completely quiet He will be there to guide you. Test this truth, it is most rewarding.
You judge a tree by its Fruit. Have you ever figured something out far too long after you should have? That’s the story of my life. It hit me in a new way today thinking about judging a tree by its fruit. The fruit is how the tree is known and the tree is known for little else. An Apple tree is known for its apples and orange tree its oranges. Amazing how slow I can be sometimes.
So I wonder what kind of fruit I am bearing. Some trees bear fruit all year round, some don’t get enough rain and dry up. Am I bearing fruit, or am I a tree that seems to be scarce and not very reliable.
Lately I have been reading an 18 century mystic who has been writing about how we spend our free time. He says that how we spend our free time directly effects our work time, and our social time. He says that how we spend our alone time can make all the difference in the world in how joyful we are and how effective we will be. He says that when we spend our alone time wisely that we can enjoy every moment of every day before God in bliss. I believe him.
But I also struggle with doing things that I don’t want to do. I get home from work and I can’t resist some enjoyments, like playing a video game or getting online and wasting time. I’m not saying those things are wrong or that even there is a time to do those things. My point is that I don’t want to do those things… I want to be in the pure and sweet presence of the Lord. I want to go to Him in prayer and let my heart be healed from the wear of the day.
This is where most of my days land. I stand in the middle of desert knowing that the Promised Land is just around the corner and yet stumbling over my own feet.
Lord here it is… if it were not for your grace I would not stand. I don’t reserve any of my heart for me. It’s all yours, where would I go Lord for you have the words of life. Lord, I am learning to consistently wait on you, help me to not grow weary in patience. Help me to further know your voice. I have been hearing you and yet now I am beginning to know your character, which is specific and interesting. Lord it scares me that you are more real and defined than I knew. Help me to draw near. Help me to put myself in the fire that forges. Let me not be scared of your ways. Cleanse me from my religion and strip away my misunderstanding. No reserve Lord I’m yours. My only will is yours.
Like Lost or Grey’s Anatomy or your favorite TV series this walk with God just keeps getting more interesting. The closer we get to God the more we recognize just how great He is… and unfortunately the more we recognize our grossness. For this reason well into Paul’s ministry he stated that “I am the chief of all sinners”.
I am a Marvel guy. I read comics, collect statues, hang out in comic stores… I love it and am not ashamed. In my simple love for this comic/hero world God has been challenging me. And for a long time I didn’t know why.
As of late I have been contemplating the Pelagian Heresy of the 4th century. This guy Pelagius hung around Rome and might have been a former British monk. He taught a doctrine that proclaimed that original sin did not taint human nature and that we still had the choice to make good and evil decisions. This may sound harmless but this is a foundation that throws everything built upon it out of balance.
When this theology is “fleshed out” it leads to man’s belief in himself. Jesus becomes a good teacher. Man thinks and says things like “I’m a good person… I deserve to go to heaven.” Ultimately Jesus’ sacrifice becomes nothing more than a blip on the timeline of history and grace becomes a fluffy word that has little significance. Just as implied earlier this was recognized as a heresy in the Patristic Church (the church in the first 500 years) and many Church Fathers wrote and taught against such matters. If you notice around you may see this same theology used in the new aged movement and in some liberal Christian theology.
So somewhere in my thinking I have been hoping for a hero; I have been on some level wishing to become a hero. But the truth is that there is only one hero; Christ Jesus. There is no room for the redeemed to become the redeemer. We have fallen from righteousness and can only be reconciled by the blood of the lamb. The blood is what makes us right with God and what gives us the ability to be good people. I am not saying that you should be less respectable towards those around you who are impressive. But I am saying that you should not worship your Pastor or you teacher. They are men just like you, capable of the same mistakes as you. What should be done is to recognize that the good you see in others you should be praising God for, He is surly the maker of all things good.
So I write to you but mainly to myself, to remind me of what the Lord has been revealing to me and to state I repent from engaging too heavily in a world were men (or mutants) could be mini-saviors.
Jesus, you are King of Kings and you are Lord of my life. I surrender yet another part of the heart that you long to fully dwell in. Have your way.
Psalm 139:13-18, 23-24
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
(23-24) Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
There is a reason that we are given the example to ask God to search our hearts. Because we are incapable of successfully dealing with what we find. Searching our own hearts can only make us depressed
On the other hand He can heal all wounds. He is not constrained by time; He can go back and heal wounds from years past. He knows us. He knows how to lovingly challenge our idols. But we must be willing to respond with obedience to what we hear.
Search our souls O God that we may honor you that we may be clean temples where your glory can dwell.
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Hello out there… if there is anyone who may follow my blog you will see that I have changed the look once again. Sorry, if that troubles you, I just can’t find a format that I really like. I’ve considered changing to another blogsite, but hey I don’t want to lose your attention.
Just finished the major hump of my semester and boy am I relieved. I have to write one more paper that I plan on enjoying. I took some days off of work and I feel like a kid skipping school. Haven’t showered… been listening to 20 year old sermons from Arthur Burt, planning the coming school year, and of course thinking about you.
Last night had a wonderful small group at the house. We talked about the “elephant in the room” that no one likes to talk about, the struggle to surrender. It was amazingly liberating to realize that we all struggle to surrender and in our realization we rediscovered why we need it and why it hinders others and ourselves when we choose not to fight the good fight. Camped out in Psalm 42 (as the dear panteth for the water…), then to Psalm 24 (who may ascend the hill of God…), then 2 Peter 1…
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(Notice the highlighted texts God clearly expects our participation)
For this is surely the fight that is the good fight. We have a responsibility to harvest our own souls. There is no one else who will do so for us. And if you have trouble with your “self” look at Psalm 42, Korah gives a great example of a technique that many people of prayer have embraced, speaking to your own soul. He says, “Why are you downcast oh my soul…” often times in prayer I speak over my “self” saying things like, “I have been bought with a price, I am a son of God, precious before the Father (you can picture me walking heavily and speaking loudly to myself).” Also I would recommend to you that David sets a beautiful example of asking God to search his soul. How can you go wrong with asking for God to inspect you and do maintenance? Like a shepherd to the sheep. He anoints it head so that bugs will not bother it, and takes away the ratty wool that weights it down; he leads and takes care of the flock. But thankfully we choose to be in His flock and choose to be taken care of, and in doing so get to glorify God by making our choice.
Last week I was wrestling with my understanding of Divine Foreknowledge, Black Friday, and memorizing every person and significant event from birth of the Church to the reformation. This week I’m chillin’ at home, drinking coffee in my PJs, reading scripture and comic books, and contemplating the life of ”the Ox” Thomas Aquinas. The seasons are changing… praise God.
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