God Praying in Us: Expanding our Faith and Trust

This is our Lord's will, that our prayer
and our trust be, alike, large. For if
we do not trust as much as we pray,
we fail in full worship to our Lord in
our prayer; and also we hinder and hurt
ourselves. The reason is that we do not
know truly that our Lord is the ground
from which our prayer springeth; nor do
we know that it is given us by his grace
and his love.

If we knew this, it would make us trust
to have of our Lord's gifts all that
we desire. For I am sure that
no man asketh mercy and grace with
sincerity, without mercy and grace
being given to him first.

-- Julian of Norwich, Revelations of
Divine Love

prayer
trust
Julian of Norwich
trusting God
God's love

"Bong Hits 4 Jesus" & $67 Million Dollar Pants: The Sad Difference between the Letter of the Law and the Spirit of the Law

Yesterday I listened with horror and incredulity
to two of the lead stories on the news: one
was the verdict of the judge (God help us) who
sued a dry cleaner for $67 million dollars because
they had lost his trousers. He felt they did not
live up to their bargain of "satisfaction
guaranteed" and thus suffered "emotional damages."
If a grown man in the capacity of a judge suffers
emotional damage from losing his trousers, especially
when he wasn't even wearing them, then the measure
of manhood has really gone downhill fast.

The other story concerns a ruling that went
all the way to the Supreme Court of our nation
that argued whether a school principal had
acted past her authority in tearing down
a poster at a graduation at a school she
presided over. The banner said, "Bong Hits
4 Jesus."

So what I am pondering today is the difference
between the letter of the law, and the spirit
of the law, and in our interaction with God,
the difference between law and relationship.

First of all, let me say this, I think we
are in a scary place as a nation because while we
rightly try? to enforce our laws, our
interpretation or re-interpretation of them
is based not on common sense or a sense of
what is truly right, but on the tense and structure
of the words and how others have parsed out
their meaning in other courtrooms and situations.

I remember as an undergrad that for a brief
season I thought of becoming a lawyer. I
ruled it out when I saw that a terribly
guilty person could get off scott-free
because I was, as a lawyer, a very clever
arguer. It seemed that the law sometimes had
less to do with the facts and more to do
with who was best at putting them together
to their advantage. The spirit of the law
was most often missed.

Let's apply this to our relationship with
God. God gave us the Law, for many reasons,
but one of them was so that we did not
go far astray while we were getting to
know who He was and what He was like.
The law was meant as a tutor to bring us
past the point where we needed a tutor:
we would have learned our studies and
would enter into genuine and right
relationship with God (Galatians 3:24, 25).

God's law is not about interpreting itself,
but about looking for what God meant
when He created it. Since we have divorced
God and government, we do not look for God's
mind or will in our law interpretation. This
leaves us only with the body of Law as god so to
speak.

But in spiritual circles we may be no
better. Do we just want to know what
God wants and not truly engage in relationship
with Him? Do we try to get by with the
least amount of relationship with God as
possible? Do we prefer to send Moses (the
leader) up the mountain to encounter
God but wait down in the safety of
the valley ourselves?

How many times have you heard arguments
about how far away from God someone can go
and still be "saved"? To argue and think in
such a manner is to live by the law and
not relationship. Why would you want the
least amount of salvation when you could
have the most? How many times have
I heard hours and hours of argument about
the meaning of a scripture when there is
not a commensurate amount of time
spent seeking God Himself about what
He meant?

When we argue over the meanings of
scripture, we are often looking for loopholes
or to reduce the scriptures to something we
ourselves correctly interpret. Again, where
is relationship with God? If the law is a
tutor, then one day I should not only understand
the letters, but understand the Spirit behind Law,
and that Spirit is not just some metaphysical
principle, but an actual Living Person: the Spirit
of God. He should have a preeminent place in
my heart, should inform my thinking, monitor
my speaking, and show me the Way to the Father.
Until I know how to fully cooperate with Him
and hear His Voice, I need to keep getting
tutored!

As for the secular part of this, what we
have to face as Christians is that up until
a few years ago you could talk about
Christian values and American values and
at least put them in the same family tree,
but that is less and less the case and we
need to be careful not to forget the
growing rift between the two.

Still, where is the spirit of the Law?
The bong poster case (the right for
the young person to display this
poster at the graduation) lost by only
1 vote. Do I believe in the right
to free speech? Yes, but only
to the degree that God does. God
allows man free will: the freedom to
do what he wants, at least for a season.
But God also warns that some forms of speech
are hurtful and many forms of speech are
inappropriate.

In the world, yes, the ancient world
I grew up in, it was the duty of parents
to show young people where they were
going wrong, not to support their
attempts to disrupt, mock, or outright
disdain authority, religion, or the
rights of others to engage peacefully
in the normal events of life.

Only a few decades ago if this had
happened, the young person responsible
would probably have been grounded
or should I say, get the biggest
whipping of their life for disrupting
a school graduation with inflammatory
signs and for shaming the name of the
family. Now it goes all the way to the
Supreme Court and loses by only one vote?

Even if I am only using common sense,
should I not come to the conclusion
that $67 million dollars retribution for
a lost pair of pants is idiocy, or
that my darling, by still morally
challenged teenager, should not be
allowed to disrupt public events
for no real reason other than a
a good laugh? Young people can't see
where life might take them if they
are not properly schooled in both
moral as well as academic subjects.
Paris Hilton probably has a slightly
different take on things then she
did a few months ago. Life lessons
are often costly ones.

When the Law of God is separated from
its Maker, or in secular government,
separated from a clear sense of
moral obligation, concern for well-being
of my neighbor, and the long-term common
sense of a nation, and replaced with
the selfish agendas of power-arguers, or
the insane, then there is sure to be trouble.

There already is. Be prepared for more.
Be prepared, also, to turn back to simple
relationship with God. Start there. The
rest will take care of itself. God is able
to direct all who ask Him for direction.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and
instruction (Proverbs 1:7).

current events
the spirit of the law
God's law
faith in America
knowing God
bong hits for Jesus
supreme court rulings
the letter of the law
<

Norman Grubb on Coming to the End of Ourselves

There is a day, a season, usually
prefaced by many agonizing days,
when at last our straining self,
stretched and taut like an elastic,
gives way. We were crucified with
Christ all along, but now faith
enters into this intelligently as
fact. If we were crucified with Him,
we also rose with Him, and now at
last we can see that that means the
New One within is living His life
within us.

He always was since redemption,
but he had to spend those months and
often years working us out of ourselves
by walking in us into all sorts of
frustrating situations, which we
handled wrongly every time by our
self-reactions to them; and I reckon
the Indwelling Christ has many a laugh
as He sees us bumbling and stumbling
along, and knows the good though painful
lessons we are learning by stubbing our
toes on this and then that; but knowing
also that we shall see, because He has
already started looking out on things
His way through our eyes, and will go
on until we learn the difference between
us looking through our own eyes and He
looking through them.

--God Unlimited, Norman Grubb

photo taken at Glen Eyrie, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Norman Grubb
surrender to God
Glen Eyrie
Colorado Springs

Jesus Set His Face Like Flint: Learning Obedience in the Midst of Rejection and Opposition (Luke 9:51-62)

Obedience and not reaction. Jesus set His
face like flint to do the will of God.

That's what we must learn. There are a million
things out there that will press our buttons
and inflame our emotions so completely
that we won't know which way is up.

So often we are drawn away from obedience
because we are drawn into slippery,
stalwart, or stubborn reactions that
takes us away from obedience to God.

In the ninth chapter of Luke's gospel we
find Jesus "setting His face like flint"
to go toward Jerusalem, where He would
lay down His life for us. He was not going
to be turned aside from doing God's will.
No matter what the cost, no matter what
He felt, no matter what others said or did,
He was going to obey His Father (Luke 9:51ff).

Jesus encountered more rejection when
He went through Samaria toward Jerusalem.
If you have set your face to do the will
of God, you, too, will experience
rejection. If, however, you don't set your
face like flint, it will be very difficult
to do the will of God because you will
be swayed by others or the enemy of your
soul, or even your own desires and
reasonings.

It is almost as if you have to predetermine
that you will do and obey what God has
said to you. For in the heat of battle
things can look mighty different,
especially when unmet expectations and
desires or rejection and opposition
distort your vision. Then it is easy to
lose your bearings or your nerve!

You most certainly will be tossed about,
and lose your clear sense of what you
are called to do. This very thing
happened to the disciples. While Jesus
was setting His face as flint, the
disciples noticed that He was met with
rejection. In true Christian spirit (!),
they asked the Lord if He would like them
to cause His rejectors to be killed
with fire from heaven (vs. 54).

Jesus takes this opportunity, an
opportunity when most of us might
be despairing, for even His closest
comrades did not understand, to
say this: "You do not know what
manner of spirit you are of. I did
not come to destroy people but
to save them" (vs. 55). His was
a heart of love, but theirs was
a heart of something much less.

His disciples are of the spirit
of hate and death at this moment.
Love is not being shed abroad in
their hearts. Their focus is on
their new-found power, and they
are thinking that Jerusalem will
be for them a place of gaining
more power, not a place of the
death of their dreams and of
their soulish plans. How sadly
mistaken they are!

When we react, as the disciples
did, in self-righteous indignation
to those who oppose us, then we
are not working with the Lord: we
are destroying and not saving.

How often are our emotional buttons
pushed, our plans thwarted, our
hopes dashed, our path cut off,
our place diminished, our worldly
progress trumped! In these moments
we must learn obedience and not
the normal path of fleshly reaction.

After Jesus rebukes his disciples
there is more bragging on their part:
"Lord, I will follow you anywhere!"
Jesus knows better, He knows that
they will be sorely tempted and many,
if not most, will turn away. Families
will talk disciples out of following Him,
opportunities will take them elsewhere,
convenience will cause them to turn
to an easier path. Jesus is looking
for a complete and immediate obedience,
how does your reaction stack up against
that call?

God's will is a grand and good thing:
it is life to our spirits, but it will
cut across our expectations and will
produce a reaction that will require
a choice on our part: choosing Jesus,
or choosing our self. We have to go
down to go up. We have to go to
Jerusalem first to die, before we
can reign with Christ.

In the first part of our journeys
as Christians we are heady with
the power that we experience surging
through us. It is fun and easy to
call fire down, it is flamboyant,
it is showy, it is power, but it is
often not love.

How easy it is to pass something
off as "prophetic" when
it involves tearing something or
someone down. A prophet, however,
must have a heart of love formed
in him or her to earn the right
to speak a tough word.

Ezekiel, the great post-exhilic
prophet, was also told by God,
to set his face toward Jerusalem.
He was to deliver a word from
which Israel would not soon recover.
He is told, "sigh with a breaking
heart" (Eze. 21:6), for a time of
horror was about to come forth.

A sword (human power) had risen
up against the scepter of God's
Son (vs. 10) and, listen to
this, "that sword despises the
scepter of My Son as it does
ALL WOOD" (vs 10 NKJV). Note that the
scepter of the Son's power is
equated with the wood of the cross,
for what is the most important and
the most despised piece of
wood in history? The cross of Christ!

In Psalm 40: 6-8, and then explained
in Hebrews 10, there is a prophecy
of Jesus, "Then I said, Behold I come,
in the volume of the book it is
written of Me, I delight to do
your will, O God, Your law is written
in my heart." Like Jesus, we have
to delight to do God's will. When
we are tempted to react and not obey,
we must choose God above our own way.
His will must be our delight!

Reacting feels good: for a moment.
It does not produce love and it
does not produce life. It just
makes me feel like I am getting
somewhere. Animals react. If someone
tries to take what is their's, they
fight. We have the capacity to
rise above reaction and consciously
choose God and learn His ways. This
is what sets us apart from animals.

For Jesus to be obedient to God,
He had to both know God's will,
and also be willing to choose
God's will over every other thing.
If we are unsure of God's will,
then we need to seek Him until
we are clear. If we know God's
will and are unwilling to yield
to it, we need to wrestle with
our flesh until it is subjected to
God's plan.

What do we do with our reactions?

For surely our hurt and troubled feelings
shall pop up, and surely they will
demand attention! Here is the process
of learning obedience. Do you think
that it was easy for Jesus? Think
again. He felt the need to be often
in prayer with His Father. While
others retired to their homes and
their families, He retired to pray
on the mountain. Surely there were
loud cryings and much pouring out
of His soul to His Father. It is
here that relationship with and
trust in God is built. There is no
shortcut.

We must set our face like flint
to do the will of God. It is worth
the battle, and worth the tears, for
surely it will bring us beside the
peaceful waters of the Lord's Presence,
there to dwell with Him, in love,
forever.

Luke 9:51
setting your face like flint
spiritual journey
obedience to God
emotions
God's love
letting go
God's will

Daring to Risk

To dare is to risk losing your foothold for a moment.
Not to dare is to risk losing yourself.
- Soren Kierkegaard


photo taken at Bandolier National Monument in New Mexico

Soren Kierkegaard
risk
trusting God
Bandolier National Monument

What is Happening to Iraqi Christians in Baghdad?

I just finished reading this article
on the persecution of Iraqi Christians
found in the Jewish World Review on June 14.

Here is one part that I found especially
interesting:

"Still, early Muslims considered Christians,
along with Jews, to be "people of the book,"
as Muslims refer to followers of other
monotheistic religions, and believed they
were entitled to protection under Islamic rule,
in exchange for jizya, as the tax was called.
It was considered a substitute for the tax for
the poor, zakat, which Muslims pay annually."

Taxes are inevitable, I kind of get that, but
it implies this tax was, for better or for worse,
instituted to protect Christians
and Jews. Protect from what? is the likely
question. The mafia, as I understand it, also
offers protection for money. I'm giving the
early Muslims the benefit of the doubt here
in thinking that they were providing protection
from persecution from militants, whether religious,
or political, to other monotheistic
traditions. Pagans and polytheists were on
their own!

Now, this tax has turned into some kind
of extortion money--it has become a threat
of violence and not a protection from it.
Iraqi Christians, with deep roots in their
faith communities in Baghdad, are facing
increasingly deadly threats of violence.

The article goes on to say,

"At a church in Karada, a priest
shooed away a McClatchy correspondent. Nearby,
five black funeral banners graced with yellow
crosses fluttered in the wind.

Rumors abound. Residents said a priest and
an altar boy were killed on Wednesday and
their church was burned, but they refused
to say more. "We are afraid of retribution,"
one said. The U.S. military denied that the
incident occurred."

Al-Quaida, perhaps, viewing Christians as
pacifists, sees an opportunity to gain
advantage. "Let the reader understand: “So
when you see standing in the holy place
'the abomination that causes desolation,'
spoken of through the prophet Daniel"
Matthew 24:15).

The only defender these poor Christians have
is the Lord, also thought, in various
quarters, to be a Pacifist, but Who will be
better known as a Valiant and Victorious
Warrior, when the time is right.

This is just the beginning.

Or is it the beginning of the end?

Pray for Iraqi Christians. Pray for the
persecuted church.

Baghdad
Iraqi Christians
current events
religious persecution

E. Stanley Jones on Glorious Surrender to Jesus

His Yoke is Easy

The phrase I've said most in life
is this one:"Lord, You've got me."
And I've meant it. And it works --
works gloriously. His yoke is easy
and His burden is light. Why? Because
He puts nothing on you? On the contrary,
you come to Him and He will dump the
world and its troubles into your heart.
You begin to care. I came to Him all
unsuspecting. I wanted salvation and
found in taking it I wanted the
salvation of the world.

At eighty-three I'm taking more and
more projects upon myself -- world
projects. And the more I take on
myself, the more I'm taken over by
joy, by well-being, by inner excitement,
by adventure, by growth, by life.

His yoke is easy because His yoke
is my yearning. It gives me the
very thing I'm made for -- creative
activity. When I surrender to Him, it
is the same surrender a wire, unattached
and noncreative, makes when it surrenders
to a dynamo: it throbs with light and
power. The same surrender which paint
makes when it surrenders to an artist:
mere color becomes a living picture.
The same surrender which ink makes when
it surrenders to a writer: mere print
becomes words that burn and bless and
enlighten.

When you surrender to Christ, you
surrender to the most creative and
dynamic Person on this or any other
planet. You begin to be alive with
His life, enlightened with His light,

loving with His love. You have surrendered
to creativity. Therefore His yoke is easy,
for you are made by the Creator for creation.

--E. Stanley Jones


photo taken in Lauterbrunnen Switzerland, Agfachrome

E.Stanley Jones
surrender to God
the burden is light
life purpose
Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland

We Are Sent By God With A Purpose

We seldom realize fully that
we are sent to fulfill God-given
tasks. We act as if we were
simply dropped down in creation
and have to decide to entertain
ourselves until we die.

But we were sent into the
world by God, just as Jesus was.
Once we start living our lives
with that conviction, we will
soon know what we were sent to do.
- Henri Nouwen

Henri Nouwen
purpose of life
spiritual journey
God's will

Can A Nation Be Born in A Day? God's Sovreignty and The Promise of Change

Can a Nation Be Born in A Day?
The Promise of Change: Are You Really Ready?

Forty years ago today, June 8, 1967, Israel won
the 6-Day War. I was nine years old, not interested
in politics or religion, but thought that 6 days was
not a very long time for a war. Even then I knew
that certain things generally took a significant
amount of time. So a six day war seemed unlikely, even
to a nine year old. As an adult, defeating the
armies of Egypt and Jordan in six days, taking
Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai
seems equally unlikely, even to someone
who believes in miracles.

On May 14, 1948, the state of Israel reappears as a
nation in modern history. Isaiah asks, "Can a nation
be born in a day?" (Isaiah 66:8). "Of course not!" is
the human and expected answer. God promised
to make Israel a nation while it was still making
bricks in the slavery of Egypt (Gen. 15, Ex. 32:13).
And when God makes a promise, He is well able
to keep it, no matter what it looks like. The
same holds true for you.

With any birth there is a lot of waiting. Nine
months of it. In our lives there can be a lot
more then nine months of waiting for something
to be born. But then, when the baby is ready
to come, he or she comes quickly and changes
things irrevocably! A nation was born in a day, but
look at all that had to proceed its moment
of destiny!

It is often hard to wait for God to birth
what He has ordained for you. It is a mysterious
process of waiting for Him, co-operating with
Him, but not using your own strength to
bring it forth. Pain in childbirth entered
the world because we decided to take things
into our own hands and do what we felt
was best. Effortless birth, both physical
and spiritual, was God's original plan for us.

Now, due to the ravages of sin in the world,
birth can be anything but effortless.
Change can be a long time in coming. The
promise of God can be delayed. A nation
being born in a day can seem an impossible
thought. A six day war, in the light of our
own personal circumstances, and especially
in light of our own nation's present conflict,
can seem ridiculously short.

Press on. Be faithful. Things can appear
like they never will change, and then,
Voila!, all is different. Eternal change
can happen in the blink of an eye. Indeed,
it is promised to happen: ...."Behold I tell you
a mystery: We shall not sleep but we shall
all be changed--in a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trumpet. " (I Cor 15. 51-2).

Hmmm. Isn't that interesting?
Eternal change in a moment!
...WE SHALL ALL BE CHANGED.
We look around, like the people, described
by the apostle Peter, and say, "Where is He?
things have been the same forever!"

"Knowing this first: that scoffers will
come in the last days, walking according
to their own lusts, and saying, “Where
is the promise of His coming? For since
the fathers fell asleep, all things continue
as they were from the beginning of creation.”

For this they willfully forget: that by the
word of God the heavens were of old, and
the earth standing out of water and in
the water, by which the world that then
existed perished, being flooded with
water. But the heavens and the earth
which are now preserved by the same word,
are reserved for fire until the day of
judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

But, beloved, do not forget this one
thing, that with the Lord one day is as
a thousand years, and a thousand years
as one day. The Lord is not slack
concerning His promise, as some count
slackness, but is longsuffering toward
us, not willing that any should perish
but that all should come to repentance.
...

Therefore, beloved, looking
forward to these things, be diligent to be
found by Him in peace, without spot and
blameless; (2 Peter 3).

Change, slow to happen, will overtake
us so rapidly that there will be no
time to prepare. Our time to prepare
is now, and the Lord is giving us time
because He does not wish us to perish.

Change, though slow to happen, will
happen. Does happen. Is sovereignly
destined to happen. This does not
pertain solely to the return of the
Lord, but to the promise of God
being fulfilled in our hearts and lives.

His Promise is sure, although what
we hope it to look like may be
a bit different from what God has
in mind. Do be careful that you
are not presuming, but be steadfast
in your trust in God's good way for
you.

The Lord will be victorious in
the hearts of all those who allow
Him to work His peaceable kingdom
in them. Until then there is war,
a war for your very soul. And a
war for Israel. None of us, nation
or individual, should rely on
human strength, but on the arm
of the Almighty One. "Those
who are with us, are more
then those against us."

Changes are coming. Irrevocable
ones. It is important that we
be ready for them, so while you
are waiting, take a look at your
heart and make sure you are
prepared for the sudden change of
the door of opportunity clanging
shut with a bang. Do not lament
what appears to be delay. Labor
far into the night. It is you and
I that God is waiting for.

A new nation, the kingdom of
God's dear Son, will be born in
a moment. The Lord will be victorious
in a moment, and will not even need six
days, or even one.

Be steadfast. Change is ordained,
at least until that day when all is
perfect. Change, she be a'coming.

Six Day War
the Nation of Israel
change
the return of Christ
the kingdom of God
waiting
current events
the promises of God
tough times
Isaiah 66:8

T. Austin-Sparks on the purpose of Spiritual Trials

Conflicts and Spiritual Trials

Divine wisdom working
sovereignly ALLOWS
conflict, as a way
to keep things strong,
pure and healthy.
Battles seem to be
necessities for the
very purity of that
which the Lord is
seeking to have.



Conflicts, in the Divine judgment
are essential to maintenance. We do
not always look upon them like that;
indeed, it is very often difficult so to
regard the terrific conflicts into which
the Lord's people individually and
collectively are so frequently thrown.
We know something about the conflicts.

It is not necessary for me to tell you
that there are such things. We know
that they are increasing in their intensity,
and sometimes they get almost, if not
altogether, beyond our powers of endurance.

It seems there is very little let-up in the
number of battles that have to be fought.
It is in the plural here -"Out of the battles..."
You and I know a good deal about the battles,
the real spiritual battles, the enemy coming
in like a flood, the fury of the oppressor, the
constant effort on his part to break and to
destroy us.

Our question often is as to why the Lord
allows it. We are hardly out of one before
we are in another; and there is no doubt
about it, the Lord allows it. It may be that
there are some things which could be cut
short and put back, but on the whole, the
Lord allows His people to know very much
conflict and pressure; and as we enquire
why, this little fragment does give us at
least a part of the answer.

When we examine the history of things, we
can see it is quite true that any increase, any
preservation, any maintaining, has come
along the line of what we have gained from
our deep experiences.

knowing God
T. Austin-Sparks
spiritual trials
difficult times
conflict
God's sovereignty

The Wildness of God

"One day you'll see him and another you won't. He
doesn't like being tied down and of course he has other
countries to attend to. It's quite all right. He'll often drop
in. Only you mustn't press him. He's wild, you know.
Not like a tame lion."~C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the
Wardrobe, (1950)- - -


photograph taken in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland


C.S.Lewis
Aslan
the character of God
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland

Everlasting Splendors or Immortal Horrors? God wants to Heal the Dark, Broken Places

Today I caught a glimpse of God. Out of the
the corner of my spiritual eye: the Intense
One preparing to work. He is after far more
than a gentle bath in the tub for us, you know.

He is headed for the inner depths. The
places we barely know about hidden
deep within. But why? Today I saw Him pull
up in His sleek search and rescue boat,
He found just the most murky, sea-weed
entangled spot and quietly and confidently
looked down. He was not worried that His
boat would stall in the tangled subterranean
weeds. No, he wasn't on a pleasure trip.
He had work to do. "Do you absolutely
want the best?" He grins down at me.
All I know is what I think I want. I suppose
its a place to start. I also suppose that
the Lord has other plans, He always does.

Today they had new home video of the
alleged Loch Ness Monster. Why do we keep
looking for this monster? Because we are
fascinated with the idea of a monster
lurking in the depths of our lakes. Such
stories keep resurfacing, excuse the pun,
because it is an archetype for our own inner
monsters, the ones we know are there but
rarely catch a glimpse of. We are both
scared of what could be there, and eager
to see an other-worldly beauty.

Sin didn't just nick us. It wrecked us.
But we are still made in the image of
God and He still can see that image
even underneath layers of tarnish.
This healing process isn't about
bandaiding the little hurts that
life inflicts on us, it isn't even
about botoxing the big ones. It is about
pulling the the deepest, darkest
sin-enrobed monsters inside of us out
by the roots. This isn't day surgery,
it is seriously foundational healing. It is
about putting the fear and wonder back
into "fearfully and wonderfully
made."

It is about the "inside being bigger then
the outside." It is about being
three days and three nights in the belly
of a whale. And it is also about being
a glorious son or daughter of God--fully
restored, fully functioning, ALL that God
intended.

Think about being "fearfully and
wonderfully made" just for a moment
and let the shiver run up and down your
spine. Everyone who knows me knows that
they can often find me out antiquing.
There is nothing more thrilling then
finding an old dust and grease covered
object whose beauty is just waiting to
be rediscovered and restored despite
the ravage of the years. Are we really
any different?

There is far more to us then we know.
And God wants to not just heal us, He
wants to make us whole, and not just
whole, but better than before. I think
He will make things, us included,
even better than the original plan
because God is never trumped by
sin. His new plan for the Bride, created
and ransomed by and for His Son,
will be a greater sight to behold then
whatever He had originally planned
for Adam and Eve.

Do you like to go treasure seeking?
So does God : spelunking in the inner
caves of our souls, diving into the
depths of our murky subterranean
darkness; searching for gold on
the shipwrecked galleons of our
hearts. Our God is after healing.
He is heaven-bent on restoration.


When He fixes something He makes
it better than new. He will trump
every evil every committed. He
will work ALL things together for
good. If that hope seems dim
because the light inside you has
become a smoldering wick, fear not!
He shall fan you back into a
roaring fire! He shall
do more then restore the years
that the locusts ate, He will
raise you up as His eternal
inheritance. Do not doubt Him.


Here's what I have been mulling
over:

"All creation is waiting for the
manifestation of the sons of God."
(Romans 8:19).

Say that slowly and really give it
a whirl. Its on the same shiver
level as "fearfully and wonderfully
made" only more so. If it
doesn't produce a rise inside
of you, we'll have to call that
heavenly search and rescue
squad over to take a look.

Remember that we are still in
our salad days, green as a cabbage.
God has a long way to go with us, but
go He will.

C.S. Lewis said, "To remember that
millions of years from now, the dullest
and most uninteresting person you
meet may one day an incredible
creature, who if you saw him now
you would be strongly tempted to
worship, or, a horror as you
only now meet in a nightmare.

All day long we are in some
degrees helping each other to one
or the other of these destinations. ...
There are no ordinary people. You
have never talked to a mere mortal.
... But it is immortals with whom we
joke, work, marry, snub, and exploit.
Immortal horrors or everlasting
splendors, your neighbor is the holiest
object presented to your senses."

Which will you be?

God is aching to heal you. Make haste
toward Him. Cut a hole in the roof and
get your friends to lower you down. Jump
in the water as soon as it stirs. Climb up
in a tree to see Jesus. Let some strange
Galilean spit on some dirt and put it on
your blind eyes. Call out, "Jesus, Son of
God, have mercy on me a sinner!" Pour
out your burial oil on the feet and head
of your Lord. Go do it, immortal one!
Eternity fast approaches!

Whatever you do, don't hold back, and don't
let go, and don't give up and don't delay.
Make haste toward your Saviour and Lord.
One day you will stand whole and healed.
And even better than that: one day you
will be a worthy reflection of His image.
He will be victorious IN YOU. Let Him be.

Let God do what He wants. His intent
toward you is always good. His ability
to cleanse, even the murkiest of depths,
is unrivaled.

All creation is waiting for the manifestation
of the sons of God.

All creation waits
for YOU.

healing
inner healing
C.S.Lewis
Loch Ness monster
everlasting splendors
sons of God
daughters of God
fearfully and wonderfully made
Romans 8:19

T. Austin-Sparks on Adjusting to Change

We venture to say that a time has begun
when the old and fixed positions of
traditional Christianity are losing
their hold on, not only the Christian
public in general, but many sincere
seekers for reality... something not
to be found in many of the churches;
and what they are looking for is the
real and true life of God.

The question which confronts us all
is this: can the Lord lead us on
into His fullness in Christ without
continually bumping up against
something in our own carryover of,
not fixed truth but our fixed limit
of its meaning; ...

Steadfastness, unmovableness,
faithfulness, etc., are to be to the
Lord ... but adjustableness is an
essential to growth and increase
in light and fullness. At the same
time, we cannot change and move on
only as there is a basic work of
the Cross by which the strength
of nature, even as it impinges
upon Divine things, is set aside.

The Lord find us such as have
only one object, and that truly
at any cost: "That I may know Him."

--T.Austin-Sparks

knowing God
T. Austin-Sparks
the state of the church
difficult times
obedience
letting go