The Second Book of Chronicles (Chapter 35:22-27)
records the tragic story of the apparently
premature and unnecessary death of King Josiah.
Pharoah Necho was king of Egypt (circa 610 B.C.)
He needed to come up through the land Israel
on his way to Carchemish to help support the
Assyrians against the attacks of Babylon.
(Carchemish was an Egyptian stronghold near
the Euphrates River.) The Assyrian
king was caught in Haran, to the east of
Carchemish, and needed military aid.
It is understandable that King Josiah was
not thrilled that such a formidable force
was marching through his back yard. Josiah
sent ambassadors to ask Pharaoh Necho
his intentions. Necho told Josiah that
it had nothing to do with him, basically
"Butt out or die." Necho said that God
told him to get to Carchemish faster than
quick and Necho will basically kill anything
and anyone that gets in his way.
It is interesting to note that the
writer of Second Chronicles does not say
that "some Egyptian god", told Necho to do
this. It just says "God." (Hebrew: Elohim). He
says God commanded him to
hurry and don't meddle with "God" by
getting in the way. Interesting, no?
Josiah is a good king. He tore down
idols in Israel. He stood for God.
But here he makes a fatal mistake for
himself and for his nation. This
passage says that he decided to disguise
himself and fight against Egypt despite
what Pharoah said. After all, why believe
a pagan king? After all, wouldn't it be
logical to assume that it was the devil
lying to you?
But Josiah just assumed and did not
ask the Lord, even though Josiah
knew to ask the Lord and had
previously sought the Lord's
guidance (cp. 2 Chron. 34:19-28).
Perhaps Josiah was impatient and
wanted to fight. Perhaps he
thought he was going to be taken
advantage of. Perhaps he acted
to protect his country for it
was likely that even if the Enemy
did not currently have him in
his crosshairs, then it would
eventually be his turn.
Some of these reasons seem more
righteous than others. The problem
is, Josiah acted on his own
wisdom, and did not inquire of
the Lord. He did not hear God warning
him or was it that he did not
care to listen?
The Chronicler said he "did not
hearken to the words of Necho,
FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD!
(elohim) (vs. 22).
Did he understand it to
be God speaking to him? If so, then
he completely disobeyed. I
suspect that it was that
he just did not discern that it
was God speaking to him. The
problem was, he still did not seek
the Lord for direction and confirmation.
Most likely it was merely a mistake,
but a mistake that he would be
held culpable for, even unto death.
It is an interesting opposite
to note that when David faced a
worse situation with the
Amalekites (I Samuel 30), even
in his great and overwhelming grief,
he sought the Lord.
The Amalekites overtook Ziklag
were David lived and took
everyone's family, including David's
wives, captive and burned the place to
the ground. David's men were so
upset that they wanted to stone
David. David, however, "encouraged and
strengthened himself in the Lord
His God" (vs. 6). He then inquired
of the Lord for guidance. God
gave him victory!
Josiah, conversely, plunges
needlessly to his own premature
death because he chose his own
way. His undiscerned action had
tragic repercussions. Not only
did he lose his own life, but
insured that God's judgment would
fall on Judah. The subsequent
kings of Judah did not follow
the Lord and God was forced
to bring judgment. God, perhaps, was
holding back the judgment because
Josiah was a good king. But now
he was a good king operating in
his own strength.
It is ironic that Josiah's
opposition to the Egyptians,
who were going to aid the
Assyrians against Babylon,
probably kept Necho from reaching
his intended goal in time to be
able to defeat the Babylonians.
Babylon won out, and the kingdom
of Judah fell into the Babylonian
Captivity predicted by the prophets
Isaiah and Jeremiah.
It is also ironic that in
the previous chapter of
Second Chronicles (34), Josiah
is given a prophesy that said
because Josiah sought the
Lord and rid Judah of
idolatry that he would
"go to his grave in
peace and would not
see the evil the Lord would
bring on the inhabitants
of Judah" (2 Chron 34:28).
There is a lot to ponder here.
What part of prophecy is forged
in the immutable will and sovreignty
of God, and what part can be affected,
even altered, or made null, by my
sadly mistaken actions?
If you look at it one way,
Josiah did not go to his
grave in peace: he died
fighting a battle that
was not his to fight. But if
you look at in a larger sense
it could fairly be said
he died with personal peace,
with the heritage of being
a godly king, perhaps largely
unaware of his final costly
error, and he did not live to
see Judah fall into the
Babylonian Exile.
We all make errors, even
godly people. God will not
disown the godly legacy
of a man or woman just
because he or she makes
a mistake, even a mortally
fatal one. The only truly
fatal mistake would
be to turn from God and to
worship idols. Josiah
did not do that. Even so, this
story is bittersweet.
We must learn to seek the Lord
in ALL things, EVERY time,
without fail. Jesus said, "I only
do the things that I see My Father
doing" (John 5:19, 20). We cannot
spray spiritual buckshot into
every situation we see, even if
we mean well, or many will be injured
by "friendly fire." We have to make
sure not only that we are fighting on
the right side of the war, but on the
right front!
We dare not pull the trigger
until God says to or an arrow of
the enemy may come back and mortally
wound us. There are a lot of things I
can fight for, but are they the things
that God wants me to fight for?
Just because I sought God
yesterday, does not mean that
I will know His will for me
today. Yesterday He may have
said, "Go." Today, He might
say, "Stay." I will not know
unless I stay in vital union
with Him and ask Him continually.
Josiah was a good man, a godly king,
who lost his life for nothing:
he did not have to die at Megiddo.
There is so much in this passage
to examine. He did not have to die,
and yet, he could have been taken
captive and not killed. Then he would
have seen the painful sight of
his nation going into captivity.
Despite his mistake, God still
fulfilled the prophecy to him
that he would not see his beloved
country fall into the hands of the Enemy.
Was it then God's will that
Josiah be killed? No, I don't
think that for one minute.
Josiah failed to discern
God's voice and fell as a
casualty. Would you or I
discern God speaking through
the voice of our enemy?
Would we make the same mistake?
Now there is another whole
can of worms!
We have to be so careful,
so prayerful, so pure of heart
that we hear the voice of God from
whatever corner He speaks
and through whatever servant
He chooses to use.
Can our adversaries be the mouthpiece
of God to us? Can God use even our rivals
to warn us to get out of the way?
Apparently so. Do we need to refine our
discernment so we get the message straight
and not believe the lies of Satan mixed in
with the truth?
ABSOLUTELY!
Better to hear the Word of the Lord
from the mouth of a friend or one
of the Lord's prophet's! The question
is, "Where were the Lord's prophets
when Josiah was pondering all this
in his heart? Were they speaking
the truth and Josiah was just not
listening? Were they telling Josiah that
Necho was a false prophet and
could not be believed or affirming
that God was speaking through him?"
Or where they not even asked?
This passage ends with Jeremiah
lamenting, crying because judgment
was now certain; crying because
the good king was dead; and
crying, perhaps, over the needless
loss of a good man. The Lament
he wrote in Lamentations 4:20
says that the "good king was
taken in their snares." You
hear his pain loud and clear.
The prophetess Huldah, who, from the Lord,
commended Josiah, failed to see the
totality of this unhappy event coming
(cp. 2 Chron. 34:22-28).
We see in part and prophecy in part
(I Cor. 13:9). She gave her piece
but apparently there were
more pieces to the puzzle.
There always are, aren't there?--
including that difficult piece
called "the free will of man!"
We need God utterly, completely,
each moment, every minute, now
and forever. He will lead us home
even if we make a huge mistake. Let
us help each other to avoid as
many mistakes as possible!
I encourage you to seek the Lord.
Don't lose your life, your
ministry, your hope, your peace,
your walk with the Lord, for nothing.
Avoid a fatal mistake: seek the Lord,
and having sought Him, obey what He
says. It always leads to life even
if it is through a path of death!
King Josiah
seeking
God
obedience to God
the sovreignty of God
2 Chronicles 35:22
John 5:19,20
free will
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Friday, November 30, 2007
Dawn Light From My Window
If people only knew how they might cheer
some lonely heart or lift up some drooping
spirit, or speak some word that shall be
lasting in its effects for all coming time,
they would be up and about it.
-- Dwight L. Moody
photo taken as the sun rose in Feeding Hills, MA
encouragement
Dwight Moody
Saturday, November 24, 2007
A Heart Turned Inside Out: The Farewell Sermon of Jonathan Edwards
A Heart Turned Inside Out:
The Farewell Sermon of Jonathan Edwards
Some things really get to me. The farewell
sermon of Jonathan Edwards is one of them.
It ought to get to you, too.
In the early 1730's, in Northampton, Massachusetts,
there was a significant revival called, "The
Great Awakening." Much of the preaching that
brought this about was from the pulpit of
Jonathan Edwards. His passion was for God
and he cared about the souls of his congregation.
He said,
"We ought to seek the spiritual good of
others; and if we have a Christian spirit, we
shall desire and seek their spiritual welfare and
happiness, their salvation from Hell, and that
they may glorify and enjoy God forever."
He lived with this view, and he died with it.
He had the archetypal soul of a pastor. He cared
more about the souls of his congregants then he
did about pleasing them. This would cause him much
pain.
As the revival fires died down, life proceeded
as life does. The year was now 1750. Change was
inevitable, as change always is, and people
wanted the safety of the church, its benefits
and blessings, but did not necessarily want a
serious commitment to Christ.
Trouble was brewing, and spiritual storm clouds
were settling over the Pioneer Valley. Up until now,
the Congregational Church was the only church
in town, and in order to be fully received
into the church you had to make a public
confession of your sins, and you had
to show evidence of godliness unto salvation.
As standards diminished, people wanted
to have an easier time of it, and so,
sought to lower the standards for church
memberships. To make a long story short,
this produced much controversy and
made its unashamed announcement in public as
"the Halfway Covenant." It means exactly
what you think it means: "The church
will still accept you even if you
only go 'halfway' in the things of God."
The question was AND IS: "Is God going to
accept you?" It was this
question that would cause
Jonathan Edwards many an anguished
and sleepless night. What does a pastor
do when his flock wants the easy way?
What must a pastor feel when those
he has been given to shepherd turn
their back on the great Shepherd?
Jonathan Edwards was about to
personally and painfully find out.
No compromiser, Edwards knew the
scriptures backwards and forwards.
He would often spend 13 to 14 hours
a day studying. And there was no way
that he would find a "halfway doctrine"
in his bible or anyone else's.
His path was clear. He could not
agree to the current winds of change.
He could not give in to what his
heart knew was wrong. He must stand
for the truth, the whole truth,
for the spiritual stakes were high:
the eternal welfare of his flock
and his own standing before God.
His firm and complete opposition to
the "Halfway Doctrine" was not
well-received. So "not well received"
that he was voted out as pastor and
asked to leave the church he had
served for twenty three years.
I wish I could say I could
not imagine what he felt like, but I
am afraid that I can.
His farewell sermon to his congregation
(and I implore you to read the entire thing)
could simply be called, "the heartbreaking
pain of a faithful pastor."
Edwards reminded them relentlessly that although
they were parting company, there would be One
Day that they would all once again be re-assembled:
in front of the judgment seat of Christ.
On that day, they would not have to answer to him,
but to Christ. Would they be ready?
Even as he warned and warned them, his own
broken heart was breaking through. He, the
man who read his sermons in a monotone
from a notecard, must have felt his insides
melting down:
"The deep and serious consideration of our
future most solemn meeting, is certainly most
suitable at such a time as this. There having
so lately been that done, which, in all
probability, will (as to the relation we have
heretofore stood in) be followed with an
everlasting separation.
How often have we met together in the house
of God in this relation! How often have I
spoke to you, instructed, counseled, warned,
directed, and fed you, and administered
ordinances among you, as the people which
were committed to my care, and of whose
precious souls I had the charge! But in all
probability this never will be again.
The prophet Jeremiah, chap. 25:3, puts the
people in mind how long he had labored among
them in the work of the ministry: “From the
thirteenth year of Josiah, the son of Amon,
king of Judah, even unto this day (that is,
the three and twentieth year), the word of
the Lord came unto me, and I have spoken unto
you, rising early and speaking.”
I am not about to compare myself with the prophet
Jeremiah, but in this respect I can say as he
did that “I have spoken the Word of God to you,
unto the three and twentieth year, rising early
and speaking.” It was three and twenty years,
the 15th day of last February, since I have labored
in the work of the ministry, in the relation of a
pastor to this church and congregation. And though
my strength has been weakness, having always labored
under great infirmity of body, besides my
insufficiency for so great a charge in other respects,
yet I have not spared my feeble strength, but have
exerted it for the good of your souls. I can appeal to
you, as the apostle does to his hearers, Gal. 4:13,
“Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh,
I preached the gospel unto you.”
I have spent the prime of my life and strength in
labors for your eternal welfare. You are my witnesses
that what strength I have had I have not neglected in
idleness, nor laid out in prosecuting worldly schemes,
and managing temporal affairs, for the advancement
of my outward estate, and aggrandizing myself
and family.
But [I] have given myself to the work of the
ministry, laboring in it night and day, rising
early and applying myself to this great business
to which Christ appointed me. I have found the
work of the ministry among you to be a great work
indeed, a work of exceeding care, labor and
difficulty. Many have been the heavy burdens
that I have borne in it, to which my strength
has been very unequal.
God called me to bear these burdens; and I bless
his name that he has so supported me as to keep me
from sinking under them, and that his power herein
has been manifested in my weakness. So that
although I have often been troubled on every side,
yet I have not been distressed; perplexed, but not
in despair; cast down, but not destroyed. But now
I have reason to think my work is finished which
I had to do as your minister: you have publicly
rejected me, and my opportunities cease.
How highly therefore does it now become us to
consider of that time when we must meet one
another before the chief Shepherd! When I must
give an account of my stewardship, of the service
I have done for, and the reception and treatment
I have had among the people to whom he sent me.
And you must give an account of your own conduct
towards me, and the improvement you have made of
these three and twenty years of my ministry.
For then both you and I must appear together,
and we both must give an account, in order to an
infallible, righteous and eternal sentence to be
passed upon us, by him who will judge us with
respect to all that we have said or done in our
meeting here, and all our conduct one towards
another in the house of God and elsewhere.
[He] will try our hearts, and manifest our
thoughts, and the principles and frames
of our minds. He will judge us with respect to all
the controversies which have subsisted between us,
with the strictest impartiality, and will examine
our treatment of each other in those controversies.
There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed,
nor hid which shall not be known. All will be
examined in the searching, penetrating light of
God’s omniscience and glory, and by him whose eyes
are as a flame of fire. Truth and right shall be
made plainly to appear, being stripped of every
veil. And all error, falsehood, unrighteousness,
and injury shall be laid open, stripped of every
disguise. Every specious pretense, every cavil,
and all false reasoning shall vanish in a moment,
as not being able to bear the light of that day.
And then our hearts will be turned inside out,
and the secrets of them will be made more
plainly to appear than our outward actions
do now. Then it shall appear what the ends
are which we have aimed at, what have been
the governing principles which we have acted
from, and what have been the dispositions we
have exercised in our ecclesiastical disputes
and contests. Then it will appear whether
I acted uprightly, and from a truly
conscientious, careful regard to my duty to
my great Lord and Master, in some former
ecclesiastical controversies, which
have been attended with exceeding unhappy
circumstances and consequences. It will
appear whether there was any just cause for
the resentment which was manifested on those
occasions.
And then our late grand controversy, concerning
the qualifications necessary for admission to the
privileges of members, in complete standing, in the
visible church of Christ, will be examined and judged
in all its parts and circumstances, and the whole
set forth in a clear, certain, and perfect light...
And then it will appear whether, in declaring this
doctrine, and acting agreeable to it, and in my
general conduct in the affair, I have been
influenced from any regard to my own temporal
interest, or honor, or desire to appear wiser
than others, or have acted from any sinister,
secular views whatsoever, and whether what I
have done has not been from a careful, strict,
and tender regard to the will of my Lord and
Master, and because I dare not offend him,
being satisfied what his will was, after
a long, diligent, impartial, and prayerful
inquiry.
Then it will be seen whether I had this constantly
in view and prospect, to engage me to great solicitude
not rashly to determine the question, that such a
determination would not be for my temporal interest,
but every way against it, bringing a long series of
extreme difficulties, and plunging me into
an abyss of trouble and sorrow.
And then it will appear whether my people have
done their duty to their pastor with respect to
this matter; whether they have shown a right
temper and spirit on this occasion; whether
they have done me justice in hearing, attending
to and considering what I had to say in evidence
of what I believed and taught as part of the
counsel of God; whether I have been treated with
that impartiality, candor, and regard which the
just Judge esteemed due; and whether, in the
many steps which have been taken, and the
many things that have been said and done in
the course of this controversy, righteousness,
and charity, and Christian decorum have been
maintained; or, if otherwise, to how great a
degree these things have been violated.
Then every step of the conduct of each of us in
this affair, from first to last, and the spirit
we have exercised in all, shall be examined and
manifested, and our own consciences shall speak
plain and loud, and each of us shall be convinced,
and the world shall know; and never shall there
be any more mistake, misrepresentation, or
misapprehension of the affair to eternity.
I cease quoting the sermon not for time's sake,
for we certainly need to get used to longer sermons,
but because my heart cannot stand any more of the
pain I hear coming through it.
Recently I spoke of the pain of the prophet,
and now I speak of the pain of the pastor. It is
the same pain, just divided in a different way, but
bearing the same hallmarks.
The pain of the shepherd is the pain of the Great
Shepherd: it is Jesus, calling, calling, calling,
"O Jerusalem, you who stones the prophets, I so
longed to gather you as a hen would gather her
chicks, but you would not!" (Matthew 23:37).
Edwards knew full well that there were "pastors"
out there who would give people what they wanted
to hear. What must have melted his bones from
anguish was the idea of one of those kind of
men taking his place.
This sermon is his last chance to implore
his flock to return fully to Christ. I wonder
with what kind of response it was met with?
Judgments. Bitterness. Relief. "Don't let
the door hit you on the way out."
And so here is the call of a pastor in
all its glory. And if you think you read
even the smallest note of sarcasm in that
last statement, you have read it completely
wrong. Here is the call of a pastor in all
its painful glory: to stand with He who was
Himself rejected of men in order that He
might bring many to life.
For of such pastors, the world is not worthy.
Dear Ones, life is short. Christ appoints
undershepherds to call us back to Him, to
teach us of Him, to rightly discern the
scriptures, to rebuke, to call us back to
truth, to speak for Him. Do we want a
compromised Christ? Do we want a Lord
with a gag in His mouth? Then we should
not expect a pastor who is giving us
anything less than the full counsel of
God. If we do, then it is we who are going
to stand before the judgment seat of
Christ, unprepared and in danger of hellfire.
If we tempt our pastor into giving us
less than what Christ would have him
say, then we dishonor Christ and are
living in rebellion. Yet this happens
subtly or blatantly in churches all
across our land.
The pain of being a pastor should
not be so great. If there are rejections,
it should be necessarily at the hands
of the unconverted. "If it were my
enemy I could have born it" says
the Psalmist, "but it was you, my dear
friend, who I walked to the house of
God with, who has reproached me" (Psalm 55:12-14).
And yet it is in bearing the pain
of unspeakable rejection that a
pastor experiences an indissoluble
identification and indestructible
union with the Great Shepherd.
How high are the ways of God
above man? By what fusion, born
of the heat of untold tribulation, are
we united with our Lord? It is often
by the furnace of rejection, betrayal,
and abandonment at the hands of those
we thought were closest to us.
I wish I could tell you another story.
Another way. A less difficult path.
But that would be a compromise.
I can tell you this: that this was
not the end of Jonathan Edwards.
By no means! Exiled to Stockbridge
to serve the Indians, Edwards had the
time to write voluminously. He became
America's pre-eminent theologian
and his words went on to affect untold
people, even you and I here today.
No-one could say that his influence
or diminished one bit. A seed fallen
into the ground sprouted up to a
field of great harvest.
What if this painful event had never
happened? Only God knows how things
would have transpired. What we do
know is that God redeemed this faithful
pastor, not just in heaven, but on
earth: his testimony stands as a
blazing torch to faithful pastors
everywhere. Of such, this world is
not worthy.
Times being what they are,
not much has changed. The modern church
is falling into apostasy and compromise
both blatantly and subtly. It is imperative
that we hear the truth and obey it.
Pray for your pastor. Encourage
him to preach the whole counsel
of God.
false accusation
Jonathan Edwards
Jonathan Edwards farewell sermon
Halfway Covenant
The Great Awakening
Northampton, Massachusetts
church divisions
pastoral encouragement
compromising the gospel
The Farewell Sermon of Jonathan Edwards
Some things really get to me. The farewell
sermon of Jonathan Edwards is one of them.
It ought to get to you, too.
In the early 1730's, in Northampton, Massachusetts,
there was a significant revival called, "The
Great Awakening." Much of the preaching that
brought this about was from the pulpit of
Jonathan Edwards. His passion was for God
and he cared about the souls of his congregation.
He said,
"We ought to seek the spiritual good of
others; and if we have a Christian spirit, we
shall desire and seek their spiritual welfare and
happiness, their salvation from Hell, and that
they may glorify and enjoy God forever."
He lived with this view, and he died with it.
He had the archetypal soul of a pastor. He cared
more about the souls of his congregants then he
did about pleasing them. This would cause him much
pain.
As the revival fires died down, life proceeded
as life does. The year was now 1750. Change was
inevitable, as change always is, and people
wanted the safety of the church, its benefits
and blessings, but did not necessarily want a
serious commitment to Christ.
Trouble was brewing, and spiritual storm clouds
were settling over the Pioneer Valley. Up until now,
the Congregational Church was the only church
in town, and in order to be fully received
into the church you had to make a public
confession of your sins, and you had
to show evidence of godliness unto salvation.
As standards diminished, people wanted
to have an easier time of it, and so,
sought to lower the standards for church
memberships. To make a long story short,
this produced much controversy and
made its unashamed announcement in public as
"the Halfway Covenant." It means exactly
what you think it means: "The church
will still accept you even if you
only go 'halfway' in the things of God."
The question was AND IS: "Is God going to
accept you?" It was this
question that would cause
Jonathan Edwards many an anguished
and sleepless night. What does a pastor
do when his flock wants the easy way?
What must a pastor feel when those
he has been given to shepherd turn
their back on the great Shepherd?
Jonathan Edwards was about to
personally and painfully find out.
No compromiser, Edwards knew the
scriptures backwards and forwards.
He would often spend 13 to 14 hours
a day studying. And there was no way
that he would find a "halfway doctrine"
in his bible or anyone else's.
His path was clear. He could not
agree to the current winds of change.
He could not give in to what his
heart knew was wrong. He must stand
for the truth, the whole truth,
for the spiritual stakes were high:
the eternal welfare of his flock
and his own standing before God.
His firm and complete opposition to
the "Halfway Doctrine" was not
well-received. So "not well received"
that he was voted out as pastor and
asked to leave the church he had
served for twenty three years.
I wish I could say I could
not imagine what he felt like, but I
am afraid that I can.
His farewell sermon to his congregation
(and I implore you to read the entire thing)
could simply be called, "the heartbreaking
pain of a faithful pastor."
Edwards reminded them relentlessly that although
they were parting company, there would be One
Day that they would all once again be re-assembled:
in front of the judgment seat of Christ.
On that day, they would not have to answer to him,
but to Christ. Would they be ready?
Even as he warned and warned them, his own
broken heart was breaking through. He, the
man who read his sermons in a monotone
from a notecard, must have felt his insides
melting down:
"The deep and serious consideration of our
future most solemn meeting, is certainly most
suitable at such a time as this. There having
so lately been that done, which, in all
probability, will (as to the relation we have
heretofore stood in) be followed with an
everlasting separation.
How often have we met together in the house
of God in this relation! How often have I
spoke to you, instructed, counseled, warned,
directed, and fed you, and administered
ordinances among you, as the people which
were committed to my care, and of whose
precious souls I had the charge! But in all
probability this never will be again.
The prophet Jeremiah, chap. 25:3, puts the
people in mind how long he had labored among
them in the work of the ministry: “From the
thirteenth year of Josiah, the son of Amon,
king of Judah, even unto this day (that is,
the three and twentieth year), the word of
the Lord came unto me, and I have spoken unto
you, rising early and speaking.”
I am not about to compare myself with the prophet
Jeremiah, but in this respect I can say as he
did that “I have spoken the Word of God to you,
unto the three and twentieth year, rising early
and speaking.” It was three and twenty years,
the 15th day of last February, since I have labored
in the work of the ministry, in the relation of a
pastor to this church and congregation. And though
my strength has been weakness, having always labored
under great infirmity of body, besides my
insufficiency for so great a charge in other respects,
yet I have not spared my feeble strength, but have
exerted it for the good of your souls. I can appeal to
you, as the apostle does to his hearers, Gal. 4:13,
“Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh,
I preached the gospel unto you.”
I have spent the prime of my life and strength in
labors for your eternal welfare. You are my witnesses
that what strength I have had I have not neglected in
idleness, nor laid out in prosecuting worldly schemes,
and managing temporal affairs, for the advancement
of my outward estate, and aggrandizing myself
and family.
But [I] have given myself to the work of the
ministry, laboring in it night and day, rising
early and applying myself to this great business
to which Christ appointed me. I have found the
work of the ministry among you to be a great work
indeed, a work of exceeding care, labor and
difficulty. Many have been the heavy burdens
that I have borne in it, to which my strength
has been very unequal.
God called me to bear these burdens; and I bless
his name that he has so supported me as to keep me
from sinking under them, and that his power herein
has been manifested in my weakness. So that
although I have often been troubled on every side,
yet I have not been distressed; perplexed, but not
in despair; cast down, but not destroyed. But now
I have reason to think my work is finished which
I had to do as your minister: you have publicly
rejected me, and my opportunities cease.
How highly therefore does it now become us to
consider of that time when we must meet one
another before the chief Shepherd! When I must
give an account of my stewardship, of the service
I have done for, and the reception and treatment
I have had among the people to whom he sent me.
And you must give an account of your own conduct
towards me, and the improvement you have made of
these three and twenty years of my ministry.
For then both you and I must appear together,
and we both must give an account, in order to an
infallible, righteous and eternal sentence to be
passed upon us, by him who will judge us with
respect to all that we have said or done in our
meeting here, and all our conduct one towards
another in the house of God and elsewhere.
[He] will try our hearts, and manifest our
thoughts, and the principles and frames
of our minds. He will judge us with respect to all
the controversies which have subsisted between us,
with the strictest impartiality, and will examine
our treatment of each other in those controversies.
There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed,
nor hid which shall not be known. All will be
examined in the searching, penetrating light of
God’s omniscience and glory, and by him whose eyes
are as a flame of fire. Truth and right shall be
made plainly to appear, being stripped of every
veil. And all error, falsehood, unrighteousness,
and injury shall be laid open, stripped of every
disguise. Every specious pretense, every cavil,
and all false reasoning shall vanish in a moment,
as not being able to bear the light of that day.
And then our hearts will be turned inside out,
and the secrets of them will be made more
plainly to appear than our outward actions
do now. Then it shall appear what the ends
are which we have aimed at, what have been
the governing principles which we have acted
from, and what have been the dispositions we
have exercised in our ecclesiastical disputes
and contests. Then it will appear whether
I acted uprightly, and from a truly
conscientious, careful regard to my duty to
my great Lord and Master, in some former
ecclesiastical controversies, which
have been attended with exceeding unhappy
circumstances and consequences. It will
appear whether there was any just cause for
the resentment which was manifested on those
occasions.
And then our late grand controversy, concerning
the qualifications necessary for admission to the
privileges of members, in complete standing, in the
visible church of Christ, will be examined and judged
in all its parts and circumstances, and the whole
set forth in a clear, certain, and perfect light...
And then it will appear whether, in declaring this
doctrine, and acting agreeable to it, and in my
general conduct in the affair, I have been
influenced from any regard to my own temporal
interest, or honor, or desire to appear wiser
than others, or have acted from any sinister,
secular views whatsoever, and whether what I
have done has not been from a careful, strict,
and tender regard to the will of my Lord and
Master, and because I dare not offend him,
being satisfied what his will was, after
a long, diligent, impartial, and prayerful
inquiry.
Then it will be seen whether I had this constantly
in view and prospect, to engage me to great solicitude
not rashly to determine the question, that such a
determination would not be for my temporal interest,
but every way against it, bringing a long series of
extreme difficulties, and plunging me into
an abyss of trouble and sorrow.
And then it will appear whether my people have
done their duty to their pastor with respect to
this matter; whether they have shown a right
temper and spirit on this occasion; whether
they have done me justice in hearing, attending
to and considering what I had to say in evidence
of what I believed and taught as part of the
counsel of God; whether I have been treated with
that impartiality, candor, and regard which the
just Judge esteemed due; and whether, in the
many steps which have been taken, and the
many things that have been said and done in
the course of this controversy, righteousness,
and charity, and Christian decorum have been
maintained; or, if otherwise, to how great a
degree these things have been violated.
Then every step of the conduct of each of us in
this affair, from first to last, and the spirit
we have exercised in all, shall be examined and
manifested, and our own consciences shall speak
plain and loud, and each of us shall be convinced,
and the world shall know; and never shall there
be any more mistake, misrepresentation, or
misapprehension of the affair to eternity.
I cease quoting the sermon not for time's sake,
for we certainly need to get used to longer sermons,
but because my heart cannot stand any more of the
pain I hear coming through it.
Recently I spoke of the pain of the prophet,
and now I speak of the pain of the pastor. It is
the same pain, just divided in a different way, but
bearing the same hallmarks.
The pain of the shepherd is the pain of the Great
Shepherd: it is Jesus, calling, calling, calling,
"O Jerusalem, you who stones the prophets, I so
longed to gather you as a hen would gather her
chicks, but you would not!" (Matthew 23:37).
Edwards knew full well that there were "pastors"
out there who would give people what they wanted
to hear. What must have melted his bones from
anguish was the idea of one of those kind of
men taking his place.
This sermon is his last chance to implore
his flock to return fully to Christ. I wonder
with what kind of response it was met with?
Judgments. Bitterness. Relief. "Don't let
the door hit you on the way out."
And so here is the call of a pastor in
all its glory. And if you think you read
even the smallest note of sarcasm in that
last statement, you have read it completely
wrong. Here is the call of a pastor in all
its painful glory: to stand with He who was
Himself rejected of men in order that He
might bring many to life.
For of such pastors, the world is not worthy.
Dear Ones, life is short. Christ appoints
undershepherds to call us back to Him, to
teach us of Him, to rightly discern the
scriptures, to rebuke, to call us back to
truth, to speak for Him. Do we want a
compromised Christ? Do we want a Lord
with a gag in His mouth? Then we should
not expect a pastor who is giving us
anything less than the full counsel of
God. If we do, then it is we who are going
to stand before the judgment seat of
Christ, unprepared and in danger of hellfire.
If we tempt our pastor into giving us
less than what Christ would have him
say, then we dishonor Christ and are
living in rebellion. Yet this happens
subtly or blatantly in churches all
across our land.
The pain of being a pastor should
not be so great. If there are rejections,
it should be necessarily at the hands
of the unconverted. "If it were my
enemy I could have born it" says
the Psalmist, "but it was you, my dear
friend, who I walked to the house of
God with, who has reproached me" (Psalm 55:12-14).
And yet it is in bearing the pain
of unspeakable rejection that a
pastor experiences an indissoluble
identification and indestructible
union with the Great Shepherd.
How high are the ways of God
above man? By what fusion, born
of the heat of untold tribulation, are
we united with our Lord? It is often
by the furnace of rejection, betrayal,
and abandonment at the hands of those
we thought were closest to us.
I wish I could tell you another story.
Another way. A less difficult path.
But that would be a compromise.
I can tell you this: that this was
not the end of Jonathan Edwards.
By no means! Exiled to Stockbridge
to serve the Indians, Edwards had the
time to write voluminously. He became
America's pre-eminent theologian
and his words went on to affect untold
people, even you and I here today.
No-one could say that his influence
or diminished one bit. A seed fallen
into the ground sprouted up to a
field of great harvest.
What if this painful event had never
happened? Only God knows how things
would have transpired. What we do
know is that God redeemed this faithful
pastor, not just in heaven, but on
earth: his testimony stands as a
blazing torch to faithful pastors
everywhere. Of such, this world is
not worthy.
Times being what they are,
not much has changed. The modern church
is falling into apostasy and compromise
both blatantly and subtly. It is imperative
that we hear the truth and obey it.
Pray for your pastor. Encourage
him to preach the whole counsel
of God.
false accusation
Jonathan Edwards
Jonathan Edwards farewell sermon
Halfway Covenant
The Great Awakening
Northampton, Massachusetts
church divisions
pastoral encouragement
compromising the gospel
The Desperate Pursuit of God
The Kingdom of Heaven is not
for the well-meaning: it is
for the desperate.
... James Denney (1856-1917)
photo taken in Calhan, Colorado
Colorado Photography
the kingdom of God
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving
Its that time of year when I think
about the year and all that has
transpired and thank God for His many
and varied blessings. I just replied to
a friend in an email as she mentioned how
many tragic things had happened lately and,
not in any sort of self-pitying way, that
life was sad. I don’t disagree with it, as
matter of fact I agree with it more having
lived through this year, but what I want to
say is that an amazing transformation has
occurred within me despite an amazingly tough year.
I started out this year, still with a much
more of a “cup half empty” kind of viewpoint
about life. Pessimism seems perfectly logical
to me. But “logical” is mental and not spiritual.
Over a period of time an amazing thing has
happened. A couple of weeks back I was watching
Fr. Benedict Groeschel on TV. We must have similar
temperaments. In 2004 he was hit by a bus and
no-one expected him to live, or if he did, only
in the form of a vegetable side dish. He is well
back in action and made the comment: “in my older
age I am no longer a pessimist. I am an optimist.”
God must be doing the same work in his heart as He
is in mine. Get hit by a bus and become an optimist.
This year has been tough. The toughest I can
remember. I doubted the prophet who stood
over me last December or so and said, “I see
storm after storm after storm this year, but
you will have great and abiding peace.”
Even pessimistic me did not believe the ”storm
after storm” part….Well, he must have been a
prophet of the Lord because that is exactly
what happened. I started the year out as a
pessimist and somewhere along the line, by
some ironic but blessed work of God, crushed
under overwhelming pressure with no letup in
sight, amidst storm after storm after storm,
I have become an incurable optimist. Go figure.
Benedict gets hit by a bus and comes up an
optimist. RM has a most difficult year and comes
up joyful. God’s arithmetic can be amazing.
E. Stanley Jones said “I need no outer props to
hold up my faith, for my faith holds me. (Said
when a stroke had rendered immobile and almost
speechless after years of missionary work in India.)
I wonder if he started out a pessimist?
Pessimism, in a sense, has a bad rap because
you know, really, life IS sad. But pessimism
needs its glasses adjusted with a rose colored
tint because the blood of Jesus redeems it all,
and redeems our life, and all its sadness, if
we let Him. What pessimists might miss, unless
God gives them a joy makeover, is that life is
pretty awesome, even at what seems like its worse
points, and there is no use being forever unhappy,
moody and self-focused when it is our turn to get
knocked about by the slings and arrows of
outrageous misfortune. That’s just a bunch of
Shakespearian tragedy gone awry. Cry your eyes out,
scream your brains out, go to God and find the kind
of comfort that only He can give, but don’t say that
life is not worth it. I have been there and am on my
way back again. I tell you the truth.
I suspect that born optimists are taken down a
different road and made to see that life IS sad,
that Jesus being a "a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief” was not just nice poetry but a glimpse
into the inner life of the God of all Glory while
He walked amongst us. I suppose that optimists get
shown that, and it works just a realistic amount
of pessimism in their hearts so that they can see
that it is not just nice thoughts and the power of
positive thinking that makes life turn out good and
especially not to give shallow soundbites of positive
fluff to people in their darkest hours. It is then
that folk need the true grit of the Cross and the
unembellished hope of resurrection and not some
positive pablum that has never proved itself
a hearty meal in a desert windstorm.
Bad things happen to good people. Outrageously
bad things happened to the only Good Man who
ever lived. It did not stop Him one whit. His Father
saw to that. Raised Him from the dead. Sat Him down
right next to Himself forever and ever, amen! I will
never let You out of My sight, Son! Never again! I
will see to that!
That’s not so sad, is it?
And we are His people and He will never let us
out of His sight again. And that is not so sad
either, right?
Our God is greater than than any sadness we
must endure.
So on this Thanksgiving Day what should our
attitude and goal be?
Brother Lawrence, a happy man amidst unhappy
circumstances, says,
“Let us be the most perfect worshipers of God
we can possibly be.... I sought no more than
how to be God's and God's alone. My goal made me
resolve to give my all for the All.... Always
I worshiped Him as often as I could, keeping my
mind in His holy presence. When I wandered, I
brought Him back to my mind.... At all times, every
hour, every minute, even at the busiest times. I
drove away from my mind everything capable of
spoiling the sense of the presence of God....
I just make it my business to persevere in His holy
presence... My soul has had an habitual, silent,
secret conversation with God.”
May that be our prayer. May that be our lives. May
that be our worship. Whether we live we live unto
the Lord; whether we die, we die unto the Lord,
whether we make our bed in the lowest hell, or
the highest heaven, we are the Lord’s. And that
should make even a pessimist reform his bleak outlook.
And so I greet you, dear ones, at this time of
thanksgiving, not as the woman I was last year
at this time. I great you optimistically, and
with great faith and hope, in the victorious
name of our Risen Lord Jesus. Life sometimes
may be sad,but life is also good, and more
importantly, so is God.
Happy Thanksgiving,
with the emphasis on both
happy and thanksgiving,
RM
thanksgiving
Benedict Groeschel
optimism
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
The Pain of the Prophet: True Prophets vs. False Prophets
The Pain of the Prophet: True Prophets vs. False Prophets
There is so much that is tossed around in
the name of the prophetic today. That which
is truly prophetic is in a class by itself.
It is called total identification with
the heart of God.
The true prophet is birthed for a season of
calamity and lives set apart unto God.
His or her life is watermarked with pain,
for a prophet sees what will happen
if people cannot hear and obey God.
A prophet lives alone upon a hill, looking
for danger, for the first wisps of smoke
that spell only one thing: "Fire!" He
calls first for the fire of God to enliven
and purify through repentance. Unheeded, his
calls for fire will bring warning of the
fire of God that will burn in judgment.
The prophet, therefore, carries a message
that few would want to hear unless
they care for the state of their souls,
even their eternal lives.
One can ignore the cry of "Fire!" but
that does not make the fire cease its
burning or enable the prophet to cease
his commission. Indeed, for a prophet
to be proved right, a certain judgment
must fall, a sure chastisement administered,
a corrective work applied. If this is
not painful to the prophet then he is
not a true prophet and lacks the heart
of God for true restoration.
There are myriads of prophets who like
to pronounce gloom and doom, but which
of them has the heart to bear the pain
of interceding for a genuine repentance?
A true prophet must desire, above all,
that his or her clarion call will bring a
genuine return to God. It is easy to rail,
it is agony to stand and watch and call
people who are not listening back to
the Father.
It is a fearsome and holy task to enter
into the very heart of God as He calls
His people back to Himself. The
heart of the prophet must echo forth the
eternal love of God. There can be no
joy at the idea of judgment coming, even
when it appears inevitable, even when
the prophet himself is harmed or stoned
or even killed in the process.
God does not wish to punish. He takes
no pleasure in judgment. He does not
wait and watch for wrongdoing in
order to find pleasure in chastising
waywardness. A prophet MUST have this
tenor of heart or he does not stand
for God.
Consider Jonah. He understood God,
he understood the prophetic role,
but he did not have the heart of God.
He understood quite well that for God
to reap a family of restored hearts,
that he would have to be proved wrong.
And if the people of Nineveh did not turn to
God, Jonah should find no pleasure
in their chastisement.
Job failed on both points: he was not
willing to be proved wrong for the
sake of another. He was unwilling to
bear a message of judgment unless it
ended in judgment. He did not want mercy
to intervene for it would make him
appear lesser in the eyes of others.
He did not have the heart of God.
One gets the impression that he preferred
that the people be judged so he could
be proved "right." With "right" like that
I would hate to see what wrong might look
like.
How many prophets have this kind of
heart? How many prophets are unwilling
to bear the pain of their calling
because they are not able to identify
with God as He ever so patiently waits
for His people to return to Him?
God does not ask of a prophet something
He does not endure Himself. People
constantly accuse God of allowing evil
and not putting an end to suffering.
God waits and waits for us to return
to Him. If He was a God who delighted
in meting out punishment, the earth
would be devoid of human life for
all of us would have been destroyed.
That which the prophet speaks should
call people back to God. What becomes
of the prophet, what his reputation
is, what accolades or resistances
are thrown upon him, should matter
not one whit to him: it comes with the
territory of being a prophet.
The words of a prophet are born and
spearheaded out of his or her own
repentance, they are to be ministered in
humility. The true prophet takes no
pleasure in being right. For "being right"
is about words and reputations and
and pride. A true prophet must
bear great pain in a hidden place.
He must live and die for the
kind of reconcilation that Jesus
lived and died for. It is not
for the fainthearted.
The true prophet must be a deaf
and blind servant of the Lord.
The prophet who truly sees must
be blind to all that would
stop him from his mission.
The prophet who truly hears must
be deaf to the reasonings of man,
to the hurtful taunts that will fall
upon his ears, and the painful rejections
that will fall upon his life. He must
be able to accept the pain inflicted
on his heart by those who do not see,
or worse yet, do not want to see.
He must have one prayer:
"Father, forgive them, for they
do not know what they are doing."
This kind of pain is part and parcel
of the prophetic call. That is the
hard part. The glorious part is that
those prophets who identify with
the heart of God, get the heart
of God planted forever within
them. The medium becomes the
message. The prophet becomes
the priest. A heart of stone
is replaced with a heart of
flesh, and that heart is
a redeemed heart, made in
the image of the heart of
Jesus. That would make it all
worthwhile, wouldn't it?
So to all those true prophets
who happen upon this article,
to everyone who thinks
they have a prophetic message,
search deeply to see whether
you are able to administer
it with the heart of God.
You will know the answer
by the amount of pain that
surrounds its delivery. Let us
trust that you will share the
joy of watching the Lamb
receive the fruits of His
labor. Anything less is just not
good enough.
There is so much that is tossed around in
the name of the prophetic today. That which
is truly prophetic is in a class by itself.
It is called total identification with
the heart of God.
The true prophet is birthed for a season of
calamity and lives set apart unto God.
His or her life is watermarked with pain,
for a prophet sees what will happen
if people cannot hear and obey God.
A prophet lives alone upon a hill, looking
for danger, for the first wisps of smoke
that spell only one thing: "Fire!" He
calls first for the fire of God to enliven
and purify through repentance. Unheeded, his
calls for fire will bring warning of the
fire of God that will burn in judgment.
The prophet, therefore, carries a message
that few would want to hear unless
they care for the state of their souls,
even their eternal lives.
One can ignore the cry of "Fire!" but
that does not make the fire cease its
burning or enable the prophet to cease
his commission. Indeed, for a prophet
to be proved right, a certain judgment
must fall, a sure chastisement administered,
a corrective work applied. If this is
not painful to the prophet then he is
not a true prophet and lacks the heart
of God for true restoration.
There are myriads of prophets who like
to pronounce gloom and doom, but which
of them has the heart to bear the pain
of interceding for a genuine repentance?
A true prophet must desire, above all,
that his or her clarion call will bring a
genuine return to God. It is easy to rail,
it is agony to stand and watch and call
people who are not listening back to
the Father.
It is a fearsome and holy task to enter
into the very heart of God as He calls
His people back to Himself. The
heart of the prophet must echo forth the
eternal love of God. There can be no
joy at the idea of judgment coming, even
when it appears inevitable, even when
the prophet himself is harmed or stoned
or even killed in the process.
God does not wish to punish. He takes
no pleasure in judgment. He does not
wait and watch for wrongdoing in
order to find pleasure in chastising
waywardness. A prophet MUST have this
tenor of heart or he does not stand
for God.
Consider Jonah. He understood God,
he understood the prophetic role,
but he did not have the heart of God.
He understood quite well that for God
to reap a family of restored hearts,
that he would have to be proved wrong.
And if the people of Nineveh did not turn to
God, Jonah should find no pleasure
in their chastisement.
Job failed on both points: he was not
willing to be proved wrong for the
sake of another. He was unwilling to
bear a message of judgment unless it
ended in judgment. He did not want mercy
to intervene for it would make him
appear lesser in the eyes of others.
He did not have the heart of God.
One gets the impression that he preferred
that the people be judged so he could
be proved "right." With "right" like that
I would hate to see what wrong might look
like.
How many prophets have this kind of
heart? How many prophets are unwilling
to bear the pain of their calling
because they are not able to identify
with God as He ever so patiently waits
for His people to return to Him?
God does not ask of a prophet something
He does not endure Himself. People
constantly accuse God of allowing evil
and not putting an end to suffering.
God waits and waits for us to return
to Him. If He was a God who delighted
in meting out punishment, the earth
would be devoid of human life for
all of us would have been destroyed.
That which the prophet speaks should
call people back to God. What becomes
of the prophet, what his reputation
is, what accolades or resistances
are thrown upon him, should matter
not one whit to him: it comes with the
territory of being a prophet.
The words of a prophet are born and
spearheaded out of his or her own
repentance, they are to be ministered in
humility. The true prophet takes no
pleasure in being right. For "being right"
is about words and reputations and
and pride. A true prophet must
bear great pain in a hidden place.
He must live and die for the
kind of reconcilation that Jesus
lived and died for. It is not
for the fainthearted.
The true prophet must be a deaf
and blind servant of the Lord.
The prophet who truly sees must
be blind to all that would
stop him from his mission.
The prophet who truly hears must
be deaf to the reasonings of man,
to the hurtful taunts that will fall
upon his ears, and the painful rejections
that will fall upon his life. He must
be able to accept the pain inflicted
on his heart by those who do not see,
or worse yet, do not want to see.
He must have one prayer:
"Father, forgive them, for they
do not know what they are doing."
This kind of pain is part and parcel
of the prophetic call. That is the
hard part. The glorious part is that
those prophets who identify with
the heart of God, get the heart
of God planted forever within
them. The medium becomes the
message. The prophet becomes
the priest. A heart of stone
is replaced with a heart of
flesh, and that heart is
a redeemed heart, made in
the image of the heart of
Jesus. That would make it all
worthwhile, wouldn't it?
So to all those true prophets
who happen upon this article,
to everyone who thinks
they have a prophetic message,
search deeply to see whether
you are able to administer
it with the heart of God.
You will know the answer
by the amount of pain that
surrounds its delivery. Let us
trust that you will share the
joy of watching the Lamb
receive the fruits of His
labor. Anything less is just not
good enough.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Loving God With Your Every and Last Breath!
"I love You, O my God, and my only desire
is to love You until the last breath of
my life. I love You, O my infinitely
lovable God, and I would rather die
loving You, than live without loving You.
I love You, Lord and the only grace I ask
is to love You eternally....My God, if my
tongue cannot say in every moment that I
love You, I want my heart to repeat it to
You as often as I draw breath."
--John Vianney
photograph taken in Colorado Springs, Colorado
prayer
John Vianney
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Good Jesus, Hear Me
Soul of Christ, sanctify me.
Body of Christ, heal me.
Blood of Christ, drench me.
Water from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
Good Jesus, hear me.
In your wounds shelter me.
From turning away keep me.
From the evil one protect me.
At the hour of my death call me.
Into Your Presence lead me,
to praise You with all Your saints
for ever and ever
--Anima Christi, fourteenth century
photo taken in Robinson State Park, Agawam, MA
Anima Christi
Holy Communion
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Standing for God When You Are Falsely Accused
Did you know that your soul is a battleground?
Did you know that we are all eternal billboards
for either God or the Devil?
I was pondering about Job, feeling his pain
as he sought to make sense of inexplicably
difficult events in his life. To Job's credit
he was a stickler for the precision of
reading the small print in the Divine-human
contract. So often we see those
"I have read and understand the rules" clauses
on the internet before downloading something.
We click "yes, we understand" when we haven't
even read the clause, just to get what we
need in a hurry. Think about that for a moment!
Job, however, was not that kind of man. He read
every word. He understood the rules.
He hadn't broken any of them and if he, or his
family had, he had done all the things necessary
to repent for them.
So dear Job is bewildered when terrible things
happen to him. He has questions for God.
Legitimate questions. Honest questions.
Questions that will make him a man by
way of face-to-face encounter with the
Living God. Job is good on paper but
not so good with encountering God (but
apparently still better than anybody
else at the time.) All that is about to change.
Job had the kind of questions, born of extreme
pain, that people don't usually have enough courage
to ask. People who end of asking these questions
get answers, but don't come back looking
or acting at all the same way they went in.
Job's soul was in deep torment, the kind
that sends someone just over the brink of what
they can handle. He checked and double-
checked, but he still did not understand.
He had done everything he should at his end:
that left God's end. And everyone knows
it is unwise to accuse God of being dodgy.
His friends said, "Don't even go
there!" His friends said, "No matter
what you say, you are a sinner."
His friends said, "Stop whining
and admit you are guilty". His wife
said, "Start whining and just let
God kill you." God, during all this,
is silent. If that doesn't make you
feel alone in the universe then nothing
will.
Job was falsely accused. There is
the blatant kind of false accusation
that comes from outrageous lies
being spread about you. Then there are the
subtle whispered accusations that can
make you crazy with their insidiousness.
Furthermore, unbeknownst to Job, there
is Satan falsely accusing Job in the
heavenlies. Thank God the accuser of
the brethren has been thrown down.
The matrix of accusation, however,
still remains.
The bewilderment of trying
to discern what has happened to
him, with the added misunderstanding
and accusation of his theologically
challenged, bible thumping comrades,
is like salt poured into an almost
inconsolable wound. His world was
destroyed and he did not even
have a good explanation as to why.
He could not explain what he feels
to be God's actions. So in his
darkest hour a wedge is
driven in between God and Job.
That wedge is not unrelated to a bet
with the devil that God agreed to! Stick
that in your theological pipe
and smoke it for awhile.
If you think that same wager
is not in some form actively battling
over your life today, think
again. Much has transpired
theologically since these events
in the book of Job happened.
Jesus has won the victory over the
wages of sin. We who are Christ's,
are hid with Him in God. The Holy
Spirit resides in the heart of
the believer empowering, counseling,
comforting, guiding. The
Enemy has been defeated. But
all that can sound like more
bible-thumping in our darkest hours.
Always, our chance to choose God over
the Devil stands before us. When
its your turn to cast your vote,
with a gale force wind blowing against
you, every truth we have read in books,
even good ones, even the Good Book,
can seem very far away. You still
have to choose. Our lives are still
a billboard for one side or the other:
for God or the Devil.
False accusation in some form will
cross your life. I am not telling
you it might. I am telling you it will:
whether it be at the hands of
enemies, well-meaning friends,
or the plotting of demons. It may be
one of the hardest things you have
to bear because well-meaning "Job's
friends" will come to you, and
plant subtle or not-so-subtle
hints into your mind. Hints along
the line of "Did God say?" or
"We have this feeling" or
"God told me to tell you" or
they will offer you a mish-mash of
every religious reason they have
ever heard to account for
your pain. You will begin to
doubt yourself. You may begin
to doubt God. And a wedge can
begin to grow between you and Him.
Pressure brings out the most
amazing things in us. How quickly
we are tempted to stop the
dance of praise to our God, and
roll up the banner of adoration
to our Christ, when something
inexplicable befalls us.
We see something bad has happened
and we rightly sense that God
has allowed it, but we do not understand
His reasons in allowing it. Perhaps
it is our interpretation of
the idea of "allowing it." Do
we really think that God doles
out suffering and uses the devil
as His excuse? Please do not
hurt His heart by thinking that!
It is in the midst of our pain
that we are most open to these most
destructive whispers of the devil,
of his cohorts, of our well or ill
meaning friends, or our own hearts.
The pain of others not understanding
and the the pain of 99% right and 1%
absolutely twisted demonic lie of the pit
can swivel our minds until we do not know
who or what we are.
This pain will bring out the most tortured
suggestions and we will HAVE to go to God,
with fear and trembling,
because this is where we
will find rest and this is
exactly where God wants to
bring us: into a closer
encounter with, and understanding
of, Himself. He wants us to be free of the
torment of fear and dread and uncertainty.
Know that something important is
at stake. What you do with your
dose of false accusation is on display for
God and the Devil, angels, saints, demons,
and a whole cloud of witnesses.
The stakes are this: every evil
force is trying to get you to
believe a lie about God and
get you to use the pain of being
falsely accused to strike out
and, in turn, falsely accuse God.
The devil hates God more than he
hates you and is trying to use
your pain to get you to hurt God
and, of course, destroy yourself.
The devil is a master of
non-sequiturs. He will tell
you a bit of truth and follow
it with the most damnable lie.
He will tell you that God is love,
but that loving pond scum like
you is not included in the love clause.
He will tell you that while
God is strong, he is ultimately
stronger. He will tell you that
while God has always kept His
promises, there are some He
might not be able to keep, because
you know, He has overspent on
His credit card and can not
make good on His promises. He will
tell you that while God says He
is good, what He has allowed
to happen to you is not good no
matter what way you frost it.
All of this and more will come
to get you to accuse God.
And make sure you hear this
part in case you started to
doze off: the arguments will be
tailor-made to your weakness.
The good news is that you alone have
the chance to determine what
your eternal billboard will say.
"I am my Beloved's and He is Mine,";
"God is light and in Him there is no
darkness at all"; "The Word of the Lord
is righteous,and everything He does is Good."
Wouldn't you love to have something
like that burning forth from your soul for
all the universe to see? How wonderful to see
the lights of the righteous burning brightly
amidst a dark night!
I ask you: "what if some unseen hand
could pull back the curtain and show you
your audience?" Would it change
how and what you are thinking?
Would it help you refocus
your eyes on your innocent
and good Lord? Would it help
you cast down the false accusations
that you may be developing
toward God?
Anselm said, "I do not understand
so that I might believe,
I believe that I might understand."
There are things too great for
us, wisdom to high, things we
are not privy too: they need
not keep us from childlike
trust in God. This is not
blind belief: it is unadorned faith, faith
best born and proved in the darkest
night of the soul. God has showed
us too much of His love for our
hearts to really doubt Him.
One day it will all be clear.
I don't want for one minute to
have a history of doubting God's character
when the going gets unpredictably
tough and painful.
What is the redeeming value
of every dark and painful thing?
Through them we have the opportunity
and the impetus to encounter the
Living God and to have a vital
and active faith. They push us past our
human resistance to run up the road,
a road often not well traveled, and often
not well lit, to our Lord's house,
there to be caught up in
loving arms of our good Father.
Our creeds and dogmas have a lot of
truth, but they can not
give us encounter with God,
they can only bring us to the place
where we jump off to meet God.
Meeting God is fearsome enough, so often
it is pain and discomfort that
push us past our comfort zone
so that we decide to go to God directly
and stop listening to what people
say about Him. That journey can actually
mean the start of real faith,
not the destruction of it.
Although all the way up the road the
Devil will be taunting us with lies like
these: "He'll turn out to be the Wizard of Oz";
"He'll fry your socks off!"; "He's too far
away for you to reach Him."
Pay no heed. God is all that He says that He is.
Go see for yourself. Just be prepared to have
your notes blown out of your hand and your hair
to turn white when you hear God's answer. And
make no bones about it: God will answer
us when He is ready to and not a minute before. While
you are waiting, trust His goodness. It will make
having to put your hand over your mouth in shame
just a little bit easier when He finally speaks.
And when you do see Your Lord and his good intent
for you, your billboard will glow with
praise of God.
You, yes, small, little, you, have an important
eternal vote to cast! Your life can and does
stand for God or the Enemy. There can be quite a bit of
opposition when you get nearer to the polls.
Souls are won and lost in that battle. Never forget that.
You have a vote the devil wants. Make darn well
sure he never gets it. Even over your dead body
he cannot steal your vote for God once it is cast.
Hallelujah!
Know too, that Your Lord has already walked this
way ahead of you. He is not asking for you to
do something He has not already done. He has cast
His vote in favor or His Father, and He has endured
great and unreasonable pain because of false accusation.
Be comforted by this: if you are falsely accused,
Someone has been falsely accused before you. Your
Lord knows what it means to swallow that cup and
drink its dark dregs.
The world has a bigger grandstand than you know.
Even now the crowds are gathering to watch what
you will do.
Stand with and for God. There is no greater meaning your
life can have.
false accusation
faith in difficult times
Job
Anselm
belief in God
spiritual warfare
the purpose of life
free will
Did you know that we are all eternal billboards
for either God or the Devil?
I was pondering about Job, feeling his pain
as he sought to make sense of inexplicably
difficult events in his life. To Job's credit
he was a stickler for the precision of
reading the small print in the Divine-human
contract. So often we see those
"I have read and understand the rules" clauses
on the internet before downloading something.
We click "yes, we understand" when we haven't
even read the clause, just to get what we
need in a hurry. Think about that for a moment!
Job, however, was not that kind of man. He read
every word. He understood the rules.
He hadn't broken any of them and if he, or his
family had, he had done all the things necessary
to repent for them.
So dear Job is bewildered when terrible things
happen to him. He has questions for God.
Legitimate questions. Honest questions.
Questions that will make him a man by
way of face-to-face encounter with the
Living God. Job is good on paper but
not so good with encountering God (but
apparently still better than anybody
else at the time.) All that is about to change.
Job had the kind of questions, born of extreme
pain, that people don't usually have enough courage
to ask. People who end of asking these questions
get answers, but don't come back looking
or acting at all the same way they went in.
Job's soul was in deep torment, the kind
that sends someone just over the brink of what
they can handle. He checked and double-
checked, but he still did not understand.
He had done everything he should at his end:
that left God's end. And everyone knows
it is unwise to accuse God of being dodgy.
His friends said, "Don't even go
there!" His friends said, "No matter
what you say, you are a sinner."
His friends said, "Stop whining
and admit you are guilty". His wife
said, "Start whining and just let
God kill you." God, during all this,
is silent. If that doesn't make you
feel alone in the universe then nothing
will.
Job was falsely accused. There is
the blatant kind of false accusation
that comes from outrageous lies
being spread about you. Then there are the
subtle whispered accusations that can
make you crazy with their insidiousness.
Furthermore, unbeknownst to Job, there
is Satan falsely accusing Job in the
heavenlies. Thank God the accuser of
the brethren has been thrown down.
The matrix of accusation, however,
still remains.
The bewilderment of trying
to discern what has happened to
him, with the added misunderstanding
and accusation of his theologically
challenged, bible thumping comrades,
is like salt poured into an almost
inconsolable wound. His world was
destroyed and he did not even
have a good explanation as to why.
He could not explain what he feels
to be God's actions. So in his
darkest hour a wedge is
driven in between God and Job.
That wedge is not unrelated to a bet
with the devil that God agreed to! Stick
that in your theological pipe
and smoke it for awhile.
If you think that same wager
is not in some form actively battling
over your life today, think
again. Much has transpired
theologically since these events
in the book of Job happened.
Jesus has won the victory over the
wages of sin. We who are Christ's,
are hid with Him in God. The Holy
Spirit resides in the heart of
the believer empowering, counseling,
comforting, guiding. The
Enemy has been defeated. But
all that can sound like more
bible-thumping in our darkest hours.
Always, our chance to choose God over
the Devil stands before us. When
its your turn to cast your vote,
with a gale force wind blowing against
you, every truth we have read in books,
even good ones, even the Good Book,
can seem very far away. You still
have to choose. Our lives are still
a billboard for one side or the other:
for God or the Devil.
False accusation in some form will
cross your life. I am not telling
you it might. I am telling you it will:
whether it be at the hands of
enemies, well-meaning friends,
or the plotting of demons. It may be
one of the hardest things you have
to bear because well-meaning "Job's
friends" will come to you, and
plant subtle or not-so-subtle
hints into your mind. Hints along
the line of "Did God say?" or
"We have this feeling" or
"God told me to tell you" or
they will offer you a mish-mash of
every religious reason they have
ever heard to account for
your pain. You will begin to
doubt yourself. You may begin
to doubt God. And a wedge can
begin to grow between you and Him.
Pressure brings out the most
amazing things in us. How quickly
we are tempted to stop the
dance of praise to our God, and
roll up the banner of adoration
to our Christ, when something
inexplicable befalls us.
We see something bad has happened
and we rightly sense that God
has allowed it, but we do not understand
His reasons in allowing it. Perhaps
it is our interpretation of
the idea of "allowing it." Do
we really think that God doles
out suffering and uses the devil
as His excuse? Please do not
hurt His heart by thinking that!
It is in the midst of our pain
that we are most open to these most
destructive whispers of the devil,
of his cohorts, of our well or ill
meaning friends, or our own hearts.
The pain of others not understanding
and the the pain of 99% right and 1%
absolutely twisted demonic lie of the pit
can swivel our minds until we do not know
who or what we are.
This pain will bring out the most tortured
suggestions and we will HAVE to go to God,
with fear and trembling,
because this is where we
will find rest and this is
exactly where God wants to
bring us: into a closer
encounter with, and understanding
of, Himself. He wants us to be free of the
torment of fear and dread and uncertainty.
Know that something important is
at stake. What you do with your
dose of false accusation is on display for
God and the Devil, angels, saints, demons,
and a whole cloud of witnesses.
The stakes are this: every evil
force is trying to get you to
believe a lie about God and
get you to use the pain of being
falsely accused to strike out
and, in turn, falsely accuse God.
The devil hates God more than he
hates you and is trying to use
your pain to get you to hurt God
and, of course, destroy yourself.
The devil is a master of
non-sequiturs. He will tell
you a bit of truth and follow
it with the most damnable lie.
He will tell you that God is love,
but that loving pond scum like
you is not included in the love clause.
He will tell you that while
God is strong, he is ultimately
stronger. He will tell you that
while God has always kept His
promises, there are some He
might not be able to keep, because
you know, He has overspent on
His credit card and can not
make good on His promises. He will
tell you that while God says He
is good, what He has allowed
to happen to you is not good no
matter what way you frost it.
All of this and more will come
to get you to accuse God.
And make sure you hear this
part in case you started to
doze off: the arguments will be
tailor-made to your weakness.
The good news is that you alone have
the chance to determine what
your eternal billboard will say.
"I am my Beloved's and He is Mine,";
"God is light and in Him there is no
darkness at all"; "The Word of the Lord
is righteous,and everything He does is Good."
Wouldn't you love to have something
like that burning forth from your soul for
all the universe to see? How wonderful to see
the lights of the righteous burning brightly
amidst a dark night!
I ask you: "what if some unseen hand
could pull back the curtain and show you
your audience?" Would it change
how and what you are thinking?
Would it help you refocus
your eyes on your innocent
and good Lord? Would it help
you cast down the false accusations
that you may be developing
toward God?
Anselm said, "I do not understand
so that I might believe,
I believe that I might understand."
There are things too great for
us, wisdom to high, things we
are not privy too: they need
not keep us from childlike
trust in God. This is not
blind belief: it is unadorned faith, faith
best born and proved in the darkest
night of the soul. God has showed
us too much of His love for our
hearts to really doubt Him.
One day it will all be clear.
I don't want for one minute to
have a history of doubting God's character
when the going gets unpredictably
tough and painful.
What is the redeeming value
of every dark and painful thing?
Through them we have the opportunity
and the impetus to encounter the
Living God and to have a vital
and active faith. They push us past our
human resistance to run up the road,
a road often not well traveled, and often
not well lit, to our Lord's house,
there to be caught up in
loving arms of our good Father.
Our creeds and dogmas have a lot of
truth, but they can not
give us encounter with God,
they can only bring us to the place
where we jump off to meet God.
Meeting God is fearsome enough, so often
it is pain and discomfort that
push us past our comfort zone
so that we decide to go to God directly
and stop listening to what people
say about Him. That journey can actually
mean the start of real faith,
not the destruction of it.
Although all the way up the road the
Devil will be taunting us with lies like
these: "He'll turn out to be the Wizard of Oz";
"He'll fry your socks off!"; "He's too far
away for you to reach Him."
Pay no heed. God is all that He says that He is.
Go see for yourself. Just be prepared to have
your notes blown out of your hand and your hair
to turn white when you hear God's answer. And
make no bones about it: God will answer
us when He is ready to and not a minute before. While
you are waiting, trust His goodness. It will make
having to put your hand over your mouth in shame
just a little bit easier when He finally speaks.
And when you do see Your Lord and his good intent
for you, your billboard will glow with
praise of God.
You, yes, small, little, you, have an important
eternal vote to cast! Your life can and does
stand for God or the Enemy. There can be quite a bit of
opposition when you get nearer to the polls.
Souls are won and lost in that battle. Never forget that.
You have a vote the devil wants. Make darn well
sure he never gets it. Even over your dead body
he cannot steal your vote for God once it is cast.
Hallelujah!
Know too, that Your Lord has already walked this
way ahead of you. He is not asking for you to
do something He has not already done. He has cast
His vote in favor or His Father, and He has endured
great and unreasonable pain because of false accusation.
Be comforted by this: if you are falsely accused,
Someone has been falsely accused before you. Your
Lord knows what it means to swallow that cup and
drink its dark dregs.
The world has a bigger grandstand than you know.
Even now the crowds are gathering to watch what
you will do.
Stand with and for God. There is no greater meaning your
life can have.
false accusation
faith in difficult times
Job
Anselm
belief in God
spiritual warfare
the purpose of life
free will
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Oswald Chambers: Though He Slay Me, Yet Will I Trust Him
We have the idea that God rewards us
for our faith, it may be so in
the initial stages; but we do not
earn anything by faith, faith
brings us into right relationship with
God and gives God His opportunity. God
has frequently to knock the bottom
board out of your experience if you are
a saint in order to get you into contact
with Himself. God wants you to understand
that it is a life of faith, not a life of
sentimental enjoyment of His blessings.
Your earlier life of faith was narrow and
intense, settled around a little sun-spot of
experience that had as much of sense as of
faith in it, full of light and sweetness;
then God withdrew His conscious blessings
in order to teach you to walk by faith. You
are worth far more to Him now than
you were in your days of conscious delight
and thrilling testimony.
Faith by its very nature must be tried,
and the real trial of faith is not that
we find it difficult to trust God, but
that God's character has to be cleared
in our own minds. Faith in its actual
working out has to go through spells of
unsyllabled isolation. Never confound the
trial of faith with the ordinary discipline
of life, much that we call the trial of
faith is the inevitable result of being alive.
Faith in the Bible is faith in God against
everything that contradicts Him - I will
remain true to God's character whatever
He may do. "Though He slay me, yet will I
trust Him" - this is the most sublime utterance
of faith in the whole of the Bible.
--Oswald Chambers
Photo taken in Colorado Springs, Colorado
Oswald Chambers
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Monday, November 05, 2007
Oswald Chambers: Pious Fraud or Bond Slave of Jesus?
A BOND-SLAVE OF JESUS
I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless
I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.
These words mean the breaking of my
independence with my own band and surrendering
to the supremacy of the Lord Jesus. No one can
do this for me, I must do it myself. God may
bring me up to the point three hundred and
sixty-five times a year, but He cannot put me
through it. It means breaking the husk of my
individual in dependence of God, and the emancipating
of my personality into oneness with Himself, not
for my own ideas, but for absolute loyalty to Jesus.
There is no possibility of dispute when once I am
there. Very few of us know anything about loyalty
to Christ - "For My sake." It is that which
makes the iron saint.
Has that break come? All the rest is pious fraud.
The one point to decide is - Will I give up, will I
surrender to Jesus Christ, and make no conditions
hatever as to how the break comes? I must be
broken from my self-realization, and immediately
that point is reached, the reality of the supernatural
identification takes place at once, and the witness
of the Spirit of God is unmistakable - "I have been
crucified with Christ."
The passion of Christianity is that I deliberately
sign away my own rights and become a bond-slave of
Jesus Christ. Until I do that, I do
not begin to be a saint.
One student a year who hears God's call would be
sufficient for God to have called this College into
existence. This College as an organization is not
worth anything, it is not academic; it is for
nothing else but for God to help Himself to lives.
Is He going to help Himself to us, or are we taken up
with our conception of what we are going to be?
Oswald Chambers
I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless
I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.
These words mean the breaking of my
independence with my own band and surrendering
to the supremacy of the Lord Jesus. No one can
do this for me, I must do it myself. God may
bring me up to the point three hundred and
sixty-five times a year, but He cannot put me
through it. It means breaking the husk of my
individual in dependence of God, and the emancipating
of my personality into oneness with Himself, not
for my own ideas, but for absolute loyalty to Jesus.
There is no possibility of dispute when once I am
there. Very few of us know anything about loyalty
to Christ - "For My sake." It is that which
makes the iron saint.
Has that break come? All the rest is pious fraud.
The one point to decide is - Will I give up, will I
surrender to Jesus Christ, and make no conditions
hatever as to how the break comes? I must be
broken from my self-realization, and immediately
that point is reached, the reality of the supernatural
identification takes place at once, and the witness
of the Spirit of God is unmistakable - "I have been
crucified with Christ."
The passion of Christianity is that I deliberately
sign away my own rights and become a bond-slave of
Jesus Christ. Until I do that, I do
not begin to be a saint.
One student a year who hears God's call would be
sufficient for God to have called this College into
existence. This College as an organization is not
worth anything, it is not academic; it is for
nothing else but for God to help Himself to lives.
Is He going to help Himself to us, or are we taken up
with our conception of what we are going to be?
Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Hudson Taylor: Do Your Work Through Me
"I used to ask God to help me. Then I asked if I might
help Him. I ended up by asking Him to do His work
through me." ---Hudson Taylor
photo taken in Ledbury, England
Hudson Taylor
Saturday, October 27, 2007
"God Loves to Vindicate the Confidence of His Children" : The Legacy of George Mueller
What makes for extraordinary faith?
Having reached some sort of apex of disgust
and dissatisfaction with everything mediocre,
I have, of late, come before the Lord asking
Him to search me out and to instruct me as I
am loathe to go one step further in the land
of lukewarmness.
There is so much glib talk of faith, and
so much perversion of what faith is really
all about: a hundred fleshly traps trying
to lure us into a comprehension of faith that
is merely mental, or a hedonistic use of faith
which will only spend the spoils on our flesh.
What is the real thing?
Scripture tells us, "Without faith it
is impossible to please God" (Heb. 11:6)
so a lot is at stake.
I think faith hinges on a couple key
points: 1) that God exists, a good
God who loves us and wants to show
Himself to His children in His great
goodness.(Jer. 33:3, John 15:15). Faith
tells me I can lean my full weight into
Him without fear (Rom 10:11);
and that 2) He answers and rewards those
who earnestly seek and believe Him
(Hebrews 11:6).
If you listen to what is out there
being preached about faith and how
to work God like a slot machine, er, I
mean have it, it is so strongly
smelling of human flesh that I'm surprised
that God has not lost His temper. Really.
What I have often seen is that
characteristic human tendency to
try and avoid the hard work of
relationship and try to just
use faith to get "things." The
old "sneak in the back door and
steal the pie off the table" trick.
That might be ok for a dog, but
it is beneath our dignity and
calling as children of God.
When people talk about what they
are believing for, it often has a cold
tone to it, like the prize is what they
have their eyes on, and the prize
is a thing, however needed or wanted,
and not Jesus Himself. No wonder that
sounds a little cold, it IS cold.
Cold enough so that soon the prize
becomes "my precious": that elusive
desired object that will turn a man into
a golem, or worse.
Of course popular opinion sees no reason
why God should not answer my prayer just
like I want it answered, exactly on my
time schedule, only to satisfy my desires,
and with no perseverance on my part.
Of course.
How silly to think the true nature of
faith might be otherwise. We can have
"relationship" another time. Call me
next month, we can "do lunch" with God.
It makes my stomach churn.
But as with all things, I am
beginning to think we can also err too far
in the opposite direction. I tend
toward the "Abandon everything to
God" camp. That camp leans more toward
the notion that all we need is to do is
have faith in God's character and submit to
what comes.
The trick is keeping that truth
correctly on biblical course for
it can morph itself into a kind of
passive disdain for great leaps
of faith. "Abandon" can have
two aspects: abandoning all
rights to steer my own course,
control my destiny, or put myself
in the place of God. These are great
ways to abandon. Sitting around
waiting for Jesus to come and
letting others do the work
that God has called His Body to
do in the earth is not so much
the idea behind abandonment.
The trouble with abandonment,
or abandonment improperly
understood, is that it can
leave me inactive. Inactive enough to verge
on wasting my life and time. Inactive
enough for it not to be biblical faith,
or biblical abandonment, at all.
Abandonment should not make me paralyzingly
passive and reluctant or afraid
to press into God's best and highest
So how do I have an extraordinary
faith?
What I think God is after
is this: He wants us to watch and
wait and sit with Him for
a long time, day in and day out,
until we begin to know Him and
what He would want and what He
would do. (I assume the reason
that faith is one of the things that
will remain (cp. I Cor 13:13) is that
we could watch God for all
eternity and still not take Him
all in! There will still be plenty of room
for faith in eternity because there
will still be plenty of God to watch.
Yet, here and now we can begin to
know Him, just as we would
a spouse, or close friend, or
relative whom we have lived with
for a long time.
By sitting with Him we begin to know
Him, and know what He values, and how He
will respond. So, correspondingly, what
we ask for and how we ask for it also
develops along with that. So I can be
at a stage where I ask amiss for
everything, like a kid in a candy store,
or I can move to a place where I do not ask
for anything because I can't be sure if its
the "right" thing.
Both are errors.
Early in our faith walk, God
might answer us in broad sweeps,
just to let us know that He answers,
but as we go along, He refines
our faith (i.e. how we hold
our active beliefs toward God)
by making our faith more
precise (i.e. our prayers
do not get answered so quickly
because we have to "get the
math" right). Earlier we might
get by with 2x2=5, gee,
close enough, but God can't let
that go on and grow us up like
a good and proper Dad would.
It wouldn't be right for the
Architect of our faith letting
us try and build a house with
our times-tables all out of whack.
But back to passive and active faith.
This week, I saw this quote, in some
form or another, in several places.
It was referring to George Mueller,
the Englishman who believed God for
the modern day equivalent of more than
$150,000,000 to supply the needs of
untold orphans.
Here is the quote: "God loves to
vindicate the confidences of His
children." I like it tweeked a little
more to: "God loves to vindicate the
confidence His children have in Him."
It subtly puts the emphasis a little
more on how worthy He is, and a little
bit less on our confidence.
The truth is that He is worthy of
ALL our confidence. George Mueller
was able to believe that God wanted
to give him the resources to take
care of untold thousands of children
in need. What gave him that kind of
boldness? It was his confidence that the
care and compassion he had for
orphans came straight out God's
heart and was in line with God's
desire to help and bless untold
needy children!
I am sure that Mueller did not have
the faith to believe for that kind of
money all at once. He persevered
with God. He looked to God. What God
wanted came to him as he had relationship
with God day in and day out, in rainy
days and sunny days alike. He had to keep
believing for the needs that arose. It
wasn't a one time thing. A lot of difficult
things pressed against him, but he kept
believing in who God is and had confidence,
great confidence, that He provides.
God was more than pleased to vindicate
Mueller's confidence in Him. We have
to put ourselves out there and have
confidence in God. In order to do that
we have to spend time with Him, we
have to watch Him and listen to Him,
and most of all OBEY Him. None of this
is passive, it is actually quite
active: the active work of faith!
From this we see God act in our lives and our
confidence in Him grows. As our confidence
grows we will be emboldened to watch
our corner of the world through
God's eyes and begin to believe
that His kingdom will come on
the part of the earth that
God has given us to tend with Him.
What if our ground is full of rocks?
What if birds eat the seed sown?
What if weeds choke the Word He
plants? What if robbers sneak in
and steal my goods? What if rascals
beat me up and leave me for dead?
The world is full of "what if's",
but faith is full of this: BUT GOD!
We must have confidence
that He can and will overcome all that
opposes His work and His Kingdom. Jesus said,
"You have not because you ask not."
He also says, "If we, being evil, know how
to give good things to our children,
how much more will God give good things
to those who ask Him?" (Matthew 7:11).
George Mueller wanted to show forth that
God answered prayer just as He did in the
Bible. He did not think it depended on
him, neither did he think that it would
just happen without his intercession and
faith. He pressed into the burden that
God gave him and He believed God. He did
not say, "if God wills." He was not unsure.
He did not believe for gold-covered sinks
for himself, but for gold to feed the
children of God. Moreover, he believed
God because he had come to know God.
The question is this: How can I show
forth my confidence in the Lord?
What exploits does He want me to
ask Him to accomplish? What ground
does He want to take back from the
Enemy with me? Whose life does
He want to impact through me? What
of His Son does He want to reveal
through my life? How will knowing
Him change everything?
Some will have a thirty-fold confidence
in Him, some a sixty-fold confidence,
and some a hundred-fold confidence.
But let us have confidence!
Look around your world. Ask the Lord
to let you look through His eyes. See
what He wants to ransom! See who He
wants to show Himself strong to!
See where His eye is gazing and go
there with Him! Believe Him! Tell Him
how sure you are that He is who He
says He is and will accomplish all
that pertains to His purpose. Press in
to know that purpose! God loves to
vindicate the confidence
of His children.
Do not have faith for things that
will fade away, or for things that
arise from your flesh, or
for things that have no eternal
consequence. Have faith for those
things that make the Heart of God pound
hard in His strong Chest. Have faith in
HIM! He is a God who does great and good
exploits and calls you to participate with
Him in those exploits! You will not be
disappointed. God is looking to vindicate
the confidence of His children.
George Mueller
Having reached some sort of apex of disgust
and dissatisfaction with everything mediocre,
I have, of late, come before the Lord asking
Him to search me out and to instruct me as I
am loathe to go one step further in the land
of lukewarmness.
There is so much glib talk of faith, and
so much perversion of what faith is really
all about: a hundred fleshly traps trying
to lure us into a comprehension of faith that
is merely mental, or a hedonistic use of faith
which will only spend the spoils on our flesh.
What is the real thing?
Scripture tells us, "Without faith it
is impossible to please God" (Heb. 11:6)
so a lot is at stake.
I think faith hinges on a couple key
points: 1) that God exists, a good
God who loves us and wants to show
Himself to His children in His great
goodness.(Jer. 33:3, John 15:15). Faith
tells me I can lean my full weight into
Him without fear (Rom 10:11);
and that 2) He answers and rewards those
who earnestly seek and believe Him
(Hebrews 11:6).
If you listen to what is out there
being preached about faith and how
to work God like a slot machine, er, I
mean have it, it is so strongly
smelling of human flesh that I'm surprised
that God has not lost His temper. Really.
What I have often seen is that
characteristic human tendency to
try and avoid the hard work of
relationship and try to just
use faith to get "things." The
old "sneak in the back door and
steal the pie off the table" trick.
That might be ok for a dog, but
it is beneath our dignity and
calling as children of God.
When people talk about what they
are believing for, it often has a cold
tone to it, like the prize is what they
have their eyes on, and the prize
is a thing, however needed or wanted,
and not Jesus Himself. No wonder that
sounds a little cold, it IS cold.
Cold enough so that soon the prize
becomes "my precious": that elusive
desired object that will turn a man into
a golem, or worse.
Of course popular opinion sees no reason
why God should not answer my prayer just
like I want it answered, exactly on my
time schedule, only to satisfy my desires,
and with no perseverance on my part.
Of course.
How silly to think the true nature of
faith might be otherwise. We can have
"relationship" another time. Call me
next month, we can "do lunch" with God.
It makes my stomach churn.
But as with all things, I am
beginning to think we can also err too far
in the opposite direction. I tend
toward the "Abandon everything to
God" camp. That camp leans more toward
the notion that all we need is to do is
have faith in God's character and submit to
what comes.
The trick is keeping that truth
correctly on biblical course for
it can morph itself into a kind of
passive disdain for great leaps
of faith. "Abandon" can have
two aspects: abandoning all
rights to steer my own course,
control my destiny, or put myself
in the place of God. These are great
ways to abandon. Sitting around
waiting for Jesus to come and
letting others do the work
that God has called His Body to
do in the earth is not so much
the idea behind abandonment.
The trouble with abandonment,
or abandonment improperly
understood, is that it can
leave me inactive. Inactive enough to verge
on wasting my life and time. Inactive
enough for it not to be biblical faith,
or biblical abandonment, at all.
Abandonment should not make me paralyzingly
passive and reluctant or afraid
to press into God's best and highest
So how do I have an extraordinary
faith?
What I think God is after
is this: He wants us to watch and
wait and sit with Him for
a long time, day in and day out,
until we begin to know Him and
what He would want and what He
would do. (I assume the reason
that faith is one of the things that
will remain (cp. I Cor 13:13) is that
we could watch God for all
eternity and still not take Him
all in! There will still be plenty of room
for faith in eternity because there
will still be plenty of God to watch.
Yet, here and now we can begin to
know Him, just as we would
a spouse, or close friend, or
relative whom we have lived with
for a long time.
By sitting with Him we begin to know
Him, and know what He values, and how He
will respond. So, correspondingly, what
we ask for and how we ask for it also
develops along with that. So I can be
at a stage where I ask amiss for
everything, like a kid in a candy store,
or I can move to a place where I do not ask
for anything because I can't be sure if its
the "right" thing.
Both are errors.
Early in our faith walk, God
might answer us in broad sweeps,
just to let us know that He answers,
but as we go along, He refines
our faith (i.e. how we hold
our active beliefs toward God)
by making our faith more
precise (i.e. our prayers
do not get answered so quickly
because we have to "get the
math" right). Earlier we might
get by with 2x2=5, gee,
close enough, but God can't let
that go on and grow us up like
a good and proper Dad would.
It wouldn't be right for the
Architect of our faith letting
us try and build a house with
our times-tables all out of whack.
But back to passive and active faith.
This week, I saw this quote, in some
form or another, in several places.
It was referring to George Mueller,
the Englishman who believed God for
the modern day equivalent of more than
$150,000,000 to supply the needs of
untold orphans.
Here is the quote: "God loves to
vindicate the confidences of His
children." I like it tweeked a little
more to: "God loves to vindicate the
confidence His children have in Him."
It subtly puts the emphasis a little
more on how worthy He is, and a little
bit less on our confidence.
The truth is that He is worthy of
ALL our confidence. George Mueller
was able to believe that God wanted
to give him the resources to take
care of untold thousands of children
in need. What gave him that kind of
boldness? It was his confidence that the
care and compassion he had for
orphans came straight out God's
heart and was in line with God's
desire to help and bless untold
needy children!
I am sure that Mueller did not have
the faith to believe for that kind of
money all at once. He persevered
with God. He looked to God. What God
wanted came to him as he had relationship
with God day in and day out, in rainy
days and sunny days alike. He had to keep
believing for the needs that arose. It
wasn't a one time thing. A lot of difficult
things pressed against him, but he kept
believing in who God is and had confidence,
great confidence, that He provides.
God was more than pleased to vindicate
Mueller's confidence in Him. We have
to put ourselves out there and have
confidence in God. In order to do that
we have to spend time with Him, we
have to watch Him and listen to Him,
and most of all OBEY Him. None of this
is passive, it is actually quite
active: the active work of faith!
From this we see God act in our lives and our
confidence in Him grows. As our confidence
grows we will be emboldened to watch
our corner of the world through
God's eyes and begin to believe
that His kingdom will come on
the part of the earth that
God has given us to tend with Him.
What if our ground is full of rocks?
What if birds eat the seed sown?
What if weeds choke the Word He
plants? What if robbers sneak in
and steal my goods? What if rascals
beat me up and leave me for dead?
The world is full of "what if's",
but faith is full of this: BUT GOD!
We must have confidence
that He can and will overcome all that
opposes His work and His Kingdom. Jesus said,
"You have not because you ask not."
He also says, "If we, being evil, know how
to give good things to our children,
how much more will God give good things
to those who ask Him?" (Matthew 7:11).
George Mueller wanted to show forth that
God answered prayer just as He did in the
Bible. He did not think it depended on
him, neither did he think that it would
just happen without his intercession and
faith. He pressed into the burden that
God gave him and He believed God. He did
not say, "if God wills." He was not unsure.
He did not believe for gold-covered sinks
for himself, but for gold to feed the
children of God. Moreover, he believed
God because he had come to know God.
The question is this: How can I show
forth my confidence in the Lord?
What exploits does He want me to
ask Him to accomplish? What ground
does He want to take back from the
Enemy with me? Whose life does
He want to impact through me? What
of His Son does He want to reveal
through my life? How will knowing
Him change everything?
Some will have a thirty-fold confidence
in Him, some a sixty-fold confidence,
and some a hundred-fold confidence.
But let us have confidence!
Look around your world. Ask the Lord
to let you look through His eyes. See
what He wants to ransom! See who He
wants to show Himself strong to!
See where His eye is gazing and go
there with Him! Believe Him! Tell Him
how sure you are that He is who He
says He is and will accomplish all
that pertains to His purpose. Press in
to know that purpose! God loves to
vindicate the confidence
of His children.
Do not have faith for things that
will fade away, or for things that
arise from your flesh, or
for things that have no eternal
consequence. Have faith for those
things that make the Heart of God pound
hard in His strong Chest. Have faith in
HIM! He is a God who does great and good
exploits and calls you to participate with
Him in those exploits! You will not be
disappointed. God is looking to vindicate
the confidence of His children.
George Mueller
George Mueller on Faith
"To learn strong faith is
to endure great trials.
I have learned my faith by
standing firm amid severe testings."
(George Mueller)
photo taken in Ledbury, England
George Mueller
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Because of Love
It is as if,
You have just opened my eyes,
given me sight,
awakened my heart,
because of Love.
It is though I see,
suddenly You are all around,
there is no-where that You cannot go,
no place where I can slip from Your grasp,
because of Love.
It is as if, I can finally rest
at the bottom of the boat,
amidst life's wildest storms,
asleep in peace,
because of Love.
I have listened to a thousand
mad hatters, speaking tirades
of nonsense, but suddenly
I hear Your Voice alone,
singing deep within my heart,
because of Love.
I meet You behind and before.
I meet You above and below.
Inseparable Union: i in You.
And You in me.
In Christ! O glorious thought!
Because of Love!
Your chosen are
safer than we know.
You have hidden
Your Own so deeply within Yourself,
so far from any real harm, that
though we think ourselves lost,
we could not find our way
out of You:
because of Love!
O Joy, complete...
Because of Love!
O Storms of Life, is it not
you that drive me to seek a
shelter in the
Everlasting Arms,
there to lay against the
bosom of My Lord?
He sends those storms,
Because of Love.
O Wounding Pain, is it not
you that cause me to know
that from my God I am never
separated? He lets me
taste your depths,
because of love.
O Christ of God,
is it not You that wrestle
with me until dawn,
urging me to let go
of all the smallness
of heart and mind
that has ruled me?
You put my natural strength
out of joint,
because of Love.
You are hidden, deep within,
a Heavenly Gyroscope,
every upright in Your position,
deliberately disorienting
my natural bearings so
that You can take
greater pleasure in
plunging me deeper and
further into
Your boundless depths;
I place my certain wager
on Your endless Goodness,
because of Love.
No matter into what
depths I descend,
even doubting that
You can still retrieve me,
You always pull me
back to Your
very Heart,
because of Love.
How could those who
have loved You most,
known You best,
die joyfully as
martyrs, but
because of Love?
Because of Love,
I begin to see all this,
revealed to the
eyes of my heart.
O Immeasurable Love,
this I surely know,
In You I am held
closer than a child
is held
by its Mother.
I peek out of the
warm blanket of
Love you have wrapped
me in, united with You,
because of Love.
It is not that the
world is not the scene
of a great and tragic Fall.
It is.
It is not about wishing that pain
will never touch me.
It shall.
It is just a matter
of knowing
how eternally safe
You keep me,
Because of Love.
Because of Love,
I look to You.
Because of Love,
You hold me.
And I love you,
Because of Love.
God's love
safety in God
You have just opened my eyes,
given me sight,
awakened my heart,
because of Love.
It is though I see,
suddenly You are all around,
there is no-where that You cannot go,
no place where I can slip from Your grasp,
because of Love.
It is as if, I can finally rest
at the bottom of the boat,
amidst life's wildest storms,
asleep in peace,
because of Love.
I have listened to a thousand
mad hatters, speaking tirades
of nonsense, but suddenly
I hear Your Voice alone,
singing deep within my heart,
because of Love.
I meet You behind and before.
I meet You above and below.
Inseparable Union: i in You.
And You in me.
In Christ! O glorious thought!
Because of Love!
Your chosen are
safer than we know.
You have hidden
Your Own so deeply within Yourself,
so far from any real harm, that
though we think ourselves lost,
we could not find our way
out of You:
because of Love!
O Joy, complete...
Because of Love!
O Storms of Life, is it not
you that drive me to seek a
shelter in the
Everlasting Arms,
there to lay against the
bosom of My Lord?
He sends those storms,
Because of Love.
O Wounding Pain, is it not
you that cause me to know
that from my God I am never
separated? He lets me
taste your depths,
because of love.
O Christ of God,
is it not You that wrestle
with me until dawn,
urging me to let go
of all the smallness
of heart and mind
that has ruled me?
You put my natural strength
out of joint,
because of Love.
You are hidden, deep within,
a Heavenly Gyroscope,
every upright in Your position,
deliberately disorienting
my natural bearings so
that You can take
greater pleasure in
plunging me deeper and
further into
Your boundless depths;
I place my certain wager
on Your endless Goodness,
because of Love.
No matter into what
depths I descend,
even doubting that
You can still retrieve me,
You always pull me
back to Your
very Heart,
because of Love.
How could those who
have loved You most,
known You best,
die joyfully as
martyrs, but
because of Love?
Because of Love,
I begin to see all this,
revealed to the
eyes of my heart.
O Immeasurable Love,
this I surely know,
In You I am held
closer than a child
is held
by its Mother.
I peek out of the
warm blanket of
Love you have wrapped
me in, united with You,
because of Love.
It is not that the
world is not the scene
of a great and tragic Fall.
It is.
It is not about wishing that pain
will never touch me.
It shall.
It is just a matter
of knowing
how eternally safe
You keep me,
Because of Love.
Because of Love,
I look to You.
Because of Love,
You hold me.
And I love you,
Because of Love.
God's love
safety in God
Can't Wait to See God!
If the mercy of God is so great
that He can instruct us, to our salvation,
even when He hides Himself, what a
brilliance of light we must expect
when He reveals Himself!
... Blaise Pascal, Pensées
photo taken in Colorado Springs, Colorado!
Pascal
Colorado Springs
the glory of God
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Following the Lamb
“He who follows the Lamb cannot
expect to be understood by all.
There are ways in which the
believer must walk alone with
his God.” ~G. Steinberger~
photo taken in Colorado Springs, Colorado
abandonment to God
Colorado Springs
Monday, October 15, 2007
A Chance to Love
I went out for a walk with the smallest
dog and enjoyed the beauty of the fall
evening: looked into people's houses
as they cooked dinner, watched tv,
went about their lives. I always
wonder what another's heart feels like.
What is all this? All that presents itself
as life, if not just a curiously wrapped
chance to love? No doubt our God who is
love made the world simply to love it.
Simply to have and to hold, to have a
place to put His love, and a chance to
have even the smallest slice of it be
given back to Him in return.
For all the times I don't understand why God
made the world, tonight I feel I might:
a mighty Love compelled Him to create
something to bask in His love.
We have a God who seems to have one answer
to every question: Love! We have a God
who seems to not offer any other options
when we come to Him with our questions: Love!
We have a God who seems to think that
Love is unconquerable and headed for sure
victory. Love? Love! Love! Love!
I stand under the waterfall of Love and feel
it pound against me. It seems more an external
force, pounding against my skin, pounding against
the big ball of all that is not love that
lives under my skin. My heart knows Love,
but does not. My mind knows Love, but does
not. I hope in Love, and do not. I trust in
Love and mistrust its abilities. I wait for
Love, and don't know if it is here to stay, or
has just sprinkled itself like rose petals
strewn at a wedding, a one night stand rushing
past us mere mortals to somewhere else.
And yet, there is a Love within, a buoyant
strong Love, a Love that sustains bullishly,
a Love that rises up fiercely, a Love
that will not let me go. That Love
is Love indeed, closer than a brother,
stronger than a mountain.
A love so close I might not see the Love forest
for the trees of bewilderment, pain, and
human distraction unless I choose to
look or unless Love comes rolling
into to my living room unannounced.
It does that sometimes. I heard from
a friend today and she was laying
down in the middle of a thunderstorm
and looked up to see a giant blue
ball of power and light suspended
in the room. Yikes! Love can roll
in like that when it wants to make
a statement. Fortunately for my friend,
it was only her tv that got fried.
I grew up amidst the Jesus People, singing,
"Love, Love, Love, Love, Christians this
is your call, love your neighbor as your
self for God loves us all. Love, Love,
Love, Love, the gospel in a word is Love."
Who knew what that really meant? But
it grabbed ahold of something inside of me
and has never let me go. Past all
my constraints, love has backed me into
a corner. No matter how I phrase my
questions, SomeOne answers "Love."
No matter what argument I put up, no
matter how weak I feel, how desperately
I push other buttons, only one message
is printed on the receipt: "Love"
Today, this very minute, each and every
minute, you and I have a chance to love.
Along the path of today I looked squarely
into people's faces, most were lost in
their own worlds. One person felt me
really looking as I walked past, she
glanced up quickly and her face was
full of life. She smiled at me. It
helped my soul. It was a chance she took
to love. I smiled back and we both
"got it."
A little boy sitting in his stroller,
kept looking at me. I smiled at him,
prayed for his young life, it was my
chance to love. I kept my heart open
when I would rather have shut it today,
a chance to love. I hoped in God when
I felt unsure, another chance.
I made the phone call, made several,
when I felt the need to be called
instead of call: love, love, love
love, Christians this is your call.
I prayed for all the people whose
prayer requests came suddenly to
mind like a flock of gulls descending:
God's call to love.
All these things I say not to
bring attention to me, but to
remind me, remind us, of how often we
have a chance to love, and how fleeting
some of those chances are. Oh, and
Dear God, I forgot the man at the
paint store, he seemed sad, please
take care of his situation, known
only to You.
I know I missed a few chances to love
today, but I will be looking again
tomorrow. I hope you will be
looking, too. Life is made up of
moments, it is the small choices
that may count more than the big
ones when it is all added up.
Take your chance to love, and
love heartily, love unreservedly,
love as God loves us. Love
in broad daylight or love
like a UPS man on Christmas
Eve: leave the love package
on the doorstep, ring the
bell, and run. Love does not
need to be promoted. It just needs
to be delivered. It will find its
mark. Leave it to God. God's love
will take us to a place where
we have never been, and that place
will be very, very good.
Where there is no love,
pour love in, and you
you will draw out love
--John of the Cross.
love
John of the Cross
the love of God
dog and enjoyed the beauty of the fall
evening: looked into people's houses
as they cooked dinner, watched tv,
went about their lives. I always
wonder what another's heart feels like.
What is all this? All that presents itself
as life, if not just a curiously wrapped
chance to love? No doubt our God who is
love made the world simply to love it.
Simply to have and to hold, to have a
place to put His love, and a chance to
have even the smallest slice of it be
given back to Him in return.
For all the times I don't understand why God
made the world, tonight I feel I might:
a mighty Love compelled Him to create
something to bask in His love.
We have a God who seems to have one answer
to every question: Love! We have a God
who seems to not offer any other options
when we come to Him with our questions: Love!
We have a God who seems to think that
Love is unconquerable and headed for sure
victory. Love? Love! Love! Love!
I stand under the waterfall of Love and feel
it pound against me. It seems more an external
force, pounding against my skin, pounding against
the big ball of all that is not love that
lives under my skin. My heart knows Love,
but does not. My mind knows Love, but does
not. I hope in Love, and do not. I trust in
Love and mistrust its abilities. I wait for
Love, and don't know if it is here to stay, or
has just sprinkled itself like rose petals
strewn at a wedding, a one night stand rushing
past us mere mortals to somewhere else.
And yet, there is a Love within, a buoyant
strong Love, a Love that sustains bullishly,
a Love that rises up fiercely, a Love
that will not let me go. That Love
is Love indeed, closer than a brother,
stronger than a mountain.
A love so close I might not see the Love forest
for the trees of bewilderment, pain, and
human distraction unless I choose to
look or unless Love comes rolling
into to my living room unannounced.
It does that sometimes. I heard from
a friend today and she was laying
down in the middle of a thunderstorm
and looked up to see a giant blue
ball of power and light suspended
in the room. Yikes! Love can roll
in like that when it wants to make
a statement. Fortunately for my friend,
it was only her tv that got fried.
I grew up amidst the Jesus People, singing,
"Love, Love, Love, Love, Christians this
is your call, love your neighbor as your
self for God loves us all. Love, Love,
Love, Love, the gospel in a word is Love."
Who knew what that really meant? But
it grabbed ahold of something inside of me
and has never let me go. Past all
my constraints, love has backed me into
a corner. No matter how I phrase my
questions, SomeOne answers "Love."
No matter what argument I put up, no
matter how weak I feel, how desperately
I push other buttons, only one message
is printed on the receipt: "Love"
Today, this very minute, each and every
minute, you and I have a chance to love.
Along the path of today I looked squarely
into people's faces, most were lost in
their own worlds. One person felt me
really looking as I walked past, she
glanced up quickly and her face was
full of life. She smiled at me. It
helped my soul. It was a chance she took
to love. I smiled back and we both
"got it."
A little boy sitting in his stroller,
kept looking at me. I smiled at him,
prayed for his young life, it was my
chance to love. I kept my heart open
when I would rather have shut it today,
a chance to love. I hoped in God when
I felt unsure, another chance.
I made the phone call, made several,
when I felt the need to be called
instead of call: love, love, love
love, Christians this is your call.
I prayed for all the people whose
prayer requests came suddenly to
mind like a flock of gulls descending:
God's call to love.
All these things I say not to
bring attention to me, but to
remind me, remind us, of how often we
have a chance to love, and how fleeting
some of those chances are. Oh, and
Dear God, I forgot the man at the
paint store, he seemed sad, please
take care of his situation, known
only to You.
I know I missed a few chances to love
today, but I will be looking again
tomorrow. I hope you will be
looking, too. Life is made up of
moments, it is the small choices
that may count more than the big
ones when it is all added up.
Take your chance to love, and
love heartily, love unreservedly,
love as God loves us. Love
in broad daylight or love
like a UPS man on Christmas
Eve: leave the love package
on the doorstep, ring the
bell, and run. Love does not
need to be promoted. It just needs
to be delivered. It will find its
mark. Leave it to God. God's love
will take us to a place where
we have never been, and that place
will be very, very good.
Where there is no love,
pour love in, and you
you will draw out love
--John of the Cross.
love
John of the Cross
the love of God
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Are You in Love With Jesus?
The question is not: How many people take
you seriously? How much are you going to
accomplish? Can you show some results?
but: Are you in love with Jesus?
... Henri J. M. Nouwen
photo taken in Florissant, Colorado
Henri Nouwen
love of God
Florissant, Colorado
Thursday, October 11, 2007
The Certainty of A Heart Abandoned to God
Let's face it. Most of us have days when
life's uncertainties press against us
and cause us to feel unrest.
Let's face it some more. We have little
to no idea what will happen next. And
amidst this uncertainty we, as Christians
with good intentions, seem to be
ubiquitously searching for what can
feel like the elusive will of God.
Is this Your will? Is that Your will?
The Moslems simply say "Imshah Allah"
(if God wills) and shrug. Who can
really know or fight against what
God will do? But we, as Christians,
need not be so resigned: we can know
God, and we can see the path we need
to take, even if we be fools (Is.35:8)
A few nights ago, in the midst of
an uncertain time, the Lord spoke to me
about the nature of certainty.
"Certainty," He said, "does not come
from successfully discerning
My will with regard to what
course of action to take."
"Certainty is the spiritual resting
state of a heart abandoned into
the good hands of God."
In this place we are not certain
about a date or a time, or a course
of action, we are certain of our
being held and kept by God. It is
in an inner certainty not connected
to circumstance or plan.
What are the components of this
abandonment?
Abandonment to God does not produce
uncertainty. I think we fear that
if we abandon ourselves to God
we will live constantly in a
state of uncertainty and confusion:
a continual fog of bewilderment.
When Abraham went out, "not knowing
where he was going," he was not
confused. He did not know where
he was going, but he was not
uncertain. His eye was
fixed on God, and his faith
apprehended and trusted Him.
It did not ultimately matter
where he was being led:
he was abandoned to a good God
who was leading him and that
was all that mattered.
But how can we know that
once we have, in our estimation
thrown caution to the wind, that
we are being led by God and not
by our own waywardness?
The answer is through a pure heart
and by obedience. We can have
a certainty in our Father, not
the self-assuredness of fools,
but the clear-eyed vision of the
pure in heart. Jesus tells us
the pure in heart "shall see God."
Nothing muddies their vision,
all the debris is cleared away,
there are no mixed motives, or
agendas, but a unified gaze
upon the fullness of God.
That is certainty. If the heart
is not polluted, the eye can see
clearly, and knows where to step.
Even a fool cannot miss it!
Following this way of obedience
and purity is a road that
leads to holiness. The road will
move you along toward where you
need to be.
Abandonment to God is not a mindless
stagnation. We need not fear
sitting and waiting even when we
need to sit and wait. For in
God there is never inaction.
There is active action when we
are busy doing our Father's outward
business, and there is inward
action, even found in silence,
when God is working deep in the
depths of our spirit.
The world values doubt. It seems
childish to have a faith that
rests in an invisible God.
The world values uncertainty:
to be certain seems naive or
unlearned, it is fashionable
to doubt. The certainty of
faith is something that the
world cannot know or even
fathom, therefore it cannot
know its value.
When we understand that a pure
heart leads us to a certainty
in God, we will value it and
cultivate it all the more. Purity
of heart is the condition,
even the eye, by which we see
and know. When our heart is not
polluted, our eyes can see clearly.
The proverbial log in our eye
that Jesus speaks of does not
come from a tree falling on
our head, it comes from
sin in our hearts. In the
opthamalic field there is
a test called a "visual
field" test. Light is
systematically flashed
over the field of your
vision to see where you
have blind spots and
vision loss.
What of our spiritual
vision? What causes our
sure gaze of God to become
dimmed? For when we lose sight
of Him, I can guarantee you
that uncertainty will immediately
invade.
We must guard our hearts, we
must come to God daily asking
Him if there is anything that
is clouding our vision. And
then we must obey what He tells
us. It is no good to go to
the repair shop and find out
what is wrong with your car
if you are not willing to
have it repaired.
How was Jesus so certain? How
did He know just what to say to
people? How did He discern the
thoughts, needs and intents of
their hearts? He could see things
for what they were because His
own heart was pure. He could
speak with certainty because
He could see things in the clear
light of God. In one moment
He is kind to outcasts, in the
next He is dismantling a whole
religious system that had set
itself up against God. How was
He so sure? The certainty that
comes from a pure heart of
obedience was at work in Him.
There are two verses that come
to mind: "He that comes to God
must believe that He is and is
a rewarder of them that diligently
seek Him" (Rom. 1:17). Here is a key to
abandonment: believe that God
exists, and that He rewards those
that seek Him. Here is your first
lesson in certainty: throw
yourself upon Him, believe
that He hears and answers.
The second verse is this: "I know in
whom I have believed and am persuaded
that He is able to keep that which
I have committed to Him until that day"
(2 Tim. 1:12).
You will never be certain through a
mental process, it must be a heart
process of faith, stemming from
a pure and obedient heart.
Believe that He is able to keep you.
Do not be afraid to start the process.
or continue the process, even when
you know that both your purity and
your faith need work. Faith puts
its confidence not in its own
ability or prowess, but in the One
to whom it looks.
In these uncertain days, a sure
certainty of the faithfulness of
God to lead and keep you, can be
a most precious gift. Do not
fail to avail yourself of it!
assurance
abandonment to God
life's uncertainties press against us
and cause us to feel unrest.
Let's face it some more. We have little
to no idea what will happen next. And
amidst this uncertainty we, as Christians
with good intentions, seem to be
ubiquitously searching for what can
feel like the elusive will of God.
Is this Your will? Is that Your will?
The Moslems simply say "Imshah Allah"
(if God wills) and shrug. Who can
really know or fight against what
God will do? But we, as Christians,
need not be so resigned: we can know
God, and we can see the path we need
to take, even if we be fools (Is.35:8)
A few nights ago, in the midst of
an uncertain time, the Lord spoke to me
about the nature of certainty.
"Certainty," He said, "does not come
from successfully discerning
My will with regard to what
course of action to take."
"Certainty is the spiritual resting
state of a heart abandoned into
the good hands of God."
In this place we are not certain
about a date or a time, or a course
of action, we are certain of our
being held and kept by God. It is
in an inner certainty not connected
to circumstance or plan.
What are the components of this
abandonment?
Abandonment to God does not produce
uncertainty. I think we fear that
if we abandon ourselves to God
we will live constantly in a
state of uncertainty and confusion:
a continual fog of bewilderment.
When Abraham went out, "not knowing
where he was going," he was not
confused. He did not know where
he was going, but he was not
uncertain. His eye was
fixed on God, and his faith
apprehended and trusted Him.
It did not ultimately matter
where he was being led:
he was abandoned to a good God
who was leading him and that
was all that mattered.
But how can we know that
once we have, in our estimation
thrown caution to the wind, that
we are being led by God and not
by our own waywardness?
The answer is through a pure heart
and by obedience. We can have
a certainty in our Father, not
the self-assuredness of fools,
but the clear-eyed vision of the
pure in heart. Jesus tells us
the pure in heart "shall see God."
Nothing muddies their vision,
all the debris is cleared away,
there are no mixed motives, or
agendas, but a unified gaze
upon the fullness of God.
That is certainty. If the heart
is not polluted, the eye can see
clearly, and knows where to step.
Even a fool cannot miss it!
Following this way of obedience
and purity is a road that
leads to holiness. The road will
move you along toward where you
need to be.
Abandonment to God is not a mindless
stagnation. We need not fear
sitting and waiting even when we
need to sit and wait. For in
God there is never inaction.
There is active action when we
are busy doing our Father's outward
business, and there is inward
action, even found in silence,
when God is working deep in the
depths of our spirit.
The world values doubt. It seems
childish to have a faith that
rests in an invisible God.
The world values uncertainty:
to be certain seems naive or
unlearned, it is fashionable
to doubt. The certainty of
faith is something that the
world cannot know or even
fathom, therefore it cannot
know its value.
When we understand that a pure
heart leads us to a certainty
in God, we will value it and
cultivate it all the more. Purity
of heart is the condition,
even the eye, by which we see
and know. When our heart is not
polluted, our eyes can see clearly.
The proverbial log in our eye
that Jesus speaks of does not
come from a tree falling on
our head, it comes from
sin in our hearts. In the
opthamalic field there is
a test called a "visual
field" test. Light is
systematically flashed
over the field of your
vision to see where you
have blind spots and
vision loss.
What of our spiritual
vision? What causes our
sure gaze of God to become
dimmed? For when we lose sight
of Him, I can guarantee you
that uncertainty will immediately
invade.
We must guard our hearts, we
must come to God daily asking
Him if there is anything that
is clouding our vision. And
then we must obey what He tells
us. It is no good to go to
the repair shop and find out
what is wrong with your car
if you are not willing to
have it repaired.
How was Jesus so certain? How
did He know just what to say to
people? How did He discern the
thoughts, needs and intents of
their hearts? He could see things
for what they were because His
own heart was pure. He could
speak with certainty because
He could see things in the clear
light of God. In one moment
He is kind to outcasts, in the
next He is dismantling a whole
religious system that had set
itself up against God. How was
He so sure? The certainty that
comes from a pure heart of
obedience was at work in Him.
There are two verses that come
to mind: "He that comes to God
must believe that He is and is
a rewarder of them that diligently
seek Him" (Rom. 1:17). Here is a key to
abandonment: believe that God
exists, and that He rewards those
that seek Him. Here is your first
lesson in certainty: throw
yourself upon Him, believe
that He hears and answers.
The second verse is this: "I know in
whom I have believed and am persuaded
that He is able to keep that which
I have committed to Him until that day"
(2 Tim. 1:12).
You will never be certain through a
mental process, it must be a heart
process of faith, stemming from
a pure and obedient heart.
Believe that He is able to keep you.
Do not be afraid to start the process.
or continue the process, even when
you know that both your purity and
your faith need work. Faith puts
its confidence not in its own
ability or prowess, but in the One
to whom it looks.
In these uncertain days, a sure
certainty of the faithfulness of
God to lead and keep you, can be
a most precious gift. Do not
fail to avail yourself of it!
assurance
abandonment to God
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
I Put My Hope In God
You may also make the mistake of thinking
that you will be better able to bear
your trials if God will only grant
you inward consolations.
Remember that God knows what is best
for us...If we go astray at the beginning
and want the Lord to do OUR will and
lead us as our desires dictate, how
can we build on a firm foundation?
--Theresa of Avila
photo taken in a neighborhood in Colorado Springs,
what a sweet work of art!
Theresa of Avila
inner consolations
abandonment to God
Colorado Springs
hope
God's will
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Called to Adore: the Beauty of Adoration
Called to Adore: the Beauty of Adoration
One of my favorite Christmas carols
is “O Holy Night.” I love the lyrics
“fall on your knees, O hear the angel’s
voices, O night divine, O night, when
Christ was born.” Last Christmas I
wanted to put this song on my blog so
I listened to all the versions of it
available on-line. Pavaratti’s verson
was magnificent. Another’s version was
homey. Still another version was inspiring,
and another’s sweet. But none captured what
I was looking for: one full of adoration.
Adoration like the magi might have had, or
Mary looking down at her new-born Baby.
Adoration at seeing the Heavenly Son of
God take on the humility of human flesh
and come to earth.
Adoration is a holy word, or should be.
One set aside for God alone. There are
two great passages of adoration that come
immediately to mind : one a microcosm, one
a macrocosm.
The macrocosm of adoration is this :
“After this I beheld, and, lo, a great
multitude, which no man could number, of
all nations, and kindreds, and people,
and tongues, stood before the throne,
and before the Lamb, clothed with white
robes, and palms in their hands; 10 And
cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation
to our God which sitteth upon the throne,
and unto the Lamb. 11 And all the angels
stood round about the throne, and about
the elders and the four beasts, and fell
before the throne on their faces, and
worshipped God, 12 Saying, Amen: Blessing,
and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving,
and honour, and power, and might, be unto
our God for ever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 7: 9-12).
Here are angels, mankind, elders and beasts
adoring God together. Here is the adoration’s
destiny and completeness!
The microcosm of adoration is this:
And she stood at his feet behind him weeping,
and began to wash his feet with tears, and did
wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed
his feet, and anointed them with the ointment
(Luke 7:38).
A simple definition of “adoration” is telling
God much how much we love Him. But that
“telling” is not really about words, it is
an inward action of the heart toward God:
a noticing and a heartfelt, heartful
acknowledgement of something that we inwardly
and gratefully experience of God’s nature and
character. It is not just a compliment
thrown in God’s direction or a little “thank you”
but it is something that opens our
heart and causes it to flow unreservedly toward God.
In the woman’s case in Luke’s gospel, tears flowed
out bringing forth the adoration that was in her
heart. It was not just the outward act that was
the adoration; it was an inward opening of heart
that caused the outward act to
have its power.
In true adoration inward feeling seeks expression
in outward manifestation, thus, when one truly
adores God, it may often lead to raising one hands,
falling on one knees, bowing, prostrating oneself,
and other offered acts of love born out of praise
for God’s good nature and bounty toward
the sons and daughters of men. Adoration is a
self-abasement before our Good, Holy, and
Incomparable God. It acknowledges happily:
“There is no-one like Him!” What can we do
but fall down and adore?
Jesus said, “They that worship the Father must
worship Him in Spirit and in truth” (John 4:24)
and the first commandment implores us to Love
(adore) God, with all our mind, soul and
strength (Deut 6: 5). Adoration is spiritual,
it is true, it is wholehearted and whole-bodied.
It is something like an inward hill melting like
wax at the Presence of the Lord. It is not something
that can be faked, but it is something that can be
cultivated.
How can shall we then cultivate it ?
The first thing we can do is bring ourselves to
an inward awareness of our Lord.
Our thoughts are often distracted, but if we take
a few deep breaths and inwardly put our
attention upon Christ, we will soon be aware
of His absolute beauty and loveliness.
Even if we feel distracted we can call out to Him
gently, “Lord Jesus, I adore all that You are!”
The Lord loves His children to express their love
and adoration to Him. He loves to love them back!
Perhaps we can use a bit of scripture to help us
adore Him:
“Ps 84:2 My soul longed and even yearned for
the courts of the Lord; My heart and my flesh
sing for joy to the living God.”
Ps 87:7 "All my springs of joy are in you."
Take the scripture and pray it simply toward God.
Or perhaps we can look at nature and see the mystery,
awe and wonder of who He is reflected there.
I am a photographer and often get “god-smacked’ when
I get behind the lens of a camera and frame something
of God’s wonder in the world. This is not God, is but
a mere reflection of Him, a mere work of His hands,
what must the Real One be like?
See if you can focus all of your sweet inward feelings
toward God into a few words that you can offer to Him
in adoration. You do not want to be too wordy, you want
rather to express that which lays deepest in your heart.
Sit with those feelings of adoration and they will bring
you quickly to the throne of God.
Keeping a soft heart and practicing an awareness of God
will help greatly. Turn toward Him for He is ever near,
and ever worthy of our adoration.
Think of a time when you have experienced adoration
toward God? What brought it about?
How did it affect you?
As an exercise let us offer adoration to God through
1) love for Him which spontaneously arises in our heart
2) the use of scripture
3) noticing the glory of what God has made in nature.
O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!
adoration
prayer
praise
One of my favorite Christmas carols
is “O Holy Night.” I love the lyrics
“fall on your knees, O hear the angel’s
voices, O night divine, O night, when
Christ was born.” Last Christmas I
wanted to put this song on my blog so
I listened to all the versions of it
available on-line. Pavaratti’s verson
was magnificent. Another’s version was
homey. Still another version was inspiring,
and another’s sweet. But none captured what
I was looking for: one full of adoration.
Adoration like the magi might have had, or
Mary looking down at her new-born Baby.
Adoration at seeing the Heavenly Son of
God take on the humility of human flesh
and come to earth.
Adoration is a holy word, or should be.
One set aside for God alone. There are
two great passages of adoration that come
immediately to mind : one a microcosm, one
a macrocosm.
The macrocosm of adoration is this :
“After this I beheld, and, lo, a great
multitude, which no man could number, of
all nations, and kindreds, and people,
and tongues, stood before the throne,
and before the Lamb, clothed with white
robes, and palms in their hands; 10 And
cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation
to our God which sitteth upon the throne,
and unto the Lamb. 11 And all the angels
stood round about the throne, and about
the elders and the four beasts, and fell
before the throne on their faces, and
worshipped God, 12 Saying, Amen: Blessing,
and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving,
and honour, and power, and might, be unto
our God for ever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 7: 9-12).
Here are angels, mankind, elders and beasts
adoring God together. Here is the adoration’s
destiny and completeness!
The microcosm of adoration is this:
And she stood at his feet behind him weeping,
and began to wash his feet with tears, and did
wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed
his feet, and anointed them with the ointment
(Luke 7:38).
A simple definition of “adoration” is telling
God much how much we love Him. But that
“telling” is not really about words, it is
an inward action of the heart toward God:
a noticing and a heartfelt, heartful
acknowledgement of something that we inwardly
and gratefully experience of God’s nature and
character. It is not just a compliment
thrown in God’s direction or a little “thank you”
but it is something that opens our
heart and causes it to flow unreservedly toward God.
In the woman’s case in Luke’s gospel, tears flowed
out bringing forth the adoration that was in her
heart. It was not just the outward act that was
the adoration; it was an inward opening of heart
that caused the outward act to
have its power.
In true adoration inward feeling seeks expression
in outward manifestation, thus, when one truly
adores God, it may often lead to raising one hands,
falling on one knees, bowing, prostrating oneself,
and other offered acts of love born out of praise
for God’s good nature and bounty toward
the sons and daughters of men. Adoration is a
self-abasement before our Good, Holy, and
Incomparable God. It acknowledges happily:
“There is no-one like Him!” What can we do
but fall down and adore?
Jesus said, “They that worship the Father must
worship Him in Spirit and in truth” (John 4:24)
and the first commandment implores us to Love
(adore) God, with all our mind, soul and
strength (Deut 6: 5). Adoration is spiritual,
it is true, it is wholehearted and whole-bodied.
It is something like an inward hill melting like
wax at the Presence of the Lord. It is not something
that can be faked, but it is something that can be
cultivated.
How can shall we then cultivate it ?
The first thing we can do is bring ourselves to
an inward awareness of our Lord.
Our thoughts are often distracted, but if we take
a few deep breaths and inwardly put our
attention upon Christ, we will soon be aware
of His absolute beauty and loveliness.
Even if we feel distracted we can call out to Him
gently, “Lord Jesus, I adore all that You are!”
The Lord loves His children to express their love
and adoration to Him. He loves to love them back!
Perhaps we can use a bit of scripture to help us
adore Him:
“Ps 84:2 My soul longed and even yearned for
the courts of the Lord; My heart and my flesh
sing for joy to the living God.”
Ps 87:7 "All my springs of joy are in you."
Take the scripture and pray it simply toward God.
Or perhaps we can look at nature and see the mystery,
awe and wonder of who He is reflected there.
I am a photographer and often get “god-smacked’ when
I get behind the lens of a camera and frame something
of God’s wonder in the world. This is not God, is but
a mere reflection of Him, a mere work of His hands,
what must the Real One be like?
See if you can focus all of your sweet inward feelings
toward God into a few words that you can offer to Him
in adoration. You do not want to be too wordy, you want
rather to express that which lays deepest in your heart.
Sit with those feelings of adoration and they will bring
you quickly to the throne of God.
Keeping a soft heart and practicing an awareness of God
will help greatly. Turn toward Him for He is ever near,
and ever worthy of our adoration.
Think of a time when you have experienced adoration
toward God? What brought it about?
How did it affect you?
As an exercise let us offer adoration to God through
1) love for Him which spontaneously arises in our heart
2) the use of scripture
3) noticing the glory of what God has made in nature.
O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!
adoration
prayer
praise
The Prayers of Children, the Glory of Morning
(prayers by second graders in Ohio
no wonder children are special to God)
I am a Gift from God.
I am full of Happiness.
Angels are Beautiful.
We love Miracles.
God has Wisdom.
God is the Holy Lord.
Jesus loves us always.
Jesus Loves everyone of us.
We Believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
We have Faith in our family, and they have faith in us.
Please let us have Patience, Holy Spirit.
God, help us to be nice.
God, help us to Protect the poor.
God, we Wish to be good friends and good neighbors.
Holy Spirit, watch over the homeless and the sick.
God and Jesus, Bless us.
God, Have Mercy on us.
Thank you God, for Forgiveness.
photo of morning glories taken in
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado Springs, Colorado
prayer
prayers of children
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
If you are a Christian, you can expect folks
to criticize you, but you ought to live so
nobody will believe them.
- Anonymous
photo taken at Painted Mines, Calhan, Colorado
(right click on the image and open in larger window
to enjoy!)
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Calhan, Colorado
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