...to learn you haven't got it all figured out and that there is an unceasing need for the understanding of the Lord.
Proverbs 3:5-6
"Trust in the Lord with all your hear and lean not on your own understanding. In all of your ways, acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight."
I'm learning that we shouldn't lean on our own understanding in any facet of this earthly existence. I assumed I knew a lot about the heart of God and have been easily drawn into the clamour of the crowd. I am so eager to participate on one side or the other in a picket-sign contest. God is showing me that I need to slow down and seek his understanding before I go running out into the world to participate in the world's debates. Without building my foundation on the rock, my faith will be nothing more than shifting sand. I am acknowledging Jesus and leaning not on my own understanding. I trust that He will make the paths straight.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
You can never be a Christian long enough...(part 3)
...to stop realizing you don't know everything. Praise Jesus :)
I must essentially renounce possessions of all kinds, not for salvation (for only one thing saves a person and that is absolute reliance in faith upon Jesus Christ), but to follow Jesus. ". . . come. . . and follow Me." And the road is the way He went.
That paragraph came from this morning's Oswald Chambers devotional. If there's anything being married can teach, it is that my perspective is not the only perspective to be had on everything. It's amazing how critical and unappreciative we can become of the person we have vowed to love, honor and cherish for the rest of our lives. When this criticism and unappreciative nature is confronted by the Holy Spirit (through whatever means He chooses), my natural reaction tends to be..."Yeah, but..." Insert redirectional clause here. Now this applies to everyone in every fascet of life. For example, I can be pretty judgemental of people, groups, and events that I hear about on the news. But Jesus comes right back with the Spirit saying, "You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." (Matthew 7:5)
Jesus wants me to follow Him and Jesus did not set an example for us to follow so that we could be judgemental, overbearing and insensitive people. I'm not saying that sin isn't wrong. I'm also not saying that there isn't a place for godly-correction. But as the Scripture says, we must be right with God before we can begin to confront another. Also, if we are right with God then we will confront the other person IN LOVE, not in judgement. It also means that we don't have to confront people on every little thing. For example, taking up someone's offense when they haven't been offended. Sometimes people I know may do or say things that, in my mind (for whatever that's worth), may offend others. In the flesh, I may pull the 'offender' aside and say,"You offended that person...go and apologize." That may be true and it also may not be true. The point is that I should pray long and hard before trying to be the Holy Spirit in someone else's life. The Lord may give us a word for them, or He may be trying to teach US something. The point is we should be quick to listen and slow to speak. In some ways behaving this way strikes me as a lack of trust in God to speak to His children, as if I could say it any better.
I love how Oswald Chambers talks about surrendering every possession or aspect of our lives. We don't need to do this for salvation, but we DO need to do this in order to follow Jesus. I guess one of the possessions I'm needing to surrender is my overbearing, correctional attitude. God is God and I am not. I am crucified with Christ, therefore I know longer live. (Galations 2:20) Therefore, the least frustrating existence to strive for would be one in which I pursue Him while carrying nothing else. God Himself will provide whatever is needed (Genesis 22:8 sort of and 1 Peter 4:11), both in our own lives and in the lives of His children around us.
I must essentially renounce possessions of all kinds, not for salvation (for only one thing saves a person and that is absolute reliance in faith upon Jesus Christ), but to follow Jesus. ". . . come. . . and follow Me." And the road is the way He went.
That paragraph came from this morning's Oswald Chambers devotional. If there's anything being married can teach, it is that my perspective is not the only perspective to be had on everything. It's amazing how critical and unappreciative we can become of the person we have vowed to love, honor and cherish for the rest of our lives. When this criticism and unappreciative nature is confronted by the Holy Spirit (through whatever means He chooses), my natural reaction tends to be..."Yeah, but..." Insert redirectional clause here. Now this applies to everyone in every fascet of life. For example, I can be pretty judgemental of people, groups, and events that I hear about on the news. But Jesus comes right back with the Spirit saying, "You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." (Matthew 7:5)
Jesus wants me to follow Him and Jesus did not set an example for us to follow so that we could be judgemental, overbearing and insensitive people. I'm not saying that sin isn't wrong. I'm also not saying that there isn't a place for godly-correction. But as the Scripture says, we must be right with God before we can begin to confront another. Also, if we are right with God then we will confront the other person IN LOVE, not in judgement. It also means that we don't have to confront people on every little thing. For example, taking up someone's offense when they haven't been offended. Sometimes people I know may do or say things that, in my mind (for whatever that's worth), may offend others. In the flesh, I may pull the 'offender' aside and say,"You offended that person...go and apologize." That may be true and it also may not be true. The point is that I should pray long and hard before trying to be the Holy Spirit in someone else's life. The Lord may give us a word for them, or He may be trying to teach US something. The point is we should be quick to listen and slow to speak. In some ways behaving this way strikes me as a lack of trust in God to speak to His children, as if I could say it any better.
I love how Oswald Chambers talks about surrendering every possession or aspect of our lives. We don't need to do this for salvation, but we DO need to do this in order to follow Jesus. I guess one of the possessions I'm needing to surrender is my overbearing, correctional attitude. God is God and I am not. I am crucified with Christ, therefore I know longer live. (Galations 2:20) Therefore, the least frustrating existence to strive for would be one in which I pursue Him while carrying nothing else. God Himself will provide whatever is needed (Genesis 22:8 sort of and 1 Peter 4:11), both in our own lives and in the lives of His children around us.
Friday, September 22, 2006
Prophet, Priest and King
Master, Teacher, and Lord...the names that could be used to describe Christ are bountiful. (I like the word bountiful...so I use it when I can. :) ) I just heard this song say that this is the Judge that ends the strife where wit and reason fail. The deeper I plunge (figuratively) into knowing Christ the more I realize a paradox. The more I learn about who I am in Christ, the more I learn about Christ. The more I know about my identity in Christ, the more I want to know Him. This isn't a search to find myself, but a search to find myself in Him. In order to be found in Him, I need to be conformed to Him. In order to be conformed to Him, I must know Him and obey Him. Who I truly am, can only be found in learning who He truly is for I can only be found in Him. Romans 6 is awesome stuff.
When we were born, we were born with a flesh-man and a spirit-man. The flesh-man is cursed because of the fall of man. The spirit-man is chained and a slave to the flesh-man. Then Christ died and all who believe die with Him. The spirit-man identifies with the death of Christ and dies to the flesh. The chains that bound the spirit-man can no longer hold the spirit-man because the spirit-man has died and is now with Christ. However, just as Christ rose from the dead, so does our spirit-man after being identified or 'crucified with Christ'. The spirit-man has risen back to life in us and is no longer bound to conform to the flesh-man. The spirit-man is now bound to Christ.
Oh how I want to know Him.
When we were born, we were born with a flesh-man and a spirit-man. The flesh-man is cursed because of the fall of man. The spirit-man is chained and a slave to the flesh-man. Then Christ died and all who believe die with Him. The spirit-man identifies with the death of Christ and dies to the flesh. The chains that bound the spirit-man can no longer hold the spirit-man because the spirit-man has died and is now with Christ. However, just as Christ rose from the dead, so does our spirit-man after being identified or 'crucified with Christ'. The spirit-man has risen back to life in us and is no longer bound to conform to the flesh-man. The spirit-man is now bound to Christ.
Oh how I want to know Him.
Monday, September 18, 2006
You can never be a Christian too long... (Part 1)
...to have a life-changing experience.
This last weekend was spent at a Men's Retreat learning more about Jesus and at a friend's church seeing how awesome Jesus has been in my friend's life. Brad Knueven got baptised and I got to hear some basic truths about the Christian's identity in Christ from an evangelist named John Hobbs (I think it's Hobbs).
John spoke on the subject of the identity of the flesh-man vs the spirit-man. (you can interchange man with woman in that statement of course) Using Scripture from all over the word (starting with Proverbs 3:5-6), John reminded us that we have been crucified with Christ, therefore we no longer live, but Christ lives in us (the spirit-man). Our destiny is not to be flesh-people trying to have a spiritual experience, but spiritual people surviving in a human experience. There is so much detail to this story that I can't give it justice but I walked away with an understanding of how I can know Jesus more, release people of expectations (because expectations 'can' be a form of bondage for ourselves and those we place the expectations on) and the need to wait on God. Our spirit-man needs to wait on God in order to be fed. If the spirit-man is not fed, the flesh-man will take over, but if the spirit-man is fed then the spirit-man (under the Lordship of Jesus) will rule. If anyone wants to know more about it, just let me know and I can even look at getting you the cds. Lifechanging truth.
The visit to Buckhead was spectacular as well. I was so tired from the trip there that I thought I would have a hard time enjoying the visit. However, once we arrived, Brad and all of his friends at Buckhead didn't fail to show us the love and friendliness of Christ. People there are passionate about Jesus and it was so refreshing to meet so many people who were passionate about our Savior. Brad's baptism was great and another chapter in Brad's amazing story of God's redeeming grace in Jesus. As if all that wasn't enough, a man preached a paradigm-shifting message on the reality of Heaven. Heaven isn't a bunch of floating cloads, or us sitting around playing harps all day. However, in Scripture (both the Old and New Testament) God speaks of creating a new heaven and a new earth. (The greek here basically means a new 'universe' including a new 'earth'.) The ramifications of this truth is comes down to how through this truth, Heaven is relevant to our every day life.
Check it out here at Buckhead's site: http://www.buckheadchurch.org/messages
The sermon is entitled 'Heaven or Bust: Part 1'. It's not very long but it is so, so good. Praise Jesus.
This last weekend was spent at a Men's Retreat learning more about Jesus and at a friend's church seeing how awesome Jesus has been in my friend's life. Brad Knueven got baptised and I got to hear some basic truths about the Christian's identity in Christ from an evangelist named John Hobbs (I think it's Hobbs).
John spoke on the subject of the identity of the flesh-man vs the spirit-man. (you can interchange man with woman in that statement of course) Using Scripture from all over the word (starting with Proverbs 3:5-6), John reminded us that we have been crucified with Christ, therefore we no longer live, but Christ lives in us (the spirit-man). Our destiny is not to be flesh-people trying to have a spiritual experience, but spiritual people surviving in a human experience. There is so much detail to this story that I can't give it justice but I walked away with an understanding of how I can know Jesus more, release people of expectations (because expectations 'can' be a form of bondage for ourselves and those we place the expectations on) and the need to wait on God. Our spirit-man needs to wait on God in order to be fed. If the spirit-man is not fed, the flesh-man will take over, but if the spirit-man is fed then the spirit-man (under the Lordship of Jesus) will rule. If anyone wants to know more about it, just let me know and I can even look at getting you the cds. Lifechanging truth.
The visit to Buckhead was spectacular as well. I was so tired from the trip there that I thought I would have a hard time enjoying the visit. However, once we arrived, Brad and all of his friends at Buckhead didn't fail to show us the love and friendliness of Christ. People there are passionate about Jesus and it was so refreshing to meet so many people who were passionate about our Savior. Brad's baptism was great and another chapter in Brad's amazing story of God's redeeming grace in Jesus. As if all that wasn't enough, a man preached a paradigm-shifting message on the reality of Heaven. Heaven isn't a bunch of floating cloads, or us sitting around playing harps all day. However, in Scripture (both the Old and New Testament) God speaks of creating a new heaven and a new earth. (The greek here basically means a new 'universe' including a new 'earth'.) The ramifications of this truth is comes down to how through this truth, Heaven is relevant to our every day life.
Check it out here at Buckhead's site: http://www.buckheadchurch.org/messages
The sermon is entitled 'Heaven or Bust: Part 1'. It's not very long but it is so, so good. Praise Jesus.
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