“The Lord cannot fully bless a man until He has first conquered him.” —The call to nearness enables the resistance of worldly temptation.” A.W. Tozer We surrender when conquered, we yield when broken, we capitulate when exhausted; we “cease from our own works.” Ironically, a faith begins here, and also a hope, and also love. As the project stalemates we find contentment with the Project Manager. His presence defines our new beginning; He-in-us becomes hope-of-glory. His nature in us describes love. Oddly enough, finding Him and losing me arrive simultaneously. My dreams dash, my visions smash, my passivity or enterprise collapses and burns. Will breaks now, resolve buries, conscience bears hampering, and emotions buck comfort. Rational explanations hide, we concede. As children we wrestled with my Dad for fun. He would pin us down and cry out, “give up?” We would squirm only to be pinned again. “Give up?” Finally, we got tired, pinned the last time;…
Healing at the Cross Posts
Keep thyself pure, Exercise free volition, Keep thyself in the fear of the Lord all the day long. These are three, first being: “Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.” Titus 1:15 A Pure heart produces Charity, faith, and a good conscience, from 1 Timothy 1:5 — Purifies from unlove, unfaith, bad conscience. The Pure in heart see God and think on pure things. Paul served with a pure conscience. Pure hearts hold righteousness, faith, charity and peace; find wisdom, purify themselves by obeying the truth through the Spirit. (All taken from Bible truths). There was a servant in Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar’s house who used to do all the household chores. Vidyasagar always showed him affection and treated him like his family members. One day, when Vidyasagar was descending the stairs of his house, he saw…
“We stumbled on in the darkness, over big stones and through large puddles, along the one road leading from the camp. The accompanying guards kept shouting at us and driving us with the butts of their rifles. Anyone with very sore feet supported himself on his neighbor’s arm. Hardly a word was spoken; the icy wind did not encourage talk. Hiding his mouth behind his upturned collar, the man marching next to me whispered suddenly: “If our wives could see us now! I do hope they are better off in their camps and don’t know what is happening to us.” “That brought thoughts of my own wife to mind. And as we stumbled on for miles, slipping on icy spots, supporting each other time and again, dragging one another up and onward, nothing was said, but we both knew: each of us was thinking of his wife. Occasionally I looked…
When a balloon bursts it lays flat but first it shoots as a rocket. Air escaping propels it horizontally till finally the balloon lays dead. Shape, buoyancy and bright color gone; a major tear shows apparent. Air will never re-inflate this bag of latex again. Is this a valid life-metaphor? A sharp pointed devise does the bursting. A harsh word? — Derogatory remark? — Evil report or unwanted news? Our hearts grimace, but not air-borne — rather toward people, circumstances, any avenue to blame or receive consolation. “Help, I’m going down quickly.” “People with broken hearts have one thing in common—having expectations of other people. Having expectations of how someone else is supposed to act, feel, think, speak and behave. If you never want to experience a broken heart, eliminate all expectations from your relationships.”” Norrington… Truth, but a stoic existence is healing? — where’s the hope? “Part of the pain of a…
We must review what Job said toward the end of his quandary and inner alteration. In Job 42:5, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye sees thee.” Also in Job 42:6, “Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Job’s faculty for discerning God shifted from ear to eye. …but wait, this new “sharpening of insight,” caused Job to hate himself? Apparently the shift of insight made him see drastically clearer, awakening a new awe of God, but deepening shame-awareness? But, what new thing did Job see in God? To explain, here is a quote from our founder, Pastor Stevens; “God is ontological. Very simply, this means that God has always been everything He is and ever will be. Even before He created the angels and the human race, God was who He is now and who…
You are the object of His concern. Cast all distracting, parting, disuniting, differing and soliciting care on Him. Cast out fear, with perfect love. Cast off the unfruitful works of darkness, put on the armor of light. Cast out the bondwoman. Cast down imaginations and high things for these exalt themselves against His person. Don’t cast away your confidence; …it has great recompense of reward. With patience the promise will come. A man must inventory his soul. He must shepherd his spirit. He must identify things such as emotions, fears, anxiety, and distractions, which carry him away captive. Then, bring it all back to Christ alone, “The Finisher of all works of peace — (liberty, unity, brotherly love and faith rest). But you say,”I can’t! What’s happening? I’ve lost my authority,” Cast those thoughts down! “It doesn’t seem to work.” — Cast that thought down! “I’m overwhelmed by…
Martha received him into her house. Sister, Mary, sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. Martha was dragged about with much serving. Martha said, “Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.” Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art anxious and disturbed about many things (needy). But one thing will supply the need: Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Luke 10:37- Sisters fighting? No, pictured are 2 kingdoms at war. A highly motivated agenda vs. A highly relaxed “it is finished” positioning. Anxiety-fueled unsettledness vs. rest-filled right-mindedness. Disturbed resentment vs prioritized excellence. slavish pose vs friendly exchange superficial honoring vs. heart honor Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself,…
“But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” James 1:4 I’ve noticed three different kinds of trials which could describe the work of perfecting Inconvenience: The broke down car-it eventually gets fixed. Disappointment: The car that just doesn’t repair — never gets fixed. Disillusionment: the car accident that is from hell.-I never want to drive again. All trials challenge every ounce of faith. They destroy natural faith. “Let patience have her perfect work.” “Let your patience endure that you may be stable, mature, and complete when I speak to you, with no defects in your capacity to listen.”Dr. Carl Stevens “Our patience, as it endures, will always bring forth a vision.” Stevens Isaiah 35:7 is an illustration of what God will do for us in the valley: “I will take the parched ground and make it a pool.” Dr.Carl…
“Amor fati” fellow fanatics, “amor fati!” translated “The love of fate.” “It is foolishness to oppose a tendency which is obviously a law of history and to take countermeasures against a trend which is a natural law.” Nietzsche. Really? Does history itself have a personality, does it have a mind? Is that raucous tide able to bend or yield? Where goes it? What are its ends? Can we change history? The fatalists emphatically say “no.” Apparently “history,” the person, is not like the redeemed saints who realize God’s image. The will of the lover of fate is already determined and cannot change. Therefore worshipers at this altar cannot stop the inevitable. They just “go with the flow.”– Whether death or life. What the historo-gods rule, they carry out through forced will. The Christian perspective is in diametric opposition to these ideas. We say indeed, history, (His story), will take a certain…
On this day 12 years ago our son Joshua went to heaven. Now, what do we want? To see him again soon. You lit up our lives for a short 25 years and we miss you today, Josh, and the wait seems long; but eternity is longer. Can’t wait! St. Augustine says: He that loveth little, prayeth little; he that loveth much, prayeth much. What do you want? Surprisingly we rarely visit this thought. What do I need, what can I eat, what do I need to do and what does God want, are questions more common. Christians say, “I lost my vision when things didn’t work out and now I am just meandering.” “What do you want?” When I dutifully focus on my Savior. He says “what do you want?” Some folks in the Bible got healed because when Jesus asked them “what do you want?” —they had an answer.…