Prov 31:26-28
She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness.
She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up and call her blessed;
NKJV
Thursday, June 26, 2008
The Seed
As I was sitting here this morning, I got a phone call that a girl in our church just had her baby. As I praised God for her, I began to reflect on Abigail and her first birthday just passing and how life and creation is just amazing and wonderful to me.
He said, "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children." Prior to their separation from God, it appears that the birth of every human child was going to be an extraordinary celebration of significance and joy. Each new human was to be built within the body of the woman, fashioned by God's design that she carried within. I am in awe that God our Creator, chose for women to retain the power of life. And although it was originally given to her, that power was compromised. Even though Eve sold her birthright so to speak, God has never removed this power of life. We as women, still carry the Seed.
Women want in. They want into the heart of the matter, into the decision making, into the conversation. This is from God. For as a man's helpmate, she was designed to be involved, valued, and cherished. Eve's desire ruled over her will to obey God. But God promised that the situation would not remain this way forever. There is the promise of redemption. Eve was built to help Adam accomplish the will of God. God said that the child built within the body of a woman would destroy the works and power of Satan's dominion. When I read this, I believe that it was the first prophecy of a coming Messiah, the Seed of the woman, who would restore all things. What Jesus did with the samaritan woman, He wants to do with all of God's daughters. He wants to restore their voices. The daughter of a lion is also a lion.
He said, "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children." Prior to their separation from God, it appears that the birth of every human child was going to be an extraordinary celebration of significance and joy. Each new human was to be built within the body of the woman, fashioned by God's design that she carried within. I am in awe that God our Creator, chose for women to retain the power of life. And although it was originally given to her, that power was compromised. Even though Eve sold her birthright so to speak, God has never removed this power of life. We as women, still carry the Seed.
Women want in. They want into the heart of the matter, into the decision making, into the conversation. This is from God. For as a man's helpmate, she was designed to be involved, valued, and cherished. Eve's desire ruled over her will to obey God. But God promised that the situation would not remain this way forever. There is the promise of redemption. Eve was built to help Adam accomplish the will of God. God said that the child built within the body of a woman would destroy the works and power of Satan's dominion. When I read this, I believe that it was the first prophecy of a coming Messiah, the Seed of the woman, who would restore all things. What Jesus did with the samaritan woman, He wants to do with all of God's daughters. He wants to restore their voices. The daughter of a lion is also a lion.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
The Artist
For the last week and a half, we have been on our very first family vacation. We decided to go to Tennessee to visit Uncle Frank and Aunt Peggy. They have never had the opportunity to meet Miss Abigail. As a matter of fact, last time we spent time with them, she was still in my belly. We just had the most wonderful time with them and we are so thankful to God for their generosity and love. I have never met such giving people and we love them so much. On Thursday, we took a drive out to an orchard that belonged to a man that Uncle Frank knew so that we could pick some sour cherries off the trees and make pie. I know that personally, I was awestruck by the LORD's hand that day. HE is truly the artist, a master painter and creator. He is GOD and I am not, and I realized that more than ever as we drove up the drive and saw the orchard, the house, trees, and grapevines that HE had given to this man's care. Everything was so natural and beautiful.
I was excited for Abigail as she had her first experience of eating an apple right off the tree that she hand picked for herself. She ate some cherries too. She sat in the shade under the cherry trees as we picked and ate, and all for free. We could not have prayed and asked for a nicer day, or to spend it any other way with anyone else. It was perfect. I am just in awe of my Jesus.
Monday, June 9, 2008
How To Pray
You ask me what this voice of the heart is. It is love which is the voice of the heart. Love God and you will always be speaking to Him. The seed of love is growth in prayer. If you do not understand that, then you have neither loved or prayed. Ask God to open your heart and kindle in it a spark of His love and then you will begin to understand what praying means.
If it is the heart that prays, it is evident that sometimes, and even continuously, it can pray by itself without any help from words, spoken or conceived. Here is something in which few people understand and which some even entirely deny. They insist that there must be definite and formal acts. They are mistaken, and God has not yet taught them how the heart prays. It is true that the thoughts are formed in the mind before they are clothed in words. The proof of this, is that we often search for the right word and reject one after another until we find the right one which expresses our thoughts accurately. We need words to make ourselves intelligible to other people, but not to the Spirit. It is the same with the feelings of the heart. The heart conceives feelings and adopts them without any need of resorting to words, unless it wishes to communicate to others or to make them clear to itself.
For God reads the secrets of the heart. God reads it's most intimate feelings, even those which we are not aware of. It is not necessary to make use of formal acts to make ourselves heard by God. If we do not make use of them in prayer, it is not so much for God's sake as our own, in that they keep our attention fixed on Him in His presence.
Imagine a soul so closely united to God that it has no need for outward acts to remain attentive to the inward prayer. In these moments of silence and peace, when it pays no heed to what is happening within itself, it prays and prays excellently with a simple and direct prayer that God will understand perfectly by the action of grace. The heart will be full of aspirations towards God without any other clear expression. Though they may elude our own consciousness, it will not escape the consciousness of God.
This prayer, so empty of all images and perceptions...apparently so passive and yet so active, is as far as the limitations of this life allow-pure adoration in spirit and in truth. It is adoration fully and worthy of God in which the soul is united to Him as it's ground, the created intelligence to the uncreated, without anything but very simple attention to the mind and as equally simple application of the will. This is what is called the prayer of silence, or of quiet, or bare faith.
Written by: Jean Nicholas Grou - "How To Pray"
If it is the heart that prays, it is evident that sometimes, and even continuously, it can pray by itself without any help from words, spoken or conceived. Here is something in which few people understand and which some even entirely deny. They insist that there must be definite and formal acts. They are mistaken, and God has not yet taught them how the heart prays. It is true that the thoughts are formed in the mind before they are clothed in words. The proof of this, is that we often search for the right word and reject one after another until we find the right one which expresses our thoughts accurately. We need words to make ourselves intelligible to other people, but not to the Spirit. It is the same with the feelings of the heart. The heart conceives feelings and adopts them without any need of resorting to words, unless it wishes to communicate to others or to make them clear to itself.
For God reads the secrets of the heart. God reads it's most intimate feelings, even those which we are not aware of. It is not necessary to make use of formal acts to make ourselves heard by God. If we do not make use of them in prayer, it is not so much for God's sake as our own, in that they keep our attention fixed on Him in His presence.
Imagine a soul so closely united to God that it has no need for outward acts to remain attentive to the inward prayer. In these moments of silence and peace, when it pays no heed to what is happening within itself, it prays and prays excellently with a simple and direct prayer that God will understand perfectly by the action of grace. The heart will be full of aspirations towards God without any other clear expression. Though they may elude our own consciousness, it will not escape the consciousness of God.
This prayer, so empty of all images and perceptions...apparently so passive and yet so active, is as far as the limitations of this life allow-pure adoration in spirit and in truth. It is adoration fully and worthy of God in which the soul is united to Him as it's ground, the created intelligence to the uncreated, without anything but very simple attention to the mind and as equally simple application of the will. This is what is called the prayer of silence, or of quiet, or bare faith.
Written by: Jean Nicholas Grou - "How To Pray"
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Balance
Main Entry: BalancePart of Speech: adjective
Definition: A stable, calm state of the emotions. The composition or placement of elements of design, as figures, forms, or colors, in such a manner as to produce an aesthetically pleasing or harmoniously intergrated whole. Mental steadiness, habits of calm behavior, judgment, etc.
Synonyms:
aplomb, collectedness, composure, coolness, equanimity, imperturbability, imperturbableness, nonchalance, poise, sang-froid, self-possession, unflappabilitycompensative, compensatory, equalized, equanimous, equilibrant, equipollent, equiponderant, harmonious, isonomic, libratory, neutralized, stabilized
A Confession
Sometimes I scroll through various blogs because I like to be inspired by other people's creativity. This morning, I stumbled across something that delighted me. In fact, I thought it to be completely profound. It was this statement: " Stop defining yourself by your most recent mistake. Don't be defined by your words, and let your words be few."
It made me ask myself the question: How many times a day, do I repent for something I said or thought, and then refuse to let go what God has forgotten?
I believe it is difficult for our finite, human minds to comprehend how God can forgive us, especially when we rarely have the capacity to fully love as He does unconditionally. Because of sin, we have conditions. Those conditions build walls instead of tearing them down. Jesus didn't come to earth build walls, but to build relationships.
What is one truth about Jesus that is hardest for you to comprehend? How do you think you would react or feel if you were able to understand everything about Him?
Today, I am confessing my doubts that I have harbored and the resistance I have felt towards God's unknowable nature.
If you are one of those people who defines yourself by your mistakes, remember that you can be restored, or established for the first time. No matter what we've done in the past, it cannot keep us from God once we seek His redemption. It can't even disqualify us from ministering in His wonderful name. Amen.
It made me ask myself the question: How many times a day, do I repent for something I said or thought, and then refuse to let go what God has forgotten?
I believe it is difficult for our finite, human minds to comprehend how God can forgive us, especially when we rarely have the capacity to fully love as He does unconditionally. Because of sin, we have conditions. Those conditions build walls instead of tearing them down. Jesus didn't come to earth build walls, but to build relationships.
What is one truth about Jesus that is hardest for you to comprehend? How do you think you would react or feel if you were able to understand everything about Him?
Today, I am confessing my doubts that I have harbored and the resistance I have felt towards God's unknowable nature.
If you are one of those people who defines yourself by your mistakes, remember that you can be restored, or established for the first time. No matter what we've done in the past, it cannot keep us from God once we seek His redemption. It can't even disqualify us from ministering in His wonderful name. Amen.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Hands
If I could tell the world just one thing, it would be that we're all okay. And not to worry, cause worry is wasteful and useless in times like these. I won't be made useless, I wont be idled with despair. I will gather myself around my faith, for light does the darkness most fear. My hands are small I know, but they're not yours, they are my own and I am never broken.Poverty stole my golden shoes, but it didn't steal my laughter. And heartache came to visit me, but I knew it wasnt ever after. We'll fight, but not out of spite; for someone must stand up for what's right, cause where there's a man who has no voice, there I shall go singing.
My hands are small I know, but they're not yours, they are my own and I am never broken.
In the end, only kindness matters. In the end only kindness matters. I will get down on my knees and I will pray. I will get down on my knees and I will pray. We are God's eyes, God's hands, God's mind, We are God's eyes, God's hands, God's heart, We are God's eyes, God's hands, God's eyes, God's hands, God's hands.
The Critical Spirit
"Instead, we will lovingly follow the truth at all times—speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly—and so become more and more in every way like Christ."
Have you ever encountered a person that just feels that they are an expert at evaluating others? They strive to seek people out and give an opinion, whether it is welcomed or not. In this post, I am going to answer some of my own questions about what it means to have a critical spirit and the way it affects others. I guess that we never really know just how we look through other people's eyes unless they choose to tell us. But the truth still remains, that we can always be sure of how we look in the eyes of our Father. If the church is the body of Christ and He fills the body, then it would be correct to say that He also directs the body in it's movements, inspires it's wisdom, and supplies it's strength. He guides the body into truth, sanctifies it, and then empowers it for witnessing. Because this is the truth, the church that is managed by men alone instead of governed by God, is surely doomed to failure.
A ministry that is college-trained, but not spirit-filled cannot work miracles. The church that adds more and more committees and activities , but neglects prayer might be large in attendance and noise, but it labors in vain and spends all of it's strength resulting in nothing. The real work of a church depends on the power of the Spirit. The presence of the Holy Spirit is vital and central to the work of the church. This same Spirit that I know, moves outside and beyond the church's set aside time for service and ignores the clock. My Bible tells me that apart from Him, wisdom becomes folly, and our own strengths become weakness. The church is called to be a "spiritual house" and an example of Christ-likeness.
Miracles are the direct work of His power, and without miracles the church cannot live. My carnal mind has argued with the subject of miracles for years, but it is the Spirit of God that convicts. Education can make people civilized, but it is being born of the Spirit that saves us. The energy of our flesh can run a rummage sale, organize a dinner, and raise money for a cause; but it is the presence of the Holy Spirit that makes the church the temple of the Living God.
Over the past few weeks, I have encountered so many people that have more faith in the world than they do in the Holy Spirit. That critical spirit is choking the life out of our church, and what I am praying for tonight, is that we get back to His realized presence and power. I am longing to see the breath of God turn death into life and turn our dry bones into mighty armies. And by faith, I know He will.
Have you ever encountered a person that just feels that they are an expert at evaluating others? They strive to seek people out and give an opinion, whether it is welcomed or not. In this post, I am going to answer some of my own questions about what it means to have a critical spirit and the way it affects others. I guess that we never really know just how we look through other people's eyes unless they choose to tell us. But the truth still remains, that we can always be sure of how we look in the eyes of our Father. If the church is the body of Christ and He fills the body, then it would be correct to say that He also directs the body in it's movements, inspires it's wisdom, and supplies it's strength. He guides the body into truth, sanctifies it, and then empowers it for witnessing. Because this is the truth, the church that is managed by men alone instead of governed by God, is surely doomed to failure.
A ministry that is college-trained, but not spirit-filled cannot work miracles. The church that adds more and more committees and activities , but neglects prayer might be large in attendance and noise, but it labors in vain and spends all of it's strength resulting in nothing. The real work of a church depends on the power of the Spirit. The presence of the Holy Spirit is vital and central to the work of the church. This same Spirit that I know, moves outside and beyond the church's set aside time for service and ignores the clock. My Bible tells me that apart from Him, wisdom becomes folly, and our own strengths become weakness. The church is called to be a "spiritual house" and an example of Christ-likeness.
Miracles are the direct work of His power, and without miracles the church cannot live. My carnal mind has argued with the subject of miracles for years, but it is the Spirit of God that convicts. Education can make people civilized, but it is being born of the Spirit that saves us. The energy of our flesh can run a rummage sale, organize a dinner, and raise money for a cause; but it is the presence of the Holy Spirit that makes the church the temple of the Living God.
Over the past few weeks, I have encountered so many people that have more faith in the world than they do in the Holy Spirit. That critical spirit is choking the life out of our church, and what I am praying for tonight, is that we get back to His realized presence and power. I am longing to see the breath of God turn death into life and turn our dry bones into mighty armies. And by faith, I know He will.
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