From Psalm 19
1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
3 They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
4 Yet their voice[b] goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
14 May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Can we change the future?
I am intrigued by a phenomena I can’t get my mind around:
My brother in law and his wife recently had their first child. You have to understand the great lengths that they went through for this to happen. After months (maybe years) of trying very hard, they almost gave up. But they decided to try a very expensive procedure of invetro fertilization. 15 or 30 thousand dollars later, they now hold Abigail in their arms.
Was Abigail planned by God since the beginning of time? Did he know her by name? What if Nate and Becca didn’t do invetro fertilization? Did their effort make a difference on who will literally be around for all of eternity? It seems so.
God is sovereign, certainly, over who will be born. But he has somehow given us the mind-boggling ability to procreate, or not procreate! Certainly, he gives us desires that should lead to multiplication. But it is possible to use contraceptives to the degree that no children are born, even though this is contrary to what he has willed in us.
If this is true in the natural sense, isn’t it also possible in the spiritual sense? He works in us to will to produce spiritual fruit, leading to spiritual multiplication. This is the natural tendency. But somehow, mysteriously, he also seems to have ceded over to us the choice to be involved in the Work, or to live selfish lives. Will we, or can we, spiritually procreate? Will others be in heaven, or not be in heaven, due to us? God forbid that he would give us that substantial of an impact. Unfortunately, though, it appears that he has. What are the implications for my neighbors? I am just wondering….
My brother in law and his wife recently had their first child. You have to understand the great lengths that they went through for this to happen. After months (maybe years) of trying very hard, they almost gave up. But they decided to try a very expensive procedure of invetro fertilization. 15 or 30 thousand dollars later, they now hold Abigail in their arms.
Was Abigail planned by God since the beginning of time? Did he know her by name? What if Nate and Becca didn’t do invetro fertilization? Did their effort make a difference on who will literally be around for all of eternity? It seems so.
God is sovereign, certainly, over who will be born. But he has somehow given us the mind-boggling ability to procreate, or not procreate! Certainly, he gives us desires that should lead to multiplication. But it is possible to use contraceptives to the degree that no children are born, even though this is contrary to what he has willed in us.
If this is true in the natural sense, isn’t it also possible in the spiritual sense? He works in us to will to produce spiritual fruit, leading to spiritual multiplication. This is the natural tendency. But somehow, mysteriously, he also seems to have ceded over to us the choice to be involved in the Work, or to live selfish lives. Will we, or can we, spiritually procreate? Will others be in heaven, or not be in heaven, due to us? God forbid that he would give us that substantial of an impact. Unfortunately, though, it appears that he has. What are the implications for my neighbors? I am just wondering….
Yoked to Jesus
January 26th, 2010
His yoke is easy and his burden is light. I was amazed tonight how easy it is to bear the Lord’s burden, because He is doing the lifting, if we are walking in the same direction as Him! Tonight I was working in the harvest field, arriving at youth group feeling completely “on empty.” I was tempted to think for a second, “Boy, it would be nice to quit for a year – take a break, and get renewed.” But then God’s spirit led the whole time, and his spirit spoke the Danilo Montero song to my heart afterwards, while I was giving Lydia a bedtime bath, “Mi yugo es facil y ligera es mi carga. Ven a mi y te hare descansar.” Las mismas palabras de Jesus. Potentes. Absolutamente verdaderas. El cumplira su promesa.
His yoke is easy and his burden is light. I was amazed tonight how easy it is to bear the Lord’s burden, because He is doing the lifting, if we are walking in the same direction as Him! Tonight I was working in the harvest field, arriving at youth group feeling completely “on empty.” I was tempted to think for a second, “Boy, it would be nice to quit for a year – take a break, and get renewed.” But then God’s spirit led the whole time, and his spirit spoke the Danilo Montero song to my heart afterwards, while I was giving Lydia a bedtime bath, “Mi yugo es facil y ligera es mi carga. Ven a mi y te hare descansar.” Las mismas palabras de Jesus. Potentes. Absolutamente verdaderas. El cumplira su promesa.
Great Thought from Francis Chan's blog
“I dare you to pray this prayer.” So challenges Francis Chan in a video in which he dares us to pray, “Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.” Proverbs 30:8. Do we really want God to answer this prayer for us? Then he would have to be our sustenance. What are the other prayers in the Bible that we might be afraid to prayer? These reluctancies might reveal in us an inconsistency, an area that God needs to change something. Or perhaps its not that he needs to make the move. Maybe we need to, and he will respond to help us.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2oi6y292kE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2oi6y292kE
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
day 1
entry #1–On “Training”
video link of the day: http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=DW76GNNX
Rationale:
Why create a blog? I guess it is part of a sense that the Lord wants me to be contributing to the Work of his Kingdom. Maybe this blog is also motivated out of a sense that I will grow as well. I could use a little more effort, training, and discipline. I am reminded that an athlete must run even when it is not race day. He must get up early in the morning, sometimes in the cold or the dark, because he wants to be prepared when the day of his race comes. But perhaps more importantly, he knows that it is not even about one race. He trains because he wants fitness to be a part of who he is. He may win the race only if he becomes a fast runner who is well developed. A fat, lazy man cannot suddenly become a winner on race day. In the same way, spiritually speaking the analogy is similar. Preparing for a future event such as a sermon or an opportunity to witness is not the point. The point is to become more mature as Christ develops in me. Otherwise, the day will come when I have to say something to someone, and I will have nothing to say. Not because God doesn’t want to use me, or because its not my gifting, but because I have become fat and lazy. “Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” Too many times I have had nothing to say. I am hoping to work on this area in my life. I want to experience Christ’s presence as I seek him through this journal. Is that presumptuous? I know that if I seek, He will be found by me. Not because I have a handle to control God’s workings, but because he is willing found by those who seek Him with all their heart and strength. This is part of my obedience to love God with all my strength.
Our lives impact the lives of those around us. As we are ready, others will benefit. This is my attempt to prepare myself for action and battle, for encouragement and edification, for discernment. I am attempting to learn to wield the sword in faith, tenacity, boldness, and tender love.
2 Tim 4:2-3 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season ; correct, rebuke and encourage — with great patience and careful instruction.
What would it look like if all followers of Christ believed they were pastors? If they came to church prepared to give a sermon. Instead of saying, “This church should reach out more to visitors,” to in fact be the hand that does so. If any man comes to Christ for salvation, God also begins to restore His purpose for that person. As little “Christs,” he will do and work in us the same DNA that was in Christ. We were made to be administrators, workers, builders of the kingdom. Not everyone has the same gift, yet all believers in Christ are priests! (See I Peter 2:9) There should be no passive Christians. I think part of the spiritual passivity in our culture today is not because the pastors are not working hard enough. Its because we the congregation are in sleeping mode, leaving the work for the professional to do, assuming that we are off the hook. We show up to church lazy, unprepared to lead. We are prepared to sit back in the pew and receive. Somehow, though, faith pushes towards an active pursuit. Passivity threatens to woo us into slumber.
The truth is that we do not know how many people have needed us when we slacked off and didn’t produce fruit.
video link of the day: http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=DW76GNNX
Rationale:
Why create a blog? I guess it is part of a sense that the Lord wants me to be contributing to the Work of his Kingdom. Maybe this blog is also motivated out of a sense that I will grow as well. I could use a little more effort, training, and discipline. I am reminded that an athlete must run even when it is not race day. He must get up early in the morning, sometimes in the cold or the dark, because he wants to be prepared when the day of his race comes. But perhaps more importantly, he knows that it is not even about one race. He trains because he wants fitness to be a part of who he is. He may win the race only if he becomes a fast runner who is well developed. A fat, lazy man cannot suddenly become a winner on race day. In the same way, spiritually speaking the analogy is similar. Preparing for a future event such as a sermon or an opportunity to witness is not the point. The point is to become more mature as Christ develops in me. Otherwise, the day will come when I have to say something to someone, and I will have nothing to say. Not because God doesn’t want to use me, or because its not my gifting, but because I have become fat and lazy. “Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” Too many times I have had nothing to say. I am hoping to work on this area in my life. I want to experience Christ’s presence as I seek him through this journal. Is that presumptuous? I know that if I seek, He will be found by me. Not because I have a handle to control God’s workings, but because he is willing found by those who seek Him with all their heart and strength. This is part of my obedience to love God with all my strength.
Our lives impact the lives of those around us. As we are ready, others will benefit. This is my attempt to prepare myself for action and battle, for encouragement and edification, for discernment. I am attempting to learn to wield the sword in faith, tenacity, boldness, and tender love.
2 Tim 4:2-3 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season ; correct, rebuke and encourage — with great patience and careful instruction.
What would it look like if all followers of Christ believed they were pastors? If they came to church prepared to give a sermon. Instead of saying, “This church should reach out more to visitors,” to in fact be the hand that does so. If any man comes to Christ for salvation, God also begins to restore His purpose for that person. As little “Christs,” he will do and work in us the same DNA that was in Christ. We were made to be administrators, workers, builders of the kingdom. Not everyone has the same gift, yet all believers in Christ are priests! (See I Peter 2:9) There should be no passive Christians. I think part of the spiritual passivity in our culture today is not because the pastors are not working hard enough. Its because we the congregation are in sleeping mode, leaving the work for the professional to do, assuming that we are off the hook. We show up to church lazy, unprepared to lead. We are prepared to sit back in the pew and receive. Somehow, though, faith pushes towards an active pursuit. Passivity threatens to woo us into slumber.
The truth is that we do not know how many people have needed us when we slacked off and didn’t produce fruit.
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