Monday, December 31, 2012

Comment

I need to comment on my last blog post:  in order to experience the power of the Holy Spirit, I'm going to have to sit still and pay attention to Him long enough to receive it.  There's the challenge!

Sunday, December 30, 2012

MORE!


I was wondering, does God really want to bless us, and if so, how much?  This verse came to mind:
"He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32).
If God freely gives us all things, then why would we ask for small things?
I have prayed that my family would know the Lord.  Now I will pray that we'll know Him so well that when people are with us, they will experience the presence of Jesus.
Every day I pray that God will speak to me through the Bible.  Now I will pray that God's word will reach my heart instead of bouncing off my brain, and that His word will come to me in power, in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance (1 Thessalonians 1:5).  Here's an example of the Lord doing just that, even though I didn't pray for it:  I was listening to the radio in the van when I had a teachable moment, or what Jesus called "ears to hear."  The song was about the love that Jesus showed us when He died for us.  Not a new message, but I was amazed all over again that because Jesus saved me, I am not rejected by God, but instead I'm His beloved.  Oh that the Lord's voice would always hit me with such power!  It could.
One more prayer topic comes to mind:  I always pray for my husband Jeff and I to have a good marriage.  Now I will pray that he and I will be one as God and Jesus are one (John 17:22).
Pretty exciting!
"Those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing" (Psalm 34:10).

Saturday, December 29, 2012

A Quote

Here's a quote from Irenaeus, who was a disciple of the apostle John:  "The glory of God is the human being fully alive, and the life of the human consists in beholding God."  (Against the Heresy of Gnosticism).

Friday, December 28, 2012

Counselor

"His name will be called....Counselor" (Isaiah 9:6, NKJ)
I love it when my husband takes me out to a coffee shop and gives me his full attention for an hour or so.  It makes me feel loved, important, and valued.  Jesus does this 24/7.
"You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off,
You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.
You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it."
(Psalm 139:2-6)

Thursday, December 27, 2012

A New Heart

I'm going to quote some good thoughts from John Eldredge's book Waking the Dead:
"You have been ransomed by Christ.  Your treachery is forgiven.  You are entirely pardoned for every wrong thought and desire and deed.  This is what the vast majority of Christians understand as the central work of Christ for us.  And make no mistake about it--it is a deep and stunning truth, one that will set you free and bring you joy.  For a while."
"But the joy for most of us has proven fleeting, because we find that we need to be forgiven again and again and again.  Chirst has died for us, but we remain (so we believe) deeply marred.  It actually ends up producing a great deal of guilt.  'After all that Christ has done for you....and now you're back here asking forgiveness again?'  To be destined to a life of repeating the very things that sent our Savior to the cross can hardly be called salvation."
"Think of it: you are a shadow of the person you were meant to be.  You have nothing close to the life you were meant to have.  And you have no real chance of becoming that person or finding that life.  However, you are forgiven.  For the rest of your days, you will fail in your attempts to become what God wants you to be.  You should seek forgiveness and try again.  Eventually, shame and disappointment will cloud your understanding of yourself and your God.  When this ongoing hell on earth is over, you will die, and you will be taken before your God for a full account of how you didn't measure up.  But you will be forgiven.  After that, you'll be asked to take your place in the choir of heaven.  This is what we mean by salvation."
"The good news is...that is not Christianity.".....
"God promised in the new covenant to 'take away your heart of stone.'  How?  By joining us to the death of Christ.  Our nature was nailed to the cross with Christ; we died there, with him, in him.  Yes, it is a deep mystery--'deep magic' as Lewis called it--but that does not make it untrue.  'The death he died, he died to sin once for all...In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin' (Rom. 6:10-11).  Jesus was the Last Adam, the end of the terrible story."
"You've been far more than forgiven.  God has removed your heart of stone.  You've been delivered of what held you back from what you were meant to be.  You've been rescued from the part of you that sabotages even your best intentions.  Your heart has been circumcised to God.  Your heart has been set free."
"And there is even more."
"Most people assume that the Cross is the total work of Christ.  The two go hand in hand in our minds--Jesus Christ and the Cross; the Cross and Jesus Christ......."
"The cross is not the sole focal point of Christianity....."
"We say Christ died for us, and that is true.  But Christ was also raised for us.  His resurrection was as much for us as his death was."
"For if, by the trespass of the one man [the first Adam], death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.(Rom. 5:17, emphasis added)"
"We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life...In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Rom. 6:4, 11)"
"But because of his great love for us, God...made us alive with Christ. (Eph. 2:4-5)"
...."Adam was a pattern of the One to come.  He was the root and trunk of our family tree.  Our hearts fell when he fell.  We received our sinful nature from him.  So we now receive a new nature and a new heart from Christ, our Second Man.   We have been made alive with the life of Christ.  Just as we received our sinful nature from Adam, so we now receive a good and holy nature from Christ.  It has always been God's plan not just to forgive you, but to restore you:  'Make a tree good and its fruit will be good' (Matt. 12:33)"....
"The new covenant has two parts to it:  'I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh: (Ezek. 36:26).  God removed your old heart when he circumcised your heart; he gives you a new heart when he joins you to the life of Christ.  That's why Paul can say 'count yourselves dead to sin' and 'alive to God in Christ Jesus' (Rom. 6:11)."
"The resurrection affirms the promise Christ made.  For it was life he offered to give us:  'I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full' (John 10:10).  We are saved by his life when we find that we are able to live the way we've always known we should live.  We are free to be what he meant when he meant us.  You have a new life--the life of Christ.  And you have a new heart.  Do you know what this means?  Your heart is good."
......"Paul teaches us in Ephesians that 'Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith (3:17).  God comes down to dwell in us, in our hearts.  Now, we know this:  God cannot dwell where there is evil.  'You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell' (Ps. 5:4).  Something pretty dramatic must have happened in our hearts, then, to make them fit to be the dwelling place of a holy God."
"Of course, none of this can happen for us until we give our lives back to God.  We cannot know the joy or the life or the freedom of heart I've described here until we surrender our lives to Jesus and surrender them totally.  Renouncing all the ways we have turned from God in our hearts, we forsake the idols we have worshiped and given our hearts to.  We turn, and give ourselves body, soul, and spirit back to God, asking him to cleanse our hearts and make them new.  And he does.  He gives us a new heart.  And he comes to dwell there, in our hearts."
Thank You Lord!

Monday, December 24, 2012

Trust/Beautiful Eyes

Trust
Psalm 22:9 is a beautiful picture of trust:
"You are He who took me out of the womb; You made me trust while on My mother's breasts.  I was cast upon You from birth; from my mother's womb You have been my God."
Babies are utterly dependent; without love and care, they die.  Babies who are lovingly cared for have no worries about their helplessness.  Our heavenly Father lovingly cares for our every need, like a nursing mother.  And we don't need to fear harm or our neediness; we can trust Him and be at peace like a baby sleeping in Mom's arms.
Sarah Young, in Jesus Calling, said, "Your neediness, properly handled, is a link to My [Jesus'] Presence."

Beautiful Eyes
Colton Burpo, shortly before he turned four, almost died.  While he was near death, he saw Jesus.  One of his comments about this experience was that Jesus has beautiful eyes.  I think His eyes are beautiful because He loves His bride so much.  Last night we watched the last part of The Sound of Music on tv.  The captain and Maria were so in love with each other that they just stared at one another with that smitten look on their faces.  Reminds me of some verses in Song of Solomon:  in chapter 5, verse 12 the Shulamite says, "His eyes are like doves."  In 4:9 Solomon, the bridegroom, says, "You have made my heart beat faster, my sister, my bride; you have made my heart beat faster with a single glance of your eyes, with a single strand of your necklace."
That's how Jesus feels about us!

bethlehemstar.net

One thing I forgot to mention in yesterday's blog:  to learn more about the star that the wise men followed to find baby Jesus, go to bethlehemstar.net.  It's fascinating.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Christmas Thoughts

I've been enjoying the Christmas story in the Bible, and I wanted to share a few thoughts.  Before Mary was told that she was to be Jesus' mother, an angel announced to Zacharius that he would be the father of John the Baptist.  The interesting thing about this is that the angel said that Zacharius and Elizabeth would have a son as an answer to Zacharius's prayer.  Now if you were the husband of a woman who was past menopause, would you be praying for a child?  I tend to doubt that God will answer prayers that I'm no longer praying, but Zacharius was probably receiving an answer to a prayer that he had prayed long ago.  God does not forget our prayers, and if He hasn't granted our requests yet, it doesn't mean He won't ever.
Zacharius had doubts about the angel's message, but his weak faith didn't stop God from blessing him richly.  He and his wife not only were parents, but their son was a very godly man.
Of course the next famous baby in the Bible was Jesus.  The birth announcement came from angels, to whom?  Not the religious leaders.  The angels told ordinary shepherds.  God likes to speak to humble people.  "The humble He teaches His way" (Psalm 25:9).  I love this, because not everybody can make it into the Who's Who of the world, but anybody can be humble.
The angel said to the shepherds, "I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.  For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."  Sin destroyed the fellowship between mankind and God; Jesus died and resurrected to bring us His gifts of forgiveness (Ephesians 1:7), righteousness (Romans 5:17), and reconciliation (Romans 5:10).  There is no greater joy than to be friends with God.
Other than the heavenly host that visited the shepherds, the birth of Jesus was without fanfare.  God came to earth in His characteristically quiet and humble way.
"How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is giv'n!
So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His heav'n. 
No ear may hear His coming, but, in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him still the dear Christ enters in."
The birth of Jesus was a fulfillment of a prophecy in Isaiah 9:6-7:  "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder......Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end."  I really like that last part.  Heaven won't be boring because His government and peace keep increasing.  It will just keep getting better and better!
When Jesus was about a month and a half old, He was taken to the temple and presented to the Lord.  One of the people who greeted Him there was Anna.  Anna was an interesting person.  She was a prophetess, an elderly woman who never left the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.  When Anna got to the end of a day, she couldn't see the fruits of her labor with her eyes.  She didn't sew or grow vegetables or care for children.  She just prayed, and the Lord records this as service to Him.  Again I was encouraged that prayer isn't a waste of time.
Last Sunday at church, we watched a funny video about a man who was preparing to be Joseph in a living nativity scene.  At the end he became serious as he looked at his baby son and said that he couldn't let his son die as God let His Son die.  It made me think about the sadness of the Father as He watched His Son be crucified.  The world was covered with darkness for three hours that day, and maybe this was God's way of showing His grief at the death of His only Son.  Our heavenly Father understands grief, because He has experienced it Himself.
I pray that we can all get to know the Lord better during the holidays.
God bless us, every one!

Monday, December 10, 2012

Righteous in Christ

I am reading Abide in Christ by Andrew Murray.  Murray speaks of the Christian's union with Jesus and His gift of righteousness in Christ:

"He [the Christian] is not now content with only thinking of the imputed righteousness as his robe; but, putting on Jesus Christ, and seeking to be wrapped up in, to be clothed upon with Himself and His life, he feels how completely the righteousness of God is his, because the Lord our righteousness is his.  Before he understood this, he too often felt it difficult to wear his white robe all the day:  it was as if he specially had to put it on when he came into God's presence to confess his sins, and seek new grace.  But now the living Christ Himself is his righteousness--that Christ who watches over, and keeps and loves us as His own; it is no longer an impossibility to walk all the day enrobed in the loving presence with which He covers His people."

Receiving/Weakness

Receiving
I was trying to love God as Brother Lawrence did, but I couldn't manufacture it, which quickly led to discouragement.  The Lord reminded me of 1 John 4:19:  "We love, because He first loved us."  When I remember the Lord's love for me, it's easy, even automatic, to love Him back.
Ephesians 2:6-7 says that God raised up His people with Christ and seated us in the heavenly places in Christ, so that He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.  According to this verse, the reason God saved us was to display His rich kindness by being kind to us believers.  I'm so glad I signed up for that!  His kindness and love really do bring us to a place of overflowing, heartfelt gratitude.

Weakness
Since it's the Christmas season, I was thinking about baby Jesus and his smallness and helplessness.  Also, when He died, He was helplessly hanging on a cross, the ultimate in physical weakness.  He was the perfect example of God's power being perfected in weakness.  When Christ's body breathed its last, sin, Satan, and death were defeated.  Now that's power.
Speaking of power, I've been amazed as I have been reading in my daughter's science book about the vastness of God's creation.  A galaxy is a star system containing from millions to billions of stars.  Astronomers presently estimate that there are over 120 billion galaxies!  Mind boggling.  That's the power of God, and that's the power that is at work in His people:  "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the POWER that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.  Amen" (Ephesians 3:20-21).

Monday, December 3, 2012

God's Presence

I just finished reading The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence, one of my favorite books.  Brother Lawrence said that maintaining an experience of God's presence happens by the heart and by love rather than by understanding and speech.  It made me think that my busy brain could be getting in the way of knowing the Lord. I have tried being still and focusing on His love, and this has really helped me to experience His loving presence, which puts a great peace in my heart.  Also, fixing my eyes on Jesus and His love shows me how to love others like He does.
I pray that we will all know His love more.