So cute!

Impulsiveness

  I really kick myself over my impulse nature sometimes. The darnedest things can catch me. A little candy bar? Yes, please. Going out to eat rather than cooking? Of course!

  Oswald Chambers said, "An impulsive man is always a petted man". Yep. I gotta be petted. The image is just too funny. I can imagine sitting at Gods feet and rushing around like a yip dog, begging for little treats.

  It is a tough thing to become a disciple. Putting away those childish desires isn't natural. Many men have traded in tremendous marriages for those impulsive desires. I know I did.

 

The Switch

  Upon salvation the newfound believer encounters the most amazing transaction the world has never seen. All his sins were placed upon Jesus and all Jesus' righteousness was placed upon the newfound believer.

  Oh friend, do you grasp this truth? Can you fathom the depth of Gods love in this thing? Lemme explain.

  "Lucy, you have some esplainin' to do"

  Every moment of every day, for over thirty years, Jesus walked this earth and never once failed God. Wow! Behold, the perfect man, Jesus.

  Every moment of every day, for our lifetime, we have never once succeded in not sinning. The hallmark of our life is sin. Complete and utter failures. 

  When Jesus bore "the sin of the world" he also took on our sins. It is finished. Oh boy was it ever!

  This transfer is mind blowing. Jesus did not become a sinner, He became sin for us. This means that God looks upon my lifetime of sin and sees Jesus' lifetime of perfection. This also means that when Jesus bore our sin upon the cross, Gods wrath against our sin was poured out upon Jesus.

  What a gift! What a glorious God we have! Thank you Jesus for bearing my burdens and giving me yours! Taking my yoke of sin and giving me the yoke of righteousness is truly the best gift that was ever given.

  How about it? Have you let Jesus bear God's wrath for you? Or are you still hoping God didn't mean it? 

 

Chief sinner

Isa 54:17   No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD

  I have always heard the first part of this verse quoted. When I read the verse today my eyes about fell out of my face.

  I always had thought the verse refers to being protected from the devil. It does, in part. But that semi-colon is a doosie! "Every tongue" certainly adds a few more to the list doesn't it?

  The last part of the verse makes it abundantly clear that righteousness is only obtained of the Lord. We have no claim upon our own goodness. To further press the item home the Bible also says that OUR righteousness are as filthy rags.

  In a very real practical sense this verse speaks to the gossips in the church body. These judgemental people have often forgotten the huge debt they owed and the tremindous price that had to be paid. Here is a list of all the people I know who gossip. Haha, just kidding!

  Clearly in my own life this was the case. I set about building what looked like a good christian life, but really I was working on becoming a competitor with Paul for the title of "Chief Sinner". I very nearly obtained the goal.

  The goal of obtaining the title was thwarted by Gods word. It explains that all sin is disgusting and vile in Gods eyes. He will cast people away for being simply liars all the way up to rapists and murderers. Will people in torment be compairing whose sins were worse when all the flames are so hot? How could they? No comfort can be found for those in Hell. Obviously the one who wins the title of "Chief Sinner" is everyone. Only those who repent and trust in Jesus can truly grasp this concept. 

  If my broken spirit truly understands the nature of the sacrifice of Jesus, then I won't be as willing to crush someone under the wrath of my judgement. Gods judgement is plenty. The people must be warned. 

  Upon trusting in Jesus I am made aware of what a wretch I have been. Selfishness was my lifestyle and it cost others dearly. I will gladly take up my cross and follow my Lord. Every sinful action I ever did was placed upon Jesus at the cross. Oh grateful man that I am!

Exception to the rule

  I have a dear friend who wants his son to get involved in a church. He is hoping there may be a youth group his son can become a part of. I really hope his boy will be able to find a solid Christian group to be a part of.

  He is going to speak to a pastor of a church he hopes to attend. That's good. He expressed hope that the pastor would make an exception for his son, who is one year to young, to attend the youth group.

  I have mixed up thoughts about this. On one side, I see the needs of his son. On the other, age appropriate groups are good and his son should attend his own age group.

  Nevertheless, the desires of our heart should be to follow God. He is to lead us and direct our path. When we encounter a situation where we think we should be treated special, we must consider very carefully why we feel the situation merits special favor.

  This isn't to say that God can't or won't change things and make an exception for us. God knows, He really does, how much I plead for unmerited favor from Him.
Is it a failure if I don't get unmerited favor from God? Well, no! Of course not. He has control and I am glad He does. I stink it up big time when I run the show.

  I guess the point I am trying to get at is, why do people think they deserve special treatment. It is a silly thing for me to get irritated by, I know. I like having exceptions made for me. Guess I am a hypocritical exceptionist. God, please make an exception for me and not the next dude. Wow.

Wounded in battle

  It has been said that Christians are the only ones who will shoot their wounded.

  Have you found this to be true? Have you trampled on someone who was wounded in the Christian fight?

  We must define terms here. What does a "wounding" look like?

  Perhaps it is someone who is fighting a disease. I know Christians who despise those who fall ill. Especially when those who are sick have a mental illness. People who get sick as Christians often get prayer and love. But there are some who believe that sickness is a lack of faith. 

  What about those who get wounded because of their sin? (Strap on yer seatbelt, its gonna get rough up ahead). Imagine this, your fellow soldier has failed. Perhaps in the heat of battle he ran away. Perhaps he became a traitor. Maybe he shot at other soldiers. He was a horrible soldier and you just know it! Maybe he was never a "Christian soldier" at all. That slimeball!

  The key to solving the problem of shooting our wounded is repentance. If our fallen brother is repentant how many times should we forgive him? Don't answer that too quickly! Be honest, you don't want to forgive a brother who really blows it! Don't quote Bible verses like platitudes, what do you actually do?

  It is much easier to shoot the wounded. No sacrifice. No pain. We are a point and click generation. Point - click - problem solved.

  Let me point out something that our military learned. Our standard round for the AR-15 is .223. It is a very small caliber weapon. It is specifically used because it wounds the enemy with less chance of killing them. A wounded enemy will require the assistance of medics. Thus, one wounded soldier takes out three soldiers. Brilliant!

   However, if our enemies treated their wounded as some in the church treats our wounded, the wounded soldier would be shot in the back and disposed of, or left to suffer and die in their wounds.

  Let me paint a scenario:

   Suppose for a moment that someone in your church went and killed someone while driving drunk. It comes out that this "Christian" had been drinking heavily for years. In fact, he had been in "accidents" before. Somehow this person had still managed to "look good" on the outside. Nobody had a clue.

  The person awakens to the horror of his sin and repents. But how can you know for sure he repented? He fooled you before, right? And what about those poor peoples lives that were damaged. No amount of repentance can fix that situation. Can we truly expect God to transform someone who was "a brother" yet failed so dramatically?

  The choice is yours dear friend. Kneel down and help apply bandages, or point and click. What's it going to be? 

  Let me encourage you to become a medic. Help heal the wounded, even when their wounds are self inflicted. Perhaps you know someone who fell. Perhaps the fall was disgusting, heartbreaking, or perverted. Will you help them recover? Are you strong enough to shoulder the wounded and take them to the infirmary?

 

Battle of Bull Run

  I heard an astonishing story about the Battle of Bull Run. The "civil war" was really getting interesting. This battle was fought a short way from the city of Washington DC. There were numerous people who travelled to the battle field, set up picnics, and watched the battle. They wanted to go and see the yankees beat the rebs. Hopefully it was going to be a great show. 

  I understand the desire for those folks to come out and see their troops win the day. What is baffling, is how they could stomach it. "Oh look Auntie May, those young men are fighting so valiantly! Look at that one over there, he seems to be so scared, what a pity. Ooh look, that guys guts are falling out of him!" Get real, right?!

  Unbelievably, the civil war was also a war that you could hire someone to serve for you. You could simply pay them to fight in your stead. Guess if you had money you were "more valuable" than those who didn't. Not a bad deal! Hoorah for the bravery! The few, the proud, chumps.

  Is this any different today? Do we still want others to do battle for us, rather than be the soldier we were called to be? Of course we do. We like to watch the battle, but God forbid, we should fight!

  My natural desire is to place responsibility upon others. They must fight for me. I would like to set up a picnic on the sidelines and cheerlead for the team. Is this Gods will? No way!

  People often think of their pastor as "a hired gun". Perhaps some trust the theologians to teach them the truth, when God said The Holy Spirit would teach us. How about those wars we encounter with our flesh, men? "Its her fault! If she didn't dress that way..." blah blah blah. 

  God isn't amused.

  God wants us to pick up our weapons (Eph 6) and plunge into the battle. He will send re-enforcements but He won't cater the event. How naive of me to think that He might. Our responsibility is to show people the battle, then help fight alongside our fellows in arms.  

  I don't want to be a sideline Christian. The bench is too warm. Send me in coach! I am ready to swing for the fences! I am ready to charge hell with a squirt gun. Oh Lord, please strengthen me for the battle. Oh yeah, by the way, help me not curse those on the sidelines.  

Youtube

  Does anyone use the Blogger app on the android?  If so, have you found a way to embed video in a posting? I would like to post them in a more usable format. Thanks

100 postings

   Yep, made it past 100. What have you learned about me? Lots of humor and insight is what I hope.

  These postings can be a great relief. I suffer from times of being lonely and hopeless. I have learned to lean on and trust in The Lord. I hope to abandon myself to Him.

  At times it is very difficult to abandon myself to God. I have a history of holding onto all aspects of my life. Although I know that God is able and willing to lead me, I still grasp ahold of my life and imagine that I know what is best.

  I know that I am flawed. Last night I was reminded of that. I wanted to sin and was rationalizing the reasons why I should be allowed to. As the process of rationaliztion continued, God spoke gently to me. His words were, "Don't settle for the sin, my plans are much greater." 

  Unlike most of my life, last night I let go and God delivered me. I don't want to be specific about what the sin was, but lemme tell you, it was a battle. Last night I allowed God to have a victory. Today I am grateful.

  I know not where this blog will go. I just hope to share a bit of myself in it. God bless.

The Battle Cry

Hear the battle cry! <-----click

New wineskins

  The idea presented by Jesus, we should not put new wine into old wineskins, got me thinking a bit today.

  What is a practical example of an old wineskin. Could it be a reference to the religious people of that time. Perhaps the modern day religious people could be referenced. You know the type.

  If God tried to pour His spirit into those old wineskins, what would happen? New wine is alive. The fermentation process is actually yeast growing and living in the wine. While the wine is fermenting it releases gas. Yeast farts. Yummie huh? This gas will expand. If you are using an old wineskin it would burst. The old wineskin is dry and not flexible. The old skin does not have the capacity to change.

  So what about the religious people of Christ's time made the old wineskins? They are similar to many groups we find today. They obey the law of Moses, they faithfully attend church, they set themselves apart, and they have a form of godliness. These can be good things. However, these things only appear holy if God isn't in them.

  The trouble comes, frankly, when The Spirit comes. His Spirit wants to consume us. It wants to penetrate every fiber of our being. This process is painful and often takes time. During this process we may desire to be like our old selves. If we were actively sinning or pretending to be holy, we might want to return to our old life of sin. If we were religious, we might want to go back to those sacraments that we find comfortable. That is why God's Spirit can't be poured into an old skin.

  We must become new. We don't have the ability to cast off our old selves. Those bodies had already been used. When we repent of our sins, trust in the payment made by Jesus, God transforms us. We become new wineskins. God did it, not our works.

  Us, as new wineskins, can have times of stretching and pain. We may feel we could burst at any moment. But, because we are new creatures, God promised that we would not break.

  If you are a new creature, then celebrate the changes! To be of service to The King is a high honor. He has taken a fithy, wretched, and lifeless person and remade them. Allow Him to fill you up! Drink deeply from the wellspring of life.

  If you are concerned that you might not be a new wineskin, please consider the following: God made you, loves you, and cares about you. Your sins have torn you away from Him. If you say you have no sin you are deceiving yourself. You can become a better person but you will be in further sin if you think you can be good enough to satisfy God's laws you have broken. Repent (turn from those sins). Place your trust in the payment Jesus made. If you trust Jesus, you will be made new. If you trust yourself, His spirit cannot live in you. He will not place new wine into an old wineskin.

Mountaintops and Valleys

  Oswald Chambers devotion for today, (Oct 1) in "My utmost for His highest, raised the issue of over-reliance upon spiritual peaks to maintain ourselves. His point was that we can set ourselves up for failure if all we want are good times from God. Those "mountains", although great, are not what we are about. They prepare us for the valleys.

  Imagine my surprise when I listened to Greg Laurie today and he also discussed the phenomena. In fact, he quoted the reading from Oswald Chambers. His teaching was posted four days ago and I hadn't caught up yet. So I was floored when those two teachings tied together so well today.

  So let me put my ideas down about the subject.

  The times I spent in the spiritual valleys are so tough. I yearn for the mountain tops. It seems as if life is mostly valleys. It has been said that fruit grows in valleys not on mountain tops.

  A great experience in life is to hike a mountain and when you get to the top having a picnic. I think fruit is a great thing for a picnic. Taking the fruit from the valley onto the mountain is tremendous.
-insert a great spiritual application here-

  Pastor Greg spoke about the mountain of transfiguration. Jesus, John, James, and Peter had gone up the mountain. Jesus met with Moses and Elijah on the mountain. Jesus was shown in his true majesty. His glory was illuminating. What an amazing sight! 

  Peter is such a funny guy. Yet, he is so real. He surveys the scene and concluded that this is what a saviour really should be all about. He is like, "Let's build a place for ya'll to stay in. This is it!" Peter didn't much like the whole plan of God to crucify Jesus, this transfiguration and the prophets on the mountain, now that's what he called awesome. Peter didn't much care for the "valleys".

  I am similar to Peter. When God has brought me up to those incredible mountains, I simply don't like leaving. I stare down into the valleys dreading the time I will spend trudging those difficulties.

  Gods will is for me to be faithful and submitted to Him, without regard for elevation.

  That about sums it up. I was blessed with yet another great teaching. The fact that I have valleys to struggle through should be of no concern. Just draw closer to Jesus. He is able to do what no friend or family memeber can. He can light up the darkest of places.