If you keep up with my infrequent posts you know that my Grandmother has cancer. Today is her birthday and she found out a couple weeks ago that she is in remission. Praising the Lord for this answer to prayer!!
Catie is due the 19th of March and she could be the poster child for pregnancy. She has been so blessed with her pregnancy and we are also praising the LORD for this!!! :) Please continue to pray for them as they start this new journey.
The beautiful girls the Lord has given us to raise for a time are doing well. They have settled in for a long visit.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
God's Word is Important
John Piper: "Nothing apart from God himself is more important and powerful than his word."
If this statement by one of my new favorite authors is true, then how can we be so flippant in our treatment of God's word? How can we possibly justify the disregard for certain plain words/commands or the principles it teaches? Yet at the same time we cling to the grace so freely spoken of so we can make it to heaven?
God's word is a special gift that we've been given. In this country we take this gift for granted so often because we have so much of it so available. In other countries, however,the bible is actually outlawed and people risk imprisonment and/or beatings just to own a portion of the Word of God.
I recently read in the Randy Alcorn book, Safely Home (great book!), about a woman in China who so revered the scriptures that she saved the box the bible came in and stored her treasures in it. She valued the BOX that had contained God's word because it had contained God's word!!!
Do we really understand who we are and who God is??? CAN we understand and still treat His word with disrespect? I do not think so. There are accounts in the Old Testament of the Israelites standing all day with their children to listen to the scriptures being read. The LORD commanded Joshua to meditate on His word day and night, the Psalmist in Psalm 1 says the man who does this is blessed. David says over and over in Psalm 119 how he treasures the words of God. In the New Testament, Timothy is told to study the scriptures, bishops are to know the scriptures and use them. Timothy's mother and grandmother were commended for teaching Timothy the scriptures from childhood. We are told that the sword of the Spirit is God's word and that it is quick, powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword--a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart! Quick means living...Jesus is the word made flesh, the Word of life.
Knowing this how can we edit it, manipulate it, change it, cast a shadow over it, etc. to suit our desires or just disregard it altogether in lieu of our own "wisdom"? I don't know which is worse because it is all based in the exaltation of SELF. We have no wisdom apart from Christ, and we have nothing eternal or temporal to offer anyone outside what can be found in God's word. Would we be like Jehoiakim and take a penknife to the word or burn it because we don't like the message? We certainly don't have to literally do these things to have the same effect in our hearts and the hearts of our listeners.
I submit that if we truly understood our utter WOE-fullness then we would agree with what the Lord has to say to the Israelites in Ezekiel 36:31-32, "Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations....be ashamed and confounded for your own ways".
If what my all time favorite author says about His own Word is true (and it is) then shouldn't we be treating it with the respect that HIS Word deserves?
I would just like to say "Thank You" to the men out there who would rightly divide the word of truth so that their hearers have opportunity to hear the true gospel. To those who don't, Paul says, May you be accursed.
If this statement by one of my new favorite authors is true, then how can we be so flippant in our treatment of God's word? How can we possibly justify the disregard for certain plain words/commands or the principles it teaches? Yet at the same time we cling to the grace so freely spoken of so we can make it to heaven?
God's word is a special gift that we've been given. In this country we take this gift for granted so often because we have so much of it so available. In other countries, however,the bible is actually outlawed and people risk imprisonment and/or beatings just to own a portion of the Word of God.
I recently read in the Randy Alcorn book, Safely Home (great book!), about a woman in China who so revered the scriptures that she saved the box the bible came in and stored her treasures in it. She valued the BOX that had contained God's word because it had contained God's word!!!
Do we really understand who we are and who God is??? CAN we understand and still treat His word with disrespect? I do not think so. There are accounts in the Old Testament of the Israelites standing all day with their children to listen to the scriptures being read. The LORD commanded Joshua to meditate on His word day and night, the Psalmist in Psalm 1 says the man who does this is blessed. David says over and over in Psalm 119 how he treasures the words of God. In the New Testament, Timothy is told to study the scriptures, bishops are to know the scriptures and use them. Timothy's mother and grandmother were commended for teaching Timothy the scriptures from childhood. We are told that the sword of the Spirit is God's word and that it is quick, powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword--a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart! Quick means living...Jesus is the word made flesh, the Word of life.
Knowing this how can we edit it, manipulate it, change it, cast a shadow over it, etc. to suit our desires or just disregard it altogether in lieu of our own "wisdom"? I don't know which is worse because it is all based in the exaltation of SELF. We have no wisdom apart from Christ, and we have nothing eternal or temporal to offer anyone outside what can be found in God's word. Would we be like Jehoiakim and take a penknife to the word or burn it because we don't like the message? We certainly don't have to literally do these things to have the same effect in our hearts and the hearts of our listeners.
I submit that if we truly understood our utter WOE-fullness then we would agree with what the Lord has to say to the Israelites in Ezekiel 36:31-32, "Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations....be ashamed and confounded for your own ways".
If what my all time favorite author says about His own Word is true (and it is) then shouldn't we be treating it with the respect that HIS Word deserves?
I would just like to say "Thank You" to the men out there who would rightly divide the word of truth so that their hearers have opportunity to hear the true gospel. To those who don't, Paul says, May you be accursed.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Hmmm.
I wish you could all hear the two year old say, "Hmmm." She makes me think of Mawmaw. :)(She's sooo cute. They both are.)
When she says that it means she is thinking, of course. Well, I'm thinking, too.
When she says that it means she is thinking, of course. Well, I'm thinking, too.
Sigh...
Martyn Lloyd-Jones: "To be truly meek means we no longer protect ourselves, because we see there is nothing worth defending."
The Lord has been trying to teach me lately that our identity is in Him. We have nothing in ourselves that will please Him. If only I could truly focus on Christ and doing all things for His glory.
I think there has been a few seconds of my life when my heart motivations were totally pure before Him and I sought only His glory. :/
The Lord has been trying to teach me lately that our identity is in Him. We have nothing in ourselves that will please Him. If only I could truly focus on Christ and doing all things for His glory.
I think there has been a few seconds of my life when my heart motivations were totally pure before Him and I sought only His glory. :/
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
An Awesome Book List
If God Is Good by Randy Alcorn
George Muller of Bristol by A. T. Pierson
Slave by John MacArthur
Don't Waster Your Life by John Piper
Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham
Stand edited by Justin Taylor and John Piper
Also, sermonaudio.com has downloadable sermons, :)
I will be adding to this list, I hope.
George Muller of Bristol by A. T. Pierson
Slave by John MacArthur
Don't Waster Your Life by John Piper
Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham
Stand edited by Justin Taylor and John Piper
Also, sermonaudio.com has downloadable sermons, :)
I will be adding to this list, I hope.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
It's A Wonderful Life
I guess almost six months ago I thought I'd never say I have a wonderful life again. :) I'm glad I get to say that for the reason that I get to say it.
I have learned SO much about my Lord these last six months it is unreal. I never have time to blog anymore (or the brain power either for that matter!) so maybe I'm repeating myself? I'm not going to check.
I want to share some of what I have learned, maybe you won't like to know it, but I really have to share it.
There is a parable in the bible that I have never liked. Here it is: "But which of you having a servant (slave) plowing and feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? Will he not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do." Luke 17:7-10
I never liked that parable for several reasons: 1.) I'm lazy. B.) I like to be told what a nice job I've done at least sometimes. 3.) In my flesh I don't have a servant's heart. Ah! But I have learned from the LORD (or at least I'm beginning to learn) what an honor and priviledge it is to be allowed to serve Him in whatever way. I don't deserve the title of slave. In Roman times a slave was sometimes looked up to if he was a slave in a rich home (not because of the slave, but the Master!). Oftentimes slaves were well educated and extremely beneficial to their Master. I have nothing to offer and here I am slave to the best Master there ever was or ever will be. I don't deserve to be serving in His household, but He has allowed me to do it anyway because He is gracious. I have learned that the offering of myself is all He wants. He has chosen the foolish things to confound the wise. :D WHAT A PRIVILEDGE TO BE THOUGHT FOOLISH!!!
I guess I will always struggle with some aspects of service/obedience because I am still in this body of flesh, but what a priviledge to be able to serve Him at all. (Romans 7) However, although I believe we'll all struggle, it seems that THE key to being a productive "slave" or "struggler" is to so totally lose yourself in Christ that you can say with Paul, "it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" and as it was said of George Muller, "Nothing is more marked in George Muller, to the very day of his death, than this, that he so looked to God and leaned on God that he felt himself to be nothing, and God everything. He sought to be always surrendered as a passive tool to the will and hand of the Master Workman." This surrendering to abide in Christ was also the turning point in Hudson Taylor's ministry. Nothing that we did before conversion and nothing that 'we' do after conversion is acceptable unto the Lord. It is what HE does through us, His chosen vessels. I don't know about you, but that enables me to sleep at night. (Unless I've had an Andes mint right before bed.)
"We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do."
I have learned SO much about my Lord these last six months it is unreal. I never have time to blog anymore (or the brain power either for that matter!) so maybe I'm repeating myself? I'm not going to check.
I want to share some of what I have learned, maybe you won't like to know it, but I really have to share it.
There is a parable in the bible that I have never liked. Here it is: "But which of you having a servant (slave) plowing and feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? Will he not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do." Luke 17:7-10
I never liked that parable for several reasons: 1.) I'm lazy. B.) I like to be told what a nice job I've done at least sometimes. 3.) In my flesh I don't have a servant's heart. Ah! But I have learned from the LORD (or at least I'm beginning to learn) what an honor and priviledge it is to be allowed to serve Him in whatever way. I don't deserve the title of slave. In Roman times a slave was sometimes looked up to if he was a slave in a rich home (not because of the slave, but the Master!). Oftentimes slaves were well educated and extremely beneficial to their Master. I have nothing to offer and here I am slave to the best Master there ever was or ever will be. I don't deserve to be serving in His household, but He has allowed me to do it anyway because He is gracious. I have learned that the offering of myself is all He wants. He has chosen the foolish things to confound the wise. :D WHAT A PRIVILEDGE TO BE THOUGHT FOOLISH!!!
I guess I will always struggle with some aspects of service/obedience because I am still in this body of flesh, but what a priviledge to be able to serve Him at all. (Romans 7) However, although I believe we'll all struggle, it seems that THE key to being a productive "slave" or "struggler" is to so totally lose yourself in Christ that you can say with Paul, "it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" and as it was said of George Muller, "Nothing is more marked in George Muller, to the very day of his death, than this, that he so looked to God and leaned on God that he felt himself to be nothing, and God everything. He sought to be always surrendered as a passive tool to the will and hand of the Master Workman." This surrendering to abide in Christ was also the turning point in Hudson Taylor's ministry. Nothing that we did before conversion and nothing that 'we' do after conversion is acceptable unto the Lord. It is what HE does through us, His chosen vessels. I don't know about you, but that enables me to sleep at night. (Unless I've had an Andes mint right before bed.)
"We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do."
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