Friday, January 25, 2013
Sunday, January 20, 2013
God's Answer for Depression
"If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail." -Isaiah 58:10-11
God has made us to flourish by giving of ourselves to others. It truly is "more blessed to give than to receive!"
Thoughts from A.W. Tozer
"Every man lives by faith, the nonbeliever as well as the believer; the one by faith in natural laws and the other by faith in God. Every man throughout his entire life constantly accepts without understanding."
"Unbelief is actually perverted faith, for it puts its trust not in the living God, but in dying man."
"If we are to think of God at all, we must do it by adapting creature thought and creature words to the Creator. And they are never sufficient."
"Science observes how the power of God operates, discovers a regular pattern, and fixes it as 'law.'"
"We think more loftily of God by knowing He is incomprehensible and above our understanding. Faith must precede all effort to understand... Love and faith are at home in the mystery of the Godhead. Let reason kneel in reverence outside."
Friday, January 18, 2013
Don't Covet Your Neighbor's...Trials
The past couple years have been hard ones for our family. The things that have happened have hurt - deeply. There's been times when I've literally said, "I'd rather have cancer!"
But isn't that how it is so often - we're tempted to look at other people's trials and think they're easier than our own? Pretty much the same way that we covet other people's blessings. We forget that God's heart lovingly plans our way every bit as much as His hand guides it. I don't learn trust when everything in my life is rosy. I learn to trust when things go "wrong." God knows what is needed in each one of our lives to get rid of all the self sufficiency, selfishness, self-centeredness...all the ugly SELF stuff. There's been a lot to work on in me! Still is...
We need to learn to say with Job, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave and The Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of The Lord,"
I can do this when I remember that "This light, momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison." The trials are heavy in this life, for sure, but someday all that weight will be glory! What will it be like to be "weighed down" with glory??!
I hope that I am learning the lesson of being thankful for my very personal trials. "God, The Lord, is my strength; He makes my feet like the deer's; He makes me tread on high places." Yes!! Even through deep, deep hurt. Perhaps especially through deep, deep hurt!
Gratefully...
Saturday, January 12, 2013
My Prayer for This Year...
I have a couple passages of Scripture that I am turning into consistent prayers this year...
1. That my family and I would grow by leaps and bounds in coming "to KNOW and BELIEVE the love that God has for us!" (1 John 4:16). This "know" means more than just knowing some facts, like the recipe for a cake. This "knowing" is savoring the cake! It points to a level of relationship and intimacy that is deep and satisfying...knowing it in my heart! It's knowing the love of God so well that I am completely "satisfied in the morning (and all day long) with this steadfast love!" (Psalm 90:14); and
2. For my marriage, for my family, for my church, and for the Body of Christ - "May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 15:5-6)
In Jesus' Name,
Grant it, Lord!
1. That my family and I would grow by leaps and bounds in coming "to KNOW and BELIEVE the love that God has for us!" (1 John 4:16). This "know" means more than just knowing some facts, like the recipe for a cake. This "knowing" is savoring the cake! It points to a level of relationship and intimacy that is deep and satisfying...knowing it in my heart! It's knowing the love of God so well that I am completely "satisfied in the morning (and all day long) with this steadfast love!" (Psalm 90:14); and
2. For my marriage, for my family, for my church, and for the Body of Christ - "May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 15:5-6)
In Jesus' Name,
Grant it, Lord!
Friday, January 11, 2013
The Word of God
"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night." -Psalm 1:1-2
"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." -Hebrews 4:12
"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." -Isaiah 55:10-11
WORLD | Word alive | Andrée Seu Peterson | Dec. 8, 2011
"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." -Hebrews 4:12
"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." -Isaiah 55:10-11
WORLD | Word alive | Andrée Seu Peterson | Dec. 8, 2011
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Thoughts on that little organ called the appendix...
Andree Seu Peterson - her writings challenge and bless me time and time again!
WORLD | Evidence and evolution | Andrée Seu Peterson | Jan. 8, 2013
WORLD | Evidence and evolution | Andrée Seu Peterson | Jan. 8, 2013
Friday, January 4, 2013
From Innocence to Innocence
"And The Lord God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil..."
And from that day forward every person would know the longing, the yearning, for something Adam and Eve didn't even realize they had until they lost it. Innocence!
Innocence lost!
I have felt that longing - over and over again. Can you imagine what it feels like to be truly innocent? I try, but I cannot. I watch my grandchildren, and something in me wants to completely shield them from all things not pure. They have a type of innocence that is refreshing, but it is all too obvious that even from their earliest days, they are not truly innocent. They are consumed with self from day one! And even the imperfect innocence of childhood that they do have is lost so early - for some earlier than others. Everywhere we turn, our senses are bombarded with all things opposite.
But then I read Jude 24... "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy,... Blameless? Checking in some other translations and paraphrases I find such words as immaculate, fresh, unblemished, faultless, pure... This sounds very much like innocence to me!
Innocence regained!
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you innocent! To HIM be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forevermore! Amen!
And from that day forward every person would know the longing, the yearning, for something Adam and Eve didn't even realize they had until they lost it. Innocence!
Innocence lost!
I have felt that longing - over and over again. Can you imagine what it feels like to be truly innocent? I try, but I cannot. I watch my grandchildren, and something in me wants to completely shield them from all things not pure. They have a type of innocence that is refreshing, but it is all too obvious that even from their earliest days, they are not truly innocent. They are consumed with self from day one! And even the imperfect innocence of childhood that they do have is lost so early - for some earlier than others. Everywhere we turn, our senses are bombarded with all things opposite.
But then I read Jude 24... "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy,... Blameless? Checking in some other translations and paraphrases I find such words as immaculate, fresh, unblemished, faultless, pure... This sounds very much like innocence to me!
Innocence regained!
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you innocent! To HIM be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forevermore! Amen!
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