Something from Heaven - Life Action Revival Ministries

Something from Heaven - Life Action Revival Ministries

C. S. Lewis on the Danger of Love

C. S. Lewis on the Danger of Love

Happy Valentine's Day!

Ephesians 3:10

Just two more days down here in Florida. Each time I come, I enjoy my time with my family more! And each time goes by too fast, although I will admit I am missing my northern family, especially my husband!

When I'm planning for the trip, I always think I will have lots of down time to read and even perhaps journal a bit, but when I'm here, I find that other things call for my attention and the days fill up quickly. That is good, though, because those other "things" are usually people related, and that's the main reason I visit. I LOVE my Florida family!

My friend's husband posted on facebook today a question that he says he's been wrestling with a lot lately - "What is the Biblical definition of church"? That got me to thinking not about the definition so much as a verse in Ephesians that talks about an important, and frankly, quite mind-boggling, function of the church - (3:10) "so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places".

I can't really wrap my mind around that! How in the world can we - frail and sinful - human beings make known anything to the rulers and authorities in heavenly places??? But once again I must remind myself that it's not about us; it is about HIM! Perhaps it takes "frail and sinful" for God's wisdom to be fully displayed. After all, how does One show the wisdom of mercy without something (or someone) requiring mercy? Same with the wisdom of grace, long-suffering, forgiveness... All those attributes of God require a recipient in order to be displayed. Our God is so beyond comphension! So other! "What is man that You are mindful of Him"?

I need to remember this verse in Ephesians and more consistently do my part in making known God's manifold wisdom to the rulers and authorities. Still MIND BOGGLING!!!

Right now I am sitting on the porch experiencing some of God's wisdom of grace - the skies are pouring down rain on a sandy land very much in need of moisture. And my heart is filled with thankfulness!!!

Bitter Ingredients, Tasty Products

I am continually intrigued by how many physical things in life are pictures of spiritual realities.  Randy Alcorn is especially adept at bringing those things to light.  I'm reading in his book, "90 Days of God's Goodness", and his devotional thought is based on Psalm 71:18-23, especially the verse, "Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again."  He gives just a slightly different, but important, perspective to the Romans 8:28 truth that "all things work together for good." He says, "There is an all-inclusiveness In the 'all things'...  No translation says each thing by itself IS good, but that all things work together FOR good, and not on their own, but under God's sovereign hand.  Romans 8:28 declares a cumulative and ultimate good, not an individual or immediate good".

Then he goes into the analogy of how each individual ingredient of a cake (well, with the exception of sugar, I suppose) tastes horrible by itself, but "put together in the right amounts and baked together, a remarkable metamorphosis takes place.  The cake tastes delicious!  Yet judging by the taste of each component, I would never have believed the cake could taste so good.

"In a similar way, the individual ingredients of trials and apparent tragedies taste bitter to us.  Romans 8:28 doesn't tell me I should say 'it is good,' if my leg breaks, or my house burns down....  But no matter how bitter the taste of the individual components, God can carefully measure out and mix all ingredients together and regulate the temperature to produce a wonderful final product."

As his wife, Joy, underwent cancer treatments, C. S. Lewis wrote to a friend, "We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be."

It is extremely important to the health of our faith to remember this truth!  Life is not just random happenings.  Our Creator God is intimately involved in our lives, and He is all wise, all powerful, and all good!  That's an unbeatable combination!!!

God vs. god

He who makes little of God makes much of himself, They who forget adoration fall into adulation. The eyes must see something, and if they admire not God, they will flatter self.

Charles Spurgeon wrote these words in his book, Treasury of David, I know they are true because they come straight from Scripture (Psalm 36:1-2) and because they often play themselves out in my life. As soon as I take my eyes off God, I put them on me. Whether I am bemoaning circumstances, relationships, or whatever, it becomes all about me - my way, my hurts, my comfort, my pleasure, my, my, my! Me, me, me!! What a pathetic god I make!

Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O LORD. How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light. Psalm 36:5-9

Heavenly Father, continue doing your refining work in my life. Even though it's often painful, who I am without it is unbearable! Both to myself and to those who know me!

A New Year's Plea: Plan!

A New Year's Plea: Plan!

Fail to Plan = Plan to Fail

It has dawned on me today that a Sunday well invested is key to a fruitful, well-invested week. As John Piper says, "Sunday is the first day of the week, not the last day of the weekend!" And fruitful weeks lead to months, lead to years, lead to a lifetime. And I long to get out of the "busy" rut and truly be fruitful! Life is going by very quickly!

Another thing I've realized recently - for years I've been so busy that the demands on me have served to be my disciplinarian; and anything that was left undone? Well, I had the excuse that I'm so busy - something has to give. That has changed, and at least for right now, I find myself with a much less demanding life. The trouble is that without my crazy, busy life dictating my time, I find myself prone to waste it. I'm finding out that I'm not nearly as disciplined as I thought I was! This is showing itself in many areas of my life - I won't list them here.

This is the first day of a new week, a new month and a new year!  I love new starts!! I am asking my Teacher to help me to remember my Sabbath Day and keep it holy. I want to plan my week well, which does not just mean plan the things I need to DO. I want to plan the things I need to BE. That will go a long way towards success in the process of "working out my own salvation with fear and trembling."

Here's my first plan, the ancient art of lectio divina, or sacred reading. This is adapted from Conformed to His Image by Kenneth Boa, but was introduced to the West by the Eastern desert father John Cassian early in the fifth century.

It consists of four elements:

1. Lectio (reading). Select a very short text and ingest it by reading it several times.

2. Meditatio (meditation). Take a few minutes to reflect on the words and phrases in the text you have read. Ponder the passage by asking questions and using your imagination.

3. Oratio (prayer). Having internalized the passage, offer it back to God in the form of personalized prayer.

4. Contemplatio (contemplation). For me, this will be the most difficult part, since it consists of silence and yieldedness in the presence of God. Comtemplation is the fruit of the dialogue of the first three elements; it is the communion that is born out of our reception of divine truth in our minds and hearts.

This is a simple, gracious plan. I will also need my Teacher's help to keep me from making it complicated and legalistic!

Here's to a Joshua 1:8 kind of successful year!

Shall I Try This Again?

Well, a lot has changed since I last attempted to blog. I have quite a bit more discretionary time, so maybe this time I'll keep at it - we'll see...

We have a dear lady in our church who has a very aggressive form of breast cancer, and apart from a miracle (which we continue to ask for), she has just a few months to live. I KNOW she will be healed, just not sure it will be in this life. That has us all thinking a great deal about death and suffering as of late. I love this depiction of a believer's death. I'm not sure who wrote it.

"I'm standing on the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She's an object of beauty and strength, and I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and the sky come down to mingle with each other.
And then I hear someone at my side saying, 'There, she's gone.' "Gone? Gone where? Gone from my sight, that is all. She is just as large in mast and hull as she was when she left my side. And just as able to bear her load of living freight to the place of destination. Her diminished size is in ME, not her.

"And just at that moment when someone at my side says, 'There, she's gone,' there are other eyes watching her coming, and there are other voices ready to take up the glad shout, 'Here she comes!'

"And that is dying."

"Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints". Psalm 116:15

I want to always remember that!