Faith Brothers and Sisters

BWM Video Summary: Love Feast

2011-11-21T18:37:00.000-10:00

Moving Beyond a 12x12 Christian: opening thoughts...

2011-04-20T17:07:00.002-10:00

I was walking around campus today reflecting on, "who is Jesus Christ?" And it came as a humbling surprise that it took me a while to move past answers like "The son of God," "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us...(John 1:14)" etc.

I don't think these answers are wrong or bad.

The thing that did bug me was how many of these answers are memorized but not understood. It began to bother me more and more not in the "oh no did I turn off the oven?" or "did I close the door?" sort of way. But, in the "I know there's more to my friend than that." What's under the foundations of the coffee shop I'm sitting in?

Is there more to what's written in John 1:14, more than what is said/memorized. What does it MEAN; the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. Is there more to Jesus than he came, he died, and he rose again. NOT to take away from that because it is some cool stuff. But what was Jesus' life like? what was the life of his disciples like?

A point made in math.
In elementary school I learned 1+1=2. I'm going to take a leap of faith and say most of us can recite this fact (yes, I am aware there's some higher math that says it doesn't. But if you explained it to an elementary school kid they'd look at you like you were the idiot). And when the time was right we memorized and learned the times tables. Now, we can rapidly recite anything from the times tables without much thought. Anything from 1x1 to 12x12 is readily available at the tip of our tongues. We command it, we rule it, and we use it. And because we've learned the basic mechanics we can do other things like 3,733 x 9,243. Most of us probably can't do that one without a piece of paper and a pencil, or calculator/cellphone.

My understanding is this, Jesus is the Son of God who came to this earth lived, died, and rose again. He came with a purpose for His life and he taught others of this purpose. What would it mean to step up my understanding of Jesus? What would it mean to seek and put in some work to, not just memorize the answer but to revisit the basic mechanics for the purpose of growth. To be reassured in my understanding of Jesus but to move into asking God the more complicated question. To not be appeased with my elementary Sunday school edumacation.

I intend to continue this blog to show how God is moving in my life and how sometimes we stumble over God in life. But I also feel led to externally process (ENTJ all the way..for better and for worst...for now not for forever) the tougher/ deeper questions of faith.

"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me." 1 Corinthians 13:11

-J.Kay <= because somehow along the way I became Just Kidding

What Is Intercession?

2011-01-04T18:49:00.000-10:00

What is Intercession?

GREAT QUESTION! And it's a question I hope WE will discover together...so let me start off with just some thoughts and ramblings...without much editing or "fullness".

I am also looking to YOU to comment and fill-out this conversation via the comment section of this blog. So, shall we begin?

Two of the most pithy descriptions I've come across for what intercession is are:

"Standing in the gap"

"burden-bearing"

No now take a look at Jesus: Intercession is what Christ does right now with God, on our behalf.

1 Tim 2:1...several Bible translations mentions intercession as separate from prayer.... WHY?

The Holy Spirit makes intercession for us with groanings.

I don't believe that intercession IS prayer, yet I also believe that when we mix intercession WITH prayer it all becomes more powerful, more focused, more effective, and more of what Christ does.

Some forms of intercession may be a call to fast from things, to give up things that the person you are praying for needs... it may include taking on their burdens with tears, with personal sacrifices of time, or by placing yourself in the same situation/environment as that person.

Other times, you may find yourself feeling/crying out/groaning over their pain, their lack, their needs, and yet you know it is not you...you are "standing in the gap" and being their "burden-bearer".

Now, moving deeper into intercessory prayer:
Too often we simply don't pray, because we don't think prayer works, God hears us, or God does what He wants without our input.

What if we stood on this... if we don't pray, it is not going to happen. How fast do we forget: "ask...and you shall receive. Seek...and you shall find... hmmm, seems to me we gotta ASK.

Intercession also involves plugging into the Holy Spirit, gaining alignment with Him
Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
BUT Romans 8:26,27 MUST be included....Getting the Holy Spirit involved/energizing our prayers.

In reality, God wants us to pray and to get involved (interceding) and when we really go for it, He has the Holy Spirit empower our prayers so it all (everything) works for the good....

It really is pleading with God for our needs and the needs of others as well as it is taking hold of God's will and not letting go until His will be done...here on earth as it is done in heaven.

This sometimes "manifests" in very emotional ways, it also is a very persevering-type of prayer. IN some older translations, "travailing" is used to refer to a woman in labor... and it is a great visual of an intense, time-consuming kind of experience...giving birth to God's will being done, prayer being answered, situation improving, and healing. It's a pressing on in prayer and working until we can grab hold of the will of God--apprehending it.

We (flesh), intercede in spirit, to the Spirit so that heaven comes down to earth.

Intercession is not really for "special" people, that is of course, unless you realize we as Christ-ians are all special. We are ALL called to be Christ-like...and Christ is an INTERCESSOR! It's what He does for us ALL THE TIME!

There's really no special "mojo" to be a radically empowered intercessor, other than to have a passion for praying over the issue or for the person you feel led to pray for. You DON'T need to even know WHAT to pray...Just pray and seek the Holy Spirit to get involved and let the cry of your inner person--your spirit cry out to the heart of God as the Holy Spirit guides you in faith.

God made some awesome plans for us to be involved in what happens on earth...in fact, we are so much in this partnership that there are things that DON'T happen because we didn't get involved through prayer....WOW, it's almost like God says, 'so without Me, you can do nothing. But without you, I will not.' God calls us to be in relationship with Him. When we are, He actively is involved in our lives, our issues, our needs, and OUR INTERCESSION!

What a great partnership we have in God! And it's the foundation of all that God wants from us and through us.... pretty darn cool!

And as we intercede, we become more like Christ, being transformed in the process; in the midst of trials. God doesn't make the trials and difficulties to MAKE US pray and turn to him. Yet, He will use them to ALLOW us to be involved, to call on the power of God to enter into the situation and transform it for His glory!

So help me out here with your comments, thoughts, questions....and answers!

Strengthen Yourself In The Lord - - Some Quotes!

2011-01-03T23:44:00.001-10:00

I'm sure many of you have heard me talk about this book, and it's effect on my life. I took some time tonight to revisit it and pulled some great quotes from the first chapter for you....

" King David...he is remembered not so much for the greatness of his actions, but for the greatness of his heart for God. His passionate heart set him apart in God's eyes long before he ever won great military victories, ... "

"... his pursuit of God was motivated by nothing but a desire to know God for His own sake."

"This trust indicated that David's heart for the Lord was not something that changed according to his circumstances. He had integrity of heart."

[Regarding King Saul] "Yet, without the strength of character that only comes by winning private battles, these public victories exposed the previously hidden weakness of Saul's heart toward God."

"Saul's rejection of him was the first sign that David's schooling for the kingship was based on testing his ability to believe and walk in the Word over his life, even when the circumstances seemed to completely oppose and deny his destiny."

"Under his leadership, these 'rejects' became his 'mighty men'...If you want to kill giants, follow a giant killer!"

"...those who seek God's face and pursue His destiny for their lives when nobody is around, are the people who possess the initiative required to strengthen themselves. If they learn to sustain their initiative to seek God by strengthening themselves in testing, they will be the people who will experience the personal breakthroughs that release a corporate blessing to those around them."

"God wants us to learn how to strengthen ourselves through Him because developing our skills will promote spiritual longevity."

AND MY FAVORITE AND MOST POWERFUL QUOTE:

"...for the sake of becoming mature and growing in favor so that we can bless those around us, God brings moments into our lives when we have to stand alone in difficulty and testing. God will even blind the eyes and deafen the ears of our closest friends in those moments so we can learn to minister to ourselves. We must recognize this because I know a lot of believers who fall into bitterness, thinking their friends are failing them in a hard time. Understanding God's priority to teach us this lesson helps us to avoid this trap."

The whole book is AWESOME and those are only the quotes from the first chapter!

***Strengthen Yourself In The Lord: How To Release The Hidden Power Of GOD In Your Life, by Bill Johnson

WINK- Available at Logos Bookstore....tell them I sent ya!

2011...For Such A Time As This!

2011-01-03T22:48:00.000-10:00

Okay, nothing too ponderous for my first entry...getting back into the "writer" mode (whatever that really is to me), but I do realize that God has me here (and you), at this specific time and place for His reasons...for such a time as this.

I'm thinking that we are here for a purpose.... His purpose, and even our own more selfish purpose....which one are we gonna choose at such a time as this....Remember that Uncle Mordecai reminded Queen Esther that she could let her EPIC moment pass her by....

So, some of the things I plan to write about (and hold me accountable to do so):
What is intercession - REALLY? (thanks NS, you got me ticking on this one all day)
Sold out Christianity vs. Mediocrity?
What does it mean to travail?
Cancer and Mental Illness...why are we seeing more MIRACLES?
What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

Which one shall I tackle FIRST?

Voting is now open via the comments....

Crisis of Faith... The Dark Night of the Soul

2010-08-17T20:33:00.002-10:00

St. John of the Cross wrote of "The Dark Night of the Soul" and even Mother Teresa of Calcutta spent many years in "the darkness" and "painful night" of her soul...these powerhouses for God passed through a crisis of faith...

I've experienced dark nights too, and I have found many of my Faith Brothers and Sisters have or are facing such difficult times too. From my own experiences, I don't fear them, or even believe I will lose my faith in God. Sure, I have FELT I was losing my faith, but I never believed what I was feeling. Somehow, in the very depths of who I am and because of what I have seen and experienced I know God is good and He is for me and not against me.

I've had to press through and pray through these times...and I am reminded of CS Lewis' demonic character's remarks in The Screwtape Letters (#8):

He cannot 'tempt' to virtue as we do to vice. He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away His hand; and if only the will to walk is really there He is pleased even with their stumbles. Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.

In an odd way, these painful times have strengthened my faith, that even when I don't see or feel God.... I know He is with me. It's almost like a storm, it will pass eventually, perhaps with damage, but it will pass and it will be time to rebuild and renew my strength.

Some things I am learning:

1) Journal the God stuff...answered prayers, miracles, provision from Heaven, prophecies, truths discovered.

2) Re-read what I've written.

3) Seek out books and people with testimonies of faith.

4) Plenty of knee time and worship time...

So, this is an unfinished post because I want US to dialogue through together....

Talk to me, what's on your mind?

Article I found: Hollywood vs Jesus

2009-01-29T08:05:00.002-10:00

It's been a while since I posted anything, and even this is not a true blog post. I found this article and I am curious to HEAR from you...your thoughts?

- Big Hollywood - http://bighollywood.breitbart.com -

Hollywood vs. Jesus

Posted By Skip Press On January 29, 2009 @ 7:54 am In Media Criticism, Politics | 16 Comments

[1]

I’ll watch just about anything starring Mira Sorvino. There’s a sincerity to her face, and a lovely vulnerability. Then of course, she has the best legs of any working actress. Couple this with the fact that I like religious themes in movies, and have since seeing “[2] The Robe” as a kid, that means I saw [3] NBC’s “The Last Templar” miniseries. Full disclosure: I’ll also generally watch anything produced by Robert Halmi. Also, the miniseries came from a [4] debut novel by Raymond Khoury, and I prefer novel to movie projects.

Once again, though, this Hollywood product was yet another mixed bag regarding Jesus. If you haven’t read the novel or seen the miniseries and plan to do either, stop right here, as I don’t want to spoil it for you. (Well, not completely…)

The “Maguffin” (as Alfred Hitchcock would say) that everyone is trying to find is a treasure from the Knights Templar. Instead of a vast room of gold, it turns out to be the Gospel of Yeshua, a scroll written by Jesus, that will explain he was just a man. So a monsignor with a hitman in tow who is actively killing people is trying to stop this, because obviously that will blow the “lie” of the Catholic church right out of the water it’s been walking on for 2,000 years. And the character who reveals himself to be “the last Templar” wants it to blow Christianity out of the water because of all the wars in the name of religion, you know? (No mention about all the wars involving Muslims, maybe Khoury and/or the screenwriter weren’t interested.) So the last Templar struggles with Tess (Mira Sorvino’s character) for the scroll and it flies off a cliff and into the sea.

CUT TO: Our last flashback of the Templars retreating from a Crusade who hid the scroll away in the first place, and we learn that they concocted the Book of Yeshua, made it all up, because they were sick of their Middle Eastern war and wanted to put an end to conflicts over religion.

Hmm… wonder how this project got greenlighted? Iraq my brain.

I have this friend who has had 170 titles published and sold 62 million copies of books and novels, largely in the Christian field. One set of novels he wrote with a partner created a new genre in publishing and resulted in a full page article in the New York Times about [5] Jerry Jenkins. So did any network rush forward to do a miniseries on the Left Behind series? Of course not.

Hollywood apparently has an ongoing conflict with Jesus, and it’s costing them a lot of money.

Maybe you saw [6] Kathy “D List” Griffin win an Emmy and declare “Suck it, Jesus!” Oh, she’s so funny, not, rapidly descending into the “used-to-be-funny-now-sadly-bitter” land of Rosie O’Donnell and Bill Maher. You probably saw Tom Hanks in “[7] The Da Vinci Code,” based on the best-selling novel that plays on the conceit that Jesus lived in the flesh after crucifixion, married, and had children. As I watched it I marveled at how many people worldwide are interested in Jesus, 2,000 years after he lived.

Matter of fact, Jesus sells better than any media material in the world. Mel Gibson’s ”[8] The Passion of the Christ“ made almost as much as “Da Vinci,” despite being filmed in Latin and Aramaic, with subtitles. Despite being turned down by every major studio, the independently-financed film had more pre-ticket sales than any other film in history, and is the highest-grossing R-rated film in U.S. box office history. It’s the only R-rated film allowed on the shelves at [9] Liberty University.

Yes, people like Jesus, and not just at the movies. Any guesses on the the longest running family drama on television? It beat “Little House on the Prairie” and “The Waltons“ for longevity. “[10] 7th Heaven,” about a minister, his stay-at-home wife, and their seven children (all named after people in the Bible), was continually the #1 show on The WB network during its ten seasons.

Michael Landon recognized the strength of the Christian audience. After Little House on the Prairie he had another hit with “[11] Highway to Heaven.” And ten years after that show began, “[12] Touched By An Angel” became a huge TV hit that ran almost a decade.

In 2008, one of the most profitable films in recent history was made. The [13] PG-rated “[14] Fireproof,” starring Kirk Cameron, is about a firefighter trying to save his marriage. Made for around half a million, [15] as Steve Mason reported on BigHollywood, “Fireproof” finished its theatrical run with $33,000,000 at the box office. What makes it so remarkable is that it was cooked up at a little church in Georgia.

There’s quite an audience for Christian-themed material, unless you realize that’s the largest identified audience in North America. According to his website, Pastor [16] Rick Warren’s “The Purpose Driven Life” “has sold 25 million copies and is the best-selling hardback book in American history, according to [17] Publisher’s Weekly.” Joel and Victoria Osteen, whose [18] Lakewood Church is housed in the 16,000 seat former Compaq Center in Houston, Texas, have 38,000 people attending their weekly services, with 200 million households in the US and people in over 100 nations around the world watching the TV broadcasts. Joel’s “Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential” spent over a year on the New York Times bestselling hardcover advice books list. Reportedly, the advance on his latest book was over $13,000,000. That’s movie star numbers. Have you seen a network TV special on either of these ministries? I haven’t, but it seems the ratings would be out the roof.

Hollywood had a long tradition of turning out movies with benevolent Christian themes, like “[19] Going My Way” with Bing Crosby. And who can forget how doing the right - and Christian - thing appeals to James Cagney at the last minute in “[20] Angels With Dirty Faces,” as he listens to the advice of his boyhood friend, a priest played by Pat O’Brien, and “turns yellow” before execution to dissuade some admiring young delinquents from emulating his life of crime?

You can blame the lack of such characters on the troubles of the predatory priests in the Catholic church, but doesn’t the fact that [21] Catholic charities is the largest private network of social service organizations in the United States compensate a little for this? When is the last time you saw a movie or TV show about all the Christian charity that goes on around the world?

Why Hollywood for the most part largely ignores the demonstrably huge box office and TV ratings numbers in the North American Christian viewing audience could be the subject of its own book. After all, the combined revenues from “The Da Vinci Code” and “The Passion of the Christ” approach two billion dollars. Mel Gibson and other filmmakers wise to this audience take their films to churches, where congregations are hungry for entertainment that doesn’t offend them. Why are major Hollywood products any more so derisive or challenging of the largest religion in the world, one based on benevolence and compassion? Why doesn’t Hollywood capitalize on that kind of potential?

It used to be different. The way it is now? Just seems like a sin.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Article printed from Big Hollywood: http://bighollywood.breitbart.com

URL to article: http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/spress/2009/01/29/hollywood-vs-jesus/

URLs in this post:
[1] Image: http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/files/2009/01/passion_of_christ_mel_gibson_director.jpg
[2] The Robe: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046247/
[3] NBC’s “The Last Templar” miniseries: http://www.nbc.com/the-last-templar/
[4] debut novel by Raymond Khoury: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Templar
[5] Jerry Jenkins: http://www.jerryjenkins.com/
[6] Kathy “D List” Griffin win an Emmy and declare “Suck it, Jesus!”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re-8MeEBUJ8
[7] The Da Vinci Code: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0382625/
[8] The Passion of the Christ: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0335345/
[9] Liberty University: http://www.liberty.edu
[10] 7th Heaven: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115083/
[11] Highway to Heaven: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086730/
[12] Touched By An Angel: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108968/
[13] PG-rated: http://www.mpaa.org/FlmRat_Ratings.asp
[14] Fireproof: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1129423/
[15] as Steve Mason reported on BigHollywood: http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/smason/2009/01/24/fireproof/
[16] Rick Warren’s “The Purpose Driven Life: http://www.purposedrivenlife.com/
[17] Publisher’s Weekly: http://www.publishersweekly.com/
[18] Lakewood Church: http://www.lakewood.cc
[19] Going My Way: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036872/
[20] Angels With Dirty Faces: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029870/
[21] Catholic charities: http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org

Click here to print.

Copyright © 2008 Big Hollywood. All rights reserved.

Who Will Cry For The Little Boy?

2008-11-03T20:27:00.002-10:00

I was just watching, Antwone Fisher, a really good movie... This is a poem by Antwone Fisher and used in the movie.

Who Will Cry For The Little Boy

Who will cry for the little boy, lost and all alone?
Who will cry for the little boy, abandoned without his own?
Who will cry for the little boy? He cried himself to sleep.
Who will cry for the little boy? He never had for keeps.
Who will cry for the little boy? He walked the burning sand.
Who will cry for the little boy? The boy inside the man.
Who will cry for the little boy? Who knows well hurt and pain.
Who will cry for the little boy? He died and died again.
Who will cry for the little boy? A good boy he tried to be.
Who will cry for the little boy, who cries inside of me?"

by Antwone Fisher

Gosh, I so relate to this poem...just wanted to share this will you all and be real.

K

burnt sacrifice

2008-10-29T22:45:00.006-10:00

...imagine that you're a prostitute who's keeping a journal:

My pen is on fire
and these words I write
are the burnt sacrifice
placed at your alter every night.

Nightmares claim me as their concubine
their wicked fingers grope my dreams
as they whisper that they love me
I laugh at their inhumanity
cuz I know what true love is.

So what if I was bought and sold
to a brothel on the far side of the sea,
so what if death toys with my body?
I swear I never whored my soul
and still I give allegiance to the only truth I know
Certainly miracles are meant for me.

Every night I'm raped by despair,
yet fear will never impregnate me
I chant grandma's healing prayer
and worship til you take me
for a ride on the wings of dawn,
you lift me higher than the eye can see
Together we transcend reality.

You set me free.

El Espejo

2008-10-28T21:38:00.003-10:00

The following is my first shot at short fictional writing, it was actually written about 3 months ago, and I was too timid to post it anywhere... It just seems like the right time now...

I have to WARN YOU there is PROFANITY and SENSITIVE ISSUES expressed, so you may want to stop right now.

Also, this is a composite of people, stories shared with me, my own personal issues, thought and simple FICTION. I had so much fun writing this.

Otherwise, welcome to El Espejo.....

El Espejo

As we walk up to each other, he smiles at me and with a twinkle in his eyes says something witty, though what I really notice is the sadness behind his eyes. Those eyes are piercing; they say so much and hid so much more.

Looking closely, I can tell he must have been reading before we walked up to each other, because I can see those small indentations around his nose from his recently acquired reading glasses he tries not to use; and never in public. Time is catching up to him.

His hair is slightly graying; more wrinkles cover his face; there seems to be less hair visible on his head; and he bares a few scars on him. Some of the scars are visible on his skin, others would only be found by knowing his life story or if you could look into his heart.

His body aches, his joints are stiffer, and when he sits too long in one position it hurts his hip. Time is catching up to him as his sight is weakening, and he doesn’t move like he did when he was in his twenties, in his thirties, or even a few years ago when he rounded forty. For sure, time is catching up with him and I see him take a big sigh, and again, I see the sadness behind his eyes.

Most people wouldn’t see what I’ve learned to see, in fact, most people thinks he’s always happy, positive, and there to stand strong for them. They don’t see what I see right now.

“Shit happens,” he gruffly chuckles, as he seems to know I am reading his eyes and his body language.

I can also see he is attempting to shrug off the tears and sadness he’s holding back.

I ask how is he doing, and he opens a small crack in the public shell he keeps polished by the front door.

He says, “I’m tired, that’s all.”

Again, he shrugs, as his eyes come up and looks right back at me, there’s something more, something deeper and darker… I just keep smiling and looking him in the face.

His eyes glance away from mine, and I hear him again, sigh and then shudder.

Looking back into my eyes, now his eyes seem softer and a feeling of brokenness comes over me as he says, “Man, I am really lonely.”

“I thought so,” I say as gently as I can.

“It’s not a new feeling, I’ve felt this way much of my life. I mean, I’ve put up with it, fought against it, tried to ignore it, tried even to accept it and even tried to die to it.

Now, crap, I’m just tired of feeling lonely. Please make it go away,” he says, as he looks right into my eyes, piercing my soul and I have to catch my breath before I reply.

I tell him, “I can help, but I can’t make it go away. I know God is with you.”

He slumps his shoulders a bit, “I know that, and I know God is with me, though you gotta admit it doesn’t take all the loneliness away. Come on, I can’t take God out to dinner; He doesn’t go swimming, or wanna call me up and ask me to go out somewhere. Even my ‘friends’ don’t call me like I need, I’m always the one who calls them, I make the effort to go see them. Otherwise, I’m home alone. You know that’s the truth.”

I’m speechless, as he continues.

“You know what I am talking about and even my best friend lives clear across the country and we only can talk on occasion. It’s not even that I think it’s unfair, duh, everyone has their own life to live, we each got responsibilities and priorities, I…I, ah heck, I just wish I was someone’s priority,” he says, nearly raising his voice, not in anger, but definitely frustrated and he’s hurting.

I say nothing, and just stand there before him.

“Look, people do call me, it is just that they usually call me when they want something FROM me, they don’t call because they simply WANT me. I’m a useful tool, a fucking resource to be tapped into….

I hear from two “friends” that preach about love and that we are Brothers-in-Christ, and a whole lot of other sweet sounding Christianese shit, but they only call when THEY need something; when it fits their schedule, and they call me when they want me to be THEIR sounding board; or some other crap. Shit, no one that really matters to me even remembered my FUCKING birthday! How is it that my co-workers remembered but my ‘friends’ didn’t,” saying this, it is clear he’s really wound up now.

He continues, “Love isn’t something that can be preached, it simply is or it isn’t there… You feel it and respond or you don’t feel it and don’t respond. I’m just saying it’s not something around me much...I am not personally loved. Corporately loved, appreciated by my church and my work, yeah. It is just that I don’t I feel special in anyone’s life. I don’t matter enough.

Heck, you can’t even do anything about it. I just wish I was like a rock in that Simon and Garfunkel song… no feelings, no emotions, no pain, no hurt.”

“Wow, that doesn’t sound good,” I say in all sincerity.

“He looks back at me and says, “Should it? What am I to do? Do I continue shelving my dreams and desires on a high shelf of my spirit because not wanting will be less painful? Is this something that I need to bury deep in my heart where it either kills a piece of my heart or where it lays painfully untreated, not addressed, like a cancer.

I’ve been doing that, I think that’s why I talking to you now. To bring it all up and out into the light and then discuss this with you and God is listening too. I am sure He will speak into this too, either directly or perhaps indirectly…either way, it requires me to grab it and be accountable to admitting these things.

You and I both have seen how some people seem to live off of low expectations and mediocrity so things don’t hurt so much…it’s not far to fall if you stay low, you know.”

He laughs as he goes on, “Most people accept their lot in life, and I’m not even sure that I can try to do that anymore. I’m hurting AND I’m hopeful. I’m impatient AND I’m trying to be still and wait…May I say that I am actively waiting? Oddly enough, there is this part of me that would rather dream, scream, and shout for these things to manifest in my life and should they not happen…heck, at least I tried. Or should I just keep my head down low?

There’s a worldly truth in the old Japanese saying, ‘the nail that sticks up gets hammered down.’ Well, I’m still sticking up, and I’m not sure if I should move or that I will be moved, instead.

Is change even possible, can we change God’s mind?

I still think I should try; I just don’t know how to, nor am I sure He’ll do that all for me” with that he becomes silent before me.

“Are you that depressed,” I ask.

“Depressed? No, just tired of feeling unloved; just tired of not feeling special to someone, tired that I don’t have the one big thing I feel I deserve…look at me, in my mid-forties, single, and barely making ends meet, I’m a fucking loser, just like my Dad, and that is something I vowed I didn’t want to happen….crap,” he shakes his head and shakes his fists towards me, yet, I it’s not at me.

With a moment to catch his breath and corral his thoughts he speaks, “I know a family of my own is so much on my heart, and I’m not blind to think that things would be all roses once I had a family. Come on, you know me well enough to know I have seen and heard all the difficulties. I simply want those problems, I want a wife to disagree with; to argue with; to have to discipline my kids; open myself to being hurt…I know I was meant for love, I do that good, I WANT TO BE LOVED! Do you get it?” he says somewhat controlled and yet, tears begin to form.
He looks right at me and says, “Don’t get all Bibled up on me; I just want to be real for a moment, to be human and share with you how I feel. Understand that I know God will never leave me, nor forsake me. I know He loves me and I love Him.

Okay, I also admit that I am impatient and for that matter there is no guarantee that I will ever have a family of my own to love. I missed that chapter and now I’m in my mid-forties. You know there is no way you can tell me what the future has in store for me and I am tired of well-meaning Christians spewing verses meant for the nation of Israel as if God was speaking to me. That is abusing Scripture and sure, there is truth in there. Don’t do a blanket toss from the Bible.” He stops talking and we just look at each other.

“There are other people who have it worse than you,” I say.

“Fuck you, is that supposed to make me feel better? No shit Sherlock, I mourn for them too, I mourn for those of my friends who hurt, I mourn for widows, orphans, divorcees’ and those, like me, who are lonely and unwed. You moron, it doesn’t change HOW I FEEL, now does it?” shaking his head at me, now definitely AT me, as he continues, “please, please, please, don’t now jump to the, ‘well maybe it’s God’s will for you,’ load of garbage either,” he takes a breath.

He continues, “God is God and God is good, He has never blessed a storm, he doesn’t make bad things happen, nor does He waste opportunities to reveal His love through the things in life. Hear me out, I am accountable for the choices I’ve made in my past; the things He has shown me to work on and that I am slow to do; and for the things I rejected. I even have to accept that the world is a mess and none of that is God’s will.
No, I’m not going to cop that on God.

I admit there are things in this world that simply suck. I think it sucks for a woman to lose her husband to cancer and now she has to raise two great kids alone. I think it sucks that diseases are not cured, or healed, or for that matter that disease even exists. Why little children should suffer? Don’t say it’s God’s will, because it is not. Even higher gas prices and the price of tea in China are to be blamed on God, no, nada, not. Look, we simply live in a fallen world and we have freewill.

Since the beginning of the earth and throughout today and beyond we’ve made choices and listened to voices that are not God’s. These come from within our own flesh, from the material world around us, and from the enemy of God.

Huh, I know this life I complain about is not God’s will, and I know He can and will use these things in the end to His purposes, but nah, He didn’t cause it, and I can man up to my fair share of mistakes, disobedience, choices, and freewill” he says with finality.

“I apologize for going for the “go to” canned answer earlier, you caught me off guard, and heck, I almost did say that it must be God’s will for you, I am so sorry,” I sheepishly admit.

“There, now you are being real, and I forgive you, thanks for that little bit” he says with even a little satisfaction and smirk.

I look right into his eyes and say, “I realize I have no answers for you, no one does, what I have to offer you is my ears to hear you, and a heart to stand here with you. I’ll also keep praying and keep asking God to grant the desires of your heart, without guarantees that everything will go your way on earth, okay?”

“Okay, that’s all I want, yes, prayers do help and I am sure whatever God’s plans for me are; those plans will be those that best fit His purposes… I submit to that, I just needed an ear to listen to me and to say, ‘yeah, that sucks.” He still looks right at me.

“Yeah, that sucks.” I chuckle.

“There it is. Look God’s equation of life and his level of mathematics’ is so huge and so beyond our comprehension that somehow disasters, horrors, pain, sorrow, suffering, unfulfilled dreams are mixed with laughter, joy, blessings, and fortunes to somehow come together for the good of the Kingdom of God, and I am not going to try to understand something I can’t. It’s a waste of time, and I doubt I am smart enough to even ask the right questions, let alone know any answers.

I am also sure God will answer me, to the level I can understand and only when I really need to understand it, Some things he holds to explain over time and it is that pace and length of time that my relationship with Him is getting real and better. I do trust God, and as I am human and frail, I get frustrated, no not at God, not even totally at me… just frustrated at the situation, condition, affects of whateva’ prevents me from what I want and from what I ‘feel” I deserve…that is even a loaded statement.

Look, I am going to try surrender the things that are beyond my comprehension and reach and to accept the things I do understand, and once in a while, I going to come to you and speak some new sad, crying-out to God kind of psalms to you, grieving over my life… David wrote a few and now I am.

Don’t misunderstand all of this, I think it is healthy to face this straight on and be real, even expose myself, I usually suck it up quite well and I am sure once we’re done here, I’ll go back to being that strong person for everyone else.” He says with a sense of closure and serenity even.

“I’m cool with that, and I too like counting on you. I’ll try to be a bit more sensitive to what’s going on in your heart and let’s check in again more often, okay?” I ask.

“Yes, thanks that would be good.” He says as he cracks a smile and turns away.

We both turn at the same time, and as I walk away, I take on last glance back at….the mirror (el espejo).

I Can't Make You Love Me

2008-10-27T22:05:00.001-10:00

Bonnie Raitt wrote a marvelous song that has remained one of my favorite songs of all times, I Can't Make You Love Me. It is a great R&B song with such sad yet honest lyrics....

Turn down the lights, turn down the bed
Turn down these voices inside my head
Lay down with me, tell me no lies
Just hold me close, don't patronize - don't patronize me

Chorus:
Cause I can't make you love me if you don't
You can't make your heart feel something it won't
Here in the dark, in these lonely hours
I will lay down my heart and I'll feel the power
But you won't, no you won't
'cause I can't make you love me, if you don't

I'll close my eyes, then I won't see
The love you don't feel when you're holding me
Morning will come and I'll do what's right
Just give me till then to give up this fight
And I will give up this fight

Chorus:
Cause I can't make you love me if you don't
You can't make your heart feel something it won't
Here in the dark, in these lonely hours
I will lay down my heart and I'll feel the power
But you won't, no you won't
'cause I can't make you love me, if you don't

I was hanging with a good friend last night and we got to talking about classic songs, classic times in our lives, and classic pain...

So today, I popped this song on after some contemplation of stuff going on in my life, or rather, stuff NOT going on in my life. Things lost, gained, changed, and coming forth.

I find it fun to look (hear) how the secular world talks of love and great things like that.

So, what if this song was from God to His bride--the Church? Our freewill can cause us to chose not to love Him. Our freewill can supersede His will and intentions for us...it has happened before. Our freewill can cause us to act like we are near Him and yet all we are really doing is patronizing Him.

Sure, this is not the perfect song to talk about the loss of our First Love...yet, pretty much has got me thinking about the times I got my mind and priorities all screwed up... missed the mark and pulled away from the God who loves me...yet, I have chosen at times to withhold from Him, love.

I'm in a place right now, that when I think of His love for me, I want to sing Natalie Merchant's, Kind and Generous to God:

La-La-La-La-La...

You've been so kind and generous, I don't know how you keep on giving
For your kindness I'm in debt to you
For your selflessness, my admiration
For everything you've done, you know I'm bound,
I'm bound to thank you for it....

La-La-La-La-La...
Hey-hey-hey-hey-hey...

You've been so kind and generous, I don't know how you keep on giving
For your kindness I'm in debt to you
And I never could have come this far without you
For everything you've done, you know I'm bound,
I'm bound to thank you for it....

La-La-La-La-La...

Oh,
I want to thank you for so many gifts you gave, the love and tenderness,

I wanna thank you
I want to thank you for your generosity,
the love and the honesty that you gave me
I want to thank you, show my gratitude, my love and my respect for you,
I wanna thank you

Oh I want to thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you,
thank you

So, now here's the challenge...what song do you think of about Your love for God and what song do you think of about His love for you?
(No you can't use Christian songs for either question...unless you come up blank)

A Tall Tale..A Fiction of Course

2008-10-18T19:32:00.001-10:00

Imagine you are the owner of a large widget company. You started out, just you making and selling widgets. They were the most excellent of widgets and people clamored for you to make more widgets. Soon your business began to grow and grow and grow. You started bringing other people on board to help you. They came with some skills, talents, and even passion for your widgets. They liked how you ran your company, your mastery of making widgets, and they took pride in working for you.

Over time, the work became more demanding and the initial thrill of working for the best widget company wore away. In its place came complaints that the widget design needed to be changed. Grumblings started that you didn't know what you were doing and that you were wrong. Your employees began to feel they were entitled to speak disrespectfully, call you at home, and even yell and slam the phone; hanging up mid-conversation.

What would you do with employees like that?

Would you pay them any longer; fire them?

Would you allow your own children to talk to you in such a disrespectful manner?

Would you want to be around a spouse that talks to that way?

If this behavior occurred in a court room, before a judge, what would happen?

If someone spoke this way to their teacher, what would happen?

Would they talk this way to themselves?

Would they speak this way to the face of God?

How would you feel if some people did this to you in just a week, a month, a year?

If knowing this kind of behavior, would you hire people like this?

Are these attributes that God blesses?

How would you feel if this behavior became the culture of the company and every employee felt they could violate common understandings of respect for those in authority over them; those in the lead.

How would a General respond to a Lieutenant who talked this way?

What makes an employee think they are entitled to speak in such a way?

The Bible says to work for people as if you were directly working for God. Do you think these employees have ever read or understood that passage?

“How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest part of your income, but you ignore the important things of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but you should not leave undone the more important things. Blind guides! You strain your water so you won't accidentally swallow a gnat; then you swallow a camel!

Now, none of these widget employees have ever been an owner of a company and not one of them have the talents, skills, or balls to ever try to manage more then their tiny little cubicles and yet they seem to be able to tell you, your faults, shortcomings and problems. They are ineffective in motivating others within their cubicles, they've done poorly at drawing in more employees or customers to enjoy your widgets, they whine and pout daily that things are so hard, and they seek first to complain. They seem to think they have the whole world figured out, yet their own cubicle is a mess.

“How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! You are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! Blind Pharisees! First wash the inside of the cup, and then the outside will become clean, too."

They are simply taking liberties with you (liberties: a too free, too familiar, or impertinent action or attitude). Would you even want to listen to them?

“How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people's bones and all sorts of impurity. You try to look like upright people outwardly, but inside your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness."

There you are the lead person in the company, concerned for so many things, the widgets, the customers, AND the employees. In fact, you are so concerned about the well-being of the company and its affect on the community, you have decided to forgo receiving any compensation from the earnings of the company. You basically are the hardest working, most concerned, most passionate, and most compassionate VOLUNTEER there...and you find people pooping in your Cheerios. There are days where you look up and think, "shucks, I don't get paid enough for this crap."

“How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you build tombs for the prophets your ancestors killed and decorate the graves of the godly people your ancestors destroyed. Then you say, ‘We never would have joined them in killing the prophets."

Don't you wish people (I won't even say Christians...non-Christians seem to be nicer) would grant you liberty (freedom or release from slavery, imprisonment, captivity, or any other form of arbitrary control) instead of taking liberties with you?

Why do "Christians" treat non-believers better than they treat those they are close to, in ministry with, go to church with?

"Yes, how terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn him into twice the son of hell as you yourselves are."

It is a sad thing that the Bible says nothing about being respectful; showing love for one another; about being helpful; or any other silly notion of kindness, joy, peace, or self-control. Wait a minute, it DOES, in fact, it says plenty about it... It is time for some employees to ask for forgiveness. Unfortunately, I don't have time to write out the end of the story...Maybe the widget company will have to close its doors. Maybe the owner of the widget company will be crucified, or stoned to death. Maybe things will get better...

Thank goodness this is just a tall tale, a fiction of course.

Law of Undulation: Peaks and Troughs/Hills and Valleys

2008-10-16T11:16:00.002-10:00

Having had such a radical upswing in the Holy Spirit’s move in my life over the past year, and especially in the past few short months; I and others are wondering how sustainable being “up on the mountain top” is in the long run. So these valleys, troughs, and lowlands are also a part of life.

Trying to think this through, I know there are times that feel like long dry seasons, with no end in sight. Then I pull back and look at things from God's eyes, and I realize they are milliseconds; just momentary pauses so to speak.

C.S. Lewis wrote of the law of undulation, and it could apply to what is going on with the move of the Holy Spirit, manifested evidence of the supernatural, dunimus-type power, and even the lack of one or more of those too...things do go up and down.

I also hold to God speaking through nature; it takes time for a seed to germinate, it takes a freeze for apples to be produced, and it takes harsh weather and struggle for grapes to produce the qualities to make a great wine. Seasons are there for a reason and every season serves a purpose.

Even within a season, there are undulations in the conditions and weather. Even within a season there are so many changes…

So I should not be surprised by change, undulation, dry spells, or huge downpours…enjoy them all and stand in awe of God through it all.

I continue to contend for more of the Holy Spirit in my life and in the life of the Church. I also am working on being settled into the palm of Our Lord, that He knows what He's doing, and I just need to be the person he wants me to be.

I remember hearing someone say, in my response to my question on how best to pray: It's not what you pray or how you pray that matters; it is WHO you are when you are praying that does matter. I'll take that and also apply it to spiritual gifts, ministry, supernatural encounters, and in relationships.... working on WHO I am...and helping, guiding and encouraging others in their walk too.

So, this law of undulation is actually a great workout…getting me spiritually buff! There are times when it is full-bore powerful, with supersets of spiritual exercise and outpourings… There are also times of rest, of refining some of the basics of Christian fitness or even mixing things up a bit so as to cause a bit of “spiritual muscle confusion” so that my spirit does not get used to doing things the same way all the time…hitting a plateau and hindering any further growth. My spirit also needs some rest—even active rest, to allow for healing, mending, and creation of more spiritual muscle packed with God’s dunimus power!

I know I am sort of all over the place on this blog, yet I don’t apologize. I think this is also an exercise in mixing things up and breaking down some of the walls and hindrances in my thinking and writing. How fun is that! I’ll be back up on the mountain soon enough… It’s just my hope, desire, and passion, to grab some more people to join me on the trek.

God Our High Place, ROCKS!

NOTE:
If you want to quickly read the Law of Undulation element...click this link to my earlier blog entry...Letter #8 from Screwtape Letters (C.S. Lewis) is near the end of the entry.

Tempt To Virtue

http://faithbrothers.blogspot.com/2008/10/tempt-to-virtue.html

Keiger

Consider It Pure Joy!

2008-10-12T23:31:00.002-10:00

The Word of God says it all...James 1:2-4

Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations.
Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience.
But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.
AMP

Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.
MSG

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
NASB

Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.
NLT

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
NLTse

My brothers and sisters, when you have many kinds of troubles, you should be full of joy, because you know that these troubles test your faith, and this will give you patience. Let your patience show itself perfectly in what you do. Then you will be perfect and complete and will have everything you need.
NCV

My brothers and sisters, be very happy when you are tested in different ways. You know that such testing of your faith produces endurance. Endure until your testing is over. Then you will be mature and complete, and you won't need anything.
GWT

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
TNIV

What is perseverance?

* Perseverance is commitment, hard work, patience, endurance.
* Perseverance is being able to bear difficulties calmly and without complaint.
* Perseverance is trying again and again.

Tempt To Virtue?

2008-10-12T03:03:00.000-10:00

I have been struck by this quote from Rory and Wendy Alec, producers of God.tv:

"...the Lord said something to us some years ago - He said - When you hate sin because it HURTS ME - then it will lose its grip on you. When you hate sin because it displeases ME - its hold diminishes."

As I've written before, there is a prayer I say nearly everyday, "Lord, please teach me to hate the sins I currently love." And through time and culling of sinful, distasteful habits, behaviors, and thoughts I'm moving more towards the light and more Christlike in my life. Am I there yet? Not even close, yet further along then I was a year or more ago...each day--a step in the right direction. I think C.S. Lewis spoke of me when he wrote, "Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased" (The Weight of Glory).

It drives me a bit crazy that I am so easily pleased and so vulnerable in certain aspects of my life and that I am not totally surrendering some of the sins I still love. I long for the day when the character of Jesus Christ will be fully formed in me and I will move consistently and completely in the gifting the Holy Spirit pours over my life. For now I can only mumble a portion of what Paul wrote, "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me" (1 Corinthians 15:10).

I am such an unfinished work of God, and working out my salvation...with fear and trembling; a total reverence for God. I must try to maintain those few areas of my life that have already been refined and cleansed by God and continue to tackle the many areas of my life that are still in need of serious attention and purging. It's not something I can do alone, no, I need God's strength, the Holy Spirit's counsel, and the prayers and sharpening of the Body of Christ... I need you.

I think the stuff God is revealing as dross up in me...and some day some to dross OUT of me is a bit painful...but it sure has my attention and it has me turning deep in my being to God. I like what C.S. Lewis said of this pain: "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world" (The Problem of Pain). He sure has shouted to me of late.

I am surprised at how God uses me and takes such risks on me every day. I totally trip out how in my weakness He is strong...for I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. God's amazing grace is truly amazing and He knows what I am made of and yet still uses me and allows His will to be done through my life. I ponder how many times I halted, hindered, detracted from His will being completed through me? How does my freewill play into the possibilities of God? Wow, that sure gets me thinking and wanting to work harder at hearing AND obeying Him.

Lastly, I find it truly amazing, yes, amazing that God enjoys seeing me try...and even fail, yet trying again... to follow Christ; to love God; heed the counsel of the Holy Spirit; and to choose God. Yeah, I'm not down on myself right now, though I am conscious of a need to press through on some things "sticking" to me and that I need to work on with God. I am seeking His joy even as I go through some internal hardships combined with some external struggles and unfulfilled desires...just like everyone else I suppose is too.

I just love letter 8 from Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis. This a great book and this is my most favorite letter from it. The book is a great study via reverse theology, as one demon writes to his apprentice nephew about the life of a Christian.

I will leave you with this letter and I hope you will read it over a few times:

VIII

MY DEAR WORMWOOD,

So you "have great hopes that the patient's religious phase is dying away", have you? I always thought the Training College had gone to pieces since they put old Slubgob at the head of it, and now I am sure. Has no one ever told you about the law of Undulation?

Humans are amphibians—half spirit and half animal. (The Enemy's determination to produce such a revolting hybrid was one of the things that determined Our Father to withdraw his support from Him.) As spirits they belong to the eternal world, but as animals they inhabit time. This means that while their spirit can be directed to an eternal object, their bodies, passions, and imaginations are in continual change, for to be in time means to change. Their nearest approach to constancy, therefore, is undulation—the repeated return to a level from which they repeatedly fall back, a series of troughs and peaks. If you had watched your patient carefully you would have seen this undulation in every department of his life—his interest in his work, his affection for his friends, his physical appetites, all go up and down. As long as he lives on earth periods of emotional and bodily richness and liveliness will alternate with periods of numbness and poverty. The dryness and dulness through which your patient is now going are not, as you fondly suppose, your workmanship; they are merely a natural phenomenon which will do us no good unless you make a good use of it.

To decide what the best use of it is, you must ask what use the Enemy wants to make of it, and then do the opposite. Now it may surprise you to learn that in His efforts to get permanent possession of a soul, He relies on the troughs even more than on the peaks; some of His special favourites have gone through longer and deeper troughs than anyone else. The reason is this. To us a human is primarily good; our aim is the absorption of its will into ours, the increase of our own area of selfhood at its expense. But the obedience which the Enemy demands of men is quite a different thing. One must face the fact that all the talk about His love for men, and His service being perfect freedom, is not (as one would gladly believe) mere propaganda, but an appalling truth. He really does want to fill the universe with a lot of loathsome little replicas of Himself—creatures, whose life, on its miniature scale, will be qualitatively like His own, not because He has absorbed them but because their wills freely conform to His. We want cattle who can finally become food; He wants servants who can finally become sons. We want to suck in, He wants to give out. We are empty and would be filled; He is full and flows over. Our war aim is a world in which Our Father Below has drawn all other beings into himself: the Enemy wants a world full of beings united to Him but still distinct.

And that is where the troughs come in. You must have often wondered why the Enemy does not make more use of His power to be sensibly present to human souls in any degree He chooses and at any moment. But you now see that the Irresistible and the Indisputable are the two weapons which the very nature of His scheme forbids Him to use. Merely to over-ride a human will (as His felt presence in any but the faintest and most mitigated degree would certainly do) would be for Him useless. He cannot ravish. He can only woo. For His ignoble idea is to eat the cake and have it; the creatures are to be one with Him, but yet themselves; merely to cancel them, or assimilate them, will not serve. He is prepared to do a little overriding at the beginning. He will set them off with communications of His presence which, though faint, seem great to them, with emotional sweetness, and easy conquest over temptation. But He never allows this state of affairs to last long. Sooner or later He withdraws, if not in fact, at least from their conscious experience, all those supports and incentives. He leaves the creature to stand up on its own legs—to carry out from the will alone duties which have lost all relish. It is during such trough periods, much more than during the peak periods, that it is growing into the sort of creature He wants it to be. Hence the prayers offered in the state of dryness are those which please Him best. We can drag our patients along by continual tempting, because we design them only for the table, and the more their will is interfered with the better. He cannot "tempt" to virtue as we do to vice. He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away His hand; and if only the will to walk is really there He is pleased even with their stumbles. Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger, than when a human, no longer desiring, but intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.

But of course the troughs afford opportunities to our side also. Next week I will give you some hints on how to exploit them,

Your affectionate uncle
SCREWTAPE

Peace Out

2008-10-05T23:30:00.006-10:00

I've been a bit quiet on the blogfront. I just haven't been in the mood to talk about what God's been doing in my life, mostly because I've been having a hard time discerning God's voice from mine. So stupid, huh? I doubt my giggly girly voice is anything like God's, and yet, the question that constantly pops up is: Is it him or is it me?

I'm beginning to sort things out, and I'm also realizing that my questions are too big to keep to myself. :P

This is my senior year at UH, and it's a pretty confusing time for my classmates and me; it's a time to make some pretty big choices. My decision:

I applied for the Peace Corps.

Whether I'm accepted or not is up to the Lord... I have my interview soon, and if that goes well, then a very comprehensive health examination that will take months to complete. So even though I don't know if I'll get into the program, I do know that it's what I really, really want.

I've been afraid to tell fellow Christians about this decision because I was afraid of being asked questions like: Why not do a mission? Why not join a Christian organization? Why not do something Spirit-led?

These were the questions I feared.

Sure, one day I'd like to go abroad for the sole purpose of spreading the gospel, but not now.

I just want to get away, go to another country, take on a humble yet important job, help people and even more, help myself. I want to remove myself from everything familiar to pray and contemplate in the unfamiliar . I want to get to know myself - my strengths, my weaknesses, and mostly, my limits. I want to be pushed and tested, and I want to come out with a clearer idea of who God's made me to be. Then I'll go back to school.

That's my plan. Doesn't sound very Christian, huh? I know, it's completely selfish (I want, I want, I want) -- too selfish for a Christian organization. That's just one of several reasons I actually like the fact that it's a government-run program.

But the funny thing is that the more I pray about it, the more I become convinced that God is supportive of what I want. I'm aware of how likely it is that my stubbornness is keeping me from hearing God in truth, but another part of me believes that no matter what, he won't abandon me. He'll never, ever let go.

Wherever the Peace Corps puts me (if I'm accepted) God is already there. It's just a different environment and capacity in which I can try my best to love others. At the very least, I have peace about that.

But still, I'm wrestling with bigger questions:

Is it better to wait until God tells you what action to take? Or do you propose an action to God?

Is it really possible to get past your own desires? I suppose everything's possible, but what kind of faith does that take?

And this whole "dying to yourself" thing -- does it mean that I should always put aside my desires? Does obedience involve fighting off every desire? Are all of my desires out of line with God's?

While I appreciate the fact that God doesn't operate within the constraints of a formula, sometimes I just wish I was a little better at figuring him out!

- kacie

The Joy of the LORD

2008-10-03T13:29:00.002-10:00

Do we really understand this when we hear it; “the joy of the LORD”? I wonder how many times I’ve flipped it and mistakenly heard it as, “the joy of ME”. Seriously, I am so myopic in my view of life…after all, isn’t all about me?

If I am truly seeking the joy of the LORD, then I am seeking those things, those attitudes, those purposes, and those desires that give God joy…ohhh, that’s sure different, ain’t it. I mean, don’t we so often think that we were created for our pleasure, that our happiness and joy is what it is all about? We consider it pure joy when we get what we want and we act like spoiled little kids when my genie image of God is shattered; when He is silent to our tantrums, to our selfish desires, to our mean-spirited ambitions. Isn’t it wise to look after what we want in life…after all, it’s all about me, right?

I’d be afraid to ask God to tally up how many times I asked Him for silly, self-pleasing stuff versus how many times I asked Him about what I could do for Him…that would please Him? I shudder to see how lop-sided that would look…yikes.

For a time now, I’ve tried to start out my day, asking God what I could do today to please Him. I also ask at the end of my day, what things I did that DID please God. And YES, I just so happen to have it posted on my PDA each day to remind me. LOL.

So, when was the last time YOU asked God, “Lord, what pleases You? What will place a smile on Your face? What can I do for You, Abba, Father, Papa God?”

Hmmmm.

Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

To get the desires of your heart is to delight yourself in the LORD…to be in pursuit of the things that delight, please, bless the LORD. When that condition is met and matched than of course He will give you the desires of your heart. It’s because they become one and the same…they fit into His joy and it pleases him.

We need to understand that God takes pleasure in the things that interest us and that He is a loving Father that gives us good things…and those things must match His nature and His will and purposes for our lives.

It is important to look at God in relationship rather than just as the ultimate provider. I need to be in relationship with Him, to also seek His delight…the joy of MY Lord.

It is not a genie-in-a-bottle situation; it is a loving Father who truly knows what is best for us….and He does want to give us the desires of our hearts…. Don’t you want to do the same for Him?

Daddy, I want to give you the desires of Your heart. What can I do right now to place a smile on Your face and glint in Your eye?

“If Only” and “What If” Ramblings

2008-09-30T12:04:00.001-10:00

I am processing some of the things I’ve been going through; the current sermon series on the Book of James; the comments and conversations with others; and from my own time in the Word. I guess you can say that this entry is the third installment, which started with “Obedience over Happiness” and following, “A Life worth Living.” Let’s see where this one takes us…

It got me really pondering my life when Jordan said, “you can let your trust in God change the way you see your circumstances, or you can let your circumstances change the way you trust God.” Yeah, how often do I listen to my own whining or the voices of the world and the enemy that displaces my trust in Papa? Wow, guilty as charged…

See, when I get caught up in the enemy’s ploy to get stuck in the “if only” and the “what if” cycle of worry, fantasy, and replay of my past or “wishful” future, I am not trusting God nor am I relying on true rooted, seated faith. I’m really second-guessing God. When I am second-guessing God I do not trust Him, nor do I really believe that God loves me, has only the best intentions AND plans for me… I just fell for the enemy’s scheme of half-believing God…doubting His Word and His love for me.

The enemy of God comes like a thief, like a lion, and steals, kills, and destroys… sometimes through the doubt-filled seeds of “if only” and “what if.”

I’m sure we could all fill in the blanks to “if only” and “what if”….

If only I had…; if only I could…; if only he had…; if only she would….

Then there is what if he could…; what if she had…; what if I would…

One thing to consider is how much of our frets, worries, and struggles are really small? I don’t doubt some of us have and will deal with MAJOR stuff, yet so often I get caught up in really small things or make them to be bigger than my God…displacing Him and my trust in Him, to this “monster-sized” issue. Really, most of us, especially Americans, are downright spoiled, materialistic, and have no clue what life beyond the shopping center and behind the TV is really like.

What would it be like to take one thing I am sucking on, pouting about, broken over; and take that to, let’s say, to a Darfur refugee camp or to a Veterans Administration paraplegic’s ward and tell them of my “pain”? How long would I be able to sit there as they share their woes with me, before I get uncomfortable with how small my stuff is?

I also believe that these two phrases take us out of the present. See, I really believe that God enjoys the present time with us more than He enjoys our habitual tendency to dwell on the past—our mistakes, our old pain, our regrets, our lost opportunities, and our lost relationships. Or this takes us out of a healthy reliance on God for today and places us on fantasizing on an alternative future, one that is shaped by our flesh and our listening to the world and the enemy.

I think that there is enough faith to cover our past, present, and our future. It is just that I wonder if we were to pour more of our efforts and attention to our PRESENT relationship with God…placing our faith squarely on Him, how would that look and how would that affect our lives? What if I really considered the ravines…and allowed a greater measure of faith for God to provide, to direct, to guide my life—today, I wonder how my life would change and how much burden (burden I keep putting on myself) would I surrender to God and allow Him to work in and through my life.

I’ve been praying that God will give me a “vista” from which to view life from. I desire to see things as He does, and to gain a better perspective on those things I think were/are huge only to see they are less important and “smaller” when looked from God’s vista.

I want to trust Papa as never before and to have the mindset of considering all things as pure joy… deep-seated, deep-rooted joy that is in God and from God. My Papa just happens to be the Creator of all Heaven and Earth! I’ll hold on lightly to my dreams and desires, keeping them in a loose and comfortable hand hold, and spend more energy, and effort in doing the will of my Father in Heaven, and of being joyfully obedient… and obedience is usually in conflict with my flesh and with the voice of the enemy. Seriously, obedience is hard. And good things are sometimes hard… I am okay with that.

I would even say I am more joyful. It’s a good place to be too! Those things I need to address in my life, I will do so with prayerful guidance by the Holy Spirit and those things that I do not have control over…I’ll give those totally over to Him and He’s got my back!

Well, you’ve just endured my “what if” and “if only” ramblings long enough. So, when I look at a situation or a “lost” opportunity in my life I will try to simply trust Papa God.

TNIV Audio Bible Special Pricing

2008-09-25T15:24:00.002-10:00

Aloha bloggers and friends,

For a limited time (til 10/3/08) The Bible Experience, TNIV Audio Bible [download version] is only $40!

I love this fresh version and enjoy listening to the Word of God, by great actors and celebrities, like Denzel Washington, Samuel Jackson, and others....

Check it out!

https://inspiredby.infusionsoft.com/go/ALLPROD/TheKman/

VIP Tour of the USS George Washington

2008-09-13T15:55:00.002-10:00

September 09, 2008

VIP Tour of the USS George Washington (CVN-73), Nuclear Aircraft Carrier
100 miles off Hawaii

Honorary "Tailhooker"
Completed an arrested landing aboard
USS George Washington (CVN73)
in the Grumman C-@a Greyhound
at 22.34 N Latitude, 158.30 W Longitude

What an incredible experience!

GOD BLESS OUR US NAVY!!!!!

Because Of Whom I Am Through Christ Jesus…

2008-09-11T15:25:00.001-10:00

These statements also came from a book by Neil Anderson.

I hope you find these useful:

Because Of Whom I Am Through Christ Jesus…

Since I am in Christ, by the grace of God…I have been justified—completely forgiven and made righteous (Romans 5:1)

I died with Christ and died to the power of sin’s rule over my life
(Romans 6:1-6)

I am free forever from condemnation
(Romans 8:1)

I have been placed into Christ by God’s doing
(1 Corinthians 1:30)

I have received the Spirit of God into my life that I might know the things freely given to me by God
(1 Corinthians 2:12)

I have been given the mind of Christ
(1 Corinthians 2:16)

I have been bought with a price; I am not my own; I belong to God
(1 Corinthians 6:19, 20)

I have been established, anointed and sealed by God in Christ, and I have been given the Holy Spirit as a pledge guaranteeing my inheritance to come
(2 Corinthians 1:21; Ephesians 1:13, 14)

Since I have died, I no longer live for myself, but for Christ
(2 Corinthians 5:14, 15)

I have been made righteous
(2 Corinthians 5:21)

I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ; Christ lives in me. The life I am now living is Christ’s life
(Galatians 2:20)

I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing
(Ephesians 1:3)

I was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and am without blame before Him
(Ephesians 1:4)

I was predestined—determined by God—to be adopted as God’s son/daughter
(Ephesians 1:5)

I have been made alive together with Christ
(Ephesians 2:5)

I have direct access to God through the Spirit
(Ephesians 2:18)

I may approach God with boldness, freedom, and with confidence
(Ephesians 3:12)

I have been rescued from the domain of satan’s rule and transferred to the Kingdom of Christ
Colossians 1:13)

I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins. The debt against me has been canceled
(Colossians 1:14)

Christ Himself is in me
Colossians 1:27)

I am firmly rooted in Christ and am now being built in Him
(Colossians 2:7)

I have been spiritually circumcised. My old unregenerate nature has been removed
(Colossians 2:11)

I have been buried, raised, and made alive with Christ
(Colossians 2:12, 13)

I died with Christ and I have been raised up with Christ. My life is now hidden with Christ in God. Christ is now my life
(Colossians 3:1-4)

I have been given the spirit of power, love, and self-discipline
(2 Timothy 1:7)

I have been saved and set apart according to God’s doing
(2Timothy 1:9; Titus 3:5)

Because I am sanctified and am one with the Sanctifier, He is not ashamed to call me brother
(Hebrews 2:11)

I have the right to come boldly before the Throne of God, by which I am a partaker of God’s divine nature
(2 Peter 1:4)

Who Am I?

2008-09-11T14:43:00.002-10:00

Here are some great reminders...these came from the author, Neil Anderson.

Who Am I?

I am the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13)
I am the light of the world (Matthew 5:14)
I am a child of God (John 1:12)
I am part of the true vine, a channel of Christ’s life (John 15:1, 5)
I am Christ’s friend (John 15:15)
I am chosen and appointed by Christ to bear His fruit (John 15:16)
I am a slave to righteousness (Romans 6:18)
I am enslaved to God (Romans 6:22)
I am a son/daughter of God; God is spiritually my Father (Romans 8:14, 15; Galatians 3:26; 4:6)
I am a joint heir with Christ, sharing in His inheritance with Him (Romans 8:17)
I am a temple—a dwelling place—of God. His Spirit and His Life dwell in me (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19)
I am united to the LORD and am one spirit with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17)
I am a member of Christ’s Body (1 Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 5:30)
I am a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)
I am reconciled to God and am a minister of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18, 19)
I am a son/daughter of God and one in Christ (Galatians 3:26, 28)
I am an heir of God since I am a son/daughter of God (Galatians 4:6, 7)
I am a saint (Ephesians 1:1; 1 Corinthians 1:2; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:2)
I am God’s workmanship—His handiwork—born anew in Christ to do His work (Ephesians 2:10)
I am a fellow citizen with the rest of God’s family (Ephesians 2:19)
I am a prisoner of Christ (Ephesians 3:1; 4:1)
I am righteous and holy (Ephesians 4:24)
I am a citizen of heaven, seated in heaven right now (Philippians 3:20; Ephesians 2:10)
I am hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3)
I am an expression of the life of Christ because He is my life (Colossians 3:4)
I am chosen of God, holy and dearly loved (Colossians 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:4)
I am a son/daughter of light and not of darkness (1 Thessalonians 5:5)
I am a holy partaker of a heavenly calling (Hebrews 3:1)
I am a partaker of Christ; I share in His Life (Hebrews 3:14)
I am one of God’s living stones, being built up in Christ as a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5)
I am a member of a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession (1 Peter 2:9, 10)
I am an alien and stranger to this world in which I temporarily live (1 Peter 2:11)
I am an enemy of the devil (1 Peter 5:8)
I am born of God, and the evil one—the devil—cannot touch me (1 John 5:18)
I am not the great “I AM” (Exodus 3:14; John 8:24, 28, 58), but by the Grace of God, I am what I am (1 Corinthians 15:10)

A Life Worth Living

2008-08-30T08:00:00.000-10:00

Life sure can be tough.

Life sure can be sad.

Life sure can be easy.

Life sure can be joyous.

Life sure can be.................. (You can fill it in)

Are this things exclusive or not?

Life is so amazing, so diverse, and so much like a wildflower patch, not a manicured garden with planned arrangements of flowers and plants in rows and such... God's arrangements are so different than what most of us would expect. If you haven't read the book yet, I suggest reading, The Shack.

My last blog entry, "Obedience Over Happiness" was written late the other night and it has opened some great dialogue within myself and between some very special friends of mine. This blog entry is a bit more deeper and a richer expounding on my life and views on the life God has called me to and it is a life VERY MUCH WORTH LIVING!

I realize I have a life that not too many people I know are called to. Like a pastor, a martyr, who has been called to have a heart of Christ's concerns. I recognize I will not always be happy (though there IS happiness in my life), and that this calling is not easy, not at all, I will be lonely in certain ways. It is, what it is... I will stand alone as a watchman in a tower does as he is lovingly concerned and protective for the people around him, and I will walk many miles alone through life simply because that is where He wants me to be... I love this position of intercession and intimacy and yet I don't get to share it often in the company of others.

More often than not, I look forward to what life will offer me each morning; the challenges, the lessons, the opportunities; and the risks. As I get out of bed, if I was overheard, you'd hear me say, "it's a great day to be alive!" If you knew my life story, you'd really understand how true that is for me and how that is not just an affirmation to set my attitude right for the day.... I really mean it.

I am most often joyful, even in the midst of tough times, and it is not just coating myself with Teflon or maintaining a suck it up" attitude, though there are definitely those moments too. Life is so wonderfully complex, and the bends and turns in life are across the spectrum of feelings, emotions and conditions. So, I absolutely agree that life is a life worth living and that we all should live that out in how we express ourselves to our inner self and how we share this life in Christ with others.

Moreover, I am meditating on putting those things to heart so that I hold a balanced understanding on the specific call on my life, representing God to others accurately and my life being one that encourages others to follow Him too. Especially since Jesus presents life with such great promise, hope, and love. The Holy Spirit brings fruit into our lives...what fruit; sorrow, sacrifice, pain, and sadness? No, it is the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and so much more! Life may contain some of those negative elements, yet it is the fruit of the Spirit that tastes so good...and it comes much through faith and obedience in the face of the tough stuff.

My life has been hard, even since birth and throughout my early life, I experienced different elements of pain and abuse, and it seems everything took more work and was just harder than others (and easier than others too, I am sure). Things still are way for me; I really have to work at things and nothing rarely comes easy for me....oddly, this is not a complaint, as much as, it is an understanding God uses these things to teach me and to even use these things to reach others. I don't point to my suffering and pain to lead others to Jesus, not at all, I speak of His relentless pursuit of us, His deep, rich love for us, and His sacrifice so that we may truly find life and life abundantly. It will be in the midst of suffering and pain God shows up and breaks through to our heart and reveals His love, His mercy, His grace, and His hand to lift us out of it all and into His marvelous life and light.

Yes, without a doubt, life is hard... ask someone living under Christian persecution; dealing with death; walking in utter poverty; trapped in abuse; or imprisoned by addictions and problems... God will show up in the midst of all that, and as Christians we are called to be obedient to Him; serving Him, worshipping Him; and responding to His call on our life over our happiness, even over our "life" itself.

Now, understand, I love life, and I love laughter, joy, happiness, and seeing the smiles on people's faces, and on my own face too. It's just that there has been and there is a weighty undercurrent in my life too... Life is full of poop at times and God uses those things to fertilize my heart's garden and as I walk closer to Him and as I am called into more spiritual warfare, I am finding the call of intercession can be hard and tough, I feel things and see the spiritual warfare side strongly.

Now, this intercessory side of me is new, within the last 2 years, so I am still trying to get a handle on it and understand what God is asking of me and who I am in Christ.

A friend commented, "Why can't we sacrifice everything for Him, work hard, be obedient...yet, it come through enjoyment, JOY (strength) and pleasure?" I love that, it echo's in my spirit and shouts, "YES!" Oh how so great a question and I do agree this is Papa God's desire, and sure, it is my life too... perhaps another way I could describe my life is that of a high altitude climber... it's tough; really tough, there is great sacrifice, danger, risks, and trials. I walk through deep valleys, over chasms, along dangerous cliffs and precipices, and along long thin pathways up a steep, slippery mountain. The mountain is high, the air is cold and thin, and the exposure to the elements are very real and "in your face" kind of reality. There is also a REALLY great view of the world from up there and a deep sense of purpose, enjoyment, accomplishment, and peace. Some of this is discovered while still on the mountain, some things are discovered after the climb is completed and one is reflecting on all God provided and revealed, both of the inner person, and of the life lived on the trek. As I may be a high altitude climber, where few others go, yet through the story that is my life, and the testimony of my lips, I actually encourage others to climb their own hills and perhaps ignite the love of God and the desire to seek higher mountains to climb for a few others.

I would never want to live as Francis of Asissi (though I have visited him on occasion) or any other stoic , and I don't want to raise/encourage any one else to do so either. I also know, again through my own life history, my own hearing from God, and through prophetic words from others that my life is a tough one... and while I am not alone in these sufferings, few are called to what I am called to. I have joy and joy abundantly and I sometimes get asked about my past and current "life"; if I could, would I want to change it? I laugh and say, "no, it has and does serve God well and all the pain and suffering is well worth it all, to be close to God and to be called into His work."

I think there are so many different styles of living, so varied are the seasons, and so many different characters in the Word and in church history because as you, I and everyone else moves through life, there are rich nuggets of truth found in the depths of Jeremiah's toil and suffering; understanding and wisdom in Joseph's life; blessings and reflections found in the life of David; and pure truth and love in Jesus. What a beautiful picture is painted and is being painted through our part in there too.

When I was writing the last blog entry I titled it "Obedience over Happiness." That was purposeful in that I knew it was NOT to be, "Obedience versus Happiness." These two words are not polar opposites or not compatible with each other. I was more attempting to say I chose to be obedient over my low level understanding of happiness and pain avoidance... Jesus was obedient, "even unto death on a cross". I also see Jesus as one very joyful man while on earth, people were drawn to Him out of His love and His joyful expressions of that love; and He is exalted above all others and is seated at the right hand of the Father.... and again, one point is I am surrendering WHAT I think is happiness (fleeting, ever-changing, and temporal) with the deeper understanding and acceptance of God's definition of happiness, through the joy of the Lord....what pleases Him.

I will continue to check on my focus and I will chew on the blessings of your words, comments and own life experiences and I will continue to do a heart check... I do value everyone's words, attitudes, and even gentle corrections of how I am seeing things and how I am expressing myself, both in and through my life as well as through my writings/blog. Thank you all, every much!

It's a great day to be alive and GOD ROCKS!

Obedience Over Happiness

2008-08-28T23:50:00.000-10:00

I believe, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that God does not care about my happiness, as much as, He does care about my obedience. I also believe that I am drawing closer to God and that along with the intimacy I am discovering this all comes at a great cost to my “happiness.”

I'd be happy being successful in business, get my law degree, have a wife, have children, be looked up to in my work and in the eyes of the public.

I'd be happy with an easy life, going to nice clubs, drive a nice, expensive car, match all the things I see in the media and what all the marketing pushes on us all. Be a worldly successful man... huh.

Now, I know the world's version of happiness in not what I REALLY want...

A favorite Scripture of mine, and one that was spoken over me a couple of years ago, Jeremiah 20:9, But if I say, “I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.

I really identify with this. Now that I am so committed to Him, it is so true. I can't stop doing His work. It overwhelms me, even at the cost of my own happiness. I am going through this refining process. Giving up my worldly desires, and dying to my flesh, and it is not easy...than again, things really worthwhile are usually not easy.

This is where I am and I could not imagine any other choice than to say, what Mary said, when the Angel of the Lord came to her in Luke 1:38, “I am the Lord's servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.”

What am I talking about? Well, I have been asked by God to give over and surrender many desires, passions, and dreams to him.

I recently read, Rees Howells: Intercessor, by Norman Grubb, and I identify so much with the sacrifices Rees made and what I believe God is asking of me now. His want of my obedience is difficult and painful. Yet, I know the price is worth surrendering everything to be close to the LORD.

Recently, someone prophetically told that I am to “move with the rhythm of His heart beat.” In meditating on this I came to realize that to hear His heart beat and to move in that rhythm, I am needing to be very close and intimate with God to pick the rhythm up... and it comes with a cost. Luke 12:48b says, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”

My life is about obedience and through my obedience I will be at peace and even be filled with a deep sense of true joy, as James says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds...” and so much is written in the Word regarding obedience... this is an interesting life I am having. Please pray for me.

The Holy Ghost?

2008-08-24T22:37:00.001-10:00

“It never dawned on me before that the Holy Ghost was a Person exactly like the Savior, and that He must come and dwell in flesh and blood. In fact, the Church knows more about the Savior, who was only on the earth thirty-three years, than the Holy Ghost who has been here two thousand years. I had only thought of Him as an Influence coming on meetings, and that was what most of us in the Revival thought. I had never seen that He must live in bodies, as the Savior lived in His on earth.”
Rees Howells
(Rees Howells: Intercessor, by Norman Grubb)