If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.--James 1:26-27
Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna, and Mikayla,
We have reached the last two verses of chapter 1. If you think you are religious but can't control your tongue, James says your religion is useless. The word chosen for religious here refers to a ceremonial type of worship or a service to a god. It points to the person who is displaying the external trappings of being religious on the outside but is practicing them with a heart that is not sincere. God, who knows the heart, is not impressed and most likely is wearied. God wants our hearts. When our hearts truly believe, our words and our actions will follow. Our lips reveal our hearts.
Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."--Matthew 12:34-37
James goes on to say that the most pure and undefiled type of religion is reflected by a separation from the world and a sacrificial love for those among us who are in need...especially those who are not in a position to reciprocate. Visiting the fatherless, the widow, the afflicted, the helpless, and the hopeless among us...this is pure and undefiled religion. As children of God we are not of the world spiritually. We are here to glorify God and bring others to Him. To do that we cannot look like the children of this world who are ruled by the prince of this world. Jesus loved and spent time with publicans and sinners and yet He remained undefiled. He is our example in this. Jesus, no matter where He was or who He was with, always did the will of His Father...and that is how we remain unspotted from the world...by doing the will of our Father in heaven.
Love
Mom
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Mercy and Truth Have Met Together; Righteousness and Peace have Kissed
Mercy and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed. Truth shall spring out of the earth, And righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yes, the LORD will give what is good; And our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before Him, And shall make His footsteps our pathway.--Psalm 85:10-13
To My Daughters,
These four verses are worship worthy!!! Mercy, truth, righteousness and peace...these are what became mine when I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. On that day I received not only mercy for my sins, but Him who is Truth came to me and made His home in my heart. He imputed to me!!! His righteousness and bestowed upon me!!!! His peace. There really are no words to describe the feeling or the gift.
The future kingdom of Christ will be characterized by these qualities. "Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed." Mercy and truth met in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus said that He is the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Him. Jesus is the Word of God...the truth.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. ---John 1:1-5
God's great work of redemption brought it all together. His mercy evidenced by the redemption of His chosen people and the conversion of the Gentiles. His truth in the fulfillment of His word to redeem His people. His righteousness satisfying God's justice by punishing sin, and laying our iniquity...all of it...on His Righteous Son, who knew no sin but became sin for us dying in our place on the cross at Calvary. An infinite God reached down to earth and gave His only begotten Son for man so that they could have the opportunity to spend eternity with Him. Wow! He then imputes His righteousness and peace (His reconciliation) upon us, the guilty, when we surrender to Him....when we cry out in faith and His Spirit of Grace fills us and enables us to walk before Him and make His footsteps our pathway because we have now been clothed in His righteousness and have obtained peace with Him. Rest is ours..God is on our side.
No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their righteousness is from Me," Says the LORD. --Isaiah 54:17
Love
Mom who thinks these have now become her favorite verses in the bible..
To My Daughters,
These four verses are worship worthy!!! Mercy, truth, righteousness and peace...these are what became mine when I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. On that day I received not only mercy for my sins, but Him who is Truth came to me and made His home in my heart. He imputed to me!!! His righteousness and bestowed upon me!!!! His peace. There really are no words to describe the feeling or the gift.
The future kingdom of Christ will be characterized by these qualities. "Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed." Mercy and truth met in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus said that He is the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Him. Jesus is the Word of God...the truth.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. ---John 1:1-5
God's great work of redemption brought it all together. His mercy evidenced by the redemption of His chosen people and the conversion of the Gentiles. His truth in the fulfillment of His word to redeem His people. His righteousness satisfying God's justice by punishing sin, and laying our iniquity...all of it...on His Righteous Son, who knew no sin but became sin for us dying in our place on the cross at Calvary. An infinite God reached down to earth and gave His only begotten Son for man so that they could have the opportunity to spend eternity with Him. Wow! He then imputes His righteousness and peace (His reconciliation) upon us, the guilty, when we surrender to Him....when we cry out in faith and His Spirit of Grace fills us and enables us to walk before Him and make His footsteps our pathway because we have now been clothed in His righteousness and have obtained peace with Him. Rest is ours..God is on our side.
No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their righteousness is from Me," Says the LORD. --Isaiah 54:17
Love
Mom who thinks these have now become her favorite verses in the bible..
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Christophobia: Dead Man at the Center of Existence
Christophobia: Dead Man at the Center of Existence: "I had seen and walked through the outskirts of Heaven, and looked over the edge of its Balcony into time and space, and into the past and pr..."
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
End of Chapter 7 and Chapter 8 by Rebecca
End of Chapter 7...
Once again Aura saw the scene before her splinter. The sunlight, the arch, the betrotheds, the wedding party – all of them vanished in the familiar ethereal vortex that immediately seized Aura and swept her away. She couldn’t breathe. Pounding, reverberating drums overtook her senses. Light and stimuli swamped her brain. Aura could literally feel herself being ripped from one dimension and flung into her own.
But this reinstatement to reality was far less traumatic than the first. Sudden as it was, bewildering as it was, Aura had no difficulty recovering. The brilliant lights faded. Air returned to her lungs. Her senses came back online.
The first thing Aura became aware of was the shaking ground beneath her.
“Earthquake!” Nathan cried.
The forest floor was juddering. Aura tore off her blindfold, revealing a mountainous, moonlit scene that simultaneously fascinated and terrified.
The earth was…jiggling. It vibrated like wheat being shaken in a sieve. Surfaces were distorted. Rugged and deeply rooted trees trembled. Branches cracked and fell. Distant crashes resounded as rockfalls were loosed. Rumbling filled the air. The immense, immovable solidness Aura had taken for granted all her life was suddenly revealed to be as fragile as everything else.
“Aura, stay still!” Samek shouted.
Stay still! It was impossible! Aura grasped vainly for something, anything, which might be stationary. Nothing was. The most she could do was, with Ashon’s help, to struggle to all fours in an attempt to defy the treacherous instability of the land she had trusted.
“Samek, watch out!” Tor bellowed frantically. He pointed to the steep hillside on their left.
Samek and Zipporah dove out of the way as a dislodged boulder, belonging to the steep hillside on their left, plummeted right past them. It shot over the edge of the precipice on their right and smashed to bits in the valley below.
But the nearness of this sweep of death unnerved Aura far more than it did Samek or Zipporah. Aura’s heart was in her mouth.
“You are mine…”
“Nathan!” Zipporah screamed.
Tor spun around. Nathan was reeling like a drunkard. He was still blindfolded, still hazy from the drug, and he couldn’t keep his feet – and he was inches from the edge of the precipice on their right. “Help!”
Tor didn’t waste a second. He lunged forward and yanked Nathan away from the brink, flinging him to the ground, where he could fall no further. But then Tor lost his own balance. His put his foot down on a loose stone, and his leg was swept out from under him. Tor slid into the gap.
Instantly Samek, Ashon, and even Zipporah, lunged forward. Tor was clawing at the edge, desperate to stop his fall, when Ashon’s sinewy hands clamped onto his wrists. A second later Samek skidded to his knees on the brink, grabbed hold of Tor’s armpit, and together he and Ashon hauled their friend back onto the path.
The shaking had stopped.
For a few minutes everyone simply laid there, panting and grateful. Nathan was finally able to wrench off his blindfold and look around.
“Where’s Aura?” he asked suddenly.
Samek jerked upright. “Aura!”
No answer.
“She’s not here!” gasped Zipporah, glancing wildly around.
“Aura!” Nathan cried. “Aura, where are you?”
Everyone was on their feet now, searching nearby, and making the air ring with anxious cries. But the only response was the echo of their own voices.
Aura had disappeared.
Chapter Eight
Bondage
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
(Ephesians 6:12, NKJV)
Aura was running. She needed to run. She could do nothing but run.
It was her only hope of escape.
Aura had seen Tor slip over the precipice. She had watched him scrabble at the brink. She had borne witness to the fact that he was barely, just barely, pulled out alive.
At that instant, confronted by the stark imminency of death, something deep inside Aura’s being had snapped.
Out! Out! I need to get out! Just run! Run now!
Aura could not bear it anymore. Dying herself was one thing; enduring the loss of her loved ones was quite another. Zipporah might be strong enough to daily shoulder such a suffocating burden of fear and grief, but Aura knew she was not.
Miriam…Ehud…my birth parents…
Gone. All gone. Snatched away just as Tor had nearly been.
And those who weren’t lost – yet? Samek and Zipporah? Nathan? Ashon and Tor? Benaiah and his young grandson? What did the cruel world have in store for them?
King Amek…leather-hide…the earthquake…the boulder…the cliff…
The anguish could not be endured. Aura needed to run. She needed to leave them all behind, all the liabilities, even Nathan. Her heart could not endure the terrible stretching love demanded.
She needed to escape.
Aura ran madly, fueled by her roiling emotions. She neither knew nor cared about where she was going or how far she would go. That didn’t matter. All that mattered was that she left the pain and the suffering a long, long way behind. So long behind, in fact, that it would never find her again. Never!
Faster! Farther! Yes! Come on! Go, go, go!
The trees began to thin. Yes! Good! She could run quicker here! She hit a lane, rough certainly, yet significantly easier than the tumbled forest. Aura rejoiced at her good fortune.
Run! Run! Every fiber in her body urged. Escape!
Yes! Yes, she would escape! No one would stop her. Samek couldn’t catch her. She’d left him behind, hadn’t she?
Aura glanced back. There was only shadows and stillness. No Samek. No Underground. No pursuers.
Elation bubbled up in her soul for the first time in many, many months.
Then Aura looked ahead.
Right beneath her feet the lane suddenly dived over a steep ridge, with a brook flowing at the bottom. Aura slid on the fallen, decaying leaves and plunged headfirst down the slope.
She struck her forehead on a rock. The already dark night went completely black.
“Hello, Aura.”
Aura cracked open her eyes. Sunlight stabbed painfully into her retinas. “Uhh,” she groaned, as her hands instinctively moved to cover her face. Her fingers brushed dried blood from a shallow gash in her temple, and she winced. No wonder she had a splitting headache. “Who’s there?” she managed to croak. “Where…where am I?”
“You’re exactly where I knew you would be,” the voice answered pleasantly. It was a sweet, musical, girlish voice, and reminded Aura of delicately chiming bells. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
Aura had to swallow hard before answering. Her throat was swollen and sore. “I-I don’t understand.”
“Try to open your eyes,” the girl suggested. Her tone suddenly shifted to one that hinted of cold command. “Open your eyes, Daughter of Rion.”
Daughter of Rion!
Aura’s eyes snapped open, regardless of the pain, and she was sitting up before she even realized what she was doing. Her head spun and sunlight dazzled her vision. “Who – how -” she stammered, still half-blinded, and certainly sickened with fear. “What are you talking about?”
The girl chuckled. Aura was just able to make her out now: a young woman, lithe and slender, perched on a stone less than a yard away from the bank of leaves in which she herself lay. “Royal Daughter,” the girl said, her smile revealing a mouth full of pearly white teeth, “I know most everything about you.”
Aura swallowed again. Her brain felt as though it was swimming. “I still don’t – I still don’t understand.”
“No.” The smile remained in place, but the girl’s eyes narrowed contemptuously. “No, you don’t. You, dearest pet, understand almost nothing.”
“Then start explaining!” Aura’s nausea spiked with her forcefulness, and for a brief second she thought she would faint. “Tell me who you are,” she insisted. “Tell me how you found me. Tell me what makes you think I’m a Daughter of Rion.”
“You mean aside from your blazing scarlet head?” Imia scoffed. “Really, pet, even a human couldn’t have much trouble making that connection. Do you really think I wouldn’t know?”
Even a human… Aura gulped. She did not the implications of that phrase.
Imia fanned herself delicately. “You see, sweet little calf, who I am is the answer to how I was able to find you. You think my name is Imia. It’s not. Imia’s only nineteen or twenty, but I am older than the earth itself.” Imia abruptly fastened her gaze on Aura, and Aura shrank beneath the withering keenness of those eyes. It felt as if her very soul was pierced, and was lying, naked and exposed, for this…creature…to see.
“Starting to understand now, pet?” the girl hissed.
Aura could not speak. Her throat had closed over.
“Answer me,” snapped Imia. “Show me you’re beginning to understand, human girl. Tell me who I am.”
The word was dragged from Aura’s unwilling lips. “Demon!” she choked out. “You’re a demon!”
“At last, some understanding.” Imia rolled her eyes. “Say it again, pet.”
It was another will compelled her to obey. Aura tried to resist, but she could not. “Demon!” she gasped.
“Again.”
Horror was growing in Aura’s soul. She couldn’t resist! She couldn’t fight! “Demon!” she heard herself cry.
Cruelty danced across Imia’s expression. “Again, human girl!”
Aura was panicking now. Why couldn’t she resist? Why couldn’t she fight? “You’re a demon!”
“You still don’t understand, do you?” Imia sneered. “Again!”
She wasn’t going to say it again. She wasn’t going to obey! She wasn’t – “Demon!”
Imia threw back her head and laughed. “The answer’s right in your own words, you stupid girl! Again!”
“Demon!” Aura shrieked. Sobs convulsed her body. The truth was sinking in at last.
She couldn’t resist. She couldn’t fight. She was not facing a teenaged Northern dancer; she was facing powers that were utterly beyond her ken. Powers that held her completely under their sway.
They owned her.
“What do you want?” she cried out. Terror and despair were laying hold of her soul. “What do you want with me?”
“Want with you?” Imia snorted in derision. “You? A sniveling biped? I want very little to do with you. Just die when your time comes, human girl, and feed me and my brethren. Then I’ll be satisfied.” Imia’s eyes narrowed again. “Rest assured, that day will come. But not yet. Right now you are also a pawn, Royal Daughter, and you will do what we instruct.”
Aura shook uncontrollably. She could not resist, she could not fight, and she could not run. She was helplessly in bondage. Jehovah she could push away, but this creature? No. It dominated. It overpowered. It crushed. It captivated her and held her will in its keeping with ruthless strength. It owned her!
Imia’s mouth curled into a sardonic smile. “Oh, yes. We own you. We are your masters. We always have been.”
It did not surprise Aura that Imia could read her thoughts. It did not surprise her at all.
Imia uncrossed her white, shapely legs and daintily arose from her stone bench. “You see,” she said, stepping gracefully to Aura’s side and stooping down, “I knew you would come here. Oh, you took a little detour when you decided to leave Synta. But that’s over, darling child.” Imia’s hideous smirk was inches from Aura’s face. “You lost your chance to be saved from us. You know you did. What was it Zipporah said?” Imia squatted down and mockingly parroted Zipporah’s soft, motherly tones. “‘You need to be careful, sweetheart. Very careful. If you won’t let Jehovah be your Shield, then the shelter you have with us right now is just by association. It’s not complete. It’s not permanent. And it won’t save you in the end.’” Imia threw back her head and laughed gleefully. “What wonderful advice! But Jehovah won’t take you now, little fool. He saved you in Synta, and you spit in His face. Jehovah doesn’t like to be mocked. He’s done with you now, done forever, and rightly so.”
For having such attractive features, Imia’s face was now shockingly leering and ugly. She reached out and grabbed the necklace chain hanging from Aura’s neck, yanking it over her head. Aura could not move a muscle in protest. Her very blood felt frozen.
Imia straightened up and eyed the necklace pendant with satisfaction. “Very good,” she said approvingly. “It won’t be long now.” She glanced back down at the shattered Aura, and her pert nose wrinkled in disgust. “Get up, Royal Daughter,” she ordered, and Aura could do nothing but slowly get to her feet. Her legs felt like jelly and her head spun and reeled. She was still shaking.
“We’re going to see your dear uncle, King Amek,” Imia informed her captive, throwing a multicolored, beaded shawl over Aura’s head to hide her scarlet hair. “We’ll have to hurry, before you’re too sick to walk. You have leather-hide, you know. That’s inconvenient, but it really doesn’t mean much.” Imia pushed Aura forward. “Move along, Royal Daughter. It’s time to enter your destiny.”
Aura was only vaguely aware that she somehow began to walk. All she could hear was the harsh black voice she’d encountered in the pit.
“You are mine…”
Imia and Aura might as well have been invisible and insubstantial for all the attention – or lack thereof – that they attracted.
The medium boldly marched Aura down the rough lane she had been following and into the outskirts of a major metropolis. Villages, estates, farms, and homes quickly began to spring up, prosperous and densely populated. The streets were soon bustling with morning traffic.
But no one even gave Imia and her captive a second glance. If anything, the passerby seemed unconsciously determined not to notice them, especially Imia.
Aura could not imagine having trouble understanding such behavior.
“You are mine…”
Utter brokenness filled Aura’s soul.
How many of these people were as helpless as she? How many were unknowingly dominated by the creature that had melded itself with Imia? How many went about their daily business unaware of the sinister, controlling powers behind the curtain?
Aura’s neck felt strangely naked and unbalanced in the absence of the necklace that had been her constant companion. Her heart ached feebly at the loss, but her mind was still too numb to process its implications. She had no idea why Imia had taken her heirloom; she was afraid to even attempt to understand “why.” She already had more than enough evil she needed to cope with.
What moves did Imia have planned for her new “pawn”? What moves did she have planned for King Amek? None of this could possibly bode well for the Underground.
Samek’s face suddenly flashed into Aura’s mind. Her brother. Her brother who loved her dearly. Her brother who had snatched her from the Syntans’ stones, spirited her away to the most secure shelter available, and compromised his own safety for her sake. Her brother who had done all of this even while she selfishly rejected his love and denied their kinship.
Fear suddenly pierced Aura’s heart with such intensity that she thought she might be sick. Samek. Firstborn son of King Japheth. Rightful heir to the House of Rion and the throne of Saren. Leader of the Underground. Thorn in Amek’s side. Hitherto untouchable. No longer. Imia was using Samek’s weak, enslaved sister to reach Samek, and there was not a doubt in Aura’s mind that Samek would walk, open-eyed, into her trap if it could possibly win his sister’s redemption.
Horror bubbled up in Aura’s throat. This is all my fault! He’ll die – Zipporah will lose him – the Underground will be destroyed – and it’s all my fault!
Imia laughed. “Yes, it is, Daughter of Rion. It is all your fault.” A scathing smile curved her rosebud lips. “Don’t forget, this could have been very different. You could have called upon Jehovah, like your family begged you to. You could have truly sought Him that night in Synta. But you didn’t.” Imia’s eyes gleamed venomously. “You were so stubborn. So proud. So confident of your own wisdom. And now look what’s come of your choices! You stupid girl!” Imia’s chilling laughter echoed in the street – another sound the passerby deliberately ignored.
“You’re going to kill him,” Aura whispered. Devastation swept her soul. “You’re going to kill him.”
Imia’s eyes were like slits. “We kill everyone.”
“But Jehovah…” Aura sought desperately for hope. “Jehovah is their Shield. You said so yourself – you said He -”
“We kill everyone,” Imia spat. “Death is ours. Have you ever seen the believers’ precious Jehovah protect His servants from death? Have you? He let your real father die to save your mother Varyn, but then He let Varyn die too. The cold, cold river soaked into her body and stopped her heart. Oh, yes, He let her succeed in saving you. He brought you to Synta. He gave you Miriam and Ehud and Nathan. But where is Ehud today? Or Miriam?” Imia’s vicious, hate-filled face swallowed up Aura’s vision. “Death is our province, human girl,” she growled. “Pain is ours to inflict. Jehovah permits His servants to suffer – and suffer they shall!”
Aura’s stomach turned completely. She staggered to her knees at the edge of the road and threw up into the ditch. Imia stood by in disgust, averting her gaze.
“Spineless biped,” she sniffed. “Hurry up.”
Aura could not hurry up. She was blanched, shaking, and sick. Her throat was swollen and burning. Her head throbbed. Her muscles felt like limp strings. She was only vaguely aware of people glancing away from her plight and giving her and Imia a wide berth, anxious to put as much distance between them as possible.
There was no hope of rescue.
“You are mine…”
Retching sobs tore from Aura’s throat. She was a demons’ pawn being driven into the clutches of King Amek; she had willfully condemned herself to be the cause of both her brother’s death and the destruction of the courageous few who dared oppose Southern tyranny; she had senselessly spurned the grace Jehovah offered her; and now she had no choice but to abide by the disastrous choices she had already made. Could the situation possibly be made any worse?
Aura’s brain began to whirl. A cyclone of lights and images invaded the edges of her vision and spiraled rapidly inward.
No, no, no…not again…
The road, the ditch, the people, and even Imia disappeared as the eye of the roaring cyclone snapped shut with a shattering blast of light.
~ Interlude ~
Savannah was lost. And she knew it.
How was she going to get home?
Savannah swallowed hard and dug her fingernails into her sweaty palms as she turned, round and round, slowly, to survey her utterly unfamiliar surroundings. Her eight-year-old mind swam with confusion and half-acknowledged dread.
Lost! The word made her shiver.
Round and round again Savannah turned, desperate to see something, anything, she recognized. She didn’t. She’d never seen this place before in her life. The sylvan wilderness was empty, strange, and silent as a tomb. Dry, rust-colored pine needles carpeted the ground beneath her feet. A few hundred yards downslope a stony, shallow river rushed along in its course between two sharply angled rises, and granite boulders protruded from the eroded earth. The panorama had been attractive a moment ago. But now that Savannah realized her peril, everything seemed sinister and foreboding. Even the warm, shining sun and the clear, crisp blue sky overhead – the temptations that had lured her so far from home – made her feel threatened.
She was…lost.
Lost. An overwhelming rush of helplessness flooded Savannah’s heart. Instinct took over.
“Daddy!” she screamed, almost in tears. “Mommy! Daddy!”
The only response was the forlorn echo of Savannah’s own voice. Nobody answered. Nobody came. Savannah screamed herself hoarse, but there was no one to hear. “Mommy! Daddy!”
It didn’t matter. Savannah was alone. She cast herself down her knees, sobbing, and poured out her heart to the only one who could still hear her.
“Elohim!” she cried. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry I disobeyed! I’m so scared. I need help. I want to go home! Oh, Lord, please, please get me home!”
There was nothing more that needed to be said. Savannah continued sobbing for a while, but her tears slowly subsided. She huddled against one of the gray, sun-warmed boulders, sniffing, rubbing her eyes, and waiting. Waiting, she knew, was the only option she had left. She couldn’t undo the past. She couldn’t get herself home. She couldn’t do anything except obey her parents’ contingency instructions – that is, to stay put and let them find her – and trust her heavenly Father to do what was best.
The late afternoon crawled onwards into evening. Hours passed, but still no one came. It had been a long day. Savannah was hungry, sore, and tired. Her eyelids began to droop. As night fell, she drifted into a heavy slumber.
It was the screeching that woke her.
Human shouts and animal shrieks shattered the midnight stillness. Savannah stared wide-eyed and frozen into the darkness, her every hair standing on end. Only one animal could make such a bloodcurdling din.
Nightshade!
Sure enough, Savannah heard the thunderous wing beats belonging to the largest species of nightshade. Terror pierced her soul as the venomous beast’s high, rasping screech tore through the darkness. She cowered against her boulder.
“Head for the trees!” A man’s shouted, urgent command reached Savannah’s ears. Heavy footsteps were pounding up her wooded hill. “Keep low! Get to the ridge!”
People! People who might be able to take her home! People who could save her from the nightshade! Wild desperation momentarily overcame Savannah’s terror. The moment the small band of men and boys came in sight, she leapt out of hiding. “Help!” she cried. “Help me!”
“What in -” A boy, swifter than the rest, lunged forward and practically tackled Savannah to the ground. “Get down! Father!” he yelled. “There’s a little girl up here!”
Four men and another younger youth were close on the boy’s heels. They sprinted to her boulder, ducking low. “Merciful Elohim!” gasped the boy’s father, their leader, as he reached for the bow slung over his shoulder. “What’s she doing here?”
“L-l-lost!” Savannah sobbed. The nightshade’s screech rent the air once again, and she buried her face in the boy’s rough leather jerkin.
“It’s circling,” said one of the men tensely. “It knows we’re here.”
“Eastarn, watch her,” the leader ordered his son, his eyes glued to the moonlit sky. In seconds he and the others had arrows nocked and ready, waiting only for a clear shot.
The nightshade shrieked and wheeled overhead, confounded by its own size. Its body was small, but its fifty-foot wingspan severely limited the spaces it could access. Savannah’s wooded slope would give the hunters just what time and shelter they needed to bring the monster down.
The beast wheeled again, coming in close as it shrilled its displeasure. Savannah held her breath.
“Now!” the leader yelled.
The nightshade was just about to abandon its too-difficult prey when the hunters’ arrows launched upward. Savannah heard the beast’s gut-wrenching screech as its flesh was severally pierced. She looked out from Eastarn’s jerkin just in time to see the saurian monster recoil, falter, and finally plunge downward to its death.
Blissful silence fell.
Relieved sighs were expelled all around as the hunters relaxed. Savannah breathed again, but she still hung on to Eastarn like grim death. She wasn’t letting him go yet. Not until she knew she was safe.
“Are you all right, little one?” The hunters’ leader asked, laying aside his bow and crouching down to meet Savannah’s saucer-sized eyes.
She nodded.
“What’s your name? How’d you get here?”
Savannah had to wet her lips with her tongue before speaking. Her mouth felt perfectly dry. “I’m Savannah,” she whispered. “I’m lost. I want to go home.”
Sympathy radiated in the leader’s expression. “Don’t worry,” he said gently. “You can’t have wandered too far. I’m sure your family’s looking for you. Tell us what you can, and we’ll help get you home.”
Aura’s vision splintered and burst just as the others had, but this time, she did not wake up.
Man is Never More Like God than When He Forgives...
First, some verses to consider...
"The Lord, the Lord God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness and truth who keeps loving kindness for thousands who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin."--Exodus 34:6
Solomon said, "It is a man's glory to overlook a transgression,
"Man is never more like God than when he forgives--Proverbs 19:11
Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.--Romans 5:5
Thoughts on Forgiveness...some paraphrased from John MacArthur.
Our God is the God of forgiveness...that is who He is. We are to resemble Him...we are to imitate Him. Forgiveness deflects self-pity, pride and shows mercy. Forgiveness is divine. We are never more like God than when we forgive. That should be characteristic of every one of us. Forgiveness is the most noble act that one sinner can do for another sinner. In our heart is love and humility, not a wounded ego, not vengeance, not bitterness no matter what anybody does to us, and we hold there a loving, eager, anxious longing to forgive when that sinner comes to seek the forgiveness we offer. This is Christlike. This is Godlike. We forgive to restore fellowship, Forgiveness produces mercy, joy, love, fellowship, purity.
"Be kind to one another, tender hearted...here's the same principle...forgiving each other just as God in Christ also has forgiven you."
In Colossians chapter 3, He says, "We are to bear with one another and forgiving each other whoever has a complaint against anyone just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you."
Now if you pull all of these together you get the very clear idea that God is a forgiving God and you are to be forgiving people. That's basic. In fact, God has forgiven you, so you should forgive. That's one principle. The other one is God will forgive you if you do forgive.
And so, on the one hand the Scripture says God has forgiven you therefore forgive, and on the other hand the Scripture says if you don't forgive God won't forgive you and you will have violated the relationship, the fellowship that you could enjoy with God.
The Lord has forgiven all of us all of our sins and therefore Paul says we should forgive each other. And if we don't, we're going to be chastened by God. That's plain and simple the message. How often are we to forgive...endlessly Scripture teaches. 70 x 7...Matthew 18. Jesus goes on in the 18th chapter of Matthew to speak a parable that illustrates His point.
The next illustration is taken directly from a study John MacArthur did on forgiveness. I loved what he says here.
"And then He tells a parable that makes the point. And it's a parable that depicts God and the sinner. The king in the parable is God. The man who owes the big debt is the sinner. "The Kingdom of Heaven then...verse 23...may be compared to a certain king...that's God...who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. And when he had begun to settle them there was brought to him one who owed him 10 thousand talents." That's an unpayable debt, massive debt he could never pay. "Since he didn't have the means to repay his lord commanded him to be sold along with his wife and children and all that he had and repayment to be made." The debt was too much to pay but if all these people were sold into slavery at least the king could get something. The man had obviously defrauded him. Probably one of those servants who was a tax collector and who had charge over great sums of money and had defrauded the king and now had lost it all and had no means to pay. And he said, "Well, if I can't get what I owe, I'll get what I can. So sell all of his family into slavery and at least give me that."
"The slave therefore...verse 26...falling down prostrated himself before him saying, Have patience with me and I'll repay you everything." He had a right heart, he had a willing spirit even though he couldn't have done it, his intention was right. "The lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt." That's God and the sinner. When the sinner comes before God and is convicted about his unpayable debt, he's convicted about his sin and God tells him you have no means to pay me, you should be sent to hell, you should pay whatever you can pay even though you could never pay me what you owe me. And that's what hell is, by the way, it's spending forever paying what you could pay which never does pay the debt you fully owe because you've affronted God so greatly as one who rejected His Son.
But this king is compassionate and when he sees the man's willingness, he forgives him the debt. Now here comes the point. "The slave went out," he had just been forgiven, "he found his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii, one of them," that's a hundred days wages, not a major debt. "He seized him, began to choke him, saying, Pay back what you owe." And the people who would be listening to Jesus tell the story at this point would be absolutely outraged. "So his fellow slave fell down and began to entreat him saying, Have patience with me and I'll repay you. He was unwilling, however, but when...threw him in a prison until he should pay back what he owed."
This is unthinkable. Here is a man who has been forgiven a massive debt who turns right around and won't forgive somebody a small debt. "When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. Then summoning him his lord said to him, You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you asked me. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow slave even as I had mercy on you?" And there's that principle. You want mercy from God, you show mercy. You want forgiveness from God, you be forgiving. "And his lord moved with anger handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. So shall My heavenly Father also do to you if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart."
Boy, what a story! What a story! That parable is so severe that there are many people who conclude that the principle Jesus teaches couldn't possibly apply to a Christian. But it does. Because the man who wouldn't forgive the slave was a forgiven man, that is God had already forgiven him, he is a child of God. But what it tells us is that the Lord will sometimes deal very harshly with His own children who will not forgive someone else, whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and every son He scourges, Hebrews 12 says. And one of the reasons He disciplines and scourges us and makes life very trying and difficult is because we have an unforgiving heart towards someone. Christians then are to forgive. That is the principle taught in Scripture, that is the principle illustrating the character of God in the parable of the prodigal son, and that is the principle illustrated in this parable to be true of every believer. This is a matter, I think, not only of blessing and fellowship with God, but it's also a matter of the assurance of salvation."
We should also forgive immediately. I love what Corrie Ten Boom has said on this subject:
"A piece of good advice is to forgive anyone immediately--and I mean immediately--if they say or do something against you. Then the Devil won't have a chance to keep a shadow in your heart." I love that. Lord keep our hearts from shadows. We are to be His lights in the world and shine His love to the world around us which is dying without Christ. There really isn't time for our offenses.
The love of God shed abroad in our hearts is stronger than any offense or hatred we might encounter. God's love forgives...Surrender to it and allow it to succeed in your heart. God's love is the answer.
"We need not climb up into heaven to see whether our sins are forgiven. Let us look into our hearts and see if we can forgive others. If we can, we need not doubt that God has forgiven us." Someone has said "He who demands mercy and shows none ruins the bridge over which he himself must pass."
"The Lord, the Lord God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness and truth who keeps loving kindness for thousands who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin."--Exodus 34:6
Solomon said, "It is a man's glory to overlook a transgression,
"Man is never more like God than when he forgives--Proverbs 19:11
Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.--Romans 5:5
Thoughts on Forgiveness...some paraphrased from John MacArthur.
Our God is the God of forgiveness...that is who He is. We are to resemble Him...we are to imitate Him. Forgiveness deflects self-pity, pride and shows mercy. Forgiveness is divine. We are never more like God than when we forgive. That should be characteristic of every one of us. Forgiveness is the most noble act that one sinner can do for another sinner. In our heart is love and humility, not a wounded ego, not vengeance, not bitterness no matter what anybody does to us, and we hold there a loving, eager, anxious longing to forgive when that sinner comes to seek the forgiveness we offer. This is Christlike. This is Godlike. We forgive to restore fellowship, Forgiveness produces mercy, joy, love, fellowship, purity.
"Be kind to one another, tender hearted...here's the same principle...forgiving each other just as God in Christ also has forgiven you."
In Colossians chapter 3, He says, "We are to bear with one another and forgiving each other whoever has a complaint against anyone just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you."
Now if you pull all of these together you get the very clear idea that God is a forgiving God and you are to be forgiving people. That's basic. In fact, God has forgiven you, so you should forgive. That's one principle. The other one is God will forgive you if you do forgive.
And so, on the one hand the Scripture says God has forgiven you therefore forgive, and on the other hand the Scripture says if you don't forgive God won't forgive you and you will have violated the relationship, the fellowship that you could enjoy with God.
The Lord has forgiven all of us all of our sins and therefore Paul says we should forgive each other. And if we don't, we're going to be chastened by God. That's plain and simple the message. How often are we to forgive...endlessly Scripture teaches. 70 x 7...Matthew 18. Jesus goes on in the 18th chapter of Matthew to speak a parable that illustrates His point.
The next illustration is taken directly from a study John MacArthur did on forgiveness. I loved what he says here.
"And then He tells a parable that makes the point. And it's a parable that depicts God and the sinner. The king in the parable is God. The man who owes the big debt is the sinner. "The Kingdom of Heaven then...verse 23...may be compared to a certain king...that's God...who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. And when he had begun to settle them there was brought to him one who owed him 10 thousand talents." That's an unpayable debt, massive debt he could never pay. "Since he didn't have the means to repay his lord commanded him to be sold along with his wife and children and all that he had and repayment to be made." The debt was too much to pay but if all these people were sold into slavery at least the king could get something. The man had obviously defrauded him. Probably one of those servants who was a tax collector and who had charge over great sums of money and had defrauded the king and now had lost it all and had no means to pay. And he said, "Well, if I can't get what I owe, I'll get what I can. So sell all of his family into slavery and at least give me that."
"The slave therefore...verse 26...falling down prostrated himself before him saying, Have patience with me and I'll repay you everything." He had a right heart, he had a willing spirit even though he couldn't have done it, his intention was right. "The lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt." That's God and the sinner. When the sinner comes before God and is convicted about his unpayable debt, he's convicted about his sin and God tells him you have no means to pay me, you should be sent to hell, you should pay whatever you can pay even though you could never pay me what you owe me. And that's what hell is, by the way, it's spending forever paying what you could pay which never does pay the debt you fully owe because you've affronted God so greatly as one who rejected His Son.
But this king is compassionate and when he sees the man's willingness, he forgives him the debt. Now here comes the point. "The slave went out," he had just been forgiven, "he found his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii, one of them," that's a hundred days wages, not a major debt. "He seized him, began to choke him, saying, Pay back what you owe." And the people who would be listening to Jesus tell the story at this point would be absolutely outraged. "So his fellow slave fell down and began to entreat him saying, Have patience with me and I'll repay you. He was unwilling, however, but when...threw him in a prison until he should pay back what he owed."
This is unthinkable. Here is a man who has been forgiven a massive debt who turns right around and won't forgive somebody a small debt. "When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. Then summoning him his lord said to him, You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you asked me. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow slave even as I had mercy on you?" And there's that principle. You want mercy from God, you show mercy. You want forgiveness from God, you be forgiving. "And his lord moved with anger handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. So shall My heavenly Father also do to you if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart."
Boy, what a story! What a story! That parable is so severe that there are many people who conclude that the principle Jesus teaches couldn't possibly apply to a Christian. But it does. Because the man who wouldn't forgive the slave was a forgiven man, that is God had already forgiven him, he is a child of God. But what it tells us is that the Lord will sometimes deal very harshly with His own children who will not forgive someone else, whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and every son He scourges, Hebrews 12 says. And one of the reasons He disciplines and scourges us and makes life very trying and difficult is because we have an unforgiving heart towards someone. Christians then are to forgive. That is the principle taught in Scripture, that is the principle illustrating the character of God in the parable of the prodigal son, and that is the principle illustrated in this parable to be true of every believer. This is a matter, I think, not only of blessing and fellowship with God, but it's also a matter of the assurance of salvation."
We should also forgive immediately. I love what Corrie Ten Boom has said on this subject:
"A piece of good advice is to forgive anyone immediately--and I mean immediately--if they say or do something against you. Then the Devil won't have a chance to keep a shadow in your heart." I love that. Lord keep our hearts from shadows. We are to be His lights in the world and shine His love to the world around us which is dying without Christ. There really isn't time for our offenses.
The love of God shed abroad in our hearts is stronger than any offense or hatred we might encounter. God's love forgives...Surrender to it and allow it to succeed in your heart. God's love is the answer.
"We need not climb up into heaven to see whether our sins are forgiven. Let us look into our hearts and see if we can forgive others. If we can, we need not doubt that God has forgiven us." Someone has said "He who demands mercy and shows none ruins the bridge over which he himself must pass."
Little Kindnesses...
Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. --1 Peter 4:9-11
Hospitality...ungrudging hospitality is such a beautiful practical way to show love for the people God has put in our lives. Matthew 25:40 says this:
And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'
Wow! Any kindness shown to a child of God is as if you are showing it to the Lord Himself. Both I and my family have been blessed by this kind of hospitality from fellow Christians. It touched our hearts deeply and is something that we will not ever forget. This kind of hospitality always encourages me and spurs me on to be more Christlike in that regard myself. Done right and accepted in the right spirit it will surround and encompass journey-weary, fellow Christians with His reviving love. Don't limit your hospitality to just entertaining...be welcoming, kind to those God puts in front of you daily. Open your heart and give them His love. Put them first. Do those little kindnesses to them that will be remembered for a lifetime. You will be amazed at how you will be blessed and how God will enlarge your own heart...less of you...more of Him. AND isn't that the goal.
Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers, who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well, because they went forth for His name's sake, taking nothing from the Gentiles. We therefore ought to receive such, that we may become fellow workers for the truth. --3rd John 1:5-8
Verse 10 and the first part of verse 11 go on to say, " As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies," God has entrusted us with His grace...you and me! We are to be good stewards of it. A steward is defined as one who oversees the resources of another. We are to be good overseers of the grace God has shown us in the gifts that He has blessed us with to minister His grace through them to others. Did you get that? I know there must be a simpler way of saying it. God gives us grace through His gifts to us...we are to use these gifts of grace to minister His grace to others. What an opportunity we have to share His grace...the grace we have been so freely given with others.
All of us are called to serve our Lord...not in the same capacity but to serve nevertheless. Each one of us have different gifts in different measures. God works uniquely in each of us.
There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: --1 Cor 12:4-7
These gifts are not given to be used selfishly for our own gratification or for self promotion, but for the profit of the entire body. We are, as said earlier, to be good stewards of them. They were given to us for the glory of God and the good of others and are to be ministered to others with the ability which our God supplies. Some gifts might seem to be more important than other gifts, but it is not because the person who is the minister of the gift is superior. It is God who gives the gift and God who supplies the power. All of us are tools in His hand.
The last part of verse 11 says, " that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen." Do not boast about the gifts God has blessed you with by taking the glory for yourself. First Corinthians 4:7 says:
"For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?:
This is a difficult one girls. It is so easy to "forget" that it is God who works in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure. At times when we exercise our gifts there will be the temptation to take the glory for ourselves instead of pointing to to the Lord to whom the glory belongs. Or even to look back at what you have accomplished in pride forgetting it was not you at all. It is important to make a practice as we serve God to serve Him with a heart that is humble...a heart that is grateful that the Lord would give him an opportunity to minister His grace to His beloved people.
1 Corinthians 10:31 says "...whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." Will this bring glory to God? is a good thing to ask yourself before doing anything. We are to live for God's glory...the glory of God is why we were created. We are faced often with decisions. Whether to do this or whether to do that...or whether this course of action would be right or wrong. Here is a good rule to apply: Is there any glory for God in it?
Love
Mom
Hospitality...ungrudging hospitality is such a beautiful practical way to show love for the people God has put in our lives. Matthew 25:40 says this:
And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'
Wow! Any kindness shown to a child of God is as if you are showing it to the Lord Himself. Both I and my family have been blessed by this kind of hospitality from fellow Christians. It touched our hearts deeply and is something that we will not ever forget. This kind of hospitality always encourages me and spurs me on to be more Christlike in that regard myself. Done right and accepted in the right spirit it will surround and encompass journey-weary, fellow Christians with His reviving love. Don't limit your hospitality to just entertaining...be welcoming, kind to those God puts in front of you daily. Open your heart and give them His love. Put them first. Do those little kindnesses to them that will be remembered for a lifetime. You will be amazed at how you will be blessed and how God will enlarge your own heart...less of you...more of Him. AND isn't that the goal.
Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers, who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well, because they went forth for His name's sake, taking nothing from the Gentiles. We therefore ought to receive such, that we may become fellow workers for the truth. --3rd John 1:5-8
Verse 10 and the first part of verse 11 go on to say, " As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies," God has entrusted us with His grace...you and me! We are to be good stewards of it. A steward is defined as one who oversees the resources of another. We are to be good overseers of the grace God has shown us in the gifts that He has blessed us with to minister His grace through them to others. Did you get that? I know there must be a simpler way of saying it. God gives us grace through His gifts to us...we are to use these gifts of grace to minister His grace to others. What an opportunity we have to share His grace...the grace we have been so freely given with others.
All of us are called to serve our Lord...not in the same capacity but to serve nevertheless. Each one of us have different gifts in different measures. God works uniquely in each of us.
There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: --1 Cor 12:4-7
These gifts are not given to be used selfishly for our own gratification or for self promotion, but for the profit of the entire body. We are, as said earlier, to be good stewards of them. They were given to us for the glory of God and the good of others and are to be ministered to others with the ability which our God supplies. Some gifts might seem to be more important than other gifts, but it is not because the person who is the minister of the gift is superior. It is God who gives the gift and God who supplies the power. All of us are tools in His hand.
The last part of verse 11 says, " that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen." Do not boast about the gifts God has blessed you with by taking the glory for yourself. First Corinthians 4:7 says:
"For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?:
This is a difficult one girls. It is so easy to "forget" that it is God who works in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure. At times when we exercise our gifts there will be the temptation to take the glory for ourselves instead of pointing to to the Lord to whom the glory belongs. Or even to look back at what you have accomplished in pride forgetting it was not you at all. It is important to make a practice as we serve God to serve Him with a heart that is humble...a heart that is grateful that the Lord would give him an opportunity to minister His grace to His beloved people.
1 Corinthians 10:31 says "...whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." Will this bring glory to God? is a good thing to ask yourself before doing anything. We are to live for God's glory...the glory of God is why we were created. We are faced often with decisions. Whether to do this or whether to do that...or whether this course of action would be right or wrong. Here is a good rule to apply: Is there any glory for God in it?
Love
Mom
Monday, April 18, 2011
Christophobia: Dead Man in the Sky
Christophobia: Dead Man in the Sky: "The physical Universe in all its vastness was before me. I saw it as if outside it looking in, and it was incomprehensibly big. There..."
God's Desire...
Thus says the LORD: "Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? For all those things My hand has made, And all those things exist," Says the LORD. "But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, And who trembles at My word. --Isaiah 66:1-2
Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna and Mikayla,
I was finishing up my reading and study of the book of Ezra this morning and reached this verse in Chapter ten.
Now therefore, let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and those who have been born to them, according to the advice of my master and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.--Ezra 10:3
Here is the portion that spoke to my heart---"and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God."
I love that. These types of phrases are found all over the word of God and are used to describe someone who believes. A believer trembles or stands in awe of the word of God and his desire is to obey it. This portion of Ezra is what brought me to Isaiah 66: 2-3 (see above)
Isaiah is beginning his prophecy summation here with a reminder to the people of what God is NOT looking for and what He IS looking for. He says heaven is His throne and the earth is His footstool. And asks where is the house you will build Me and where is the place of My rest? God goes on to tell them that He made all those things...truly the universe is His dwelling place. The only thing we can give Him as finite human beings is the only thing that He desires from us. He wants us to take the cup of salvation He offers and obey Him as an expression of our love for Him. This is expressed beautifully in Psalm 116.
What shall I render to the LORD For all His benefits toward me? I will take up the cup of salvation, And call upon the name of the LORD. --Psalm 116:12-13
Whom will God look upon. "On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word." Girls, our God looks for a heart to dwell in that is tender and broken. A heart that is not concerned with outward displays but inward obedience. He desires to dwell in the heart that trembles at His word. A heart that takes His word seriously.
"Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him."--John 14:23
How beautiful is our God. His desire is to dwell with us. To live inside our very hearts. Psalm 34 tells us the Lord is near to those who have a broken heart and saves such as have a contrite spirit. Isaiah 57 says this:
"For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones. "
For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. He searches for hearts to dwell in who acknowledge their own helplessness and whose desire is not to rely on themselves but on Him who is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscience. They come to Him who created them...to Him who knows exactly what they need and rely on His ability, strength and power as they journey through this life. Heaven is so unlike the earth. Self-sufficiency is not a virtue there...neither is self-exaltation and heaven's door is open to those who understand this. Tremble at His word. Stand in awe of it...surrender to His Spirit and obey His commandments.
Love
Mom
Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna and Mikayla,
I was finishing up my reading and study of the book of Ezra this morning and reached this verse in Chapter ten.
Now therefore, let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and those who have been born to them, according to the advice of my master and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.--Ezra 10:3
Here is the portion that spoke to my heart---"and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God."
I love that. These types of phrases are found all over the word of God and are used to describe someone who believes. A believer trembles or stands in awe of the word of God and his desire is to obey it. This portion of Ezra is what brought me to Isaiah 66: 2-3 (see above)
Isaiah is beginning his prophecy summation here with a reminder to the people of what God is NOT looking for and what He IS looking for. He says heaven is His throne and the earth is His footstool. And asks where is the house you will build Me and where is the place of My rest? God goes on to tell them that He made all those things...truly the universe is His dwelling place. The only thing we can give Him as finite human beings is the only thing that He desires from us. He wants us to take the cup of salvation He offers and obey Him as an expression of our love for Him. This is expressed beautifully in Psalm 116.
What shall I render to the LORD For all His benefits toward me? I will take up the cup of salvation, And call upon the name of the LORD. --Psalm 116:12-13
Whom will God look upon. "On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word." Girls, our God looks for a heart to dwell in that is tender and broken. A heart that is not concerned with outward displays but inward obedience. He desires to dwell in the heart that trembles at His word. A heart that takes His word seriously.
"Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him."--John 14:23
How beautiful is our God. His desire is to dwell with us. To live inside our very hearts. Psalm 34 tells us the Lord is near to those who have a broken heart and saves such as have a contrite spirit. Isaiah 57 says this:
"For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones. "
For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. He searches for hearts to dwell in who acknowledge their own helplessness and whose desire is not to rely on themselves but on Him who is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscience. They come to Him who created them...to Him who knows exactly what they need and rely on His ability, strength and power as they journey through this life. Heaven is so unlike the earth. Self-sufficiency is not a virtue there...neither is self-exaltation and heaven's door is open to those who understand this. Tremble at His word. Stand in awe of it...surrender to His Spirit and obey His commandments.
Love
Mom
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Reform vs Regeneration
“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”--Matthew 12:43-45
Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna, and Mikayla,
This one is about heart changes. Jesus is speaking here primarily to Israel who had cleaned up their nation from the idolatry that plagued them in the Old Testament. They had experienced reformation but not regeneration. Jesus is saying that because they were now rejecting Him their last state would be worse than the first. We do the same thing. We try to clean up our lives without Jesus. As a non believer I tried it many many times. It never lasted and it never worked. I was still me. Okay...I was despicable me...like the movie.
Reform apart from regeneration is never effective. You eventually go back to your pre-reform behavior.
But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: "A DOG RETURNS TO HIS OWN VOMIT," and, "a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire." 2 Peter 2:22
Most of us have learned about Christ and how to be saved, but the majority will reject the truth and return to their sin. These people are worse off than before because they have rejected the only way out of sin, the only way of salvation. Like someone sinking in quicksand who refuses to grab the rope thrown to him, or take the medicine that will make him well, the person who turns away from Christ rejects the only means of escape.
The Pharisees were concerned about the outward and not the inward. Their outside looked good but their hearts were filled with emptiness. We need Jesus not reformation. Whatever else you think you might want, it is Jesus you really need. He fills us and does His work in our hearts from the inside out. I love what Warren Wiersbe says here. "The house had been swept clean, but the right tenant was not invited in. When I invited Jesus into my heart, my life changed. I was amazed...one step of faith and the next moment...A new me! I saw the world with different eyes and the best part of it was I knew that it was not going to change...I was now on solid ground...not sifting sand. I was alone when it happened and remember so vividly the joy that bubbled up in my heart....I have gone through difficult times since then, but that joy is always there. He is always with me...nothing can separate me from His love. My life is His and my future assured.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.--Revelation 3:20
Love
Mom
Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna, and Mikayla,
This one is about heart changes. Jesus is speaking here primarily to Israel who had cleaned up their nation from the idolatry that plagued them in the Old Testament. They had experienced reformation but not regeneration. Jesus is saying that because they were now rejecting Him their last state would be worse than the first. We do the same thing. We try to clean up our lives without Jesus. As a non believer I tried it many many times. It never lasted and it never worked. I was still me. Okay...I was despicable me...like the movie.
Reform apart from regeneration is never effective. You eventually go back to your pre-reform behavior.
But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: "A DOG RETURNS TO HIS OWN VOMIT," and, "a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire." 2 Peter 2:22
Most of us have learned about Christ and how to be saved, but the majority will reject the truth and return to their sin. These people are worse off than before because they have rejected the only way out of sin, the only way of salvation. Like someone sinking in quicksand who refuses to grab the rope thrown to him, or take the medicine that will make him well, the person who turns away from Christ rejects the only means of escape.
The Pharisees were concerned about the outward and not the inward. Their outside looked good but their hearts were filled with emptiness. We need Jesus not reformation. Whatever else you think you might want, it is Jesus you really need. He fills us and does His work in our hearts from the inside out. I love what Warren Wiersbe says here. "The house had been swept clean, but the right tenant was not invited in. When I invited Jesus into my heart, my life changed. I was amazed...one step of faith and the next moment...A new me! I saw the world with different eyes and the best part of it was I knew that it was not going to change...I was now on solid ground...not sifting sand. I was alone when it happened and remember so vividly the joy that bubbled up in my heart....I have gone through difficult times since then, but that joy is always there. He is always with me...nothing can separate me from His love. My life is His and my future assured.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.--Revelation 3:20
Love
Mom
By the Good Hand of Our God...
Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna, and Mikayla,
A wonderful sister in Christ, a short while back, pointed out how encouraging the last verse in chapter 7 of the Book of Ezra was to her because it spoke of the good hand of God upon Ezra. I am back in Ezra this morning and remembered what she had said and noticed all the verses in both chapter 7 and 8 that spoke of God's hand. It seems to be a favorite expression of Ezra's. I think it is a good one to notice...it reminds us that our successes in ministry or in life are all from Him. He not only gives us what we need for the journey but also guides our steps and does the work.
No matter who we are or what we have been given by God, we can do nothing that brings God glory unless His good hand is upon us guiding us into His will. It tells us also in Ezra 7:14 that the law of God was in Ezra's hand. He brought to the people what they needed...the word of God. I have to say I feel similarly to Ezra about the word of God. I rarely go anywhere without it. His word is my comfort and my armor. Hoping you are blessed today by the good hand of God upon you.
this Ezra came up from Babylon; and he was a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given. The king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him.--Ezra 7:6
God's hand provided...
And Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. On the first day of the first month he began his journey from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him. For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.--Ezra 7:8-10
God's hand guides us on our journey.
Blessed be the LORD God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem, and has extended mercy to me before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty princes. So I was encouraged, as the hand of the LORD my God was upon me; and I gathered leading men of Israel to go up with me..--Ezra 7:27-28
God's hand is encouraging...
Then, by the good hand of our God upon us, they brought us a man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli the son of Levi, the son of Israel, namely Sherebiah, with his sons and brothers, eighteen men; and Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, his brothers and their sons, twenty men; also of the Nethinim, whom David and the leaders had appointed for the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinim. All of them were designated by name.--Ezra 8:18-20
God's hand is good and brings us what we need.
Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions. For I was ashamed to request of the king an escort of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the road, because we had spoken to the king, saying, “The hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him.” So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and He answered our prayer. --Ezra 8:21-23
God's hand is on those who humbly seek Him. His hand is protective. But His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him. Seek the Lord first in everything...He will guide you and direct you with His righteous right hand.
Then we departed from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. And the hand of our God was upon us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambush along the road. So we came to Jerusalem, and stayed there three days--Ezra 8:31-32
God's hand delivers us.
Love
Mom
A wonderful sister in Christ, a short while back, pointed out how encouraging the last verse in chapter 7 of the Book of Ezra was to her because it spoke of the good hand of God upon Ezra. I am back in Ezra this morning and remembered what she had said and noticed all the verses in both chapter 7 and 8 that spoke of God's hand. It seems to be a favorite expression of Ezra's. I think it is a good one to notice...it reminds us that our successes in ministry or in life are all from Him. He not only gives us what we need for the journey but also guides our steps and does the work.
No matter who we are or what we have been given by God, we can do nothing that brings God glory unless His good hand is upon us guiding us into His will. It tells us also in Ezra 7:14 that the law of God was in Ezra's hand. He brought to the people what they needed...the word of God. I have to say I feel similarly to Ezra about the word of God. I rarely go anywhere without it. His word is my comfort and my armor. Hoping you are blessed today by the good hand of God upon you.
this Ezra came up from Babylon; and he was a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given. The king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him.--Ezra 7:6
God's hand provided...
And Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. On the first day of the first month he began his journey from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him. For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.--Ezra 7:8-10
God's hand guides us on our journey.
Blessed be the LORD God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem, and has extended mercy to me before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty princes. So I was encouraged, as the hand of the LORD my God was upon me; and I gathered leading men of Israel to go up with me..--Ezra 7:27-28
God's hand is encouraging...
Then, by the good hand of our God upon us, they brought us a man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli the son of Levi, the son of Israel, namely Sherebiah, with his sons and brothers, eighteen men; and Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, his brothers and their sons, twenty men; also of the Nethinim, whom David and the leaders had appointed for the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinim. All of them were designated by name.--Ezra 8:18-20
God's hand is good and brings us what we need.
Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions. For I was ashamed to request of the king an escort of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the road, because we had spoken to the king, saying, “The hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him.” So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and He answered our prayer. --Ezra 8:21-23
God's hand is on those who humbly seek Him. His hand is protective. But His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him. Seek the Lord first in everything...He will guide you and direct you with His righteous right hand.
Then we departed from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. And the hand of our God was upon us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambush along the road. So we came to Jerusalem, and stayed there three days--Ezra 8:31-32
God's hand delivers us.
Love
Mom
Saturday, April 16, 2011
The Mark of God
Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna and Mikayla,
God sent six angels to carry out His judgment over the city of Jerusalem. There was one among the angels that seemed to stand out. He was clothed in linen and had a writer's inkhorn at his side. This could be the pre-incarnate Christ, the Angel of the Lord.
Verse 3 says the glory of God had gone up from the cherub, where it had been, to the threshold of the temple." The glory of God was departing the temple and the city prior to its destruction. The departure was gradual. First it left the Holy of Holies....from between the wings of the cherubs...then to the threshold of the temple...then to the East Gate (10:18,19) and finally to the Mount of Olives to the east. (11:22-23) God was about the leave the temple in Jerusalem never to return until Jesus returns set up His kingdom. The glory of God was departing...it was on the move. What a solemn moment...the visual sign of the presence of God departing.
God's departure removed all protection and gave the people over to destruction. The angelic scribe dressed in linen who had the writer's inkhorn at his side (the Angel of the Lord) was called by God to mark the righteous who had been faithful and who sighed and cried over the abominations done in the city. Ezekiel goes on to say but "to the others He said in my hearing , "Go after him through the city and kill, do not let your eye spare, nor have any pity. Utterly slay old and young men, maidens and little children and women; but do not come near anyone on whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary." (begin with the elders of Israel who had committed wicked abominations in the temple and were corrupt both in their practices and their thoughts.)
Then He said to me, "Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the room of his idols? For they say, 'The LORD does not see us, the LORD has forsaken the land.' " --Ezekiel 8:12
The marked ones reminded me of the blood on the lintel to protect Israel from God's judgment on Egypt. The mark identified these people personally with God. Grace for His people and especially for His remnant.!! Praise to our God!! There are so many example of the mercy God shows to His people throughout the Old and the New Testaments.
I can't even voice the comfort this brings me. God marks those who are His. Those who as a friend pointed out fear the Lord and hate evil. We are not appointed for wrath. We are always under His care and protection. We have a Mediator, a Great High Priest who lives to make intercession for us!
For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,--1 Thessalonians 5:9
And I heard another voice from heaven saying, "Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plague--Revelation 18:4
Come, my people, enter your chambers, And shut your doors behind you; Hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, Until the indignation is past.--Isaiah 26:20
And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.--Exodus 12:7
Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, And the LORD listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the LORD And who meditate on His name. "They shall be Mine," says the LORD of hosts, "On the day that I make them My jewels. And I will spare them As a man spares his own son who serves him." --Malachi 3:16-17
saying, "Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.--Revelation 7:3
They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. --Revelation 9:4
Chapter 11 verse 16 speaks of a sanctuary for God's people wherever they are.
Therefore say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Although I have cast them far off among the Gentiles, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet I shall be a little sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone." ' --Ezekiel 11:16
God is everywhere present and He is wherever God's people are. God was promising His presence here to those who turn to Him. Today, to those of us who believe Acts 17 says this:
God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.' ---Acts 17:24-28 bold emphasis mine.
In judgment, our God always remembers mercy!
Now the LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation." --Exodus 34:5-7
Love
Mom
Friday, April 15, 2011
Me, Myself and I....The Trinity of Stupidity
"It is not my ability, but my response to God’s ability, that counts."
Love
Mom
Doer of the Word vs the Hearer Only....James 1:22-25
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.--James 1:22-25
To My Sweet Daughters,
When James uses the word "doer", he is emphasizing what a believer is rather than what he does. A Christian's entire life should be characterized by a dedication to serving the Lord. A doer of the word is one who devotes his life to not only the study of God's word but also to a faithful and continual obedience to it.His word matches his deed.
In contrast, a hearer of the word is a passive listener. John MacArthur likens them to someone who audits a college class. Auditing a class requires attendance, but it does not require you to submit any work or take any tests. Sadly, there are many Christians like that. They sit in church and hear God's word but have no desire to obey it. They may even claim to know Him and yet deny Him in their deeds. If this kind of behavior is evidenced consistently in a person's life, then they are not believers at all and are deceiving themselves.
James goes on to say this: "For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was."
The word of God here is likened to a mirror. As we allow it to penetrate our hearts it shows us what we look like. What we see if we are really looking and drawing close to Jesus are those things that do not reflect who Jesus is to others in our life. Sometimes what the Lord might show us is very hard to look at and sometimes perhaps even to stomach. Nevertheless, we are to look carefully and consistently into the mirror of the word and observe what we see. A doer of the word acts on what they observe. The goal in the study and hearing of the word is to become more like Him...to be transformed by the renewing of your mind and conformed into the image of His Son.
Girls, it is so easy to stumble here and deceive yourself into thinking you are doing something when you are not. A bondservant of Christ will take what he sees to heart and apply the word in his life because pleasing Christ and becoming more like Him is what his life is about. It is so easy to read the bible or listen to a message at church and say, "oh yeah...I agree with that." but I deceive myself if having seen in the mirror what needs to be taken care of and neglect to do it. Talk, girls, is cheap. Agreeing that we should love more, forgive more, worship more or pray more is not loving more, forgiving more, worshiping more or praying more...it is talking about doing those things. When your heart truly believes God, your actions will follow your belief. Look at your lives...really look at them. Would a jury convict you of being a Christian based not only on your words but on your actions? There is no virtue in reading the bible or hearing the word of God. We need to be willing to obey what it says and allow it to change us from the inside out.
But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. The blessing is not in the hearing but in the doing. The validation of salvation is a life of obedience. John MacArthur says it is the only possible proof that a person really knows Jesus Christ.
Luke 11:28 says, "But He said, "More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!"
The opposite is true for the hearer of the word. The hearing and not the doing can eventually harden us and make the word begin to bounce off our hearts. Even worse we become more accountable because we know what to do but do not do it. If one does not obey Christ as a pattern of life, then professing to know Him is an empty verbal exercise.
James 4:17 "Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin."
What is the perfect law of liberty? God's word is the perfect law and as believers we are enabled by the Spirit to keep it. The perfect law of liberty then enables us to have genuine freedom from sin as we surrender to the Holy Spirit's working of it into our hearts. We are freed from the bondage of sin and are able to obey God. I know it seems pretty paradoxical that a law could give us freedom...but it does.
"For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "YOU SHALL NOT COVET." But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead."--Romans 7:5-8
At first the law is used a s a tutor to bring us to Christ by making us aware of the sinfulness of our hearts and our absolute inability to keep it and save ourselves. Once that job is complete, and we have accepted Christ into our hearts, we are free from sin's control and are able to live as we were originally created to live. We are not free to do as we please but we are now free to obey God.
Our study and meditation on the word should have practical results in our lives and draw us closer to Him who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. It frees us from the deceit and the useless wranglings and reasoning of this world and focuses our attention on eternity. The precepts of the word are not burdensome to a heart who desires to obey and will bring blessing abundantly.
Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
"But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall." --Matthew 7:21-27
Love
Mom
To My Sweet Daughters,
When James uses the word "doer", he is emphasizing what a believer is rather than what he does. A Christian's entire life should be characterized by a dedication to serving the Lord. A doer of the word is one who devotes his life to not only the study of God's word but also to a faithful and continual obedience to it.His word matches his deed.
In contrast, a hearer of the word is a passive listener. John MacArthur likens them to someone who audits a college class. Auditing a class requires attendance, but it does not require you to submit any work or take any tests. Sadly, there are many Christians like that. They sit in church and hear God's word but have no desire to obey it. They may even claim to know Him and yet deny Him in their deeds. If this kind of behavior is evidenced consistently in a person's life, then they are not believers at all and are deceiving themselves.
James goes on to say this: "For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was."
The word of God here is likened to a mirror. As we allow it to penetrate our hearts it shows us what we look like. What we see if we are really looking and drawing close to Jesus are those things that do not reflect who Jesus is to others in our life. Sometimes what the Lord might show us is very hard to look at and sometimes perhaps even to stomach. Nevertheless, we are to look carefully and consistently into the mirror of the word and observe what we see. A doer of the word acts on what they observe. The goal in the study and hearing of the word is to become more like Him...to be transformed by the renewing of your mind and conformed into the image of His Son.
Girls, it is so easy to stumble here and deceive yourself into thinking you are doing something when you are not. A bondservant of Christ will take what he sees to heart and apply the word in his life because pleasing Christ and becoming more like Him is what his life is about. It is so easy to read the bible or listen to a message at church and say, "oh yeah...I agree with that." but I deceive myself if having seen in the mirror what needs to be taken care of and neglect to do it. Talk, girls, is cheap. Agreeing that we should love more, forgive more, worship more or pray more is not loving more, forgiving more, worshiping more or praying more...it is talking about doing those things. When your heart truly believes God, your actions will follow your belief. Look at your lives...really look at them. Would a jury convict you of being a Christian based not only on your words but on your actions? There is no virtue in reading the bible or hearing the word of God. We need to be willing to obey what it says and allow it to change us from the inside out.
But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. The blessing is not in the hearing but in the doing. The validation of salvation is a life of obedience. John MacArthur says it is the only possible proof that a person really knows Jesus Christ.
Luke 11:28 says, "But He said, "More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!"
The opposite is true for the hearer of the word. The hearing and not the doing can eventually harden us and make the word begin to bounce off our hearts. Even worse we become more accountable because we know what to do but do not do it. If one does not obey Christ as a pattern of life, then professing to know Him is an empty verbal exercise.
James 4:17 "Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin."
What is the perfect law of liberty? God's word is the perfect law and as believers we are enabled by the Spirit to keep it. The perfect law of liberty then enables us to have genuine freedom from sin as we surrender to the Holy Spirit's working of it into our hearts. We are freed from the bondage of sin and are able to obey God. I know it seems pretty paradoxical that a law could give us freedom...but it does.
"For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "YOU SHALL NOT COVET." But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead."--Romans 7:5-8
At first the law is used a s a tutor to bring us to Christ by making us aware of the sinfulness of our hearts and our absolute inability to keep it and save ourselves. Once that job is complete, and we have accepted Christ into our hearts, we are free from sin's control and are able to live as we were originally created to live. We are not free to do as we please but we are now free to obey God.
Our study and meditation on the word should have practical results in our lives and draw us closer to Him who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. It frees us from the deceit and the useless wranglings and reasoning of this world and focuses our attention on eternity. The precepts of the word are not burdensome to a heart who desires to obey and will bring blessing abundantly.
Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
"But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall." --Matthew 7:21-27
Love
Mom
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