June 19, 2008 at 11:23 pm (christian living)
I’ve just come from my younger son’s wedding rehearsal. Tomorrow is the big day. I’m hoping and praying so much for him at this time. I found two quotes by Martin Luther that spoke to my heart in this tonight. Maybe they will speak to you as well.
Let the wife make her husband glad to come home and let him make her sorry to see him leave.
To have peace and love in a marriage is a gift that is next to the knowledge of the gospel.
June 8, 2008 at 11:51 pm (Bible devotions, christian living)
2 Thessalonians 3:6-15 But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were not disorderly among you; nor did we eat anyone’s bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us. For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread. But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good. And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.
A sense of entitlement. It seems to be growing more and more in our society. It’s a spirit of dullness and a spirit of “give me” and it seems to be invading our workplace and our nation. This is not a new thing, not even among Christians. Paul was writing this epistle during a time when some of the Thessalonians believers had stopped working. It seems they were relying on the generosity of their fellow believers, supposedly for the sake of being spiritual and waiting for the second coming of Christ – or maybe they were just being lazy. Whatever it was, Paul had harsh words for this sense of entitlement.
Paul begins this by stating that we are to withdraw from people who are disorderly. Who are the disorderly? Paul defines them as those who will not work. This command in the Greek has the force of a military command and is given in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ who is our Supreme Commander. The word “withdraw” (stellesthai) means to stay away from; to have no fellowship with. We are not to be identified in any way with these disorderly people who will not work. Hanging out with people can also cause them to believe we condone their behavior. We are to be careful not to do this.
This passage gives four reasons why we are to withdraw from the disorderly. Verse 6 tells us that the person who does not work disobeys God’s commands and instructions. The word “tradition” (paradosin) means all the Word of God, whether taught or written. Pau says he had already taught these people the value of working as it applies to the commands of God and so they are without excuse. If they continue in this life style, believers are to withdraw from them. The second reason we are to withdraw is because they have examples and so should know better. Paul worked day and night in labor and toil. As a minister of the gospel, he had a right to be supported but chose not to be because he could set a dynamic example for these people. This is not saying ministers should not be paid a real wage. Paul obviously saw a problem with these particular people and was trying to set an example.
Another reason we are to withdraw from disorderly people is because they lose their right to eat. It can’t be stated any plainer: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. Note that this is also a command. Again this is not talking about those who are truly disabled or unable to find employment. This is taking about people who choose not to work – who choose to sit around doing nothing all day. There are too many people in the world who are destitute, desperate, and dying. Almost every church could put people to work, helping the truly needy. The fourth reason is that those who are idle tend to be busybodies. Our minds are active things and are never still. Either it is busy thinking positive, productive thoughts or it is busy thinking negative thoughts. This is why so many idle people, especially young people, get into trouble today.
Verses 12-13 command us all to work. Again this is a forceful command, a command that comes from the Lord Jesus Christ. We are to earn our living in quietness in contrast to being busybodies. We’re to work with a quiet spirit and mind our own business – being efficient workers. We are not to get weary in doing good. Don’t slack – be a good example for others as unto the Lord. Some values and goals are important when we consider our work:
· Pursue your life’s choice of work as a calling from God, whatever it might be, believing that He will guide and prepare you to accomplish a good work.
· Increase understanding of your interests, personality, style, gifts, and talents.
· Increase your skill and usability of universal job skills such as analytical thinking, evaluating skills, learning good communication, writing, speaking skills, interpersonal relationship skills, and problem solving skills.
· Whatever you do, do it with thanksgiving and praise and give glory to God for any achievement.
Work is good for us. When God placed Adam in the garden, He gave him work to do. When we see our work as God-given, we have a whole new perspective. It’s not a necessary evil that takes time away from “spiritual” things, but a gift from God through which we are to grow spiritually and minister to others. This is the solution for the sense of entitlement. It also gives a sense of real purpose and the right kind of self esteem. God needs people in all walks of life in order to reach those who have not heard the good news of salvation.
June 4, 2008 at 2:02 pm (christian living)
This is one of my favorite hymns of all time.
Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine!
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness Divine,
Bold I approach the eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
Bold I approach the eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
Charles Wesley
June 1, 2008 at 11:21 pm (Bible devotions)
Mark 5:25-34 Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. When she had heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.” Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” But His disciples said to Him, “You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, ‘who touched Me?’” And He looked around to see her who had done this thing. But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell before Him and told Him the whole truth. And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”
Alone, sick, and apparently without hope, this woman was looking for a last resort. She was not supposed to be in that crowd that day. She was not to be in public because others night touch her and become unclean themselves. Because of her condition, she was considered unclean by law. No one could touch her nor anything she had touched. She was totally cut off from society and religious worship and had been for 12 years. She had “suffered many things from many physicians.” Don’t you wonder what things she suffered from these men? Yet through all that she didn’t get better, she grew worse. There was nowhere else for her to turn. She had used all of her resources and seen the physicians. But is it not this sense of unworthiness and hopelessness that touches the very heart of Jesus?
She heard that Jesus was coming to town and she knew He could heal her. She elbowed her way through the crowd and came up behind Jesus. She wanted to touch Jesus without being seen or noticed because she was embarrassed and felt unworthy. Her hemorrhaging was a personal, intimate matter for her, something she didn’t want others to know about and discuss. She was unclean; therefore she felt unworthy to approach Jesus. How we struggle to hide certain things in our lives – embarrassing things, personal matters, secret matters – but these are all known and understood by Jesus. He never wishes to cause us embarrassment or shame. He is just waiting for us to approach Him with an understanding of our unworthiness and hopelessness without Him.
She approached Jesus not only with a sense of unworthiness and hopelessness, but with an attitude of expectancy. She had heard of Jesus and believed that He could make her whole again. Look at her thoughts, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.” She believed in her thoughts, in her heart, in the place within herself where her innermost being talks with her heart. She believed two things: the gospel (what she had heard about Jesus) and the power of Jesus to make her whole. This same expectant, believing attitude is essential for any of us to come to Jesus, whether we are hopeless or not. We have to believe in the gospel and the power of Jesus to make us whole. Her reaching out and touching His garment of clothing showed the depth of this faith, this attitude of believing expectancy.
As soon as she touched Jesus, the woman was healed. Jesus, of course, knew who had touched Him, but He asked the question, “Who touched my clothes?” so she could show her faith. He made the healing easy for her without embarrassment but she needed to confess Jesus publicly. It’s interesting to me that the healing cost Jesus. Spiritual power had flowed out of Him to the woman. The expenditure took a toll and He felt the power drain from His body. Imagine the enormous amount of power that must have drained from His body from the time of His first miracle to the cross. Then imagine the flow of power that flowed from the cross, covering believers of all generations. He poured out his power for all of us. I don’t think the disciples understood what it cost Jesus to minister. They were insensitive to the spiritual energy he was expending. They were somewhat surprised at his questions about who touched Him. He was in the midst of a crowd – how could He possibly expect not to be touched? They didn’t understand that he was not only taking our infirmities and bearing our sicknesses but was teaching that public confession of Him was essential. The woman confessed – it was difficult and embarrassing but she did it. Then He told her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.” What a wonderful result. Jesus granted the request of the hopeless. She received peace and was made whole, both physically and spiritually.
What made the woman go to Jesus? Faith that He could do for her what He had done for so many. Her hope was not the kind that says, “Maybe it will happen; I hope so.” Her faith said, “I know He can heal me.” Jesus meets us however we come to Him, with whatever problem. Our hope is in Him; not because we wonder if He will help us, but because we KNOW He will help us. Jesus always responds to those who hope in Him, no matter how great or how small they are. He will always do more than we can imagine.
May 31, 2008 at 4:54 pm (Uncategorized)
In perplexities — when we cannot tell what to do, when we cannot understand what is going on around us — let us be calmed and steadied and made patient by the thought that what is hidden from us is not hidden from Him.
–Frances Ridley Havergal
All of us have wondered at times why God doesn’t do more to fix our problems. But our human eyes often fail to see that God isn’t rushing to change our circumstances because he is concerned with a much more serious problem — our character. While you struggle with the woes of this world, God’s main occupation is preparing you for the world to come. The focus of what God is doing in your life takes place in you, not around you.
–Andy Stanley, in “Like A Rock”
A difficult crisis can be more readiliy endured if we retain the conviction that our existence holds a purpose — a cause to pursue, a person to love, a goal to achieve.
–John Maxwell
Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.
–Jim Elliot
God has a thousand ways
Where I can see not one;
When all my means have reached their end
Then His have just begun.
–Esther Guyot
Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense regardless of how it turns out.
–Barbara Johnson
May 30, 2008 at 4:57 pm (Uncategorized)
Lynn has posted about a woman who has recently passed away in TN. It’s well worth the read. Here’s the link: http://graceindelible.blogspot.com/2008/05/dianne-odell-remarkable-life.html
May 26, 2008 at 8:52 pm (abuse)
What is self-injury? It is the deliberate mutilation of your own body, with the intent to cause injury or damage, but without the intent to kill yourself. It includes:
1. Sudden and recurrent intrusive impulses to hurt oneself, without the perceived ability to resist.
2. A sense of being “trapped” in an intolerable situation that one can neither control nor cope with
3. An increasing sense of agitation, anxiety, and anger
4. When in this state, a constricted ability to problem-solve or to think of reasonable alternatives for action
5. A sense of psychic relief after the act of self-harm
6. A depressive or agitated-depressive mood, although suicidal ideation is not typically present (Pattison &Kahan, 1983)
Broad estimates are that about one percent of the total U.S. population, or between 2 and 3 million people, exhibit some type of self-abusive behavior. But that number includes those with eating disorders like anorexia, as well as those who self injure. In the U.S., it’s estimated that one in every 200 girls between 13 and 19 years old, or one-half of one percent, cut themselves regularly. Those who cut comprise about 70 percent of teen girls who self injure. Treatment visits for teens who self injure have doubled over the past three years. And those numbers are expected to grow as life becomes more complex for teenagers. Directors at self-injury treatment programs refer to this growth trend as an epidemic that reaches even into middle schools.
The profile of a typical self-injurer looks like this. She’s female in her mid-20’s to early 30s, and has been cutting herself since her teens. She’s intelligent , middle or upper-middle class, and well educated. She also comes from a home where she was physically and/or sexually abused and has at least one alcoholic parent.
The most frequent methods of self-injury include:
· Cutting the skin with a knife or razor blade
· Burning (e.g. with a cigarette or heated metal)
· Scratching the skin with fingernails hard enough to draw blood
· Biting yourself, including extreme episodes of nail biting
· Interfering with the healing of wounds (e.g. compulsively picking at scabs)
· Scalding hot showers
· Head banging
· Ingesting sharp or toxic objects (e.g. razor blades, pines, cleaning fluids)
Self-injurious behavior should be viewed as well as treated as an addiction. Actually, it may be the root to understanding all other addictions. According to Webster’s dictionary, “addict” is to “devote or surrender (oneself) to something habitually or obsessively.” “Addiction” is “compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance.” Addictions can be categorized as the following:
1. Alcohol and drug addictions
2. Behavioral addictions, which involve compulsive and obsessive thought processes. (includes self-injury, anorexia, bulimia, compulsive overeating, over exercising ,etc.)
Someone who self-injures typically engages in a behavior that is habit forming and that takes on an obsessive quality, with repetitive behavior of increasing frequency and intensity. Many who self-injure also struggle with alcohol, drugs, and/or eating disorders. Self-injury is usually not learned by direct observation, but rather by picking up on subconscious cues in the environment. For example, a young girl who is being physically or sexually abused may subconsciously learn that when someone inflicts pain on her body, she can escape for a while. Therefore, whenever she wants to escape again, she inflicts pain on herself. The issues or feelings which are usually especially hard for people who self-injure to tolerate without escaping are:
· Dependency
· Anger
· Sexual arousal
· Mixed messages from other people, which cause frustration and confusion
Favazza (1998 ) writes that “SM (self-mutilation) can best be understood as a morbid self-help effort providing temporary relief from feelings of depersonalization, guilt, rejection, and boredom as well as hallucinations, sexual preoccupations, and chaotic thoughts.” He also states that self-mutilating behaviors provide temporary relief from the distressing symptoms of mounting anxiety, racing thoughts and rapidly fluctuating emotions. Among the effects of self-mutilating behavior are tension release; termination of depersonalization; euphoria; decreased troublesome or enhanced positive sexual feelings; release of anger; satisfaction form self-punishment; a sense of security, control, and uniqueness; manipulation of others; and relief from feelings of depression, loneliness, loss, and alienation.
Briere and Gil (1998 ) suggest that any effective treatment interventions would include the following:
1. Most immediately, exploration of alternate methods of reducing distress that are less injurious or shame-inducing (e.g. physical exercise, distraction, changing environments, or contacting friends or hotlines)
2. Teaching cognitive and behavioral strategies for dealing with stressful situations and painful emotional states
3. Strengthening internal emotional regulation capacities and strategies (ability to control internal emotional ups and downs), so that external methods life self-mutilation become less necessary
4. Ultimately, reducing the distress and dissociative symptoms that may underlie and motivate self-mutilation
If you have a problem with this, let me encourage you to get help from a professional. Someone who is warm, supportive, and knowledgeable about this would be best.
This is just a little information on this topic. If there is more interest, I’ll be glad to pursue this topic in further detail.
Briere, J. and Gill, E. 1998. Self-mutilation in clinical and general population samples: Prevalence, correlates, and functions. American Journal of Orthpsychiatry 68 (4): 609-20
Favazza, A. 1998. The coming of age of self-mutilation. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 186, no 5 (May): 259-68
Pattison, E. and Kahan, J. 1983. The deliberate self-harm syndrome. American Journal of Psychiatry 140, no. 7 (July) 867-72.
May 25, 2008 at 9:32 pm (Bible devotions)
John 16:5-15 But now I go away to Him Who sent Me, and none of you asks me, “Where are You going?” But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in me; of righteousness, because I go to my Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.
In this passage, Jesus said a surprising thing: “It is to your advantage that I go away.” It was to our advantage (profit, good) that Jesus would leave the world. He emphasized this fact by stating “I tell you the truth.” There have been many times in my life when I wished I could talk with Jesus in the flesh, to hear His earthly voice, to see His expression yet he states clearly here that it was best He leave and not be physically present. He actually stated we are better off without His physical presence here on earth because if He had not left, the Holy Spirit would not have come.
The disciples were in great need of a counselor or comforter, because Jesus would no longer be available to be with them in the flesh. The word comforter or counselor (parakletos) refers to one who is “called alongside” to help. While God uses human counselors to minister to us and guide us, the ultimate Counselor is the Holy Spirit, Who guides us into God’s truth (John 16:13). He is always there prompting us, prodding us, encouraging us, guiding us, and maturing us through all the challenges of our lives. He has a divine name – “the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 2:11). He has divine attributes – omniscience (1 Cor. 2:10), omnipresence (Ps. 139:7), and omnipotence (Zech. 4:6). He creates, convicts, regenerates, baptizes, fills, and empowers believers. He indwells us (John 14:17), teaches us (John 14:26), guides us (John 16:13), and intercedes for us (Rom. 8:26). The Holy Spirit would not have been able to do this unless Jesus departed.
This passage of Scripture teaches us some very specific functions of the Holy Spirit. He will convict the world. The word “convict” (elegxei) means both to convict and to convince. It means to prick a person’s heart until he or she knows guilt. The Holy Spirit convicts of three things:
1. There is the conviction of sin. He convicts us of our sinfulness. He convicts us that we have missed the mark and come short of the glory of God (For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Rom. 3:23). He convicts us that we trespass, that is, we wander off the right path and trespass where we were never intended to go (And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins Eph. 2:1). He convicts us that we have transgressed or broke the law of God (For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him Heb. 2:2-3).
2. There is the conviction of righteousness. He convicts us of our lack of righteousness – that we have no righteousness that is acceptable to God. (But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is no one who calls on Your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us, and have consumed us because of our iniquities. Is. 4:6-7). He convinces us that Jesus’ righteousness is acceptable to God (For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him 2 Cor. 5:21).
3. There is the conviction of judgment. He convicts us that judgment is coming and that we will face a personal judgment of God. (So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God Rom. 14:12). He convinces us that Jesus has borne the judgment of sin and death for us (Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed 1 Pet. 2:24).
The Holy Spirit is called by several different names in Scripture. He is the “Spirit of God” (2 Chr. 15:1), the “Spirit of the Lord” (Is. 11:2), the “breath of the Almighty” (Job 32:8), the “Spirit of the Lord God” (Is. 61:1), the “Spirit of your Father” (Matt. 10:20), and the “Spirit of Christ” (Rom. 8:9). He is unseen but is depicted by certain symbols: breath or wind (Gen 2:7; Ezek. 37:9), the dove (Luke 3:22), oil (Luke 4:8; Heb. 1:9), fire (Mark 9:49), and the guarantee (2 Cor. 1:21; Ep. 1:14). These symbols help us to understand the various aspects of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. He moves sovereignly like the wind. He lights on us like a dove, anoints us like oil, and ignites us like fire. He also seals us to the heart and life of God. His presence in our lives is the guarantee (down payment) of God’s grace, and the assurance He will keep all His promises to us.
The Holy Spirit glorifies Christ and only Christ. He receives of Christ and declares it to believers. He was sent in the name of Christ to proclaim Christ. He, the Spirit of Truth, leads us to Christ, who alone is Truth. I love how Henry Blackaby says that we worship truth because He is Truth! See here in this passage how Jesus makes a phenomenal claim. All that the Father has is His. He is the Son of God and there is perfect unity in the Godhead. All things of the Father are the things of the Son and are the things shown and declared by the Holy Spirit.
God loves us with a perfect love, more than we can be loved by anyone else. He speaks to us by His Holy Spirit. For those who have not yet believed, He is calling to find eternal life with Him. He is inviting unbelievers into a deep, intimate relationship with Him. For those of us who are already believers, the Holy Spirit’s continual presence is a source of comfort and guidance through every step of life. We are never alone. God literally dwells in us through his Holy Spirit.
