I realized this weekend that over the last couple of weeks I have not been intentional bout much of anything.
I think it started two weeks ago when my husband and I started dog-sitting for a friend of our ungoing cancer treatment. The dog behaved amazingly. She was so cute and sweet and caused us no problem at all. I found myself skipping the gym to go home and play with her. I also found myself skipping time in the Word to play with her.
Also, during the last couple of weeks I have been watching some TV. My husband gives me a hard time about it because I "gave it up for Lent". True, I made a decision to avoid TV, but choosing to watch doesn't make me less holy or less saved. This is a good example of the practive of observe and correct. I actually have found that there's little on the TV that I'm even interested in. I find that I either get bored and turn it off or that I'm disappointed by the end of the show because it didn't do much to build me up. Similar to food, I find that I used to use TV to numb my feeling or fill a void. TV is incapable of doing that. Only God can. Also like food, TV can have its place. There are certain PBS shows I like as well as the occasional sit-com or movie. I just don't need it all of the time. Just like when I began dealing with gluttony, I find that I have a lot more free time when I don't spend it all on TV. I've been reading a lot and trying new baking reecipes (I'm talking myself into trying to make my own puff pastry and mole poblano - both very time consuming items).
So, back to intentionality.
This morning I did a little research on the word 'holy'. I love what I found! One etymology (word history) resource defined it as "that must be preserved whole or intact, that cannot be transgressed or violated". I love it because God is holy. He is whole. He is complete. He cannot be violated. God also calls ME holy and He is the One who preserved me completely, not allowing me to be violated. He does it in me. Praise His name!
31 March 2010
17 March 2010
St. Patrick's Breastplate
This is an Irish hymn that may have been written in the 12th century. It is a beautiful representation of the author's belief (creed, if you will). It's also a great reminder of what Jesus does for us!
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through the belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.
I arise today
Through the strength of Christ's birth with his baptism,
Through the strength of his crucifixion with his burial,
Through the strength of his resurrection with his ascension,
Through the strength of his descent for the judgment of Doom.
I arise today
Through the strength of the love of Cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In the service of archangels,
In hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In prayers of patriarchs,
In predictions of prophets,
In preaching of apostles,
In faith of confessors,
In innocence of holy virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.
I arise today
Through the strength of heaven:
Light of sun,
Radiance of moon,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of wind,
Depth of sea,
Stability of earth,
Firmness of rock.
I arise today
Through God's strength to pilot me:
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's host to save me
From snares of devils,
From temptations of vices,
From everyone who shall wish me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone and in multitude.
I summon today all these powers between me and those evils,
Against every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.
Christ to shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that there may come to me abundance of reward.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness,
Of the Creator of Creation.
09 March 2010
Blessed be Your Name
I love this song, Blessed be Your Name. It always speaks to me. Today I was thinking about personalizing it, but first I’ll include the lyrics as the are:
Praise the Lord! Now, I was thinking about making it reflective of my life. So, the first verse blesses God when things are going well. What might that look like in my life?
The next verse blesses the Lord when things aren’t going well. So, for example:
I could do this for days! Let’s try some more:
AND
God is good all of the time AND all of the time God is good. The world’s circumstance doesn’t change my God! Now, the last part:
When I first heard this song I used to think like many people do, “God giveth [the good] and God taketh away [the good]”. More recently I have seen that God gives His Son, His salvation, His peace, His joy, His presence and His provision (just to name a few) and takes away my sin, my shame, my guilt, my anger, my pride, my hurt and my selfishness. I wouldn’t trade that for anything!
Praise the Lord and try personalizing it for yourself
Blessed Be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name
Blessed Be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name
Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Chorus:
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name
Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Chorus 2X
You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Praise the Lord! Now, I was thinking about making it reflective of my life. So, the first verse blesses God when things are going well. What might that look like in my life?
Blessed Be Your Name
When I’ve gotten enough sleep
And my favorite praise song is on KLove
Blessed be Your name
The next verse blesses the Lord when things aren’t going well. So, for example:
Blessed Be Your Name
When I get a migraine
And my supervisor is driving me nuts
Blessed be Your name
I could do this for days! Let’s try some more:
Blessed Be Your Name
When there’s money in the bank
And plenty of food in the pantry
Blessed be Your name
AND
Blessed Be Your Name
When my husband loses his job
And my car is not working well
Blessed be Your name
God is good all of the time AND all of the time God is good. The world’s circumstance doesn’t change my God! Now, the last part:
You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
When I first heard this song I used to think like many people do, “God giveth [the good] and God taketh away [the good]”. More recently I have seen that God gives His Son, His salvation, His peace, His joy, His presence and His provision (just to name a few) and takes away my sin, my shame, my guilt, my anger, my pride, my hurt and my selfishness. I wouldn’t trade that for anything!
Praise the Lord and try personalizing it for yourself
04 March 2010
Disciples Abide
I'm not sure whether my post title is a command or a statement of fact. I think it's both.
In our reading for discipleship class this week we have a large pack of material that touches on several subjects with the overarching theme of "abide" or "watlk in the spirit" (WITS as my friend, Bert says). some of the reading is from one of our teaching pastors, Mike, some is from author Andrew Murray, and some is from The Victorious Life that the pastor found on http://www.bibleteacher.com/.
It talks about the christian life being a journey made up of four parts: seeking God, knowing God, being transformed by God and loving others (because of God). I think of it almost as a cycle (I made this fun little graph of the four points with arrows moving from one to the next in a circle, but I can't figure out how to import it - I'm not too savvy, I guess).
There's so much richness in these reading. Here I'll share some.
"As disciples we need to move from seeking God as one of our options to seeking God as our primary passsion and the overwhelming motivator of our life." ~ Mike Richardson
In a sheet discussing deliverance and freedom in Christ, Mike writes, "We need to deal with the body, soul and spirit of the person in order to bring about complete freedom and 'it was for freedom that Christ set us free' (Gal 5:1). What did Jesus do? - Healed the sick and cast out demons." I appreciate this because it takes a wholistic approach to ministry. Not every ailment is spiritually based ans yet not every problem has a resolution in the physical world. We often need both! (as I do in eating)
The most profound thing that I saw from Andrew Maurry was that God does the work, all we are calle dto do is YEILD, TRUST (i.e. BELIEVE) and WAIT. We aren't to do anything else unless the Spirit moves us. In some ways it seems easy, yet these are three very hard things for humans to do becuase they make us totally dependent on another. We no longer have the control because we've yielded it to Him. "You are not under the law, with its inexorable DO, but under grace with its blessed Belive what christ will do for you."
From The Victorious Life we were given chapters 10 and 14. It is so rich.
"Victory begins only when struggling ceases."
"Christ can and does give us Victory over all known sin: not gradually but INSTANTANEOUSLY." We just have to learn to live that way moment by moment. It's a process.
"We are neither saved nor sanctified by what we give up, but by what we receive." I am not sanctified or made more holy by stopping to binge eat. I am sanctified by receiving Christ, allowing the spirit to move me and accpeting whatever He has for me. This is blessed news because I still have had the thought that I am made more holy by giving up my life of sin. No! I am made holy by accepting the holy One. "...we may not, cannot in the smallest degree, share with christ the work of accomplishing any part of our salvation. et so many of us imagine that in the matter of sanctification we must 'paddle our own canoe'."
This little story is cute:
"A little girl of 13 was asked what difference the Victorious Life meant to her in times of temptation. after a little pause she replied, "Before I saw this truth, I used to argue with the tempter, and he usually got the better of me. But now, when he knocks at the door of my heart, I say, 'Lord Jesus, will you answer the door for me?' And when Satan sees the Lord Jesus within, he says, "I'm sorry, I think I've come to the wrong house' - and he flees."
Finally, for today, part of Hudson Taylor's definition of abiding, as recorded in The Victorious Life:
"Abiding - not struggling or striving; looking off to Him; trusting Him for present power; trusting Him to subdue all inward corruption; resting in the conscious joy of a complete salvation; a salvation from all sin: willing that He should be truly supreme."
In our reading for discipleship class this week we have a large pack of material that touches on several subjects with the overarching theme of "abide" or "watlk in the spirit" (WITS as my friend, Bert says). some of the reading is from one of our teaching pastors, Mike, some is from author Andrew Murray, and some is from The Victorious Life that the pastor found on http://www.bibleteacher.com/.
It talks about the christian life being a journey made up of four parts: seeking God, knowing God, being transformed by God and loving others (because of God). I think of it almost as a cycle (I made this fun little graph of the four points with arrows moving from one to the next in a circle, but I can't figure out how to import it - I'm not too savvy, I guess).
There's so much richness in these reading. Here I'll share some.
"As disciples we need to move from seeking God as one of our options to seeking God as our primary passsion and the overwhelming motivator of our life." ~ Mike Richardson
In a sheet discussing deliverance and freedom in Christ, Mike writes, "We need to deal with the body, soul and spirit of the person in order to bring about complete freedom and 'it was for freedom that Christ set us free' (Gal 5:1). What did Jesus do? - Healed the sick and cast out demons." I appreciate this because it takes a wholistic approach to ministry. Not every ailment is spiritually based ans yet not every problem has a resolution in the physical world. We often need both! (as I do in eating)
The most profound thing that I saw from Andrew Maurry was that God does the work, all we are calle dto do is YEILD, TRUST (i.e. BELIEVE) and WAIT. We aren't to do anything else unless the Spirit moves us. In some ways it seems easy, yet these are three very hard things for humans to do becuase they make us totally dependent on another. We no longer have the control because we've yielded it to Him. "You are not under the law, with its inexorable DO, but under grace with its blessed Belive what christ will do for you."
From The Victorious Life we were given chapters 10 and 14. It is so rich.
"Victory begins only when struggling ceases."
"Christ can and does give us Victory over all known sin: not gradually but INSTANTANEOUSLY." We just have to learn to live that way moment by moment. It's a process.
"We are neither saved nor sanctified by what we give up, but by what we receive." I am not sanctified or made more holy by stopping to binge eat. I am sanctified by receiving Christ, allowing the spirit to move me and accpeting whatever He has for me. This is blessed news because I still have had the thought that I am made more holy by giving up my life of sin. No! I am made holy by accepting the holy One. "...we may not, cannot in the smallest degree, share with christ the work of accomplishing any part of our salvation. et so many of us imagine that in the matter of sanctification we must 'paddle our own canoe'."
This little story is cute:
"A little girl of 13 was asked what difference the Victorious Life meant to her in times of temptation. after a little pause she replied, "Before I saw this truth, I used to argue with the tempter, and he usually got the better of me. But now, when he knocks at the door of my heart, I say, 'Lord Jesus, will you answer the door for me?' And when Satan sees the Lord Jesus within, he says, "I'm sorry, I think I've come to the wrong house' - and he flees."
Finally, for today, part of Hudson Taylor's definition of abiding, as recorded in The Victorious Life:
"Abiding - not struggling or striving; looking off to Him; trusting Him for present power; trusting Him to subdue all inward corruption; resting in the conscious joy of a complete salvation; a salvation from all sin: willing that He should be truly supreme."
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