Bet You All Need a Break After My Monday & Tuesday’s Literary Tropical Storm Debby’s Deluge!!!

After arising earlier than this morning than I have since my 9-18-18 instant retirement fiasco, I can only say it has been a very interesting day. First, at 10 a.m., we toured a modest 2-bedroom home that was an answer to our prayers and going beyond all our desires. I do believe our sweet little 87-year-old widowed landlord lady, Pat, also president of the development’s homeowners association, only because no one else would do it, was divinely as smitten with us as we were with her, judging by the forming tears in her eyes when she and Loretta embraced when we parted.

Our realtor friend, Samantha, originally from South Africa, had informed us prior, that Pat had only purchased this home two years earlier to house her long-time good friend, Olga, who was then down on her luck, and on Tuesday was forced to move into a nursing home because of her declining health, all of which Samantha had just discovered (I think divinely) just hours prior to our last Thursdays appointment to discuss the extremely tight rental market in the neighborhood we had hoped to locate.

Yesterday’s relationship ordained scenario with Pat and the home’s features both indoors and out, including a fenced yard, double the usual counter space and storage with even an island, new appliances through-out including even a D/W, was nearly exactly the way I had detailed to Loretta how I envisioned us finding a rental would play out, after she had succinctly detailed the desires of her heart for our “wintering” home’s features, even before we arrived in Panama.

It is important you realize in our request, we were not in any way being insistent, just laying out our desires. In fact, you need to know, our back-up plan was to simply scale our desires back to renting, until something opened up, from our good friends, Darrell & Denise, their  cute little Airbnb container house where we have been staying. Of course, the location was added after a week of intense looking and contacting at least six rental persons. Ben had chided me upon arrival that most people coming here to rent, move 2-3 times before they ultimately find what they want.

Needless to say, our afternoon and evening was spent in awe of what had just occurred offering prayers of thanksgiving and a renewed desire for us to both discern and obey his bidding in this community.

I also spent an hour on the internet visiting sites I’ve subscribed to over the years that offer daily spiritual encouragement, but now seldom if ever, do I open them. I realize blogs are a different animal and that I don’t really fit, nor necessarily desire to fit, any particular mold or model, but just so that all you potential readers know, the posts on this blog, be they short or long, simple or complex, are truth and hopefully on occasion, worthy of your valuable time and reflection, at least to the best of my current abilities.

Personally, I’m torn between being “short, sweet & done,” such as in a daily text ministry of less than 50 words; versus the other end of the spectrum, as in what I’ve done in the past two posts, that virtually could be a good start for a chapter in a book; wherein we explore an idea, concept, concern, etc., from His “it’s so simple it’s profound” perspective, that it seems whatever “it” is, must simply rise up and slap us in the face sometimes to get our attention, when it’s in plain sight.

Otherwise, when as Loretta and I were praising God yesterday for His attention to detail, I am reminded of Jesus’s answer to the Pharisee’s after the crowd’s triumphant Palm Sunday entry, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples,” when He simply said, looking at the disciples and the crowds about Him, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

FYI, the strong proverbial language here in Luke 19 has always intrigued me, so I learned in my quick research from Barnes Notes on the Bible, “We are not to suppose therefore, that our Savior meant to say that the stones were ‘conscious’ of His coming, or that God would ‘make’ them speak, but only that there was ‘great joy’ among the people; that it was ‘proper’ that they should express it in this manner, and that it was not fit that he should attempt to repress it.” Now I tend to think our joy yesterday, was like that of a gnat in comparison to the joy Our Prince of Peace has planned for us when He returns. Again, we must consider everything in His perspective!  

Remember, my mission here is to be an encouraging facilitator of your faith here and now for your future. If anyone has comments, suggestions, or criticism of any portion of what I’m attempting here, please text or WhatsApp me@ (330) 465-2565 or email merlin.erb@gmail.com. And please, most of all, do pray for me in this undertaking that I’m either been given or claimed as ‘squatter’ or a ‘migrant’ in a new ‘wintering’ land, so that I will indeed continue to hear Him loud and clear.  

Now, let’s consider some wisdom from David Jeremiah’s Sanctuary: Finding Moments of Refuge in the Presence of God 2002 Aug 8

God’s Training Process Outlined

He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much. Luke 16:9

Joseph was cooperative with God’s process of training. Joseph had to go through thirteen years of schooling so that he could experience eighty years of ministry, certainly a better efficiency than my six decades of training for hopefully a decade or two of service. The bottom-line difference though is that throughout all that training, Joseph unwaveringly focused on the Lord. In slavery, in the pit, and in prison, he focused by working to become a strong, disciplined man of God, an impossibility if you’re a tool of Satan. Joseph portrayed no complaining, simply a desire to obey the Lord and do his best.

BOTTOM LINE:

Therefore, when we become God’s people, we will be obedient to Him no matter what our situation. Joseph was faithful in every circumstance, and the Lord blessed him. He proved himself faithful in a home, and God put in charge of a prison. He proved himself faithful in a prison, and God put him in charge of a nation. God used Joseph because he was cooperative with God’s training process, and the Lord is still looking for cooperative obedient men and women today.

Interested in joining His ranks? Have you access now to a supporting faith facilitating community that continually is refining His preliminary orders in you? If not, ought we not to be forming as of yesterday discipleship cells to get you placed, prepped, and credentialed for acceptance into His Advanced Training Process, (ATP) such as exemplified by Joseph above. Cooperative and obedient volunteer congregations and individuals are being sought for the oversight of the strategic discipleship modules.

I have no idea from whence or why that paragraph came forth! I’m just a leaky broken down faucet.

dailylightdevotional.com Evening Aug 8: This is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. I John 5:14, 15

Why We Really DO Need Adversity… Utmost Aug 2

In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. John 16:33

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Isa. 26:3 (I failed to conclude yesterday’s post with this verse.)

The typical view of the Christian life is that it means being delivered from all adversity. But it actually means being delivered in adversity, which is something very different. “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling…” (Psalm 91:1,10)— the place where you are at one with God.

If you are a child of God, you will certainly encounter adversities, but Jesus says you should not be surprised when they come. “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” He is saying, “There is nothing for you to fear.” The same people who refused to talk about their adversities before they were saved often complain and worry after being born again because they have the wrong idea of what it means to live the life of a saint.

God does not give us overcoming life— He gives us life as we overcome. The strain of life is what builds our strength. If there is no strain, there will be no strength. Are you asking God to give you life, liberty, and joy? He cannot, unless you are willing to accept the strain. And once you face the strain, you will immediately get the strength. Overcome your own timidity and take the first step. Then God will give you nourishment— “To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life…” (Revelation 2:7 ). If you completely give of yourself physically, you become exhausted. But when you give of yourself spiritually, you get more strength. God never gives us strength for tomorrow, or for the next hour, but only for the strain of the moment. Our temptation is to face adversities from the standpoint of our own common sense. But a saint can “be of good cheer” even when seemingly defeated by adversities, because victory is absurdly impossible to everyone, except God.

BOTTOM LINE WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS:

Beware of isolation; beware of the idea that you have to develop a holy life alone (I’m believing this is hugely relevant today – perhaps in the future we’ll tackle it). It is impossible to develop a holy life alone; you will develop into an oddity and a peculiarism, into something utterly unlike what God wants you to be. The only way to develop spiritually is to go into the society of God’s own children, and you will soon find how God alters your perceptions. God does not contradict our social instincts; He alters them.

FOR FURTHER REFLECTION with merlin:

This reading is loaded with pertinent practical provisions. Here is my spin on that last sentence; “God does not contradict our social instincts; He alters them.” Actually at this moment, Tuesday 2:57 pm August 6, I’m finally in a Republic, after 75 years in the USA, Loretta and I both possess a Panamanian permanent visa and driver’s license. We are here seeking God’s direction for our remaining retirement years. We have flights to return Saturday Aug 13.

Of course, I am here without access to my physical library, not that I use it that often as you can tell. MCC Connections in Kidron is a joy to scour thru for past literary treasures! The past 4-5 years I’ve been increasingly switching from digital to hard copy used! Someday these used dusty specimens reflecting the thoughts, dreams, victories and failures of this civilization, may be returned to the Connection shelves for recycling no doubt, until that eventful day when all is consumed by fire. So today, I’m shooting this post from the hips, though its been simmering since the 2nd. Let’s see what happens!

For example, I personally now realize from my own life experiences, that God can take His gifts to me of communication & relationship, similar to the skills my out of the box pastor and farmer Grandpa was known and appreciated for, that He evidently endowed me with genetically at conception, because I was seldom if ever, in Grandpa Joseph C Gingerich’s presence to have caught, been taught or even copied him, such that I began expressing my inherited gifts of communication and relationship even before attending my one room school, and eventually becoming my lifelong experience of daily meeting and greeting and making new friends at every opportunity. In fact, for many years, I was becoming aware it was a self-serving addiction, and a huge hindrance preventing me from concentrating first and foremost on my responsibilities of honoring my wife and family, much I’m sure to Satan’s absolute delight. Be aware everyone, how Satan can literally focus on any one of your un-surrendered gifts, talents, and abilities, ultimately corrupting, and consuming your entire life, and especially so, when it’s anything sexual, and even discreetly and tragically utterly pervert you, for Satan’s glory and your ruin, possibly eternal destruction.

In the two years since I first devoured Jamie Winship’s book “Living Fearless: Exchanging the Lies of the World for the Liberating Truth of God” wherein he reveals after five years as a rookie Washington DC cop fresh out of college, he was “picked” to become an underground Christian college prof in Muslim universities in the Middle East and Asia for 27 years, such that his revealed and accepted identity in Christ is “militant peacemaker.” Really now? But that specific identity is so well named for him.

Now in my case however, all that has been revealed to me thus far since I read Jamie is an “encouraging faith facilitator.” Yeah I know, out of all the billions of possibilities out there in His Kingdom, I’m saddled with that. If you read my prior post from Aug 5, you will recall my faith struggles in my reflections. I’m just being honest. Jamie explains in his book that we are only as valuable to God, or anyone for that matter, as we are honest with Him, or whomever. Read that again! Really quite profound. And so contrary to the way I (we) live. So you’re getting it here as it is, mostly was.

Hopefully, for you, a constructive and productive transparency, similar to what I heard weekly nearly seven decades ago, from Chicago’s Pacific Gardens Skid Row Mission ( which my eldest son & I toured during a Moody Founders Week, thanks to Dick and Sharon) Unshackled radio broadcasts on Fargo ND’s Christian radio station, KFNW. Never in my wildest imaginations would I ever thought this revealing moment would occur years later, but God wastes nothing, being the original recycler, not merely of trash and even precious natural resources, but of the lives and souls of men and women being trashed in their addictions, visible or not.

And we’re not speaking merely of a woke “sin-thetic green either, but rather of an out of the ground sprouting of a once dead seed, that is now bursting forth alive in a real living green because of the crimson red sacrifice on that historic Golgotha cross that though once we were dead in our sins, we are now eternally alive in His Spirit being transformed today, this very day, into the future joys of heaven, even before our final transition. Come on folks, this planet and saving our skins are all so very temporary, but our souls ARE ETERNAL. Perspective Matters!

And before I forget, I must remind you Jamie is speaking at The Well this coming Saturday-Sunday, August 10 & 11, 6:30 pm Sat and again Sun morning, time uncertain. The Well is located just below Winesburg on the road to Mt. Eaton. If I were home, I would drive hours or across states to be there.

So anyway, back to interpreting these social instincts. God endowed me with gifts, that I clearly was not fully aware of when my first cousin Donna taught my 5th grade Bible School class of us three boys. It was after those two weeks of conviction, I sought God’s forgiveness through the death and resurrection of Jesus with the help of my parents one hot summer evening and began my walk of faith. It soon degenerated into a “works” walk, more or less in my mind, a check-off list of good things such as tithing, Bible reading, prayer, supporting a foreign Christian orphanage, etc,. all of which back in my faith tradition were usual & customary.

Back then in our dairy barn, we had a radio, so I was a free choice grazer of Christian radio programming, being quite familiar with many of their offerings throughout the day, such as Songs in the Night from historic Moody Church, Stories of Early Christians ( I believe that’s what it was called, and those M-F evening 15 minutes of such inspiring radio drama historical clips making the lives and time come alive by radio drama of the founders of our faith such as Jonathan Edwards, DL Moody, etc., I still vividly recall today; whereas my 11:05 – 12 noon childhood Sunday sermons, not at all. What does that tell us about our culture & our being engaged today?) Back to the Bible, Unshackled, Billy Graham’s Hour of Decision followed by The Mennonite Hour, so I was well taught.

Moving on, I do believe I was the beneficiary from the intercessory prayers of many others family, friends and acquaintances since a child on through my whole life, or else I’d not be here. Though now I must tell you, that it was predominately only though my wife Loretta’s vows that she never broke, always honoring me, the prayers she offered up for me and our three sons, and the example she always was regardless of who I was being at the moment, who for nearly 50 years (much as I’m sure my guardian angel did) following me everywhere in my self-imposed desert wanderings existing on mere bland manna, before my “for real deal faith walk” finally began. Folks, you really have no idea how dysfunctional I was even though I appeared to be an acceptable husband and father. And you really don’t need to know anymore. That’s neither helpful or productive.

But women, invite your husbands, fiancees, significant male friends to respect the clearly established scriptural boundaries always ensuring your respect and admiration. If unheeded, practice tough love just as with your children, or brothers. Seek relentlessly the help you need. Read Dr. Henry Clouds books and for dessert, read Jamie Winship perhaps, instead of doing ice cream.

OK, perhaps you sensed that last paragraph was just written off the cuff. I awoke before 3 AM this Wednesday, burdened to re-write portions of this post to better communicate my heart and the urgency of the message. I was inspired to be honest, transparent, whatever, for evidently, someone reading this today needed to be given hope to endure another day, or set a boundary, or ask forgiveness, reconcile, whatever. But you do. Perhaps this was for you. If so, please seek help and His safety, from those you trust and are praying for you.. Do nor merely sit, soak, sour and suffer, before you finally give up hope, and split the bond.

Back to the script. You see, early on in my journey, I learned to use my gifts to my advantage, and for Him, only when it was to my advantage. Somewhere during college, with its numerous hot and cold spiritual adventures, with many as intriguing as Christian’s journey’s to the Celestial City, I got disastrously sidetracked by using my skills selfishly for my own amusement and gain, being both entertained and delighted. But, eventually I learned (actually was convicted), that I was not able to un-tether (or disconnect) myself from all those specific intercessory prayers offered for me over those prior decades.

So think about it, who is best able to spot counterfeit $100 bills? I understand it’s those who are specifically trained to handle only real $100. bills! I’m told, certainly without any experience, that those tellers with such training can spot the phony money much more accurately, because they have the feel for the real deal bills.

So what? You might say. Succinctly this, I believe by having lived a life of deception for so many years, that I am on occasion given knowledge about the deception in a particular man, or couple, solely I believe, so that I can be an intercessor for him/them, though really, how would you ever confirm such revealings?

And you know what’s really crazy, I am not at all satisfied yet with my own maturity performance in my own marriage. I desire for so much more healing in our relationship. But even so, my stretching to grasp for the higher rungs of His blessings, doesn’t stop God from having me intercede now for my similarly challenged brothers! And any positive effects of this interceding I’m offering is seldom ever revealed to me or them, though perhaps sometime in heaven, I’ll hopefully learn of the victories won, or significant maturity gained, and men, women, families, churches, communities, and nations, were vibrantly changed to fulfill their divine destinies. Why oh why, was I (we) so content to “settle for so little, for so long, when we know it’s all fake! God’s invitational ideas & offerings of forgiveness and transformation, once accepted and implemented, make all the difference. Man’s ideas? Not so much!

Remember Saturday’s quote: God created man to be master of the life in the earth and sea and sky, and the reason he is not, is because he took the law into his own hands, and became master of himself, but of nothing else… (Indeed, we are now experiencing the nothing else) Oswald Chambers-The Shadow of an Agony, 1163 L.

OK, so do you remember from whence these reflections began? God does not contradict our social instincts; He alters them. That one liner provides me such unusually profound strength and peace; doesn’t contradict but alters! Doesn’t that just personify the heart of our invitational God who by sacrificing His Son Jesus is inviting us to accept His forgiveness, therefore not condemning or throwing me (we) out on the dung heap, even though that’s what I deserved after using my gifts so selfishly for decades, for once I finally accepted His forgiveness, and turned from my wicked ways, God has altered me now to become an intercessor for a few, finally fulfilling the very desires of my heart, to be His encouraging faith facilitator, knowing them even by name and/or email while sparring me even of one detail of their struggle or derailment; for all those on the mailing list. And as I’ve been reminded so frequently from my pastor, it’s all “for our good, and His Glory! Amen!

Scriptures from Aug 7 dailylightdevotional.org

If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. John 4:10

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. John 16:23, 24

Ye have not, because ye ask not. James 4:2

Encouragement

I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Jer. 29:11

Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Heb. 12:11

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. I Pet. 5:6

The vital relationship which the Christian has to the Bible is not that he worships the letter, but that the Holy Spirit makes the words of the Bible spirit and life to him. Oswald Chambers The Psychology of Redemption, 1066 L

You Struggling Today? God’s Novel Formula: Word Goes In, Praise Goes Up, Faith Goes Out, God Goes Forth>>>>

Gaining His Strength PS/K – Beyond PhD Post Docs

I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being. Ephesians 3:16

From one end of the Bible to the other, we read of God strengthening His people. When the Israelites passed through the Red Sea, they praised the Lord, saying: “The Lord is my strength and my song.” (Exodus15:2 NIV).

Deuteronomy 33:25 says: “As your days so shall your strength be.” Nehemiah 8:10 says, “Do not sorrow for the Joy of the Lord is your strength.” Psalm 27: 1 declares, “The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”  Psalm 46: 1 avows, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

Isaiah said, “Trust in the Lord forever, for in YAH, the Lord, is everlasting strength” (26:4). Isaiah 40:31 promises that “those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

The apostle Paul told us to “be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might” (Ephesians 6:10). “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” he said in Phillipians 4:13.

BOTTOM LINE:

Throughout the Bible, we find a very simple formula. When the Word goes in, praise goes up, faith goes out, and God goes forth to strengthen His people.   

David Jeremiah Sanctuary: Finding Moments of Truth In The Presence Of God.” July 28

For Further Reflection with merlin: Truth be told personally, I’ve less problems with desiring or longing for more of the Word coming in; (sometimes I think I’m off the scale too positive on that one, nearly cloistered as a monk in an academic ivory tower separated from reality) or even with my praise going up, for it just flows! However, this bit about my faith doing anything uniquely confirmingly positive for Him some days, as characterized by that overwhelming sense of His presence within me, or it being all about me, and particularly in this going before me, rather than merely going out, can be very cloudy at best!

Doesn’t “going before me” imply a greater internalization of our faith and trust going forward effectively in our daily living, more than merely “spewing out” out noise about our faith as in I Cor 13:1, as a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal? Especially since we’ve heard so many Biblical examples of exemplary faith since our childhood literally imprinted in our psyche? My two cents on why I struggle with faith is self contained, in other words, it’s my fault for not applying His abundant ever-flowing resources.

But now, if/when I hear that you’re struggling, I am more apt to place the blame corporately; in the way we structure and function within our church communities; perhaps because we’re not being new testamently real, do as I say, not as I do, all form with no substance, and stiflingly boring . It is my belief that for generations, our children and young adults have not witnessed a Holy Spirit inspired cultivating anchored community body of believers living continually, seven days each week and not just for an hour Sunday mornings, in an authentic loving sacrificial transparent culture that absolutely gives witness to His Spirit’s transformed living, compellingly attracting both those disconnected within our walls and the cultural heathen outside, to the New Testament’s three premier texts; the book of John, especially the Olivet Discourse, the Sermon on the Mount, and the Acts of the Apostles.

This is simply where I’m at and how I see it this morning, and where I find I’m most apt to struggle at times, seeking authenticity. And for myself over the past months, if not year, the Spirit is continually circling me back to the realization that perhaps my growing in faith, be it internalized individually, or corporately in & about our worshiping community, is not going to gain me a practical vibrant invitational observable perspective, either within me, or for sure, not from me to those in our spheres of influence whom we encounter in the often “scummy” ponds of living while we’re dog-paddling about the lily pads.

Somehow I’ve been gifted to have internalized the understanding that it is difficult, or nigh impossible, to have faith unless our minds embrace that information which comprises the gospel message from the three bodies of texts mentioned above, because there are specific facts while seeking His transformation we must embrace, such as Christian in Paul Bunyan’s Pilgrims Progress so amply demonstrates. And I’m compelled to realize one of those first such specifics, is being given His gift of peace.

Looking back now in similar fashion to an NDE’s life review of my journey where I was literally carried thru those devastatingly tough times, but then after those times of crisis, I realize now I too often did not continue on that path of enjoying the depth of peace that God desired for me as spoken of in Roman 5:1, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God.” What does that mean? Is God my enemy? Have I been at war with God? I do know God is holy and we humans are sinful. We are on opposite sides of the Sin void crevice and as creatures thus separated from God, we are at enmity with God, and only the cross of Jesus can provide the bridge to eternal life and that illusive satisfying peace.

The Bible’s good news is that God provided Jesus Christ that we might have peace with God. The Cross beautifully illustrates that Jesus Christ , the God / Man, reached up and took the hand of the Father, and with His other hand, reached down and took hold of we fallen human beings, and being the only unique personality who was both God and man, brought the Holy God and sinful humans together and made peace between God and man. He is our peace. He is the Prince of Peace because He is the One who resolved the enmity separating us from a Holy Almighty God. Accept His forgiveness for your sin and your ensuing obedience to His Spirits promptings provides His deeply satisfying “In His Sanctuary” pervading peace with God.

I speak frequently of our perceptions. People today are often too uptight & frazzled from being manipulated on their chaotic life’s treadmills to ever fathom a perception of living in peace. Simply impossible they say as they continue their addictive behaviors! So, perhaps God by shutting down this flow of mindless trivia to the deceived, is one of His first miracles He performs for we humans to begin the awareness process of being “called” to gain His perspective, so we can begin receiving His gift of salvation. And that “awareness” is transformed to facts of the gospel message in our lives – objective, quantifiable, expressible information.

The Bible does speak of false gospels, which means someone has the facts wrong, purposefully or accidentally. So literally, the TRUTH is what has to be perceived and received as “Step One” in gaining faith. And that truth comes by hearing the Word of God.

Have you YET heard the Word of God, whether read, been told, invited, prompted, compelled, perhaps literally felt you received a digital “download from the His Cloud,” were encouraged, even lovingly disciplined, synchronized, etc., with His Truth? Step One: Ask Him for His Awareness, and then listen. That begins the process towards His peace….

Purposeful Ruminating Quotes To Prepare You For Worship

Learn to write your hurts in the sand and to carve your blessing in stone… DJ Discovery 04/14  MM060424

Worry is an old man of bent stature, carrying a load of feathers which he thinks are lead….. Corrie Ten Boom DJ Discovery 0418 (this is me historically before redemption, though the scars do remain!)

God created man to be master of the life in the earth and sea and sky, and the reason he is not, is because he took the law into his own hands, and became master of himself, but of nothing else… Oswald Chambers The Shadow of an Agony, 1163 L.

This “Falling Silent & Listening” Today Is For Us Individually; Yesterday It Was Geared Toward the Kingdom Corporate Level!

Learning About His (Revolutionary Out of the Box) Ways My Utmost For His Highest August 01. (Strange how this Utmost reading follows so closely on the heels of yesterday’s post! It’s been good for me at least. Hopefully, for you as well!)

When Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples…He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities. —Matthew 11:1

He comes where He commands us to leave. If you stayed home when God told you to go because you were so concerned about your own people there, then you actually robbed them of the teaching of Jesus Christ Himself. When you obeyed and left all the consequences to God, the Lord went into your city to teach, but as long as you were disobedient, you blocked His way. Watch where you begin to debate with Him and put what you call your duty into competition with His commands. If you say, “I know that He told me to go, but my duty is here,” it simply means that you do not believe that Jesus means what He says.

He teaches where He instructs us not to teach. “Master…let us make three tabernacles…” (Luke 9:33).

Are we playing the part of an amateur providence, trying to play God’s role in the lives of others? Are we so noisy in our instruction of other people that God cannot get near them? We must learn to keep our mouths shut and our spirits alert.(Whew! That was written just for me!) God wants to instruct us regarding His Son, and He wants to turn our times of prayer into mounts of transfiguration. (if so enlightened, email me your three point sermon on that text!) When we become certain that God is going to work in a particular way, He will never work in that way again.

BOTTOM LINE:

He works where He sends us to wait. “…tarry…until…” (Luke 24:49). “Wait on the Lord” and He will work (Psalm 37:34). But don’t wait sulking spiritually and feeling sorry for yourself, just because you can’t see one inch in front of you! Are we detached enough from our own spiritual fits of emotion to “wait patiently for Him”? (Psalm 37:7). Waiting is not sitting with folded hands doing nothing, but it is learning to do what we are told.

These are some of the facets of His ways that we rarely recognize. (perhaps the rough draft of the sermon title for your “out of the box” three point sermon…, or for your SS class )

FURTHER WISDOM FROM OSWALD:
To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.”
The Shadow of an Agony

FACT: Lawrence of Arabia Visited Paris 100 + Years Ago…

The whole assembly fell silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul describing all the signs and wonders God had done through them. Acts 15:12

After World War I, Lawrence of Arabia visited Paris accompanied by friends who had never been outside the desert. Lawrence showed them City of Lights, (just think how they would react if they were there today for the summer Olympics?) but he was amused to find they were most fascinated by the faucets in their rooms. They constantly turned them off and on, marveling at the instant supply of water. While packing to leave, Lawrence found them in the bathroom trying to detach the faucets. “It’s very dry in Arabia,” they explained. “What we need are faucets.”

They didn’t realize they also needed the plumbing that went with them. (what a good analogy to the Church today? Faucets everywhere, though only a few are hooked up!)

When we labor for Christ, it’s encouraging to see ourselves as faucets. It’s not what we do for Jesus, but what He Himself does through us by His Spirit. (Amen)

Jesus said, “If anyone is thirsty, he should come to me and drink! The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him” (John 7:37-38). Notice that we drink from Jesus (“come to Me and drink”), but from that drink comes a stream (streams of living water flow from deep within him”). In response to simple faith, the Lord does far more through us than we can ever imagine.

BOTTOM LINE:

It doesn’t depend on our personalities, gifts, skills, or looks. Any old faucet will convey water so long as it’s connected with the source. Don’t think about what you can do for Christ, but never underestimate what He can do through you.

Thanks again to Robert J Morgan’s “All to Jesus: A Year of Devotions. Day 57 2008

FOR FURTHER REFLECTION by merlin:  

After reading Acts 15:12, my continually questioning mind asks me, just when exactly was the last time I witnessed that “the assembly fell silent and listened to anyone describe all the signs and wonders that God had done.” OR, even much more pertinent, is now doing. Give me an example. I pray you can, especially, from within the last week.

Truth be told though, our worship today is not geared for that interchange, even if examples or pertinent material were present. Might I include our SS classes also? I have in fact at times removed myself from the “assembly” to escape the worship on stage…., which quite frankly reminds me more of the Baal worship Elijah observed on Mt Carmel than the “falling silent and listening” in Acts 15. Just saying.

Or consider, the other extreme, being lulled to sleep by professionals who may have the knowledge but have not yet fully experienced His streams of living water in their faith community, or perhaps even more likely, have an inhibiting audience that will not tolerate such capers. This clip, as well as yesterday’s, on truth and grace, really cut to the chase with me.

As a child, I personally witnessed a few churches with members possessing and displaying spiritual knowledge and a few with startling transformations. Today unfortunately, we have made a “profession of faith” the goal of evangelism and there too often, we end the process. Contrary to popular belief, this professing belief in Jesus does not make one a Christian, biblically speaking.

We must consider these words of Jesus, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). Anyone can mouth the words, but that’s not the same as actually believing it, and then, acting on it.

So, given the trends, pressures, & chaos, too often our churches are filled more by the “professors,” rather than disciples – and Jesus never commissioned us to gather in professions of faith; rather, didn’t He commission us to make disciples of the “called,” not the “coerced.” That is exactly why I so much appreciate books like Wendell Martins Go Now, & Jamie Winship’s “Fearless Living: Exchanging the Lies of the World for the Liberating Truth of God.” I just happen to believe in today’s twisted church cultures, there are those aspiring vibrant Christ-Followers that would benefit from reading & implementing the scriptural truths in these two books, and perhaps, even have copies to loan out “for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.” Truly a different perspective.

Understand, although I could have written and I sorta did in last Friday and Saturday’s posts, the last two paragraphs are from another brothers position paper titled “Shifting Our Evangelism Paradigm: A Deeper Look at a New Re-Formation” sprouting from Galatians 4:19, “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,” might I add via discipleship, not merely professions of faith. Sorta reminds me today why the Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences were written and posted on their blog door in 1517 that caused the first Reformation, doesn’t it?

I just searched the internet with the above title and was inundated with screens of evangelism paradigm shifts. Just wait up searching now until I get permission to post this brother’s succinctly abbreviated paper as I much appreciate his wisdom, interpretation, and approach to the challenge.

In the meantime, review the BOTTOM LINE once more from above. It is absolutely not the faucet; it’s all about being connected, transformed, transparent, and obedient! Consider today how vital the authentic vibrancy of our “assembling” speaks volumes to both the “seekers” and the “planted in our midst each Sunday morning , whether they be “disconnected from the vine, or a disconnected faucet.”

Again, as I’ve said before, we do live in exciting times to disciple effectively by:

1.) remodeling the disconnected faucets within our walls, Or

2.) if you prefer only plumbing new construction as I see in the Help Wanted ads, stay outside the walls and the dry dusty church culture crowd and run new lines to the dry faucets out and about your centers of influence whom were never yet in a church or certainly vowed they’d never return…

In parting, I Peter 1:22 “Seeing that you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.”

These are powerful words folks. Think on them.

Short & To The Point: His Truth & Grace & Our Cliffs

Day 57

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

Truth, by itself, is quick to post warning signs and guardrails at the top of the cliff. Yet it fails to empower people to drive safely – and neglects to help them when they crash.

Grace, by itself, is quick to post ambulances and paramedics at the bottom of the cliff. But it fails to post warning signs and build guardrails. In so doing, it encourages the very self-destruction it attempts to heal.

Truth without grace degenerates into judgmental legalism. Grace without truth degenerates into deceitful tolerance of sin.         

BOTTOM LINE:

Christ’s heart is equally grieved by grace-suppression and truth-suppression, by grace-twisting and truth-twisting. Grace and truth are both necessary. Neither by itself is sufficient.

FOR FURTHER REFLECTION:

If needed for your quick reference during the next days to fully comprehend & apply truth & grace, take a picture of this post on your phone. Consider our use of our Father’s gifts of truth & grace when we’re struggling with gravity near our life’s cliffs…. Actually, gravity is God’s gift to us also, for in this example, it too is a merely a symptom of the fact we’ve gotten off His path for us… and therefore, gravity is His gift to interject the reality of His love into our sin shattered lives.

Thanks to Randy Alcorns Truth: A Bigger View of God’s Word Day 57

What? There’s another post? I thought you said there wouldn’t be any more ’til next week?

Yes, but I’ve been under such conviction to finish what I started yesterday. Actually,I’d written the last seven paragraphs last evening after proofreading yesterday’s post, but then I accidentally erased them and it was too late and I was too tired so I sent it out without my concluding remarks. This morning being a new day, I was compelled to reconstruct them, and get this, first I erased them last night, and then today, immediately after rewriting my seven paragraphs at the bottom, I closed the computer and picked up David Jeremiah’s 2012 devotional Discovery: Experiencing God’s Word Day By Day and read the July 17 reading titled “Know Thyself”, and immediately wanted to throw up! Give me a break Satan! I really do believe someone out there besides me, needs to read these words, and I will not be deterred, even though during most of my life I would have flushed it and sought shade like Jonah.

As much as it is humanly and spiritually possible, everything I write is always to myself first. Perhaps that is why I’m so attracted to Dr. Henry Cloud’s books in that he addresses frequently my being over-introspective on one hand, and too quick too critical, on the other, causing me to often withdraw and so, I say nothing. Too often, I possess a nonconfrontive compliant spirit. You know, it IS humanly safer living that way today, like an ostrich! But God expectantly designed us for engagement, and even empowers us with the needed strength and resources to accomplish our Kingdom responsibilities. And therein lies the risk to lose our very own Kingdom rewards! The David Jeremiah reading I encountered is verbatim below:

Know Thyself. Psalm 139: 3

The ancient philosopher said, “Know thyself,” but that’s hard to do. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” The apostle Paul cautioned us against being too quick to approve ourselves or condemn others, saying, “I care very little if I am judged by you … indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me” (I Corinthians 4: 3-4, NIV).

We must be careful about being overly self-introspective, and about being too quick to criticize others. As fallen creatures, we’re capable of wounding ourselves and others with our misguided judgements.

Yes, be discerning about right and wrong, and be willing to properly admonish someone when the Spirit leads; but remember there’s only One who can actually read the heart. How much better to say with the psalmist, “Search me, O God, and know my heart, try me and know my anxieties, and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me into the way everlasting.

The best of (us) are too apt to judge rashly, and harshly, and unjustly; but (God’s) judgement is always according to truth. Matthew Henry (1662-1714)

Merlin now writing. Two other notable quotes of his are; “It ought to be the business of every day to prepare for our last day,” and, “The three qualifications of a good surgeon (imagine this in his era as opposed to today?) are requisite in a re-prover: He should have an eagle’s eye, a lion’s heart, and a ladies hand; in short, he should be endued with wisdom courage and meekness.”

Now here are my seven paragraphs that I was retroactively spazzing out about without any edits. I am really trying to be transparent with you.

While I myself was reflecting throughout Thursday on the last post, I keep being reminded of the in-our-face example of the ever-engaging apostle for Christ, Paul, from the Mars Hill account in Acts 17: 22-31. My question is where TODAY are the either publicly engaging persons, such as Paul (perhaps someday even Tucker?), or even some undercover ambassadors such as John Rich for Christ warriors, who were dealt a hot potato download from God that he took all the way to the mat, as he defined it?

And also, I am continually reminded, so I’ll ask you as well, do you recall the impetus behind the explosion of the early church in its first century, besides such as the whole book of Acts including Peter’s explosive preaching and Paul’s three missionary journey’s? And then again, what so moved our forefathers during & following the Reformation? Wasn’t it indeed also the waves of persecutions that scattered the early Christians throughout the then known world during the first century and then again in the centuries since Martin Luther, such as transplanting our very forefathers about Europe and America? And so I ask, what perhaps is God preparing us for now during these latter day rains, except to be scattered anew in ways we can’t even begin to fathom, or for sure, perhaps are choosing not to comprehend, preferring our seclusion as being the quiet in the land, when God is actually desiring to both tell and lead us to “go & do now” as in Wendell Martin’s recent vibrant book, Go Now.

Again, to me it seems too often we are weak anemic Kingdom specimens floundering about like the ten foolish virgins waiting ill-prepared to piggy back or sponge off the virtuous ten wise prepared virgins, being so deceived that while we’re anticipating and awaiting the approaching celebration, when actually, we may well be the tares, being allowed to live until the harvest. See Matthew 13:30 if not familiar with their plight!

Again, it seems to me, we are experiencing such a waste of potential engagers in these possibly concluding moments of history that we’re all so privileged to witness first hand, and especially so, when we’ve got access to such engaging Kingdom building tools that again, it seems to me, that we are just so often ignoring; and  how can we view it otherwise? We, as His children, do have or will be empoweringly Spirit driven, with the necessary TIME, MONEY, MATERIALS and most importantly, the “HIS MOTIVE” as were the Christ- Follower’s during the first century and again during and after the Reformation.

Yes, indeed, our lives are all about and likely far beyond what we can even imagine, just I (we) are daily Connecting, Healing, & Growing as admonished in Colossians 2:6-7 “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, CONTINUE to LIVE (not merely exist) your lives in Him, ROOTED and BUILT UP in Him, STRENGTHENED in the FAITH as you were TAUGHT (who am I (we) now teaching, or encouraging?), and OVERFLOWING with THANKFULNESS! (Ouch, not so sure I’m doing much of that while I’m deflecting with His shields’ all this consuming negative chaos?)

 A rather tall order given the Colossians and us! Perhaps we might just need to get out of our routine evening recliners while being nightly mesmerized by all our screens, AND INSTEAD, CHOOSING to RISE UP and Go & Do Now!

HOW EXCELLENT IS HIS NAME IN ALL THE EARTH!! Psalm 8:9

I really like the quote from Matthew Henry; about “it oughta be the business of every day to prepare for our last day.” And many of you, like me, know full well our last days are coming fast, and hasn’t God been so gracious in preparing us oldsters for these transitions; and the many opportunities He gives us YET to continue to LIVE & OVERFLOW WITH THANKFULNESS!!

A spiritual highlight of the week: Nick Jones highlighting segments of Tucker’s podcast interviewing John Rich about his recent song “Revelation.”

Be sure to scan the comments. Really good stuff for we “quietly hiding out in the land” to encounter the reality of evil about us NOW! FYI, the full Tucker 85 minute interview follows the (and I don’t necessarily, advise this full length podcast for everyone!) Nick Jones 30 minute clip, and the 4 minute “Revelation” song is last. (PS: This morning (5:44 am) my phone will not access the three YouTubes whereas my computer does, I presume because my phone has tighter settings?)

Do remember though before you pass your quick off the cuff judgements, that this song wasn’t designed for me and many of my readers, as John Rich makes very clear; rather, it’s for the younger crowds and fans under the influence of our culture’s demonic music barons, such as Eminem’ newest album. Even disregarding the music, too many of you can’t yet even stomach Tucker since he left Fox and you in the fog; sorta reminds me of staying on “milk” too long, when we really ought to be thriving on spiritual “meat!” See I Corinthians 3:2; I Peter 2:2; & Hebrews 5:11-14.

This is your invitation to a quantum spiritual leap (or two) in a single simple post. In fact, this is the last post for the week. You have not time for any more. I’ve been quenching the Spirit for over a week, ever since my ever sleuthing wife Loretta introduced me to Nick Jones hitting hard on quenching the Spirit. I listened to the clip three times before watching it as I was in the flower bed with ear buds. I instantly knew I’d at some point share it with you.

I’ve given you some exquisitely vibrant material all in one post to jump start your spiritual digestion this week end. Remember the comment from the youth SS teacher who said “I actually used this video as a start for a lesson in Quenching the Spirit for my High School age SS class…” How will they (HS aged SS) ever learn sound teaching & doctrines if we of the 2 & 3 prior generations don’t get real & quit quenching the Spirit in our own lives today?” And, I do mean NOW!” I’ve been guilty of such procrastination far too long. May God grant me (us) mercy.

BOTTOM LINE:

At 13 minutes into the Nick Jones clip, John shares his X account introduction to the song by saying”This is the most important song I’ve ever written. I hope it brings courage to the saved, conviction to the lost, ( Tucker included) and absolute terror to the truly wicked.” Within 48 hours, the song Revelation was battling with the big boys for top billings for downloads. Well done John Rich!

NEXT UP:

No idea. Yet.