Tag Archives: Growth

One Pebble Closer – The Sixth Beatitude

Posted on March 2, 2016 | Leave a comment

Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Ponderings:
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about hearts and how God changes them. That’s what led me again to Ezekiel 36:26 & 27 – “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.Pebble jar

I think Ezekiel’s words are what Jesus is honoring with this Beatitude. Purity of heart is a slow but sure promise of the power God and the life of Jesus to chisel away at a stoney heart, pebble by pebble, and replace it with life and his Spirit.

Consider this idea. Find a lovely glass jar you’d be comfortable to have in a prominent place in your home. Either buy or gather a supply of small pebbles to have on hand. Every time you feel God tug at your heart, put another pebble in that jar. It may or may not be a big event but it’s an important one to remember; another pebble has fallen loose.

God is at work changing your heart from stone to flesh and you’re One Pebble Closer to purity and the blessing of seeing the reality of God.

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Posted in Lent, Matthew, Wednesday

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Take the Package Deal

Posted on February 7, 2016 | Leave a comment

I Timothy 1:12-16 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. 13 Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 14 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.

Ponderings
The Apostle said “Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.” There’s not one of us who doesn’t want mercy and grace. It reminded me of buying a car in a way.  Features you might want often come packaged together so you can’t just take one, you have to take them all.

You don’t just get mercy and grace as individual features either.  They come packaged “with the faith and love that are in Christ.” They are not meant to excuse our ignorance and unbelief. They give us the courage to admit the power of Christ to recover the destructive effects of our ignorance and unbelief “as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.”

Take The Package Deal.

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Posted in 1 Timothy, Reality, Sunday

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The Perfect Tutor

Posted on January 27, 2016 | Leave a comment

I John 2:27 NIV As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.

I love this passage. I hope you’ve experienced it’s truth in your own life too. Sometimes you hear people ask “how do you know this church stuff is real?” This verse is the answer. Anointing is not a word that is commonly used and only heard occasionally in church.

It’s really easy to begin to depend on what other people know for your faith. That’s their anointing.   It’s not what “they” know that transforms you. God promises he will give you your own real, life-changing faith and absolute truth in the time you spend getting to know him through his Word and his Spirit. That’s your anointing.

I remember a Bible study where a man came who’d struggled with addiction for many years. He didn’t have the history of the basic childhood Bible stories or even regular church attendance. He must have really felt like a fish out of water…but for whatever reason…he came. Not only did he come that night but he did the reading for the next week and came again.

There was a moment when he shared something he’d learned from that reading and followed it up with “and nobody taught me that” with such excitement that my heart was filled with gratitude and praise.  That was his anointing and God proved himself The Perfect Tutor again.

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Posted in 1 John, Annointing, Growth, Wednesday

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Limitless Then…

Posted on January 3, 2016 | Leave a comment

Back in Genesis God tells Abram in Chapter 17 “Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants.” At this, Abram fell face down on the ground. Then God said to him, “This is my covenant with you: I will make you the father of a multitude of nations!…”

The definition of a covenant is “a solemn, and binding agreement or promise usually under seal between two or more parties especially for the performance of some action.”  Maybe a covenant is not a static, one-step, New Year’s resolution kind of thing but more like a cycle renewed each year?  That concept makes sense to me.

That first step across the line from unbeliever to believer is only one step, but a momentous one, all  based on the awareness of “if’s.”    That’s when the cycle of “then’s” begins.   It’s the beginning of God’s personal covenant with you: his promise he will move the “if’s” to “then’s.”
If…God, Then awareness…
If…awareness, Then the Holy Spirit…
If the Holy Spirit…Then truth…
If truth…Then grace…
If grace…Then forgiveness…
If forgiveness…Then mercy…
If mercy…Then love – 1 John 4:19 We love because he first loved us…
If love…continuous renewal and Limitless Then…

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Posted in 1 John, Blessing, Genesis, New Year, The Real You

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The Renewed Promise

Posted on December 7, 2015 | Leave a comment

Isaiah 64…excerpts
1 Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down…2…come down to make your name known…3…you did awesome things that we did not expect…4…on behalf of those who wait…8…We are the clay, you are the potter…9…Oh, look on us, we pray, for we are all your people.”

God has done just what Isaiah asked.  He rent the heavens to do unexpected things…what could be more unexpected than sending Jesus into our world as a baby and from that cradle into my life?  That’s why I look for that mysterious nudge from the Holy Spirit that says “look with fresh eyes at these familiar old words so you don’t overlook the awesome things I plan to show you this time you read them.”

Isaiah reminds me why I am walking, waiting and writing my way to the cradle this Advent.  I am still clay in the potter’s hand: still being formed by this experience.  All these centuries later, I am not walking alone.   I am only one of your people who wait expectantly for Isaiah’s words and the old story of that birth in Bethlehem to become The Renewed Promise of Christ in our lives.   Come Lord Jesus.

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Posted in Advent, Birth of Jesus, Christmas Bread, Daily Faith, Isaiah

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Open Doors

Posted on November 22, 2015 | Leave a comment

Revelation 3:8 I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.

Quote from Oswald Chambers – My Utmost For His Highest”
“God does not tell you what He is going to do— He reveals to you who He is.”

Thoughts:
So does that mean God is showing me through his opening of doors  the paths he wants me to take?  I had to ponder the Open Door idea a bit.  I do think God is always in charge of doors.  Only he knows what he’s going to do and how he’s going to show you who he is.  I like the image of a “hand-holding” Christ.

In my life this is how it’s worked.  Sometimes I’ve gone through an open door and have discovered new strengths and abilities I didn’t know I had.  Christ was holding my hand, pulling me along saying “Come on, let’s do it together.”  He was there.

There have been other times I’ve gone through an open door expecting the same result only to find disappointment and even failure.  The same Christ was holding my hand and saying the same words “Come on, let’s do it together” with a totally different outcome, but… He was there.

Open Doors are not guarantees, they are opportunities.  As long as you recognize those two things you can choose that open door with the best possible information you have, and confidence.  Then hang on to his hand for dear life.  He’ll be there.

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Posted in Oswald Chambers, Revelation

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The Real Jesus

Posted on November 15, 2015 | Leave a comment

Excerpts from Mark 3 NIV
5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts…9 Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him…21 When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”…

Thoughts:
I’m having a negative reaction to everything I read today.  I don’t like reading that Jesus was angry and distressed.  I don’t like that he made plans to keep himself away from the people.  I don’t like that his own family was ready to haul him away because they thought he was out of his mind.  This is a clear indicator that I’m deeply involved in romanticizing the human Jesus and I don’t like that either.

I read a book “Imaginary Jesus” by Matt Mikalatos.  It’s not a “Christian” book per se, it’s a novel and underlying the humor of it is a very serious reality.  It’s the mistake of seeing Jesus as what we need him to be in any given situation.  Here’s part of the description from Amazon: “When Matt Mikalatos realizes that his longtime buddy in the robe and sandals isn’t the real Jesus at all, but an imaginary one, he embarks on a mission to find the real thing.”

I don’t want to miss The Real Jesus because of my need to make him look and act like I think he should…but…I don’t want him to be angry, or distressed either.  That’s too raw, too human, and too much a mirror of what my reaction might be.  Maybe that’s the point.  The Real Jesus will show me my own humanity despite my creative attempts to mold him into an imaginary image.  Obviously he’s not finished yet.

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Posted in Daily Faith, Growth, Mark, Real Life

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Surprise, It’s Me

Posted on November 4, 2015 | Leave a comment

Mark 6:47-52 NIV  And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he [Jesus] was alone on the land. 48 And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, 49 but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, 50 for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” 51 And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, 52 for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

My Thoughts:
This Scripture is a different kind of picture of what “belief” looks like for those closest to Jesus.  It turns out those most intimately connected to Jesus can suffer bouts of what verse 52 calls “hardened” hearts.  I’m pretty sure fatigue, fear, confusion had a lot to do with that. That’s true of us too, but these were his disciples.  That’s a surprise isn’t it?

We can fix those physical conditions with more rest and more knowledge.  Those are surely needed, but the heart problem needs something more.  That fix is being willing to consider Jesus is watching for opportunities to come you.  He may choose unusual circumstances to walk into your life or your circumstances and then climb right into the “boat” with you.

“Take heart” no matter how astounding it seems, his words “Surprise, It’s Me” are his comfort and assurance for your heart and your life.

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Posted in Growth, Mark, Real Life

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Inspired Risk

Posted on November 1, 2015 | Leave a comment

Habakkuk 2 :1 I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.  2 Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.  3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false.  Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.

Thoughts:

My “station” is the Lazy Boy early in the morning looking for God to speak to me through his Word and sometimes the words of his people who have shared their inspiration in their own writings.  One of my favorite quotes is from Oswald Chambers: “patience is not the same as indifference.”

It’s that Lazy Boy that’s made all the difference between patience and indifference for me.  If I’m there and I get nothing it’s patience.  If I’m not there, it’s indifference.  It’s an Inspired Risk to believe God is there with truth for me.  It’s an Inspired Risk to believe I do have a “revelation.”   It’s an Inspired Risk to find my own words of faith and then run with them.  I won’t get it right every time…but there is an appointed time.  Patience is an Inspired Risk: “Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come …”

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Posted in Habakuk, Real Life, The Real "Me"

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Depend on This

Posted on October 28, 2015 | Leave a comment

This is a quote From Oswald Chamber’s My Utmost for His Highest.   “Maturity is produced in the life of a child of God on the unconscious level”

It’s an odd quote demanding my thought because of the word maturity combined with the phrase “unconscious level.”  Long ago I made what seemed to be a conscious decision to walk into Jesus life and let his become a part of mine.  I followed that by consciously acquiring all the facts that would lead me to devotion to God and to maturity.

It’s easier to do the conscious stuff.  It may not seem easy to surrender your time but it’s do-able. In your conscious mind you know so much you must be mature, right?   Surrendering your mind at the same time you surrender your time is the unconscious part.  It’s harder and riskier to let your mind creatively roam in the realm of God, Christ, and the Word.  Maturity is very likely that unconscious part that drives you to invest yourself in that realm knowing that even though you will likely get much of it wrong at some point you can Depend on This: It’s the only way you’ll ever get anything right.

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Posted in Daily Faith, Maturity

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