Song~"You hold my every moment~You calm my raging seas~ You walk with me through fire~and heal all my disease~I trust in You~I trust in You~I believe You're my healer~I believe You're all I need~I believe You are my portion~I believe You are more than enough for me~"
The same (Greek or Hebrew) words are used for the pouring out of rain from the heavens during the time of the flood and the pouring out of a blessing from the windows of heaven. When we engage God in worship, we position ourselves to receive a blessing from God.
Pastor Frank has been thinking about the word, 'peripherialism'.( It is a semi-homemade word-my favorite kind.) It has to do with being on the sidelines, like peripheral vision, or being on the edge of a circle, like a circumference. It's spiritual definition means to be on the outskirts; to beat around the bush. ( I think he is saying that it's time to get in or get out. It's time to tell the truth or stop talking. It's time to 'put your whole self in or put your whole self out' and stop all this hokey-pokeying around. It's time to get real. That's what it's all about.) This goes for the speaker and the hearer. If the speaker beats around the bush because he wants people to like him, and doesn't give the Word of the Lord, then he is responsible for what you don't hear. But if you leave because the Word is too tough, then you are responsible for what you don't hear. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
When the Spirit of God is stirred up, other spirits are stirred up as well. But the gates of Hell will not prevail against the church. The enemy is making news with so many evil events. He is trying to call attention to evil rather than what God is going to do.
We speak revival in the land, in our families, our minds, our schools, our communities. May we be protected in our homes and schools, in our going out and our coming in.
The one who was in the gutter most
Is the one He saved to the uttermost.
Scripture-11 Timothy 4
God used Paul in amazing ways. He wrote 13 letters to the churches. He went through so many trials and came out victoriously. But in this letter, we see his humanity, and his weakness.
"I am so glad that I am incapable...I don't have all the answers and often don't know the answers." PF
When you are faced with something you can't do, God shows up and does what He can do.
The church knows how to look good. There is a demonstration of ability without the power. We've made a form of godliness, but God is breaking the mold. God is going to do some things that you could never imagine.
At the end of chapter 4, Paul shares how everyone forsook him, especially Demas. He asked Timothy to bring his cloak and his books and parchments. He said that Alexander the coppersmith had done him harm. Only Luke was with him. He wanted Timothy to bring Mark as well, which must be a story in itself, since Barnabas and Paul had split up over issues with Mark. Paul was in a damp and cold dungeon and needed the comfort of a warm cloak, his familiar books, and his parchments. But even as he longed for the comfort of a friend and a few familiar belongings, he looked after the church, sending Tychicus to Ephesus to take Timothy's place while Timothy visited Paul.
We can be thankful God revealed the humanity of these giants of faith.
Our words and our testimony-the way we live-must give witness to Him. We are the only religion in the world that can boast a changed life.
If we say, (as a fanatical group from Kansas is saying), that the murders in Appomattox took place because the wrath of God is being poured out on the U.S. due to our acceptance of homosexuality, then we have God in a mold.
We spend too much time trying to figure out what God is doing rather than spending time pursuing Him.
Paul exhorted Timothy,"Keep a clear mind; don't be afraid of suffering."
Don't give place to a demon of deception. Don't get complacent and think that everything is OK. Don't think," Just hang in there. Leave things alone."
These attitudes go along with the whole peripherialism idea-beating around the bush.
If we engage with God, we will experience suffering, but we will also experience His presence. God comes in when we say we have a chink in our armor and we need Him.
We hear Paul's humanity in the words, "Demas has forsaken me and I was alone."
Some of you have a spouse who has walked out on you and you feel forsaken. The enemy can use this to deceive you unless you establish core values and stand by them. "As for me and for my house, we will serve the Lord." Establish that standard for those who remain in your household.
If you are unstable in one way, you'll be unstable in another. Be consistent.
You're either going to sit on a witness seat and give testimony or you're going to forsake your testimony. You can't be at two places at the same time.
"I am so thankful that I am incapable."
Paul said in 11 Cor.12:9,"The Lord said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness' Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
We have no power because we are not admitting weakness.
I am going to glory in my weakness.
It's only when we admit that we can't, that He can.
Rejoice in the sickness, the weakness, the sorrow-
for it's in this weakness that the power of God is revealed
in our lives.
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We spent time interceding for Appomattox and our community. PF shared the news that Mr. Scrugg, the father of the 17 year old boy ('Bo') who was murdered, had a massive heart attack and Bo's funeral was postponed. This was over the top sad for me. I think the time is coming that the wearing of make up to church will be useless. Perhaps that will make us more real anyway. We hide behind so many false things. Post note: The Ruritan Club will have a Brunswick Stew sale this Sat. Feb. 6, to benefit the Scrugg family. Bo's father had lost his job, then lost his son, then had a heart attack.
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I was thinking about how weak I felt on Tuesday, when our school was on lock down. The secretary had read my blog account and said that she didn't have the fear that I felt. I told her that that is why she is the doorkeeper of our school and I'm not. But in that fear, I knew I needed help. So I called my husband, who gathered the monks at the Abbey together, and they prayed heaven down. They run a school. They could identify with the threat against children they are responsible for. I called my friend at church who got the pastors and staff to pray. I was weak, but with their prayers, in a few short minutes, I felt the calm of God come into my soul. I don't think the children guessed that anything was wrong. And that was God's grace made perfect in my weakness.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I want to add here, in my defense, that I didn't call Phil or church because I was scared and wanted personal peace. I called because I was scared because the gunman was at large and I wanted them to pray for the safety of our school and Appomattox. In the process of their prayers, I received the peace of God.
This morning I read the following from 'The Supplied Life' by Bill Freeman.
"For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God." 1 Cor. 2:11"
"The seat of our personhood is our spirit. Our real 'knower' is our spirit. We do not know ourself apart from our spirit. I am an empty shell without my spirit. I am a personless person without my spirit. The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit and joined Himself with my spirit. Now I can live from my spirit. (Rom. 1:9)
Do we see this? It is marvelous to know that Christ is your person. When sin shows up, you can boldly tell it, "He has the sin and I have the righteousness." That will catapult you right into His arms to love Him, to draw from Him. He gave the law in order to exhaust us and convince us that we need to live in union with Him. He already knew the flesh was fallen, but we did not. So He came with the law and exhausted the flesh to the utmost, so that He could regenerate our spirit and get Himself into us..."
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The law shows our weakness, so we see we are wrong, and need His righteousness.
In any given situation, we can live out of the weakness of our flesh or we can live out of the strength of the Spirit of God within us.
If we could choose between two packages-say for example, one package holds inconsolable sorrow and the other holds the fellowship of His suffering. The actual event causing the sorrow may be the same, but one package leaves us forsaken and the other leaves us with His presence. We might need help picking up the right package, but that's what friends are for.
Again, it's 'The Great Exchange.'
Peace in exchange for our bitterness.
Love in exchange for our hatred and indifference.
Forgiveness in exchange for our list of grievances.
O God, help me pick up the packages full of your grace and strength
and help me to leave my packages of weakness and pride on the altar.
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