Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
And with fear and trembling stand;
Ponder nothing earthly minded,
For with blessing in His hand,
Christ our God to earth descendeth,
Our full homage to demand.


King of kings, yet born of Mary,
As of old on earth He stood,
Lord of lords, in human vesture,
In the body and the blood;
He will give to all the faithful
His own self for heavenly food.

Rank on rank the host of heaven
Spreads its vanguard on the way,
As the Light of light descendeth
From the realms of endless day,
That the powers of hell may vanish
As the darkness clears away.

At His feet the six wingèd seraph,
Cherubim with sleepless eye,
Veil their faces to the presence,
As with ceaseless voice they cry:
Alleluia, Alleluia
Alleluia, Lord Most High!

Random thoughts

• Illusion is the opposite of magic.
• Everyone wants to be fancy and new, not themselves. People want to be different from what they are.
• Pastors; most are salesmen trying to trick the congregation into believing Jesus would make you new. Others sell God and never ever listen, never care, just wanting to sell the product.
• Bible stories are NOT for kids. Settings, conflict, climax, and resolution. Climax is the point of decision that determines the end of the story.
• Jesus became us (that is human) so that we can see and understand. Like prisoners that are brutalized, if the rescuer comes and does the same thing as the guards, we are unlikely to follow to freedom, BUT, if the rescue does the things our guards won't, we will pay attention.
• When it comes to Christian spirituality, we do not see a children story. The story is not cute or neat, it is mystical, odd and clean even when reaching into the dirty.
• How can I fully love someone/everyone all the same, even those who reject God. How do I get rid of all the tension?
• True love turns the other cheek
• Christianity; the same religion that generated the crusades, fund the republicans or fathers religious television?
• Talk about God as if they knew Him=m, as if they had talked with Him that very day on the phone. Not ashamed!
• Always afraid of what people will think? Try eating chocolate, smoke a cigarette and read the bible.
• Concerning Jesus. There were people he loved and people who he got really mad at. I tend to identify with the people he loved, which are good, because they were the ones who were broken. People who are tired of life and want to be done with it, desperate people, outcasts, pagan.

My anger, is it a symptom of my depression?

God, I think I am one big disappointment to you. I think this because I judge myself. As your word says, as we judge, so we are judged.

Things I do to disappoint God:

• I do not give him a full days work
• I do not manage my money to glorify him (stewardship)
• I do not pray as I should, but the question is, how should I pray?
• I waste time, talent and spiritual gifts!
• I don't trust God.

I trusted God that all these issues of the past have been dealt with. I trusted that revisiting them would be unnecessary. It seems that it is other people's requirements that these issues get dragged out.

the sadness inside...

Sometimes, I feel like all I want to do is get down under my desk, press myself into the corner and stay there. There is sadness in me that just hangs there, just enough to darken everything I do or think about with doubt. God, I believe, help me in my unbelief…

Dark side of life

"The fact is I am guilty of sexual immorality. And I take responsibility for the entire problem. I am a deceiver and a liar. There's a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I have been warring against it for all of my adult life," he said. -letter written by Rev Ted Haggard to his congregation

While I have not fallen for my temptations as Rev Haggard has, I have a dark side that I battle and war against, and sometimes I end up "feeding" it. Rev Haggard should be prayed for, as well as his family. You who are adopted by God, and who love your church and elders should be praying for your pastors, your elders and your church leaders, each one of them, everyday, without fail. May God be glorified!

Did you win?

Did you win? Does your wisdom save you? Do you think that Satan will greet you into his domain with open arms? Do you not know that Satan hate God's creation as much if not more than God? You will not be welcomed into Satan's domain, you will be cast in. Do you think that your pride and self assurance in the spiritual decisions made during life will survive the presence of God as you stand before the judgement throne? Do you think that your heart will not be change in His Holy Presence? But then it will be too late. Healing consists of reconciliation, and reconciliation is done with repentance of your sins and the imputation of righteousness from Christ. When death overtakes you, it is too late.

Revealed: Romans 1:18-32
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,
19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools
23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,
30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;
31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

But there is hope: Romans 3:21-26
21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.
22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference,
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—
26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

There is no justice when you look to Satan.

In the Grip of Pornography

Sometimes the trigger is something as ‘innocent’ as a television commercial, featuring the girl painting the living room in her underwear. Sometimes the trigger is that booby-trapped email message, disguised as an email response but shepherding that unwanted image into my life, even when I didn’t seek it.

I would like to put a ‘face’ on the victimless crime caused by lust, as preached by our Pastor on the 17th of March. Pornography addiction is very real, and I been struggling with it’s powerful grip on my life, falling deep into it power for moments or for days. It isn’t even hard-core that I seek, but erotica, where there is no real body part exposure, but I find that I am not always satisfied with these images but look for a little more. Sometimes I find myself in places I never thought I would be, thinking thoughts that I would never normally consider. The images get seared in my mind and remain with me long after the foray has ended.

I pray for deliverance, but Satan whispers in my ears, letting me know how much I have disappointed my Savior. My prayers for forgiveness seem hypocritical, without power, and without expectation. Scripture not only condemns but also causes me to question my salvation. I am a dog, returning to my vomit. I am sickened by my weakness. I despair by the silence answer to my prayers.

At a church I use to go to, I seek accountability, and make a confession before those whom I trust to be men of God, who would jump up and help. One pats me on the back, and tells me how brave I am for sharing my weakness and pain. I am admired for my courage and my visibility. But no one calls to ask how my struggle is going; no one comes forward to offers help. Months later, in a conversation with one of the men who was present, he confesses that his lack of response is because he too struggles with pornography. I wonder who else in my church struggles.

SADLY, my teen-aged daughter caught me where I shouldn't be last night...

Theophostic Prayer

Three weeks ago I restarted counseling with councilor. It had been several years since we last met, and when we ended the therapy, it was because councilor felt that my grip on my emotions was beyond his abilities with Theophostic. Anger at spouse, depression and emotional turmoil prompted me to renew counceling.

With the first session, he was very hopeful, giving me great hope, because he stated that he had managed more difficult cases like mine, with success and he felt sure that he could bring me through the anger and emotional roller-coaster I have been on, using Theophostic Prayer.

We met the other night, and at the end of the session, after a couple failed attempts to access my emotion, he concluded that I was still beyond his ability. It was already established as a lie from Satan, my belief that God does not want me cured. When I concentrate on a stirring (destructive emotion), it either sits before me as a ball of emotion, just beyond my ability to touch it or access it, or it disappears, instantly, as if it never existed, the pressure of it also gone. One thing that is consistent, is that I cannot access the emotion as needed and in the way that Theophostic prayer therapy needs me to, for it to work.

So what can I do?

I was struck by the portion of our session where councilor revealed how a stirring erupted during the previous week, how he went into prayer, and how his wife witness the process without interruption. He indicated the process took 45 minutes.

This week, as another stirring occurred, I look at what was causing the anger (in the present situation), and examined it. Why was I angry? Was the anger necessary (justified or an emotional reaction to what I could not control or did not want to deal with)? What was my part of the situation, and where did my sinfulness add to the situation? As I looked at each part, I was able to identify the sin on my part, and in my prayer, confess and ask God for forgiveness. I am also looking to see if the situation (and emotion) was because I was sinned against, and in forgave. I also examined the situation for the need to seek forgiveness.

I recognize that each event is not an event where I might have sinned. This prayerful self-examination may not require me to forgive or seek forgiveness. I hope that I might instead rely more fully on God's strength in each situation, as I realize that most things are not in my ability to fix or avoid. In this prayer, I need to seek refuge from the noise in my life, so that I can hear the voice of God.

Thank you Lord, for being there for me. Thank you Lord for giving me knowledge and guidance from your Holy Spirit in this very difficult time of my life. Thank you Lord for giving me a stubbornness, that hinders me at times, but is also a gift that keeps me from shutting down and quitting, instead it fuels my desire to continue to look to you for strength and resolution to all that life places before me. Let me glorify you constantly with my lips and with the joy that is present in my Heart when I think of how great you are and how blest I am to be granted the gift of faith and the gift of salvation through your son Christ.

Amen.

Heart Cry

Right now, whenever I am in spouse's presence, I want to have as little to do with her as I can manage. I do not have pleasant thoughts concerning her or our relationship. God commands the husband to love the wife as Christ loves the Church, to die to self and die for her. I have been sinful in my recent behavior/attitude.

How I wish my love for spouse would cause me to pin for her, to miss her whenever we were apart for any amount of time. To desire her sexually again, to take on her illnesses as a personal crusade so that she knows she is loved. To stop feeling hostile, even hate in her presence.

Heavenly Father, you know my desire is to do your will and reflect your love for me to those who are around me. Please forgive my sinfulness against spouse and give me strength to die for her as Christ died for Church. Please give me patience and cure my eyesight so that I see the companion you so thoughtfully and lovingly prepared for me and set before my eyes those many years ago. Please rip this hate, from me as I seek her forgiveness and in same, that I forgive her for not being perfect. Please forgive me for expecting perfection from her and sinning against you when perfection was not found, knowing that perfection can only be found in you. Please heal me in this situation, as only you can heal, through Christ and your Holy Spirit.

Amen

From "A Slice Of Infinity" for 8 March 06

Who Are You?

Jill Carattini


In the C.S. Lewis novel 'Til We Have Faces, the main character, Orual, has taken mental notes throughout her life, carefully building what she refers to as her "case" against the gods. Finally choosing to put her case in writing, she meticulously describes each instance where she has been wronged. It is only after Orual has finished writing that she soberly recognizes her great mistake. She now sees the importance of uttering the speech at the center of one's soul, for to have heard herself making the complaint was to be answered. She profoundly observes that the gods used her own pen to probe the wounds. With sharpened insight Orual explains, "'Til the words can be dug out of us, why should [the gods] hear the babble that we think we mean? How can they meet us face to face 'til we have faces?"


Never has a book cut open my heart and laid it before me so plainly. It was simultaneously the moment I realized how distant I had become from God and how near to me He had been all along. I had spent a lifetime subconsciously compiling my case against Him. Through these more turbulent years en route to faith and belief in Christ, I stood armed with my diary of questions, taking more a stance of interrogator than glad follower. Some of my questions were milder interrogations than others; in fact, some even embodied the possibility of exoneration. But the telling detail in this perspective was that I saw myself as the one holding the judge's gavel, while God was the one on trial.


I vividly recall the first time I realized the barrage of questions I was prepared to ask. It was not long before I would come across the pages of the book that brought me to surrender the gavel. I was reading the last chapter in the Gospel of John.


In that scene, the disciples were fishing when Jesus appeared on the shoreline; this, just days after they had watched in horror as he was crucified on the Cross. No doubt with heightened anticipation, the disciples quickly drew in their nets and rushed to the shore where Jesus was preparing breakfast at the fire. John's description places us aside a group of expectant fishermen. With bated breath we wait to hear how the silence will be broken. And then John writes, "None of the disciples dared to ask, 'Who are you?' For they knew it was the savior" (John 21:12).


It was the word "dare" that got under my skin. It completely upset me that none of them dared to ask. They had every reason to ask questions. Where did you go? How are you here? Why did you have to die? That the disciples were not full of questions seemed to me remarkably unnatural. It did not take me long to realize that I was bothered by their lack of asking specifically because I did dare to ask.


The frenzied, almost illegible words in my journal still remind me how frustrated I was at that moment. In words more fired onto the page than composed, I asked everything I had ever wanted to ask. Two weeks later, I picked up a copy of 'Til We Have Faces and was overcome with the absurdity of my "case"—even as I was overcome with the certainty that I had been heard.


For me, sensing myself far away from God is often riddled with the suspicion that it is his doing, that He has left, and that I have been abandoned. It is interesting how often these feelings coincide with an outburst of honest writing and confession. In such moments I realize, like Orual, the importance of uttering the words at the center of one's soul—if for nothing more than to hear in my own words the illogic of my anger or the intensity and passion I am complaining is absent. To hear myself making the complaint is often to be answered. And repeatedly, these moments of despair and distance become realizations of proximity and awareness of the God who is there. Interestingly, in such moments I don't dare ask who it is. For I know it is the savior.

Phillip Yancey and Discernment

I am (or was) a big fan of Phillip Yancey, but after reading a review on each of a couple of his books ("What's So Amazing About Grace" and "The Christ I Never Knew") on 9 Marks ministry website. I have to agree with the reviews, remembering the nags in my head about some of what I was reading at the time. In fact, I liked reading "What's So Amazing About Grace", and was going to re-read it because I but felt it was largely unresolved in what Yancey was trying to achieve. Now, I am thinking that my discernment button is broken, under-exercised or maybe even untrustworthy. Grrrr... I know I am not suppose to figure it all out, being part of the journey... I just wish I knew what I was doing once in a while.



I am currently reading Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz. It has a lot of nuggets (things to think about). I especially like the repeated thoughts concerning the some of the more 'got it together' (I know - a subjective term) Christians who act like they talk to God everyday and in fact, sounded (confident in their understanding) like they just got off the phone with Him.



In an email conversation with a friend, he writes I have a few of Yancy's books but I've never been a "fan", because 1) he is definitely Arminian [or Pelagian!] but in my mind in a disconcerting way that fails to wrestle through the issues, such as the one book he did on suffering, where he really failed to address the issues of Job's suffering from a robust theological interaction [which some Arminians do try to do & I respect even if I disagree], 2) he seems to mostly tell stories & often argues from them instead of any exegesis of biblical texts [the case of the homosexual friend comes to mind (Amazing Grace?), although its been a long time since I read that book too] 3) in kindness I'd say, he doesn't seem "for me anyway" to come across with anything profound, not that everything has to be profound, but like many "popular writers" at this point in my Christian walk, too much of it comes across as "fluff". I read a couple of Lucado's books & frankly I wasn't impressed. Consequently I've steered clear of a lot of the popular guys although I read & enjoy much of what MacArthur writes. I also appreciate Colson's Breakpoint not so much for his theology but for keeping me aware of current events touching on church & theolgoical issues. We are defintely working with a "Christianity for Dummies" version in a lot that is written today tragically.



The "Dummie" books can be quite comphrehensive, at least the two I have (one is on Diabete II)... Maybe it is time for a Dummie like book on Arminianism and Reformed thinking or on Worldviews and how they seem to affect theology for the bad.

Blue Like Jazz - Notes from the chapter "Problems"

We know 'something' about us is broken.
 
We need police to keep the order. Cops in our society is part of check and balances. We break a law and we pay the price. Countries where the police are corrupt are chaotic. Countries where there are no checks and balances have warring tribes, genocide, rapes, murders in huge numbers. 
 
Do you really think you are above these things?
 
Why does a child need to be taught right from wrong? If two children are brought up, one without instruction and one with, which child will be better. What would happen if that child that is taught right from wrong has checks and balances removed? Why does it take no effort to be bad, but most time, a lot of effort to be good?

-----------------------
   
Satan weapon is not to entice us into sin, but to waste time, removing/neutralizing time to tell others of Christ.
 
-------------------
Ultimately, the problem with the world is me.
 
I cannot solve the worlds problems because the problem starts with me. I can rage against materialism, social and industrial actions of the United States, but I have no control over my own heart. I am a hypocrite

Four Types of Christians: (or Why Christians Become Lukewarm)

In the area of discipleship, Baxter outlines four classic conditions of true believers.
 
The first are the young and weak. Baxter writes, �There are many of our flock who are young and weak, who, though they are of long standing, are yet of small proficiency or strength. This indeed, is the most common condition of the Godly. Most of them content themselves with low degrees of grace, and it is no easy matter to get them to go higher. Yes, it is a very sad thing for Christians to be weak.� To be young and weak is to be weak in discipleship, or spiritual growth and service. They are weak and young even though they may have been Christians for ten or twenty years.
 
A second class of converts that need our special help are those who labor under some particular corruption. This makes them a trouble to others and a burden to themselves. �Alas, there are to many such persons addicted to pride, worldly minded sensual pleasures...� Maybe it�s pride, fits of anger, or a sexual addiction of some kind. We can estimate, for example, that between 60% and 70% of all men are involved in pornography...both Christians and non-Christians. We must have a heart to offer such men special help, which means making effective resources available to them (counseling, church discipline, accountability, small groups).
 
A third class of converts are those whom Baxter called declining Christians. These may have once burned bright, but years of neglect and compromise has caused the fire to die down. This is a common sight in most churches today. Many of the men I meet who are declining Christians have come to that point because of a dream that didn�t come true. They believe in Jesus, but there was something else they thought they needed in order to be happy. And not getting it has somehow dulled their relationship with Christ. These men slowly withdraw. They just cooled down, never noticing the change in their temperature.
 
The fourth class represents the strong. �The last class, whom I shall notice here as requiring our attention, are the strong, for they also have need of our assistance...� How much better to leverage the strong than merely attend to the sick.


 

Thoughts from the book "Blue Like Jazz"

By Donald Miller
 
In the Chapter: Beginnings
 
Do we think of God as a slot machine? Do we get on our knees and pray, as in pulling the handle, hoping that the cherries will line up and our prayer will be answered, and if note, just making a mental note that it is a matter of luck?

Prayer by CS Lewis

Master, they say that when I seem
To be in speech with you,
Since you make no replies, it's all a dream
­ One talker aping two.

They are half right, but not as they
Imagine; rather, I
Seek in myself the things I meant to say,
And lo! The wells are dry.

Then, seeing me empty, you forsake
The Listener's role, and through
My dead lips breathe and into utterance wake
The thoughts I never knew.

And thus you neither need reply
Nor can; thus, while we seem
Two talking, thou are One forever, and I
No dreamer, but thy dream.

Brokeback Mountain

“The movie associates homosexuality with nature­ magnificent mountains, big sky, clear blue water, teeming forests­ as contrasted with the constraints of a tacky, empty civilization. But whether you are a creationist or a Darwinist, having children and struggling to survive are what's "natural." Leaving your family for escapist, sterile sex is literally "unnatural."

-- Gene Ed Veith, in a review of Brokeback Mountain

Politicians are Revolting (and so should we)

I was reading with interest the latest column by 'Vox Day' at http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48361 and also reading the Breakpoint column (Revolution to Revulsion), concerning the latest potential scandal with the republicans, and I have to tell you the truth, I am feeling rather convinced that we (rightly) should be rejecting political power as one way of promoting the kingdom. The power of one vote should make a difference, but I feel far too many (voters) have their heads in the sand, reacting with emotion rather than conviction or determination. Changing the mind of the nation should not be from the front pages, where Christianity, with it's problem of being made up of human sinners is held up by the secular press for all to see. Instead, it should be a behind the scenes having real conversations, one person, one neighbor, one group at a time. Who would care if legalized abortion was on the books if we were teaching our neighbors and our children the reality of this 'choice' and the grievousness of walking down that path. The same with 'choice' of lifestyles and the other choices that lead to culture condemning sin. We need not to depend on politics, but instead to stand up and properly, with the love of Christ, affect the culture around us, one person at a time.

What do you want God to do for you?"

(Jesus asked this of a blind man). Most people deflect the focus off themselves and ask for "world peace" because that's noble and you really don't have to face Christ with the desire of your heart. Also- you don't really have to do anything about it or at least no one will notice if you don't- if you stay uninvolved.