Currently Reading Religious Affections By Jonathan Edwards see related

"....and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls."  -1 Peter 1:8

I have only read a few chapters of this book, but the Lord has already taught me a great deal about Himself.  Jonathan Edwards had so much passion and affection for God that it, in itself, is merely "inexpressible".  He had an understanding and a love for the Lord that I can only hope will be contagious as I continue to read his works.  Here's a couple of excerpts from the first chapter:

"Trials are of further benefit to true religion; they not only manifest the truth of it, but they make its genuine beauty and amiableness remarkably appear.  True virtue never appears so lovely as when it is most oppressed; and the divine excellency of real Christianity is never exhibited with such advantage as when under the greatest trials: then it is that true faith appears mush more precious than gold, and upon this account is 'found to praise and honour and glory.'....They also purify and increase true religion."  (This carries my mind to the beginning of James, where he tells us to "consider it pure joy whenever we face trials of many kinds".......)

And wow, this was amazing too....."They seemed to the men of the world about them as though they were beside themselves, and to act as though they hated themselves; there was nothing in their view that could induce them thus to suffer, and support them under, and carry them through such trials.  But although there was nothing that was seen, nothing that the world saw, or that the Christians themselves ever saw with their bodily eyes, that thus influenced and supported them, yet they had a supernatural principle of love to something unseen; they loved Jesus Christ, for they saw Him spiritually whom the world saw not, and whom they themselves had never seen with bodily eyes."

This needs to be read to ALL Christians and churches today: "That religion which God requires, and will not accept, does not consist in weak, dull, and lifeless wishes, raising us but little above a state of indifference: God, in His word, greatly insists upon it, that we be in good earnest, 'fervent in spirit', and our hearts vigorously engaged in religion........If we be not in good earnest in religion, and our wills and inclinations be not strongly exercised, we are nothing."  Simply put.  If we have ever "tasted and seen that the Lord is good", known Him intimately, or seen of His mighty works, HOW CAN WE, AS A BODY, BE SO COMPLACENT?! No wonder the Lord spits the "lukewarm" out of His mouth! (Revelation 3:15-16) SO many of His believers are under the seduction that they can "have their cake and eat it too".  That they can live a life that disregards His lordship, a life characterized by sin, one of selfishness, worldliness, godlessness, unrighteousness, and all-out rebellion against the one who created them in HIS image for HIS glory.  Yuck!  We are an ugly and sinful people, whose righteousness is likened to filthy rags apart from Christ living inside of us. 

I'll leave you with one last thought from Edwards.  He claims that we are driven by our affections.  Love, hate, hope, fear, anger, zeal, desire, THESE are what constitutes and sustains our motions, without which we would be motionless and dead.  So I ask you: What is the aim of your affections?

Is it this?: "Every one (believer) that has the power of godliness in his heart has his inclinations and heart exercised towards God and divine things, with such strength and vigor that these holy exercises do prevail in him above all carnal or natural affections, and are effectual to overcome them: for every true disciple of Christ 'loves Him above father or mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, houses and lands; yea, than his own life.'"

I earnestly pray that we would feel as the disciples felt in Luke 24:32, when they said, "Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?"  Oh, how I want my heart to burn for Him!!!!! 

Bittersweet

Happy Superbowl day, everyone!!  What a game!!  Okay, seriously though, I didn't even know who was playing until about an hour after getting to the party.  THAT is how little I cared.  I don't think it's humanly possible for me to emotionally care a lesser amount.  Good to know, huh?  I'm willing to bet that you all woke up this morning wondering exactly how much I cared and what I thought about the game.  Am I right?  Thought so.

Anyways, on a less ridiculous note, this has been a really hard weekend.  Not only were we in the ER on Friday night due to Sam smacking his temple on the ice at the skating rink, leaving him with NO recollection of the entire night, but Julie also moved out.  It's bittersweet.  I'm happy for her, but jealous that he gets to see her all the time now.  It's hard, this whole growing up thing.  Just when you think life is slowing down, everything changes.  I guess that just goes to show how fleeting life is.  Not only that, but how much the Lord begs for us to find our sole contentment in Him (for OUR good), because then nothing can shake us. 

I'll leave you all with something that I came acoss this week in the Charlie Hall CD booklet.  It's a Franciscan Benediction, and it goes as such:

             May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.  May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.  May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their path into joy.  And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done. 

Wow.

Currently Reading Questioning Evangelism By Randy Newman see related

The Past Month

Hello all.  I'm fully aware that I have failed at keeping up with Xanga, and after much scrutiny received from one Kristin Siha, I regretfully apologize for my misconduct.  I vow to never allow such an atrocity to creep upon me again.  I pray this sincere apology will fall on forgiving ears. 

ANYWAYS, to update........the Encounter conference was great!  Tim Muelhoff and Randy Newman are two very powerful speakers, in whom the presence of the Lord is evident.  We had a great time bonding as a ministry and the Lord has really used a lot of the things we were taught since we have been back here in Charlotte. On another note, Passion06 was absolutely amazing.  Too amazing for words.  I could try, but would fall short of doing it justice.  All I can say is to go to 268generation.com and purchase the talks.  John Piper, Louie Giglio, and Beth Moore make QUITE the team!  

School's all right.  I saw a Voodoo priest suck blood out of someone's head in African American Religion.  I had the "deer in the headlight" syndrome.  I didn't want to watch, but I couldn't pull my eyes away.  Quite disturbing.  Very heart-wrenching to see people made in God's image bowing down to images that they themselves, with Satan's help nonetheless, have created.  The Lord's really using this class to give me a greater heart for the misguided.  I can't imagine pouring my life into an empty vat of something that, in the end, will only lead to eternal separation from the one true God.  The thought of it makes me shudder.  I love how the Lord turns the secular into sacred, something of worth. 

I'll end this extremely concise update with a bit of good news:  I'M GOING TO BE AN AUNT!!!  My brother and his wife are expecting a baby on September 6th, so please keep them and the baby in your prayers!! 

(Kristin, I hope this will do.......please don't forget to shield me from the dreaded "Xanga boogey man".)

Currently Reading The Chronicles of Narnia By C.S. Lewis see related

And the craziness continues......

Hello all!  Hope everyone had an amazing Christmas in celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior!!  Mine was fantabulous!  Great time with the fam and LOTS of rest.  Which is really good, considering that I'm about to have what may prove to be the craziest 2 weeks of my life.  My parents and I are going down to see my brother and his wife at the crack of dawn tomorrow and then coming back up here on Wednesday in time for me to head to Greensboro for Christmas Conference and THEN I get done there on the 1st, only to leave for Passion in Nashville on the 2nd at 4:30 in the AM.  WOW!!  What a schedule!!  It's gonna be amazing, though.  I can't wait to see how the Lord is going to work through all of those things.  I'm going to be one sleep deprived person  by the time this whole escapade ends.  I'll be the girl zombie walking around with bloodshot eyes and mis-matched clothes.  It'll be a beautiful sight.... can't wait!!

P.S.  The new Sudoku puzzles could quite possibly be the MOST addictive thing that has ever been in existence....you have GOT to try it!!!

Beliving God Has Been There All Along

I'm learning a great deal this week about God's providence through Beth Moore's Believing God study.  It has been a week of looking back over my life in order to remember that God has been there all along.  It's absurd to see how much I distrust in His overall care.  We looked at some scripture to see where God remembered His people.  Not only did He remember them, but he acted on those remembrances.  For instance, He remembered Noah and the animals and receded the waters in Genesis 8:1.  Then He remembered Abraham in Genesis 19:29 and spared Lot.  Next, in Genesis 30:22, God remembers Rachel and opens her womb.  I could go on and on, those are just a few examples from Genesis.  It's a comforting fact to realize that God not only remembers us and thinks happy thoughts about us, HE ACTS.  So when we feel as though we do things in vain, we can always have hope for future glory because we know that "our labor for the Lord is not done in vain". (1 Corinthians 15:58)

Today's lesson was focused on this passage in Lamentations chapter 3:

 ¹⁹Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
   the wormwood and the gall!
²⁰My soul continually remembers it
   and is bowed down within me.
²¹But this I call to mind,
   and therefore I have hope:   

 ²²The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
   his mercies never come to an end;
²³they are new every morning;
   great is your faithfulness.
²⁴"The LORD is my portion," says my soul,
   "therefore I will hope in him."   

 ²⁵The LORD is good to those who wait for him,
   to the soul who seeks him.
²⁶It is good that one should wait quietly
   for the salvation of the LORD.

The "moral" behind this lesson is seeing that God acts on what he remembers.  We are made in God's image.  So, in turn, we too act on what we remember.  Beth challenged us to be careful about what we remember.  Is it always the bad, which causes our souls to be "downcast" or is it the times where God was evident in our lives that leads to hope for our future?  She reminds us that God never forgets us, even though we may sometimes feel forgotten. 

Psalm 42:5 says,              

⁵Why are you cast down, O my soul,
   and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
   my salvation.

Ever had a conversation like this with your soul?  "Like Jeremiah and the Psalmist, we can reframe difficult memories against the backdrop of God's attributes.  We can also call on His ability to change the course of our futures, no matter the pattern of our pasts.  Try to practice 1 Corinthians 10:3-5 and trust that God can and will break down the strongholds of our negative meditations when we reframe our old memories with God in the picture.......Both freedom and faith emerge from deliberate acts of the will to shift our focus from all that begs to differ to the great and glorious truth of the living God.  Neither freedom nor faith is ever accidental.  As we refocus on the God of our past and remember His goodness, we are far more inclined to believe Him in our present and future."  (Beth Moore)

God's good.  Hope everyone is having a great break!