Excerpt

"Forgotten God: Reversing our Tragic neglect of the Holy Spirit" By: Francis Chan

Imagine I buy a treadmill to lose some weight. Three months later I take it back to the store and complain to the clerk that it didn't work-- I didn't lose a pound. He asks me, "What is the problem? Did it not work properly?" I respond, "I don't know if it works. I never ran on it. I just know I didn't lose any weight, so I am done with it!"

This may seem like a silly example, but change the details and suddenly it sounds pretty familiar:

"I have prayed for the Holy Spirit to free me from my lust, and I am still addicted to pornography." Or, "I have prayer for years to be able to forgive my dad, but I am still racked with anger and bitterness thirty years down the road." "I have prayed for years to be free of my gluttony, but despite prayer, spiritually based support groups, and dieting, I am still a compulsive, unhealthy eater." Fill in whatever sin plagues you and suddenly the treadmill illustration doesn't seem so silly. In fact, it seems like those prayers for freedom from that ongoing sin didn't really "work" in much the same way the treadmill didn't help me lose weight.

Receiving freedom and healing in answer to prayer is generally not something that is done to you, a situation in which you are just a passive participant. Occasionally God works this way and simply heals or frees a person outright. He is certainly capable of this. But in my experience, He typically asks us to play an active role in the journey toward wholeness. He doesn't need our help but invites us to participate. Often this journey to freedom takes time, sometimes a very long time. And it takes perseverance. It takes participation on our part. We have to get on the treadmill and run-- merely looking at the workout machine doesn't do a whole lot. (See also Rom. 12:11 "Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord." and 1 Thess. 5:19 "Do not quench the Spirit.")

2 Corinthians 4:7-11

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body."

Yearn

by: Shane and Shane

holy design
this place in time
that i might seek and find my God
my God

Lord i want to yearn for You
i want to burn with passion
over You and only You
Lord i want to yearn

Your joy is mine
yet why am i fine
with all my singing and bringing grain
in light of Him

oh You give life and breath
through Him You give all things
in Him we live and move
that's why i sing

I love this song.

“Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom.”

-C. H. Spurgeon

woot.

"O taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man that takes refuge in Him!"

Psalm 34:8

We are easily pleased

Malawians rejoicing upon receiving Bibles

(Author: Joseph Randall)

My lips will pour forth praise, for you teach me your statutes. My tongue will sing of your word, for all your commandments are right. (Psalm 119:171-172)

When was the last time your lips poured forth praise and your tongue sang because you possess the very words of God in the Scriptures? For me, this kind of joy in God and his Word does not come often enough. I take it for granted that I have multiple copies of the Scriptures at my fingertips every day.

I have a friend, Katie, who serves in Malawi, Africa. She was able to distribute Bibles to a village there, and when they received these Bibles, they ecstatically broke out in thanks, praise, and dance over their new possession of God's Word! See for yourself:



I love the description of God's Word printed in the Gideon Bibles:

THE BIBLE contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable. Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, and practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you.

It is the traveler's map, the pilgrim's staff, the pilot's compass, the soldier's sword, and the Christian's charter. Here Paradise is restored, Heaven opened, and the gates of hell disclosed.

CHRIST is its grand subject, our good the design, and the glory of God its end.

It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet. Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully. It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory, and a river of pleasure. It involves the highest responsibility, will reward the greatest labor, and will condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents.

God's Word is a precious, wonderful gift. May we, like those villagers in Malawi, dance and sing about it and the glorious Christ it reveals to us. May we know it well, hide it in our hearts, and labor to spread its message of our glorious Christ to the nations ... a glorious Christ who mercifully forgives those who repent of taking his Word for granted and trust in him as their most valuable treasure!

The God of the Universe, LOVES ME!?!?! MEEE!!! and YOU!!!!

O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.

Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?

Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with d glory and honor.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Psalm 8

Wholeheartedness

"The difficult part of wholeheartedness is not its mysteriousness. Wholeheartedness isn't complicated. What's difficult is denying our pride." From IHOPU twitter.

You'll Come

You'll Come

Hillsong United

Chains be broken
Lives be healed
Eyes be opened
Christ is revealed

I have decided
I have resolved
To wait upon You Lord
My rock and Redeemer
Shield and reward
I'll wait upon You Lord

As surely as the sun will rise
You'll come to us
Certain as the dawn appears

You'll come
Let Your glory fall as You respond to us
Spirit rain
Flood into our thirsty hearts again
You'll come
You'll come

We are not shaken
We are not moved
We wait upon You Lord
Mighty deliverer
Triumph and truth
We wait upon You Lord

As surely as the sun will rise
You'll come to us
Certain as Your word endures

You'll come
Let Your glory fall as You respond to us
Spirit rain
Flood into our thirsty hearts again
You'll come
You'll come

Chains be broken
Lives be healed
Eyes be opened
Christ is revealed

Revelations 2:2-5

“‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but h have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent."

Francis Chan: "If you can have heaven with no sickness, all your friends and family was there and no Jesus, would you be satisfied?"