Monday, August 27, 2007
Hope
PSALM 16
A Michtam of David.
PRESERVE me, O God, for in You I put my trust.
Psa 16:2
O my soul, you have said to the LORD,
"You are my Lord,
My goodness is nothing apart from You."
Psa 16:3
As for the saints who are on the earth,
"They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight."
Psa 16:4
Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god;
Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer,
Nor take up their names on my lips.
Psa 16:5
O LORD, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You maintain my lot.
Psa 16:6
The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Yes, I have a good inheritance.
Psa 16:7
I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel;
My heart also instructs me in the night seasons.
Psa 16:8
I have set the LORD always before me;
Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.
Psa 16:9
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will rest in hope.
Psa 16:10
For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
Psa 16:11
You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore
Tonight I can't sleep. Maybe its the fact that I never sleep or the fact that I have too much on my mind. So I guess now is a good time to remind myself of a few things.
I have no good thing apart from the Lord. I have no peace, I have no satisfaction, and I have no vision. But the questions must be asked; if all these things are true, why so much confusion? and why so much down time?
Hope, one must have hope. One must wake up each morning with two things in mind. This day is better than the last, and this day will soon be forgotten. I once had someone tell me that God is only eternal in the present, because everything else is past of present. Maybe this is true and maybe its not, but one thing is for certain. I can only abide in the present while moving toward the future and looking at the past.
But hope, hope perceives things in a different way. It springs from the past, through the present, and into the future. Maybe this is why hope does spring eternal, because it's effect is felt before, during, and after its application. Its hope that causes us to move from our past, through our present, and into our future.
Hope, however, must have a basis. And that basis must be Christ. Any other basis for hope falters along the way and isn't capable of reaching without end into the eternal.
So here is what I must remind myself; my hope is not of my own making. It is apart from me. The Lord is my portion and my strength, in Him lies my hope. My circumstances can and will change, but he will bear me through and he will remain my portion.
Now as to the deep questions, there is a reason for confusion, there is a reason for doubt. WE have lost sight of that hope, we've turned our heads along the way. But here is the good thing; He is always more than willing to show me my hope when I turn my eyes on Him.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Psa 18:28
Lord, you have brought light to my life; my God, you light up my darkness.
Psa 18:30
As for God, his way is perfect. All the Lord's promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.
Psa 30:2
O Lord my God, I cried out to you for help, and you restored my health.
psalm 30:11
You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy,
Psa 30:12
that I might sing praises to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever!
Psa 35:27
Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.
Lord, you have brought light to my life; my God, you light up my darkness.
Psa 18:30
As for God, his way is perfect. All the Lord's promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.
Psa 30:2
O Lord my God, I cried out to you for help, and you restored my health.
psalm 30:11
You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy,
Psa 30:12
that I might sing praises to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever!
Psa 35:27
Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.
Conversation
My heart has heard you say, "Come and talk with me." And my heart responds, "Lord, I am coming."
Psalm 27:8
I've been very guilty lately, guilty of not responding to my own heart's desire. Some people like to ring their hands and scream at the heavens; maybe they think if they yell loud enough they'll get an answer. And some of us like to play the stoic; thinking if we sit long enough we'll finally be able to see what's been there all along. But I think the simple truth is this. We are called to conversation, we are asked to speak, and we yearn to listen.
"Come and talk with me." Can you imagine? That is what we are asked to do. We're not asked to climb a mountain, we're not asked to look into a pond, we're not asked to repeat a mantra. All we have to do is talk. He's sworn never to leave us or forsake us. Why not act like it? Why keep pacing around the mountain waiting for it to move?
Answer Him, say as the psalmist, "Lord I am coming." It's just that easy; no bells, no penance, no unanswered questions.
You know I've been severlly neglect lately in having these converstaions. My heart hears him call and my only answer is in a minute. I can list all the excuses; fear, being tired, doubt. But in the end I can't escape Him. He really does love me too much to let me keep going without him. He is the one who swore to keep me and he is the one who carries out his plan for me.
So now I have the decision. My heart hears Him whisper, now it must answer. It must answer and my head has to stay out of the conversation. There is only one way to peace friends and it isn't in doing everything you are supposed to or reaching every goal. It's in knowing your creator and knowing that conversation and intimacy with Christ is the only peace and that He really is our only good thing.
Psalm 27:8
I've been very guilty lately, guilty of not responding to my own heart's desire. Some people like to ring their hands and scream at the heavens; maybe they think if they yell loud enough they'll get an answer. And some of us like to play the stoic; thinking if we sit long enough we'll finally be able to see what's been there all along. But I think the simple truth is this. We are called to conversation, we are asked to speak, and we yearn to listen.
"Come and talk with me." Can you imagine? That is what we are asked to do. We're not asked to climb a mountain, we're not asked to look into a pond, we're not asked to repeat a mantra. All we have to do is talk. He's sworn never to leave us or forsake us. Why not act like it? Why keep pacing around the mountain waiting for it to move?
Answer Him, say as the psalmist, "Lord I am coming." It's just that easy; no bells, no penance, no unanswered questions.
You know I've been severlly neglect lately in having these converstaions. My heart hears him call and my only answer is in a minute. I can list all the excuses; fear, being tired, doubt. But in the end I can't escape Him. He really does love me too much to let me keep going without him. He is the one who swore to keep me and he is the one who carries out his plan for me.
So now I have the decision. My heart hears Him whisper, now it must answer. It must answer and my head has to stay out of the conversation. There is only one way to peace friends and it isn't in doing everything you are supposed to or reaching every goal. It's in knowing your creator and knowing that conversation and intimacy with Christ is the only peace and that He really is our only good thing.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Jhn 14:18"I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
Jhn 14:19"A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also.
Jhn 14:20"At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
Jhn 14:21"He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."
Loneliness is not something anyone should take lightly. In fact I think it's something that should be taken very seriously and rooted out whenever it's found.Relationship, I think that is the most central desire of any human being, more than food, more than sex. The desire to know that not that somebody loves you or all of those wonderful things but to know you are never alone.There is a time for solitude, that is certain. But there is one time God looked down and said, "It's not good.'" And that was when he saw Adam sitting there all alone. He didn't look down and say "He's broke," but it wasn't good to be alone.
But here is the rub. We want, we want and we need other people in our lives and sometimes we want those people so badly that we lay everything about ourselves on an alter built on longing to hear someone say I like you or a love you.And what's worse is so many time we scream out at the one who loves us most that he doesn't love us at all because we can't see his love. But there is a promise we must teach ourselves to cling to, a promise that will pull us out of any depression and make clear any situation no matter how dimly lit.You see people all around you will tell you to go find yourself. Go be your own person, because only when you know you are complete will you ever know how to be with other people. BULL SHIT, I can think of no lonelier or pathetic individual than the one who is completly satisfied with their own company.
Christ told us he would not leave us as orphans. He said he would be our guide, he would be the friend that sticks closer than a brother. Well let's start taking him at his word. Let's start saying Lord I'm not lonely because I know you are with me. I am in you and you are in me and you are in the Father. This is not some new age technique of finding the god within you. No this is taking the savious at his word that when you believe in him he comes and makes a home with you, no matter what state you are in.Christ said He who seeks his life to find it will lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake and the gospel will find it. Now where in there do you see anything about finding yourself and everything being alright?Lose yourself in Him and let him give you the desires of your heart, but don't take my word for it read PSALM 37. He tells you if you delight yourself in him he will give you the desires of your heart.
So stop looking for yourself and what you want, He wants to give it to you.Now don't be lonely he says I won't leave you as orphans, believe him. An orphan doesn't know where he came from or why he came about at all, so stop acting like you are all alone. Take the hand that is reaching to guide you. Stop looking so hard for yourself and look up to all you can and want to be.Your heart wants a relationship that will never end. SO let it have it. The old hymn still rings true, turn your eyes upon Jesus and the things of earth will grow strangely dim. He will give you yourself and show you just who you are and who you are made to be, not just now, but in every time and circumstance you can imagine.
Jhn 14:19"A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also.
Jhn 14:20"At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
Jhn 14:21"He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."
Loneliness is not something anyone should take lightly. In fact I think it's something that should be taken very seriously and rooted out whenever it's found.Relationship, I think that is the most central desire of any human being, more than food, more than sex. The desire to know that not that somebody loves you or all of those wonderful things but to know you are never alone.There is a time for solitude, that is certain. But there is one time God looked down and said, "It's not good.'" And that was when he saw Adam sitting there all alone. He didn't look down and say "He's broke," but it wasn't good to be alone.
But here is the rub. We want, we want and we need other people in our lives and sometimes we want those people so badly that we lay everything about ourselves on an alter built on longing to hear someone say I like you or a love you.And what's worse is so many time we scream out at the one who loves us most that he doesn't love us at all because we can't see his love. But there is a promise we must teach ourselves to cling to, a promise that will pull us out of any depression and make clear any situation no matter how dimly lit.You see people all around you will tell you to go find yourself. Go be your own person, because only when you know you are complete will you ever know how to be with other people. BULL SHIT, I can think of no lonelier or pathetic individual than the one who is completly satisfied with their own company.
Christ told us he would not leave us as orphans. He said he would be our guide, he would be the friend that sticks closer than a brother. Well let's start taking him at his word. Let's start saying Lord I'm not lonely because I know you are with me. I am in you and you are in me and you are in the Father. This is not some new age technique of finding the god within you. No this is taking the savious at his word that when you believe in him he comes and makes a home with you, no matter what state you are in.Christ said He who seeks his life to find it will lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake and the gospel will find it. Now where in there do you see anything about finding yourself and everything being alright?Lose yourself in Him and let him give you the desires of your heart, but don't take my word for it read PSALM 37. He tells you if you delight yourself in him he will give you the desires of your heart.
So stop looking for yourself and what you want, He wants to give it to you.Now don't be lonely he says I won't leave you as orphans, believe him. An orphan doesn't know where he came from or why he came about at all, so stop acting like you are all alone. Take the hand that is reaching to guide you. Stop looking so hard for yourself and look up to all you can and want to be.Your heart wants a relationship that will never end. SO let it have it. The old hymn still rings true, turn your eyes upon Jesus and the things of earth will grow strangely dim. He will give you yourself and show you just who you are and who you are made to be, not just now, but in every time and circumstance you can imagine.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)