Friday, August 10, 2007
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
I want a holistic gospel!
I am being come and more aware of how much we (humans) have sought to mold and control Christianity in the way that we hammer parts of the Bible and tend not to like to look to closely at other parts. I was in a bible study the other day we happened to look at psalm 37 and immediately I saw verse four; 'delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart'. As soon as I saw it I said something like 'well, everyone knows that verse'. And it's true, most Christians you meet can quote that verse to you. But as soon as i said this i wondered 'why?'. Why this verse? And my answer is because even in our Christianity (which is meant be all about love and others and sacrifice and selflessness, even death to self) we are selfish! We want comfort! We want assurance! We want blessings! Don't get me wrong, blessings and assurance from God is good! God tells us in his word that he wants to bless and love on us, he desires that He alone and His word will be our assurance. But his word also tells us that we need to look after the widows and the orphans, that we need to daily pick up our cross, that we need to be holy as God is holy, that if we dont obey God we don't love him, that we are to be slaves to righteousness, that if we dont remain in him we are like a branch that is plucked out and thrown into the fire and burned, that we need to love our enemies, that we need to turn our cheek and let the person who slapped our left cheek slap our right cheek too, and the list goes on.
I want a holistic Gospel!
I want a holistic Gospel!
Sunday, August 5, 2007
The Standard
Jesus set the bar for us. He set the bar, showing us what the standard is that God requires. But church has lowered the standard, men came and bit by bit the strandard has been lowered and lowered until almost anyone can just walk right over the bar, it's that low! Now almost anyone can be a 'Christian' i mean what does it actually mean? That you go to church once a week? that you were baptised? That you said the prayer for salvation at some point in your life? Or does it actually mean that you are a little Christ, that you are imitating Christ, that you are a slave to righteousness? A slave! A slave to righteousness. Slaves don't obey their masters when they feel like it, thats what they do, thay are in continual obedience to their masters.
God never changed the bar. God is never changing. It is men who change and compromise not God. To him the bar is still as high as it ever was and it is his bar and not the worlds that we need to be reaching. After all, it is God and not man who will be judging us on that final day! It seems so easy to be a Christian today but we look in the Bible and it sure didn't seem like a breeze for them! They were stoned to death, shipwrecked, put in prisons, crucified, beaten, given to lions, put in fires, ran out of towns.... It is a sacrifice, it is going against everything that the world is saying is ok, it is seeking to be an imitator of EVERYTHING that Christ was. But today some 'Christians' can't even give up cigarettes for God, never mind give up their lives for God.
God never changed the bar. God is never changing. It is men who change and compromise not God. To him the bar is still as high as it ever was and it is his bar and not the worlds that we need to be reaching. After all, it is God and not man who will be judging us on that final day! It seems so easy to be a Christian today but we look in the Bible and it sure didn't seem like a breeze for them! They were stoned to death, shipwrecked, put in prisons, crucified, beaten, given to lions, put in fires, ran out of towns.... It is a sacrifice, it is going against everything that the world is saying is ok, it is seeking to be an imitator of EVERYTHING that Christ was. But today some 'Christians' can't even give up cigarettes for God, never mind give up their lives for God.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
psalm 63
O God, you are my God,
Lord, you alone are my God and there is no other.You alone are the one I choose to serve and worship, you alone are the one I will seek to please. May my whole life display your glory and cry out that you alone are God, that you alone are the one I follow. May it be obvious that the gods of the world are not the gods of me.
earnestly I seek after you;
May I seek after you, really seek, seek out your way, seek out what is right and not just go along with whatever is presented to me. May I seek you out, even in the darkness, may I remember and cling on to your promises that there is always hope and his name is Jesus and may I seek you out, even in the darkest times. May i not be so overwhelmed that all i see is evil and despair but may I seek you out and find you.
my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you,
May every part of me thirst and long for you Lord. It takes no time at all for people to get physically hungry and thirst. We understand our physical needs so well and we give our body what we need. We feed ourselves three times a day, we make sure people drink lots of water. Yet we know that our earthly body is just temporary, it is the condition of our soul that really matters, it is the condition of our soul that is going to depend on where we spend eternity and yet we feed our body so much and so often starve our spirit, our soul. Lord may we thirst and hunger after you and your righteousness, may we understand how much we need your Word as our food and may be hunger for me, for more of you.
In a dry and weary land where there is no water
Lord whether we are going through hardship and are in a desert, or whether the sun is shining down, may we always thirst after you as if we were in a dry and waery land where there is no water. May we alwatys be aware of our immense need for you.
2 I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.
You are so glorious and poverful and yet you allow us to see you, you allow us to converse with you, to be friends with you! You reveal your power and glory to us and yet we still turn away! We still get distracted by other things! Have mercy on us Lord! May we not be blinded by the enemy and by the god if this age but keep the veil removed from our eyes so that we may see you and your glory and power always!
3 Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.
Your love is better than life. Better is one day in your court than a thousand elsewhere. May my lips glorify you no matter the cost because your love is better than life. Even if it costs me this life here may i choose to glorify you. Help me noe to glorify you no matter what, may i learn to always choose you now, even in the little things. May i choose to share the gospel to people even when I am afraid of the reaction and in this may i declare ;your love is better than life!' I have to be able to do this in the little things for me to be able to do that is the big things- to choose to glorify you even if it costs me my life if that circumstance arises.
4 I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.
5 My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
Yes Lord we are to hunger and thirst but you promises to satify! And you are so much more satify than anything the world can ever offer us! You last, you are eternal, your food, your water will last forever! And your blessings, love and friendship is rich, oh so rich!
6 On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.
You mean more to me that food! You mean more to me than sleep! May you Lord be the one I dream about, dwell on , think about, may you be the one who consumes my mind!
7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.
Yes Lord, you are our help. May I run to you as my help before i run to anything else, may you always be the one than i run to, may i run to you for comfort before i run to firends, may i run to you and your Word for wisdom before i ask other people opinions, may i run to you for guidance and not just go along with pther people. And by doing that may i know the comfort of the shadow of your wings, may i allow you to comfort me, may i allow myself to dwell in the shadow of your wings.
8 My soul clings to you;
I need to cling to you Lord. I want to cling to you, life is big and scary without I aknowledge that i not some big queen than can conquor on my own, i need you, i cling to you, my soul clings to you.
Your right hand upholds me;
The hand that holds the world, the hand that designed the stars, that same hand holds me!
9 They who seek my life will be destroyed; they will go down to the depths of the earth.
10 They will be given over to the sword and become food for jackals.
11 But the king will rejoice in God; all who swear by God's name will praise him, while the mouths of liars will be silenced.
May you never have to silience me but may the words from my mouth be life sweet honey to you, may they be a pleasing fragrance, may they glorify you Lord. Amen.
Lord, you alone are my God and there is no other.You alone are the one I choose to serve and worship, you alone are the one I will seek to please. May my whole life display your glory and cry out that you alone are God, that you alone are the one I follow. May it be obvious that the gods of the world are not the gods of me.
earnestly I seek after you;
May I seek after you, really seek, seek out your way, seek out what is right and not just go along with whatever is presented to me. May I seek you out, even in the darkness, may I remember and cling on to your promises that there is always hope and his name is Jesus and may I seek you out, even in the darkest times. May i not be so overwhelmed that all i see is evil and despair but may I seek you out and find you.
my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you,
May every part of me thirst and long for you Lord. It takes no time at all for people to get physically hungry and thirst. We understand our physical needs so well and we give our body what we need. We feed ourselves three times a day, we make sure people drink lots of water. Yet we know that our earthly body is just temporary, it is the condition of our soul that really matters, it is the condition of our soul that is going to depend on where we spend eternity and yet we feed our body so much and so often starve our spirit, our soul. Lord may we thirst and hunger after you and your righteousness, may we understand how much we need your Word as our food and may be hunger for me, for more of you.
In a dry and weary land where there is no water
Lord whether we are going through hardship and are in a desert, or whether the sun is shining down, may we always thirst after you as if we were in a dry and waery land where there is no water. May we alwatys be aware of our immense need for you.
2 I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.
You are so glorious and poverful and yet you allow us to see you, you allow us to converse with you, to be friends with you! You reveal your power and glory to us and yet we still turn away! We still get distracted by other things! Have mercy on us Lord! May we not be blinded by the enemy and by the god if this age but keep the veil removed from our eyes so that we may see you and your glory and power always!
3 Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.
Your love is better than life. Better is one day in your court than a thousand elsewhere. May my lips glorify you no matter the cost because your love is better than life. Even if it costs me this life here may i choose to glorify you. Help me noe to glorify you no matter what, may i learn to always choose you now, even in the little things. May i choose to share the gospel to people even when I am afraid of the reaction and in this may i declare ;your love is better than life!' I have to be able to do this in the little things for me to be able to do that is the big things- to choose to glorify you even if it costs me my life if that circumstance arises.
4 I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.
5 My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
Yes Lord we are to hunger and thirst but you promises to satify! And you are so much more satify than anything the world can ever offer us! You last, you are eternal, your food, your water will last forever! And your blessings, love and friendship is rich, oh so rich!
6 On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.
You mean more to me that food! You mean more to me than sleep! May you Lord be the one I dream about, dwell on , think about, may you be the one who consumes my mind!
7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.
Yes Lord, you are our help. May I run to you as my help before i run to anything else, may you always be the one than i run to, may i run to you for comfort before i run to firends, may i run to you and your Word for wisdom before i ask other people opinions, may i run to you for guidance and not just go along with pther people. And by doing that may i know the comfort of the shadow of your wings, may i allow you to comfort me, may i allow myself to dwell in the shadow of your wings.
8 My soul clings to you;
I need to cling to you Lord. I want to cling to you, life is big and scary without I aknowledge that i not some big queen than can conquor on my own, i need you, i cling to you, my soul clings to you.
Your right hand upholds me;
The hand that holds the world, the hand that designed the stars, that same hand holds me!
9 They who seek my life will be destroyed; they will go down to the depths of the earth.
10 They will be given over to the sword and become food for jackals.
11 But the king will rejoice in God; all who swear by God's name will praise him, while the mouths of liars will be silenced.
May you never have to silience me but may the words from my mouth be life sweet honey to you, may they be a pleasing fragrance, may they glorify you Lord. Amen.
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