Excerpts from The Indwelling Life of Christ, by Major W Ian Thomas, Chapter 9;
The Holy Spirit always exposes the flesh for what it is, and there is nothing more infuriating to the carnally minded Christian than when those who are spiritually discerning remain unimpressed with him i spite of so much self-advertisement.
Consent, therefore, to die to all that you are which does not derive from all that Christ is, and thank Him for His willingness to make it real in your experience.
sometimes I'm not sure what side of that (the first sentence) i'm on...
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
How do I smell?
So the title doesn't seem to be as eloquent as I imagined this post to be when i decided to write 30 seconds ago. However, it is the question that ran through my mind like a scrolling marquee as I read this verse:
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? For we are not like many; peddling the word of God, as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God. 2 Corinthians 3:4
So I've copied this verse down and maybe I shouldn't write anymore, as scripture does speak for itself. But I have often wondered what my aroma leads people to; life or death? There are a few people in my past in particular that I've had to learn to say a prayer for and move on because I know that I wasn't living in a way that would exemplify Christ's values. I cringe at the thought. What about now? I think on the outside I do so so. On the inside sometimes there is this attitude that creeps up like a ugly green monster and before you know it a spiritual battle is raging in my head. Victory is the Lord's as always, but what am I doing to spark the fight in the first place? Is there a spiritual deodorant that works from the inside out? I suppose that I have it already in the Holy Spirit, need to work on the daily yielding....
Verse 17, YES!! I feel like there is this marketing of Jesus going on out there and as my pastor said once, "we don't need to make God look good, He is good". But how will people know that when we are not speaking from sincerity? I know He is bigger than all my shortcomings and greater than my best day. I still get mixed up in that you don't have to do anything but even that takes effort. I just want to live truth and not get bogged down in too many gray areas.
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? For we are not like many; peddling the word of God, as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God. 2 Corinthians 3:4
So I've copied this verse down and maybe I shouldn't write anymore, as scripture does speak for itself. But I have often wondered what my aroma leads people to; life or death? There are a few people in my past in particular that I've had to learn to say a prayer for and move on because I know that I wasn't living in a way that would exemplify Christ's values. I cringe at the thought. What about now? I think on the outside I do so so. On the inside sometimes there is this attitude that creeps up like a ugly green monster and before you know it a spiritual battle is raging in my head. Victory is the Lord's as always, but what am I doing to spark the fight in the first place? Is there a spiritual deodorant that works from the inside out? I suppose that I have it already in the Holy Spirit, need to work on the daily yielding....
Verse 17, YES!! I feel like there is this marketing of Jesus going on out there and as my pastor said once, "we don't need to make God look good, He is good". But how will people know that when we are not speaking from sincerity? I know He is bigger than all my shortcomings and greater than my best day. I still get mixed up in that you don't have to do anything but even that takes effort. I just want to live truth and not get bogged down in too many gray areas.
Monday, August 18, 2008
I'll be somewhere else, doing something else and be filled with something to write, but by the time I get here it's gone, or quickly fading away. I don't like this. And yet I have kids, and other responsibilities and even now I think I'll be writing this in pieces, as my kids are downstairs playing, but that will only last so long. So as I have a moment I'm going to try to get out some of what's been going on in my upstairs region the past week or so.
My last post had the "Cardboard Testimonies" video. I still can't watch it without becoming a bit pheclemped. Mostly I am just humbled by the reminder of how little I recognize the workings of God. Even when I try to think of what my Cardboard Testimony would be my first thought is, "well, really now, what has God done in my life?" This is ridiculous, I know, but I suppose I have always suffered from the comparison complex. I see the big, amazing, in your face testimonies and rarely look in the shadows of what He has done in mine. And He HAS done great things. SO what would my piece of cardboard say....for now it would say, "wanted to jump to the end" flip it, "loving the ride". Even with that I want to add "most of the time" but I suppose that is the point - growth. If I get another tattoo, remind me that I want it to say that (sorry mom :) .
The other night I was thinking about fear. I like to think I'm a no fear type of gal. I've been bungee jumping (which I've learned is not a good thing to tell your life insurance agent), I'd love to sky dive. I have rational fears, like I did get a little naturally freaked on the inside before I went bungee jumping, but I still did it and want to immediately do it again. Still, I was driving home that night and reflecting on my day. I had been horseback riding and it was the first time in at least 6 years. I used to show and ride from ages 9 to 18, so this wasn't completely foreign to me. Still I was slightly nervous. I wasn't afraid of falling of the horse. I was afraid of looking like an idiot. Even more so I was afraid that the person I was with would be able to tell that I didn't want to look like an idiot. As gracious as she was, I'm sure she could tell. Fear of man...grrr. I truly hate it. How many times does the Bible talk about the Lord being on your side, or going before you and whom shall you fear? Tons of times. Enough times that I should know not to fear by now. I should fear nothing but God. At time like this I realize I have no clue how great and mighty our God is, no clue into the concept of eternity.
My last post had the "Cardboard Testimonies" video. I still can't watch it without becoming a bit pheclemped. Mostly I am just humbled by the reminder of how little I recognize the workings of God. Even when I try to think of what my Cardboard Testimony would be my first thought is, "well, really now, what has God done in my life?" This is ridiculous, I know, but I suppose I have always suffered from the comparison complex. I see the big, amazing, in your face testimonies and rarely look in the shadows of what He has done in mine. And He HAS done great things. SO what would my piece of cardboard say....for now it would say, "wanted to jump to the end" flip it, "loving the ride". Even with that I want to add "most of the time" but I suppose that is the point - growth. If I get another tattoo, remind me that I want it to say that (sorry mom :) .
The other night I was thinking about fear. I like to think I'm a no fear type of gal. I've been bungee jumping (which I've learned is not a good thing to tell your life insurance agent), I'd love to sky dive. I have rational fears, like I did get a little naturally freaked on the inside before I went bungee jumping, but I still did it and want to immediately do it again. Still, I was driving home that night and reflecting on my day. I had been horseback riding and it was the first time in at least 6 years. I used to show and ride from ages 9 to 18, so this wasn't completely foreign to me. Still I was slightly nervous. I wasn't afraid of falling of the horse. I was afraid of looking like an idiot. Even more so I was afraid that the person I was with would be able to tell that I didn't want to look like an idiot. As gracious as she was, I'm sure she could tell. Fear of man...grrr. I truly hate it. How many times does the Bible talk about the Lord being on your side, or going before you and whom shall you fear? Tons of times. Enough times that I should know not to fear by now. I should fear nothing but God. At time like this I realize I have no clue how great and mighty our God is, no clue into the concept of eternity.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
bulletin cover July 27th
For some time now I have noticed different stages in my life and have labeled them. The ignorant years were my teens, the stupid years my early twenties, and the most recent stage I like to call "embracing the process of me." This was a time when I was very aware with everything wrong with me and I was so overwhelmed with the though of fixing it all in one day. It took some time, but I have since learned that life is a journey, a process that works much better if you embrace and accept the time that it is going to take. It will take a lifetime. My present stage is learning about humility, what it is and how to live a humble life. The previous lesson taught me that it is not necessarily hanging out all my dirty laundry at once, or beating myself up over the stupid years. I am still learning what it is and I'll take any tips that you feel led to pass on to me. However, God is a faithful teacher and I read something that brought me to a place of humility before God.
I picked up a book I read a couple years ago because the chapters are meaty but short and thus great for quick devotional time of an unorganized mother of three. So let me encourage you to run, don't walk, to your nearest Christian bookstore and purchase The Indwelling Life of Christ: All of Him in All of Me by Major W. Ian Thomas. Each chapter has at least one or more questions for you to linger over and carry with you through your day. Here are the first two questions at the end of Chapter One, Finding God On Earth: "1. What does it fully mean to you that you have been created in God's image and likeness.? 2. What things should logically be expected from someone who is made in God's image and likeness?" The first time I read this I mentally threw the book across the room. I was overwhelmed with my faults and shortcomings and how I was nowhere near to mirroring God's perfect image here on earth. Reading it this time, I had a little more clarity of thought, embraced the process and felt the Lord reminding my to focus on who He is and not what I am not.
Who is God? 1 John 4:16 tells us that God is love. What is love? 1 Corinthians 13 tells us all about love. Allow me to replace the word "love" with "God" and it with "His" or "He".
"God is patient, God is kind and is not jealous; God does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; He does not seek His own, is not provoked, does not take into account of a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes in all things, endures all things. God never fails..."
This is who God is, this is who I am to reflect so others may see. Step one of humility is to take my focus off of myself and put it on God. Have you ever noticed that if you are around a person long enough you start to pick up there habits or mannerisms, good or bad? May I surround myself with the God who is Love and take on His ways.
I picked up a book I read a couple years ago because the chapters are meaty but short and thus great for quick devotional time of an unorganized mother of three. So let me encourage you to run, don't walk, to your nearest Christian bookstore and purchase The Indwelling Life of Christ: All of Him in All of Me by Major W. Ian Thomas. Each chapter has at least one or more questions for you to linger over and carry with you through your day. Here are the first two questions at the end of Chapter One, Finding God On Earth: "1. What does it fully mean to you that you have been created in God's image and likeness.? 2. What things should logically be expected from someone who is made in God's image and likeness?" The first time I read this I mentally threw the book across the room. I was overwhelmed with my faults and shortcomings and how I was nowhere near to mirroring God's perfect image here on earth. Reading it this time, I had a little more clarity of thought, embraced the process and felt the Lord reminding my to focus on who He is and not what I am not.
Who is God? 1 John 4:16 tells us that God is love. What is love? 1 Corinthians 13 tells us all about love. Allow me to replace the word "love" with "God" and it with "His" or "He".
"God is patient, God is kind and is not jealous; God does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; He does not seek His own, is not provoked, does not take into account of a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes in all things, endures all things. God never fails..."
This is who God is, this is who I am to reflect so others may see. Step one of humility is to take my focus off of myself and put it on God. Have you ever noticed that if you are around a person long enough you start to pick up there habits or mannerisms, good or bad? May I surround myself with the God who is Love and take on His ways.
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