9/30/11
a couple songs i've really been enjoying lately (click for link) :)
freedom reigns
unfailing god
hebrews 4-6
I love the words of paul in these chapters...
He starts off by by sharing with us the deep importance of faith.. (4:2)‘we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did.’ but... ‘the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.’
And then something interesting happens... he quotes “god” as saying “so i declared on oath in my anger, they shall never enter my rest”, when if you look at the psalm referenced (psalm95), it’s actually David who is saying this to his people! One of my favorite psalms.. david worships and acknowledges god's greatness by saying “in his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.” Beautiful, no? At the end of the psalm, david is saying how he, for forty years was angry with his people, and he declared the oath referenced in Hebrews. This makes more sense later... When he quotes david again in verse 7 as being a messenger of God saying “today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” This section is about the sabbath, entering God’s rest :) It says just before this that god set a certain day, calling it “to-day”. If “today” you hear his voice, do not harden your heart...
~ to ~
-preposition
... as far as
... in the direction of
... to the limit of
-adverb
... toward a closed position
... toward action or work
Why do we call it ‘today’? Because TOday we move as far as, in the direction of, toward action or work, for his purposes... for his purposes we move. Then we can rest :) But do we first do this, to-day... Realllly?
“let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest...’
‘for the word of god is living and active.’
... it requires you to throw some faith into the pot which may at this moment only contain knowledge of scripture, maybe a more ritualistic approach to ‘religion’ (which even the word gives me a bad taste in my mouth)... it is ‘of no value’ if not combined with faith. (not saying if you lack faith, scripture isnt a good place to find it, learn of it... It is!!) So ask for some.. he will give faithfully what you require :) ... and then find scripture... For when faith is combined, scripture ‘penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges (helps guide too:)) the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.’ ... and it’s all for you to experience.. you, your bible, and the spirit... time to be real :) scripture says the best place to learn is with the word, and the spirit there... Thats it. not in humans (pastors the like..).. they mislead, and retard a person from feeeeling the scripture how the spirit is needing to communicate it to them...
In chapter 5 he talks of jesus, and how God said to him (again quoting psalms) “you are my son; today i have become your father”.. In the psalm quoted, God again is actually saying this to DAVID (this can’t be coincedence).
What i hear is...
... gods saying this to us all :)
and what did jesus do upon hearing this & accepting the gift of being his son (just like we can) 5:7, ‘he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him... and he was heard because of his reverent submission’
We are his sons too. In the psalm that’s referenced there (psalm2:7), god follows his declaration to david of being his father with this... “Ask of me (!!!), and i will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.”
"i'm your father, you know that, right?" -god
If answered yes (with a truuuue heart)...
"ask of me.. it will be given" -god
If answered no... david warns in the same psalm what to expect.. in his day. for us today, maybe?
"therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. serve the lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in 'your' way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment." ... but ... the next (& last) sentence in the psalm is David (a 'blessed') "blessed are all who take refuge in him".. who know him as father.
... we are all His sons & daughters... life (penetrating, spirit ripping life!) is found in the word, only when combined with faith... rest is given through the spirit to those who (to-day) through faith, acknowledge their father... and like solomon did, like david did, like samuel did, even like eli did before him... ask, and it will be given.
I wonder what we will ‘ask’ for, once our spirits have found harmony with His in these ways? it will be given you... :)
blessings :)
Friday, September 30, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Womyn... Solomons demise. (only kidding, kinda...)
9/29/11
Today, the queen of sheba visits solomon, we see into the heart of the king, and finally, witness his demise... women... over 1,000 of them! Buckle up...
1 kings 10-11
Chapter 10 starts out with - upon hearing great rumors of solomon and his great wisdom as well as the many great things he owned (both gifts of the lord as a result of his lovely prayer for a discerning heart) - the queen of sheba coming for a visit.. oh ya, she brought 4.5 tons of gold with her as a gift to the host.. a bottle of wine wasn’t enough? maybe a flower? ha. Anyway, she see’s his wisdom, and says it is twice what the rumors told of... this guy was wiiise! In verse 24 it says "the WHOLE WORLD sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart." Wow... oh, and "all of them who came brought a gift - articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules." These people knew the value of the wisdom which dripped from his lips. Is it really that surprising though? I mean, the one blessing the lord gave specifically to solomon... the one thing he gave him was a new heart! “a wise and discerning heart” to be exact. I can’t imagine how wise he must have been... oh wait, ya I can! He wrote two of my other favorite books in the old testament, Ecclesiastes, and Proverbs! Men... picture the scene.. I like to read Ecclesiastes and imagine solomon, eighty somethin years old, all gray headed just sittin there in what was probably an uncomfortably large leather chair next to a huge fire place... maybe coat made of wolf fur over his shoulders, who knows. Point being, this guy is an oldy sharing his wisdom.. dream mentor... and we learn today the source of that wisdom & how valuable people believed it to be.
It’s important the setup in chapter 10, learning the value of his wisdom, because in the next chapter, what it takes to break through that amount of wisdom is, well, lots of women... like a thousand of em. It says in 11:1 “solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharoh’s daughter (his wife).’ These women were from nations that earlier the lord had specifically told the people of israel, solomon included, “you must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” And this guy, man, its funny even as I type it thinking of this many women, but he had over 700 wives, and 300 concubines! Ha!
So, scripture tells me here (the spirit tells me here...) that it’s not the wives or the concubines that were the issue in and of themselves. It was the potential of them to mislead this man, and turn his heart from his God. In solomon’s case, it wasn’t until he grew old (v4) that they were able to turn his heart to other Gods... his wise and discerning heart was strong. So I want to explore a tangent, but the chapter ends with - because his heart is now turned to other gods in his old age - the lord bringing two adversaries against him, the taking away of his kingdom from his son (but not from him, because of the promise God is keeping with David!), and then his death.
So you have these women... Solomon's reign is being torn... dang.
It’s been a fresh subject. I’ve shared stories with several close friends lately who I share a similar past with. The story is this:
Guy grows deeper in the Spirit... Guy gets good tastes of the love that comes from being near Him... meet amazing woman with a heart for the lord... grow deep together, and "in love" for the first time becomes something that needs not, or cannot be explained (finally)... make plans with this woman... *** ... considering the lords calling on a man and how to treat a woman, eventually break physical boundaries, because "it's natural, comfortable, ___???___"... physical relationship crowds out richness of spiritual & emotional relationship... “we need time...”... relationship ends... comfortable encounters linger... the temptation remains... girl suffers more than guy...
Cool story huh? Ya, maybe if your name is Screwtape... Oh ya, the *** is where him and his minions decide to join the party..
Wormwood and his cohorts have devised a pretty good strategy, no? .. (and this is just one of soo many.. women have a whole other box reserved for them, enticing them away from their creator). I wonder how many young men “they” have pulled this card on and ruined a good thing? And the thing is, it’s not the women’s fault at all... just like solomon, it’s the turning of the heart from god that makes god angry. It’s just the fact of the matter that if we had loved them as christ loved the church (Eph 5:25), they would grow in confidence, in beauty, in nobility... but we fail in loving, in honoring, in being steadfast... which leads to infection... which leads to the eventual victory for wormwood.
Solomon, it took a thousand women. David too, his one slip up was lusting after, sleeping with, killing the husband of, and impregnating a woman.. what, thats it?? ha (scripture tells that he almost had another, but was stopped by a strong, beautiful woman, and so he married her! I’ll tell that one later... lesson learned:)). God took that child.. took it home, to Him... it became sick, and died. David’s response? Worship (my favorite passage on how to mourn/worship well).
Solomon and his wisdom - the same wisdom people would come from all corners of the earth bearing gifts just to get a seat in the audience for - that wisdom was his gift from God, a wise and discerning heart... it's essentially hearing God's wisdom, which is what we seek... and he had it always, and so did others who heard him share. This was given him, and many other beautiful things, because he already had a heart soaked, dripping with affection for his Lord and his prayer revealed this purity.
So, today i pray to learn to love my God in this way, to where the things i desire are pleasing in his eyes, that he may gift me with beautiful things pleasing to him. Let us learn from eachothers experiences, give us wisdom to see in advance the strategies of the great Screwtape, and come to you lord for strength. Lord, keep our hearts turned towards you, so they might grow warm in the fruits of your spirit. Turned towards, but still seperated from... we thank you for the gift of your spirit which is always near, whether or not we realize or accept it (jn1:5).. lead on spirit!
Today, the queen of sheba visits solomon, we see into the heart of the king, and finally, witness his demise... women... over 1,000 of them! Buckle up...
1 kings 10-11
Chapter 10 starts out with - upon hearing great rumors of solomon and his great wisdom as well as the many great things he owned (both gifts of the lord as a result of his lovely prayer for a discerning heart) - the queen of sheba coming for a visit.. oh ya, she brought 4.5 tons of gold with her as a gift to the host.. a bottle of wine wasn’t enough? maybe a flower? ha. Anyway, she see’s his wisdom, and says it is twice what the rumors told of... this guy was wiiise! In verse 24 it says "the WHOLE WORLD sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart." Wow... oh, and "all of them who came brought a gift - articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules." These people knew the value of the wisdom which dripped from his lips. Is it really that surprising though? I mean, the one blessing the lord gave specifically to solomon... the one thing he gave him was a new heart! “a wise and discerning heart” to be exact. I can’t imagine how wise he must have been... oh wait, ya I can! He wrote two of my other favorite books in the old testament, Ecclesiastes, and Proverbs! Men... picture the scene.. I like to read Ecclesiastes and imagine solomon, eighty somethin years old, all gray headed just sittin there in what was probably an uncomfortably large leather chair next to a huge fire place... maybe coat made of wolf fur over his shoulders, who knows. Point being, this guy is an oldy sharing his wisdom.. dream mentor... and we learn today the source of that wisdom & how valuable people believed it to be.
It’s important the setup in chapter 10, learning the value of his wisdom, because in the next chapter, what it takes to break through that amount of wisdom is, well, lots of women... like a thousand of em. It says in 11:1 “solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharoh’s daughter (his wife).’ These women were from nations that earlier the lord had specifically told the people of israel, solomon included, “you must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” And this guy, man, its funny even as I type it thinking of this many women, but he had over 700 wives, and 300 concubines! Ha!
So, scripture tells me here (the spirit tells me here...) that it’s not the wives or the concubines that were the issue in and of themselves. It was the potential of them to mislead this man, and turn his heart from his God. In solomon’s case, it wasn’t until he grew old (v4) that they were able to turn his heart to other Gods... his wise and discerning heart was strong. So I want to explore a tangent, but the chapter ends with - because his heart is now turned to other gods in his old age - the lord bringing two adversaries against him, the taking away of his kingdom from his son (but not from him, because of the promise God is keeping with David!), and then his death.
So you have these women... Solomon's reign is being torn... dang.
It’s been a fresh subject. I’ve shared stories with several close friends lately who I share a similar past with. The story is this:
Guy grows deeper in the Spirit... Guy gets good tastes of the love that comes from being near Him... meet amazing woman with a heart for the lord... grow deep together, and "in love" for the first time becomes something that needs not, or cannot be explained (finally)... make plans with this woman... *** ... considering the lords calling on a man and how to treat a woman, eventually break physical boundaries, because "it's natural, comfortable, ___???___"... physical relationship crowds out richness of spiritual & emotional relationship... “we need time...”... relationship ends... comfortable encounters linger... the temptation remains... girl suffers more than guy...
Cool story huh? Ya, maybe if your name is Screwtape... Oh ya, the *** is where him and his minions decide to join the party..
Wormwood and his cohorts have devised a pretty good strategy, no? .. (and this is just one of soo many.. women have a whole other box reserved for them, enticing them away from their creator). I wonder how many young men “they” have pulled this card on and ruined a good thing? And the thing is, it’s not the women’s fault at all... just like solomon, it’s the turning of the heart from god that makes god angry. It’s just the fact of the matter that if we had loved them as christ loved the church (Eph 5:25), they would grow in confidence, in beauty, in nobility... but we fail in loving, in honoring, in being steadfast... which leads to infection... which leads to the eventual victory for wormwood.
Solomon, it took a thousand women. David too, his one slip up was lusting after, sleeping with, killing the husband of, and impregnating a woman.. what, thats it?? ha (scripture tells that he almost had another, but was stopped by a strong, beautiful woman, and so he married her! I’ll tell that one later... lesson learned:)). God took that child.. took it home, to Him... it became sick, and died. David’s response? Worship (my favorite passage on how to mourn/worship well).
Solomon and his wisdom - the same wisdom people would come from all corners of the earth bearing gifts just to get a seat in the audience for - that wisdom was his gift from God, a wise and discerning heart... it's essentially hearing God's wisdom, which is what we seek... and he had it always, and so did others who heard him share. This was given him, and many other beautiful things, because he already had a heart soaked, dripping with affection for his Lord and his prayer revealed this purity.
So, today i pray to learn to love my God in this way, to where the things i desire are pleasing in his eyes, that he may gift me with beautiful things pleasing to him. Let us learn from eachothers experiences, give us wisdom to see in advance the strategies of the great Screwtape, and come to you lord for strength. Lord, keep our hearts turned towards you, so they might grow warm in the fruits of your spirit. Turned towards, but still seperated from... we thank you for the gift of your spirit which is always near, whether or not we realize or accept it (jn1:5).. lead on spirit!
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Worship & Woes...
9/28/2011
Click for link to the good word!
1 kings 8-9
mt 22-23
In kings, Solomon has just taken the throne, given to him by his dad (not without controversy from a jealous brother of course), David. He has just been met by the Lord in a dream, and when asked what he wanted - anything and it would be given to him - he asked for the gift of a discerning heart, for he was just a ‘little child and does not know how to carry out his duties (v7)’. I hope to come back to this story soon (1kngs3)... so good!!
So here we are, Solomon is king, and is now at work in these chapters to build a temple to the Lord, and a palace for himself. The descriptions of these in chps 6&7 are pretty crazy... but what I read today was of Solomon’s worship, his prayer, his deep understanding of the purpose behind the temple.. “but will god really dwell on earth? the heavens, even the highest heaven cannot contain you. how much less this temple I have built! Yet give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy, O lord my god.” He continues pleading with the lord in verses 8:31-40, asking on behalf of Israel and it’s people (... i read these pleas and see God’s love for us in how he love’s Israel) that the Lord would hear them always, forgive them, and never forsake them.
The lord hears his prayer, and consecrates the temple saying “my eyes and my heart will always be there.” Makes me wonder... where will his feet be, his hands, maybe his mouth... where will these be? Solomon understood this... this was a place of worship, where we seek to see and feel with the eyes and the heart of our lord.. His feet then moving us to touch with his hands and speak with his mouth to those the spirit leads us to...
It doesn’t seem coincidental that today, I too read the seven woes in mt23 (CRAZY scene Jesus saying these things to the pharisees, in front of them.. scary woes for leaders today). In verse 20-22 Jesus talks about swearing by the temple & the alter, and how these are not the dwelling places of God.. so swear by heaven Jesus says, where God’s throne sits! We don’t need a stinking temple (however glorious it may be)! Solomon was fulfilling his father’s promise of building a temple to the lord, and he had a very good head & heart about it’s purpose.. the vision of the lord was clear, and good. Jesus unlocks us from the burden (a burden created by man) of coming to the alter, the temple.. heaven is where God’s throne is.. so like Solomon did in front of all his people immediately after the temple was finished, let us “spread our hands to Heaven” and ask that his eyes, his heart might become our own.. that his discernment, his wisdom, might be our guide..
Click for link to the good word!
1 kings 8-9
mt 22-23
In kings, Solomon has just taken the throne, given to him by his dad (not without controversy from a jealous brother of course), David. He has just been met by the Lord in a dream, and when asked what he wanted - anything and it would be given to him - he asked for the gift of a discerning heart, for he was just a ‘little child and does not know how to carry out his duties (v7)’. I hope to come back to this story soon (1kngs3)... so good!!
So here we are, Solomon is king, and is now at work in these chapters to build a temple to the Lord, and a palace for himself. The descriptions of these in chps 6&7 are pretty crazy... but what I read today was of Solomon’s worship, his prayer, his deep understanding of the purpose behind the temple.. “but will god really dwell on earth? the heavens, even the highest heaven cannot contain you. how much less this temple I have built! Yet give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy, O lord my god.” He continues pleading with the lord in verses 8:31-40, asking on behalf of Israel and it’s people (... i read these pleas and see God’s love for us in how he love’s Israel) that the Lord would hear them always, forgive them, and never forsake them.
The lord hears his prayer, and consecrates the temple saying “my eyes and my heart will always be there.” Makes me wonder... where will his feet be, his hands, maybe his mouth... where will these be? Solomon understood this... this was a place of worship, where we seek to see and feel with the eyes and the heart of our lord.. His feet then moving us to touch with his hands and speak with his mouth to those the spirit leads us to...
It doesn’t seem coincidental that today, I too read the seven woes in mt23 (CRAZY scene Jesus saying these things to the pharisees, in front of them.. scary woes for leaders today). In verse 20-22 Jesus talks about swearing by the temple & the alter, and how these are not the dwelling places of God.. so swear by heaven Jesus says, where God’s throne sits! We don’t need a stinking temple (however glorious it may be)! Solomon was fulfilling his father’s promise of building a temple to the lord, and he had a very good head & heart about it’s purpose.. the vision of the lord was clear, and good. Jesus unlocks us from the burden (a burden created by man) of coming to the alter, the temple.. heaven is where God’s throne is.. so like Solomon did in front of all his people immediately after the temple was finished, let us “spread our hands to Heaven” and ask that his eyes, his heart might become our own.. that his discernment, his wisdom, might be our guide..
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Spiritual Happenings
These days, my misadventures - while they have brought me to such amazing places recently including an incredibly rich time at Malibu for a two week session with dad, a five day san juans sea kayak trip with five quality people (raft guides!), and time before, after and in-between spent here, at our warm little slice of NW heaven pie - seem to be more of the spiritual kind. My journeys through old & new testament seem to be where the greatest ADventures lie these days. Scripture has become alive to me.. its understood - in this stage of life - what craving the good word feels like :) It’s like a looove song... I only say that because the live version of the song “love song” by loggins & messina just came on my pandora and, well... it is! He does want to sing us a love song, to get to know us, to show us the peaceful feeling of His heart... and the feeling a person in love gets in listening to a love song I believe is of the same substance as that of his love wrapping its eternal arms around us... the song is in his scripture, in his promises, in the gift of the holy spirit :)
I feel led to share these spiritual happenings regularly on my blog... and while I know the number of people who will actually follow will be few, it will show itself in my life as a form of spiritual accountability, where if my spiritual ponderings are ‘out in the open’, it will bring light, to lives... mine included :)
I want to commit to three posts a week at first... following my journey through the three sections I have lately been cycling through regularly; the old testament, the gospels, and well, the rest... I just got into 1 Kings, Hebrews, and am almost through Matthew... All are rocking my world!
So I invite you to join me, to seek to understand the mysteries of this world, and the world to come... to learn to be better feelers of the word, growing fruit for those near us in need to pick off and enjoy a big juicy bite of :)
Sinking seeds in rich soil,
luke
I feel led to share these spiritual happenings regularly on my blog... and while I know the number of people who will actually follow will be few, it will show itself in my life as a form of spiritual accountability, where if my spiritual ponderings are ‘out in the open’, it will bring light, to lives... mine included :)
I want to commit to three posts a week at first... following my journey through the three sections I have lately been cycling through regularly; the old testament, the gospels, and well, the rest... I just got into 1 Kings, Hebrews, and am almost through Matthew... All are rocking my world!
So I invite you to join me, to seek to understand the mysteries of this world, and the world to come... to learn to be better feelers of the word, growing fruit for those near us in need to pick off and enjoy a big juicy bite of :)
Sinking seeds in rich soil,
luke
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