10.26.11
Mark 4:1-20
Continuing my reading from what I posted yesterday, I was fresh on this heart-wave riding through thoughts of family, and the beauty of Goood’s family. Anyway, after this, “jesus began to teach”. His first lesson was the parable of the sower...
Now, if you read this parable (reeead it and let the spirit speak to youuu!) and it’s ending, you learn that the message the spirit is sending through Jesus’ words is intended to be seen as a metaphor for the different environments believers grow up in their faith, and their varied successes/failures with each environment. A beautiful imagery that i've read in the past with this imagery, and its been very helpful...
Today however, I read it differently...
Fresh off the ‘family’ section at the end of chapter three, I read the parable of the sower imagining relationship (man & wife) being the seed thrown to the different environments (path, rocks, thorns, and good soil)... and I saw the different environments those seeds were given to grow as being the families and surrounding influences of that seed. The soil from which a relationship comes together and grows, is of vital importance to that seed’s success in sprouting, revealing it's beauty, growing good fruit, and bringing light, glory to a world of scattered seeds.
It’s especially beautiful reading this after just learning about our family in God... how this community - growing intimately with god fearing people - is where seeds grow well.. in strength to fend off the elements (trials), and in beauty (joy) to attract onlookers who wonder at the contents of your soil... soil to be shared.
I’ve been lucky to have rich soil in my family on earth, what a blessing :) and with the amount of joy iiiii feel for my ‘new family’, I can’t imagine the anticipatory joy of someone whose family here on earth is torn, broken, and in need of good soil... their joy in being a member of a new family, in eternity.
I’m not sure if this sounds in any way judgemental, but for some reason I have the little yellow caution lights going off in my head warning me that I might offend someone... :/
I don’t intend offense. I merely am caught in a place of thanksgiving for the gift of this soil, and hope for all to join that family.
Relationships growing in good soil, with blessings and love coming from both sides... these will from their onset, I believe, grow with less confusion and more LIFE.
Now, in no way is this exclusive... My mimi and papa for example, married now over 50 years, would probably agree they didn’t have the best soil starting out as far as family was concerned... but have you ever seen the most beautiful little wildflower sprout between the cracks in a broad stone (ya?! me too..), and wonder hooooow in the heck it made it through that journey? Well... they are that flower :) they sucked the nutrients out of.. stone.
beautiful...
They are in God’s family... And in that growing out of stone they have sowed good soil for their next of kin. Soil their children, and their children's children get to grow into (how it's designed?). In this soil grows fruits of the spirit, the same spirit which gives life to the soil, bringing life to the seed... those fruits delivering love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness etc... In His family, and in our own, these are the gifts we receive, these fruits. And these fruits we are responsible to grow for others to pick and enjoy, juice dripping off their lips.. bringing life.
Then the two become one, and the soils mix.
Fruit is grown, new seeds now sprouting, life grows. The soil bringing strength to withstand the elements, and beauty to attract others to the life giving soil... the fruit. Pause... and imagine it with me..
Maybe a whole other subject all together, but isn't it funny that plants grow best in manure... shit. Shit brings growth?! Hmm... Extend thaaat metaphor... ha
Without really feeling led to write anymore about this cause I could go on all day... I dive into the morning giving thanks for the soil I was born into, and the gift of the soil offered in our ‘new family’.. offered to all. I get excited about making good soil one day for my own family... growing God’s family... :) blaaaah!
be well friends.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Family ... mine, yours, ours.
10 . 26 . 11
Mark 3
Today, if you read this section, you’ll read through Jesus’ direct defiance of the pharisees... You'll read of Him being crowded out and touched all over by all sorts of diseased folk... His beautiful, spirit soaked appointing of the twelve apostles... Him being accused of having an evil spirit by which he drove out evil spirits, and then Him going on this beautiful rant about spiritual warfare... “whoever blasphemes against the holy spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.” ... I learn from reading this last section the importance of not allowing appearances blind me from experiencing the beauty of a persons spirit within. Lots to say here.. but i move on from these beautiful chunks to focus more on the next...
The end of chapter three was especially sharp for me. It talks about family, and gives us a new family under God. Beautiful, but kinda tough.. mostly beautiful though. Jesus says in response to a question about his mother and brother... “‘who are my mother and my borther?’ he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, ‘here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.’” (3:33) It's interesting he doesn't say father... mt23:9 tells us who Jesus says we are to call 'father'.. in God's family, all other men are brothers, even your earthly father. God is father.
A week or so ago I went to dinner at my uncle’s house to share a meal made by my cousin, enjoyed by all including my aunt and their three beautiful children... my cousins. I would be lying if I said that these familial ties haven’t suffered strain over the years, strain which has caused pain, a lot of pain, on both ends... But I would also be lying if I didn’t acknowledge that it was one of the most enjoyable meals I’ve had in a very long time.
Driving home, I was struck, and brought to a very sad place at the separateness of families these days. Now I won’t go into what I believe the reasons for this degradation to be, (here at least, I would LOOVE to talk about it whenever) but I will share of the condition of my heart that night.
Adrift among the sadness was a beautiful image of what I imagined family to look like in a perfect, loving environment. Now I know some people hate their family members, duh... but imagine this image being free from those ‘things’ that bring pain, a place where the the spirit over all members. A picture that is maybe more realistic when experienced in a dream state, but a picture none the less of a tight knit family, a clan, a loyalty, a nearness... We’ve become distanced. And reader (you), let me tell ya i’m as guilty as any for placing ‘distance’.. :/
So driving along after this dinner, I became really sad. Then I was given hope because in my heart was somewhere buried a rememberance of this scripture... and I saw the beauty of our trueee family, those who do God’s will... those with good spirits... this is our family Jesus says. Our clan. Where we feel warm, invited, understood, welcomed, trusted, and loved... of whom we make warm, invite, seek to understand, feel welcome, trust and love because the spirit of God is in them.
What a gift for me on this drive that this realization came after painting the ideal picture of what God intended family to look like... because then He tells me.. “this ideal family, you have that in me”... “that picture you imagined, luke, in my kingdom, that picture is reality.. on earth as it is in heaven... in my family... my clan”
I think it’s important that those in His family are those who “do God’s will”, and are not simply believers, or even broader... “Christians” (oooohhh).
Those who do God’s will.
Man, the fat sort of rises to the top on this one, no?
Thessalonians lays out what “god’s will” is for all men pretty well... in chapter 4 verses 3-12 (read it here), Paul says that we should live sanctified lives... having control of the spirit over the flesh, being true to our neighbor, not living in passionate lust or webs of deceit... like so many (guilty as charged :/) are guilty of. He calls those who follow God's will to live quiet lives, working with their hands, winning the respect of outsiders and not being dependent on anyone.
Then in chapter 5 he tells us that those living into God’s will will be “joyful always, praying continually; always giving thanks in all circumstances (good and bad).”
Who just popped in your head? I’ve more than a couple friends close to me, from foreign cultures also, who have spirits that fall within this line. Their spirits bring life... their life oozes joy... their joy in faith will be made complete in eternity with their maker.
These verses give us insight into the spirit of our family... “those who do God’s will”, and what we as members of that family are responsible to.
My car ride mostly over at this point, I pulled into my destination with a heart of thanksgiving. Thanks for my beautiful family here on earth despite our separateness, as well as my many brothers sisters, aunts & uncles, moms (not fathers) and grands all over the world whose spirits are ones that in the midst of their diverse cultural background, do the will of God, through earthly suffering, with joy. I’ve felt warm, invited, welcomed, trusted and loved under many roofs... shingled roofs, cardboard roofs, many roofs...
Who doesn’t want to be in this family?
Well... I think thats a good place to wrap er up...
Be well friends.
Mark 3
Today, if you read this section, you’ll read through Jesus’ direct defiance of the pharisees... You'll read of Him being crowded out and touched all over by all sorts of diseased folk... His beautiful, spirit soaked appointing of the twelve apostles... Him being accused of having an evil spirit by which he drove out evil spirits, and then Him going on this beautiful rant about spiritual warfare... “whoever blasphemes against the holy spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.” ... I learn from reading this last section the importance of not allowing appearances blind me from experiencing the beauty of a persons spirit within. Lots to say here.. but i move on from these beautiful chunks to focus more on the next...
The end of chapter three was especially sharp for me. It talks about family, and gives us a new family under God. Beautiful, but kinda tough.. mostly beautiful though. Jesus says in response to a question about his mother and brother... “‘who are my mother and my borther?’ he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, ‘here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.’” (3:33) It's interesting he doesn't say father... mt23:9 tells us who Jesus says we are to call 'father'.. in God's family, all other men are brothers, even your earthly father. God is father.
A week or so ago I went to dinner at my uncle’s house to share a meal made by my cousin, enjoyed by all including my aunt and their three beautiful children... my cousins. I would be lying if I said that these familial ties haven’t suffered strain over the years, strain which has caused pain, a lot of pain, on both ends... But I would also be lying if I didn’t acknowledge that it was one of the most enjoyable meals I’ve had in a very long time.
Driving home, I was struck, and brought to a very sad place at the separateness of families these days. Now I won’t go into what I believe the reasons for this degradation to be, (here at least, I would LOOVE to talk about it whenever) but I will share of the condition of my heart that night.
Adrift among the sadness was a beautiful image of what I imagined family to look like in a perfect, loving environment. Now I know some people hate their family members, duh... but imagine this image being free from those ‘things’ that bring pain, a place where the the spirit over all members. A picture that is maybe more realistic when experienced in a dream state, but a picture none the less of a tight knit family, a clan, a loyalty, a nearness... We’ve become distanced. And reader (you), let me tell ya i’m as guilty as any for placing ‘distance’.. :/
So driving along after this dinner, I became really sad. Then I was given hope because in my heart was somewhere buried a rememberance of this scripture... and I saw the beauty of our trueee family, those who do God’s will... those with good spirits... this is our family Jesus says. Our clan. Where we feel warm, invited, understood, welcomed, trusted, and loved... of whom we make warm, invite, seek to understand, feel welcome, trust and love because the spirit of God is in them.
What a gift for me on this drive that this realization came after painting the ideal picture of what God intended family to look like... because then He tells me.. “this ideal family, you have that in me”... “that picture you imagined, luke, in my kingdom, that picture is reality.. on earth as it is in heaven... in my family... my clan”
I think it’s important that those in His family are those who “do God’s will”, and are not simply believers, or even broader... “Christians” (oooohhh).
Those who do God’s will.
Man, the fat sort of rises to the top on this one, no?
Thessalonians lays out what “god’s will” is for all men pretty well... in chapter 4 verses 3-12 (read it here), Paul says that we should live sanctified lives... having control of the spirit over the flesh, being true to our neighbor, not living in passionate lust or webs of deceit... like so many (guilty as charged :/) are guilty of. He calls those who follow God's will to live quiet lives, working with their hands, winning the respect of outsiders and not being dependent on anyone.
Then in chapter 5 he tells us that those living into God’s will will be “joyful always, praying continually; always giving thanks in all circumstances (good and bad).”
Who just popped in your head? I’ve more than a couple friends close to me, from foreign cultures also, who have spirits that fall within this line. Their spirits bring life... their life oozes joy... their joy in faith will be made complete in eternity with their maker.
These verses give us insight into the spirit of our family... “those who do God’s will”, and what we as members of that family are responsible to.
My car ride mostly over at this point, I pulled into my destination with a heart of thanksgiving. Thanks for my beautiful family here on earth despite our separateness, as well as my many brothers sisters, aunts & uncles, moms (not fathers) and grands all over the world whose spirits are ones that in the midst of their diverse cultural background, do the will of God, through earthly suffering, with joy. I’ve felt warm, invited, welcomed, trusted and loved under many roofs... shingled roofs, cardboard roofs, many roofs...
Who doesn’t want to be in this family?
Well... I think thats a good place to wrap er up...
Be well friends.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Who will be in Heaven..(??)
10 . 25 . 11
Revelation 6-7
Since the first time I ever reeeally read revelation (which was maybe two years ago or so, just months before I left for Haiti) these two chapters have been really difficult for me.
The first five chapters left us nestled into a pretty warm scene... Jesus, the lamb, has just revealed himself walking to the throne surrounded by elders and angels worshiping his greatness... He had just been given the seals to open, and they worshiped in this anticipation of what was to come.
In chapter 6 we have the seals being broken. The first four seals each revealed a horse, each ushered in by one of the four living creatures there with the lamb... each a different color and each with a very different rider on their backs. White, red, black and pale. The description and importance of these horses is beautiful and deep, coming more into play later.
Stay with me...
The fifth seal opened up the voices of the martyrs. Those “slain because of the word of God”. Each was given a white robe, and on this day they were made holy... but they were told to “wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was made complete.” They wait for those living, who will eventually die, “slain because of the word of God.”
Faith. Combine faith. This is a scene we want to understand deeply... we learn who will spend eternity with our God.
The sixth seal brought a great earthquake, the stars fell and the earth was rocked.. The sun turned black, and the moon red. Everyone fled to caves (safe places). After this, a strange thing is done to the earth... Angels are assigned to take the four corners and stretch it, “preventing any wind from blowing on the land or the sea or any tree.” This might seem strange, unless you see the wind as representing the spirit... as it does all throughout scripture.
BUT. Before they began their duty that would rid the earth of the spirit, the seal of the living God came down and said to the angels “do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”
Mmm...
Before John - after hearing the words of the living God - there appeared a "great multitude, that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the lamb.” (7:9) All wearing white robes, they worshiped.
Now, this next part was tough for me...
An elder standing near John during this unfolding of the great multitude wearing white asked him... “these in white, who are they?”
John responded.. “sir, you know.” And the elder did know... he said this..
*soak this in, these are those who will be SEALED.. those that will be with Him in eternity, wearing white*
“These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore ‘they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (7:14-17)
The first time I read this, what I left in the margins was simply “I am too comfortable...” yuuup.
... apparently at that time, like now, it was the simpliest way of packing up such a crazy loaded emotion.
I just read about those who will inhabit heaven... and I would be hard pressed to place myself into any of the descriptions...
Never again will they hunger...
thirst...
be scorched by the sun...
“And God will wipe away every tear...”
Are these things I need freedom from? Should I need freedom from them? Peace in their midst?
This isn’t a section of scripture I’ve found to fit well into my cultural puzzel... The pieces are just different...
I realize now that this book of revelation largely influenced my interest in diving into other puzzle boxes...
My time in Haiti - learning the beauty of those peoples spirits in the midst of such terror, oppression, and lack of basic supplement - was vital for me in understanding the reality behind these verses.
Laced throughout scripture we find the comfortable things of this earth paling when compared to the richness of color offered by the gift of the spirit. I feel a bit pale today...
The less comfortable we are on earth, the more we learn to lean on the spirit... leaning - like maybe doing a wall squat would burn your quads and bring strength - in this way strengthens the bonds with the spirit... trust increasing with increased reliance... trust in an eternity wearing white in His kingdom separate from the pains they felt on earth...
Placing myself in other peoples pain - another puzzle box with very foreign pieces - I was able to learn a sliver of the depth of their trust... their reliance. I also soaked in the depth of our need, right here in my own puzzle box. In different ways we rely, in different ways we are then led... to different boxes maybe? maybe not.
I believe many reading this have experienced something similar to my own... shocking in nature, burning on the tablet of your heart new ideals for life here on earth... and a new hope of the beauty that awaits amidst the struggling.
I still wrestle with this scripture, knowing who will be ‘sealed’, and not feeling worthy. It’s funny, worthy in the kingdom of Heaven are those who here on earth experienced great suffering.. hunger, thirst.. Not really funny actually. :/
I know that today I want to rely on the lord in new ways, leeeaning more on Him and his spirit for guidance, comfort, strength... And if you will lord, bring me again into another box of puzzle pieces that I might be near to those, and grow deep with those who experience daily the plight (or glory?) of hunger, thirst, and scorching heat... those who will be dressed in white one day. Give me a heart soaked in compassion, moving to act in bringing the attributes of heaven to earth.. sharing in peoples pain that I am foreign to... healing and being healed.
A deep struggle of mine, my spirit is anything but settled (i count it a blessing..), I too pray for peace and conviction... Today, I feel a bit sick..
“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” -Jesus (mt2:17)
Revelation 6-7
Since the first time I ever reeeally read revelation (which was maybe two years ago or so, just months before I left for Haiti) these two chapters have been really difficult for me.
The first five chapters left us nestled into a pretty warm scene... Jesus, the lamb, has just revealed himself walking to the throne surrounded by elders and angels worshiping his greatness... He had just been given the seals to open, and they worshiped in this anticipation of what was to come.
In chapter 6 we have the seals being broken. The first four seals each revealed a horse, each ushered in by one of the four living creatures there with the lamb... each a different color and each with a very different rider on their backs. White, red, black and pale. The description and importance of these horses is beautiful and deep, coming more into play later.
Stay with me...
The fifth seal opened up the voices of the martyrs. Those “slain because of the word of God”. Each was given a white robe, and on this day they were made holy... but they were told to “wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was made complete.” They wait for those living, who will eventually die, “slain because of the word of God.”
Faith. Combine faith. This is a scene we want to understand deeply... we learn who will spend eternity with our God.
The sixth seal brought a great earthquake, the stars fell and the earth was rocked.. The sun turned black, and the moon red. Everyone fled to caves (safe places). After this, a strange thing is done to the earth... Angels are assigned to take the four corners and stretch it, “preventing any wind from blowing on the land or the sea or any tree.” This might seem strange, unless you see the wind as representing the spirit... as it does all throughout scripture.
BUT. Before they began their duty that would rid the earth of the spirit, the seal of the living God came down and said to the angels “do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”
Mmm...
Before John - after hearing the words of the living God - there appeared a "great multitude, that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the lamb.” (7:9) All wearing white robes, they worshiped.
Now, this next part was tough for me...
An elder standing near John during this unfolding of the great multitude wearing white asked him... “these in white, who are they?”
John responded.. “sir, you know.” And the elder did know... he said this..
*soak this in, these are those who will be SEALED.. those that will be with Him in eternity, wearing white*
“These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore ‘they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (7:14-17)
The first time I read this, what I left in the margins was simply “I am too comfortable...” yuuup.
... apparently at that time, like now, it was the simpliest way of packing up such a crazy loaded emotion.
I just read about those who will inhabit heaven... and I would be hard pressed to place myself into any of the descriptions...
Never again will they hunger...
thirst...
be scorched by the sun...
“And God will wipe away every tear...”
Are these things I need freedom from? Should I need freedom from them? Peace in their midst?
This isn’t a section of scripture I’ve found to fit well into my cultural puzzel... The pieces are just different...
I realize now that this book of revelation largely influenced my interest in diving into other puzzle boxes...
My time in Haiti - learning the beauty of those peoples spirits in the midst of such terror, oppression, and lack of basic supplement - was vital for me in understanding the reality behind these verses.
Laced throughout scripture we find the comfortable things of this earth paling when compared to the richness of color offered by the gift of the spirit. I feel a bit pale today...
The less comfortable we are on earth, the more we learn to lean on the spirit... leaning - like maybe doing a wall squat would burn your quads and bring strength - in this way strengthens the bonds with the spirit... trust increasing with increased reliance... trust in an eternity wearing white in His kingdom separate from the pains they felt on earth...
Placing myself in other peoples pain - another puzzle box with very foreign pieces - I was able to learn a sliver of the depth of their trust... their reliance. I also soaked in the depth of our need, right here in my own puzzle box. In different ways we rely, in different ways we are then led... to different boxes maybe? maybe not.
I believe many reading this have experienced something similar to my own... shocking in nature, burning on the tablet of your heart new ideals for life here on earth... and a new hope of the beauty that awaits amidst the struggling.
I still wrestle with this scripture, knowing who will be ‘sealed’, and not feeling worthy. It’s funny, worthy in the kingdom of Heaven are those who here on earth experienced great suffering.. hunger, thirst.. Not really funny actually. :/
I know that today I want to rely on the lord in new ways, leeeaning more on Him and his spirit for guidance, comfort, strength... And if you will lord, bring me again into another box of puzzle pieces that I might be near to those, and grow deep with those who experience daily the plight (or glory?) of hunger, thirst, and scorching heat... those who will be dressed in white one day. Give me a heart soaked in compassion, moving to act in bringing the attributes of heaven to earth.. sharing in peoples pain that I am foreign to... healing and being healed.
A deep struggle of mine, my spirit is anything but settled (i count it a blessing..), I too pray for peace and conviction... Today, I feel a bit sick..
“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” -Jesus (mt2:17)
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Diving Into Revelation
10/23/11
Revelation 1-4
Mark 1
This morning I had a beautiful time of worship overlooking my hometown, remembering who I was, my path, the good and the bad... Even the road I drove on to get up to this point had scarring memories that I was forced to confront, and in that time of worship, give to my Savior those things and give thanks for where he has brought me. Good morning... Especially poignant after an evening of journeying back into old habits with old friends... Good morning :)
This morning I read revelations 1-4, and the first chapter of Mark. The spirit came alive in these readings, first in Mark talking about the importance of Jesus being baptized by John... describing the very moment the spirit descended on Him(as a grown man, beginning his ministry), and heaven was torn open!
God then says to him... “you are my son, with you I am well pleased.” So, what happens next? This spirit he was just gifted with, it “sent him out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan.”
Dang.
Before he even began his ministry... he had to spend forty days with Satan! He experienced I believe every form of temptation known to man... he can relate with us in our times of weakness, because he has felt it too... but it is by HIS strength we are given the power to overcome. :)
Having gone through this, he was ready to be moved by the spirit to confront those which he just spent forty days with. The spirits of evil that roam the earth...
The first chapter of Mark you see Jesus confronting evil spirits left and right. It’s crazy how he deals with them though.
An evil spirit spoke out of a man in the tabernacle saying “what do you want with us, Jesus? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are - the Holy One of God!” (24)
So the evil spirits KNEW who Jesus was... what he was there for. And what did jesus do? He would expel them from their carriers, and tell them to “Be quiet!”... “he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.” This is why we ask in Jesus' name... in recognition of His power over the spirits that haunt us. Depression, loneliness, addiction, helplessness.... so many more.
So jumping from here to Revelation was pretty appropriate actually...
John’s vision, while you can very easily pick it apart verse by verse, I chose this time to read it more as a story... a story with a beginning like no other.
So John hears from God, “write these things to these seven churches, and send it to them”.. I could write all day about these seven churches, but for now i’d just encourage you to read the different letters written to each, and soak it in. Jesus speaking to John says to us all after each letter... “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Ask the spirit for this ear to hear what it is telling YOU through these letters to the seven churches. Intense stuff...
After he hears these seven messages from God, heaven opened up to him! He was invited up, and taken up “in the spirit, and there before [him] was a throne in heaven.”
Jesus too had heaven torn for him, and was given that same spirit... remember? Mark 1...
This is what he (John) saw...
“the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God (described in each of the seven letters). Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.”
Can you imagine?!
It then tells us of four creatures that are there by the throne... these creatures I believe representing creation, their job is just to live always in worship to their creator... which it seems they do pretty well.
So God is sitting there in this throne, “His face was like the sun shining in all it’s brilliance.” (1:16)... and He has this scroll in His right hand.
This scroll no one had ever been able to open. The elders, the creatures, angels and all creation had been awaiting. The power of this scroll brought John to “weep, because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside.”
But then steps in the Lion of Judah, the Root of David... Jesus, our saviour who broke the power of sin, to break the seal, and read the scroll.
Jesus comes onto the scene, approaching the throne of God with the appearance of a lamb... a lamb with seven horns and seven eyes, representing the seven spirits of God he had received.
He then took the scroll from God, and everyone fell... the elders, the four living creatures all fell in anticipation and worship for what was about to happen. They praised the lamb and proclaimed his greatness.. they would say “you are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.”
Then came the worship of the tens of thousands upon tens of thousands of angels surrounding the throne, awaiting the opening of the great scroll. The angels worshiped, then came the worship of “every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them.” They worshiped this lamb that would save...
Everyone worshiped!
So, I guess next time we get the first tastes of what the scrolls say. Last time I read these, I was rocked pretty hard...
But today, I am in a very special way thankful for Jesus, the one who showed me life... the one who had the spirit descend on him, spent 40 days experiencing Satan and his tactics so that we could have access to this same spirit which gave Him strength, upon his death. The gift of the spirit, is the gift of life... lets embrace it today, and pray for “ears to hear” what the the spirit is telling us through these scriptures.
Be well friends.
Revelation 1-4
Mark 1
This morning I had a beautiful time of worship overlooking my hometown, remembering who I was, my path, the good and the bad... Even the road I drove on to get up to this point had scarring memories that I was forced to confront, and in that time of worship, give to my Savior those things and give thanks for where he has brought me. Good morning... Especially poignant after an evening of journeying back into old habits with old friends... Good morning :)
This morning I read revelations 1-4, and the first chapter of Mark. The spirit came alive in these readings, first in Mark talking about the importance of Jesus being baptized by John... describing the very moment the spirit descended on Him(as a grown man, beginning his ministry), and heaven was torn open!
God then says to him... “you are my son, with you I am well pleased.” So, what happens next? This spirit he was just gifted with, it “sent him out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan.”
Dang.
Before he even began his ministry... he had to spend forty days with Satan! He experienced I believe every form of temptation known to man... he can relate with us in our times of weakness, because he has felt it too... but it is by HIS strength we are given the power to overcome. :)
Having gone through this, he was ready to be moved by the spirit to confront those which he just spent forty days with. The spirits of evil that roam the earth...
The first chapter of Mark you see Jesus confronting evil spirits left and right. It’s crazy how he deals with them though.
An evil spirit spoke out of a man in the tabernacle saying “what do you want with us, Jesus? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are - the Holy One of God!” (24)
So the evil spirits KNEW who Jesus was... what he was there for. And what did jesus do? He would expel them from their carriers, and tell them to “Be quiet!”... “he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.” This is why we ask in Jesus' name... in recognition of His power over the spirits that haunt us. Depression, loneliness, addiction, helplessness.... so many more.
So jumping from here to Revelation was pretty appropriate actually...
John’s vision, while you can very easily pick it apart verse by verse, I chose this time to read it more as a story... a story with a beginning like no other.
So John hears from God, “write these things to these seven churches, and send it to them”.. I could write all day about these seven churches, but for now i’d just encourage you to read the different letters written to each, and soak it in. Jesus speaking to John says to us all after each letter... “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Ask the spirit for this ear to hear what it is telling YOU through these letters to the seven churches. Intense stuff...
After he hears these seven messages from God, heaven opened up to him! He was invited up, and taken up “in the spirit, and there before [him] was a throne in heaven.”
Jesus too had heaven torn for him, and was given that same spirit... remember? Mark 1...
This is what he (John) saw...
“the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God (described in each of the seven letters). Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.”
Can you imagine?!
It then tells us of four creatures that are there by the throne... these creatures I believe representing creation, their job is just to live always in worship to their creator... which it seems they do pretty well.
So God is sitting there in this throne, “His face was like the sun shining in all it’s brilliance.” (1:16)... and He has this scroll in His right hand.
This scroll no one had ever been able to open. The elders, the creatures, angels and all creation had been awaiting. The power of this scroll brought John to “weep, because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside.”
But then steps in the Lion of Judah, the Root of David... Jesus, our saviour who broke the power of sin, to break the seal, and read the scroll.
Jesus comes onto the scene, approaching the throne of God with the appearance of a lamb... a lamb with seven horns and seven eyes, representing the seven spirits of God he had received.
He then took the scroll from God, and everyone fell... the elders, the four living creatures all fell in anticipation and worship for what was about to happen. They praised the lamb and proclaimed his greatness.. they would say “you are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.”
Then came the worship of the tens of thousands upon tens of thousands of angels surrounding the throne, awaiting the opening of the great scroll. The angels worshiped, then came the worship of “every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them.” They worshiped this lamb that would save...
Everyone worshiped!
So, I guess next time we get the first tastes of what the scrolls say. Last time I read these, I was rocked pretty hard...
But today, I am in a very special way thankful for Jesus, the one who showed me life... the one who had the spirit descend on him, spent 40 days experiencing Satan and his tactics so that we could have access to this same spirit which gave Him strength, upon his death. The gift of the spirit, is the gift of life... lets embrace it today, and pray for “ears to hear” what the the spirit is telling us through these scriptures.
Be well friends.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
A cloudy day...
10 . 19 . 11
Link to song I mention at the end...
Today (which was actually yesterday) I found myself wandering aimly (opposite of aimlessly?) near the waterfront of Seattle... my beautiful city :) After checking out the seattle art museum, I returned to pikes place for a second day in a row after yesterday meeting some lovely farmers... farmers of all sorts of things from bees, to lavender, and everything in-between. I came back to talk more with a few of them, their personalities magnetic to mine, and mine to theirs. What beautiful spirits these people have, living well and in a responsible way. I then wandered down to the piers, making my way eventually to the olympic statue park... and here I sit.
It’s quite a bit more cloudy than it was yesterday, and the beauty comes delivered in shades of gray :) Every once in a while, the sun makes it’s way through a sliver between clouds and reveals itself in the most glorious way, a ray of BEAMing sunshine making way to the water, illuminating just that section. You’ve all observed this at one point i’m sure. Sometimes that clearing is made between you and the sun, and the ‘beam’ finds it’s way directly into your eyes.
Stick with me...
Sometimes you'll see two beams blast down right near one another, their closeness bringing a brighter 'bright' than might seem possible.. 1+1=3. Sometimes too, off as far as the eye can stretch along the horizon, great amounts of light make their way through, illuminating whole regions, and it's impossible not to stare at it and wonder what that region might be seeing, what glorious Light are they soaking in.
2 of 3 phenomena pictured below... the third is just a treat for your eyes.
Todays beauty just doesn't compare with yesterdays. Not a cloud in the sky yesterday, the colors beaming off mount rainier and the olympic range's lightly dusted peaks, will not soon be forgotten. The gray today was weighty, but then those beams came... and the spirit spoke.
In my opinion, it saddens me to feel that we live in a very ‘cloudy’ world... The colors aren’t as vibrant as they’re meant to appear, the many colors of the sky are blocked by a thick layer of... blah.
But then comes the gift of the beams... Seeing evidence of light, illuminating in the most brilliant way something or someone who has found access to His light. I see those beams often in people, they reveal the light in the way they live... In relationships where two spirit soaked people come together in holy union... I see it in healthy organizations that do good sustainable work helping people. This light - the light that lives behind the clouds and longs to reveal himself to us all - is seen through the clouds with the knowledge in scripture and faith in days to come without clouds. If we can have faith to see through the clouds - the distractions of the world - we can see his light... we can BE his light to those who might just be observing from a bench in a park. :)
So sitting now beneath the clouds, I sit with the knowledge of the beauty that lies just behind them. Having just sat here yesterday, I can remember in great detail the beauty... And in a world of clouds, I pray to live in the knowledge of that beauty, being a beam of light, giving hope to those living with the weight of the clouds on their shoulders. :)
I have a new excitement for the many cloudy seattle days to come... Be well friends. If you've made it all this way, click the link at the top of the page to hear a beautiful song that sings of what I wrote about. An easy one to worship to...
"the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God... we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." 1thess4:16
Link to song I mention at the end...
Today (which was actually yesterday) I found myself wandering aimly (opposite of aimlessly?) near the waterfront of Seattle... my beautiful city :) After checking out the seattle art museum, I returned to pikes place for a second day in a row after yesterday meeting some lovely farmers... farmers of all sorts of things from bees, to lavender, and everything in-between. I came back to talk more with a few of them, their personalities magnetic to mine, and mine to theirs. What beautiful spirits these people have, living well and in a responsible way. I then wandered down to the piers, making my way eventually to the olympic statue park... and here I sit.
It’s quite a bit more cloudy than it was yesterday, and the beauty comes delivered in shades of gray :) Every once in a while, the sun makes it’s way through a sliver between clouds and reveals itself in the most glorious way, a ray of BEAMing sunshine making way to the water, illuminating just that section. You’ve all observed this at one point i’m sure. Sometimes that clearing is made between you and the sun, and the ‘beam’ finds it’s way directly into your eyes.
Stick with me...
Sometimes you'll see two beams blast down right near one another, their closeness bringing a brighter 'bright' than might seem possible.. 1+1=3. Sometimes too, off as far as the eye can stretch along the horizon, great amounts of light make their way through, illuminating whole regions, and it's impossible not to stare at it and wonder what that region might be seeing, what glorious Light are they soaking in.
2 of 3 phenomena pictured below... the third is just a treat for your eyes.
Todays beauty just doesn't compare with yesterdays. Not a cloud in the sky yesterday, the colors beaming off mount rainier and the olympic range's lightly dusted peaks, will not soon be forgotten. The gray today was weighty, but then those beams came... and the spirit spoke.
In my opinion, it saddens me to feel that we live in a very ‘cloudy’ world... The colors aren’t as vibrant as they’re meant to appear, the many colors of the sky are blocked by a thick layer of... blah.
But then comes the gift of the beams... Seeing evidence of light, illuminating in the most brilliant way something or someone who has found access to His light. I see those beams often in people, they reveal the light in the way they live... In relationships where two spirit soaked people come together in holy union... I see it in healthy organizations that do good sustainable work helping people. This light - the light that lives behind the clouds and longs to reveal himself to us all - is seen through the clouds with the knowledge in scripture and faith in days to come without clouds. If we can have faith to see through the clouds - the distractions of the world - we can see his light... we can BE his light to those who might just be observing from a bench in a park. :)
So sitting now beneath the clouds, I sit with the knowledge of the beauty that lies just behind them. Having just sat here yesterday, I can remember in great detail the beauty... And in a world of clouds, I pray to live in the knowledge of that beauty, being a beam of light, giving hope to those living with the weight of the clouds on their shoulders. :)
I have a new excitement for the many cloudy seattle days to come... Be well friends. If you've made it all this way, click the link at the top of the page to hear a beautiful song that sings of what I wrote about. An easy one to worship to...
"the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God... we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." 1thess4:16
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
John 14 - "You may ask... I will do it"
10/19/11
John 14
I sidestepped today from my regular reading. Reason? I was sitting on a friends porch, enjoying so many good things, and decided to flip to a random place, so I found John 14 which at it’s heading reads “Jesus comforts his disciples.”
I got soo excited seeing this, as any follower of Jesus should, because we are his disciples too, and any comfort from Jesus is gold. So i read...
He comforts them in several ways.. first he tells them about their own special room that is being prepared for them in heaven.. and that He, Jesus, is preparing that room and would soon come back and take them there...
We all have a room being prepared for us, and Jesus wants us to understand what He does, so that we can seeeeee and feeeeel the glory of this ‘room’. (pleeeease expand your thinking to see it as not a room how we might understand it on earth... challenge yourself).
He does this by painting a beautiful image of the relationship between himself, God, and them.. us, his disciples. He says ‘if you have seen the father, you have seen me.’... then ‘don’t you believe that i am in the father, and the father is in me?’
Wait.. so, the father and him are one being? These words jesus speaks, he says “the words i say to you are not just my own. rather, it is the father, living in me, who is doing his worlk.”
That must be such a warm feeling, knowing at the level Jesus understood, that every word that came out of his mouth was of his father for His purposes.. beautiful.
Well.. Jesus says to us.. “anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the son may bring glory to the Father... ask for anything, and I will do it.” (sooo many thoughts on this verse, no room to go into it, email if you wanna know).
Jesus said this... do we believe in Him enough (seriously..) to reeeeally believe this? We can do what He does? We need to...
He then tells us by what means we will be able to do these things.. “the Spirit of truth”. This Spirit, Jesus says “the world cannot accept, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you will know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”
What a gift. :)
**sidenote.. fun song to listen to while reading this chapter**
So, this spirit.. it might lead us to some difficult truths. It’s important to realize this because a person soaked in this spirit of truth, will realize the truth in Jesus’ words because what they “ask” for in his name, are things that the “world cannot accept.” Things that bring glory to His name, things that He cares about... and that is why scripture is so important... learning the things that God wants for us, and learning the life of Jesus... the things He cares about.
“Peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.” (v27)
Jesus says that on that day you accept the spirit, you will realize that “I (jesus) am in my father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”
The painting gains depth with that verse, because not only does he paint the relationship between him and his father, but now weee, his disciples, are included in that picture.
We in Jesus, Jesus in us (through the spirit)... all in God :)
One organism... all with access to the beautiful gift of His spirit, who will ‘teach us all things and will remind us of everything Jesus said to us.’ (v26).
After painting this beautiful picture of the rooms, and the interconnected relationship between them, God, the spirit and Jesus... He reminds them that he will be leaving them, and he says basically “Guys.. Be HAPPY for me! I get to go be with my Father, live in GLORY, seperate from the pains of this world, preparing a place for YOU! I’m telling you this guys, with this joy, so that you’ll belieeeve, so you’ll remember me and believe, and share with the world of how their room is being prepared too. Show them my spirit.. for I’m not leaving youuu, just this world.” :) (28-29)
The end of the chapter comes with a warning to his disciples... so now that we’re comforted, here’s the warning.
“the prince of this world (satan) is coming. He has no hold on me, but the world must learn that I love the Father..." - Jesus... us too?
He had no hold on Jesus, the ‘prince of this world’. Jesus understood his place in his Father, and was protected.
Accepting Jesus to live inside of us, having faith in His saving power, gives us this protection too!! It’s those moments of turning our hearts from that most beautiful painting - that beautiful place of knowing our place in Jesus, in God - that we allow the prince of this world a connection with us in sometimes the most unnoticeable ways. Rather, let the prince of peace rule, giving peace in all situations, even the most dire... peace rules... because the spirit lives.
So today “let us draw near to god with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith... let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” (heb10:22-25)
:)
I was hoping this morning to write about the book of Daniel instead of this. I just read it a few days ago, and if assurance of this ‘peace’ jesus talks about is what you might be needing today... read the first half of that book. Daniel sleeps with lions who were meant to eat him, because he saw himself in that beautiful painting, comforted and protected by God. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.. these dudes walked peacefully into a furnace. No burns.. in fact it says there was a fourth in the furnace with them. I think it was Jesus comforting them... they felt no pain, and the prince of peace ruled. That same power wants to dwell in our hearts, the spirit of truth, bringing peace and guidance to overcome the lions and fires we house internally... Read it.. I hope to write more soon on it.
Be well friends.
John 14
I sidestepped today from my regular reading. Reason? I was sitting on a friends porch, enjoying so many good things, and decided to flip to a random place, so I found John 14 which at it’s heading reads “Jesus comforts his disciples.”
I got soo excited seeing this, as any follower of Jesus should, because we are his disciples too, and any comfort from Jesus is gold. So i read...
He comforts them in several ways.. first he tells them about their own special room that is being prepared for them in heaven.. and that He, Jesus, is preparing that room and would soon come back and take them there...
We all have a room being prepared for us, and Jesus wants us to understand what He does, so that we can seeeeee and feeeeel the glory of this ‘room’. (pleeeease expand your thinking to see it as not a room how we might understand it on earth... challenge yourself).
He does this by painting a beautiful image of the relationship between himself, God, and them.. us, his disciples. He says ‘if you have seen the father, you have seen me.’... then ‘don’t you believe that i am in the father, and the father is in me?’
Wait.. so, the father and him are one being? These words jesus speaks, he says “the words i say to you are not just my own. rather, it is the father, living in me, who is doing his worlk.”
That must be such a warm feeling, knowing at the level Jesus understood, that every word that came out of his mouth was of his father for His purposes.. beautiful.
Well.. Jesus says to us.. “anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the son may bring glory to the Father... ask for anything, and I will do it.” (sooo many thoughts on this verse, no room to go into it, email if you wanna know).
Jesus said this... do we believe in Him enough (seriously..) to reeeeally believe this? We can do what He does? We need to...
He then tells us by what means we will be able to do these things.. “the Spirit of truth”. This Spirit, Jesus says “the world cannot accept, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you will know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”
What a gift. :)
**sidenote.. fun song to listen to while reading this chapter**
So, this spirit.. it might lead us to some difficult truths. It’s important to realize this because a person soaked in this spirit of truth, will realize the truth in Jesus’ words because what they “ask” for in his name, are things that the “world cannot accept.” Things that bring glory to His name, things that He cares about... and that is why scripture is so important... learning the things that God wants for us, and learning the life of Jesus... the things He cares about.
“Peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.” (v27)
Jesus says that on that day you accept the spirit, you will realize that “I (jesus) am in my father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”
The painting gains depth with that verse, because not only does he paint the relationship between him and his father, but now weee, his disciples, are included in that picture.
We in Jesus, Jesus in us (through the spirit)... all in God :)
One organism... all with access to the beautiful gift of His spirit, who will ‘teach us all things and will remind us of everything Jesus said to us.’ (v26).
After painting this beautiful picture of the rooms, and the interconnected relationship between them, God, the spirit and Jesus... He reminds them that he will be leaving them, and he says basically “Guys.. Be HAPPY for me! I get to go be with my Father, live in GLORY, seperate from the pains of this world, preparing a place for YOU! I’m telling you this guys, with this joy, so that you’ll belieeeve, so you’ll remember me and believe, and share with the world of how their room is being prepared too. Show them my spirit.. for I’m not leaving youuu, just this world.” :) (28-29)
The end of the chapter comes with a warning to his disciples... so now that we’re comforted, here’s the warning.
“the prince of this world (satan) is coming. He has no hold on me, but the world must learn that I love the Father..." - Jesus... us too?
He had no hold on Jesus, the ‘prince of this world’. Jesus understood his place in his Father, and was protected.
Accepting Jesus to live inside of us, having faith in His saving power, gives us this protection too!! It’s those moments of turning our hearts from that most beautiful painting - that beautiful place of knowing our place in Jesus, in God - that we allow the prince of this world a connection with us in sometimes the most unnoticeable ways. Rather, let the prince of peace rule, giving peace in all situations, even the most dire... peace rules... because the spirit lives.
So today “let us draw near to god with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith... let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” (heb10:22-25)
:)
I was hoping this morning to write about the book of Daniel instead of this. I just read it a few days ago, and if assurance of this ‘peace’ jesus talks about is what you might be needing today... read the first half of that book. Daniel sleeps with lions who were meant to eat him, because he saw himself in that beautiful painting, comforted and protected by God. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.. these dudes walked peacefully into a furnace. No burns.. in fact it says there was a fourth in the furnace with them. I think it was Jesus comforting them... they felt no pain, and the prince of peace ruled. That same power wants to dwell in our hearts, the spirit of truth, bringing peace and guidance to overcome the lions and fires we house internally... Read it.. I hope to write more soon on it.
Be well friends.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Hebrews 11 :: Faith cookies ::
10/15/11
Hebrews 11
Psalm 104
What a gift of a chapter after paul ended chapter ten the way he did, encouraging us to ‘remember’ the early days after receiving the light... an encouragement to be fresh in the spirit.
Well today, chapter 11 hammers home the importance of faith being a part of this mixture of goodness. I like to imagine a big bowl of cookies, cookies we’re going to give to our God, our daddy someday... Some ingredients are more out of reach than others. He is tall enough to, so if you need something, you just ask him to get it for you... or he might send a messenger of his :) Among ingredients such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness & self-control (gal5)... faith stands out throughout scripture as sort of the baking powder equivelant. The one that sits a little higher up, just out of reach sometimes, and... “dammit why can’t i just have faith!” .. i’ve been there...
... ask the good man to send his messenger “the spirit.. wind”, to get it for you...
Just a pinch, and all the other ingredients take shape...
11:1 “now faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see.”
By faith we believe in the gift of the holy spirit...
Scripture uses the wind to help us understand the spirit... which is why I now love a good windy day, or even just a short breeze.. it’s a reminder to me of the presence of the spirit, that which I can feel, hear, and be sure of it’s presence without seeing it.. although through its movement of things (leaves, smoke, wheat field, ocean), you see it’s power, it’s grace. Through it and it’s movement, we’re made certain of what we cannot see, and given hope because of it’s presence :)
Paul, after laying out what faith is, and after encouaging us to ‘remember’, spends the remainder of the chapter (the next 37 verses!), accessing his memory bank of places in scripture where people had great faith, great ingredients, and their cookies grew to a size beyond our ability to comprehend.. because of faith.
“without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him muuuuust believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (v6)
Those next 37 verses, i would encourage you to take the time to read them.. But for a snapshot effect, paul says the words “By faith...” (by my count) 22 times... those words followed by a character pulled from his incredible knowledge of scripture who during their stay on earth displayed unusual amounts of faith... He mentions over 15 examples of people who put a bit more than a pinch in the batch.. each one a beautiful story, written on the tablet of his heart, with him always... scripture was of such value to him, you can feel it in his words here.
Remember chapter 10, paul encouraging us to remember our early days in “the light”... well here paul is offering a huge gift to us, the gift of remembering not only our stories of closeness with god, but those too of the GREAT followers of God... stacking on layers of encouragement. With each story, another pinch of baking powder to the believers heart... faith is powerful, that is what paul is trying to impress upon the reader.
It’s beautiful, paul tells us what these ‘greats’ had in common was that...
“they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had topportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country -- a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” (v13)
If you read my blog a few days back about my friend who had a near death experience, you can maybe understand why this verse is so precious to me. I can understand it, because I can believe it... that 'other place', is real :)
These people paul use in example of great amounts of faith, it says here in Hebrews that they were able to have this faith because they had such a beautiful “hope of what was to come” and were extremely “certain of what they could not see”... maybe they’d gotten a glimpse of that place... heaven.
I love how paul shares that Abraham (v8-10) could wander aimlessly in the promised land (his inheritance) living in tents because he knew his God, he knew where he would spend eternity, and “he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”
Me too brother :)
Thanks for the reminders Paul... thank you for these reminders... there for us in scripture in times where maybe we are hard pressed to remember our own first bites of His good fruit.
So let us join the greats in receiving God’s messenger - the spirit - to help us reach that jar of faith. And by it... “by faith"...
... we watch as things begin to take shape in unexplanable ways... the spirit moves... the wind blows... and we see, feel, and are confident in it’s movement.
Today, I am especially thankful for wind, and baking powder.. reminders of the invisible, yet powerful presence of the spirit, and the importance of faith being in the mixture, as well as the power of just a little bit to raise a whole batch. :) it is us who regulate our faith intake. just a pinch? maybe more? see what happens...
So, I’m gonna go make cookies now.. hahaha.. but seriously people.. chocolate chip?
Psalm 104 is one that when i’ve thrown a pinch of faith in the mix before reading it, it has brought me to such a beautiful place of worship... try it :)
Until next time... :)
Hebrews 11
Psalm 104
What a gift of a chapter after paul ended chapter ten the way he did, encouraging us to ‘remember’ the early days after receiving the light... an encouragement to be fresh in the spirit.
Well today, chapter 11 hammers home the importance of faith being a part of this mixture of goodness. I like to imagine a big bowl of cookies, cookies we’re going to give to our God, our daddy someday... Some ingredients are more out of reach than others. He is tall enough to, so if you need something, you just ask him to get it for you... or he might send a messenger of his :) Among ingredients such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness & self-control (gal5)... faith stands out throughout scripture as sort of the baking powder equivelant. The one that sits a little higher up, just out of reach sometimes, and... “dammit why can’t i just have faith!” .. i’ve been there...
... ask the good man to send his messenger “the spirit.. wind”, to get it for you...
Just a pinch, and all the other ingredients take shape...
11:1 “now faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see.”
By faith we believe in the gift of the holy spirit...
Scripture uses the wind to help us understand the spirit... which is why I now love a good windy day, or even just a short breeze.. it’s a reminder to me of the presence of the spirit, that which I can feel, hear, and be sure of it’s presence without seeing it.. although through its movement of things (leaves, smoke, wheat field, ocean), you see it’s power, it’s grace. Through it and it’s movement, we’re made certain of what we cannot see, and given hope because of it’s presence :)
Paul, after laying out what faith is, and after encouaging us to ‘remember’, spends the remainder of the chapter (the next 37 verses!), accessing his memory bank of places in scripture where people had great faith, great ingredients, and their cookies grew to a size beyond our ability to comprehend.. because of faith.
“without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him muuuuust believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (v6)
Those next 37 verses, i would encourage you to take the time to read them.. But for a snapshot effect, paul says the words “By faith...” (by my count) 22 times... those words followed by a character pulled from his incredible knowledge of scripture who during their stay on earth displayed unusual amounts of faith... He mentions over 15 examples of people who put a bit more than a pinch in the batch.. each one a beautiful story, written on the tablet of his heart, with him always... scripture was of such value to him, you can feel it in his words here.
Remember chapter 10, paul encouraging us to remember our early days in “the light”... well here paul is offering a huge gift to us, the gift of remembering not only our stories of closeness with god, but those too of the GREAT followers of God... stacking on layers of encouragement. With each story, another pinch of baking powder to the believers heart... faith is powerful, that is what paul is trying to impress upon the reader.
It’s beautiful, paul tells us what these ‘greats’ had in common was that...
“they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had topportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country -- a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” (v13)
If you read my blog a few days back about my friend who had a near death experience, you can maybe understand why this verse is so precious to me. I can understand it, because I can believe it... that 'other place', is real :)
These people paul use in example of great amounts of faith, it says here in Hebrews that they were able to have this faith because they had such a beautiful “hope of what was to come” and were extremely “certain of what they could not see”... maybe they’d gotten a glimpse of that place... heaven.
I love how paul shares that Abraham (v8-10) could wander aimlessly in the promised land (his inheritance) living in tents because he knew his God, he knew where he would spend eternity, and “he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”
Me too brother :)
Thanks for the reminders Paul... thank you for these reminders... there for us in scripture in times where maybe we are hard pressed to remember our own first bites of His good fruit.
So let us join the greats in receiving God’s messenger - the spirit - to help us reach that jar of faith. And by it... “by faith"...
... we watch as things begin to take shape in unexplanable ways... the spirit moves... the wind blows... and we see, feel, and are confident in it’s movement.
Today, I am especially thankful for wind, and baking powder.. reminders of the invisible, yet powerful presence of the spirit, and the importance of faith being in the mixture, as well as the power of just a little bit to raise a whole batch. :) it is us who regulate our faith intake. just a pinch? maybe more? see what happens...
So, I’m gonna go make cookies now.. hahaha.. but seriously people.. chocolate chip?
Psalm 104 is one that when i’ve thrown a pinch of faith in the mix before reading it, it has brought me to such a beautiful place of worship... try it :)
Until next time... :)
Friday, October 14, 2011
Hebrews 10 "jesus saves" ... "spirit reigns" ... "remember"
10/14/11
Hebrews 10
Jer 31
Deut 32
The holy spirit was excited to teach me this message today through the book of Hebrews.
Chapter ten starts out with a plea to the audience to understand the importance of Christ’s death, that in his death he eliminated the need for any other sacrifices. Verse 16 quotes scripture from Jeremiah where god is saying “This is the covenant i will make with them after that time, says the lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and i will write them on their minds.” ... what Paul doesnt share are the following verses in Jeremiah.. “I will be their god, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying ‘know the lord,’ because they will all (!!!) know me.”
Gods promise, that someday - upon jesus’ death - we would all gain access to his spirit :)
** we see this all throughout scripture... be wary of the 'teachers'... grow near to spirit... be taught **
Paul then injects confidence into his audience, calling them to persevere at all costs, to ‘draw near to god with a sincere heart in FULL assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.’ (22-25)
He goes on saying basically... “persevere... or...”
Or... then comes the warning to those who have invited the presence of the spirit, who have 'known God'.
:::WARNING:::
~ click to read the warning if you want.. it's kinda long ~
After warning, he challenges those who have continued in their ways after ‘being changed’ by the spirit... he tells them to... “remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering... [those days] you sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting posessions.”
I read this, and I hear paul prying into the readers heart to remember those fresh days after being re-born of the spirit (one of my favorite verses), where heaven was so vivid, and earth with it’s purposes was but a jont on a longer journey through eternity... the days where the spirit was present, challenging your mind, your body, your life... in very good, fresh, abandoned ways.
It’s as if paul is asking us to access our ‘time capsul’ (another brilliant produce Steve.. rip), and remember our first bite of the fruit of life, where the juice was running down our cheeks dripping onto our shirts.. that bite, we ought to remember... that bite we need to remember, to share, to have near to give us...
“... confidence; for it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of god, you will receive what he has promised (35-36)... better and lasting posessions (34).”
Can you remember a different, more spirit filled time of your life?
Pauls final warning in this chapter gives me the chills...
... see, where I am at, verses like this one to come hit me to the core. I feel like I am in a time I will one day need to really “remember”.. a time of deep spiritual understanding, conviction, and great warmth. I wonder how I could ever slide back, all the while knowing in one way or another, it’s inevitable.. slides will happen, but remembering is what is so important! This time, this spiritual assurance running through my veins, it will not be soon forgotten, slides n all...
So this verse is paul at the end of chapter ten quoting god saying... “He who is coming (jesus.. twice) will come and will not delay. But my righteous one (you?) will live by faith. And if he (you?) shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him (you?).”
Paul then assures the reader... “but we (you?) are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.” :)
~cool~
The god I know, I want to please... and the jesus described in verse 8-14 gave me access to his spirit... I will live among his people with faith of things to come... and when the night turns dark with haste bringing suffering, or maybe the fog, which started as just a mist makes difficult my paths to see, I will remember the light that once warmed me to my core, the light that led my spirit to enjoying the fruits of Yours dripping down my cheeks, I will hope to remember each bite, and pray to see that light once again.
The warning doesn’t apply to those who haven’t “received the knowledge of truth...” remember.
The warning by the way, is a warning in exchange for the knowledge and assurance of eternal life with God..!!!.. a warning I wouldn’t trade for my life :) i love this warning... because my spirit tells me i am accountable to it, the same spirit that warms my soul in doing good and dreaming about heaven..
... it’s worth it...
~~ So let’s remember ~~
I get a fun image of believers being asked by curious non-believers about their first days of their journey in the light... what a beautiful flow of spiritual reciprocity where both benefit from the membrance of that ‘first bite.’
So lets share... lets ask... lets remember...
be well friends :)
Hebrews 10
Jer 31
Deut 32
The holy spirit was excited to teach me this message today through the book of Hebrews.
Chapter ten starts out with a plea to the audience to understand the importance of Christ’s death, that in his death he eliminated the need for any other sacrifices. Verse 16 quotes scripture from Jeremiah where god is saying “This is the covenant i will make with them after that time, says the lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and i will write them on their minds.” ... what Paul doesnt share are the following verses in Jeremiah.. “I will be their god, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying ‘know the lord,’ because they will all (!!!) know me.”
Gods promise, that someday - upon jesus’ death - we would all gain access to his spirit :)
** we see this all throughout scripture... be wary of the 'teachers'... grow near to spirit... be taught **
Paul then injects confidence into his audience, calling them to persevere at all costs, to ‘draw near to god with a sincere heart in FULL assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.’ (22-25)
He goes on saying basically... “persevere... or...”
Or... then comes the warning to those who have invited the presence of the spirit, who have 'known God'.
:::WARNING:::
~ click to read the warning if you want.. it's kinda long ~
After warning, he challenges those who have continued in their ways after ‘being changed’ by the spirit... he tells them to... “remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering... [those days] you sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting posessions.”
I read this, and I hear paul prying into the readers heart to remember those fresh days after being re-born of the spirit (one of my favorite verses), where heaven was so vivid, and earth with it’s purposes was but a jont on a longer journey through eternity... the days where the spirit was present, challenging your mind, your body, your life... in very good, fresh, abandoned ways.
It’s as if paul is asking us to access our ‘time capsul’ (another brilliant produce Steve.. rip), and remember our first bite of the fruit of life, where the juice was running down our cheeks dripping onto our shirts.. that bite, we ought to remember... that bite we need to remember, to share, to have near to give us...
“... confidence; for it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of god, you will receive what he has promised (35-36)... better and lasting posessions (34).”
Can you remember a different, more spirit filled time of your life?
Pauls final warning in this chapter gives me the chills...
... see, where I am at, verses like this one to come hit me to the core. I feel like I am in a time I will one day need to really “remember”.. a time of deep spiritual understanding, conviction, and great warmth. I wonder how I could ever slide back, all the while knowing in one way or another, it’s inevitable.. slides will happen, but remembering is what is so important! This time, this spiritual assurance running through my veins, it will not be soon forgotten, slides n all...
So this verse is paul at the end of chapter ten quoting god saying... “He who is coming (jesus.. twice) will come and will not delay. But my righteous one (you?) will live by faith. And if he (you?) shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him (you?).”
Paul then assures the reader... “but we (you?) are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.” :)
~cool~
The god I know, I want to please... and the jesus described in verse 8-14 gave me access to his spirit... I will live among his people with faith of things to come... and when the night turns dark with haste bringing suffering, or maybe the fog, which started as just a mist makes difficult my paths to see, I will remember the light that once warmed me to my core, the light that led my spirit to enjoying the fruits of Yours dripping down my cheeks, I will hope to remember each bite, and pray to see that light once again.
The warning doesn’t apply to those who haven’t “received the knowledge of truth...” remember.
The warning by the way, is a warning in exchange for the knowledge and assurance of eternal life with God..!!!.. a warning I wouldn’t trade for my life :) i love this warning... because my spirit tells me i am accountable to it, the same spirit that warms my soul in doing good and dreaming about heaven..
... it’s worth it...
~~ So let’s remember ~~
I get a fun image of believers being asked by curious non-believers about their first days of their journey in the light... what a beautiful flow of spiritual reciprocity where both benefit from the membrance of that ‘first bite.’
So lets share... lets ask... lets remember...
be well friends :)
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Old testament inspires :) 1 kings 16-19, mt 28
10/12/11
1 kngs 16-19
matt 28
Jumping right into it...
So chapter 16 is basically there to describe a dark time in israel’s history, multiple generations of kings that one after the other got worse and seperate from their God... this is very important later. But reading it, it seems just kind of boring. Ahab is the last king in that line described in 16, and at the end of 16 we meet our man Elijah. The first scene with this dude is him telling the king basically “the next few years, I will be commanding the rain.. so deal with it” haha.. and you can believe his words, if you believe the very next scene (remember, it takes ‘faith’ to hear the spirit in reading scripture.. this story requires it :)) where god tells him to leave there, and go to a brook where he would be fed by ravens... well, he went, and the ravens were waiting with bread and meat! Sweet... If that’s not enough to seal elijah’s trust, i don’t know what would be. The lord sustained him... :)
He leaves the brook, and this next part is just beautiful. The brook dried up “some time later”, and eli (we’ll call him that for short..) went on to meet - just as the lord told him - a widow. I won’t describe it for times sake, but read her words to eli upon their meeting, and how she had nothing, and the lord - as he promised to eli - filled her jars of flour and oil, never making them go empty because of her service to eli... they both enjoyed great benefit from him finding the widow.. who had a young boy (who eli brought back to life and proved his sanction from god to her... lovely). orphans & widows... :)
anyway.. elijah goes on to meet one of the kings respected journeymen (obadiah) who was sent to look for food in the land, there was a famine (i’m realizing now writing this well after reading it how important that is.. he found the answer to the famine on his journey... eli).. he’s described as a ‘devout believer in the lord’. Eli meets him, and their interaction I could write a book about, but for times sake, i move on.. (read it).
Eli’s taken to see the king, who has been looking for eli for years (i’m not certain if he wanted to kill him or not). Eli convinces him that to prove who is lord in israel, they should have a prophecy competition! ha...
So, israel had gotten so messed up that they killed all the lords prophets, only eli remained. But there were to be 450 prophets for Baal (a false god) at this competition...
Stick with me... this is crazy..
In front of israels people, on the mountain of Carmel, they both would slice up a bull, build an alter, and see which god could bring fire and cook the meat.
Well, 1st team up is carmel... and they tried everything, singing, dancing, cutting themselves.. it’s actually a pretty funny scene because elijahs kind of a smart ass, check it out (1kngs18:26-29). “but there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.” their god was false...
Next team... Elijah and his god. Get ready...
His altar he made had 12 stones (12 tribes... very important later.. read on) stacked somehow, then he dug a trench around it..
Three times he told his servants to pour the equivelant of 15 liters over the top of it, wetting it, the wood, the meat, and filling the trench.. Three times... remember that.
He prays to god (beautiful prayer.. 1kngs18:36-37), and the fire is lit. people fell prostrate (haha, funny to imagine a whole city like this, must’ve been a crazy sight god proving himself that way), and worshiped.
Elijah, upon proving himself then had the 450 prophets of ball seized, taken away, and killed... which at first seemed extreme, but after thinking about it i have a different opinion.. wont share for times sake.. ask if interested
moving on...
Elijah now was on a mountain waiting for the rain to come.. (haha i bet he was, he had just promised rain to the king). Anyway, seven times he sends his servant back to the viewpoint to look for a cloud coming.. (Seven times, important later, read on). The seventh time, he sees one.
Eli goes to tell the king, and meets jezebel there who wasn’t happy with him (crazy interaction, read it, i’m movin on..), so eli fled...
He went to the desert, walked tired for a day, and asked the lord to take his life... doubting his calling, saying 'take me lord, I am no better than my ancestors'..
Amidst this doubt & confusion... he woke up to...
... a meal prepared by an angel of the lord :) What a beautiful gift in his time of trouble...
This meal would sustain him for the next 40 days and 40 nights as he wandered through the desert looking for mt horeb (see a pattern?)
After the 40 days, the lord asked him why he was here, “his answer”, and he sent him to the mountain where "the lord was about to pass by"... ??
Now this is crazy... he went to this mountain, and three things happened... read it. summed up...
‘the mtns where eli stood were ripped apart by the wind...
... but the lord was not in the wind
a great earthquake happened...
... but the lord was not in the earthquake
a fire burned everything up...
... but the lord was not in the fire
relate?
Then suddenly, IT ALL STOPPED.
... and eli heard a whisper...
Now, some might interpret that whisper as being from god.. (read it, what do you think?). I think it was of satan, because what it made him do was kinda crazy, pulling his shirt over his face and walking around.. comeon.
Also because after he did that, it says a voice said to him (the voice of god, not a sinister ‘whisper’ that follows the violent wind, earthquake, and fire that ‘the lord was not in’... think about it), ‘what u doin eli?’ - God. haha..
After that, all he had just gone through (forty days & nights traveling the desert, a horrific mountain top experience that ‘the lord was not in’..) his answer is beautiful, and true to his Lord.. click to read.
The lord is happy with him, and sends him back from where he came with the task of anointing two kings (probably important later, but now... elisha :)), and find Elisha, who was to be his successor as prophet.
He found him, and get this... he was in a field plowing it with twelve oxen (12! tribes?!). The scene of him leaving his town to be with elijah is pretty beautiful, if u have time read it (1kngs19:19-21), but i’m movin on..
So, stay with me for how jesus fits in... mth 28, and a talk about #’s..
I saw all these numbers in these chapters (7, 3, 12, 40), and how important those numbers are throughout scripture... off the top of my head I can think of these couple ties... will find more later..
7- creation days... # of times elijah told servant to go back... 7 angels in revelation
12- tribes descended from jacob... stones elijah used... oxen elisha plowed with... jesus’ apostles...
3 - elijah's water pours over alter... jesus’ days dead... # of diseasters brought on elijah.. sooo many more i’m sure
40 - jesus’ days of temptation... moses’ time (40 yrs on mt sinai, 40 yrs in desert)... elijah’s # of days in desert
I’m thinking how to incorporate those numbers (beauuuutiful reminders) into my next tattoo.. :) artists? ideas?
And so now we’ve met elisha... i decided a great name for my boy someday is eli... a combination of two god fearing men who heard his voice with clarity.. elijah & elisha.
I soaked in that section of kings for a bit, then went to read my next chapter in matthew, the last chapter of the book. Get ready...
Jesus came back after three days (in seperation from God.. hell), and appeared to them for forty days...
... so get this, when I was reading matthew, I was like ‘wouldn’t it be great if he was back for 40 days, it would make perfect sense’... I thought this because the other times 40 is referred to in the bible was for times of going into the desert.. Acts 1:3 tells us that jesus was here on earth, giving life after his resurrection, for 40 days.. :)
.. he then went to his disciples ... and to his 11 apostles... originally, 12, before one went sour.
so if you haven’t gotten it by now, the numbers used in these two sections of scripture are blowing my mind..
there are 12 apostles, 12 tribes, one apostle goes corrupt and gives up jesus, israel has gone corrupt, and jesus has come to save and bring life... in glory
The way it happened (happens?) is so important..
... these numbers we will continue to see throughout scripture.. revelation they’re all over the place! and that’s prophecy.. for what is still yet to come.. read it, please. My favorite book...
Matthew ends with the great commission... simply beautiful. If u have time, click :)
So here next time... elisha is being mentored by elijah, and i jump into the first books of mark, also picking through hebrews still...
Rock on! have a blessed, spirit filled day!
:)
1 kngs 16-19
matt 28
Jumping right into it...
So chapter 16 is basically there to describe a dark time in israel’s history, multiple generations of kings that one after the other got worse and seperate from their God... this is very important later. But reading it, it seems just kind of boring. Ahab is the last king in that line described in 16, and at the end of 16 we meet our man Elijah. The first scene with this dude is him telling the king basically “the next few years, I will be commanding the rain.. so deal with it” haha.. and you can believe his words, if you believe the very next scene (remember, it takes ‘faith’ to hear the spirit in reading scripture.. this story requires it :)) where god tells him to leave there, and go to a brook where he would be fed by ravens... well, he went, and the ravens were waiting with bread and meat! Sweet... If that’s not enough to seal elijah’s trust, i don’t know what would be. The lord sustained him... :)
He leaves the brook, and this next part is just beautiful. The brook dried up “some time later”, and eli (we’ll call him that for short..) went on to meet - just as the lord told him - a widow. I won’t describe it for times sake, but read her words to eli upon their meeting, and how she had nothing, and the lord - as he promised to eli - filled her jars of flour and oil, never making them go empty because of her service to eli... they both enjoyed great benefit from him finding the widow.. who had a young boy (who eli brought back to life and proved his sanction from god to her... lovely). orphans & widows... :)
anyway.. elijah goes on to meet one of the kings respected journeymen (obadiah) who was sent to look for food in the land, there was a famine (i’m realizing now writing this well after reading it how important that is.. he found the answer to the famine on his journey... eli).. he’s described as a ‘devout believer in the lord’. Eli meets him, and their interaction I could write a book about, but for times sake, i move on.. (read it).
Eli’s taken to see the king, who has been looking for eli for years (i’m not certain if he wanted to kill him or not). Eli convinces him that to prove who is lord in israel, they should have a prophecy competition! ha...
So, israel had gotten so messed up that they killed all the lords prophets, only eli remained. But there were to be 450 prophets for Baal (a false god) at this competition...
Stick with me... this is crazy..
In front of israels people, on the mountain of Carmel, they both would slice up a bull, build an alter, and see which god could bring fire and cook the meat.
Well, 1st team up is carmel... and they tried everything, singing, dancing, cutting themselves.. it’s actually a pretty funny scene because elijahs kind of a smart ass, check it out (1kngs18:26-29). “but there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.” their god was false...
Next team... Elijah and his god. Get ready...
His altar he made had 12 stones (12 tribes... very important later.. read on) stacked somehow, then he dug a trench around it..
Three times he told his servants to pour the equivelant of 15 liters over the top of it, wetting it, the wood, the meat, and filling the trench.. Three times... remember that.
He prays to god (beautiful prayer.. 1kngs18:36-37), and the fire is lit. people fell prostrate (haha, funny to imagine a whole city like this, must’ve been a crazy sight god proving himself that way), and worshiped.
Elijah, upon proving himself then had the 450 prophets of ball seized, taken away, and killed... which at first seemed extreme, but after thinking about it i have a different opinion.. wont share for times sake.. ask if interested
moving on...
Elijah now was on a mountain waiting for the rain to come.. (haha i bet he was, he had just promised rain to the king). Anyway, seven times he sends his servant back to the viewpoint to look for a cloud coming.. (Seven times, important later, read on). The seventh time, he sees one.
Eli goes to tell the king, and meets jezebel there who wasn’t happy with him (crazy interaction, read it, i’m movin on..), so eli fled...
He went to the desert, walked tired for a day, and asked the lord to take his life... doubting his calling, saying 'take me lord, I am no better than my ancestors'..
Amidst this doubt & confusion... he woke up to...
... a meal prepared by an angel of the lord :) What a beautiful gift in his time of trouble...
This meal would sustain him for the next 40 days and 40 nights as he wandered through the desert looking for mt horeb (see a pattern?)
After the 40 days, the lord asked him why he was here, “his answer”, and he sent him to the mountain where "the lord was about to pass by"... ??
Now this is crazy... he went to this mountain, and three things happened... read it. summed up...
‘the mtns where eli stood were ripped apart by the wind...
... but the lord was not in the wind
a great earthquake happened...
... but the lord was not in the earthquake
a fire burned everything up...
... but the lord was not in the fire
relate?
Then suddenly, IT ALL STOPPED.
... and eli heard a whisper...
Now, some might interpret that whisper as being from god.. (read it, what do you think?). I think it was of satan, because what it made him do was kinda crazy, pulling his shirt over his face and walking around.. comeon.
Also because after he did that, it says a voice said to him (the voice of god, not a sinister ‘whisper’ that follows the violent wind, earthquake, and fire that ‘the lord was not in’... think about it), ‘what u doin eli?’ - God. haha..
After that, all he had just gone through (forty days & nights traveling the desert, a horrific mountain top experience that ‘the lord was not in’..) his answer is beautiful, and true to his Lord.. click to read.
The lord is happy with him, and sends him back from where he came with the task of anointing two kings (probably important later, but now... elisha :)), and find Elisha, who was to be his successor as prophet.
He found him, and get this... he was in a field plowing it with twelve oxen (12! tribes?!). The scene of him leaving his town to be with elijah is pretty beautiful, if u have time read it (1kngs19:19-21), but i’m movin on..
So, stay with me for how jesus fits in... mth 28, and a talk about #’s..
I saw all these numbers in these chapters (7, 3, 12, 40), and how important those numbers are throughout scripture... off the top of my head I can think of these couple ties... will find more later..
7- creation days... # of times elijah told servant to go back... 7 angels in revelation
12- tribes descended from jacob... stones elijah used... oxen elisha plowed with... jesus’ apostles...
3 - elijah's water pours over alter... jesus’ days dead... # of diseasters brought on elijah.. sooo many more i’m sure
40 - jesus’ days of temptation... moses’ time (40 yrs on mt sinai, 40 yrs in desert)... elijah’s # of days in desert
I’m thinking how to incorporate those numbers (beauuuutiful reminders) into my next tattoo.. :) artists? ideas?
And so now we’ve met elisha... i decided a great name for my boy someday is eli... a combination of two god fearing men who heard his voice with clarity.. elijah & elisha.
I soaked in that section of kings for a bit, then went to read my next chapter in matthew, the last chapter of the book. Get ready...
Jesus came back after three days (in seperation from God.. hell), and appeared to them for forty days...
... so get this, when I was reading matthew, I was like ‘wouldn’t it be great if he was back for 40 days, it would make perfect sense’... I thought this because the other times 40 is referred to in the bible was for times of going into the desert.. Acts 1:3 tells us that jesus was here on earth, giving life after his resurrection, for 40 days.. :)
.. he then went to his disciples ... and to his 11 apostles... originally, 12, before one went sour.
so if you haven’t gotten it by now, the numbers used in these two sections of scripture are blowing my mind..
there are 12 apostles, 12 tribes, one apostle goes corrupt and gives up jesus, israel has gone corrupt, and jesus has come to save and bring life... in glory
The way it happened (happens?) is so important..
... these numbers we will continue to see throughout scripture.. revelation they’re all over the place! and that’s prophecy.. for what is still yet to come.. read it, please. My favorite book...
Matthew ends with the great commission... simply beautiful. If u have time, click :)
So here next time... elisha is being mentored by elijah, and i jump into the first books of mark, also picking through hebrews still...
Rock on! have a blessed, spirit filled day!
:)
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
An incredibly inspiring story... Please take time to read :)
10/4/11
Friends,
Let me share with you a story that is a large reason for my recent blogs... it is a deeply inspiring story, and has helped me to see with the eyes of my spirit the glory of God all around me in new ways, and through scripture to ‘feeeeel’ and ‘beeeelieve’ his promises. It is a story that hit home because it is from a friend whose integrity I trust to the core... what a beautiful spirit this woman has :)
As the story goes, my friend Liz six years ago was stricken with a lung condition while training for a marathon coming up on January 9th (is important later..), just 6 or so months away. Anyhow, this lung condition in its exactness was misunderstood by over seventy doctors (wisdom of the world? 1cor3:19). Now liz has a background as a nurse, and so she was able to discipher a lot and find - who she felt confidently - were the right people.
This lung condition landed liz in the hospital sometime late december (I wish I remembered ALL the details, because little bits of glory are found in them.. i hope to at least deliver the large chunks). There came a time late in her stay, that she felt stranger than normal.. it was a sunday. She called her husband and asked he not go church that day.. he of course obliged and instead went to the hospital. She couldn’t explain what it was she was feeling, she just felt strange... and after one doctor trying to prescribe her a pill for anxiety, she - being a nurse - knew better. Finally the right doctor got news of what she was experiencing, and he called that she be moved to the icu, she was crashing.
She crashed. Her lungs failed, and they were to do surgery to try and repair (i forget the exact condition) whatever it was that had caused this crash (a crash landing i guess you could call it?).
Where she landed? In the presence of her creator... :)
She - having had a career in interior design - told me of how her and Jesus walked around designing mansions together... “he breathed mansions luke...” . Same guy who breathed the universe into being i suppose.. :) She said how the word mansions wasn’t enough, that the word just didn’t describe what they were her. The colors, the light... magnificent. She shared how she even made jesus laugh.. her favorite part :) She asked him if they “could build any waterfront houses maybe...” and with a deep belly laugh, he replied “darlin, here we’ve got the endless seas... of course we can” :)))))) I mean... cool.
In this place, time did not exist. She was under the knife and then in a coma for 14 days... there, where she actually was, she describes it as months worth of.. whatever she was doing. I suppose it’s simple though, how could time exist in eternity?
Near the end of her stay there she saw her dad :) He was holding one of the precious gemstones... in his life on earth, he was a jewler. The gemstones are described in revelation.. lovely (in fact, revelation 21-22 is a great place to start in reading.. then believing the beauty that awaits ) Anyway, he at some point said to her “be sure and tell your mother about these stones..” She replied, “well what? I’m not going anywhere.. I’m staying here..” He knew what jesus would later share with her immediately upon her return to her body.. that she was to finish the race. (man, I’m forgetting that part, but how He told her she wasn’t ready to be there just yet is incredible.. i’ll remember soon).
Liz has a happy marriage of over 30 years, four children, and now I believe it is up to eleven grandchildren... AND SHE WANTED TO STAY!
This place... this place she was given the beautiful gift of getting a taste of... this place is where she will be one day.
In the months before learning of her condition, she was in her home listening to a woman preach on how if you really want to know the life of Jesus, you have to ask to know the life of Jesus in his suffering. In her studio that day, she raised her hands and asked to know the life of jesus in his suffering.
She got it alright. A crash landing...
And her life today as well as sooo stinkin many peoples lives have been changed because of her story.. because of her beautiful spirit, because of her heart that drips with passion and love for her creator.. and because of her unique knowledge of whats to come. she’s convinced she only got a taste of what’s to come.. what I would do for a taste of a taste.
She came to, and out of her coma on... January 9th. And while she wasn’t able to run the marathon she was six months earlier determined to run (although after long rehab and many more surgeries, she has now ran two half marathons.. way to go liz!)... the marathon she was about to run was one of a deeper importance, one with lasting determination as her fuel.
I’ve found myself in such states of spiritual euphoria lately... states where I find myself in a new way meaning these words when I say “take me lord.. if i can better serve your kingdom in my death than in my life, take me.. use me.. bring me home!”
And the thing is, a big part of this new ‘condition’ i find myself in is due to this story... and the lips it came from... ones of integrity, truth, and love... good things (great discernment is needed in hearing of a ‘near death’ experience from a stranger..). Hearing this story gave me an injection of something I haven’t yet found the words to describe (i know right.. well it’s that wonderful! and i’m just not convinced there are words for it..). It was as if for a moment or two I snuck into her story, and was filled with what i’m sure is a fraction of the faith she must feel.. her cup overflowing onto (with the aim of the spirit) those who might need it.. when they need it... my cup.
Now it’s been six years since the incident, and I was a bit unsure why I hadn’t yet yeard the story, knowing now after talking to her how freely she’d been sharing with everyone and anyone.. (the lord must’ve given ron her husband an injection of some sort of patience to deal with her ending up hugging, crying with, and sharing her story with randos in home-depot etc... haha.. way to go ron! I wonder what your day will look like :))
I wondered why it’d taken so long to hear of it. Then, i stopped wondering... :)
We had this conversation just monday, and my spirit was in a place to know the answer... it just wasn’t my time to hear it (the story). and a smile came over my face, and out of my heart - with a soft, smooth and lovely, but dense flow - poured thanks. I simply cannot contain myself these days... and it scares me, because my life is forever changing.. it’s as if once you’ve tasted a certain amount of sweetness, you’re always accountable to it.. because if you’re not at least enjoying thaaat, you’re in maybe a darker place just imagining it’s taste and others beyond it..
In ‘heaven’.. liz said that she was constantly smiling so big, that - in her growing understanding of this new world she was in - she was worried her face would begin to hurt.. badly! haha :) Realizing soon, there is no pain in heaven - not of any sort - she smiled on... her heart smiled on too.
It was my time now to hear this story. Maybe it’s yours too. It gave me such energy to dig deep into the word and combine new levels of faith with my new hunger for scripture.. opening my eyes.. my heart... to feel eternity all around me. You read all throughout scripture that what she felt is trueee.. it’s right there! She didn’t want to come back to her 11 gchildren, 4 children, and loving husband of 30 years, because it was THAT GREAT! thats the promise..
This is in scripture... the greatness of eternity. Her story (what a gift!) gave me new faith when reading scripture, and so i believed.. i asked god and it’s been given.. i worship alone through tears with a purity that sometimes finds me wishing i was home with him. I can feel that, and mean it, because of promises all throughout scripture, as well as this womans account. If what I’ve hoped for (and still do..) most in this world - a lovely, god fearing woman to grow old with, loads of children to make a home, a community waaarm, and g’children someday coming out my stinkin ears - pales so greatly in comparison to the vibrant colors in heaven.. then bring me home. :)
If you’ve made it all the way through... I’m glad to have given you the chance to experience - vis-a-vis my words - her time with god :)
Whatever you’re feeling... don’t ignore it... with new faith, explore it.
Thanks for reading :)
Friends,
Let me share with you a story that is a large reason for my recent blogs... it is a deeply inspiring story, and has helped me to see with the eyes of my spirit the glory of God all around me in new ways, and through scripture to ‘feeeeel’ and ‘beeeelieve’ his promises. It is a story that hit home because it is from a friend whose integrity I trust to the core... what a beautiful spirit this woman has :)
As the story goes, my friend Liz six years ago was stricken with a lung condition while training for a marathon coming up on January 9th (is important later..), just 6 or so months away. Anyhow, this lung condition in its exactness was misunderstood by over seventy doctors (wisdom of the world? 1cor3:19). Now liz has a background as a nurse, and so she was able to discipher a lot and find - who she felt confidently - were the right people.
This lung condition landed liz in the hospital sometime late december (I wish I remembered ALL the details, because little bits of glory are found in them.. i hope to at least deliver the large chunks). There came a time late in her stay, that she felt stranger than normal.. it was a sunday. She called her husband and asked he not go church that day.. he of course obliged and instead went to the hospital. She couldn’t explain what it was she was feeling, she just felt strange... and after one doctor trying to prescribe her a pill for anxiety, she - being a nurse - knew better. Finally the right doctor got news of what she was experiencing, and he called that she be moved to the icu, she was crashing.
She crashed. Her lungs failed, and they were to do surgery to try and repair (i forget the exact condition) whatever it was that had caused this crash (a crash landing i guess you could call it?).
Where she landed? In the presence of her creator... :)
She - having had a career in interior design - told me of how her and Jesus walked around designing mansions together... “he breathed mansions luke...” . Same guy who breathed the universe into being i suppose.. :) She said how the word mansions wasn’t enough, that the word just didn’t describe what they were her. The colors, the light... magnificent. She shared how she even made jesus laugh.. her favorite part :) She asked him if they “could build any waterfront houses maybe...” and with a deep belly laugh, he replied “darlin, here we’ve got the endless seas... of course we can” :)))))) I mean... cool.
In this place, time did not exist. She was under the knife and then in a coma for 14 days... there, where she actually was, she describes it as months worth of.. whatever she was doing. I suppose it’s simple though, how could time exist in eternity?
Near the end of her stay there she saw her dad :) He was holding one of the precious gemstones... in his life on earth, he was a jewler. The gemstones are described in revelation.. lovely (in fact, revelation 21-22 is a great place to start in reading.. then believing the beauty that awaits ) Anyway, he at some point said to her “be sure and tell your mother about these stones..” She replied, “well what? I’m not going anywhere.. I’m staying here..” He knew what jesus would later share with her immediately upon her return to her body.. that she was to finish the race. (man, I’m forgetting that part, but how He told her she wasn’t ready to be there just yet is incredible.. i’ll remember soon).
Liz has a happy marriage of over 30 years, four children, and now I believe it is up to eleven grandchildren... AND SHE WANTED TO STAY!
This place... this place she was given the beautiful gift of getting a taste of... this place is where she will be one day.
In the months before learning of her condition, she was in her home listening to a woman preach on how if you really want to know the life of Jesus, you have to ask to know the life of Jesus in his suffering. In her studio that day, she raised her hands and asked to know the life of jesus in his suffering.
She got it alright. A crash landing...
And her life today as well as sooo stinkin many peoples lives have been changed because of her story.. because of her beautiful spirit, because of her heart that drips with passion and love for her creator.. and because of her unique knowledge of whats to come. she’s convinced she only got a taste of what’s to come.. what I would do for a taste of a taste.
She came to, and out of her coma on... January 9th. And while she wasn’t able to run the marathon she was six months earlier determined to run (although after long rehab and many more surgeries, she has now ran two half marathons.. way to go liz!)... the marathon she was about to run was one of a deeper importance, one with lasting determination as her fuel.
I’ve found myself in such states of spiritual euphoria lately... states where I find myself in a new way meaning these words when I say “take me lord.. if i can better serve your kingdom in my death than in my life, take me.. use me.. bring me home!”
And the thing is, a big part of this new ‘condition’ i find myself in is due to this story... and the lips it came from... ones of integrity, truth, and love... good things (great discernment is needed in hearing of a ‘near death’ experience from a stranger..). Hearing this story gave me an injection of something I haven’t yet found the words to describe (i know right.. well it’s that wonderful! and i’m just not convinced there are words for it..). It was as if for a moment or two I snuck into her story, and was filled with what i’m sure is a fraction of the faith she must feel.. her cup overflowing onto (with the aim of the spirit) those who might need it.. when they need it... my cup.
Now it’s been six years since the incident, and I was a bit unsure why I hadn’t yet yeard the story, knowing now after talking to her how freely she’d been sharing with everyone and anyone.. (the lord must’ve given ron her husband an injection of some sort of patience to deal with her ending up hugging, crying with, and sharing her story with randos in home-depot etc... haha.. way to go ron! I wonder what your day will look like :))
I wondered why it’d taken so long to hear of it. Then, i stopped wondering... :)
We had this conversation just monday, and my spirit was in a place to know the answer... it just wasn’t my time to hear it (the story). and a smile came over my face, and out of my heart - with a soft, smooth and lovely, but dense flow - poured thanks. I simply cannot contain myself these days... and it scares me, because my life is forever changing.. it’s as if once you’ve tasted a certain amount of sweetness, you’re always accountable to it.. because if you’re not at least enjoying thaaat, you’re in maybe a darker place just imagining it’s taste and others beyond it..
In ‘heaven’.. liz said that she was constantly smiling so big, that - in her growing understanding of this new world she was in - she was worried her face would begin to hurt.. badly! haha :) Realizing soon, there is no pain in heaven - not of any sort - she smiled on... her heart smiled on too.
It was my time now to hear this story. Maybe it’s yours too. It gave me such energy to dig deep into the word and combine new levels of faith with my new hunger for scripture.. opening my eyes.. my heart... to feel eternity all around me. You read all throughout scripture that what she felt is trueee.. it’s right there! She didn’t want to come back to her 11 gchildren, 4 children, and loving husband of 30 years, because it was THAT GREAT! thats the promise..
This is in scripture... the greatness of eternity. Her story (what a gift!) gave me new faith when reading scripture, and so i believed.. i asked god and it’s been given.. i worship alone through tears with a purity that sometimes finds me wishing i was home with him. I can feel that, and mean it, because of promises all throughout scripture, as well as this womans account. If what I’ve hoped for (and still do..) most in this world - a lovely, god fearing woman to grow old with, loads of children to make a home, a community waaarm, and g’children someday coming out my stinkin ears - pales so greatly in comparison to the vibrant colors in heaven.. then bring me home. :)
If you’ve made it all the way through... I’m glad to have given you the chance to experience - vis-a-vis my words - her time with god :)
Whatever you’re feeling... don’t ignore it... with new faith, explore it.
Thanks for reading :)
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
His last days... & so much more.. mth 26
10/03/2011
The sheep get scattered... Jesus gets 'a portion'... and we all receive the spirit upon his death... :) lets jump in the word
New Mumford song... Love em :)
matthew 26
Isaiah 52-53
Jesus’ final days I read about this morning... and with transformed eyes to see, I felt at the deepest level a new kind of love for my savior (not my Father, or the Spirit.. my Savior). Let me touch on a couple main points I took away, with scattered nuggets in-between, ones good to chew on.. some good fruit for your day..
First, chapter 26 starts out with the ‘chief priests and the elders of the people assembling in the palace of the high priest... plotting to arrest jesus in some sly way and kill him.’
Imagining this scene got me to thinking... ‘had none of these chief priests ever read the description of the ‘great servant’ ... jesus? ... in Isaiah 53?? I wondered how they could be so ignorant of their own texts... (i'm swallowing my words now..)
So I turned there...
The end of 52 and through 53, the lord speaks of his great servant, and goes deeply into describing his last days of betrayal & disfigurement.. saying things like ‘by his wounds we are healed. we all like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the lord has laid on him (the great servant, jesus) the iniquity of us all.’ ... great section of scripture... soak in it :)
Anyway... Amen?! we move on...
So, first thing I hear here is this, much of the description of Jesus in these chapters (52-53) is telling of things these ‘chief priests’ were themselves to do ... so, in a big way they were blind to their own involvement in the prophesy.. dang (sooo much more here!.. moving on). Too, at the end of 53 - after describing what i believe is the coming and going of jesus - the lord says this... “therefore i will give him (jesus) a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors”
Ummm... I’m going to have to think about this one for a bit (by now @ posting time, I have:) ask me about it)... I mean.. “a portion among the great”? What other deliverers of god’s good news on how to live well might be receiving the ‘other portions’?! I’ve met many a beautiful spirit from other religions... lets think about this one together, with warm hearts inviting the spirit to reveal, feel & live in the truth :) man, if this topic interests you, the spirit is leading me to share two other verses you should read... Romans 2:13-15, and matthew 12:32 (read enough to get context too.. but why the son of man, and not the Spirit?) anyway...
Reading onto the story of the poor woman and the perfume in verse 10.. I saw this one with totally different eyes, if you’re curious ask and i’ll email you my read on it.. but i move on..
I want to move on to peter, then jesus.. then us.
Peter always gets a bad rap about denying three times his lord... well, if you read in this chapter you see that - without account of all their experiences - it is very likely the other apostles too did something similar.. even worse possibly. All were scattered...
Jesus says in verse 31... “this very night, you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: ‘i will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’”
All of his sheep - when seperated from their lord in the moments of jesus being taken away - became scattered. In fact, I believe that whatever the apostles biggest strength was, that became their biggest downfall in those moments (the book mountains of spices helped me see this)... Peter was a fearless witness!.. and then he denied, three times. The gift he had - his boldness - he saw what the other side of that gift looked like when seperated from his God. and he "wept bitterly"... :/
Stick with me... :)
Whats so beautiful about what jesus is saying here is in the next... he says “but after i have risen, i will go ahead of you into galilee.” ... with you unto the world. Never again would they experience the feeling of being scattered... separate. For upon jesus’ dying on the cross, the spirit (!!!) was released, going forth in front of all who acknowledge it’s presence (us too!), giving strength, comfort, & peace (not without pain, suffering, and persecution) in drafting the movement of the spirit wherever it leads... beautiful.. we all are given this gift :)
I’ll touch on one more point in this chapter, and skip the others.. this is already too long.. dang.
But, because of just too reading about solomon and his ‘wise and discerning’ heart he was gifted from god.. I want to bring us into a very intimate, human moment jesus has (as you see solomon similarly experienced in the beginning of ecclesiastes... human desires among the gifted heart full of wisdom & discernment). He goes to gethsemane and prays, leaving peter and two others just a bit behind to ‘keep watch’. (they ended up falling asleep, and jesus did not wake them.. found that interesting). Anyway, jesus prays ‘my father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.’
Jesus was born of mary... the other half made possible by the good lord. Half man.. half god. Remember what i wrote about earlier.. scripture is of no value if not combined with faith.. lets throw a little faith in the batch here and watch it rise to life. :)
Half man.. half god. And here he is... maybe three years after the spirit descended on him “like a dove” (mth 3:16)... knowing in his half god side, what the half human side was about to experience.. ‘may this cup be taken’. Such beauty.. awareness.. submission in this prayer.. an example of how, in tough situations where we feel soaked in the presence of the spirit (because when jesus died we too are given access to this), we ought to pray. In submission.. and acceptance.. He knew the gift of being used to free the world, but if there was aaaany way that gift could be given without using him as sacrifice, then sweet... (un)fortunately there wasn't (i believe it's appropriate with and without the 'un') but there was still joy in his heart throughout that prayer.
... he prayed this prayer three times in a row ... how human is that? Like solomon, jesus was gifted with ‘god parts’.. unlike solomon.. jesus was steadfast. our saviour...
... i’ll stop there, but man, so much more revealed in this chapter to me (wish I could share about the guy whose ear was cut off, and judas' betrayal.. maybe in person :)), these were just a couple main ones. I encourage you read, and 'ask of him’, that his spirit might hover over those moments in the word, pointing your eyes and heart to hear it’s message... to you!
be well!
The sheep get scattered... Jesus gets 'a portion'... and we all receive the spirit upon his death... :) lets jump in the word
New Mumford song... Love em :)
matthew 26
Isaiah 52-53
Jesus’ final days I read about this morning... and with transformed eyes to see, I felt at the deepest level a new kind of love for my savior (not my Father, or the Spirit.. my Savior). Let me touch on a couple main points I took away, with scattered nuggets in-between, ones good to chew on.. some good fruit for your day..
First, chapter 26 starts out with the ‘chief priests and the elders of the people assembling in the palace of the high priest... plotting to arrest jesus in some sly way and kill him.’
Imagining this scene got me to thinking... ‘had none of these chief priests ever read the description of the ‘great servant’ ... jesus? ... in Isaiah 53?? I wondered how they could be so ignorant of their own texts... (i'm swallowing my words now..)
So I turned there...
The end of 52 and through 53, the lord speaks of his great servant, and goes deeply into describing his last days of betrayal & disfigurement.. saying things like ‘by his wounds we are healed. we all like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the lord has laid on him (the great servant, jesus) the iniquity of us all.’ ... great section of scripture... soak in it :)
Anyway... Amen?! we move on...
So, first thing I hear here is this, much of the description of Jesus in these chapters (52-53) is telling of things these ‘chief priests’ were themselves to do ... so, in a big way they were blind to their own involvement in the prophesy.. dang (sooo much more here!.. moving on). Too, at the end of 53 - after describing what i believe is the coming and going of jesus - the lord says this... “therefore i will give him (jesus) a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors”
Ummm... I’m going to have to think about this one for a bit (by now @ posting time, I have:) ask me about it)... I mean.. “a portion among the great”? What other deliverers of god’s good news on how to live well might be receiving the ‘other portions’?! I’ve met many a beautiful spirit from other religions... lets think about this one together, with warm hearts inviting the spirit to reveal, feel & live in the truth :) man, if this topic interests you, the spirit is leading me to share two other verses you should read... Romans 2:13-15, and matthew 12:32 (read enough to get context too.. but why the son of man, and not the Spirit?) anyway...
Reading onto the story of the poor woman and the perfume in verse 10.. I saw this one with totally different eyes, if you’re curious ask and i’ll email you my read on it.. but i move on..
I want to move on to peter, then jesus.. then us.
Peter always gets a bad rap about denying three times his lord... well, if you read in this chapter you see that - without account of all their experiences - it is very likely the other apostles too did something similar.. even worse possibly. All were scattered...
Jesus says in verse 31... “this very night, you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: ‘i will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’”
All of his sheep - when seperated from their lord in the moments of jesus being taken away - became scattered. In fact, I believe that whatever the apostles biggest strength was, that became their biggest downfall in those moments (the book mountains of spices helped me see this)... Peter was a fearless witness!.. and then he denied, three times. The gift he had - his boldness - he saw what the other side of that gift looked like when seperated from his God. and he "wept bitterly"... :/
Stick with me... :)
Whats so beautiful about what jesus is saying here is in the next... he says “but after i have risen, i will go ahead of you into galilee.” ... with you unto the world. Never again would they experience the feeling of being scattered... separate. For upon jesus’ dying on the cross, the spirit (!!!) was released, going forth in front of all who acknowledge it’s presence (us too!), giving strength, comfort, & peace (not without pain, suffering, and persecution) in drafting the movement of the spirit wherever it leads... beautiful.. we all are given this gift :)
I’ll touch on one more point in this chapter, and skip the others.. this is already too long.. dang.
But, because of just too reading about solomon and his ‘wise and discerning’ heart he was gifted from god.. I want to bring us into a very intimate, human moment jesus has (as you see solomon similarly experienced in the beginning of ecclesiastes... human desires among the gifted heart full of wisdom & discernment). He goes to gethsemane and prays, leaving peter and two others just a bit behind to ‘keep watch’. (they ended up falling asleep, and jesus did not wake them.. found that interesting). Anyway, jesus prays ‘my father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.’
Jesus was born of mary... the other half made possible by the good lord. Half man.. half god. Remember what i wrote about earlier.. scripture is of no value if not combined with faith.. lets throw a little faith in the batch here and watch it rise to life. :)
Half man.. half god. And here he is... maybe three years after the spirit descended on him “like a dove” (mth 3:16)... knowing in his half god side, what the half human side was about to experience.. ‘may this cup be taken’. Such beauty.. awareness.. submission in this prayer.. an example of how, in tough situations where we feel soaked in the presence of the spirit (because when jesus died we too are given access to this), we ought to pray. In submission.. and acceptance.. He knew the gift of being used to free the world, but if there was aaaany way that gift could be given without using him as sacrifice, then sweet... (un)fortunately there wasn't (i believe it's appropriate with and without the 'un') but there was still joy in his heart throughout that prayer.
... he prayed this prayer three times in a row ... how human is that? Like solomon, jesus was gifted with ‘god parts’.. unlike solomon.. jesus was steadfast. our saviour...
... i’ll stop there, but man, so much more revealed in this chapter to me (wish I could share about the guy whose ear was cut off, and judas' betrayal.. maybe in person :)), these were just a couple main ones. I encourage you read, and 'ask of him’, that his spirit might hover over those moments in the word, pointing your eyes and heart to hear it’s message... to you!
be well!
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Learning to speak again... mth 24-25
10/01/2011
matthew 24-25
The spirit spoke to me today in a big way...
I want to summarize these chapters real quick... starting in 24 with jesus talking about the signs of the end age.. wonderfully scary stuff.. beautiful. Not to be skipped over, but i move on... In 25 we find jesus talking in the way he usually does, with parables. The first, the ten virgins and the kingdom of heaven.. msg: come to the party prepared to meet the bridegroom.. don’t regret it. The next, the parable of the talents.. msg: don’t waste the gifts He has given you, and rely on him and act responsibly with those gifts and “for everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance.” act well, acknowledge, and give back to the giver. How? next is jesus talking about his people who will be with him in eternity (the givers)... whats great is when you read it thru you see that the people who gain the gift of life, were oblivious to the good they did... they just did it. people... ‘for i was hungry and you gave me something to eat, i was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, i was a stranger and you invited me in, i needed clothes and you clothed me, i was sick and you looked after me, i was in prison and you came to visit me...” huh?? “The King will reply, 'i tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”
Beautiful parables... soak in them.
What 'iii' heard today? ..mmm..
Recently the spirit has been more and more putting me in conversations with people - new & old friends alike - where the conversation has - in a natural, beautiful, providencial way - led to me sharing what gives me liiiife, or what the spirit has taught me recently... Anyway, as I learn scripture more, and I grow to love it... more and more scriptures pop into my head during these conversations.. awesome right??
Well... maybe.
Jesus was a scholar of the scripture, he new and studied the old testament deeply, knowing in his flesh, on his heart the words of god written in His holy scriptures. He knew of all the stories I’m reading in samuel & kings.. he knew it all.
And he spoke in parables.
Last night (Friday night) I met a new friend. He’s a bit older, fifty something maybe... a hard skinned biker guy with - come to find out after enjoying a fire with the guy til 1 - one of the most beautiful spirits i've had the privilege of staring at bouncing flames with... He is a good man, and my spirit felt it from the first handshake. We got into it deep sharing with eachother our beliefs.. his being rooted in a deep appreciation and acknowledgment of the creator of the earth.. and a heart dripping with love for people nearest him. he would call himself ‘spiritual’.. and it is beautiful.
In sharing with him what gives me life... and really throughout the whole of the conversation... scripture was coming out of nowhere and ending up jumping off my tongue. I picked up on it a few times, could have been blind to it a few others... but i noticed my new friend having a hard time seeing it for what it was in its goodness (the scriptures).. instead i picked up hints of him maybe feeling unlearned, lacking in knowledge of scripture (despite a lacking desire), experiencing feelings possibly that were contrary to the feelings - the message - the spirit was trying to send.. with the scripture. “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” - 1cor8:1
Jesus spoke in parables. and man did he love well.
The spirit enabled jesus to convey the ‘good news’ to these people in an un-intimidating way, a way that conveyed the ‘message’, but without making them feel sheepish.. he enabled, encouraged, and taught through parables.
Parables or not... the spirit gives new words if we ask. And if asked or led by the spirit (not by a loose tongue or an over enthusiastic scripture bank lacking wisdom in this area) to share ‘what scripture says about...’ (which my new friend actually did with deep genuity several times.. the spirit delivered :)) then you have it, in your heart.. soaking. growing. ready. awaiting the spirits call to share from heart, to tongue, to His son or daughter.
I encourage a read through the parables because if you ask, the spirit will maybe reveal something completely different to you.. thats whats cool about inviting the spirit to join... check it out..
a verse that totally rocked me and gave me fire in pursuing learning on my own, freeing me from feeling the need of a ‘pastor’.. is this... enjoy.. “As for you, the anointing (of the spirit) you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing (the spirit :)) teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit -- just as it has taught you, remain in him.” 1jn2:27 !!!
... party.
matthew 24-25
The spirit spoke to me today in a big way...
I want to summarize these chapters real quick... starting in 24 with jesus talking about the signs of the end age.. wonderfully scary stuff.. beautiful. Not to be skipped over, but i move on... In 25 we find jesus talking in the way he usually does, with parables. The first, the ten virgins and the kingdom of heaven.. msg: come to the party prepared to meet the bridegroom.. don’t regret it. The next, the parable of the talents.. msg: don’t waste the gifts He has given you, and rely on him and act responsibly with those gifts and “for everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance.” act well, acknowledge, and give back to the giver. How? next is jesus talking about his people who will be with him in eternity (the givers)... whats great is when you read it thru you see that the people who gain the gift of life, were oblivious to the good they did... they just did it. people... ‘for i was hungry and you gave me something to eat, i was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, i was a stranger and you invited me in, i needed clothes and you clothed me, i was sick and you looked after me, i was in prison and you came to visit me...” huh?? “The King will reply, 'i tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”
Beautiful parables... soak in them.
What 'iii' heard today? ..mmm..
Recently the spirit has been more and more putting me in conversations with people - new & old friends alike - where the conversation has - in a natural, beautiful, providencial way - led to me sharing what gives me liiiife, or what the spirit has taught me recently... Anyway, as I learn scripture more, and I grow to love it... more and more scriptures pop into my head during these conversations.. awesome right??
Well... maybe.
Jesus was a scholar of the scripture, he new and studied the old testament deeply, knowing in his flesh, on his heart the words of god written in His holy scriptures. He knew of all the stories I’m reading in samuel & kings.. he knew it all.
And he spoke in parables.
Last night (Friday night) I met a new friend. He’s a bit older, fifty something maybe... a hard skinned biker guy with - come to find out after enjoying a fire with the guy til 1 - one of the most beautiful spirits i've had the privilege of staring at bouncing flames with... He is a good man, and my spirit felt it from the first handshake. We got into it deep sharing with eachother our beliefs.. his being rooted in a deep appreciation and acknowledgment of the creator of the earth.. and a heart dripping with love for people nearest him. he would call himself ‘spiritual’.. and it is beautiful.
In sharing with him what gives me life... and really throughout the whole of the conversation... scripture was coming out of nowhere and ending up jumping off my tongue. I picked up on it a few times, could have been blind to it a few others... but i noticed my new friend having a hard time seeing it for what it was in its goodness (the scriptures).. instead i picked up hints of him maybe feeling unlearned, lacking in knowledge of scripture (despite a lacking desire), experiencing feelings possibly that were contrary to the feelings - the message - the spirit was trying to send.. with the scripture. “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” - 1cor8:1
Jesus spoke in parables. and man did he love well.
The spirit enabled jesus to convey the ‘good news’ to these people in an un-intimidating way, a way that conveyed the ‘message’, but without making them feel sheepish.. he enabled, encouraged, and taught through parables.
Parables or not... the spirit gives new words if we ask. And if asked or led by the spirit (not by a loose tongue or an over enthusiastic scripture bank lacking wisdom in this area) to share ‘what scripture says about...’ (which my new friend actually did with deep genuity several times.. the spirit delivered :)) then you have it, in your heart.. soaking. growing. ready. awaiting the spirits call to share from heart, to tongue, to His son or daughter.
I encourage a read through the parables because if you ask, the spirit will maybe reveal something completely different to you.. thats whats cool about inviting the spirit to join... check it out..
a verse that totally rocked me and gave me fire in pursuing learning on my own, freeing me from feeling the need of a ‘pastor’.. is this... enjoy.. “As for you, the anointing (of the spirit) you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing (the spirit :)) teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit -- just as it has taught you, remain in him.” 1jn2:27 !!!
... party.
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