I guess we're all continuing to learn that our identity [who we are] is rooted in Christ and the eternal relational connection we have by faith. It is so easy to get off center in this, living in a world that tells us otherwise.
I ran across these encouraging words from Henri Nouwen. Savor these and be blessed.
"Prayer...is listening to The Voice - The One who calls you "the beloved". It is to constantly go back to the truth of who we are and claim it for ourselves. I'm not what I do. I'm not what people say about me. I'm not what I have. Although, there is nothing wrong with success, there is nothing wrong with popularity, there is nothing wrong with being powerful. Finally, my spiritual identity is not in the world or the things the world gives me. My life is rooted in my spiritual identity...and we must go back regularly to that place of core identity."
I am who God says I am . Our ability to fully comprehend this truth is something we all must come to [with His help] by ourselves. But since He declares it, it is true...and that settles it. Our confessing it [saying the same thing He says] will go a long way in helping us to seize it for our own and thereby experience the security, liberation and joy this reality is intended to give.
What a privilege to be His child...His beloved.
Graced - Blessed,
Mitch
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Monday, March 26, 2007
Must I Listen...continued...
In tandem with Oswald Chambers comments, I add thoughts by Thomas a' Kempis:
Speak, Lord, for thy servant listens....though You send us prophets to speak to us, Sir, rather You speak, thou who dost inspire and enlighten them! You alone can perfectly instruct me without their aid, but without You, they can do nothing.
The prophets can preach the word, but they cannot bestow the Spirit. Though they speak eloquently, if you are silent, they cannot fire the heart. They instruct in the letter, but You open the understanding. They set forth mysteries, but You reveal the meaning of all secrets. They teach your commandments, but You help us observe them. They point the way, but You grant us strength to follow it. Their action is external; You instruct and enlighten the heart. They water the seed...but you make it fruitful. They proclaim...but you impart understanding to the mind. ...Therefore...speak to me, Lord, and comfort my soul: order my life to Your praise, glory, and eternal honor.
"Silently, now, we wait for Thee...."
Indebted,
Mitch
Speak, Lord, for thy servant listens....though You send us prophets to speak to us, Sir, rather You speak, thou who dost inspire and enlighten them! You alone can perfectly instruct me without their aid, but without You, they can do nothing.
The prophets can preach the word, but they cannot bestow the Spirit. Though they speak eloquently, if you are silent, they cannot fire the heart. They instruct in the letter, but You open the understanding. They set forth mysteries, but You reveal the meaning of all secrets. They teach your commandments, but You help us observe them. They point the way, but You grant us strength to follow it. Their action is external; You instruct and enlighten the heart. They water the seed...but you make it fruitful. They proclaim...but you impart understanding to the mind. ...Therefore...speak to me, Lord, and comfort my soul: order my life to Your praise, glory, and eternal honor.
"Silently, now, we wait for Thee...."
Indebted,
Mitch
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Must I Listen?
Oswald Chambers continues to speak loudly to me and has for years. I leave with you his comments on the following verse:
"And they said unto Moses, speak thou with us and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die." Exodus 20:19
...Speak thou with us...But let not God speak.... We show how little we love God by preferring to listen to His servnts only. We like to listen to personal testimonies, but we do not desire that God Himself should speak to us. Why are we so terrified lest God should speak...? Because we know that if God does speak, either the thing must be done or we must tell God we will not obey Him. If it is only the servant's voice we hear, we feel it is not imperative, we can say, "Well, that is simply your own idea, though I don't deny it is probably God's truth."
Am I putting God in the humiliating position of having treated me as a child of His while all the time I have been ignoring Him? When I do hear Him, the humiliation I have put on Him comes back on me - "Lord, why was I so dull and so obstinate?" This is always the result when once we do hear God. The real delight of hearing Him is tempered with shame in having been so long in hearing Him.
Must I listen? Yes, if we are to acknowledge Him, fear and revere Him and give Him His rightful place in us...always making Him our first choice...our first source...speaking rather as Samuel of the Old Testament did: "Speak Lord, for thy servant heareth." (1 Samuel 3:10)
Graced...Joyous,
Mitch
"And they said unto Moses, speak thou with us and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die." Exodus 20:19
...Speak thou with us...But let not God speak.... We show how little we love God by preferring to listen to His servnts only. We like to listen to personal testimonies, but we do not desire that God Himself should speak to us. Why are we so terrified lest God should speak...? Because we know that if God does speak, either the thing must be done or we must tell God we will not obey Him. If it is only the servant's voice we hear, we feel it is not imperative, we can say, "Well, that is simply your own idea, though I don't deny it is probably God's truth."
Am I putting God in the humiliating position of having treated me as a child of His while all the time I have been ignoring Him? When I do hear Him, the humiliation I have put on Him comes back on me - "Lord, why was I so dull and so obstinate?" This is always the result when once we do hear God. The real delight of hearing Him is tempered with shame in having been so long in hearing Him.
Must I listen? Yes, if we are to acknowledge Him, fear and revere Him and give Him His rightful place in us...always making Him our first choice...our first source...speaking rather as Samuel of the Old Testament did: "Speak Lord, for thy servant heareth." (1 Samuel 3:10)
Graced...Joyous,
Mitch
Monday, March 19, 2007
Thankful...
Sunday was a good day! Our second Vision Night was sweet...great to be reminded by Pastor Jeff what our purpose is...what is most important...why we have and do what we do: Loving God, loving people and sharing the Gospel...our purpose. Thanks, Jeff! Looking foreward to April 1!
From the scripture this morning, I read:
Sing to the Lord...!
Bless His name
Proclaim Good News,
Tell of His glory...
For great is the Lord,
And greatly to be praised...!
So ascribe (give what is due) to the Lord,
O families of the peoples,
Ascribe to the Lord
Glory and strength!
Ascribe to the Lord the glory of His name.
Bring an offering,
And come into His courts.
Worship the Lord in Holy attire;
Tremble before Him all the earth.
Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns"!
Halleluia!!
Graced and Joyous,
Mitch
From the scripture this morning, I read:
Sing to the Lord...!
Bless His name
Proclaim Good News,
Tell of His glory...
For great is the Lord,
And greatly to be praised...!
So ascribe (give what is due) to the Lord,
O families of the peoples,
Ascribe to the Lord
Glory and strength!
Ascribe to the Lord the glory of His name.
Bring an offering,
And come into His courts.
Worship the Lord in Holy attire;
Tremble before Him all the earth.
Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns"!
Halleluia!!
Graced and Joyous,
Mitch
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
The Most Important Thing...
In my reading very recently, I ran across this passage: "We all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are being changed into the same image." 2 Cor. 3:18
I share with you Oswald Chambers renderings on this verse:
"The golden rule for your life and mine is this concentrated keeping of the life open towards God. Let everything else - work, clothes, food, everything on earth - go by the board, saving that one thing. The rush of other things tends to obscure this concentration on God. We have to maintain ourselves in the place of beholding, keeping the life absolutely spiritual through and through. Let other things come and go as they may, let other people criticize as they will, but never allow anything to obscure the Life that is hid with Christ in God. Never be hurried out of the relationship of abiding in Him. It is the one thing that is apt to fluctuate but it ought not to. The severest discipline of a Christian's life is to learn how to keep 'beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord.' "
...Oh what grace, help, effectiveness and transformation would come.... Let's find and maximize the grace of God that has been so lavishly dispensed on us in His Son Jesus.
Uniquely privileged,
Mitch
I share with you Oswald Chambers renderings on this verse:
"The golden rule for your life and mine is this concentrated keeping of the life open towards God. Let everything else - work, clothes, food, everything on earth - go by the board, saving that one thing. The rush of other things tends to obscure this concentration on God. We have to maintain ourselves in the place of beholding, keeping the life absolutely spiritual through and through. Let other things come and go as they may, let other people criticize as they will, but never allow anything to obscure the Life that is hid with Christ in God. Never be hurried out of the relationship of abiding in Him. It is the one thing that is apt to fluctuate but it ought not to. The severest discipline of a Christian's life is to learn how to keep 'beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord.' "
...Oh what grace, help, effectiveness and transformation would come.... Let's find and maximize the grace of God that has been so lavishly dispensed on us in His Son Jesus.
Uniquely privileged,
Mitch
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Grace...
Sunday morning I had the privilege of teaching the Word in the worship services. The topic was grace. At the end of the message I asked the question: "What would happen if..." Remarkably, Monday morning, when I checked my mailbox, I found a brief article written by an acquaintance of mine out west and the article articulated the question better than I ever could have. I leave it with you....
What If?
What If?
- What if a few hundred people, in one local church, covenanted together to walk in the daily habits of Bible intake, prayer, giving, fellowship, outreach, and serving?
- What if they sought to equip themselves for "every good work"?
- What if they refused to let fear trump their faith?
- What if the walked in the fear of nothing but failing God and falling out of love with Jesus?
- What if they "spoke the truth in love" as God gave opportunity?
- What if they sacrificed to build up the body of Christ and make disciples throughout the world?
God would be glorified before the eyes of man; many individuals and families would be delivered from the ravages of sin; and we would experience what our purpose is!
And I might add...this all sounds a lot like revival to me.
LET'S DO IT!!!!
Indebted,
Mitch
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Brevity Of Life...
One of Reebok's slogans of the past was "life is short, play hard". I can understand that mentality if you really enjoy something and you realize that the time allotted to you to do it is brief.
As far as the Kingdom is concerned, they got the first part right. The scripture tells us that our life is like a vapor. The Psalmist tells us that man is like grass which sprouts anew in the morning...and toward evening fades and withers away. At this point in my life, I'm more convinced than ever before how true this is. At age 53, I'm stunned by how quickly the years have passed. According to scripture "the days of our life...contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty. It continues, " Our days are soon gone and we fly away (a nice way of saying, we die!). Based on this information [from God], I'm way past "half time" and actually in the final quarter of the game of life!
These are sobering thoughts and pondering this makes me want to huddle with the "Coach" [Jesus], get some locker room time to evaluate how I'm doing and determine what adjustments I need to make in my "game plan" to assure I finish well.
The Psalmist, in his discourse on life asks the rhetorical question: "Lord, is it possible for man to know fully, how awesome you are, the power of your anger and to respect you as we should?" The obvious answer is "No." Then He says: Please teach us then, to number our days (have a profound awareness of how temporary we are), so that we may present to Thee a heart of wisdom.
Life is short! Playing harder [the second part of the slogan] is not the proper response where our relationship with Him is concerned. But adjusting our game plan according to our Father's input moment by moment is. So, "life is short, PRAY hard" is much better advise.
Just wanted you to know, that's where I'm headed.
See You Sunday!
Mitch
As far as the Kingdom is concerned, they got the first part right. The scripture tells us that our life is like a vapor. The Psalmist tells us that man is like grass which sprouts anew in the morning...and toward evening fades and withers away. At this point in my life, I'm more convinced than ever before how true this is. At age 53, I'm stunned by how quickly the years have passed. According to scripture "the days of our life...contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty. It continues, " Our days are soon gone and we fly away (a nice way of saying, we die!). Based on this information [from God], I'm way past "half time" and actually in the final quarter of the game of life!
These are sobering thoughts and pondering this makes me want to huddle with the "Coach" [Jesus], get some locker room time to evaluate how I'm doing and determine what adjustments I need to make in my "game plan" to assure I finish well.
The Psalmist, in his discourse on life asks the rhetorical question: "Lord, is it possible for man to know fully, how awesome you are, the power of your anger and to respect you as we should?" The obvious answer is "No." Then He says: Please teach us then, to number our days (have a profound awareness of how temporary we are), so that we may present to Thee a heart of wisdom.
Life is short! Playing harder [the second part of the slogan] is not the proper response where our relationship with Him is concerned. But adjusting our game plan according to our Father's input moment by moment is. So, "life is short, PRAY hard" is much better advise.
Just wanted you to know, that's where I'm headed.
See You Sunday!
Mitch
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