Teresa and I just got back from a week out west. What a stunning place to be...a place where God, in all of his ability, got a bit flamboyant in His creative activities...things that can't really be adequately described or easily caught on camera. So amazing that you just kinda have to be there.
To say the least, you can't look at mountains and majestic expanse like that and not be wowed by God's ability. What can you say...speechless. As I thought about this, I remembered the prayer of the Psalmist, who asked: "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." It freshly bolstered exceptional confidence and hope, that if He can do what I was looking at there, how much more can He transform and re-create in all of us, what sin has destroyed; fashioning in us, all that He intended...all the possibilities, all the potential, the unmarred image and likeness of Him in and on us...and since we are the apex of His creation (like those mountains I saw, yet greater), be living manifestations of the glory and majesty of God himself.
Great stuff and it's not just for the "cool guys". It's for all who come...just as you are.... Selah
Mitch
Monday, September 29, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
The Power Of Prayer
Amazing thoughts from a great man of a previous generation. As you read this make sure that you don't hear him talking down necessarily on the things we do in church, but rather the absence of the essential ingredient of prayer.
We do not live in a praying age....
We live in an age of hustle and bustle, of man's efforts and man's determination, of man's confidence in himself and in his own power to achieve things, an age of human organization and human machinery, human push and human scheming, and human achievement, which in the things of God means no real achievement at all.
I think it would be perfectly safe to say that the church of Christ was never in all its history so fully, so skillfully, so thoroughly and so perfectly organized as it is today. Our machinery is wonderful; it is just perfect, but alas, it is machinery without power; and when things do not go right, instead of going to the real source of our failure, our neglect to depend on God and look to God for power, we look around to see if there is not some new organization we can get up, some new wheel that we can add to our machinery. We have altogether too many wheels already....
I believe that the devil stands and looks at the church today and laughs in his sleeve as he sees how its members depend on their own scheming and power of organization and skillfully devised machinery. "Ha, Ha", he laughs, "you may have...your costly church edifices, your musical instruments, your university-bred preachers, your high priced musicians, your immense men's Bible classes, yes, and your conferences, institutes and evangelistic services, all you please of them; it does not in the least trouble me, unless you will only leave out of them the power of the Lord God Almighty sought and obtained by the earnest, persistent, believing prayer that will not take no for an answer." But when the devil sees a man or woman who really believes in prayer, who knows how to pray, and who really does pray, and, above all, when he sees a whole church on its face before God in prayer, "he trembles" as much as he ever did, for he knows that this [his] day in that church or community is at an end.
Father, God, make us a people and house of prayer that will vividly display thy supernatural glory, splendor and mercies toward those who wait for it from You. In Jesus' name...Amen....
We do not live in a praying age....
We live in an age of hustle and bustle, of man's efforts and man's determination, of man's confidence in himself and in his own power to achieve things, an age of human organization and human machinery, human push and human scheming, and human achievement, which in the things of God means no real achievement at all.
I think it would be perfectly safe to say that the church of Christ was never in all its history so fully, so skillfully, so thoroughly and so perfectly organized as it is today. Our machinery is wonderful; it is just perfect, but alas, it is machinery without power; and when things do not go right, instead of going to the real source of our failure, our neglect to depend on God and look to God for power, we look around to see if there is not some new organization we can get up, some new wheel that we can add to our machinery. We have altogether too many wheels already....
I believe that the devil stands and looks at the church today and laughs in his sleeve as he sees how its members depend on their own scheming and power of organization and skillfully devised machinery. "Ha, Ha", he laughs, "you may have...your costly church edifices, your musical instruments, your university-bred preachers, your high priced musicians, your immense men's Bible classes, yes, and your conferences, institutes and evangelistic services, all you please of them; it does not in the least trouble me, unless you will only leave out of them the power of the Lord God Almighty sought and obtained by the earnest, persistent, believing prayer that will not take no for an answer." But when the devil sees a man or woman who really believes in prayer, who knows how to pray, and who really does pray, and, above all, when he sees a whole church on its face before God in prayer, "he trembles" as much as he ever did, for he knows that this [his] day in that church or community is at an end.
From "The Power of Prayer" by R. A. Torrey
Father, God, make us a people and house of prayer that will vividly display thy supernatural glory, splendor and mercies toward those who wait for it from You. In Jesus' name...Amen....
Monday, September 08, 2008
The Relentless River
Oswald Chambers discusses "life-flow" and the potential for our effectiveness:
A river touches places of which its source knows nothing. If we have received of His fulness...out of us will flow the rivers that will bless the world around us. We have nothing to do with the outflow.... Our job is this:"This is the work of God that we believe."
A river is persistent, it overcomes all barriers and soon finds a pathway around obstacles. As obstacles come to our lives we may sense that we are not being of any use. Keep paying attention to the Source! ...The Spirit of God overcomes all obstacles. Never get your eyes on obstacles or difficulties. They are of no consequence if we remain at the Source. Never allow anything to come between you and Jesus, no emotions, experience...nothing must keep you from the one great sovereign Source.
...Guard well your belief in Jesus Christ and your relationship to Him, and there will be a steady flow for you and the lives of others...no dryness and no deadness.
Last week we considered spiritual reading that can help us stay centered [at the Source]. I encourage you [if you're not] to find the necessary time and place to present yourself to Him. Allow Him to feed and restore your soul, to "steady" the flow of Life from Him to and through you...to keep speaking peace and order in a very chaotic and antagonistic world. Keep straining to hear [in a very noisy and distracting life - culture] the Voice and Words of First Love, words we cannot triumphantly and effectively live without. Don't ever forget His amazing eternal invitation, "...Come unto me...."
Indebted,
Mitch
A river touches places of which its source knows nothing. If we have received of His fulness...out of us will flow the rivers that will bless the world around us. We have nothing to do with the outflow.... Our job is this:"This is the work of God that we believe."
A river is persistent, it overcomes all barriers and soon finds a pathway around obstacles. As obstacles come to our lives we may sense that we are not being of any use. Keep paying attention to the Source! ...The Spirit of God overcomes all obstacles. Never get your eyes on obstacles or difficulties. They are of no consequence if we remain at the Source. Never allow anything to come between you and Jesus, no emotions, experience...nothing must keep you from the one great sovereign Source.
...Guard well your belief in Jesus Christ and your relationship to Him, and there will be a steady flow for you and the lives of others...no dryness and no deadness.
Last week we considered spiritual reading that can help us stay centered [at the Source]. I encourage you [if you're not] to find the necessary time and place to present yourself to Him. Allow Him to feed and restore your soul, to "steady" the flow of Life from Him to and through you...to keep speaking peace and order in a very chaotic and antagonistic world. Keep straining to hear [in a very noisy and distracting life - culture] the Voice and Words of First Love, words we cannot triumphantly and effectively live without. Don't ever forget His amazing eternal invitation, "...Come unto me...."
Indebted,
Mitch
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Staying Centered...
One of the great challenges of this life in the Spirit is staying focused in spite of the many distractions and influences that approach us. This quote from Henri Nouwen is helpful:
An important discipline...is spiritual reading. This will help us have some say over what enters our minds. Each day...we are bombarded with a myriad of images and sounds. While going through the daily routines of life so many things demand our attention...things that come in all sizes, colors and with gestures and noises. Their words yell at us and most of the time, compel us toward things that take us away from our intimacy with God. Whether we ask for it or not is not the question; we simply cannot go far without being engulfed with words and images forcibly intruding themselves into our minds. But do we really want our mind to become the garbage can of the world?...
Clearly we do not, but it requires real discipline to let God and not the world be the Lord of our mind. But that asks of us not just to be gentle as doves, but also cunning as serpents! Therefore spiritual reading is such a helpful discipline. Is there a book [assuming we are reading the Word of God as well] we are presently reading, a book that we have selected because it nurtures our mind and brings us closer to God? Our thoughts and feelings would be deeply affected if we were always to carry with us a book that puts our minds again and again in the direction we want [He wants us] to go.... Even if we were to read for only fifteen minutes a day in such a book, we would soon find our mind becoming less of a garbage can and more of a vase filled with good thoughts.
This encouraged me and I thought it might you too, toward more and effective times of reading.
Blessings,
Mitch
An important discipline...is spiritual reading. This will help us have some say over what enters our minds. Each day...we are bombarded with a myriad of images and sounds. While going through the daily routines of life so many things demand our attention...things that come in all sizes, colors and with gestures and noises. Their words yell at us and most of the time, compel us toward things that take us away from our intimacy with God. Whether we ask for it or not is not the question; we simply cannot go far without being engulfed with words and images forcibly intruding themselves into our minds. But do we really want our mind to become the garbage can of the world?...
Clearly we do not, but it requires real discipline to let God and not the world be the Lord of our mind. But that asks of us not just to be gentle as doves, but also cunning as serpents! Therefore spiritual reading is such a helpful discipline. Is there a book [assuming we are reading the Word of God as well] we are presently reading, a book that we have selected because it nurtures our mind and brings us closer to God? Our thoughts and feelings would be deeply affected if we were always to carry with us a book that puts our minds again and again in the direction we want [He wants us] to go.... Even if we were to read for only fifteen minutes a day in such a book, we would soon find our mind becoming less of a garbage can and more of a vase filled with good thoughts.
This encouraged me and I thought it might you too, toward more and effective times of reading.
Blessings,
Mitch
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