rebuilding the walls of life

Rebuilding Broken Walls and Broken Lives Linda McCutcheon 0 Comments When cancer shows up on a routine medical visit. Or when an out of country vacation leads to a serious illness. Or when a spouse reveals they have been in a secret affair for months. What do you do when the devastatingly unexpected happens? “But you also said that no matter how far away we were, we could turn to you and start obeying your laws. Then you would bring us back to the place where you have chosen to be worshiped.” Nehemiah 1:9 (CEV) In the book of Nehemiah, we read that the Jews were in a similar predicament. Life had taken them by surprise: they had been attacked, taken captive, and had lost their homes. Some of them had escaped, but even in their freedom they still experienced heartache. They came back to a ruined city, to crumbled walls. They were disgraced. And they had no idea how to repair their city for safety and for dignity. God in His grace used the prophet Nehemiah to give the Jews hope again, and Nehemiah interceded on their behalf. They were in a mess — with no fixed address and no city to protect them. Plus, they had forgotten the miracles of the past. They had ignored God’s promises and had lost all hope. But Nehemiah stood in the gap. He prayed, “Please remember the promise you made to Moses. You told him that if we were unfaithful, you would scatter us among foreign nations. But you also said that no matter how far away we were, we could turn to you and start obeying your laws. Then you would bring us back to the place where you have chosen to be worshiped. Our Lord, I am praying for your servants...” (Nehemiah 1:8-10a, CEV). God was faithful then and He is still faithful today. The Jews needed a new perspective and a new start to re-build not only their homes, but also their lives. Maybe you can relate. Are you feeling like the people of Israel right now? Is life overwhelming and unbearable? A few years ago, I stood in a similar place as the Jews did. I needed to rebuild my world. I found myself with a broken marriage and a broken heart, and I began to look for another home, a new start, and a fresh perspective. I had to choose to either live in ruin or slowly rebuild my life, one brick at a time. Sometimes, you need to gain perspective on your situation, especially in the midst of tragedy, heartache, selfishness, or a sense of hopelessness. You need to reflect, to sit quietly, and to determine healthy changes in your personal life. This process allows you to re-build your character, acknowledging that you have worth in God’s eyes. Are you willing to ask God to fulfill His promise to refresh and rebuild your life? Or, maybe you are a Nehemiah who can help and intercede for others and encourage those in need. Once you take the step of obedience, He will help you move ahead. Because God is in the business of rebuilding broken lives. Nehemiah 6:16 says, “On the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, the wall was completely rebuilt. It had taken fifty-two days.” It happened to them, and it can happen to you, too! Tags: restoration Nehemiah Israel love-god Photo Credit: westpark Connect Discuss

shame and guilt

Question: "What does the Bible say about shame and regret?" Answer: Everyone experiences a certain amount of shame and regret over sins committed in the past. The Bible has much to say about shame and regret, and there are numerous examples of people in the Bible who experienced these negative feelings. Can you imagine the shame and regret Adam and Eve lived with after their sin? They spoiled the perfect creation God had made. Adam and Eve were in a perfect world, had perfect minds and bodies, and had perfectly close fellowship with God. When they chose to sin against God, all of God’s creation was made subject to sin’s effects, including disease, decay, death, and separation from God for eternity. Every human being afterward was born with a sin nature—the natural inclination to sin. Thankfully, God is sovereign, and He had a plan even then to redeem His world through His Son, Jesus Christ, and give mankind a choice for salvation and eternal life with Him. But Adam and Eve must have lived out their lives on earth with much regret over their loss of innocence and its associated blessings. We know they were ashamed at their nakedness (Genesis 3:10). They must have lived the rest of their lives in regret—after all, they remembered paradise. Another biblical example of shame and regret is the experience of the apostle Peter. John 13:37–38 describes the night of Christ’s betrayal. Right after the Passover meal, Peter tells Jesus that he would lay down his life for his Lord. Jesus responds by telling him that on that very night Peter would deny three times even knowing the Lord. Later that night, out of fear of losing his own life, Peter denied ever knowing Jesus (John 18:15–27; Matthew 26:31–35, 69–75). After Peter’s denial of Christ, “he went outside and wept bitterly” (Luke 22:62). Later, Peter was restored and grew in his faith, becoming one of the founding fathers of the early church. Peter did indeed “strengthen his brothers” after being forgiven, just as Jesus had foretold (Luke 22:32). While Peter must have lived with much shame and regret over his public denial of Christ, his deepened understanding of the person and work of Christ overcame his feelings of failure. He realized that he was forgiven by the grace of God, and he moved past his personal regret to feed Jesus’ sheep (John 21:17). The Bible teaches us that, when we confess our sins and have faith in Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection, we become children of God (John 1:12). We are cleansed from all our unrighteousness (Colossians 1:15–22), and our salvation is eternally secure (John 10:27–30; Hebrews 7:24–25). As we grow spiritually by spending time with God daily in prayer and reading His Word, we find ourselves loving and trusting Him more. We trust that God has cast our sins from us as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).Yes, we regret our past mistakes, but that is not our focus. We keep our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). Paul put it this way: “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of [the goal]. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13–14). Shame and regret are part of what is behind us. We must learn to forget. Romans 8:1 is a great comfort to any believer who struggles with leftover feelings of shame and regret: “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” We are sinners, but we are justified. We have a shameful past, but we have a better future. We used to walk in foolishness and rebellion, but now we walk in newness of life (Titus 3:3–7; Romans 6:4). God has forgiven those sins we feel shame and regret over. We can move on. “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20).

Keith Green remembered

CHRISTMAS 2017

Mathew 1:18-25 (Joseph) Luke 1:26-56( Mary and Elizabeth) Both Mary and Joseph it seems were descended from David Joseph, was engaged to Mary and she was pregnant We are told that he was a righteous man. (That is what God said about him) He considered putting her away secretly. This would have been merciful as he could have had her put to death (Remember the woman caught in adultery. She could be stoned to death) Joseph did as he was told and I think that took courage Can you imagine the gossip? Joseph, why are you marrying her? Have her put to death and get a much better righteous wife. I expect he had to bear the jibes as she would. He stood by her I also think Mary would have been afraid of what Joseph would do and what society around her would say and do. We tend to read the story of the angel appearing to Mary and telling her she would bare a child and we have reduced it to a nativity play that is like a Christmas card, it is all sweet and lovely. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN TERRIFYING FOR HER. WHAT SHE DID WAS SUBMIT TO GODS WILL All this had been revealed by Isaiah Isaiah7:14Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. Have you ever felt that you are doing Gods will, but you are afraid? I think that is how both of them were. To put is a good scots way, ABSOLUTELY BRICKING IT. We are not told anything about their families. She went to see her cousin Elizabeth. This would be out of the ordinary because,… • She was a much older woman and her husband was a priest • Elizabeth was legitimately pregnant whereas, by human terms, Mary wasn't • She was the wife of a priest and should disapprove of Mary's state However, this was no casual visit. Mary stayed with her for three months. Can you imagine the conversations they would have had about both of their forth coming children? Elizabeth would say, Zachariah saw an Angel and he could not believe what he was told and now he cannot speak until the baby is born. I am calling him John for the angel told him to call him John even though there is no one else in the family called that. Mary, Oh is that so, well, I saw the angel and I am calling mine Jesus. There is no one else in the family called that, but I am just doing as I am told. At least you can tell people your husband is the boy’s father. I dread going out for they must all be wondering. Both of my nieces were pregnant at the same time and one day as one of them was struggling to get her shoes on she said to her sister, Carolyn, do you find it hard to get your shoes on? These two ladies were in a similar situation as the boys would only have been up to six months apart. So there we have it, four people in extra ordinary situations Zachariah stuck dumb His wife who had been barren (and thus shamed) was pregnant Joseph engaged to a pregnant woman because God told him to. Mary pregnant by the Holy Spirit and probably shunned. What would we do in their shoes, or what if we knew them? Would we welcome them? We like to think we are understanding, and welcoming people, and I trust we strive to be, but how easy is it to JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER. How well do we trust God in frightening situations? I think we become far more dependent on prayer. Desperately looking for answers. I think that it is only when we are in the situation that we find out what our relationship with God is really like. We may be found wanting. It is easy to say that we are willing to be used by God, it is quite another to actually be used by God as it usually comes with a price. Are we willing to pay the price as all of those in the Christmas story did? We are like clay, to be moulded by God in the fashion God wants. Sometimes when we are going through difficult times we may not enjoy what God does. However, like all of them, we have to submit to Gods will. In the end, we will find his way is best. (Do we really have that much confidence in God?) MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE.

six prayer God always answers

Six Prayers God Always Answers Gary millar kre1wceg 1081c5aa30ceb603bc881140b9bbef46.jpg?ts=1511370879&ixlib=rails 2.1 Article by Gary Millar Professor, Queensland Theological College If you are like me, you probably find yourself more consistently confused or failing in prayer than in any other area in the Christian life. Why is that? Talking to the God who chose us, saved us, and sustains us should be the most natural and delightful thing in the world, shouldn’t it? Perhaps it should, but more often than not, it isn’t. We all know we should pray more. The guilt within reminds us. But if we are honest, we neither want to pray more, nor are we really convinced we need to. Why? Perhaps we don’t really understand what prayer is — or we’re prone to forget. Let God Speak First The most important thing to do when it comes to thinking about prayer is to let God speak. Our approach to prayer (and our practice) is often an amalgam of platitudes, folk religion, and basic biblical truths, rather than an exegetically rigorous and theologically rich account of the teaching of the Bible. When we actually look at what the Bible teaches about prayer, it is surprisingly simple: to pray is to ask God to do what he has promised to do through Christ. Cast All Your Cares The core of the gospel is that we have nothing, contribute nothing, bring nothing to God. Prayer, which is made possible by the gospel and shaped by the gospel, works the same way. God gives to us; we don’t give to God. We ask; he gives. Prayer depends on what he has done in us and for us, and on what he will do in us and for us. Jesus teaches us to pray and to freely ask our Father for the desires of our heart: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” (Luke 11:9–10) We can ask for whatever we want, knowing that God will not give us anything bad for us, but only what is good for us (Luke 11:11–13). The apostle Peter exhorts us, “[Cast] all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7) — all your anxieties, even your mundane and material ones. Don’t be afraid to ask him for anything, and don’t hold back any burdens from him. Six Prayers But our everyday expressions of need are not the burden of the New Testament when it comes to prayer. While Scripture encourages us to pray for all manner of things, God also clearly exhorts us to focus our prayer lives. God hears and answers every prayer, but there are a precious few to which he always says, “Yes.” The prayers always answered positively are the prayers which explicitly ask God to deliver on his promises to us. God will always say Yes when we ask him to do his work through his word. I have found at least six basic prayers God will always answer. 1. Glorify yourself through me. The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 2:14). 2. Forgive me. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). 3. Reveal more of yourself to me. I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord (Jeremiah 31:33–34). 4. Give me wisdom. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him (James 1:5). 5. Strengthen me to obey you. As you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure (Philippians 2:12–13). 6. Spread your gospel to the lost. This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come (Matthew 24:14). How do we know God will answer these six prayers? Because he says he will in the first place, and then, even more, because these prayers sum up what God has promised to do through the gospel. This is what God has said he would most surely do. Ready to Answer If we want to grow and mature in prayer, we don’t need to set a timer. We don’t need to learn new contemplative methods, or build a prayer closet in the woods. But we do need to become better ask-ers. We need to realize that we are all walking disasters apart from grace, men and women who need God every step of every day. We would all make a shipwreck of our life and the lives of those around us if God did not intervene. The gospel yells at us, You are weak and sinful, flawed, and needy — but God is strong, gracious, and good — and ready to answer. Ask him to do what he has already promised to do for you. And keep praying, until that day when we won’t need to pray anymore from a distance, because we will see our great Promiser, Provider, and King face to face. Gary Millar serves as Principal of Queensland Theological College in Queensland, Australia. He teaches Old Testament, Biblical Theology, and Preaching, and has authored or contributed to several books. Gary is married to Fiona, and they have three daughters.

Don't be that guy 30 no,s from the apostle Paul

Don’t Be That Guy Thirty No’s in Paul’s Letters Author tony reinke.jpg?ts=1452019446&ixlib=rails 2.1 Article by Tony Reinke Senior writer, desiringGod.org We can invest the rest of our lives plunging deeper into the writings of the apostle Paul to get a better view of the glories of Christ to delight our souls. In Paul’s letters (as elsewhere in the Bible) we are told glorious indicatives of truth like Christ is the Creator and Sustainer (Colossians 1:16–17), who was incarnated and died as our propitiation (Romans 3:25), was raised from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:3–4), and he inaugurated the new creation (Colossians 1:18), as he ascended to his sovereign throne (Colossians 3:1). And by faith we are united to him and his power! In Christ all of these truths of grace are ours (2 Corinthians 1:20). And these glorious truths feed our souls and give rise to all the manifold commands from God that bring focus and direction to our daily lives in the form of apostolic imperatives. Don’t Be [Blank] Amidst all the glorious indicatives, some 30 times Paul tells us “don’t be” certain people. Don’t be this guy; be that guy. Don’t be this gal; be that gal. And every time he tells us what not to be, he’s also pointing us to what we should be, based on who we are in Christ. Here’s my paraphrase of the full list: Don’t be strutting around arrogantly in life; learn to live in fear of God (Romans 11:20). Don’t be conformed to this age; be transformed by the renewing of your mind to know God’s will (Romans 12:2). Don’t be slack in serving Christ; serve the Lord enthusiastically (Romans 12:11). Don’t be arrogant around others; associate with the lowly (Romans 12:16). Don’t be conquered by evil; conquer evil with good (Romans 12:21). Don’t be indebted to one another; except in the love deficit toward one another (Romans 13:8). Don’t be divided by error; be united in the same conviction (1 Corinthians 1:10). Don’t be deceived about sexual sin; immorality damns souls (1 Corinthians 6:9). Don’t be a slave of man’s opinions; you are a slave of Christ (1 Corinthians 7:23). Don’t be flesh-driven idolaters; be Spirit-guided delighters who reject temptation by God’s grace (1 Corinthians 10:6–13). Don’t be overly concerned about your own good; seek the good of others (1 Corinthians 10:24). Don’t be childish in your thinking; be holy but wise about the workings of evil (1 Corinthians 14:20). Don’t be deceived about the influence your friends have on you; circle yourself with wise friends (1 Corinthians 15:33). Don’t be married to an unbeliever; find a spouse who lives in the light of Christ (2 Corinthians 6:14). Don’t be deceived by immediate gratification; sow wisely, knowing you’ll reap later (Galatians 6:7). Don’t be deceived by empty-headed arguments; God’s wrath is coming on the disobedient (Ephesians 5:6). Don’t be partners of those who live in the shadows of evil; walk as children of God in the light (Ephesians 5:7–9). Don’t be foolish about your life; understand God’s will (Ephesians 5:17). Don’t be drunk with alcohol; be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). Don’t be frightened by your opponents; stand firm in the God who will deliver you (Philippians 1:28). Don’t be conceited toward one another; in humility consider others as more important than yourselves (Philippians 2:3). Don’t be consumed with self-interest; be consumed with the interests of others (Philippians 2:4). Don’t be a worrier; be thankful in everything (Philippians 4:6). Don’t be bitter toward your wife; love and cherish her (Colossians 3:19). Don’t be driven by the lust-filled desires of the world; be driven by desires fitting of your redemption in Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:5). Don’t be duped by people who say Christ already returned; keep anticipating the day (2 Thessalonians 2:2). Don’t be quick to rebuke an older believer; encourage him like you would a father (1 Timothy 5:1). Don’t be too quick to appoint and anoint church leaders; keep yourself free from confirming people in sin as you pursue your own personal purity (1 Timothy 5:22). Don’t be ashamed of suffering for Christ; share in his suffering as you rely on the power of God (2 Timothy 1:8). Defined by What We Are In these dozens of ways, Paul paints the contours of the Christian life with darkened shadows of opposites — teaching us what to be by warning us what not to be. Again, the point of the list is not to find our Christian identity in what we’re not. Rather, our identity is rooted in what we are: united to our glorious Savior. Out of his work and power can we be told, “Don’t be that guy.” “Don’t be that gal.” And in these juxtapositions we better understand the will of God for our lives, as we live out of the power of Christ’s death and resurrection on our behalf. Tony Reinke (@tonyreinke) is senior writer for Desiring God and author of 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You (2017), John Newton on the Christian Life (2015), and Lit! A Christian Guide to Reading Books (2011). He hosts the Ask Pastor John podcast and lives in the Twin Cities with his wife and three children.

Amazing Love - Chris Tomlin (Lyrics)

playboy

One Man’s Dream Destroyed Millions The Pitiful Legacy of Hugh Hefner Thumb author jon bloom Article by Jon Bloom Staff writer, desiringGod.org Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy Enterprises and its chief ideological incarnation, died on Thursday at age 91 at the Playboy Mansion, immersed in the fantasy he created. He will be buried next to Marilyn Monroe, Playboy’s inaugural centerfold. In 1953, Hefner pulled pornography out of the seedy back cultural alleys, dressed it up in sophisticated costume and speech, gave it a stylish, debonair set, made it look liberating and libertine, and pushed it into the mainstream as Playboy Magazine. He was not so much a revolutionary as a man who understood his times. He knew the “right side of history” when he saw it. He saw the weakness in the flank, struck shrewdly (and lewdly), and won the cultural battle: the old sexual mores have been decisively thrown down and pornography is pervasive. But at what cost? Seeing People as Roles, Not Souls Playboy (and the flood of increasingly explicit material that has followed it through the break it made in the cultural dam) is not an enterprise that exists to celebrate the beauty of the human body or the wonder of human sexuality. It is an enterprise aimed at financially capitalizing on the fallen human bent toward objectifying others for our own selfish ends. It encourages both men and women in codependent ways to view embodied souls as embodied roles in the private virtual reality show we call fantasy. Hefner and many others have become very rich by objectifying women and turning them into virtual prostitutes — mere bodily images to be used by millions of men who care nothing about them, who ravage them in their imaginations for selfish pleasure and then toss them in the trash. Hefner gave these women the fun name of “playmates,” a wicked mockery of both a person and play, adding a terrible insult to horrible injury. We call this wicked, for it is. But in calling it wicked, we must confront our own wicked proneness to objectify others and resolve all the more to war against it. We humans have a horrible, sinful tendency to view others as roles — too often expendable “extras” — in the epic moving picture of our story, not souls in the real epic of God’s story. The fallen human nature, unhinged from God’s reality, seeks to construct its own preferred reality. And it uses other people to do it. Let me use as an example what at first might appear as a harmless, fun song, but is anything but harmless. The Fantasy Girl from Ipanema In the mid-60s, as Playboy was building steam on its way to becoming a media powerhouse, the Brazilian jazz/bossa nova song “The Girl from Ipanema” was building steam as an international hit, on its way to being the second-most recorded pop song in history. The song is about a man who daily watches a beautiful girl walk by him on the way to Ipanema Beach in south Rio de Janeiro. She is “tall and tan and young and lovely” and “swings so cool and sways so gently,” passing by like a song on legs. He is intoxicated with her and “would give his heart gladly” to her, but “she doesn’t see” him. The song is light and breezy and almost sounds innocent. But it’s not. The song is actually a man’s fantasy. The girl he thinks he loves, he knows nothing about. If she turns out to have a lower IQ than he imagines or a serious medical condition, would he still love her? If she heads to the beach daily to escape the sexual molestation of a relative, or suffers from a subtle mental illness, would he still give his heart gladly to her? This girl is not a soul to him; she is a symbol of something he desires and he projects on her a role in a fantasy of his own creation. This is precisely what we humans are so prone to do: to view others, and the world, as a projection of our own fantasies. Even we Christians can lose sight of the world as a battlefield of horrific cosmic warfare, with people caught in its crossfire needing to be rescued, and see it as the place where we want our dreams — self-centered, self-serving, self-exalting, self-indulgent dreams — to come true. The more we indulge such fantasies, the more inoculated and numb we become to reality and the less urgent we feel about the real needs of other real souls. The Real Girl from Ipanema The girl from Ipanema has a Hugh Hefner connection, for she was a real girl. The song’s (married) composers used to sit in a café near the beach, watch her walk by, and talk about the desires she inspired. She was a 17-year-old school girl, sometimes wearing her school uniform and sometimes wearing her bikini. After the song exploded in popularity, the composers informed her that she was “the girl.” She became a minor Brazilian celebrity, a national symbol of sexual appeal. Eventually she became a Brazilian Playboy Playmate, posing for the magazine as a younger woman and later posing again with her adult daughter — two generations caught and exploited by Hefner’s fantasy. Now she’s 72, trying hard to stay looking as young and lovely as possible, for she is, after all, the girl from Ipanema. And she’s an example that objectification of other people is not harmless. Her identity has been forged by two men’s lust for her adolescent body. The indulgence and propagation and proliferation of fantasies are not harmless. Real lives get caught in the gears; real souls are shaped and hardened and become resistant to what’s really real, to what’s really true. And they can be destroyed. People Are Souls, Not Roles It is tragically appropriate that Hugh Hefner will be buried next to Marilyn Monroe. Monroe was not merely the inaugural centerfold of Playboy Magazine; she became and remains the poster girl of 20th century American sexual objectification. Nearly sixty years after her suicidal death, she remains a sexual icon in most people’s minds, not a broken soul who knew the despairing loneliness of being a sensual image desired by millions, yet a person truly loved by very few. Hefner encouraged millions and millions of men and women to view people in the very way that destroyed Marilyn Monroe. That’s why, men (and of course not just men), on the occasion of Hugh Hefner’s death, let us resolve all the more to abstain from fantasy passions of the flesh, which wage war against our souls — and not just ours but others’ souls as well (1 Peter 2:11). When we look at a woman, whether she’s Marilyn Monroe, the girl from Ipanema, a co-worker, classmate, fellow church member, another man’s wife, or our own wife, let us say to ourselves and, when needed, each other: “she is not your playmate!” She is not an object who at seventeen you might in selfishness wish to use for your own lusts and throw away, or at 72 you might in selfishness not notice at all. She is not an embodied role player in your virtual reality show. She is an embodied soul whose worth in God’s eyes exceeds all the wealth in the world. She is God’s creation, not an object for your sinful recreation. Hugh Hefner called himself “the boy who dreamed the dream.” Yes, he dreamed his dream, he lived his dream, and his dream made him rich. He died still dreaming. Only God knows how many souls have been damaged and destroyed by his dream. May God have mercy. Martin Luther didn’t stand alone 500 years ago. Nor does he stand alone today. To mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, we invite you to join us on a 31-day journey, beginning October 1, just 5–7 minutes each day, to meet the many heroes of the Reformation. Jon Bloom (@Bloom_Jon) serves as author, board chair, and co-founder of Desiring God. He is author of three books, Not by Sight, Things Not Seen, and Don’t Follow Your Heart. He and his wife live in the Twin Cities with their five children. 56.7K Get Desiring God in Your Inbox A daily digest of new resources, and peeks behind the scenes from our editorial team

arthur askey the bee song

you do not have because you do not ask

You Have Not Because You Ask Not ask not // Lynette Hagin John Wesley once said, "God does nothing except in response to believing prayer." That's the law He has designed to operate on this earth—the law of prayer. In other words, our Heavenly Father works through the prayers of His people. He shapes the world by the prayers of His saints. But that means He has to find someone who will intercede in prayer. If we want the will of God to be done in this earth, it is our responsibility to pray that His will is done. The Lord's Prayer says, "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE in earth, as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6:9–10). I don't know about you, but as long as I'm here on this earth, I want to be surrounded by the will of my Heavenly Father! Prayer is our responsibility as Christians. God has called each and every one of us to pray. In fact, it seems that He cannot carry out His plan on the earth without the prayers of His saints, which means we have a mighty job to do in prayer! The law of prayer requires us, as believers, to pray so God can answer our prayers. In other words, we are supposed to ask, and then He answers. Now, I know that God is all-knowing. Jesus said the Father already knows what we need before we ask (Matt. 6:32). He also knows our desires. But He still requires that we ask Him for those things. James 4:2 says, "Ye have not, because ye ask not." God expects us to ask! Let me share a story with you that illustrates what I'm talking about here. When I was 16 years old, I had some babysitting jobs and was beginning to earn some money. At the time, contact lenses had just come out, and I desperately wanted to have some contacts. I knew there was no money in our family's budget to provide contact lenses for me. So being the independent person that I've always been, I said to my dad, "I desire to have some contact lenses. I want to go to the bank and borrow the money for contacts." My dad thought it was a good idea for me to establish some credit, even though this was certainly establishing credit at quite an early age. But my dad was not only a minister, he was also a businessman. And he thought this was a good thing for his daughter to do. So he told me, "OK. I'll go to the bank with you and you can borrow the money." When we went into the banker's office, my dad and I sat down. Dad introduced me to the banker, and I thought surely he was going to explain what I wanted. But we just sat there for several minutes, and my dad didn't say a word! Finally I thought, "If I'm going to get this loan, I'm going to have to ask for it myself." So I gathered up my courage and said to the banker, "This is what I want to borrow. I have a babysitting job, and I'll pay it back." "That's fine," the banker replied. Then I signed my name on the paper, and when we walked out of his office, I had the loan. As we were leaving the building, I looked over at my dad and said to him, "Daddy! Why didn't you tell the banker what I wanted?" My dad replied, "Lynette, I wasn't the one who wanted something. It was you. You needed to ask." It's the same way in our relationship with our Heavenly Father. We can't depend on our spouses to ask God for the things we need. We can't depend on our friends to ask for us. And our children can't depend on us to ask the Heavenly Father for the things they desire. Yes, we can all lift each other up in prayer. But we all must learn how to ask the Father for ourselves! Jesus Said to Ask There are a number of passages in the Bible where the Lord Jesus Christ told us to ask. Let's read one of those passages from the Book of John. JOHN 16:23–24 23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. 24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. Remember, when Jesus spoke those words, He was not addressing a crowd of world-renowned Christian televangelists. He was speaking to His disciples. He was speaking to you and me. And He said that whatsoever we ask in His Name, the Father will give it to us. Jesus was urging us to ask! In another passage from the Book of John, the Lord told His disciples, "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son" (John 14:13). After Jesus made that statement, the disciples must have looked at Him incredulously. They probably thought, "Jesus, are You talking about anything that we ask?" So what did He do then? In the very next verse, He repeated what He had just said—"If ye shall ask ANY THING in my name, I will do it" (v. 14). But then He gave them the qualifier for their asking. Verse 15 says, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." If you love Me! Jesus is talking about relationship, isn't He? You see, our asking is tied to our relationship with the Lord. It's tied to our love for Him and keeping His commandments. If we have a close, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ and we're obeying His commandments, then if we ask anything in His Name, He will do it for us. God desires to give us the things we need and want. But we still must ask Him for them. This is the law of prayer—the law by which God brings His will to pass in the earth. As we boldly ask God to meet our needs and wants, we will receive answers from Him.

Bruce Morton - Live Floor Show.mov

Elders and teaching

September 14, 2017 Must Elders Be Skilled in Teaching? Thumb author david mathis Article by David Mathis Executive Editor, desiringGod.org Does the qualification that pastors and elders be “able to teach” (1 Timothy 3:2) mean skilled in teaching or something more akin to willing and able when necessary? In the New Testament, “pastor,” “elder,” and “overseer” are three names for the same teaching office (Acts 20:28; Titus 1:5–7; 1 Peter 5:1–2). Pastors are elders are overseers. And the pastors are the chief teachers (Ephesians 4:11). Pastoral authority, in the New Testament, is always tied to teaching. Faithful leaders exercise oversight centrally through teaching, and teaching is their main instrument of exercising authority. Ongoing teaching is centrally important in the Christian church, and is the central work of her lead officers. But how central? The qualification is “able to teach,” but able is an ambiguous word in our English. Is “able to teach” a high bar or a low one? Is this a minimal standard or maximal? Does able point to elders being skilled teachers or simply willing to teach if needed? More to the point, are elders the kind of men who can teach if a gun is put to their head, or are they the kind who won’t stop teaching even at gunpoint? Ability or Possibility? “Able to teach” translates a single word in the original (Greek didaktikos), which appears only twice in the New Testament, in the elder qualifications in 1 Timothy 3:2 and the qualifications of “the Lord’s servant,” who “must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness” (2 Timothy 2:24–25). Neither of those texts alone answers our question, but Titus 1:9 sheds some important light. Given the clear overlap between the elder-overseer qualifications in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, we find Titus 1:9 puts more flesh on what Paul means by “able to teach”: [An elder] must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. What the eldership requires is no mere willingness, but ability and proclivity. Which is why some translations have rendered it “apt to teach” — apt meaning inclined, disposed, or given to teaching — or even “skilled in teaching.” Teaching with Ability Bill Mounce, in his thorough and insightful commentary on the Pastoral Epistles, makes this important observation about the civic context of the elder qualifications in 1 Timothy: The problem in Ephesus was false teaching, and it is difficult to see Paul allowing for only the passive possession of the gift [of teaching] and not active participation. [2 Timothy 2:24 and Titus 1:9] confirm that those who could teach did teach. (174) In other words, elders are practicing teachers. Gifted teachers become elders, and elders continue to exercise their gift for building up the church. Mounce adds, “This is one of the more significant requirements of an overseer and sets him apart from the deacons. The elders are the teachers; the deacons are more involved in the day-to-day serving.” Philip Towner agrees that “able to teach” is not just willingness but “skill in teaching” or “ministry skill or gift.” “Church leaders,” he writes, are to be “chosen from among those who display this gift.” David Platt also agrees. Elders, he writes, can’t just know the Word extensively; it is imperative that elders communicate the Word effectively. . . . An elder must know the Word and spread the Word throughout the church and from the church throughout the world. He must be able to persuade people with the Word, plead with people from the Word, comfort people with the Word, encourage people from the Word, instruct people in the Word, and lead the church according to the Word. This is nonnegotiable. (1 Timothy, 56) “Able to teach” is not a minimal criterion, but a maximal one. The question is not whether elders can teach if necessary, but are they effective teachers of the people? Are they fruitful in their context as teachers? Pastor-elders are among Christ’s gifts to his church, for her good, and they are gifts first and foremost associated with teaching, not mere decision-making or oversight: He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11–12) A literal rendering of “the shepherds and teachers” here is “the pastor-teachers.” “Shepherds” and “teachers” are not two groups, but one. And throughout the New Testament, the office of pastor-elder walks hand in hand with the gift of teaching. It’s not as if one group in the church is the “pastors” or “elders” and then some other group is the “teachers.” The pastors are teachers, and those who are skilled in teaching God’s word, while meeting the other qualifications of the office, are those who in time, and in view of the church’s need, become the pastors of the church. What About 1 Timothy 5:17? The often-cited text against all pastor-elders being teachers is 1 Timothy 5:17: “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.” Some read here a larger council of elders who “rule well,” and then, within that council, a subgroup “who labor in preaching and teaching.” Some even go so far as to name two kinds of elders: ruling elders and teaching elders. But is 1 Timothy 5:17 implying — as no other text does — two classifications of elder, those who teach and those who (typically) do not? A key detail in the verse is how we understand the word “especially.” Platt comments, That word “especially” might be better translated as “that is,” so that the verse might also be translated, “The elders who are good leaders should be considered worthy of double honor, that is, those who work hard at preaching and teaching.” In other words, good leaders in the church are those who labor in preaching and teaching. (1 Timothy, 90) Platt cites George Knight, who writes, “Paul is giving here [in 1 Timothy 5:17] a further description of those he has already mentioned” (Pastoral Epistles, 232). In other words, the “elders who rule well” are “those who labor in word and teaching.” Elders “rule well” by laboring chiefly as teachers. All elders are teachers in an important sense, not just a subgroup of a larger council. Mounce agrees: “A straightforward reading of the text would infer that all overseers were supposed to be skilled teachers” (Pastoral Epistles, 174). Skilled in Context But isn’t “skilled in teaching” simply too high a standard to work out in practice? Does a small, rural church stand a chance of finding “skilled teachers”? Wouldn’t such a qualification leave thousands of good churches not only without the plurality of pastor-teachers the New Testament prescribes, but even without a single pastor-teacher? One brilliant attribute of the elder qualifications is that they are relative in the best sense. They are not simple boxes to check, but criteria for sober-minded evaluation. They are meant to be appropriately flexible and therefore apply to, and serve, local churches throughout the ages, around the world, in vastly different contexts. One way to say it is that “able to teach” is analog, not digital. It’s not meant to be either true or false of any given man’s life whatever the context. Rather, it’s a qualification to consider at a particular time relative to a particular context. A seminary degree doesn’t necessarily make a man “able to teach.” It just makes him a “seminary graduate.” Some given local church must determine for itself whether he is “able to teach” this specific flock. Whether a man is “skilled in teaching” in a country church plant may be quite different than whether he is “skilled in teaching” in a long-established, bustling, city church. What individual churches should look for in their elders is not men who are “skilled in teaching” relative to the best preachers online, or even the church across town, but whether they are “skilled in teaching” relative to this specific congregation, whether urban or rural, fledgling or mature, long-established or newly planted. Will this man be able to teach our people (not any people) in a compelling way? Is he skilled enough to feed us regularly by teaching us God’s word? Will our hearts soar regularly under his teaching God’s word to us? Will he not just be willing but eager to rise to the occasion to persuade our people away from error? Is he skilled enough as a teacher to lead and engage and inspire the people of our particular church to love God and his word and fulfill the mission Christ calls us to in this community? These are the kind of questions church leaders and congregations can ask when appointing new elders. Such questions will help us keep our standards appropriately high, guard the indispensable place of teaching, and ensure we have the right men in the right offices for the long-term health of the church. Making sure that our elders really are “able to teach” — not just able to get by, but able to teach with skill — will not only keep our churches well-fed, but have them ready to face the challenges that are coming, and are already here, when we will need both faithfulness and effectiveness in combatting false teaching. David Mathis (@davidcmathis) is executive editor for desiringGod.org and pastor at Cities Church in Minneapolis. He is a husband, father of four, and author of Habits of Grace: Enjoying Jesus through the Spiritual Disciplines.

The last of the summer wine

The Last of the Summer Wine The last of the summer wine, The sweet bouquet of memories, Of you and I, as time goes by, I still remember these. The last of the summer wine, When passing shadows still recur, Of golden days, so young in love, And that's the way we were. We had our dreams, To change the world, As people will, But now we're known as the folk, Who live on the hill. The last of the summer wine, A vintage love, a vintage brew, And now my love this toast I give, Thank you for being you. Bill Owen 1914-99

One Thing Sets Elders Apart

One Thing Sets Elders Apart Thumb author david mathis Article by David Mathis Executive Editor, desiringGod.org Able to teach. Ah, that memorable criterion in 1 Timothy 3:2. That flashing light that distinguishes the elders from the deacons. That one qualification for the pastoral office that sets it apart from what the New Testament expects of all Christians (though all should pursue maturity, and become teachers, in some sense, Hebrews 5:12–14). All church officers should be above reproach, one-woman men, good household managers, not drunkards, not greedy, not untested. The respective lists of qualifications for pastor-elders (1 Timothy 3:1–7) and deacons (1 Timothy 3:8–13) read so similarly in substance, with just this one trait sticking out: “able to teach.” Authority Through Teaching It is teaching, after all, given the nature of the New Testament church, that is at the heart of the pastoral office. What Christian pastors offer, most fundamentally, is not their cosmopolitan and interdisciplinary learning, ability to entertain masses, or executive facility. They are stewards of God’s very words. God has given his church “the pastor-teachers” (Ephesians 4:11) as those with the ability to receive, understand, integrate, index, access, winsomely defend, and effectively communicate his word to his people and to the world. The New Testament does not vest pastor-elders with authority in and of themselves. Rather, their influence is tied directly to the true source of authority in the church: Christ himself, expressed in the words of his first-century apostles. Christ is head of his church. He has the final say. And he appointed apostles to speak authoritatively on his behalf in that first generation of the church. The church’s enduring objective source of authority today is their written word. Which is why teaching that word is so centrally important in the Christian church. Faithful pastors in faithful churches have authority only to the degree that they faithfully teach the apostles’ word, which is the very word of God. Centrality of Teaching Inevitably, our churches will lose their way over time if we lose touch with the central importance of teaching in the New Testament. If we think of teaching more like getting a degree than having our next meal. More like something we endure for a while and then graduate, and less like something we receive regularly to stay alive. But teaching, right across the Scriptures, from old covenant to new, is plainly the latter, not the former. Sitting under gifted teaching is not a season of life for the Christian, but a lifestyle. Just to take a sampling from the Pastoral Epistles (1 and 2 Timothy and Titus), teaching serves a much more central role in the life and health of the church than many of us today are prone to think in the twenty-first century. Consider just seven observations, among others. 1. God’s reputation relates to what the church teaches. The very honor and name of God himself in our cities is at stake in what our churches teach. “The name of God and the teaching” go together, either in being revered or being reviled (1 Timothy 6:1). This alone should be enough to awaken us to the importance of Christian teaching. 2. It was essential for the apostles to be teachers. The nature of the Christian faith — with ongoing teaching at its heart — means that it was essential for the apostles to be teachers, not just decision-makers. Twice Paul mentions that he is not just an apostle (which might seem like all he needs to say), but also a teacher (1 Timothy 2:7; 2 Timothy 1:11). 3. The church’s mission requires teaching. Christian disciple-making, the lead charge in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18–20) requires teaching. It is essentially teaching. The word disciple means “learner.” To be discipled is to be taught, to follow another’s teaching (2 Timothy 3:10), and vital to the disciple-making process is not simply training up new Christians, but training up “faithful men, who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2). And the Commission makes it explicit: “make disciples . . . teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” 4. God means for his word to be taught. The word of God, spoken through first-covenant prophets and new-covenant apostles, is not simply to be heard, but taught. “All Scripture is . . . profitable for teaching” (2 Timothy 3:16). Church leaders, like Timothy, are charged, “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” (2 Timothy 4:2). Teaching, as we have seen, goes hand in hand with true authority in the church. “To teach or to exercise authority” (1 Timothy 2:12) are not two distinct activities, but one. In the church, leaders exercise authority centrally through teaching, and teaching is their chief channel of exercising authority. 5. Error spreads though “false teachers.” Error in the church spreads through teaching (1 Timothy 1:3–7; 4:1; Titus 1:11). What do false teachers do? They teach. The fact that those who spread error are called false teachers alerts us to the importance of teaching, for good or for bad, in the church. 6. Elders address error through true teaching. The battle lines between truth and error are drawn between teachers, not any other proficiency or skill. Faithful leaders propagate “the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness,” while those who infect the church “teach a different doctrine” (1 Timothy 6:3). When the time comes that wandering souls no longer “endure sound teaching,” they “accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions” (2 Timothy 4:3). It’s not a matter of whether we will have teachers, but who they will be. 7. Pastor-elders in the church are teachers. Leaders in the local church devote themselves to teaching (1 Timothy 4:13). False teaching must be answered with true teaching, and true faith only stays true through ongoing true teaching. Teaching is not optional in the church; it’s essential. So Paul instructs Timothy to “teach these things” (1 Timothy 4:11; 6:2), and to keep a close watch not only on himself but on the teaching (1 Timothy 4:16). Titus must “teach what accords with sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1), and “in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned” (Titus 2:7–8). Leaders in the local church, then, are not defined as savvy decision-makers or experienced businessmen, but as “those who labor in word and teaching” (1 Timothy 5:17). So when we remember our leaders, we remember them as “those who spoke to [us] the word of God” (Hebrews 13:7). Food for Hungry Souls Simply put, the idea of pastor-elders being savvy decision-makers, but not teachers, is foreign to the New Testament. Also foreign is the concept of ministry-specialized “pastors” who mainly administrate programs and jettison the regular practice of pastoring through teaching. Such men who are gifted servants, but not teachers, aren’t barred from church office. They are a tremendous blessing to the church. They are useful for many forms of ministry leadership and service, but they are not elders. This is why God has given us a second office called “deacon.” The cultural pressure today is extraordinary for pastors and elders to be practicing, and proficient at, just about anything else other than teaching. But if we are to be faithful to the teaching of the Bible, to God’s own word to us, we will push against the tides to reduce, minimize, and go thin on teaching in the life of the church. We’re not handing out degrees, but feeding souls. And that doesn’t happen well without skilled, dedicated teachers working week in and week out to shepherd the flock. David Mathis (@davidcmathis) is executive editor for desiringGod.org and pastor at Cities Church in Minneapolis. He is a husband, father of four, and author of Habits of Grace: Enjoying Jesus through the Spiritual Disciplines.

God made me a writer

God Made You a Writer An Invitation to Every Christian Thumb author david mathis Article by David Mathis Executive Editor, desiringGod.org The Christian gospel has a way of making us all writers in some way, shape, or form. From text messages, emails, and written notes, to church newsletters, missionary support letters, blogs, articles, and even books, everyday Christians do a lot of writing — and chances are you do too. Christianity is a word-centered faith. Our God created the world through words (Hebrews 11:3; ten times Genesis 1 tell us “God said”), and just as he said, “Let there be light,” so he speaks our faith into existence (2 Corinthians 4:6). God’s own Son is called his Word (John 1:1). And our very faith is sustained by “the word of Christ,” the message of the gospel (Romans 10:13) and ongoing word-ministry in the life of the church. Christianity is not a quiet faith, but a loud one, full of words. Write and Wrong Writing, then, however formal or informal, is not the privilege of a few gifted Christian dignitaries, but an invitation to every believer. Just as we can’t help but express to others in spoken words the glory of who God is and what he does, so also we find ourselves making use of the remarkable litany of technologies that allow us to communicate in written words. Broadly conceived, more Christians are writers than they think, even if it’s just in personal correspondence. Whether you think of yourself as a writer or not (and on the whole, it might be better if less people did!), I’d love to extend to you God’s invitation to find your ways of proclaiming his excellencies (1 Peter 2:9) in written words. 1. Christians write because God has written. God has spoken, so we speak. God has written, so we write — not to eclipse God’s words but to illumine them, explain them, celebrate them, and offer them to others. Paul writes to his disciple Timothy, You have been acquainted with the sacred writing, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:15–17) These words are both an encouragement and a challenge for Christian writing. The encouragement is that “Scripture is . . . profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training.” God speaks to his people that they might hear, but not for us to be hearers only. God means for us to do something with his words. They are profitable for our actions — for our own words. “Writing is not the privilege of a few gifted Christian dignitaries, but an invitation to every believer.” Tweet Share on Facebook God is speaking in his written word, and if we’re listening, then we too will have something to say, and to write. The challenge is to stay on the lifeline. If our words of teaching, reproving, correcting, and training become disconnected from God’s word, then we become part of the problem rather than the solution. Which raises the regular question for Christians as we write, Am I being faithful to God’s word in my words? We want to be part of the happy, clear-conscience collective with the apostle Paul who says, We are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ. (2 Corinthians 2:17) We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. (2 Corinthians 4:2) Whether pastors or laymen, teaching or texting, we want to do our best to present ourselves “to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). 2. Christian writing doesn’t always publish. An important reality to keep clear in our minds, especially in a day when it’s never been so easy to publish our words to the world, is that writing is not the same as publishing. It’s one thing to write in a journal, or to pen a private note to a spouse or family member, and it’s another thing to write for all to see online or elsewhere. Christian publishing, whether in print or on the Web, is public ministry. Perhaps you haven’t thought of it that way, since the act of writing typically happens alone, out of the spotlight, but when we publish what we have written, we are doing public Christian ministry. It’s a calling to undertake with serious joy. 3. Christian publishing serves others, not self. Christian publishing is fundamentally different than personal journaling. Often good journaling is mainly, if not only, for yourself. But other kinds of writing, and especially publishing, are not for mere self-expression, but for serving. Christian writing, in this sense, embraces the spirit of 2 Corinthians 4:5: “What we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’s sake.” God breathed out his words for us in Scripture that we may be “equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:17). Writing that is Christian — whether privately to friends and family, or publicly online or in print — has purpose. God’s words in Scripture equip us for good works in loving service of others. Christian writing is no mere existential release, but an act of love. It’s not a private journal made public to win sympathy and admiration for ourselves, but a sacrifice of love — a kind of dying to self — to write not just the way we want to write on our own, but in such a way that other people are helped for Jesus’s sake. 4. Boring writing lies about God. The invitation to write is not an easy one. Writing itself is not as simple as it may sound, and Christian writing (to benefit others, not just express self) is even harder. Just as we must not lie about God and his world theologically, the same is true emotionally. Boring writing about God borders on blasphemy. When we ourselves aren’t truly affected, and so we disaffect others with boring writing about the most wonderful truths in the universe, we lie about God. So, when we write as Christians, we work — and do we ever work! — to make it interesting and appropriately provocative to the regenerate palate. “Boring writing about God borders on blasphemy.” Tweet Share on Facebook And when our craft is at its most difficult, we have this great solace and assurance: we aren’t left to ourselves to create from scratch. We don’t have to speak first; indeed we cannot. God has spoken first. Christians who self-identify as “writers” may talk about being “creatives,” but we know that’s not ultimately the case. More precisely, we are “subcreatives,” to borrow a concept from Tolkien. We labor to find fresh approaches to formulate ancient truths. We expend energy for new ways to tell the old, old story. 5. God’s words not only guide ours, but feed our souls. It is such good news for Christian writers that when we are empty, we have a place to go outside ourselves to refill: the words of God himself. The place of Scripture in our writing is not just public, for our readers, but private, for our own souls. God’s words do not just serve the personal or published ministry of writing by working through us, but they make “the man of God . . . complete” (2 Timothy 3:17) by working in us. God’s words first serve us. Before God’s words work through* us as writers, they work in us as Christians. Then the Holy Spirit has his way of prompting us to put pen to paper, and fingers to keys, in our various ways, shapes, and forms. David Mathis (@davidcmathis) is executive editor for desiringGod.org and pastor at Cities Church in Minneapolis. He is a husband, father of four, and author of Habits of Grace: Enjoying Jesus through the Spiritual Disciplines.

OM the early days.

In recent days I have been going through more old paper including some stashed in the attic . in my hands is a finance note book with the first gifts and expenses in the history of the work. it was 1956 . Dale we were at Maryville. You gave one of the first gifts. we were still called Christian youth committee which is stamped on the cover. There were gifts when I was still in high school including one from Redyke to cover the Gospels of John not sure where those records are? In this book I have here the first gift entered was from me for. 99 cents. Mr Ed Galenkamp gave 100$....this was by the way building up to the meeting in the highschool Christmas 1956 when about 125 responded after I spoke including my dad. Dale you gave one of the first gifts .70 cents Charley Shotmeyer $5.00 mrs clapp 5$ Molly (your girl friend dale) $2.00 Bobbie and Ray $1.00 our mom $1.00 Its many pages cover the next summer when we hired a bus to billy graham crusade and then went to mexico. I cannot remember looking at this before…and its 60 years ago. interesting that I find it this year. it has a listing \mexico trip $546.00 (there is as summary of how it was used. and moody press for 10,000 gospels $350 It ends may of 1958 which is when SEND the Light was registered and I think my mom took up the finance from that point. Not sure where all the book sales money for the summer was. I think I did that under my fire extinguisher company Bergen County Sales. There are missing pieces in the puzzle. Thanks for reading this and GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD. IT WAS HIS WORK FROM DAY ONE. IT WAS very small beginning. In his grip still george ________________________________________ Special Projects is a ministry of Operation Mobilisation (OM) Registered Office: The Quinta, Weston Rhyn, Oswestry, SY10 7LT, United Kingdom A company limited by guarantee - registered no: 2564320 (England & Wales) Charity registered no: 1008196 (England & Wales) - SC040988 (Scotland) ________________________________________ Operation Mobilisation (OM) - a company limited by guarantee - The Quinta, Weston Rhyn, Oswestry, SY10 7LT, United Kingdom Company reg no: 2564320 (England & Wales) - Charity reg. no: 1008196 (England & Wales) - SC040988 (Scotland) Web: http://www.uk.om.org

The #1 Hardest Thing About Being a Christian Writer

Fencing With Ink Art, Freedom, and Most Holy Irreverence About Ferryman My Writing Edits and Reviews Contact Me Subscribe! Patreon The #1 Hardest Thing About Being a Christian Writer August 8, 2017 ~ Michael Blaylock It’s not the criticism for your faith, it’s not the market, it’s not even the clashing views on what is Christian. It’s knowing that God can and will take your writing away from you. Unless you give it to him first. Many of you just breathed a sigh of relief, I bet. “Oh, well that’s fine, then. I’ve already given my writing to God.” Did you? Did you really give your writing to God? Or did you just dedicate it to him? Many Christian authors say they’re writing for Jesus, using their talents to create Christian content, and that’s good. But that’s only dedicating it to God. Giving it to him is a different matter. When a musician dedicates a song to his wife, he does it in her honor. But when he gives the song to her, he gives her full control of it. She can burn it, sell it and make a profit under her own name, put it on the fridge and never let anybody see it, change the lyrics to be more like Justin Beiber, add in a rap, turn it into an instrumental, make it into an African dance-polka, whatever she wants. But the musician no longer has any say. Neither does the writer who gives his gift to God. The Bad News Maybe you think God has told you to be a writer–and you may be right. I know God has made me one. But God also told Israel they would last forever. He told Saul to be King. He made Adam king of the Garden of Eden. Yet none of those things came to be. Why? Because they valued those things more than God. I always thought being a Christian writer meant writing in a Godly way. Lately, God has broken me, wholly and utterly. He’s revealed that if I wasn’t a writer, I could not imagine a happy future. It’s who I am, a wordsmith and creator. So when I struggle to be a writer, my hope crumbles and I fall into extraordinary depression. My hope is in the wrong thing. Even though it’s a God-given, God-honoring thing. If we put anything, ANYTHING before God, he will snatch it out of our hands, or at the very least, sit back and watch it shatter. Which brings us back to the hardest thing: giving our writing to God. Completely. Letting him decide which books to write. When our careers take off. What kind of success we get. It means giving God the authority to take your writing away entirely. To make sure you never, ever see your dreams come true. Because you’ve chosen God instead. Can you do that? The Good News What happens when God’s people give away their hope? They find it. Abraham made to sacrifice the son and legacy God promised him…and got to keep both. David allowed himself to live in squalor and terror rather than seize the kingdom…and got that kingdom. Jesus surrendered his very life…and got eternal life. Seeing the pattern? We only keep what we give up entirely. Abraham’s hope wasn’t in Isaac, nor David’s in a throne, nor Jesus’s in his flesh. They all placed their trust in God alone. So it is for Christian writers. If you clutch your writing, God will show you who’s really in charge. But if you can hand God your craft, utterly and completely, he will make you the writer he wants you to be. And remember: God’s ways are infinitely better than ours. Abraham could have had one son, but he got a nation as a legacy. David could have been any old king, but he became the greatest king instead. Jesus could’ve saved his life, but now he lives forever. You can be a writer, and even have some worldly success. But you’ll never reach your potential, never go the places God wants you to go, make the impact God wants you to make unless you first give up your writing to God. This means more time in prayer and less building your brand on Twitter. It means learning to hear God’s voice more than your audience’s. And it means having absolutely no dreams, goals, or plans except those God gives you–and even then, letting them come about in his time, not yours. God demands everything because he gives everything. I cannot just dedicate my work to God. I have to give it to him. If I don’t, he may very well take it from me, rob me of success and hope until I realize he’s the only true hope I have for a fulfilling life. The gift must never surpass the giver. Same to you. Don’t just give God glory, honor, and credit. Give him that piece of your heart you’ve kept for yourself. Share this: Press ThisTwitterFacebook131Pinterest1Tumblr

shealogians

I feel badly for Jory Micah. Today she is claiming that those who have gone to her Twitter and Facebook to rebuke her for her heresy are all minions of mine, and a cult I apparently lead with my father, and we follow Doug Wilson? It's all very strange. For the record, I haven't sent any one to knock on her. In fact, I've spent quite a bit of time asking those offended by her theology to watch their tongues. Yes, her heresy is bad. Very bad. But that doesn't mean she herself deserves name-calling, etc. Correct her positions, but don't attack her personally. Further, I have never led a cult, or a church. Because you know....women shouldn't do that :) Of course, she continues to attack me personally and blame me for the heat she's getting on social media. She continues to call me terrible things. If you care for Jory, and the souls of those who listen to her heresy, the best thing you can do is pray. Seriously, pray for her. She's heaping up wrath on herself with her false teaching and we should care about that. If you can interact with her without name-calling, then feel free. Finally, I've seen her posts and I know what she's saying, so no need to message me or tag me or whatever else have you. I've attempted to honestly interact with her, and she is not interested. I know it's hard to find out who my dad is online, but the fact that she didn't even try to find out who she was attacking before she did so says quite enough about whether or not a real dialogue will take place here. There is nothing left for me to interact with. I know it's hard to see God profaned online in the awful ways in which she does it and we all want to see her, and those who follow her, come to a true knowledge of God. If that's what you really want, guard your tongue. Be careful with your words. Preach the Gospel. Confront the lies, but do it with wisdom and love. Have a nice day! And seriously.....stop tagging me. :D 389 Likes55 Comments20 Shares

Silence can never be mis quoted.

Be careful whom you confide in 4 August 2017 ‘Those who are trustworthy can keep a confidence.’ Proverbs 11:13 NLT "Proverbs 11:13 NLT"::http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs 11:13 &version=NLT If you need help with a problem in your personal life, your family, or your career, keep the following things in mind: 1) Bad news is often remembered longer than good news. Long after you have resolved the issue and moved on with your life, the wrong people will continue to focus on it and talk about it. That’s why God’s Word says, ‘Those who are trustworthy can keep a confidence.’ 2) Be careful who advises you. ‘The thoughts of the righteous are right, but the counsels of the wicked are deceitful’ (Proverbs 12:5 NKJV). Be sure you reach for the right person. There are many sources of wisdom in this world, ‘but the wisdom that is from above is…pure…peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and…hypocrisy’ (James 3:17 NKJV). Note the words, ‘the wisdom that is from above’. Confide only in a counsellor who walks according to the principles of God’s Word. 3) Make sure the person you trust isn’t confiding in others you wouldn’t trust. They say you can tell a man by the company he keeps. And it’s true! The Bible says, ‘Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly’ (Psalm 1:1 NKJV). 4) ‘Problem talk’ can portray you as a victim instead of an overcomer. Nobody wants to back a loser. When Job lost everything, almost everybody avoided him. It was only after God doubled Job’s blessings that they returned to participate in his life and bring him gifts. It’s always wise to control your mouth, your thoughts, and your focus. Remember, silence

Elders

How did God teach me patience? God usually sends things to try ones patience so that one aquires it and for me one so called elder whos name began with H was one such instrument. I would go as far as to say that he was an embarrassment and sad to say that he spent many years in church a great number of them as an elder and was utterly clueless about spiritual things. In the church of Scotland which is not really a church, it is an organisation, this is common. A long time ago, I attended a meeting in Cowdenbeath that was being led by a church of Scotland minister. He told those assembled that he was an elder in the church of scotland for a number of years before he became a christian. Again, having an elder who is has not had a conversion experience does not surprise me, but at least that man got to the point where he was converted.

life is harder

rticle by Jon Bloom Staff writer, desiringGod.org Soldiers don’t learn to fight in the classroom. They learn about fighting in the classroom. Learning about fighting is crucial to successful fighting, which is why soldiers’ training always includes class time. But learning about fighting is not the same thing as fighting. Soldiers never really learn to fight until they are forced to actually do it. And when they do, they discover the actual, concrete experience of fighting looks and feels very different than the abstract idea of fighting. Disciples of Jesus don’t learn to walk by faith — to fight the good fight of faith — in the classroom. They learn about faith in the classroom — sermons, conferences, books, articles, videos. Learning about faith is crucial to successful walking by faith, which is why disciples’ training always includes class time. But learning about walking by faith is not the same thing as walking by faith. Disciples never really learn to walk by faith until they are forced to actually do it. And when they do, they discover the actual, concrete experience of walking by faith looks and feels very different than the abstract idea of walking by faith. Teach Me Your Way When we pray with David, “teach me your way, O Lord” (Psalm 27:11), God answers. And his answers often look and feel very different from what we thought we were asking for. He often takes us out of the classroom — where we thought we understood things — into the chaotic, disorienting, disturbing, desperate violence of the field of spiritual battle, where we encounter internal and external enemies too powerful for us. He brings us up against obstacles too big for us, problems too complex and difficult for us, and burdens so far beyond our strength that we at times despair of life itself (2 Corinthians 1:8). And it is in these desperate places that we, like David, learn what walking by faith really means, where God teaches us his way. How God Taught David In those first heady months after Samuel anointed David the future king of Israel (see 1 Samuel 16), how do you think David imagined his future? The Bible doesn’t tell us. But the Bible does provide us a significant record of David’s inner life throughout his life in the psalms he wrote. And it’s clear from this record that from the day Saul began hunting him down until well into his old age, David was a man of troubles and acquainted with desperation. Most of his psalms are desperate prayers for God’s deliverance from assassination and spiritual depression — or songs of praise after being delivered from such desperate situations. Is this how he envisioned his life as king? Did he expect to live most of his life with a target on his back among members of his own household, treacherous countrymen, as well as surrounding hostile nations? Did he expect to plead with God so often for his very survival (Psalm 86:2)? Did he expect to feel at times forsaken by God (Psalm 22:1)? Did he expect to weep so much (Psalm 6:6–7)? The bewilderment, fear, and sorrow David expressed in many of his psalms lead me to think that trusting God proved far harder than he expected. Prayers of Faith for All But it was, in fact, the crucible of these very hard situations where David learned how to really trust God, and how to really pray, and how to really worship. David prayed, “teach me your way, O Lord” (Psalm 27:11) during a desperate, dangerous moment. And that desperate, dangerous moment (along with many others) was itself a means God used to answer that prayer. But God answered David far more abundantly than David asked and likely thought (Ephesians 3:20). God used these dark, desperate, crushing moments to make David “the sweet psalmist of Israel” (2 Samuel 23:1), providing songs and prayers for the life of faith to all Israel (Galatians 6:16) during its entire militant, embattled existence in this hostile, devil-governed world (1 John 5:19). Through David’s poetic processing of his hope and joy in God in the face of overwhelming circumstances, God provided all of us more holy language and practical examples of how to encourage our faith, how to pray, and how to sing than any other single biblical author. The Way is Hard So, do you still want God to teach you his ways? It’s not surprising if we respond viscerally to this whole idea, “If that’s how God answers, I think I’ll pass.” But we must not listen to that inner voice. That voice always counsels us to indulge in easy things that end up robbing us of great joy, and to avoid hard things that end up increasing our great joy. Yes, “the way is hard that leads to life” (Matthew 7:14). But it leads to life! The easy way leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13). So, if we really want to follow Jesus, if we really want to learn his ways (Psalm 27:11), if we really want “to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord (Colossians 1:10), which is to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7), how should we expect him to teach us? We should expect him to force us out of the classroom and on to the real field of spiritual battle where the conflict is much more chaotic, disturbing, disorienting, frightening, depressing, and sorrowful than we ever expected. And we should expect experiences that make the psalms living and active songs for our desperate souls. It is in these experiences where — like good soldiers, like true disciples — we learn how to really fight and how to really trust. It is there, like David, where we learn God’s way and “take hold of that which is truly life” (1 Timothy 6:19) and taste that which is truly joy. Do Not Be Surprised A war is not won in the tranquil, tidy classroom, but on the desperate battlefield, where soldiers must give their all. Christ’s gospel mission will not be fulfilled in the tranquil, tidy classroom, but on the desperate field of spiritual battle, where disciples must give their all. So, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you” (1 Peter 4:12). Jesus is teaching you how to walk by faith by graciously forcing you to do it. And this hard way leads to life, life more abundant than we have yet imagined. Jon Bloom (@Bloom_Jon) serves as author, board chair, and co-founder of Desiring God. He is author of three books, Not by Sight, Things Not Seen, and Don’t Follow Your Heart. He and his wife live in the Twin Cities with their five children.

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two unusual things

Two unusual things happened last night. I went to Pick up D from the hospital and as I was sitting in my car, a woman in a wheel chair was wheeled out to smoke. I recognised her as Michelle Bonnet. The hospital is a large site, the chances of her wheel chair being put next to my parked car are small and yet it happened. later, I was a Ds flat and we were watching a TV programme about a family with a disabled son and he had been away for five years. the House had to be adapted to his needs. When she looked at the TV D said, "I know him" and she was able to name him and recognised his parents.

The Shack: re-inventing God | Evangelicals Now

The Shack: re-inventing God | Evangelicals Now

Getting upset about the wrong things

Unfundamentalist Christians Above all, love Home About UC Submissions Books UC on Homosexuality Comment Policy Contact « Finding Community in the Image of God A Trauma-Informed Approach to Sin » Christian: You Are Upset About the Wrong Things June 22, 2017 by Guest Contributor 310 Comments This guest post was written by Darrell Lackey. Detail from “The Cleansing of the Temple" by Raimondi via The Metropolitan Museum of Art licensed under CC0 1.0 Detail from “The Cleansing of the Temple” by Raimondi | The Metropolitan Museum of Art | CC0 1.0 Sociologist Tony Campolo has been known, when speaking to Christian audiences, to begin by saying something like this: I have three things I’d like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don’t give a shit. What’s worse is that you’re more upset with the fact I just said “shit” than you are that 30,000 kids died last night. When citing this, I have had people prove his very point by responding something to the effect of, “Yeah, I get it, but I still wish he would make his point some other way…” Ummm, that is his point. His point, in my opinion, isn’t really about the children (although it is, obviously); his point is that we (Christians) get upset over the wrong things. Our moral sense of outrage is often misdirected. The fact that we notice the language, our being offended, before we really register the fact that children are dying, tells us all we need to know. Any focus on a crude term and not on his greater point that children are dying of starvation or malnutrition and that we might be complicit proves his very point. If there was a tiny gasp from the crowd at that word or an awkward silence—such reactions were misdirected. These people were upset about the wrong thing. The legalistic, simplistic, and shallow world of fundamentalism (and even many aspects of evangelicalism) breeds some rather odd triggers for what it is we are supposed to get upset about. Here are just a few: If you become upset when hearing that gay marriage is legal or that a transgender person may use the same public restroom as you, but you are less upset regarding the hate, violence, and discrimination directed toward such people, often leading to suicide: You are upset about the wrong things. If you become upset when people use the greeting “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas,” but you are less upset at the wasteful use of resources during this season and the rampant shallow consumerism while many live in poverty: You are upset about the wrong things. If you become upset when the government uses its power to make corporations protect their workers and protect the environment, but you are less upset when those workers are exploited, injured, or the environment is critically harmed: You are upset about the wrong things. If you become upset at the grocery store when you see someone pay for their food with vouchers or food stamps, but you are less upset with the institutional and cultural structures that often create the very need for such help: You are upset about the wrong things. If you become upset when you see people smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol, but you are less upset when you see people over-eating, knowing the health effects of such, or wasting food, knowing that people go to bed hungry every night: You are upset about the wrong things. If you become upset when Hollywood puts out movies that contain coarse language or nudity, but you are less upset with the excessive, sadistic, and pornographic displays of violence, murders, gore, and bloodletting in war movies, action movies, or even movies like “The Passion of the Christ”: You are upset about the wrong things. If you become upset when the government tries to pass reasonable gun restriction laws, but you are less upset with the amount of accidental firearm-related deaths among children and the general level of gun violence in America: You are upset about the wrong things. If you become upset when you feel the government is restricting your religious liberties, but you are less upset or even applaud the restriction of the religious liberties of others: You are upset about the wrong things. If you become upset when someone commits adultery or at the sexual lapses of others, but you are less upset when people gather around to stone them, or gather around to throw insults, or gossip, or shun them, or shame them, or pass laws to single them out: You are upset about the wrong things. If the response to the above is still, “I get it, BUT…” you have missed the point and made the point, all at the same time. Yes, you can be upset at those other aspects (rightly or wrongly). The point, however, is that those aspects pale in insignificance when placed alongside the deeper and much more important moral failing noted—the failing that should really upset us. It would be like someone telling Jesus, just before he overturned the money-changer’s tables and grabbed a whip, how upset they were at the price of doves that year. It isn’t a false dichotomy. It’s a problem of scale. I am reminded of a scene in the movie “Life is Beautiful” where we see Guido (Roberto Benigni) so happy to think that his old friend, the Nazi doctor, will help him after the doctor recognizes him and makes his life easier inside the death camp. The doctor remembers how clever his friend was, and how he could solve difficult riddles. We begin to think the doctor realizes the moral wrongness of the death camp. Maybe he will try and save Guido and his family. But no, we finally realize, as does Guido, that the doctor simply wanted help solving a riddle. He doesn’t see Guido or the suffering. That doesn’t upset him. What upsets him is not finding the answer to something as insignificant as a riddle. He even says he can’t sleep at night because of it. An extreme example? Maybe. Still, I think such is the sort of person we look like, and are perhaps in danger of becoming, when we get upset over the wrong things, when we focus on the incidental and miss the deeper moral issue. Christian: Don’t be that person. darrell-lackeyAbout Darrell Lackey Darrell Lackey has been a lead pastor and is currently working in the private sector. He is part of a home gathering of some amazing, wonderful Christians and a graduate of the University of San Francisco and Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary (Now Gateway). He and his wife reside in Northern California.

late marriage

Late Marriage is Not a Curse Posted on 06/22/2017 by Brandon Adams picmonkey_imageOK, this takes the cake. I just ran across a blog post vigorously arrayed “against” late marriage. The author was praying for his release from any sin or curse that might be keeping him in the “cage” of late marriage. He went through everything imaginable…generational sins, unfaithfulness, betraying others, demonic sacrifices, everything but the kitchen sink. And then ended with visualizing the fulfillment of his expectation that he would marry soon. All in Jesus’ name, of course. Double take. I want to be clear that I do practice spiritual warfare. I’ll even admit that an idea isn’t automatically ridiculous just because it strikes me so. I’ve heard respected Christian authors say that great couples are opposed from before their meeting. So who knows, maybe a few people do have to fight that battle. And I certainly agree that marriage sounds good. I’m the family type, always have been. Some people are simply built that way. Independence is overrated for me. (My readership is now skewing their heads quizzically: are we sure he’s male? Yes.) But the assumption that late marriage is always a curse? Can’t get on board with that. I wonder what this blogger does with Paul, who chose lifelong singleness for the Kingdom’s sake. I wonder what he does with Matthew 19, where Jesus bluntly tells us that not everyone is cut out for matrimony. “His plans are for my good,” this blogger chants. But how do you know what’s good for you? Perhaps singleness is better. Perhaps Satan isn’t a convenient catch-all for every circumstance you dislike. At the risk of flipping your worldview upside down, what if it’s God holding you back? I must be clear on another thing: I don’t believe every Christian single is being “held hostage” until they check off “enough boxes”, or reach “Expert Level” on being satisfied in God, before God marries them off. That all-too-common theory knows nothing of grace, and it leads singles into an awful existence running around in circles rummaging for internal flaws so that God might “lift his hand”. A terrible motive for pursuing righteousness. But…I won’t make a principle either. I do believe God does this with some people. He’s certainly entitled to. This blogger is obviously operating from a prosperity gospel mindset where his definitions of “good”, not God’s, are in effect. Such richness is lost that way. Waiting is transformative. It’s given me time to grow, to stabilize, to get deeper into God’s Word and become a better potential head for a wife. I cannot tell you how valuable the wait has been. Thanks to God opening my eyes and ears to the realities of marriages around me, I’ve been able to beat back the ignorant albeit near-subconscious fantasies that singles buy into (marriage is a cure-all, etc.) and start plugging into the Thing that matters most. It’s forced me to reckon with God. It’s forced me to acknowledge that I’m not in control and that his ways are best; that he is my ultimate validation, strength, and peace; and that he really is enough. That’s a shipload of treasures that would have missed the port entirely had I married when I wanted. Believe me, I look forward to tying the knot someday. But I won’t try dictating to God what’s best, and I won’t claim that singleness is the absolute nadir of human existence, to be avoided at all costs. There are things far worse. Like living life without God. Thus the Gospel and its theology of hardship keep their place as the Main Thing, above every other consideration. Share this: Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)More Related Singles Training #2: How to View The KingdomIn "Singleness" Singles' Training #1: How to View A SpouseIn "Singleness" 6 Spouse-Related Reasons You Need Jesus More Than a SpouseIn "Singleness" This entry was posted in Singleness. Bookmark the permalink. Post navigation ← One Way Loyalty 10 thoughts on “Late Marriage is Not a Curse” nightshade130 says: 06/22/2017 at 6:28 am I concur with everything that you’ve said here Brandon. Sometimes, I think people become anxious in their “singleness”, that they feel the need to speed up the process by doing unnecessary things to get attention perhaps towards the wrong person that they deem as their “awaited” spouse. It’s so important to build a solid foundational relationship with God as a single person (In my opinion) before thinking of joining up with another person because another person can’t fulfill you the way that God can. Building that personal relationship with God is an individualistic thing and it matters if a person wants to grow in maturity and knowledge. Sometimes, people run into a relationship thinking that the other person can fill the voids that they probably have in their hearts, but only God can fill those places. Joining up with another person while still having an identity crisis will do nothing but be a disservice to the individual and the overall duration of that relationship. Personal growth is an individualistic thing and when a person truly knows who they are in Christ as they build intimacy in knowing God for themselves, will such a person be ready for a real relationship with another person. That’s just my 2 cents on the matter. – Sherline 😀 Liked by 1 person Reply Brandon Adams says: 06/22/2017 at 8:38 am Well said, all of it. I don’t fully understand why some people are required to train with live bullets (by marrying early) and why others are put through years of drills first, but at some point, you just have to play the hand you’ve been dealt. I’m playing mine. Liked by 1 person Reply SheldaRay says: 06/22/2017 at 6:52 am Waiting is definitely transformative. Singleness is a season of restoration as well. If we can’t learn to depend on God and trust in Him during our singleness then how can we keep God first in a relationship? Some people also idolize and worship marriage. They put marriage first. Again, God uses singleness to transform or restore a person’s dependency and identity through Him and not through a spouse. Great post! Liked by 2 people Reply Brandon Adams says: 06/22/2017 at 8:39 am Thanks for the visit, Shelda. Liked by 1 person Reply damarisb513 says: 06/22/2017 at 7:54 am This post is a great reminder that marriage isn’t the end goal – Jesus is. It is definitely hard being a single in a predominantly non-single church body because you feel like you are missing out but then I remember in 1 Cor 7 where Paul talks about it being better to be single because you don’t have the distractions of the world and can have a full heart of devotion to the Lord. There are continual ups and downs in the single walk, for sure, but I look back at all that I have been able to do BECAUSE I was single and I am so grateful for the season that He has kept me in and preparing me for the next. God is so sovereign. Also, I pray for that man that ranted about late marriage – God’s time is the best and perfect time. Liked by 1 person Reply Brandon Adams says: 06/22/2017 at 8:39 am I pray for him as well. I admit I can’t fully know his heart from a single blog post – maybe he’s quite mature in other ways. Like Reply feelingsuicidalblog says: 06/22/2017 at 8:11 am Amen! Love your comments about God being the One who often holds us back…and about Him being the Main Thing. Couldn’t agree more! Liked by 1 person Reply Brandon Adams says: 06/22/2017 at 8:40 am Thanks for the comment. 🙂 Like Reply insanitybytes22 says: 06/22/2017 at 9:27 am LOL! Training with live bullets? I love what you said above. Cracked me up. My husband and I actually met when I was 16, went our separate ways, and he reappeared in my life when he was 27. That’s not really late marriage, but my point being we both really needed over a decade to figure out what was what. My oldest daughter and her hubby married at 18 and they’re still going strong. My second daughter is pushing 30 and claiming she’ll never meet anyone. A friend of mine is 50, divorced twice, swore off women forever…. but recently married one with 3 small kids. It’s a bit funny, he’s as puzzled about it as we are. Not what he thought he’d be doing,not what he planned,and yet it’s right somehow. So, there is great diversity in what God wants to do with people, what song He is writing for each one of us. Liked by 1 person Reply Brandon Adams says: 06/22/2017 at 9:35 am That’s actually a very important point. A lot of singles’ literature we read tries to apply one-size-fits-all principles to everyone. That doesn’t take into account that God works differently with everyone. There are commands that apply to us all, of course, but there also needs to be some breathing room in our understanding of what God’s doing with each of us. Liked by 1 person Reply Leave a Reply Top Posts & Pages Late Marriage is Not a Curse One Way Loyalty God's Not Done with Your Dad We Must Never Become Black Holes About Reflections on "The Case for Christ" To the Mother Who Second-Guesses Herself It's Not About You, Christian Graduates Losing My Religion The God of Winks and Lost Wallets Search Archives June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 Blogroll Christy Fitzwater Grace for the Road The Evidence is Plain

abandoned

looking back to when my mother died, I just feel that I and my family were abandoned by someone who should have been there for us. I joined OM and from the start got no support from the minister. this led to the final break down in our relationship. When my mother died I did not get a single message of condolence from him and to the best of my knowledge neither did the rest of the family in spite of of our years of service in the church. Right now we are looking at loving and valuing one another, which is good and it is timely reminder for all of us to love and value the body of christ. However, in recent years, I have found people who feel let down by the church. I try to do what I can. I only have a limited experience of feeling the way they do, but looking back for that period, church did not work for me either and fellowship was restored by the ministers departure. His departure was timely for I had decided that any commmunication from me to the church would no longer go to him as I was just at breaking point. I had enough of his neglect and I was bereaved. that said, what about forgiveness? for me that question is a mighty challenge.

from the times, by Jermemy Clarkeson on Brexit.

You young people were jolly naughty on June 8. Go to your rooms with no vote Jeremy Clarkson Share Save So that’s two elections on the trot that have been messed up by Britain’s young people. They couldn’t be bothered to vote in the European Union referendum and we ended up with Brexit. And then, having realised the error of their ways, they decided they would vote for that arse Jeremy Corbyn in the general election, so now we’ve ended up with a hung parliament. Which won’t be able to deal with the mess their bone-idleness created in the first place. Frankly, I’d smack their bottoms and send them all to their rooms for the day, and then I’d raise the voting age to 46. Actually, I’d go further. I’d make people sit an IQ test before being allowed to cast a vote, because I’m sorry but anyone who plumped for Corbyn is so daft they really need to be on medication. Britain’s national debt is more than£1.7 trillion and it’s growing at the rate of almost £1bn a week. Which is about £100,000 a minute. And the weird-beard Islingtonite thinks that this can be tackled by making Starbucks pay a bit more tax. He’s deluded and should be in prison. The problem is he has a soft voice and kind eyes and he sounds genuine when he says that if Sir Elton John and Lord Bamford would only pay a little bit more to the government each week, it would end all poverty, hunger, crime, terrorism and war. I’m sitting there screaming: “The man collects manhole covers. He’s a lunatic.” But young and stupid people are turning to their fat friends and saying: “Well, that makes sense.” In a northern accent. We see this problem not just in Britain but all round the world. In America the people elected a man who has nylon hair because he said he’d build a wall along the border with Mexico. In France they elected a man who married his teacher because he has a nice face. In Russia they fawn over a president — who has at some point in his life at the KGB pushed another man’s eyes into the back of his head — because he wants to reinstate the Soviet Union. And so it goes on. In Canada they were offered a choice between a normal politician and a two-year-old. And they decided to give the toddler a chance because he has a huge tattoo of a weird raven on his left arm. It’s not hard to see what’s going on. People are bored with politicians and politics and they want something new. Anything. Just so long as it doesn’t sound like Tony Blair or David Cameron or any of the others. The Tories must choose a leader who’s odd and funny and different. Only one name springs out At one point in the run-up to the election Theresa May took her campaign to Plymouth, or it may have been Portsmouth — somewhere with a lot of ships, anyway. There she was quizzed on camera by someone from the local newspaper, and she answered all his questions with the conviction and sincerity of a regional radio DJ. You could see she didn’t mean a single word she was saying. She therefore said a lot of words without saying anything at all. And people are bored with that. Remember Ed Miliband? The one who lost an election after he failed to eat a bacon sandwich? He’d plainly been told by his spin doctors that the news crew that had been sent to interview him would use only one soundbite and that no matter how tricky or varied the questions might be, he should just say the same thing over and over again. So he did. And then, when the whole unedited interview ended up on YouTube, we could see him sitting there, repeating himself like a Dalek. Blair was an actor, so he made a much better fist of looking as if he knew what he was talking about. But he wasn’t a very good actor, which is why we all knew there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. We could see it in his eyes. But still the politicians keep on believing that a smile, a soundbite and a nice suit are all that’s needed to keep them in a job. Well, they aren’t. Not any more. There’s talk, as I write, that May won’t be able to keep her job, but, seriously, when you look at the replacements whose names are being bandied about: Philip Hammond, David Davis, the other one? They’re like milk bottles. It’s impossible to say which you prefer. Which is why we are drawn to the weirdos, the odd ones out. There’s a theory in America that presidential elections are always won by the candidate you’d most like to have over for a barbecue on a Sunday afternoon. That’s why John F Kennedy beat Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan beat Jimmy Carter, and it’s why Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton. I think there’s a kernel of truth in that in Britain too. It’s probably why we have a hung parliament, because who would you prefer to have over for Sunday lunch, a woman who goes on walking holidays or a man who collects manhole covers? The answer is: “Er . . .” This is what the Conservative Party must understand in the coming months. If it gets rid of May — and it should, really, because she’s a dead duck — it must remember that in Britain there are millions and millions of people who are stupid or young or both. And who thus won’t really grasp the complexities of Brexit and austerity and so on. That doesn’t matter. Any Conservative is going to make a better job of pulling us out of Europe and balancing the books than Corbyn would. That’s the main goal. To keep him at bay. So the Tories must choose someone who’s odd and funny and different from all the others. Someone who the voters would like to have over for a few beers on a sunny Sunday afternoon. The only problem with this idea is that there’s only one name from all of the 300 or so contenders that springs to mind. It’s Boris Johnson. Which means we’ve had it.