Posted in Bible, comfort, God, tagged Bible, comfort, fear, God, sovereignty on May 5, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
For I, the LORD your God,
hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you, “Fear not,
I am the one who helps you.”
-Isaiah 41:13
memorize this verse if you are in Jesus.
the risen King over all that is seen and unseen is holding your hand, helping you, fear not.
how can this apply to your day today?
Posted in comfort, conviction, freedom, God, Gospel, grace, idolatry, Jesus, marriage, obedience, prayer, salvation, sanctification, transparent, tagged conviction, God, gospel, grace, Holy Spirit, idolatry, Jesus, sleep on January 29, 2011 | 3 Comments »
a few weeks ago i wrote on my struggle with the idolatry of sleep.
last night, ash apparently woke me up to ask me to try & feed pax a bottle because he wouldn’t take it from her,
and i told her, “no, i’m ok.”
she took him into another room to let me sleep while he was crying.
when we woke up the next day,
she asked me,
“do you remember me asking you to feed him last night?”
i told her that i vaguely remembered that in a dream i recently had, and was kinda freaked out as to how she could read my dreams…
she then so gently said,
“ronnie, i think you can make sleep an idol, but i also think you can make not sleeping an idol…”
straight dagger.
in my last post, i had been convicted that
i cared more about my sleep than i did praying or reading Scripture or sitting in the presence of God”
…
now, i have been convicted that
i care more about not sleeping than i do doing what the Word of God tells me (eph. 5:25-33)
some might be saying, if you keep thinking about it so much, you’re never going to be right…
if this is you, i think you’re getting close.
in the same way that doing something can become a distortion of the gospel,
not doing something can become a distortion of the gospel.
the gospel is a magnificent paradox.
God’s grace is not dependent on your performance,
and it is not dependent on your lack of performance…
it’s a gift, and it’s not based on you,
but it is available to you because of a beaten and bloody King who defeated death and is currently reigning over the entire cosmos.
waking up early is a great thing, but…
why are you getting up early?
to do more?
to gain your acceptance?
to prove your righteousness?
Jesus has done it all.
everything.
everything.
do you really believe that?
He’s paid it all.
all.
all.
performance and entitlement have invaded the American church … are you infected?
i know the antidote.
it’s not a set of rules or regulations,
it’s not a ten step plan,
it’s not an experience,
it’s not an emotion,
it’s not an understanding,
it’s not intellectual,
it’s a person,
and his name is Jesus.
by God’s grace, i will defeat the idol of sleep without bowing to the idol of not sleeping.
what do you think about the statement, “If you don’t think you’re a moral failure, you’re not a Christian?”?
Posted in comfort, faith, freedom, Jesus, prayer, tagged faith, fix, Jesus, needs on January 4, 2010 | 1 Comment »
fix: fasten securely in a particular place or position
every, single time chloe needs something, she sits & looks straight at me
she will sit
& sit
& stare
& sit
until i give her whatever it is she needs,
and then she runs off & does her own thing.
isn’t it true this is what we do?
when we need something.
when we “need” more money
or more comfort
or more peace
or more clothes
or more anything,
when we are in need…
it is easy to “stare” at God-
to go to Him, and plead for grace with faith.
but how about when we don’t “need” anything?
i know this is typically when i run off & do my own thing.
God has been very good to me lately in showing me what my “needs” truly are,
and i’ll give you a snippet…
for me, they do not include:
clothing,
money,
security,
a plan.
rather, they include:
Jesus.
now don’t get me wrong.
i fall daily into the lie of “needing” all those other things,
with the help of societal pressures, evil, and my own sinful nature.
but that’s ok,
because Jesus died on the cross,
trumping all of that,
and more.
if i know my needs in my head…how do i make that true in my heart?
there was a wonderful sermon (fearing and fighting unbelief) i heard yesterday on this exact topic,
but basically…
pray the word.
so, if you struggle with keeping your eyes on Jesus when you don’t “need” anything,
pray these with me,
beg God for an understanding,
a heart understanding,
plead with Him to make these words a reality,
who you are;
and “the things of this world will grow strangely dim”:
deuteronomy 11:18
fix these words of mine in your hearts & minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
psalm 141:8
but my eyes are fixed on you, O Sovereign Lord; in you i take refuge-do not give me over to death.
isaiah 46:8-9
remember this, fix it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels. remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.
2 corinthians 4:18
so we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
hebrews 3:1
therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.
hebrews 12:2
let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
what do you fix your eyes on in ‘good’ times? ‘bad’ times?
new: not existing before
this is what comes with a new year,
a new month,
a new week,
a new day,
or even a new hour,
or a new minute,
if you truly understand Jesus.
hebrews 10:20 (NLT)
by his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain (his flesh) into the Most Holy Place.
by all means, enjoy the coming of the new year,
and take complete advantage of this time to walk forward with your head tall,
knowing that it is a new year and a “clean slate.”
but more than anything,
take this feeling you have of a “clean slate for the new year”
and understand the reality that because of Jesus,
we have the ability to start new…
every time we humble ourselves before Him & accept His blood as grace.
new=not existing before.
a life that leaves all behind & pursues the future
with a confidence that cannot be shaken in Him.
happy new year.
what are you leaving behind in 2009?
what are you pursuing in 2010?
Posted in comfort, contentment, discipline, eternity, faith, joy, peace, tagged best, comfort, guidance, Holy Spirit, peace on December 18, 2009 | 3 Comments »
what is the best for you?
what plans are the best for you?
what can you do in 2010 that will be the best for you?
what can you do today that will be the best for you?
really stop & think about these questions right now.
don’t just give me the answer that comes first
(even though that might be the last answer also, i want you to really think about those questions)
generally, when i answer these questions, my mind immediately searches for comfort of some form.
rarely is my initial reaction AND answer after some thought the same in pursuing Jesus
in thought, word, & deed by reading the Word, serving others, praying, worship, love Him through community…
i am getting better at realizing this & un-coincidentally more peaceful when i pursue Him, but still fail often.
sometimes i’ll just have finished a solid study of the Word or deep prayer or conversation with the lady behind the register at the gas station & have a fresh reminder of the peace & contentment that comes with God
& thus, my initial response is to pursue Jesus…
however, after i sit down, allow my natural, broken, human thought & emotion to enter the picture it usually turns to comfort of some sort again.
then other times i’ll immediately submit to my impure fleshly desires in one way or another,
but after some thought, i’ll remember a verse or a prayer or a moment & again believe that in ALL situations, it is best for me to pursue Jesus.
here is a verse that you can memorize so that next time you are thinking what is best for you, instead of wasting time using your brain to try to come up with a plan that will benefit you the most, you can just sit down, pursue Jesus, & reap what is absolutely the best for you
and then, when satan attacks & your earthly being tries to convince you that you have made a poor decision by letting go of control
& the emotions that you feel are not necessarily “happy”
& you lose something very “important” to you
go back to this verse & realize that while you might have thought “it” was extremely “important,”
“it” was not the best for you…
He knows what is best for you, better than you do & wants that for you…He is enough.
isaiah 48:17
I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.
when thinking of your plans for tomorrow what do you do?
how about next week?
next vacation?
next year?
 | Luke on First 10 Days of Fatherho… |
 | clay on God’s good in my child… |
 | vikki Embry on God’s good in my child… |
| Luke on OOO |
| clay on suffering today … glory… |
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ltlo
rlowenfield
samuel miles