I’ve not done this before, but I found this so compelling I had to share it. A friend of mine posted this on her blog and I thought it was fantastic. I am not linking directly to her blog, because I don’t have permission to give it out — she may not want me to, but if she has no problem with it, I’ll add the link in later.
*** Here’s the link to my friend, Anna’s, blog: http://annawood.wordpress.com/ ***
Anyway, here goes:
“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”
(Matthew 16:24-25)
If God has called you to be truly like Jesus in all your spirit, He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility. He will put on you such demands of obedience that you will not be allowed to follow other Christians. In many ways, He seems to let other good people do things which He will not let you do.
Others who seem to be very religious and useful may push themselves, pull wires, and scheme to carry out their plans, but you cannot. If you attempt it, you will meet with such failure and rebuke from the Lord as to make you sorely penitent.
Others can brag about themselves, their work, their successes, their writings, but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing. If you begin to do so, He will lead you into some deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good works.
Others will be allowed to succeed in making great sums of money, or having a legacy left to them, or in having luxuries, but God may supply you only on a day-to-day basis, because He wants you to have something far better than gold, a helpless dependence on Him and His unseen treasury.
The Lord may let others be honored and put forward while keeping you hidden in obscurity because He wants to produce some choice, fragrant fruit for His coming glory, which can only be produced in the shade.
God may let others be great, but keep you small. He will let others do a work for Him and get the credit, but He will make you work and toil without knowing how much you are doing. Then, to make your work still more precious, He will let others get the credit for the work which you have done; this to teach you the message of the Cross, humility, and something of the value of being cloaked with His nature.
The Holy Spirit will put a strict watch on you, and with a jealous love rebuke you for careless words and feelings, or for wasting your time, which other Christians never seem distressed over.
So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign and has a right to do as He pleases with His own, and that He may not explain to you a thousand things which may puzzle your reason in His dealings with you.
God will take you at your word. If you absolutely sell yourself to be His slave, He will wrap you up in a jealous love and let other people say and do many things that you cannot. Settle it forever; you are to deal directly with the Holy Spirit, He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue or chaining your hand or closing your eyes in ways which others are not dealt with. However, know this great secret of the Kingdom: When you are so completely possessed with the Living God that you are, in your secret heart, pleased and delighted over this peculiar, personal, private, jealous guardianship and management of the Holy Spirit over your life, you will have found the vestibule of heaven, the high calling of God.
I want to be a hero.
Doesn’t everyone? Granted, some claim to want to be a “villain” or “anti-hero” — usually so they can get what they “want” — but most people (in their right mind) seem to want to be a hero.
Why is that? What is it about being a hero that is so endemic to our nature?
I suggest it has to do with whom God intended us to be. We are supposed to be leaders, thinkers, believers in the dominance and power of love. Love is not solely about nice things we do or sweet feelings.
Love is about defending the fatherless and the widow. It’s about taking care of the sick and the homeless. Love is about defending the honor of the maiden from the hands of those that would seek to do her evil.
We want to be heroes because deep down inside we know that true love is about heroic action in life.
Jesus shone forth that Truth to the utmost — He gave His life so that we might live. “What greater love is there than a man lay down his life for his friends?”
Go on, be a hero. Work at loving your neighbor.
I want to. I need to. I yearn to love as God loves and to be a hero like my Jesus.
Do you?
I am so sick and tired of people using the word “evolve” as though it has some magical, mystical meaning. It simply means “change”. That’s it. No big deal. Evolution is a process of change. We sit and dither about the meaning or process of “evolution” — it’s just a concept of how change came about in our world.
Not that I agree with the theories of Macro-evolution and Darwinianism. Far from it… I become more beholden to my “creationist” roots nearly every day as I read what “science” purports to be “evidence” for evolution (read: change). It is just as logical to me that God could create the world in six days as He could over millions or billions of years. And given the testimony of Scripture — which has stories supposedly passed down from Adam himself — I do not have an incipient need to reject their assurances of God’s design and activity within the created order.
Because of our “scientifically”-oriented culture, the word “evolve” has evolved into a word that conveys some sort of primal power. When some use the word “evolve” when explaining what they plan to do in life, it is truly laughable when its cognate “change” is used. We go from someone being high-minded to someone sounding utterly foolish, when they’ve never actually said anything different.
For example, Tom Brady’s statement that the Patriots will “evolve” due to one of their player’s injuries would sound inane or at least silly coming from this supposedly intelligent and reasonable individual. His statement becomes “our team will have to change a little bit” without the player. Really?!?! Do you think so? Wow! Imagine that.
I think what people expect from usage of the term evolve nowadays is that we become better through the changes we endure which is not always true. We can overcome the negative things in our lives and eventually find ways to better ourselves, but not all change is good nor beneficial.
Simply put, please stop using the word evolve with this false sense of superiority that seems inherent in its use, as though through evolution we’ll get better. It’s not the change that makes us better — it’s our response to change that determines how beneficial it is.
Okay, thanks for letting me bend your ears. Rant off.
Well, it has been a few days since I last posted — mostly due to craziness around the home.
I don’t have much to say right at the moment except to let you know I’m still around and to post something.
I’ll try to get more up soon.
Always,
K+
Sorry guys, but I’ve got to take the boys out tonight and don’t have enough time to devote to this tonight.
Later,
K+
The LORD is exalted; for he dwelleth on high: he hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness.
Isaiah 33:5
Zion, the holy City of God, is filled with His judgment.
What does that mean?
God knows the secret desires of our hearts, and He weighs us by not only our actions but the thoughts behind them. The evil and good-hearted dwell together. Those who seek after Christ live in the same world as those who would despise God’s loving mercy. One day will come when those who have rejected the Christ and His Way will find the reality of the sorrow of their sin.
God will not abide for sinfulness to be in His presence.
That’s why we need to turn our hearts completely to Him, repenting from our evil ways and rely completely on Him to help us love one another.
Let us lift our hearts to God as living sacrifices, calling out to Him for His wisdom and love, that we may love as He loves and trust Him in all things.
Always,
K+
Today is an “ember” day. In the catholic (i.e. universal) Tradition of the Church, ember days are days when the Church has set aside time specifically for ordination and prayer for the bringing in of new ministers. Advent is a good time of the Church year to have special prayers for new ministers, as we concentrate on preparing our hearts to hear and know the Word, minsters are called to be Word-bearers to the Body (while the Body is called to bear the Word to the world.)
So, take some time out and pray for your minister (and me too!). We need it. Also, pray that God will increase the number of those willing to sacrifice some of the “good things” in life to serve Him. It would be nice to own my own iPhone, Porsche, Xbox and all those other cool things in the world, but I’ve made a choice in my life where those are generally out of reach. That’s okay — no complaints. Sometimes though, it seems as though it would be nice to be “wealthy”.
Regardless, it’s time for me (and all of you too) to get our hearts prepped for the coming of our Lord. Open up to Him. Pray for His guidance, and don’t forget to ask Him to bring in more men into the ministry to serve Him.
May His peace reign in your hearts.
Always,
K+
He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
Psalm 91:4
Do we think of God in this simple way? As a mother hen covers her chicks, so our God covers us in times of trouble, hiding us from the great storms of life. I know that sometimes it’s hard to believe that as the storms we do face are so incredibly powerful and gut-wrenching, but He does watch over us, giving us solace and comfort — when we let Him.
If the chicks do not seek shelter, then the mother hen does not usually cover them up. While our God is big enough to cover us from the worst, even when we do not seek Him out, it goes much easier on us when we actively seek shelter under His wings. When we place ourselves under His almighty protection, we gain the knowledge of His grace and mercy.
Part of this process of refreshment or preparation in Advent is a refocus on putting God first in our lives and orienting our moment by moment existence to a constant appreciation of His presence and love.
Do not hide from His solace. Do not run from His hope. Instead, seek Him. One of the comments from yesterday’s post reminded us that even though we may seek Him, He seeks us more earnestly and desperately. He desires us more than we can understand — at least for now. One day, He will reveal to us His amazing love in such detail that we will have no choice but to fall before Him in awe and wonder while we sing His praises from the depths of our souls.
God bless you. Really, may He bless you and grant you to walk in His Spirit.
Always,
K+
Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her. And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.
Revelation 18:20-21
Wow.
Somebody’s gonna get it. 
Really. It is not gonna be fun for those who reject Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in this life. Those who rebuke God’s Chosen One and His Bride will find judgment and disappointment.
But what does that have to do with Advent?
Preparation.
Are we prepared? Have we done all we can to prepare those around us?
Are we willing and engaged in truly trying to help our neighbors understand the love of God by the way we live? Are we actively trying to live as though we really love God with our whole selves?
Now is the time to prepare our hearts and to try fervently to love our God as He deserves. Now is the time to put away “childish things” — pursuit of unrighteousness and sin. Now is the time to learn more about worshiping Almighty God with our entire being.
God bless you in your pursuit of Him.
Always,
K+
This morning my sermon was entitled, “Messenger of the Word.” On the third Sunday in Advent, we traditionally recognize the contributions of John the Baptist and celebrate his “preparing the Way” for the Messiah. As part of that, we see his work as God’s messenger to the world about Christ’s coming.
As John is the “voice of one crying in the wilderness” preparing the way directly for Jesus Christ in His earthly ministry, so we, the Church, are the new voice, the Messenger of the Word, presenting the Message of Salvation in Christ to the world. Similarly, we carry the Message as part of ourselves — The Word dwells in us through His Holy Spirit. We are the Christ’s Message to the world.
As Messengers and the example of God’s Message, we have a responsibility to 1) deliver the message, 2) honor the Message-Giver and 3) prepare the world to receive the Message of God’s love. We cannot act ignorantly or selfishly. We are not our own but God’s, called by Him to do His work in this world. Where we might balk at the dangerous duties of a Messenger, we are still called to go forward and face the doubters and skeptics — those who would rather deny Christ and even persecute Him — for the sake of the Message and our obedience to our Lord and King Who sends us.
May your Advent season continue to bless you and encourage you to reach new heights in your reliance on the Triune God.
Always,
K+
