Emails To Henry #1 - Ongoing Spiritual Renewal

Dear Henry,

I am writing you out of that which I am again having to learn. Let's learn together.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. (2Cor 4:16)

This is a good verse for us Henry, the promise of an ongoing spiritual renewal. However, this renewal only comes as we spend time in God's presence.

It won't be accomplished by an obligatory speed reading of a passage of scripture and a quick prayer to ward off evil and get a blessing every day or so, or even in meeting with other Christians.

It will take being disciplined. It will take making it a priority to spend quality time alone with God on a daily basis. We do that through His Word, worship, stillness, prayer, listening, etc.

Andrew Murray in Daily In His Presence says on June 1, "... you need to learn to spend time each day - without exception - in fellowship with the Lord. In this way the inner man will be renewed from day to day."

There is no short cut, but there is a promise. It is for daily renewal as we participate daily with him in His presence. Start again and continue, we can't afford not to. Our future and the future of our families depends on it. The best we can do for our families is not sound fiscal planning, though that is good.

The best we can do for our families is to show them a life lived for God, empowered by intimacy with Him, lived out on a daily basis, and attracting them to also abandon themselves to God. The best we can do for our families and ourselves, is to live for God wholeheartedly every day without fail. Of course, this will not happen with out spending that quality daily time with Him. We get distracted and discouraged very easily.

Any vision we have for our lives that doesn't have God at the forefront will not bring us into the abundant life that Jesus promises us in John 10:10. He will do His part but we must cooperate with Him. We have to do our part, which begins with spending quality time with Him.


Sincerely,
Jim

Iris Blue

He Dwelt Among Us

Teachings in John’s Gospel - #30

Gary Smith

Mark Hall the lead singer of Casting Crowns, tells the following story: Iris Blue pounded on the walls of her Texas prison cell in solitary confinement. She was six foot three and known for possessing a right hand hard enough to fist-fight men and win…Iris ran away from a God-fearing home led by praying parents at the age of thirteen. She now knows she left because she chased her dreams of womanhood and acceptance from the wrong people in the all the wrong ways. As a child, Iris frequented church and Vacation Bible School and convinced herself she was saved when a visiting evangelist tried to scare her out of hell. It wouldn’t be the last time she acted on emotion.

Within days after running away, she was on drugs, scrounging for a way to eat and staying with people too old and too strange for the little girl inside the big body. “You don’t have to run real far to be a long way from home when you’re looking for the wrong kind of stuff,” Iris said. “I had a complex and I had an attitude, and those two things started multiplying real quick, and I didn’t know how to handle it.”…A man in a bar gave her the male attention she craved, and she fell into a cycle of heroin abuse, theft, prostitution, and multiple abortions. At seventeen, she joined a few doper friends to rob a store with a gun. She made off with $33,000, only to be tracked down by police in mere hours.

Iris served seven years before her release and then returned to her old habits in a matter of days. “On my permanent record they put that I was incorrigible and a degenerate. I didn’t even know what either of those words meant…But I found out they mean this person will never change. They mean unredeemable. There’s no hope. That’s on my record-that there’s no hope for me.”

(1) Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, (2) but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them.

The curtail opens in John 8, with Jesus in the temple teaching, “early in the morning.” Verse 2 tells us that “A crowd soon gathered…” They were eager to learn from Jesus. They wanted to hear his words, they came early.

(3) As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.

Can you imagine the commotion this created? Here Jesus is teaching an attentive audience about the truths of God, and suddenly they are interrupted by this cruel group of scribes and Pharisees dragging this unfortunate woman up to Jesus. Perhaps she was objecting or fighting to break free.

How these men could have actually caught her “in the very act” of adultery is beyond me. And what happened to the man that was involved? But as we will see these men are not interested in justice. They are interested in trapping Jesus, and they don’t care who they have to injure to achieve their goal.

(4) “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. (5) The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”

Originally “caught” referred to a thief caught in the very act of stealing. This woman was not only caught, but also identified with adultery, which always refers to sexual infidelity involving married people, this implied she was married.

As we learn from verse 5, these Jewish leaders were not so much interested in punishing evil as they were in putting Jesus on the spot. They knew that Jesus was “The Friend of Sinners,” that he was always on the side of the unfortunate and that he spent his time, not with the righteous, the wealthy or the respected, but with publicans and sinners. They obviously expected him to turn this woman loose. If he said that, he would be contradicting the Law of Moses and they would have him. They thought surely they had him trapped.

(6) They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger.

Why did Jesus do this? Perhaps when they first accused the woman, they sounded peaceful and reasonable. Their words masked their evil intent. By allowing them to stew, Jesus is giving them a chance to reveal their true intentions not so much to him, but to themselves.

(7) They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!”

Finally, as a result of their continual asking, Christ raised himself up. "All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!"

Jesus didn’t let the woman go, as they expected. In fact, He completely upheld the law of Moses. He said, in effect, “Yes, she must be stoned. Now, let us appoint a qualified executioner. Which of you is qualified? All it takes is one sinless person and we can carry out the penalty of the law?”

(8) Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.

What a brilliant moment. Jesus had not fallen into their trap. The Jewish leaders had fallen into Christ’s trap. They had brought the woman to Christ because they did not think he would dare say the words, “stone her.” And yet that is exactly what he said. They had spent all this time thinking only of the woman, of the Law, and of Christ. Now suddenly they were forced to think of themselves. They probably had no intention of stoning this woman, but now they were forced to face the consequences of their actions. As Jesus turned away from them, they began to examine themselves. They began to ponder the words that he had spoken. The light of Christ’s words revealed the murky areas in their own lives. They were stunned. They were speechless. And they were humbled.

(9) When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman.

It is interesting to note the order in which the accusers left the scene that day. Perhaps those who lived longest were more aware of their own sinful hearts.

(10) Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” (11) “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and leave your life of sin.”

What characterized Jesus’ attitude? Four things:

1. Understanding. Jesus clearly knew what was going on in the attitude and actions of the men and in the life of the woman. He was not fooled by circumstances nor by appearances. He was not deceived by the religious talk of the leaders, nor by the unrighteous actions of the victim.

2. Compassion. This was linked to his understanding. He knew her sin and shame. He saw people as sheep without a shepherd, as sinners without a Savior; from that understanding came compassion.

3. Forgiveness. This was his desire from the beginning-from the moment at which he stooped and wrote on the ground to the final moment in which he said to the woman, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and leave your life of sin.”

4. Challenge. Jesus said “Go and leave your life of sin.” This was not the same thing as merely allowing the woman to go her way, forgiven but free to do as she might choose. She was forgiven, but the bar had been raised. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.”

(Return to Iris. Some time after her prison release) Iris Blue…waited outside one of the topless bars she now managed. A man planned to meet her there. She waited for him outside because he refused to go in but had called to ask for a meeting to say good-bye. He had pursued her for three days after seeing her in church on Sunday. She went to church to fulfill her pledge to an aunt who promised to sew sleek yellow dresses for Iris’s dancers if Iris would accompany her to church. Iris was wasted on heroin the entire service.

The man’s name was Roger. A refugee from the drug culture, he walked up to Iris in church and asked for her phone number. She was used to such a proposition and smiled as she slurred the number. Roger started calling Iris at her bar that day. “He’d say, ‘I just called to tell you Jesus loves you,’ and I’d hang up on him. He’d wait until almost closing time and call to say, ‘Hey, I just called to remind you I’m praying for you and Jesus loves you.’ Or he might call in the afternoon and say, ‘Man, you’re not going to believe what I found. Have you heard about this woman? She had been married five times and was shacking up with somebody else?’” …“He witnessed to me from Sunday afternoon to Thursday.”

On that last night, March 31, 1977, Iris was dishearten to hear Roger say good-bye as they sat in his car outside the bar. She wondered why he was giving up on her…Roger had spent the last several days telling her that every hair on her head was numbered and Jesus knew everything about her and still loved her…

“Roger told me, ‘I can’t see you anymore, because I made a commitment that I wasn’t going to hang around tramps.’” The statement stunned Iris, but Roger had a purpose. “When he called me a tramp, I wanted to cut his throat,” Iris said. “I thought, ‘All week you’ve been telling me I was precious to God and I was valuable. And now with one word, what, are you calling me garbage?’” Roger saw the look on Iris’s face. He smiled…“You don’t even understand. Jesus can make you a lady.’” Iris said. “When he said the word lady, it was like something just exploded inside me. I said, ‘All I’ve every wanted was to be a lady. And if he’s real, I want it.” “Well, if you mean business, “Roger said, “you’ll pray outside.” Iris didn’t blink. “I mean business,” she said.

On a cold sidewalk in front of her strip joint, Iris fell to her knees. As a dancer gyrated in the window behind her…Iris bowed her head as Roger led her in prayer.

That night, Iris closed down three topless bars and never returned to either of the two men with whom she took turns living with. All the years later, she has no idea what happened to her furniture, jewelry, or clothes. She left everything to follow Jesus.

Iris said she doubted her salvation about three hundred time over the first weekend. She called Roger, anguished to tell him she didn’t feel any different. “Do you normally call people at three o’clock in the morning doubting you salvation?” Roger said. “No.” “See, you’re different,” he said, and hung up the phone. At twenty-seven years old, Iris discovered her biggest hole was the one in her heart that only Jesus could fill.

Two decades later…Iris visited Jacob’s well during a trip to Israel. She stood right where the Samaritan woman stood…This time, she was the one who wanted to talk about the living water. (Adapted from, “The Well” Mark Hall & Tim Luke)

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The following thoughts are mine...

Heart Religion is when it becomes part of you, part of who you are, effecting how you think, how you feel, and how you act and respond. It is not doing away with correct knowledge and understanding, and it is not doing away with good works. Rather it is a relationship with the Redeemer that changes our understanding of what is true, changes the way we think, what we think about, what we desire, what we hold as truth, and our standard of right living, resulting in a totally transformed life that brings honor and glory to God. (From http://jim-logan.blogspot.com/2012/04/head-hand-or-heart.html)

This is what happened to Iris. She was forever ruined by the Love of our Savior, who saw her in her filth, and fully recieved her in that condition, and said "I have something much better for you my love, come to Me". She who was considered to be incorrigible and a degenerate, unredeemable and without hope, met a love that was stronger than her self hatred, a cleaner that was stronger than her filthiness, an acceptance that was stronger than her rejection, a Savior that was stronger than her sin, a Life that was stronger than her living death.

Head, Hand, or Heart?

What does your "religion" look like?

How many today rest satisfied with a head religion, supposing that all is well if their creed be sound; and how many more have nothing better than a hand religion—busily engaged in what they term "Christian service." "But the Lord looketh on the heart" (1 Sam. 16:7), which includes the mind, conscience, affections and will. -AW Pink

Head Religion is a religion of knowledge. Knowing the right stuff, knowing the right things,and having the right doctrine is how you get into the Kingdom of God.

Hand Religion is a religion of good works. You get into the Kingdom by doing the right stuff, doing enough of the right stuff, being good enough, staying busy doing religious things.

Heart Religion is when it becomes part of you, part of who you are, effecting how you think, how you feel, and how you act and respond. It is not doing away with correct knowledge and understanding, and it is not doing away with good works. Rather it is a relationship with the Redeemer that changes our understanding of what is true, changes the way we think, what we think about, what we desire, what we hold as truth, and our standard of right living, resulting in a totally transformed life that brings honor and glory to God.

Packing For The Journey

Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God.
(1 Peter 1:18 MSG)

Peter Scazzero has said, "The image of the Christian life as a journey captures our experience of following Christ like few others. Journeys involve movement, action, stops and starts, detours, delays, and trips into the unknown."

As we journey, we can have flat tires, road blocks, detours, bad bumps, dead ends, fender binders, run out of gas, and multiple other things that would hinder our travels,cause delays, or even a change of plans. These are the types of things that can discourage us along the way and even cause us to want to cancel the trip.

If we were just talking about a road trip, that would not be too bad.  But we are not talking about a trip in a car, we are talking about our journey with God.

Hebrews 10:35-36 tells us, "Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.

As my wife and I discussed this image of our Christian life as a journey with a couple of friends, we suggested that these verses from 1 Peter 1 and Hebrews 10 give us a couple of solid tips about what to pack for the journey.

First, from 1 Peter 1:18 -  We need to travel with a deep consciousness of God. The question we pursued was How can we begin to purposely develop a God-consciousness, a conscious awareness of the presence of God? We began a discussion that included the Word of God, prayer, singing, music, and, I'll add also - not just, but also - hanging around with people who are on the same journey we are on.

And secondly, from Hebrews 10:35 -  We need to travel with a confident trust in God. The question, of course, was how can we begin to purposely develop a confident trust in God. Our discussion included hanging out with God, getting into His word and learning His ways, recalling and verbalizing the things he has already done for us and in us, developing and expressing a grateful attitude for them, deliberately choosing to believe His word over our circumstances, declaring His word over our lives and situations, keeping the truth of the Word of God before us, building faith by hearing and doing The word of God, and asking others for help when we become discouraged.

What things have helped you to develop a deep consciousness of and confident trust in God?

Are there a couple more things you would like to pack for the journey?

Reality Check

The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. (Ps 23:1) Not because there is nothing I want. Not because of how I feel. Not because of what I see around me. Not because of who or who not is in my life. Not because of my home, my job, or my friends. Not because of what I am or am not involved in. Not because of my heritage. Not because of where I live, Not because of how much or how little I have in my life. Not because of education or lack there of. Not because of full bank accounts. Not because of family. Not because of what I have or don't have. Not because or health, wealth, or power. Not because of anything I have or don't have of what this world has to offer.  It is because of a higher truth than what I see and experience in the natural realm. I lack nothing because the Lord God Almighty is my Shepherd and none is as capable as Him. So, if I am feeling or sensing a lack, I remind myself of my true reality - The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

Peace And Effectiveness

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. (Col 3:15) We are one body and different members of a body cannot war with one another and still function effectively. We are called to and must be at peace with each other in order to interact with each other and in this world in a godly, effective, and fruitful manner. The peace of God is to be the rule in our hearts. We are to pursue and follow peace, but this has nothing to do with letting things slide, not rocking the boat, nor not addressing things that need to be addressed. That is pseudo peace and will not last or produce righteousness.

Sometimes Dancing

Sometimes I dance...

Sometimes I hurt myself or others when I dance...

Sometimes, when I hurt myself or others dancing, I don't want to dance anymore...

Sometimes, even when I've hurt myself or others and quit dancing, I still dance...

Sometimes I dance, even though I have hurt or been hurt. Once you"ve danced with The Dancer, He turns you into a dancer. I dance because I am a dancer...

Being a dancer doesn't make you a good dance partner. Even dancing for the Dancer doesn't make you a good dance partner. Only dancing with the Dancer makes you a good dance partner...