Excitement Shows

I was reading Arthur’s New Puppy to my son last night when the following dialog caught my attention:

Arthur held Pal carefully, the way his puppy book showed.

“Look, he’s so excited,” said Arthur

“Look at your pants,” said DW. “You have excitement all over them.”

One thing I got out of this, besides a good laugh, was that excitement shows. People are going to know when we are excited and what we are excited about. Our excitement can be contagious, and will touch others. Therefore, what excites us is of importance, because it will effect others. Taking this thought a bit farther, those that are around us will be able to tell what it is that excites us most in life. May the great excitement of our lives be of great value.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. (Mt 13:45-46)
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But thou, O LORD, art a shield about me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. (Ps 3:3 ERV)

Father, no matter what today brings,
Be it things that are hard,
You are a shield about me.
Be it things that are good,
It is You who are my glory.
Be it things that take me down,
You are the lifter of my head.
Be it things that life me up,
You alone are the lifter of my head.

A Shield About Me
Thou, O Lord, art a shield about me,

You're my glory and the lifter of my head

Thou, O Lord, art a shield about me,

You're my glory and the lifter of my head
Hal-le-lu-jah, Hal-le-lu-jah,Hal-le-lu-jah,

You're the lifter of my head

Hal-le-lu-jah, Hal-le-lu-jah,Hal-le-lu-jah,

You're the lifter of my head
©1980 Spoone Music. Words & Music by Donn Thomas and Charles Williams

Expecting A Surprise

Each day holds a surprise. But only if we expect it can we see, hear, or feel it when it comes to us. Let’s not be afraid to receive each day’s surprise, whether it comes to us as sorrow or joy. It will open a new place in our hearts, a place where we can welcome new friends and celebrate more fully our shared humanity. -Henri Nouwen

He went out, not knowing where he was going —Hebrews 11:8

Have you ever "gone out" in this way? If so, there is no logical answer possible when anyone asks you what you are doing. One of the most difficult questions to answer in Christian work is, "What do you expect to do?" You don’t know what you are going to do. The only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. Continually examine your attitude toward God to see if you are willing to "go out" in every area of your life, trusting in God entirely. -Oswald Chambers

Suddenly seems to be emphasized to me this morning. I looked at the passages that had “suddenly” in them. Matthew 28:9 seemed especially fresh, “Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Will we recognize Him when He suddenly shows up in the midst of our lives today? Will we worship Him when He surprises us with His activity?

Worship the LORD with reverence
And rejoice with trembling.
Do homage to the Son …
(Ps 2:11-12)

The Right Path

Wow … 2008 has come. May it truly be a year of new beginnings.

I liked the following entry found in its entirety at http://donteatalone.blogspot.com/2007/12/thanks-and-yes.html (Don’t Eat Alone). Following are some bits and pieces:

>… As this year rolls into the next, however arbitrary our calendars might be, we don’t know what’s coming and so we have choices to make about how we prepare for the uncertainty. What jumped first to my mind is one of my favorite borrowed prayers, by Dag Hammarskjöld, the former Secretary General of the United Nations:

For all that has been, thanks; for all that will be, yes.

How we choose to embrace what lies ahead is, in large part, determined by how we find meaning in what has already come and gone. Thanks comes before Yes.

In one of my favorite movies – also an Oscar winner, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are looking off the cliff into the water below as their pursuers are gaining ground. Sundance hesitates:

Sundance: I can't swim!

Butch: (laughs) Are you crazy? The fall will probably kill you!


… The truth is the fall is going to kill us; we don’t get to hang out here forever. The truth is most of the stuff we think we have to have or do to make us matter isn’t going to be enough. Knowing that we’re going to die and come up short (not necessarily in that order), how can we choose to live in something other than a posture of fear and self-centeredness?

The answer for me is in saying, “Thanks.”Gratitude gives birth to courage and hope. Gratitude lifts my eyes up beyond my little life. Gratitude opens my heart to love.

The year ahead doesn’t promise to be any less harrowing or hopeless than the one we are completing. There is much in our world that is dangerous, difficult, and wrong. We are in desperate need of leaders who don’t appear to be stepping forward. We have set things in motion we don’t know how to control in many different arenas. And – and – none of that gets the last word.

For the harvests of the Spirit,thanks be to God.
For the good we all inherit,thanks be to God.
For the wonders that astound us,
for the truths that still confound us,
most of all that love has found us,
thanks be to God.<

As I lay in bed last night entering into this new year, I had no great promises to promise, no great prayers to pray, no great abilities to dedicate to God’s cause, no great aspirations that I had faith for the accomplishing of, and no great ambitions that I would follow through with. I could only offer myself to God, knowing it would take Him to bring value and use, passion and purpose, and vision and vitality to what was offered.

The Right Path (Psalm 1:1-3)

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,Nor stand in the path of sinners,Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the LORD,And in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,Which yields its fruit in its seasonAnd its leaf does not wither;And in whatever he does, he prospers.

… Lord, may I not pay heed to or walk in ungodly counsel, travel sinful paths, nor be counted among mockers and scoffers. May my delight be in Your Word and my mind and heart captivated by it. May I be as a tree firmly planted by streams of water, yielding fruit for the weary and may I prosper in all I do as I journey on the right path with You. Thank You that blessings will follow me as I follow You …

Blessed is the man who takes his counsel from God’s Word
He will neither stand in the path of the sinner nor sit in the seat of the scoffer.
He will stand on the righteous path, walking in its way.
His delight will be in God and His Word,
And will be ever drinking from the wells of salvation.
He will release fruit to the weary and be marked by God’s presence.

May you be blessed and prosper in all you do as you follow God in 2008.

Hemmed In

You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. (Ps 139:5 NIV)

The word hem above, translated beset in the KJV comes from a Hebrew word which is translated to bind, besiege, confine, cramp, secure, shut in, shut up, enclose, show hostility to, be an adversary, treat as a foe, form, fashion, delineate.

The NKJV of this verse is: You have hedged me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. The NASB renders it: You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. Interestingly the AMP words this verse: You have beset me and shut me in--behind and before, and You have laid Your hand upon me.

By now you probably wonder if there is a point to all this. Yes there is! I am telling you where I am. It may begin to make more sense after you read the following quote by Dr Larry Crab: “Authenticity says, Here's where I am in my journey to knowing God better, as opposed to vulnerability, which is Here's where I am hurting most. Vulnerability can be narcissistic.”

Here's where I believe I am in my journey to knowing God better. I am hemmed in by God. I can’t go forward and I can’t go backward. Side steps are out of the question, so here I am, standing still and unable to advance and unable to run. It is a place of immobility but also of protection. I have been shut in and shut up. God seems to have confined me and has me right where He wants me.

I know I will make it through, because of God’s promises and because His hand is upon me. He has cramped my style and is fashioning me as He sees fit. He is strengthening, changing, molding, and forming me. He is describing who He is, who I am, and defining how I fit into His purposes. He is making me who He has called me to be, so He can put me where He wants me to be, doing what He has called me to do, when He wants me to do it.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. (Ps 139:6 NIV)

Psalm 139

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

1 O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,"
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.
19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
20 They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

SPIDER WEBS!

Spider Webs! I couldn’t believe my ears! He just told me I was caught in the spider webs of life! That is not what I wanted to hear! I wish I had said it to him!

Some people, when they complain about things in their life get the “poor baby” routine or the “everything’s going to work out alright.” Not me! I never have! People have always seemed compelled to tell me the truth about myself!

Of course, I looked at some things about spider webs, and some possible meanings in reference to life, God, and church. I didn’t like any of it at all! It was all bad! I wouldn’t mind referring that way to some one else’s life but not my own! I’m not even going to tell you about some of the stuff I found!

Do you remember what it is like to walk through a spider web? It totally distracts you from what ever you were doing and you just want to get it off. Being as spider webs are sticky, this is easier said than done, and the whole time you are imagining a spider heading for you.

The purpose of a spider web is to trap or ensnare. It is sticky and holds its prey tight until the spider moves in for the kill. There really isn’t much about a spider web that I like.

I would liken the “spider webs of life” to the thorns found in Mark 4:18-19.

“Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”

It doesn’t take any explaining to understand what this verse is talking about, nor what in this context the “spider webs of life” are.

Is there anything in your life that is choking and inhibiting the Word and Life of God in you? Is there anything that is distracting you from the purpose of God in your life? Is there anything holding you tight that you can’t seem to get free from?

Realize what is happening,
Refocus on God’s purpose for your life
Realign yourself with the Word of God

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. (Jn 2:15-17).

Obsession

And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. In my obsession against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them. (Acts 26:10-11 NIV) (Emphasis mine)

Obsession is the word, or more accurately the idea it conveys, that I want to pull out here. The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines obsession as a persistent disturbing preoccupation with an often unreasonable idea or feeling.

The phrase worded “obsession against them” in verse 11 is worded “being exceedingly mad against them” in the KJV Bible.
"Exceedingly" is from the Greek word perissōs meaning beyond measure, extraordinary. "Mad against" is from the Greek word emmainomai which means to rage against or to be exceedingly mad against. Emmainomai is made up from two Greek root words. En meaning in, by, with etc. and mainomai meaning to be mad, to rave: said of one who so speaks that he seems not to be in his right mind (from Thayer’s Lexicon).

Based upon the above, a more elaborate description of the idea conveyed by the word obsession is an exceedingly great and unhealthy preoccupation with, or against, someone or something. Its effects are that it inhibits clear thinking, hinders correct actions, distorts understanding, shipwrecks morality, derails justice, and stands against all righteousness. It is not only destructive, deceptive, and debilitating, but is also unhealthy mentally, emotionally, and physically.

Obsession is progressive and will carry one to the point of being excessively preoccupied with or against someone or something to the point of the exclusion of all other things. It will capture your mind, enflame your emotions, and consume your soul.

Paul said in Acts 26:11 “In my obsession against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them.” How far off course will we let our obsessions carry us? Each of us as an individual is responsible for who or what we give ourselves to. Paul’s obsession carried him to foreign places where he should have never gone to do what he should have never done.. Our obsessions will do the same to us.

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. (Col 3:1-3 NIV)

Look For Character

The following was written by another friend who makes a good point:

In a day when giftedness trumps character, let us pay careful attention to what God says in Matthew 7:15 "Don't be impressed with charisma; look for character..." (The Message) No amount of spin will ever change God's sovereign order. He cares just as much about our behavior as He does our message. What we do, is not any less important than what we say.

Randy and Paula White, founders and co-pastors of Without Walls International Church in Tampa… announced their pending divorce to the 23,000-member congregation on August 23, citing lives heading in different directions. (Christianity Today - October 2007)

“Lives headed in different directions,” come on, is that the best they could offer the 1000's of people who look to them for spiritual guidance. I do not doubt for a minute that more problems will surface later, but according to Christianity Today that’s what their faithful followers have to base this train wreck on for now.

It appears from Paula’s web site that her sky rocking career will not miss a beat as she travels around to promote her latest book entitled, You’re All That! Understand God’s Design For Your Life. I can’t help but ask: “You're all what?”

Are these people Biblically illiterate, or just stupid. To pretend that this kind of behavior is acceptable while jet-setting around, signing your latest book and holding conferences, is not just intolerable, it is mindless, and devoid of God-centered conviction.

If there is anything clear in Scripture, it is how much God values and holds dear to his heart the hallowed covenant between man and woman. Mark 10:5 says: "In the original creation, God made male and female to be together. Because of this, a man leaves father and mother, and in marriage he becomes one flesh with a woman—no longer two individuals, but forming a new unity. Because God created this organic union of the two sexes, no one should desecrate His art by cutting them apart." (The Message)

May God impart to us today a new and profound reverence for what he loves and treasures. And may we all be reminded that "Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7).

Striving together, to finish well
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