As I was reading through my blogroll this morning I noticed the title of a blog on the side of one - Shrinking the Camel. Immediately my mind sprang to the verse
Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Luke 18:24-26
This blog is about “Connecting Spiritual Life with Business Life” but what got me was the great banner picture. Please go and take a look.
For me today I am usually thinking, “Right, the year is done, can we just get on with it!”
2008 was a good year for us as a family. Nice and quiet, low-key, nothing majorly out of the ordinary happened, no major incidences to deal with. Life was good. We embarked on a year of home education for the girls (our 5th) and for Dave.
It seems we’ve had less of those years than the other kind, so in a way, it was time for one. I hope and pray that 2009 will be more of the same. Peaceful and quiet, doing God’s will, living and loving life.
These scriptures are in front of me at my desk, things I meditate on often:
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. James 3:17-18
And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient,
2 Timothy 2:24
Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order that they may provide for daily necessities and not live unproductive lives. Titus 3:14
So our lives are spent in right living by being obedient to God. We try to the best of our abilities to what is right in the eyes of God. As I read on a blog post comments section today - “I’m performing for an audience of One”. This is essentially what we do as a family, we go about our days quietly and unassuming to do our Father’s will.
God Bless you and yours as you end this year and start a new one. Remember every day can be and should be a fresh start with God, He chooses to forget our sins so that we can be new creations.
One of our most beloved Christmas carols was written in 1865 by William Dix, an Englishman who managed a maritime insurance company and loved to write hymns. Sung to the English melody “Greensleeves,” some versions use the latter half of the first verse as a chorus for the other verses:
This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard
and angels sing;
Haste, haste to bring Him laud—
The Babe, the Son of Mary.
But in other versions, each stanza is unique. The second verse, rarely sung today, looks beyond the manger to the cross:
Why lies He in such mean estate,
Where ox and ass are feeding?
Good Christian, fear, for sinners here,
The silent Word is pleading.
Nails, spear shall pierce Him through,
The cross be borne for me, for you.
Hail, hail the Word made flesh,
The Babe, the Son of Mary.
Simeon said to Mary, “This Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:34-35).
The Child of Christmas came to be our Savior. “Joy, joy for Christ is born, the Babe, the Son of Mary.” — David C. McCasland
The birth of Christ brought God to man; the cross of Christ brings man to God.
I was just reading through my blog roll and need to point you once again to Pearls and Diamonds…these girls can write in a way I don’t think I ever could. Its about 6 things God has taught them in 2008.
Enjoy.
I’m always on the lookout for good blogs and recently I found a pearler appropriately names Pearls and Diamonds. Today I read this entry, which to me highlights Christmas. Its the reason why we celebrate the birth of a baby 2000 years ago, for this following reason.
Her name was Ellen. She was about fifty-five years old. I will never forget the Saturday morning, over a year ago, that she arrived at the dental clinic to have teeth pulled and met a man she already loved.
Every year, Dr. Don opens up his dental clinic for a “Free Day” as a way of saying thank you to Jesus. Following in the way of the Master, he reaches out to the “sick” on a physical level in order to meet their spiritual needs. While each patient waits to be worked on, a believer is able to come into the room and share the gospel with them.
That Saturday I was privileged to be a gospel sharer.
She was very nearly missed. The morning was almost over, and after having to wait outside for hours, and barely getting in to be worked on, she was waiting quietly in a dental chair. I’d been told everyone in the rooms on that side of the building had already been talked with, but one of the guys came to find me, whispering, “There’s a lady in here who doesn’t have a goodie bag. Do you want to talk to her?”
Meagan and I had no trouble striking up a conversation with her. She was having all the teeth on one side pulled. She considered herself a Baptist. To her, Jesus was her best friend. “He got me here today,” she said, smiling shyly. “I pray to Him all the time.”
I began to probe for divinity. “Why do you pray to Him? Normally, you know, we pray to someone who is divine—a God.”
Confusion clouded her eyes. “I don’t know.”
Did she consider herself a good person? “I try to be.” Can we take a look at some of God’s laws to see if that’s true? “Okay.” Her mild blue eyes were riveted on me as I elicited from her confessions that she was a lying, thieving blasphemer, fallen short of God’s glory.
“If he judges you, will you be innocent or guilty?”
Without hesitation, she answered, “Guilty.” Her concern etched deeply into the lines across her forehead and around her eyes. When I offered hope, her heart reached eagerly for it.
I began to tell her about Jesus—the God who became a man, who became our intercessor with an angry and Holy God. I shared how He came to earth, born of a virgin, born under the Law so that He might redeem those under the Law. How in that hour on the cross, an innocent substitute, He cried out, forsaken by God, bearing the sins of the whole world. I explained how God heard His plea on our behalf and raised Him. “This is why we pray to Jesus,” I finished. Her eyes never left my face. I asked if she knew how to become right with God through Jesus.
“Tell me.”
“Repent, put your faith is Jesus’ ability to save you and tell Him you want to follow Him. Do you want to do that?”No doubt. No hesitation. “Yes.”
My heart dropped out the bottom and I blinked. I’d gotten this far before, even had willing listeners, but when I’d asked that question I’d always heard an excuse. “Later” or “I’ll be okay” or “Let me think about it.”
I swallowed, trying to digest a three-letter word. “You do?” What in the world was I supposed to do next?
“Yes.” She answered again.
What followed was the most beautiful prayer I have heard: stripped of pretense or poetry, she poured out her plea for salvation from the penalty and the power of sin, sang her praise to her Merciful Mediator and owned Him as her Lord. Before she finished, I was on my knees at her side, holding her hand and crying with her, praising the Lord for her salvation. When I stood up, the light of Jesus shone from her eyes.
“Hug me,” she begged.
“I will!”
I handed her the “goodie bag” we’d prepared—the one my friend had noticed she didn’t have yet. I showed her the Bible and found the gospel of John, marked it for her and gave her a highlighter. She held it open, ready to dive in to discover this Savior who had brought her to a dental clinic in Russellville, so that He could save her soul.
“Do you want me to stay and read with you?” I asked.
“No!” was her quick reply. “There’s other people out there! Go tell them!”
Actually, she was the last patient that day to hear the gospel. After the group of gospel sharers finished praying in the waiting room, they asked to be introduced to their new sister.
When we came back into the room, we found her bent over her Bible, blue highlighter in hand and evidence of its use on the pages. She smiled up at me, “It’s good so far.”
In that moment, Ellen was the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.
The book of Psalms says that God “will beautify the afflicted with salvation.”
As we left the clinic that day, we were all awed by the work of the Lord. Realize, my friends, that Meagan’s and my part in this drama was very little. The Lord had prepared Ellen’s heart for His good news. We were like the farmer who sowed seed and went to bed and the seed sprouted and grew, but he knew not the way. The Lord is preparing the fields—they are ripe for harvest. Since I’ve moved to the Bible belt, I’ve become increasingly aware of the emptiness of religion. I can hardly believe how many “churched” people that I’ve been able to talk with have never even heard the gospel. Beseech the Lord of the harvest to send workers into His fields—beseech Him to send you.
I’ve found the Way of the Master to be a great aid in random evangelism. They have tracts that can be left for others to find, as some of my shy friends have done, or tracts that simply open up the way for a conversation. Or you can make your own! When I visited Lauren for my 18th birthday we created a “survey” and made our own tracts with an outline of the gospel. The angel announced to the shepherds that the good news is for everyone–and the shepherds went home praising God and telling everyone they met of the Savior God had sent. Good news is for sharing!
If you don’t know Jesus as your Lord, please go to this page. Eternal life is the ultimate Christmas gift.
Do you want to be miserable? Here are some tips on how to fulfill your desires.
The famed English writer, Charles Kingsley, once wrote, “If you wish to be miserable, you must think about yourself, about what you want, what you like, and what respect people ought to pay you. Then to you nothing will be pure. You will spoil everything you touch; you will make sin and misery out of everything God sends you.”
Self-centered people are always unhappy. In the 1970s, Chaplain Earl Jabay wrote a thought-provoking book entitled, “The Kingdom of Self,” in which he describes seven attitudes of a self-centered individual. Permit me to share a few of them:
“I am power: I can do anything I set my mind to.”
“I am truth: Whatever I think, is right.”
“I am right: If people don’t agree with me, they have a problem.”
“I am a messiah. I don’t need God; I can lift myself by my own boot straps.”
“I am perfect: If you don’t meet my standard of perfection, I have the right to show disapproval.”
Any one of these attitudes will result in a life of misery. How much better it is to forsake the kingdom of self and live joyously in the Kingdom of God.
You see the fruit of misery everywhere, in crime, immorality, broken homes and on and on. It almost always stems from self-centeredness and selfishness. It is always related to ignoring God and His commandments to self-sacrifice and to love.
I do not recommend misery, but I do recommend its opposites - joy and peace. Joy and peace are states of mind and spirit that are promised by our great Creator God and Savior to all who trust and obey Him. They are fruit of the Spirit — the Spirit who indwells all those who put their trust in our Lord Jesus Christ. That fruit is manifest in our lives when we invite the Holy Spirit to fill and control us.
In the Beatitudes of Matthew 5:3-11, our Lord gave us nine keys of happiness. The Greek word “makarios” is usually translated “blessed,” but it also means happy.
For examples, verses 6-9 give us the first four: “Happy are those who long to be just and good, for they shall be completely satisfied. Happy are the kind and merciful, for they shall be shown mercy. Happy are those whose hearts are pure, for they shall see God. Happy are those who strive for peace — they shall be called the sons of God” (TLB).
It just doesn’t make sense to remain miserable when, if we obey God, we can be assured of being happy!
By Bill Bright
Swedish trees contradict the Bible?
A closer look at a claim about the world’s oldest trees.
A cluster of trees discovered in western
Naturally this involves a much more indirect set of assumptions. And, as would make sense, the radiocarbon dating only involved a dead specimen.2 Another article on the same discovery seems to confirm all this, that the age is not from tree-ring dating, but from the much shakier radiocarbon dating.3 The item refers to even older dates (9,550 years), and makes it clear that this result was from pieces of wood found beneath the living trees, not sampled from them. It also confirms that the specimens with the old dates had the same genetic material as the now-living trees (i.e. were clones). There are living trees that are thousands of years old, like
This article originally appeared in Challenge News Sep 2008. I have changed to layout to suit my blog but none of the content.
I was reading an email from Crosswalk Homeschool Encouragement. It is right in the area God seems to be concentrating in my life at the moment - the mind. Recently I’ve been slowly reading and making a study of the book “Loving God with All Your Mind” by Elizabeth George. The main verse she presents is Phillipians 4:8 Whatever things are true… think on these things. Now from a Christian point of view (and mine!), that is whatever is written in the Bible, what God says is the truth. It also says Jesus is the truth and the truth shall set you free. So I have been casting down imaginations and thinking on what is true. What is true about God, what is true about me, what is true about other people and what they are thinking and what is true about my life now, not the past and not the future. You have no idea how much mental space that has cleared up. God is good.
Here is that email. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Casting down the Imagination
Kym Wright
“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ…” 2 Corinthians 10:5 One of Adolf Hitler’s more famous sayings is: “If you tell a lie often enough, and loud enough, people will believe it.” And, often, our spiritual enemy tries to use this very trick on us. Imaginations, as defined in the dictionary, is the formation of a mental image of something that is neither perceived as real nor present to the senses. It is an unrealistic idea or notion; a fancy. A plan or a scheme. It came on so very slowly, I’m really not sure when it began. I was just disgruntled with being a mom. It wasn’t fun anymore. The joy was gone, replaced by a sense of failure and a desire to succeed at anything outside the home. Put the children in school. Be a career woman. Be a somebody — as if motherhood is for wimps and “nobodies.” I plodded through the homeschooling days. No joy, but doing the work nonetheless, committed to being home. In my mind I knew this was a wonderful calling, that I was doing a great work, that my time investment counted, and my occupation was worthy. But, the accusations and lies persisted. No joy. Do it anyway. You’re not doing well. So, I’ll persist in a poor quality job. You’re doomed to failure. Probably, but I’ve committed to staying home to raise and teach the children. One day, one of our older children came to me and said, “Mom, thank you so much for spending your time teaching us. We’d never have made it so far without you.” I was floored, astonished. My mind whirled with questions. Am I really doing an okay job? Are the children really turning out all right? At that moment, I recognized the enemy’s voice, and realized I had been believing — not just one lie, but many lies. The foundation was an imagination — something in my mind, which wasn’t true — and my mind had allowed a larger plan of the enemy to discourage me. My failure was an unrealistic notion. My heart thrilled with the question, “And just how far could I go if I believed this venture was a success?” So, I followed the biblical example and cast down the imagination. I just tossed out this image which had exalted itself against God’s plan for me. And I replaced it with this new image: me enjoying my calling. The children doing well in life — for indeed they were. Contentment and joy. Success in fulfilling my mission in life. So, I pose the question, What has the enemy stolen from you? What image is he trying to foist upon you, to steal the joy in finding God’s best and success for your life? Let’s reclaim the joy. Challenge the lies in our minds. Declare war on the father of lies. Cast down those wrong images, and let’s raise up the vision God has for us.
I’m the type of person who has to mentally pull something completely apart and reconstruct it to know how everything is going to go. It doesn’t help the situation to do it four or five times. This is called worry. I try to organise myself and plan and strategize, this works alot of the time, but often it’s just another form of worry.
Today’s “Our Daily Bread” spoke to me and gives you a practical exercise to use when you’re worrying. I share it below.
The Peace-Of-Mind Game
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. —Psalm 23:1
In her down-to-earth book More Than Sparrows, Mary Welch tells of her discussion about worry with a group of teenagers. Although they were Christians, they were as worried as unbelievers about the common things of life. As she lovingly listened to them, an unusual idea came to her for a game they could play. It went like this:
Instead of saying, “I’m worried,” stop and say, “The Lord is my Shepherd.” Then add, “So I’m worried to death!” The students laughed at the absurdity of the idea, but they all promised to play this new “peace-of-mind” game.
Later, Mary received a phone call from a young woman who had been paralyzed by worry over an exam she had been dreading to take. She said, “I must tell you how the game helped me trust God today. As I froze with worry, I remembered to say, ‘The Lord is my Shepherd . . . so I’m afraid I’ll fail!’ Suddenly I felt the strangest peace of mind. I laughed at myself, then I took the exam—and I passed!”
Saying “The Lord is my Shepherd, and I am worried to death” is more than a mind game to point out the absurdity of worry. God can use this contradiction to bring us to a fuller trust in Him. —Joanie Yoder
Why worry when you can pray?
Trust Jesus, He’ll be your stay;
Don’t be a “doubting Thomas,” rest fully on His promise.
Why worry when you can pray? —Peterson
© Renewal 1977 Singspiration, Inc.
Worry is the interest you pay on borrowed trouble.
I’m happy today. I’ve been happy for the past little while. I know that DH and I are walking in God’s Will. It’s a great place to be. I love operating from a place of peace and, with God’s help, being able to respond to things in a good way. I have in the past often been short with my children, frustrated with housework and felt trapped. Through the books I’ve read recently (”Love, honor and be free” by Maxine Hancock 1975 and “Homeschooling with a Meek and quiet Spirit” by Teri Maxwell 2006) I’ve learnt how to rely on God further in things. It’s been a gradual process over the past 13 years of being a Christian. Other books I would recommend to read are:
“Search for Significance” by Robert McGee
“Bondage Breakers” by Neil T Anderson
“Boundaries” by Cloud/Townsend
“What’s so amazing about everyday living” by Daisy Hepburn
“A Woman of Strength” by Neva Cole
”Free to be Thin” by Coyle/Chapman
That’s all I can think of at the moment. All of them are centred around the bible.
The girls have spilt something, so I’d better go see if they need any help cleaning it up.
Have a great day!
