Blessings from Heaven X2

Blessing fell on our family September 23, 2007!

Welcome to the flock!

Soul Expectation

with Dr. Gary Smalley

“And Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But only one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.’” (Luke 10: 41-42)


I fumed as I lay in the pre-op room, impatiently waiting for the doctors to arrive so they could begin my kidney transplant operation. What I didn’t know was that while I lay there complaining, the doctors were fighting valiantly to save the life of my son, whose lung had collapsed as he underwent the procedure to donate a kidney to me. He was fine, but during his time of crisis, I was completely unaware, lost in my own expectations.

I did not intend to find myself self-absorbed, physically sick, emotionally out of balance and spiritually isolated, but that is what happened. For about a decade, life’s satisfaction and the enjoyment of God’s blessings were lost to me and I didn’t think I could ever regain the joy I had once known.

I’ve discovered that most people, in some form or fashion and at one time or another, find themselves similarly situated: burned out, fed up, frustrated and out of step with God. We begin to believe that we need more to be happy -- more power, love, sex, food, travel or stuff. Our successes and achievements become hollow, like ash in the mouth. Our hearts become hardened towards God. We stop asking, “Lord, what are you plans? What is the desire of your heart?” We focus on what we want and become ruled by our own sense of how things are supposed to be instead of by the Holy Spirit.

God loves us and has good plans for us, but sometimes our own expectations stand in the way of truly seeing the shape of God’s plans. Until we can truly say with Jesus, “…nevertheless, not my will, but Yours, be done,” we won’t be willing to set aside our own ego, pride, comfort and sense of ownership and accomplishment in order to glorify God.

It was not easy for Jesus to set aside his own will in the garden of Gethsemane. He knew it would cost him his life! Luke 22:44 says that the anguish of this decision caused his sweat to be “like drops of blood falling to the ground.”

Even after we have surrendered our own expectations to God, they can take over again relatively quickly. But God allows our expectations to be cut down again so that we will continue to trust in him alone. When we surrender our expectations to God, we have to be willing to accept that his plan may not go according to what we hoped. Ultimately, God wants all of us to learn that he is trustworthy and that his plan is best. It is a hard lesson to learn and oftentimes needs repeating, but the alternative is an existence filled with stress, anxiety and pressure.

Jesus asked, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”
In many ways I lost my soul when my self-perception and focus became disoriented but, in his forbearance and mercy, God “restores my soul and leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (Psalm 23:3,6b)

This Week
In God’s presence, search your heart to see where you have become distracted by success, wealth, busyness and ambition, or where your own will has ruled your life. Repent and ask God’s forgiveness. Pray Psalm 139 out loud.

Prayer
“Lord, please search my heart and examine my thoughts; reveal the truth about what rules in me and lead me in the way of everlasting life.”

Church is not a Building

Church is not a building. Church is not an event that takes place on Sundays. I know, its how we think of it. “I go to First Baptist.” “We are members of St. Luke’s.” “Is it time to go to church?” Much to our surprise, that is not how the Bible uses the term. Not at all. When the Scripture talks about church, it means community. The little fellowships of the heart that are outposts of the kingdom. A shared life. They worship together, eat together, pray for one another, go on quests together. They hang out together, in each other’s homes. When Peter is sprung from prison, “he went to the house of Mary the mother of John…where many people had gathered and were praying” (Acts 12:12).Anytime an army goes to war or an expedition takes to the field, it breaks down into little platoons and squads. And every chronicle of war or quest will tell you that the men and women who fought so bravely fought for each other. That’s where the acts of heroism and sacrifice take place, because that’s where the devotion is. You simply can’t be devoted to a mass of people; devotion takes place in small units, just like a family. We have stopped short of being an organization; we are an organism instead, a living and spontaneous association of individuals who know one another intimately, care for each other deeply, and feel a kind of respect for one another that makes rules and bylaws unnecessary. A group is the right size, I would guess, when each member can pray for every other member, individually and by name.This is the wisdom of Brother Andrew, who smuggled Bibles into communist countries for decades. It’s the model, frankly, of the church in nearly every country but the U.S. Now, I’m not suggesting you don’t do whatever it is you do on Sunday mornings. I’m simply helping you accept reality – that whatever else you do, you must have a small fellowship to walk with you and fight with you and bandage your wounds. This is essential. (Waking The Dead , 192 )
From The Ransomed Heart, by John Eldredge, reading 267 Ransomed Heart Ministries.

A second reference to Beck

I just read Richard Beck's concluding post on his "Everyday Evil" series. It is solid. He, borrowing from the work of Samuel Wells, likens Christian living to being an improvisational artist. In marking the similarities, special notice is given to the incredible amount of discipline required for good improv. It makes sense when you consider that something (improv) that looks so easy is only done well by a few people.

Beck includes a long quote from Wells, here is one sentence, "But no amount of effort at the moment of decision will make up for effort neglected in the time of formation."

If you would like to read it yourself---
Beyond Catechesis: Habit and Improv

Slowness. The speed of love.

Check out Richard Beck's reference to a study re-creating the conditions of the "Parable of the Good Samaritan". The study involved seminarians. The results cause me to pause to think about how hurried I am.

You can view it here.

Time is our greatest commodity!

What 'in the world' is God doing?

I was planning to post more from Landon Saunders, however, today's post at PreacherMike has me sidetracked. Mike Cope posts a sample of recent work by John G. Stackhouse, Jr. I have pasted the sample below.

If you read this sample, I hope you will be interested enough to follow the link to the entire post. More than all, I hope we can all consider the real possibility that despite the many years many of us have been Christians, we still do not have a very good idea of what God is doing. Stackhouse and others (e.g. N.T. Wright) have noted that many Christians have a too simplistic, narrow view of salvation. As a result, we lack the scope of vision needed to understand what our (the Church) role is. A better understanding of what God is doing will lead to a better understanding of how God might be interested in using us.

A Bigger--and Smaller--View of Mission (<- click for entire post) John G. Stackhouse, Jr.

I am a professional theologian, so of course I think theology matters. Theology can help us live better or worse, depending on its quality. But theological accuracy is not the heart of the gospel. Encountering God's Spirit and responding in faith to him in that encounter is what finally matters. And how God meets people, through whatever theology they might have, in whatever circumstances, is ultimately not visible to us. ...

... Furthermore, we must beware of a second problem that lies nearby. And that is the idea that missions is all about getting people saved, and particularly about rescuing their souls from hell so that they can go to heaven. Multiple theological errors, in fact, attend this view of salvation.

God is not interested in saving merely human souls. He wants human beings, body and soul. Furthermore, he does not settle for saving human beings, but the whole earth. He made it in the first place, pronounced it "very good," and he wants it all back. So he is saving us, the lords he put over creation, as part of his global agenda to rescue, indeed, the globe.

What God rescues us to, furthermore, is the original agenda he set out for us in Genesis 1, namely, to "fill the earth and subdue it." He planted a garden for us to tend (Gen. 2) and commanded our first parents to raise up generations of gardeners to fan out across the earth to till the rest of it. This is what it means to bear the image of God. We, too, are to improve the situation, to cultivate what we encounter, to make shalom in every sector of life. And such work is our ultimate destiny as well, as we are to "reign with him" over the new earth he promises (2 Tim. 2:12). Thus we are not going back to Eden, nor up to a (spiritual) heaven, but forward to the New Jerusalem, which comes down from heaven to earth as our proper home (Rev. 21).

The Christian gospel therefore is not a narrowly spiritual one, but literally embraces everything, everywhere, at every moment. Every action that brings shalom—that preserves or enhances the flourishing of things, people, and relationships—is the primary will of God for humanity.

What are your thoughts?

News About Zoe

In case you havn't been keeping up with what's going on with Zoe's adoption, here is a link to my latest post with some good news....

http://zoemeigampp1.blogspot.com/2007/09/we-are-next.html

Isaiah & Psalms

“For who is God besides the LORD ?
And who is the Rock except our God?

It is God who arms me with strength
and makes my way perfect.

He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;
He enables me to stand on the heights.”
Psalm 18:31-33



“Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he,
I am he who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you;
I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”
Isaiah 46:4

Landon Saunders is one of the keynote speakers at this year's ACU Lectureship. I would love to be there to hear what he will say. Landon leads a nonprofit organization called Heartbeat Life and frequently speaks under the general theme, "Living a life that loves to happen". Here is a sample:
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To win as a person means living for something that time and circumstances cannot destroy.

"People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them make them."
--G. B. Shaw

You can win in spite of circumstances. You are greater than any circumstances you will ever face. What does this mean?

This means you don't live "if only"-
If only I had married someone else…
If only I had a different job…
If only I had been born rich…
If only I had been handsome (beautiful)…

This means you don't live "as soon as"-
As soon as I get my degree…
As soon as I get the promotion…
As soon as the kids leave home…
As soon as I retire…

This means you don't live "what if"-
What if my marriage breaks up…
What if I lose my job…
What if I fail…

It means you have the courage to live now.

"Courage is the human virtue that counts most-courage to act on limited knowledge and insufficient evidence. That's all any of us have."
--Robert Frost
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There is more at http://www.heartbeatlife.org/resources.php

One of my favorite blogs to read is Experimental Theology by Richard Beck. Lately he has been pondering on evil. Below are some samples of his post: Everyday Evil, Part 1: The Fundamental Attribution Error. Check it out, he makes some strong observations.

The thesis of Everyday Evil is this: All of us are capable of evil.
Much of the evil in the world has been and still is committed by people just
like you and me. Evil isn't a malevolent force that randomly attacks people.

There aren't "kinds" of people. There aren't good people or bad people.
There are simply people in situations. Configure the situation a certain way and
we can make some people look weak and others strong.

This is not to say that situations wholly determine our behavior. Just
that we tend to dramatically, and often catastrophically, underestimate the
power of context and situation. And it is this "underestimate of context" that
sets us up for evil.

So the first lesson in dealing with everyday evil is this: Treat your virtue with the utmost suspicion.