"Ascribe to the Lord the glory of His name; Worship the Lord in the majesty of holiness"
These words from Psalm 29 capture so well the demand that God's glory places on true followers of His...holiness. Living in the heavenlies is holy living. Life consummed with God's glory is wholly caught up with pleasing and obeying and honoring God.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book "The Cost of Discipleship", which I am being deeply challenged by at the moment resoundingly seconds this. Consider some of his thoughts...
"The only man who has the right to say that he is justfied by grace alone is the man who has left all to follow Christ"
"Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows Him"
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
What a wonderful glimpse of the heavenlies...from Isaiah 6.
"In the year of King Uzziah's death, I saw the Lord seated on a throne lofty and exalted with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above him, each with six wings, with two he covered his face and with two he covered his feet and with two he flew. And one called out to another saying, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!"
I want to know that glory. To live in the daily awareness of such a God. I settle for so much less.
No wonder life can get boring and old and meaningless. We were created for so much more! We were created for a God such as this!
"In the year of King Uzziah's death, I saw the Lord seated on a throne lofty and exalted with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above him, each with six wings, with two he covered his face and with two he covered his feet and with two he flew. And one called out to another saying, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!"
I want to know that glory. To live in the daily awareness of such a God. I settle for so much less.
No wonder life can get boring and old and meaningless. We were created for so much more! We were created for a God such as this!
Monday, October 6, 2008
A couple of months ago, a brother shared a dream he had about a coworker being deceived by the devil that tremendously burdened him for his coworker. In it he saw his coworker excitedly giving in to the deception. The dream all took place in a room at their workplace.
Today, this brother called several of us in to pray with him for this coworker. The coworker had come to him at work all excited about books that he was reading denying the truth of the Bible and the person of Jesus. As our brother listened to him with a remembrance of his previous dream, he suddenly realized that they were standing in the very room that his dream had taken place in.
Overwhelmed, he shared his dream with his coworker and pleaded with him regarding the deception he was giving in to. His coworker, sobered by the sharing of the dream, agreed to consider a response to what he was reading.
This coworker struggles with anger towards religion and God and seems bent on proving His nonexistence and irrelevance. What an amazing way for God to reach out to him supernaturally and personally expressing His concern for him.
Our struggle isn't just over facts and arguments and information to be believed or rejected. The Bible makes it clear that our real struggle is spiritual. The Bible calls them "principalities, powers, spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies".
Unless we realize the real scope of what we are up against we will constantly face a losing struggle in our pursuit of life and happiness.
Are we living "in the heavenlies"? It is reality. Are we living in reality?
Today, this brother called several of us in to pray with him for this coworker. The coworker had come to him at work all excited about books that he was reading denying the truth of the Bible and the person of Jesus. As our brother listened to him with a remembrance of his previous dream, he suddenly realized that they were standing in the very room that his dream had taken place in.
Overwhelmed, he shared his dream with his coworker and pleaded with him regarding the deception he was giving in to. His coworker, sobered by the sharing of the dream, agreed to consider a response to what he was reading.
This coworker struggles with anger towards religion and God and seems bent on proving His nonexistence and irrelevance. What an amazing way for God to reach out to him supernaturally and personally expressing His concern for him.
Our struggle isn't just over facts and arguments and information to be believed or rejected. The Bible makes it clear that our real struggle is spiritual. The Bible calls them "principalities, powers, spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies".
Unless we realize the real scope of what we are up against we will constantly face a losing struggle in our pursuit of life and happiness.
Are we living "in the heavenlies"? It is reality. Are we living in reality?
Sunday, October 5, 2008
I love the concluding verses in Revelation 5... "To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and and honor and glory and dominion for ever and ever. And the four living creatures kept saying, Amen, and the elders fell down and worshipped".
My passion is to see and help others see God and know and worship God in such a manner.
I preached on Cain and Abel today at our service. What a great contrast in individuals. One, Cain, the "gotten one" expected by Adam and Eve to be the deliverer that they were looking for, the one who had everything going for him and so didn't think that he really needed God and so offered him a sacrifice merely out of obligation and not really from his heart's longing for relationship with this God. Such is mere religion. It destroys people. Then there was Abel, named "meaninglessness" maybe because he really didn't matter because the one who did was Cain, the deliverer and consequently his self-recognized desperate neediness in the sight of a holy God which compelled him to offer to God an offering that would bring him in right relationship with that God. He recognized his neediness and his hope in God alone. He longed for God. To know God. This is real LIFE!! This is what God made us for.
This is my passion and purpose...to know HIM! GLORY!!
My passion is to see and help others see God and know and worship God in such a manner.
I preached on Cain and Abel today at our service. What a great contrast in individuals. One, Cain, the "gotten one" expected by Adam and Eve to be the deliverer that they were looking for, the one who had everything going for him and so didn't think that he really needed God and so offered him a sacrifice merely out of obligation and not really from his heart's longing for relationship with this God. Such is mere religion. It destroys people. Then there was Abel, named "meaninglessness" maybe because he really didn't matter because the one who did was Cain, the deliverer and consequently his self-recognized desperate neediness in the sight of a holy God which compelled him to offer to God an offering that would bring him in right relationship with that God. He recognized his neediness and his hope in God alone. He longed for God. To know God. This is real LIFE!! This is what God made us for.
This is my passion and purpose...to know HIM! GLORY!!
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