I'm going start making a transition to wordpress.
There are a few more posting options, and wordpress pages automatically change to a mobile page when accessed via smartphone.
I also want to refocus and put effort into making better posts.
Lastly, the correct spelling of "circumcised" is available on wordpress where on blogspot the domain is locked down by another user.
http://circumcisedheart.wordpress.com
-- Posted from my iPhone
Awhile back I heard what shepherds originally used anointing oil for. Recently I've heard people comment about anointing oil as some mystical ooze. For sheperds oil was a far simpler item, like pepto bismol. Shepherds took oil and put it on their animals where they were damaged or infected. As example, injured sheep would aggravate their injuries worse unless they were anointed, much like a kid who keeps repicking at a scab. The sheep could then heal after the oil eased the pain and the animal stopped hurting itself further. Sheep were too dumb to realize they were making their pain and injuries worse on themselves and required outside help to heal - they needed anointing and salvation.
God has given people some potent ointment through Jesus' blood. This blood anoints or heals people. I feel anointed because Jesus is constantly freeing me. For people in general, our darkened eyes and stubborn hearts are constantly being ruined and hurt by our own bad habits. We are further healed by Christ's Holy Spirit. We are pulled out and led into clarity of our minds and souls by the ressurection of Jesus from the cross. His blood is the infinite healing salve to our constant derisive attitude and hurtful problems in our lives.
I was reminded how much constant power Christ has in giving us freedom from our poor thinking while reading Luke 6:19,
"... power was coming from Him and healing them all."
Posted in
anointing,
Luke 6
|
Comment Now!
"We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!"
Abraham Lincoln
Proclamation Appointing a National Fast Day
Washington, D.C.
March 30, 1863
I've been quite distracted as I'm trying to study and write a paper. Instead of reading journal articles for research and madly typing I am stuck considering God's purpose for what He still wants me to do. So I've been sitting and waiting for God to drip His Spirit and His will onto my head. I'd really like to move onto my research paper, but I am just so anxious for God's inspiration to be known in my heart. It is totally confusing and wild to just expect that eventually the Holy One in Heaven will communicate to an ordinary person.
But yes, it is the desire for God to get people in the right place. There is a small verse hidden in the otherwise popular Psalm 23, in verse 3 it goes: He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
There are several different forms of Psalms. They are a collection of prayers that Israel had over generations. Some are for praising God, some for lament and groaning, and still other Psalms are screaming against injustice. Psalms are the conversations in people's hearts that they put forward. Psalms are raw and gritty; they beg and rejoice against God's holiness. Psalms are opening of broken hearts that ask for God's mending. Psalm 77
Among other things distracting my research reading, I downloaded via iPhone Kindle the book "Crazy Love". The first chapter generally addresses the shortfalls and yearnings that believers in Christ have for themselves:
Most of us know that we are supposed to love and fear God; that we are supposed to read our Bibles and pray so that we can get to know Him better; that we are supposed to worship Him with our lives. But actually living it out is challenging.As much as we want to get an idea about God in our minds or understand Him, the intellectual things are not functional for spiritual desires. I don't really know what to do with author Francis Chan's comments above except to nod my head in agreement. Can I take something more from this? These are things I already recognize as shortfalls in following Jesus with my lack of conviction and surrender to Him. Almost as obvious, it is God's will to drip His love on people and for people to love Him back as hard as they can. I want God to give me that genuine eagerness deep in the core of my morphing heart and soul. I want my heart to be shaped how He wants it to be.
It confuses us when loving God is hard. Shouldn't it be easy to love a God so wonderful? When we love God because we feel we should love Him, instead of genuinely loving out of our true selves, we have forgotten who God really is. Our amnesia is flaring up again.
7-9 Listen, God, I'm calling at the top of my lungs:
"Be good to me! Answer me!"
When my heart whispered, "Seek God,"
my whole being replied,
"I'm seeking him!"
Don't hide from me now!
9-10 You've always been right there for me;
don't turn your back on me now.
Don't throw me out, don't abandon me;
you've always kept the door open.
My father and mother walked out and left me,
but God took me in.
11-12 Point me down your highway, God;
direct me along a well-lighted street;
show my enemies whose side you're on.
Don't throw me to the dogs,
those liars who are out to get me,
filling the air with their threats.
13-14 I'm sure now I'll see God's goodness
in the exuberant earth.
Stay with God!
Take heart. Don't quit.
I'll say it again:
Stay with God.
Posted in
Crazy Love,
Francis Chan,
Psalms
|
Comment Now!
I just finished up watching the latest episode of Kings from NBC through Hulu.
There was an encounter with Saul and David where he is furious with God for favoring David over him.
What was remarkable? Saul declares that he is at WAR with God and will not allow David to take his place.
How interesting that a network show puts this theological idea on air. The promotion of the idea that when we do what we want and not what God desires, then we are at war with Him.
I liked the show a lot. It presents content of an Old Testament story in an accessible fashion through modern television. It's confronting and entertaining.
In the New Testament the disciples of Christ asked Jesus: how do we pray? His response is in Matthew 6:10 may your kingdom come, a may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This is a change to our manner of self determination and independence. God asks us to tell Him to guide us in His will and not our own. Do we allow ourselves to be citizens and subjects of heaven?
-- Post From My iPhone
Posted in
David,
Kings,
Matthew,
Old Testament,
Saul
|
Comment Now!
I can blog from the bus now.
I have become amazed at how the early Christian church behaved in eagerness and expectation of Christ's return. You can see this eagerness in the experience of the people of Thessalonica in Asia Minor. The letter called 1 Thessalonians is pretty short; its paired with 2 Thessalonians which is even shorter. The apostle Paul is taking the time to write to them twice because of what he is hearing about them. Sure, they are great Christians. The people in Thessalonica whole heartedly recognize Jesus as Christ. Yet they are so eager in waiting for Christ that they start worrying about a lot of things they don't know about. People were becoming upset that others in their community were dying before getting to see Christ in the Parousia (second coming, advent). People also were hanging onto hopes of the Parousia by the day. People stopped going to work because of Jesus' imminent return.
Posted in
1 Thessalonians,
2 Thessalonians,
Advent,
Bible Study,
Christ,
Jesus,
Parousia,
Paul
|
Comment Now!
Posts
