Blessed Are Those Who Mourn

I am reading a book what I got for Christmas--The Heavenly Octave by F.W. Boreham. It is a study of the Beatitudes, and he has some excellent thoughts. Last night I read what he had to say about "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted".

He said he knew of three different ways to take it. The first is to go to a happy young soul who is joyous and praising God and say with a wagging finger, "blessed are those who mourn, young lady!" It would seem quite confusing and foreign.
Another way is to go to some bitter person whose family is all gone and who's been in prison being tortured their whole life. If you say, "blessed are those who mourn" to them, it will seem to be almost belittling or mocking their situation.
Boreham says that those who Jesus says are blessed are those who have know both joy and loss--when the calm has come afterward. "The eyes, cleansed by weeping, have obtained a clearer vision of life's profound mystery and beneficent discipline. The subject of this third picture knows the secret of the mourner's blessedness."

I thought THAT there was an excellent way to put it.

The Odds of a Man Being Able to Fulfill Old Testament Prophecies

From http://www.chirstfirsttaekwondo.blogspot.com/...

What are the mathematical odds?

The probability of 8 Old Testament prophecies being fulfilled in a man is 10 to the power of 17. 100,000,000,000,000,000.

To illustrate this number take 100 quadrillion silver dollars and spread them over the state of Texas. This will cover the entire state with sliver dollars two feet deep. Mark one silver dollar red and fly over the middle of the state and drop it. Blind fold a man and tell him walk as far as he wants into the state, stop, and pick up one silver dollar. The chance of him picking up that one red colored silver dollar is one in 100,000,000,000,000,000. This is the probability of only 8 of the OT prophecies being fulfilled about Jesus, yet there were 61 major OT prophecies fulfilled in His lifetime.

Walking With the LORD

It has recently been brought to my attention through several different people, events, circumstances, etc. that, well, walking with God is the best thing ever.

Of course I already knew walking with God was basically the epitome of Christianity--if you are a child of God, you walk in His steps. But just recently the full magnitude of what it means to be in the LORD has hit me like never before. If you are truly in Christ, you are constantly checking with Him. Your decisions are all based off of what He wants. In fact, the only thing you want is to do what He wants! It is very liberating to just throw everything over to a God who loves you. I can't figure out why I continue to think things will be better if I worry over my little problems myself. When the little things are in God's hands, they don't seem like such a big deal after all.

And the best thing about being in the center of God's will? You can't mess up! Whoa! Obviously it's not a "Oh, I got in God's will and now I can do whatever and nothing go wrong" thing. It reminds me of the Ultimate Balance Test on Wii Fit. On said test, you must stand on the board and keep your center of balance at 50/50 for 3 seconds. HARD man! As soon as you're in, you're out! You have to chase it down, to keep figuring out how to get in there and keep it there. It's the same way with walking in God's will. You can't do any one thing and be "in the club". It's a constant process. Most of the time walking WITH God means quite a bit of time running BEHIND God, yelling, "Hey, wait up!" :P

But you know what's awesome about staying in God's will and walking with Him? It's fun most of the time, at least for me. The more I study and read and pray, the more I know about the characteristics of my Savior and all the different things He likes. And THAT is cool stuff.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us."

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

~ Matthew 1:18-25

 

 

 

And with this Christmas wish is missed

The point I could convey

If only I could find the words to say to let You know how much You've touched my life

Because here is where You're finding me, in the exact same place as New Year's eve

And from a lack of my persistency

We're less than half as close as I want to be

And the first time

That You opened Your eyes did You realize that You would be my Savior

And the first breath that left Your lips

Did You know that it would change this world forever

And so this Christmas I'll compare the things I felt in prior years

To what this midnight made so clear

That You have come to meet me here

To look back and think that

This baby would one day save me

In the hope that what You did

That you were born so I might live

To look back and think that

This baby would one day save me

And I, I celebrate the day

That You were born to die

So I could one day pray for You to save my life

Pray for You to save my life....

Pray for You to save my life

~ "I Celebrate the Day" by Relient K

The song that makes me fall in love with Jesus again every time I listen to it

Chris Rice ~ Prone to Wander

On the surface not a ripple

Undercurrent wages war

Quiet in the sanctuary

Sin is crouching at my door

How can I be so prone to wander

So prone to leave You

So prone to die

And how can You be

so full of mercy

You race to meet me

and bring be back to life

I wake to find my soul in fragments

Given to a thousand loves

But only One will have no rival

Hangs to heal me, spills His blood

How can I be so prone to wander

So prone to leave You

So prone to die

And how can You be

so full of mercy

You race to meet me

and bring be back to life

Curse-reversing Day of Jesus

When You finally seize my soul

Freedom from myself will be

The sweetest rest I've ever known

How can I be so prone to wander

So prone to leave You

So prone to die

And how can You be

so full of mercy

You race to meet me

and bring be back to life

The state of the heart when you come before the LORD

My heart is not proud, O LORD,

my eyes are not haughty;

I do not concern myself with great matters

or things too wonderful for me.

But I have stilled and quieted my soul;

like a weaned child with its mother,

like a weaned child is my soul within me.

~ Psalm 131

What is this but the perfect soil for the LORD to plant in? The thing about a weaned child is that it doesn't know where its food is going to come from. I mean the food used to be just RIGHT THERE, but now he has to trust completely that his parents will bring his food from a source unbeknownst to him.

Exactly the state we are in with our Father.

Stories

Today Stuart McAllister, one of RZIM's speakers, was on at apologetics. He spoke more wonderfully than usual of Ravi Zecharias. I used to wonder if the littler evangelists knew what it was about the great evangelists that made them excellent speakers. Now I know that they know :)

One of the things he mentioned about Dr. Ravi was that he uses stories perfectly. It's true--he always has a story and it ties in perfectly to what he's saying, and he can explain his whole point with that one story. It's really amazing--it makes him easy to understand, and you can see how the point applies to real life just because he told the story.

Stories are amazing things. Dr. McAllister talked about movies, and what great conversation they are, and about WHY they are such great conversation starters. It is because the story is usually one of hope. He used Finding Nemo as an example. It's not just a story about fish. The son gets taken away, and the dad goes off and braves the ocean to find his son, and all kinds of things happen, and OH WE'RE GONNA DIE, and then..........they're reunited and live happily ever after. WHY do we love stories like that? WHY do stories work as such openers, hooks, and attention grabbers? Dr. McAllister says, "The stories we love only work because there's a primal story from which they draw their power".

"If we take the imagery of Scripture seriously, if we believe that God will one day give us the Morning Star and cause us to put on the splendor of the sun, then we may surmise that both the ancient myths and the modern poetry, so false as history, may be very near the truth as prophecy. At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendors we see. But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumor that it will not always be so. Someday, God willing, we shall get in."

~C.S. Lewis

We need to see THROUGH beauty to what beauty points to.

The latest excellent verse

"It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him."

~ Deuteronomy 13:4

This about sums it up. This verse is our life--it covers everything. It sounds so easy doesn't it? This verse is what I want to do for the rest of my days on earth. Even if I never become a famous writer, or the best wife and mama in the world, or the smartest English teacher ever, I will die happy if I will have followed this verse. If I have done what God wants, then nothing else matters. At all.

Neither

Remember when Joshua and the Israelites were FINALLY getting to go into the promised land? They'd crossed through the Jordan river on dry land, eaten some of the fruit of the land, and are getting pretty excited. But the bad guys that they were scared of in the first place are still out there. They need to be defeated. So on this particular day, Joshua was standing near Jericho. It was the first place to go. I'm sure he was kinda counting fighting men in his mind, thinking up tentative schemes on how to get over those walls and defeat those people. But then he looks up and sees a man with a drawn sword in front of him. Had to be a wee bit disturbing. He asked the man, "Are you for us or for our enemies?"

Listen to what the answer was! "Neither, but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come."

Now we all know that the man proceeded to give directions about how to march around Jericho and the walls would fall down, etc. But what really grabbed me this time was that the man said, "Neither". He said he wasn't on the side of Joshua, or of Jericho! It seems he would say, "your side", especially when he was there just to give specific directions on how to defeat Jericho. Anybody agree?

And now here is my thinking. My simple guess is that Joshua NEVER thought, "Hey, hows about we march around these walls blowing trumpets for seven days these certain number of times, and the walls will fall down and we win!" My guess is that he was shopping around for grappling hooks or big ladders or bombs or whatever would come in handy. He was making his own plan. But whatever he was thinking, it is safe to assume that his plan was NOT what God's plan was. So God was basically saying, "I'm not for your plan, or their plan--check out MY plan for YOU!"

These are just my thoughts of the last 20 hours or so. Don't know if I communicated them to make any sense or not.

But God's plan always prevails. Bring it LORD! Not my plan, but yours be done!

A song my daddy wrote that nobody's allowed to steal under pain of jailhood

Beyond

from our view
a moment in time
it passes quickly
both yours and mine

we can't see
what is to come
we barely see
what's already done

it's all laid out
nothing is hidden
there are no suprises
from circumstances we get in

To a mighty God
He sees it all
Our mighty mighty God
Not a sparrow falls
Our God is an amazing God
Beyond time
Beyond the way we think

He's not bound
to any limits
His timeless majesty
shines from within it

His ways are not ours
His thoughts are much higher
Nothing can squelch
His mighty and blinding fire

He's a mighty God
He sees it all
Our mighty mighty God
Not a sparrow falls
Our God is an amazing God
Beyond time
Beyond the way we think

My thoughts exactly :)

Magnify the LORD

I was listening to John Piper's Don't Waste Your Life, and heard an interesting bit.

We are told to magnify the LORD. It is the purpose of our life. But there are two kinds of magnification.

The first is the magnification of a microscope. A microscope brings tiny little cells to the screen, magnifying them and making them look huge. This is NOT what we do with God. We do not make a small and obscure God look bigger through our lives.

Rather, the second form of magnification is correct. This form is that of a telescope. The telescope looks at things like stars and planets, which are HUGE. It brings what is large and glorious into visibility. The planet was already magnificent, but the telescope brings it into view and shows it clearly to the world.

Let's be the best telescopes ever! :D

Glory to the Newborn King

Anybody notice that the Christmas songs are creeping out? We sang this one at church Sunday (and sang it very well I might add). There's always one point in the year where the impact of Christmas hits me--Sunday, listening to this song was it. Hail the incarnate Diety, born that man no more may die!

Hark the herald angels sing

"Glory to the newborn King!

Peace on earth and mercy mild

God and sinners reconciled

"Joyful, all ye nations rise"

Join the triumph of the skies

With the angelic host proclaim:

"Christ is born in Bethlehem"

Hark! The herald angels sing

"Glory to the newborn King!"

Christ by highest heav'n adored

Christ the everlasting Lord!

Late in time behold Him come

Offspring of a Virgin's womb

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see

Hail the incarnate Deity

Pleased as man with man to dwell

Jesus, our Emmanuel

Hark! The herald angels sing

"Glory to the newborn King!"

Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!

Hail the Son of Righteousness!

Light and life to all He brings

Ris'n with healing in His wings

Mild He lays His glory by

Born that man no more may die

Born to raise the sons of earth

Born to give them second birth

Hark! The herald angels sing

"Glory to the newborn King!"

Listen to this video and sing the words--see if you can tell what I mean.

LORD, I'm your servant

Father, you are the Sovereign LORD,

and I am dust upon the floor.

Your power and purity brightens my life,

though I often block it out and and ignore your wondrous light.

No more, my Jesus. Drive it far from me.

You are the Master--the writer of my story,

but as a simple human girl, I cannot see the glory.

I do not know what you have planned.

Reveal it, O LORD, though I may not understand.

For to obey my God is by far my greatest wish,

and everything you want is what I must accomplish.

I will not lean on my understanding

for even I do not trust in my own speculating.

But I know, my Jesus, that you have an idea.

Let me in on the action--please make your scheme clear.

Whatever you say is what I will do.

My story will be the one written by You.

Uncertainties, uncertainties....

I have come to a strange conclusion.

I'm getting all growed up!

I don't know how or why. Don't FEEL any different. But all of a sudden, all my friends are in college, and going away, and working, and getting married, and having babies and all...and I'M NEXT!!!! College choices, future life choices, all these things loom just outside the door.

Sound a little scary?

What I can see myself doing in the future is getting my degree and going on to teaching maybe middle-school English. But even starting and finishing school is all up to God. Not to mention I'd really like to be married and have my own children to teach at some point. And with that one there's REALLY nothing I can do, or would want to do, to influence that! But what I mostly hope is that one day he'll send the perfect hero my way...one that he has saved and built just to be for me. Some people call that silly or highly unlikely. And to be honest, it often feels that way to me too! Why would God have made someone just for me and me for them? And how will I know who it is? How will he know who I am? The more you think of the improbabilities, the more hopeless it sounds.

But my God is the same God that did the amazing things in the Bible.

Gideon was just some random kid who God chose to save Israel.

God told Samuel the exact man in all of the land to be king--more than once.

He had a special eye on a no-status girl named Mary, and made her the mother of his son.

God hand picked Noah's family and rescued them when he destroyed all the earth in a flood.

And, in addition to all this proof, I know God has a special eye on my life. He even pays attention to the little things--one time I was feeling down for no reason and was randomly blabbering to God, and mentioned that some flowers would be nice. I moved on to the next subject without thinking anything of it, but later I was sitting outside and my lil bro runs up to me with a big grin. He holds up a little pink, wilty, weedy bloom, complete with roots and dirt clumps hanging at the bottom. "This is for you Meg!" he yells, plops it on my knee, and runs away. I was confused for a minute, until I realized what this little thing WAS--a gift from God. I laughed and thanked him, and sat with my little weed, feeling much better :) If God can do THAT, of COURSE he can do the big things!

What am I worried about?

My new favorite quote

I heard my new favorite quote in apologetics this week. You shall hear it at the end--no skipping :) Let's start with a passage from John 11.

Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. "Take away the stone," he said.

"But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days."
Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"
So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me."
When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."

Let us compare this with Jesus's resurrection in John 20...

"Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"
So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed."

There are a few major differences in these resurrections. First and most obvious: Jesus was God, Lazarus was a man. But notice that in Lazarus's case, the previously dead man walked out, all wrapped up in grave clothes. When the disciples walked into the tomb, the grave clothes were still there. Now you don't see this when you just read this the first time, but I have heard Christian historians who know how dead people used to be wrapped up say that, from their recorded position, the cloths had not been moved at all. But notice, the rolling away of the stone happened in both occasions. Lazarus needed the stone to be rolled away so that he could come out. But evidently, Jesus went right through the clothes, so obviously he didn't NEED that angel to go up and roll the stone away.

And now my new favorite quote:

The stone to Jesus's tomb was rolled away not to let Him out--but to let us in.