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.

A Very Nice Chap

I am reading Jesus Freaks by DC Talk, and I recommend it to every Christian in America! This story really stuck in my head. A pastor of an underground church in Russia in the 1940s writes this:

"When I was still living behind the Iron Curtain, I had met a Russian captain. He loved God, he longed after God, but he had never seen a Bible. He had never attended religious services. He had no religious education, but he loved God without the slightest knowledge of Him.

"I read to him the Sermon on the Mount and the parables of Jesus. After hearing them, he danced around the room in rapturous joy, proclaiming, 'What a wonderful beauty! How could I live without knowing this Christ?" It was the first time that I saw someone jubilating in Christ.

"Then I made a mistake. I read to him the passion of crucifixion of Christ, without having prepared him for this. He had not expected it. When he heard how Christ was beaten, how He was crucified, and that in the end He died, he fell in an armchair and began to weep bitterly. He had believed in a Savior and now his Savior was dead!

"I looked at him and was ashamed that I had called myself a Christian and a pastor, a teacher of others. I had never shared the sufferings of Christ as this Russian officer now shared them. Looking at him was, for me, like seeing Mary Magdalene weeping at the foot of the cross or at the empty tomb.

Then I read to him the story of the resurrection. When he heard this wonderful news, that the Savior arose from the tomb, he slapped his knees and shouted for joy: 'He is alive! He is alive!' Again he danced around the room, overwhelmed with happiness!

"I said to him, 'Let us pray!'

He fell on his knees together with me. He did not know our holy phrases. His words of prayer were, 'O God, what a fine chap you are! If I were You and You were me, I would never have forgiven You Your sins. But You are really a very nice chap! I love You with all my heart!'

"I think that all the angels in heaven stopped what they were doing to listen to this sublime prayer from this Russian officer. When this man received Christ, he knew he would immediately lose his position as an officer, that prison and perhaps death in jail would almost surely follow. He gladly paid the price. He was ready to lose everything."

"Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls." ~ 1 Peter 1:8-9

Like the Snake of Moses

"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."

Jesus told Nicodemus this today. It made me think of this picture:

The Israelites sinned and grumbled against the LORD, so...

the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people.
The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.

This is an awesome parallel! When you are dying in sin, you can look up to Jesus and live!

Also remember, today is good Friday! Go here to read a great article on it!

The Creed for the Modern Thinker

I heard this article on a Ravi Zecharias podcast. It is by Steve Turner, an atheist and English journalist. It was published in a secular paper, and I have copied most of it here...

Here is the creed for the modern thinker:

We believe in Marx and Darwin.

We believe everything is ok as long you don't hurt anyone to the best of your definition of "hurt" and to the best of your definition of "knowledge".

We believe in sex before, during, and after marriage.

We believe in the therapy of sin.

We believe that adultery is fun.

We believe that everything's getting better despite evidence to the contrary.

The evidence must be investigated and you can prove anything with evidence.

We believe there's something in horoscopes, UFOs, and bent spoons.

Jesus was a good man just like Buddha, Mohammad, and ourselves.

He was a good moral teacher, although we think basically his good morals were really bad.

We believe that all religions are the same - at least the ones that we read were. They all believe in love and goodness, they only differ on matters of creation, sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.

We believe that after death comes nothing because when you ask the dead what happens they say nothing.

If death is not the end and if the dead have lied then it's compulsory heaven for all except perhaps Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Khan.

What's selected is average, what's average is normal, and what's normal is good.

We believe that there are direct links between warfare and bloodshed.

Americans should beat their guns into tractors and the Russians would be sure to follow.

We believe that man is essentially good - it's only his behavior that lets him down.

This is the fault of society, society is the fault of conditions, and conditions are the fault of society.

We believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him, and reality will adapt accordingly - the university will re-adjust, history will alter.

We believe that there is no absolute truth except for the truth that there is no absolute truth.

We believe in the rejection of creeds and the flowering of individual thought.

PS - If chance be the father of all flesh, disaster is his rainbow in the sky. And when you hear "state of emergency", "sniper kills ten", "troops on rampage", "youths go looting", "bomb blasts school" it is but the sound of man worshipping his maker.

What's Going On?

I was talking to a dear friend the other day and we were both venting our frustrations about one thing - relationships. We were disappointed in the way some of the girls we knew were behaving with the opposite sex. They started out saying they would never hold hands with a guy before engagement, marriage, etc. As soon as they got into a relationship, holding hands was no big deal. Ok, so maybe holding hands is cool now and then, but no kissing until the wedding day, right? Kissing became fine for every once in awhile as soon as they had a guy that had stuck with them for a good bit. My friend and I were annoyed - how could this happen to our friends? The big questions were:

"What's become of their beliefs?"

In many instances, the great plans for purity were not just the girl's own personal hope - it was a family belief.

"Where are their fathers?"

"Where do you draw the line?"

We all know it - this topic is a controversial one. Everyone has their own idea of how a relationship should go while technically staying pure. But what have you done in your heart with this guy? Is this the knight you've been waiting for? Girls, flippant dating is DANGEROUS!

Now, I am not saying that men are a bad lot. I'm not saying that all those dudes are waiting in a corner to snatch you, and I'm definitely not saying that it's bad to be friends with a guy. I am friends with lots of guys and many are good friends! But how do we stay out of the dark waters that your girlfriends are taking a swim in?

I believe there is a simple answer - YOUR DAD. In fact, I think I'll be single forever for two reasons: First, if a guy's interested in me, he's probably a dork and hence not worth having forever. And second, even if he's got half a mind in there, he will not make it past my dad in one piece!:D Your dad can protect you from the scary flippant dating until your knight knocks on the door. And how will he know when it is him? Ummm... hey, it's Dad's job, not mine!:P But pray for your dad, that he will make the best decisions as you get older - unfortunately not like some dads I know. I'm sure happy I have a dad to run behind while sticking out my tongue at some unfortunate evildoer, if ever the need arises!

Oh yeah girls, and about this knight... if God wants you to be married, I promise he's out there somewhere. And he's worth waiting for! You don't have to settle for less.

The Armor of God

I am here commentating on Ephesians 6:10-18 in red.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. Imagine if you tried to fight a duel on your own and without any armor! For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. I just wrote a story about this - there is a guy who is living a normal life, but doesn't know that the demons and God are in a great battle for him. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Readiness that comes from peace - it makes sense doesn't it? If you're peaceful about a situation in Christ, you're not going to freak out and say the wrong things. You're ready with Christ! In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. The word of God is like a sword! Do you have it ready? We should work on memorizing more scripture and have it on all the time, just in case. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Praying for the saints... do you do it? I don't as much as I should. But why not? I haven't figured that part out yet. I'd certainly like to be prayed for to stay strong in my faith, so why don't I do it for other people?

John the Baptist - very depressed

When Jesus came to the earth and began his ministry, everyone thought he was gathering followers to one day defeat the Romans with swords and spears and that he would be king of Israel in place of Herod. The disciples were excited for this, and were confused and didn't understand Jesus's hints that that wasn't what he had come to do. Jesus wasn't fitting their agenda? Impossible.

We all know John the Baptist as the noisy guy by the river dressed in camel skin and excited about Jesus's coming. But apparently he had his own idea for what Jesus would do as well as the others. When Herod imprisoned him, he sat waiting for something amazing to happen - waiting to hear that Rome was defeated, or waiting to hear that everyone had the Holy Spirit and were speaking God's word, or that the kingdom of God had come to earth, or something grand like that. C'mon Jesus, let's get moving! Prison can get you into a state of depression I imagine, and when none of these things were happening, he sent messengers to Jesus. They asked, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" John the Baptist asked that! And Jesus didn't frown at the words - he said, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."

He was basically saying, " Blessed is the man who sticks with me and trusts me - even if what I'm doing doesn't fit his plan."

Then listen to what Jesus says to the crowd about John:

"What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings' palaces. Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written:

'I will send my messenger ahead of you,

who will prepare your way before you.'

I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."

In Jesus's mind, John wasn't a bum because he was confused. Even the greatest man born of woman has his doubts, but Jesus bears with them.

You can't put God in a box! His plan may not always align with yours - but that's ok! Just trust that He has his own great plan. Jesus sure did!