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

Pretty Psalms

Today I read in Psalms! It was especially beautimous this time, and a lot of the passages got me hooked like when you're reading a scary novel. I found the BETTER IS ONE DAY song...

"How lovely is your dwelling place,

O LORD Almighty!

My soul yearns, even faints,

for the courts of the LORD;

my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God...

Better is one day in your courts

than a thousand elsewhere."

~Psalm 84:1-2,10

Also here are the pretty passage that hooked me (with my notes in red)...

"Blessed are those whose strength is in you,

who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. (This part made me think of the journey in Pilgrim's Progress, which is so much like what Christians do today. I should read that again...)
As they pass through the Valley of Baca,

they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. (Wherever we go the bluebirds sing, and the flowers bloom and the grass gets green... We brought the welcome mat - wherever we go, that's where the party's at:P)

They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion." (Strength to strength - think about what that means. It may seem like we find new weaknesses in ourselves all the time, but God helps us with them and makes us stronger! We go from strength to strength! God's followers do not stay in weakness!)

"I will listen to what God the LORD will say;

he promises peace to his people, his saints—

but let them not return to folly."

No turning back! Don't return to folly!

And since we're on a roll with lovely truth, here's the bridge to the song I'm listening to right now...

Let the light escape from this hole inside my soul

When I start to break then grace begins to flow

Let the light escape from this lonely place inside my soul

The Glory of the LORD

Not a lot in Leviticus today - instructions about offerings, priests, etc. But there was one really amazing part.

Once the priests were ready to begin their ministry, Moses told them to sacrifice offerings "for today the LORD will appear to you". WHOA!!!! They got ready - they made every offering, did everything they were supposed to do, and the people watched. Then after this was done, the glory of the LORD appeared before everybody and fire came down and consumed the offerings! And the people's reaction really got me - "they shouted for joy and fell facedown". The fall facedown you see numerous times in the Bible, but shouting for joy? Wow!

Sometimes I just yell with excitement in God too, and it's always an amazing feeling! Sometimes when I find something amazing in the Bible, I just whoop. Sometimes in the worship services when I get a little excited and joyful in Christ, I sing as loud as I can (it's good that I don't have a microphone for more than one reason:P). I thought it was just me before this, but now all Israel is doing it in Leviticus! Whoo!

Let's shout everybody!!:D

The Work of our Hands

"The people of Israel have done nothing but provoke me with what their hands have made, declares the LORD."

In this verse in Jeremiah, we assume that God is talking about the idols the Israelites have made. But what if it is more? The Israelites surely made lots of things not idol-wise that served to provoke the LORD.

Our pastor recently finished a series on glorifying God. He pointed out that EVERY SINGLE THING we EVER do must be done to glorify God. Obviously, the Israelites weren't even thinking of God with anything they did.

How often do we do the same thing? How often do we do things for the approval of people or just for ourselves? I know with a lot of those normal day-to-day things I don't think about what God would think about this thing I was doing. But I don't want to provoke him with what I do - I want to glorify him!

I don't guess that made a lot of sense to anybody except me:Z

The Lord SPEAKS!?!?!!!!

I have decided that the last thing I would ever want to happen to me is this that happened to Job. He was moaning about how he was clean and God was punishing him for no reason. THEN the LORD SPOKE BACK!!!!!!! That's the last thing I would ever want - to be whining pointlessly and saying some things I probably shouldn't say, then hear God speak through a storm to call me out!

But God basically awed Job with his power, and made some statements like these:

"Who is this that darkens my counsel

with words without knowledge?"

"Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?

Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!

Who stretched a measuring line across it?
On what were its footings set,

or who laid its cornerstone-
while the morning stars sang together

and all the angels shouted for joy?"

"Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea

or walked in the recesses of the deep?
Have the gates of death been shown to you?

Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?

Tell me, if you know all this."

"Can you raise your voice to the clouds

and cover yourself with a flood of water?
Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?

Who endowed the heart with wisdom

or gave understanding to the mind?"

Those are just a few! But you should really read the whole Job 38-39. It is a great reminder of what God can do from his own mouth! And he covers everything - we have an all-powerful God!!!