Jesus' decision to leave heaven meant him leaving home
He left 10,000 angels constantly declaring his glory,
To be received by 10,000 men that scorned his name.
He abandoned his fame in heaven,
To be unknown.
He turned his back on security and eternal light,
To embrace the insecurity of man and the darkness of this world.
He left the uncontested knowledge of his Father's love,
To learn what deception man faces about God.
He left complete experiential knowledge of the nature of His Father
To live a life of faith
He left his glorious body that could never be destroyed
To be a slobbering, drooling baby, a man, made of dust.
He left a land of no pain
To experience excruciating pain.
He left eternal bliss,
To become a man of sorrows.
He left his home, security, glory, honor, power, bliss.
To declare: I LOVE YOU! The Living God loves you!
He ripped the veil of lies: You are worthless, you can't please God,
God hates you, your words have no value to God, He does not hear you,
He doesn't love you, look at your life.
He proclaimed, NO! Those are not lies, I will leave everything! Finally,
TRUTH!
TRUTH REIGNS!
THE KINGDOM OF LIGHT IS HERE
I LOVE YOU, I WANT TO BE WITH YOU!
All I gave up the security, honor, fame, glory, and bliss, so that you can have it, I want to be shared, I want you to know life! I created you to know life!
I AM YOUR GOD AND I DO LOVE YOU!
COME AND BE WITH ME!
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Friday, May 9, 2008
Ode to Colby
Ode to Colby
Well Colby, a dear friend of mine, who I will talk about further in the lines to come, and I were talking the other day about how it is easier for certain people to be more joyful than others simply put. Another way of saying it would be "having gifts that differ according to the grace gvien to us" and well the conversation really made me ponder some things. First, I thought Colby is great at causing other people to think about things. Now if this ability is a gift or something other I am not sure, but the fruit of this ability has always been good in my life. It could be said that he is a skeptic, but I don’t think that is accurate in Colby's case. I would call him a searcher or a quester, for he is not does not do it in skeptism, but, he is in a search or quest for truth. His heart is right in this search. Truth, he wants truth, which is Jesus, therefore, it leads people to Jesus, which I am sure he does not feel that way because I would guess that it makes him feel pretty miserable, but many are rejoicing in the light that he has found and will find. So Colby's gift (I have decided it is a gift, maybe the gift of hunger for truth) is one that leads people into the depths of truth, into the depths of Jesus. Now, I am sure that Colby will receive that compliment well, because he loves compliments, well most compliments that is...
...There is one compliment that Colby is tired of hearing: "nice calves man" and if any of you know Colby you know that he has probably the best looking calves you have ever seen. I am serious. When I think of the perfect calves, I think Colby Ivey. Now l
et me explain why I have gone into Colby's calves, it is not strictly to have Colby get a little frustrated, although, that is some of my motivation; it is to prove a point. Colby has done nothing to get such nice calves, he will have nice calves until the days he dies; it could be said that they were a gift. A problem arises if I look at Colby's (Colby is on the left and D.O. is another good friend) calves and set out to have nice calves like Colby. Why you ask, well because it would never work. I could work out my calves for years and I would still have skinny legs with calves that make little ball just below the back of my knee... Hold on I still haven’t gotten my point across… Ok here is another thought that should help the pieces come together. I had this thought when I was up at Gold's Gym working out and I saw a guy that looked to be in great shape. He had broad shoulders, with well-defined muscles. At first I began to compare myself to this guy wishing I could look like him. I began to think what do I need to do to look like that, but it dawned on me I could never look like that dude. I simply do not have the frame to look like him; therefore, if I spent all my time trying to look like him I would: A) get really frustrated in my pursuit to be like him because I could never do it, due to the fact I was never supposed to look like him and B) I would lose my identity in who God created me to be which is sin!
I then began to think about myself in a positive light, I am in fairly good shape, my bench is probably higher than it has every been in my life, I feel good, and look good. Although, my bench is the highest it has ever been, I bet the dude could bench more than I ever could even at my peak. Now, I can choose to get mad, jealous, or strive to be someone I am not. Or I acknowledge that he is in good shape, is stronger than me and rejoice in that. When I do that, I am free to be me and he is free to be him. I guessing, simply judging by the guy's build that I could out run him (distance), which of course he could see me and think I have to be able to out run this guy and focus all his effort on that and where would that get him? He would loose his strength to try and beat me. At this point I realized how much I do this same type of comparison in the church, with others gifts i.e. acts of mercy, prophecy, and list could go on. I will see someone that is really good at showing mercy, like Niki (my girlfriend) and think man I wish I could care for people like she does, which maybe is good, but right now I do not think so. I think I should just acknowledge my weakness, ask God for help, and praise him for how Niki is created to show mercy. Again let me say, I do not think Niki has to work hard to show mercy it is simply how she is wired. If someone gets hurt, she will want them feel better (although she might laugh if they fell, she thinks people falling is funny) and feel horrible for them, just because that is how she is created.
What would be awesome is if we could all stop trying to be like everyone else and be who God has created us to be, pre-sin or in Christ, which, the only way that can happen is if we know that we are loved as his children. We have to know that he loves us for who we are, because he has created us. Would it not be awesome to have the church again? A group a people that knew who they were, what they were good at and fine with how God created them, embracing their weaknesses because his grace is enough and living from the abundance of grace given to us for our gifts. Imagine this (back to working out illustration) I see "bowed up dude", rejoice in who God has made him to be and desire to see him to be as fit as possible because I want him to be all that he can be, I am not jealous, but love him and want him to be his best. Now, what if that happened in the church, where we are to all have a goal and are all focused on Jesus. We would all want everyone to be in "tip top fitness" because it was for Jesus, and violently advancing His Kingdom (so we need to be in shape right? We are against a strong foe). We could release the prophet to be the prophet, the evangelist to be the evangelist and so on for the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (we would have the fullness of Christ). We want everyone to be in the best shape with Jesus, regardless of how it looks, of course I will still work out my calves, but it is not to look like Colby, it is to glorify Jesus and do it for him. My in shape looks different than that of "bowed up dude" as the grace given to me looks different than that of Niki’s, but we must encourage everyone to be who they are and to be their best that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine rather, speaking the truth in love, [that we may] grow up in everyway in to who is the head, into Christ... Let’s hit the weights.
P.S. Colby is a great rock climber, the rock before him could be the toughest he has ever seen.
Well Colby, a dear friend of mine, who I will talk about further in the lines to come, and I were talking the other day about how it is easier for certain people to be more joyful than others simply put. Another way of saying it would be "having gifts that differ according to the grace gvien to us" and well the conversation really made me ponder some things. First, I thought Colby is great at causing other people to think about things. Now if this ability is a gift or something other I am not sure, but the fruit of this ability has always been good in my life. It could be said that he is a skeptic, but I don’t think that is accurate in Colby's case. I would call him a searcher or a quester, for he is not does not do it in skeptism, but, he is in a search or quest for truth. His heart is right in this search. Truth, he wants truth, which is Jesus, therefore, it leads people to Jesus, which I am sure he does not feel that way because I would guess that it makes him feel pretty miserable, but many are rejoicing in the light that he has found and will find. So Colby's gift (I have decided it is a gift, maybe the gift of hunger for truth) is one that leads people into the depths of truth, into the depths of Jesus. Now, I am sure that Colby will receive that compliment well, because he loves compliments, well most compliments that is...
...There is one compliment that Colby is tired of hearing: "nice calves man" and if any of you know Colby you know that he has probably the best looking calves you have ever seen. I am serious. When I think of the perfect calves, I think Colby Ivey. Now l
et me explain why I have gone into Colby's calves, it is not strictly to have Colby get a little frustrated, although, that is some of my motivation; it is to prove a point. Colby has done nothing to get such nice calves, he will have nice calves until the days he dies; it could be said that they were a gift. A problem arises if I look at Colby's (Colby is on the left and D.O. is another good friend) calves and set out to have nice calves like Colby. Why you ask, well because it would never work. I could work out my calves for years and I would still have skinny legs with calves that make little ball just below the back of my knee... Hold on I still haven’t gotten my point across… Ok here is another thought that should help the pieces come together. I had this thought when I was up at Gold's Gym working out and I saw a guy that looked to be in great shape. He had broad shoulders, with well-defined muscles. At first I began to compare myself to this guy wishing I could look like him. I began to think what do I need to do to look like that, but it dawned on me I could never look like that dude. I simply do not have the frame to look like him; therefore, if I spent all my time trying to look like him I would: A) get really frustrated in my pursuit to be like him because I could never do it, due to the fact I was never supposed to look like him and B) I would lose my identity in who God created me to be which is sin!I then began to think about myself in a positive light, I am in fairly good shape, my bench is probably higher than it has every been in my life, I feel good, and look good. Although, my bench is the highest it has ever been, I bet the dude could bench more than I ever could even at my peak. Now, I can choose to get mad, jealous, or strive to be someone I am not. Or I acknowledge that he is in good shape, is stronger than me and rejoice in that. When I do that, I am free to be me and he is free to be him. I guessing, simply judging by the guy's build that I could out run him (distance), which of course he could see me and think I have to be able to out run this guy and focus all his effort on that and where would that get him? He would loose his strength to try and beat me. At this point I realized how much I do this same type of comparison in the church, with others gifts i.e. acts of mercy, prophecy, and list could go on. I will see someone that is really good at showing mercy, like Niki (my girlfriend) and think man I wish I could care for people like she does, which maybe is good, but right now I do not think so. I think I should just acknowledge my weakness, ask God for help, and praise him for how Niki is created to show mercy. Again let me say, I do not think Niki has to work hard to show mercy it is simply how she is wired. If someone gets hurt, she will want them feel better (although she might laugh if they fell, she thinks people falling is funny) and feel horrible for them, just because that is how she is created.
What would be awesome is if we could all stop trying to be like everyone else and be who God has created us to be, pre-sin or in Christ, which, the only way that can happen is if we know that we are loved as his children. We have to know that he loves us for who we are, because he has created us. Would it not be awesome to have the church again? A group a people that knew who they were, what they were good at and fine with how God created them, embracing their weaknesses because his grace is enough and living from the abundance of grace given to us for our gifts. Imagine this (back to working out illustration) I see "bowed up dude", rejoice in who God has made him to be and desire to see him to be as fit as possible because I want him to be all that he can be, I am not jealous, but love him and want him to be his best. Now, what if that happened in the church, where we are to all have a goal and are all focused on Jesus. We would all want everyone to be in "tip top fitness" because it was for Jesus, and violently advancing His Kingdom (so we need to be in shape right? We are against a strong foe). We could release the prophet to be the prophet, the evangelist to be the evangelist and so on for the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (we would have the fullness of Christ). We want everyone to be in the best shape with Jesus, regardless of how it looks, of course I will still work out my calves, but it is not to look like Colby, it is to glorify Jesus and do it for him. My in shape looks different than that of "bowed up dude" as the grace given to me looks different than that of Niki’s, but we must encourage everyone to be who they are and to be their best that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine rather, speaking the truth in love, [that we may] grow up in everyway in to who is the head, into Christ... Let’s hit the weights.
P.S. Colby is a great rock climber, the rock before him could be the toughest he has ever seen.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
The Big and the Small of It
What happens when the small thinks itself to be big?
When truly it was the big that thinks much of the small.
This thought came to me as I was reading Jeremiah 4:30:
"And you, O desolate one, what do you mean that you dress in scarlet,
that you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, that you enlarge your eyes with paint?
In vain you beautify yourself. Your lovers despise you; they seek your life."
For some reason it struck me, that Israel was a small little place compared to the rest of the world, but none of the mighty kingdoms that surrounded Israel, messed with her. And why is this? God protected her! Israel, although small, thought itself to be big, but in reality, God thought much of Israel [still does think much of Israel].
When truly it was the big that thinks much of the small.
This thought came to me as I was reading Jeremiah 4:30:
"And you, O desolate one, what do you mean that you dress in scarlet,
that you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, that you enlarge your eyes with paint?
In vain you beautify yourself. Your lovers despise you; they seek your life."
For some reason it struck me, that Israel was a small little place compared to the rest of the world, but none of the mighty kingdoms that surrounded Israel, messed with her. And why is this? God protected her! Israel, although small, thought itself to be big, but in reality, God thought much of Israel [still does think much of Israel].
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
My Apologies
Wow, it has been a long time since of have written, which I regret. For anyone who was actually reading this and has been offended, I be sorry. I am going to make another effort to write again, just not today. I have one ready to publish, but not on this computer, so until then, have a splendid time.
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