posted by: Caroline
Monday, November 29, 2010
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Thanksgiving Day
My heart is filled with thankfulnessTo Him who bore my pain
\Who plumbed the depths of my disgrace
And gave me life again
Who crushed my curse of sinfulness
And clothed me in His light
And wrote His law of righteousness
With power upon my heart.
My heart is filled with thankfulness
To Him who walks beside
Who floods my weaknesses and strengths
And causes fear to fly
Whose every promise is enough
For every step I take
Sustaining me with arms of love
And crowning me with grace.
\My heart is filled with thankfulness
To Him who reigns above;
Whose wisdom is my perfect peace;
Whose every thought is love.
For every day I have on earth
Is given by the King.
So I will give my life, my all,
To love and follow Him.
~Getty and Townend~
posted by Lydia
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Musing...
"There is one character quality that Christian young people, parents and even teachers seem to universally lack: gratitude.Astounding, isn't it, that people who have experienced God's saving grace, and who live in the most privileged nation in world history, are ungrateful for what they have received?"
Musing...
Happy Thanksgiving!
posted by Lydia
Monday, November 22, 2010
Dethroning Agag
Familiar sounds filled the ears of the aged prophet as he slowly walked through the Israeli camp. It must have sounded familiar indeed in a culture where wealth was measured by land and livestock. Yes, there was no mistaking it; Samuel was hearing the sound of animals. Animals that should have been slaughtered along with the rest of the wicked tribe, as the Lord God had commanded.Samuel’s heart sank as he began to grasp the full implications of what this meant.
Disobedience.
Greed.
Deceit.
But it didn’t stop there.
As the grieved prophet confronted King Saul, he learned another heartbreaking fact: King Agag, the brutal king of the Amalekites, was also still alive. The word of the Lord had been clear- no survivors. This blatant sin of disobedience immediately stripped Saul of his kingdom. No second chances were offered.
Samuel commanded Agag to be brought to him, then mercilessly hacked him to pieces before the Lord. Justice had been served. However, the damage of King Saul’s sin had already been done. The barbaric Amalekite tribe was not blotted out that day as it should have been.
In fact, it only took a few years for this tribe to resurface, this time to plague Israel’s king-to-be, David.
David returned home after an absence to find that his entire household, including his two wives, had been stolen by…guess who! Imagine the helplessness he and his companions must have felt as the shocked silence gave way to heartbroken mourning.
However, anger renewed resolve, and after inquiring of the Lord, David and his men set out to claim what had been stolen from them.
God gave David a great victory that day. All but 400 young men of the Amalekites were wiped out. But through those 400 young men, the wicked tribe lived on.
The next time we see these evil people resurface yet again is during a desperate time in Israel’s history. It is during a time when this nation came face to face with total annihilation at the hands of an evil man. The name of that evil man was Haman, and he was a descendant of...well...guess who.
They were like the plague. A bad taste in the mouth that couldn’t be gotten rid of. Do you see a parallel? This tribe should have been destroyed as soon as they were detected. And yet, due to disobedience and complacency, they lived on. Every time they reappeared, they caused renewed havoc.
David returned home after an absence to find that his entire household, including his two wives, had been stolen by…guess who! Imagine the helplessness he and his companions must have felt as the shocked silence gave way to heartbroken mourning.
However, anger renewed resolve, and after inquiring of the Lord, David and his men set out to claim what had been stolen from them.
God gave David a great victory that day. All but 400 young men of the Amalekites were wiped out. But through those 400 young men, the wicked tribe lived on.
The next time we see these evil people resurface yet again is during a desperate time in Israel’s history. It is during a time when this nation came face to face with total annihilation at the hands of an evil man. The name of that evil man was Haman, and he was a descendant of...well...guess who.
They were like the plague. A bad taste in the mouth that couldn’t be gotten rid of. Do you see a parallel? This tribe should have been destroyed as soon as they were detected. And yet, due to disobedience and complacency, they lived on. Every time they reappeared, they caused renewed havoc.
To me, this seems allegorical to sin.
We also are commanded by the Lord God to aggressively attack something. To hack it to death. Because, just like the Amalekite tribe, if you don’t annihilate it, it will do everything in its power to annihilate you.
Sin.
It’s ugly, it’s aggressive, and it’s deadly.
“Be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you.”
We also are commanded by the Lord God to aggressively attack something. To hack it to death. Because, just like the Amalekite tribe, if you don’t annihilate it, it will do everything in its power to annihilate you.
Sin.
It’s ugly, it’s aggressive, and it’s deadly.
“Be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you.”
~John Owen~
How often we forget that we are in a war. It rages around us every single day. This is real. We have a genuine opponent. Are you putting your Agag to death?
Sin is subtle, and that makes it all the more powerful. It may hide, it may lay doormat, but if you don’t kill it, it will come back with hellish fury. This story provides a sobering reminder that this battle cannot be half-hearted. You can’t just kill half of it, or even most of it. It must be aggressively done away with, or it will simply come back in a slightly different form when you least expect it.
Alright, time to get practical! What are some real ways to be aggressive with remaining sin in the Christian life?
1. Call sin by its proper name.
Yes, a white lie sounds tamer and more innocent than deceitfulness...
Now that you mention it, a “slip of the tongue” sounds waaaay better than slander...
And yes, we all understand that that was a “prayer request” as opposed to gossip...
See my point? It’s all too easy to trivialize. Call your sin by what it really is, and you will begin to see it the way that God does.
2. Keep short accounts with God.
Don’t allow a recurring sin in your life to burn bridges between you and God. This is the devil’s plan. Keeping short accounts with God is the most sure fire way of thwarting that plan and enlisting His help with your Agag.
3. Practice “Gusty Guilt”.
Here’s an easy thing to do for anyone who has ever experienced the grip of sin in their lives: despair. Despair of ever finding a cure within yourself, and practice what John Piper refers to as “gusty guilt”. It goes something like this: YES I’m a sinner. NO, I have no hope within myself. I KNOW I’m worse than a worm graveling in the dust.
How often we forget that we are in a war. It rages around us every single day. This is real. We have a genuine opponent. Are you putting your Agag to death?
Sin is subtle, and that makes it all the more powerful. It may hide, it may lay doormat, but if you don’t kill it, it will come back with hellish fury. This story provides a sobering reminder that this battle cannot be half-hearted. You can’t just kill half of it, or even most of it. It must be aggressively done away with, or it will simply come back in a slightly different form when you least expect it.
Alright, time to get practical! What are some real ways to be aggressive with remaining sin in the Christian life?
1. Call sin by its proper name.
Yes, a white lie sounds tamer and more innocent than deceitfulness...
Now that you mention it, a “slip of the tongue” sounds waaaay better than slander...
And yes, we all understand that that was a “prayer request” as opposed to gossip...
See my point? It’s all too easy to trivialize. Call your sin by what it really is, and you will begin to see it the way that God does.
2. Keep short accounts with God.
Don’t allow a recurring sin in your life to burn bridges between you and God. This is the devil’s plan. Keeping short accounts with God is the most sure fire way of thwarting that plan and enlisting His help with your Agag.
3. Practice “Gusty Guilt”.
Here’s an easy thing to do for anyone who has ever experienced the grip of sin in their lives: despair. Despair of ever finding a cure within yourself, and practice what John Piper refers to as “gusty guilt”. It goes something like this: YES I’m a sinner. NO, I have no hope within myself. I KNOW I’m worse than a worm graveling in the dust.
Can we move on? Because you know what? I have an amazing Savior.
“So when the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him this:
"I admit that I deserve death and hell, what of it? For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and where He is there I shall be also!"
~Martin Luther~
By the grace of God, sin doesn’t have to rule over you. It will try to destroy you. It wants to annihilate you. And, just like the tribe of the Amalekites, it will never leave you alone.
So go to war. Show your obedience to the living God and be aggressive. Because sin is something that we cannot afford to allow to live. Renew that resolve, and pick up the sword of the spirit. It is the only way to hack your Agag to death.
“So when the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him this:
"I admit that I deserve death and hell, what of it? For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and where He is there I shall be also!"
~Martin Luther~
By the grace of God, sin doesn’t have to rule over you. It will try to destroy you. It wants to annihilate you. And, just like the tribe of the Amalekites, it will never leave you alone.
So go to war. Show your obedience to the living God and be aggressive. Because sin is something that we cannot afford to allow to live. Renew that resolve, and pick up the sword of the spirit. It is the only way to hack your Agag to death.
posted by Lydia
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
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