Thursday, January 24, 2008

i'm guessing that long titles are in, or else i am out...

so i've been doing a study throughout this year, and i'm kinda working at putting it together as a compilation...

as we've been doing some of it in youth group, we've entitled the segment "learning to pray from the pauline epistles," but i think that i have now settled on the title "a guide to prayer for fellow believers based on paul's prayers for the churches throughout his various epistles"

kinda long, but you get the idea of what it is right up front... there is SOOOOOOO much cool stuff there, and it has been a real guide for me. i think that compiling it all together will help to take it to the next level for thoughtful meditation and prayer.

as i was thinking about this post, i was reminded of a really good book that i read awhile back by thomas watson entitled "Heaven Taken by Storm: Showing the Holy Violence a Christian Is to Put Forth in the Pursuit After Glory". he was a puritan author. i guess long titles WERE cool then, or else maybe he wasn't cool either. hmmm - i'm guessing that puritans didn't really care about being cool. i probably shouldn't either. anyhow, if you ever need a good read - this is it. short book, packed with power.

Monday, January 14, 2008

old guys who said it well...

just thought i'd share a couple of quotes that were included in the chapter "wielding the Word in the fight for joy" from "when i don't desire God." these were especially helpful, because i was reading them as the new year dawned (or like within a week of it... it's not like i was up that early on new year's day reading to greet the daylight). the new year is a good time for me to refocus, revise my growth plan and to work at redeveloping good habits. anyhow, to the quotes...

"it is blessed to eat into the very soul of the Bible until, at last, you come to talk in scriptural language, and your spirit is flavored with the words of the Lord, so that your blood is Bibline and the very essence of the Bible flows from you."
charles spurgeon


...i think he made up the word "bibline" - but it's cool and descriptive, so that's ok

"now... i would give a few hints to my younger fellow-believers as to the way in which to keep up spiritual enjoyment. it is absolutely needful... we should read regularly through the Scriptures, consecutively, and not pick out here and there a chapter. if we do, we remain spiritual dwarfs. i tell you so affectionately. for the first four years after my conversion i made no progress, because i neglected the Bible. but when i regularly read on through the whole with reference to my own heart and soul, i directly made progress. then my peace and joy continued more and more. now i have been doing this for 47 years. i have read through the whole Bible about 100 times and i always find it fresh when i begin again. thus my peace and joy have increased more and more."
george mueller


"Bible memorization is absolutely fundamental to spiritual formation. if i had to choose between all the disciplines of the spiritual life, i would choose Bible memorization, because it is a fundamental way of filling our mind with what it needs. this book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth. that's where you need it! how does it get in your mouth? memorization."
dallas willard

"my beloved... work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life..."
philippians 2:12-16


hey steve, go for it in 2008, get back to the basics. <--- subliminal message to me

(i'm back at memorizing psalm 119 - 10 days in 40 verses down :) - 132 to go - so rich!!!)

Thursday, January 10, 2008

john steinbeck

yeah, i just wanted to make a joke about the best laid plans...

actually, it's such a release to just rest in the fact that God is in control - to trust Him and to watch where He takes me. i'm really trying to be consciously immersing myself in the Word as 2008 starts, as well as trying to be sure to be reading good stuff. it all becomes "good spillage."

the crazy part becomes the "who." just thinking about the ones that i'm getting the opportunity to minister to (or more accurately to be used as a conduit for ministry - a pen in the hand, as we've discussed). perhaps not the ones that i'd planned, or even the "big numbers." lemme tell ya, though, i'm excited to see where God's taking me!

God, help me to have an awareness of Your leading. make me an instrument useful for Your service!

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

just a short "PRAISE THE LORD"

or Bwana Asifiwe for you swahili speakers...

i'll probably have more detailed thoughts later... and probably a whole "new year's" post (with lots more ellipses), but for now i just want to praise God for a wonderful family time over the weekend - celebrating the oneness that we have in Christ - may God use us mightily in the coming year!