aSacredRebel

You

Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion; and to you shall vows be performed, O you who answer prayer! To you all flesh shall come. When deeds of iniquity overwhelm us, you forgive our transgressions. Happy are those whom you choose and bring near to live in your courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, your holy temple. By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance, O God of our salvation; you are the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas. By your strength you established the mountains; you are girded with might. You silence the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples. Those who live at earth’s farthest bounds are awed by your signs; you make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy. You visit the earth and water it, you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide the people with grain, for so you have prepared it. You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth. You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with richness. The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy, the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy. (Psalm 65, NRSV)

You alone o Lord are worthy of our praise!

You have answered our prayers and come to the rescue of all flesh!

Even though we are caught in our sinful ways, you still forgive us and come to us, providing a wonderful creation and bounty for us as your creatures!

May we always praise you and give youthanks for the mercy and grace that overflow from your throne!

indescribable gift

The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. As it is written, “He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us; for the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God. Through the testing of this ministry you glorify God by your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ and by the generosity of your sharing with them and with all others, while they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God that he has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! (2 Corinthians 9:6-15, NRSV)

No one can make you give something you don’t want to, because you will regret it and it will become a festering wound that will eat you alive inside out…

But when you free yourself to give, you will see the inherent richness in giving! When you give what has been given to you away, the one who has given it to you has space to give you even greater riches.

The gift of God is an endless flowing fountain of mercy, love and grace, and if we hold on to it it will dry up, but if we can free ourselves from worry of what we will miss because we want to be secure, we will be overwhelmingly filled beyond our wildest dreams!

So cling to the promise He will continually fill you and give to those in need around you!

one leper

On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.” (Luke 17:11-19, NRSV)

What are you thankful for?

Truly thankful for?

And have you told the person who did this for you you are thankful?

You see 1 out of 10 lepers returned to the Lord to thank Him for cleaning them and giving them their lives back. All 10 of them were now outside the city with no hope in their disease fo getting back in. They had to rely on others to feed them and give them their daily needs. But cleaned, they could return into the city and to life!

And only 1 was bothered by this to say thank you!

Think about all the things in your life you have to be thankful for and give thanks for them!

Happy Thanksgiving!

wither

A gracious woman gets honor, but she who hates virtue is covered with shame. The timid become destitute, but the aggressive gain riches. Those who are kind reward themselves, but the cruel do themselves harm. The wicked earn no real gain, but those who sow righteousness get a true reward. Whoever is steadfast in righteousness will live, but whoever pursues evil will die. Crooked minds are an abomination to the LORD, but those of blameless ways are his delight. Be assured, the wicked will not go unpunished, but those who are righteous will escape. Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman without good sense. The desire of the righteous ends only in good; the expectation of the wicked in wrath. Some give freely, yet grow all the richer; others withhold what is due, and only suffer want. A generous person will be enriched, and one who gives water will get water. The people curse those who hold back grain, but a blessing is on the head of those who sell it. Whoever diligently seeks good seeks favor, but evil comes to the one who searches for it. Those who trust in their riches will wither, but the righteous will flourish like green leaves. Those who trouble their households will inherit wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, but violence takes lives away. (Proverbs 11:16-30, NRSV)

The proverbs are rich with telling us what to do and what not to, but in a way that makes sense to most of us…

For instance if you are kind you will actually reward yourself instead of the one you are kind to, but if you are cruel, you are only harming yourself.

It is wisdom for the day…

The line that struck me here is “Those who trust in their riches will wither, but the righteous will flourish like green leaves.” And then the picture, a well watered thriving leaf…

Where do you place your trust? Is it in hoarding your resources and building wealth? Is it by cheating others out of what you owe, or what you need to do?

Because when we freely give, our cup will be refilled to overflowing, but if there isn’t any room there, there will not be a blessing given!

We can not trust in our own riches, or ourselves. We must trust in the Lord our God, who will provide for our every need. He will make our lives flourish like green leaves, if we but trust in Him!

heap

Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:13-21, NRSV)

I love these verses…

Kill them with kindness is the way we say this now. But I love the imagery of heaping burning coals on the heads of those who persecute us!

But is it easy?

To love your enemies?

To pray for those who persecute you?

To do good to those who hate you?

No. it is not easy. But here is the thing, it really isn’t an option for us.

God told us to do this. So we need to love everyone as our neighbor and repay no one evil for evil.

If we shower them with kindness we will confound them. We will confuse them. and in the end it will be worse for them than if we tried to seek retribution ourselves!

So love them to death and heap away!

unstoppable

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47, NRSV)

So how does a church grow?

Is this the same as Mary how does your garden grow?

Well a church grows not by having a good pastor. Or even by having a great pastor…

A church grows because they are an Acts 2:42 church. They are devoting themselves to teaching and fellowship, to breaking of bread and praying. They are gathering for worship and allowing the word of the Lord to infect their lives.

They will also not hold anything back, or look out for selfish gain. They will give as the Spirit fills them and flows through them, and give to all in need as the need.

This is how a church grows and if this is how the church is growing it will be unstoppable, because God is in it!

Advent Picture a day 2014

I have been doing picture devotionals for several years now and find them interesting.

So I am going to be completing a picture a day devo for Advent 2014 and I invite you to join me.

Above is the picture for the journey.

Make sure you comment here with your blog so I can follow your journey, or post your links as comments on my posts. or use the hashtag #picadayadvent to tag it. Have fun with this!

Here is a picture that is formatted for Instagram.

surprise!

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:31-46, NRSV)

There are many things to this texts that are interesting…

But the one that sticks out to me most on this reading is that both groups, the righteous and the others, are surprised by the outcome…

The righteous did not know when they had done these things to Jesus. They were mearly helping out their fellow men, and come to find out when they did something to the last, the least, the little, and the lost, they were actually serving Jesus.

And the same for those on His left. They did not know when they over looked Jesus. But when they did not help the last, the least, the little and the lost, they over looked Jesus.

You see we do not really know what we are doing and the actions we think matter are insignificant in the Lord’s eyes. We need to see through His eyes, and look upon people the way he does. We need to see the face of our Lord in every person that we see. All our Him and by serving others we are serving Him.

We can not make it on our own, only through the grace of God and by loving our neighbor as our Lord did. reaching out to the last, the lost, the least and the little…

Will you be surprised?

all is the Lord’s!

The earth is the LORD’S and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it; for he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers. Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? Those who have clean hands and pure hearts, who do not lift up their souls to what is false,and do not swear deceitfully. They will receive blessing from the LORD, and vindication from the God of their salvation. Such is the company of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors! that the King of glory may come in. Who is the King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors! that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. (Psalm 24, NRSV)

Have you ever thought about all the things you own?

And where they came from?

We think we work hard and save and move up the ladder of success and get bigger and better things, and all of this is our own doing…

Not so much.

Everything in the world, including the world belongs to God. eminent domain belongs to the Lord. Everything we have been given has come from Him. Regardless of how much work we think we have put into it, regardless of how much time and sweat and whatever else we can come up with, it all belongs to the Lord and He can reclaim it at anytime.

But here is the kicker to all of this. This is really great news! Because that means we are His as well! Everything is His and He is in control. So follow Him and let Him give you the life He has in store for you.