The New Covenant

"Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah ... this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people."

God uses very few words. He said "Let there be light," and look what happened (thanks to Charles Haun). Like Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address, God here expresses Himself succinctly and perfectly with a modicum of words.

Under the New Covenant, foreseen hundreds of years in the future by Jeremiah, the law will be written on fleshy tables of the heart, no longer on tablets of stone. God is writing in our hearts in these days to establish His laws within us that we might be the people He desires.

Adherence to this law will not be conformity to an external standard as in Old Testament legalism (and much of modern day legalism, for that matter), not a list of "to do's" and "don't do's," but "I delight to do Thy will, O Lord."

Lord, here's my heart. Write your law there with the pen of your Holy Spirit, even with the finger of God, that I might be pleasing unto Thee.

The Deity of the Holy Ghost

I think this concept has been largely lost in modern-day Christianity. We talk about receiving a "blessing," or think this is our emotions. No - this is God! The creeds have it right (not that I'm in favor of reciting creeds in every service) because this was an issue in those days and it was clarified and solidified in the creeds. The Father, Son and Holy Ghost were termed "co-equal," "co-substantial," and "co-eternal." Let's not lose ground gained in earlier times.

The Holy Spirit is of the same substance as God, and in fact is as much God as the Father and the Son. He (and we do well to keep in mind that Jesus referred to the Spirit as a person, never as an "it") always takes a low place because His ministry is to glorify the Son and not Himself, as the Son's ministry is to glorify the Father. Because He is lowly and does not exalt Himself, we have perhaps lost sight of who He really is. Because we cannot glorify the Holy Ghost solely for His own sake (because He does not do that Himself) we perhaps have lowered our estimation of His exalted position in the Godhead.

This is God working in us, bless His Holy Name forever! I never want to lose sight of the fact that I have a vital and vibrant connection with Jesus and with the Father because the Holy Ghost is alive in me. I want to walk in the victory obtained by those who went before and fought great battles in the faith. I don't want to let His banner ever waver or fall to the ground.

O, Holy Ghost, rise up in your people and proclaim the glory of our God!

Prayer

"Prayer is not monologue, but dialogue. God’s voice in response to mine is its most essential part."

~Andrew Murray

Typoglycemia

This is amazing. Go ahead and read this - the amazing thing is that you can do it.

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer inwaht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt.

His Dwellingplace

"All His glory and beauty come from within,
and there He delights to dwell.
His visits there are frequent,
His conversation sweet,
His comforts refreshing,
and His peace passing all understanding."

~Thomas A Kempis

The Wonders of The Well-Beloved Son

All the books that have been written,
All the songs that have been sung,
Never could contain the wonders
Of the well-beloved Son.

Love exceeding mere description,
Grace beyond a man's decree,
Power and might past human knowing,
Beauty that no eye can see.

Wisdom past all understanding,
Music that will ne'er be sung,
Knowledge higher than the heavens,
Eloquence beyond the tongue.

How then could my tongue desribe it,
All the glories of His worth?
How could all the scribes and poets
Who ever lived upon the earth?

Come, then, He Himself will tell us
Of His glory and His fame;
Open wide your heart and listen -
He'll tell the honor of His Name!

Follow The Directions

I sent off a fax today, but made a big mistake the first time around and had to re-send it properly. My mistake came about because all the copiers at work accept the paper face-up, but the fax machines require you to put the paper in face-down. There's even a big sign over the fax machine: "Put papers in face down." I went by force of habit and faxed two blank pages. I don't know what caused me to realize my error and send my fax again the right way, but I'm glad I caught my mistake.

God gave Moses instructions to build a tabernacle in the wilderness, and He explicitly told Moses to build it according to the pattern shown him in the mount. In other words, Moses was to follow the directions.

I sometimes wonder how off we are in our interpretation of God's desire for us in our churches. Are we doing things the way He wants us to? And if we're not, do we have a way of knowing that and of changing our course? Do we have that spark of life in everything we do? Are we going by habit or walking in the light? Are we just doing what we've always done?

I think we pride ourselves on our own ways, and can even strengthen our resolves to carry on our traditions. Church engenders a kind of self-righteousness: "Well, we're serving God so we must be okay." How often do we relax and take a look back at what we're doing to see if there's anything we should change? And, if we did that, would we have the guts to change?

Maybe we're afraid of being pessimistic and negative, and that's probably something good to be afraid of. But we should be just as afraid of being complacent, luke-warm, and out of the way.

One of my favorite organizations is Toastmasters, where you practice public speaking in front of your peers. After speaking, everyone gets evaluated. The benefit in that is in being able to see yourself as others see you. There's a right way to evaluate somebody in this setting: mention one strong point, then something that could be improved on, and close with another strong point. That goes down pretty easy.

Would that we could evaluate ourselves that way. Would that we had enough openness and honesty to say "Golly, we're not emphasizing what we should," or "we're just keeping the machinery going," or whatever the case may be. The blood is there to forgive and the light of God is there to lead us into His paths.

The Psalms speak of individual relationship with God and personal repentance, but the prophets speak of corporate repentance. That's something we don't hear about often enough in church. Joel says "Let the priests and ministers weep between the porch and the altars." That's heart-felt repentance coming from the top; that kind of change will flow down over the whole body.

Passion

“If your heart takes more pleasure in reading novels, or watching TV, or going to the movies, or talking to friends, rather than just sitting alone with God and embracing Him, sharing His cares and His burdens, weeping and rejoicing with Him, then how are you going to handle forever and ever in His presence...? You'd be bored to tears in heaven, if you're not ecstatic about God now!”

~Keith Greene

All For One

"One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life." (Psalm 27:4)

"I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." (Phil. 3:8)

I would lose all things for this one thing. This is the pearl of great price for which the merchant sold all the others. This is the treasure in the field for which a man sold all that he had.

"Salvation is free. Everything else costs." (Wade Taylor)

"Important as it is that we recognize God working in us, I would yet warn against an over preoccupation with the thought. It is a sure road to sterile passivity. God will not hold us responsible to understand the mysteries of election, predestination and the divine sovereignty. The best and safest way to deal with these truths is to raise our eyes to God and in deepest reverence say, ‘Oh Lord Thou knowest.’ Those things belong to the deep and mysterious Profound of God's omniscience. Prying into them may make theologians, but it will never make saints."

~A. W. Tozer

"A system of doctrine has risen up during the last three centuries, in which faith or spiritual-mindedness is contemplated and rested on as the end of religion, instead of Christ ... stress is laid on the believing rather than on the object of belief, on the comfort and persuasiveness of the doctrine than on the doctrine iteself. And in this way religion is made to consist of contemplating ourselves, instead of Christ ... not in His divinity and atonement, but in our conversion and faith in Him."


~John Henry Newman

Jacob

Jacob, did you lay your head upon a stone,
Sleeping in the desert all alone?
Were the heavens opened there,
Did a ladder God prepare,
Angels going up and down to the throne?
Jacob, did you lay your head upon a stone?

I, too, have laid my head upon this stone
When I'm feeling weary and alone.
Jesus is the One
I lay my head upon,
He gives me rest and strength to carry on.
I, too, have laid my head upon this stone.

Jacob, did you wrestle with a man
All night long upon the desert sand?
Was He the Son of Man,
Wasn't He the great I Am?
Jacob, did he touch you with His hand?
Jacob, did you wrestle with a man?

I, too, have sometimes wrestled with this Man,
Just to know His will, to know His plan,
But I have overcome
When conquered by the Son,
When I let Jesus touch me with His hand.
I, too, have sometimes wrestled with this Man.

Jacob, did somebody change your name,
Changed your life and left you not the same?
Israel thou art now,
Power with God hast thou,
He touched you there and left you limp and lame.
O, Jacob did somebody change your name?

One day I met a Man who changed my name,
Changed my life and left me not the same.
From heaven to earth He came
In the power of the Name,
Now I sing His honour and His fame.
One day I met a Man who changed my name.

"Do not look back on past failure and shortcoming, nor stand in dread of recurring sin; but look up and away to the face of Jesus. Do not, I pray you, live life on the dying, but on the living side. Dwell in the secret place of the Most High. Abide in the house of the Lord all the days of your life. Enter with boldness the Holiest, to remain there. Ask the Holy Spirit to enable you to realize the constant Presence of God. Say to yourself many a time each day, even when you do not feel it, "Thou art nigh, Thou art here." Make your home in the sense of God's nearness. Oh, taste and see the sweetness of such a life!"

~ F. B. Meyer

Learn Of Me

We have thought that we come to know the Lord through teaching and learning, that the intellect can be developed to apprehend the Lord. We put a premium on a literal belief in what the Bible says (every group says that, and every group believes something slightly different, so I wonder how that works) and rest in our understanding of that, without going on to apprehend what we know to be true with our mind.This may be a product of our particular culture,which glorifies the intellectual over the spiritual, or an inherent tendency of the Adamic nature to do things on its own.

Whatever the cause, it has brought us up short in the things of God. Jesus said "Take my yoke upon you and learn of me." He said "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." (John 6:39, 40). Jesus is the main attraction in the Kingdom of God.

The Bible is a road sign. Indeed, we can get hopelessly lost if we don't read the sign or if we misinterpret it. It's good to be able to read the sign and understand what it says, but we should then go to where the sign is pointing instead of exulting in our knowledge about the sign itself. The whole Bible points to a Man, Jesus.

In all our learning, let us learn Jesus. Luke wrote his letter to Theophilus, which in Greeks means "student of God." Let's be students of God, of God Himself and not just His teachings.

We are ever learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth. Jesus is Truth. We need to educate the heart, to send the heart to the school of the Holy Spirit.

I was in a Bible study once where the teacher said that the Bible is infallible whereas human experience is fallible, therefore we should focus on the letter of the Word and avoid experience in the realms of the Spirit. I thought "That's not what Paul said when he wrote 'That I may know Him." Paul had experienced a revelation of Jesus on the Damascus road, and that experience is what we need to firmly establish us in the truth that God is a person in His own right who deserves to be known and to express His heart in the lives of those who will allow Him to.

Closeness To God

"A lot of folks think closeness to God means knowing all the right answers. But I don't agree. I think closeness to God begins the night we toss nd turn in bed, realizing we don't know it all. Look at the Bible. Some of its finest saints were long on questions: Job on his ash heap, the disciples asking Jesus to teach them to pray, Nicodemus grilling Jesus late into the night, even Jesus on the cross.

Having spent much of my life showing off my smarts, I nearly choke on the words "I don't know." Still, I suspect those words might be the kingdom keys. What it boils down to is that God doesn't care whether or not we have right answers. Just right hearts."

~Philip Gulley in "Front Porch Tales"

Community Of Nations

Our church started a Latino church plant called "Comunidad de Las Naciones" (Community of the Nations). The church is situated in the middle of the Latino population explosion in Charlotte (Charlotte and Kansas City have the fastest-growing Latino populations in the country).

Alejandro Ruz came from Chile with his family to begin the church. He had previously planted a church in Paraguay. Ale is a Vina (pronounced "Vinya" and which means "Vineyard," and the word Vina should have a tilde - that squiggly character that looks like a little worm - over the "n," but I don't know how to make that on my keyboard) pastor and came in April of last year.

Ale is building the church on the basis of relationship - relationship with the Lord and with each other. Worship is reaching new levels in the Spirit as the people learn how to enter in. There is a flow of people from Latin America as they come to visit their friends and relatives. Lives are being touched and Jesus is lifted high.

I studied Spanish for 6 years and majored in it in college. I had been a very average student in high school until I took my first Spanish course in 10th grade; that lit a fire in me and I excelled in an academic subject for the first time in my life. It must be related to my facility with music and poetry. Although I never used the language professionally, I kept it alive within myself by thinking in Spanish and translating different things to myself.

Three years ago, Pat felt led to begin studying Spanish and to get a passport. She urged me to get a passport but I couldn't see any reason why. (Which must indicate that she's more spiritual and prophetic than I am.)

Then came the Latino church plant, which we are both deeply involved in, and an upcoming mission trip to the church in Paraguay in July which we're both going on. (I got a passport.)

We've been waiting and waiting for God to use us. I felt like Moses must have felt on the backside of the desert tending sheep for his uncle. Suddenly one day there was a bush burning, which he turned aside to see, and which changed everything.

The world is changing. The mission field is at our doorstep. The bush is still burning. And so am I.

Abide In Me

I touched Him once, then ran away;
I thought "That's all I need to do.
I'll tell the world of who I've seen,
And then they all can know Him, too."

I spoke to many people then
Of One I'd touched and seen back then.
One asked a question: "Where is He now?"
I could not answer; I knew not how.

So back again to Christ I ran
For one more touch; this was my plan -
To know His touch, to find His place,
Then run to tell the human race.

But when I came He held my hand
And would not let me go.
"Abide in my, my little one,
And then the world shall know."

Waiting On God

"That is waiting on God: having our eyes always on Him with a secret satisfaction, as men have on that which is their glory, and which they glory in."

~Matthew Henry

The Shadow of the Almighty

"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." (Psalm 91:1)

Well, the groundhog saw his shadow yesterday, so we're going to have some more winter. That may or may not be true, but I've seen a shadow that promises a lot more than that.

I want to abide under the shadow of the Almighty, so close to Him that I go where He goes. His shadow is going to go where He goes, and by His grace I'll be there too.

My dog is like my shadow - she is right at my feet all the time. She is totally devoted to me and wants only to be in my presence. That's the heart I want to have for God.

The promise of abiding under His shadow is made to those who dwell in the secret place of the Most High. "Dwelling" is different from "visiting," more than just church on Sunday, more than a yabba-dabba-doo prayer, more than our quick, hurried Christian life style. We've got everything just so right, could it be we got something wrong in the process?

Let us see through all our Christian clap-trap to the One who loves us so much that He gave everything He had just to be with us. Let us dwell in His Presence by continually looking away to Jesus.

The Groundhog

My father founded his company on February 2, so ever since, Groundhog Day has been a big deal in our family for exchanging cards and letters. One year I found this poem somewhere.

The groundhog is, at best, a simple soul
Without pretension, happy in his hole,
Twinkle-eyed, shy, earthy, coarse-goated grey,
No use at all (except on Groundhog Day).
At Christmas time, a rather doubtful fable
Gives the beast standing room inside the stable
With other simple things, shepherds and sheep,
Cows, and small winter birds, and on the heap
Of sun-sweetened hay, the simplest thing
Of all - a Baby. Can a groundhog sing,
Or only grunt his wonder? Could he know
This new-born Child had planned him, long ago,
For groundhog-hood? Whether true tale or fable,
I like to think that he was in the stable,
Part of the plan, and that He who designed
All simple wonderers, may have had me in mind.

~Luci Shaw