It is well with my soul

I'm sitting here in Northern Ireland, and for days I've been thinking and thinking about what I could perhaps write about on this site, some incredible topic that would intrigue and encourage people to pursue G-d. And for days I've come up with nothing. I still have nothing. But that's ok.
As I sit here, sipping some disgustingly simple instant coffee and listening to Shane and Shane, a song emerged that tugged at my heart, one that we've probably all heard before by different artists. The song is titled "It Is Well (With My Soul)".
Maybe we've all heard the story behind the song, but in case not I'm going to refresh you. It's about a man named Horatio Spafford, who went through an incredibly hard time in his life. First he lost his only son. Shortly after that, the great Chicago fire caused financial ruin for his family. Following this, he lost his four daughters in a ship wreck in which his wife alone was saved. On his way from America to Europe to meet his grieving wife, Spafford's ship passed the site where his daughters had drowned and he was inspired to write this song:

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the L-rd, praise the L-rd, O my soul!

And L-rd, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

Many times that's where we end the story. But Horatio Spafford's story continues. In the following years he and his wife had three more children, two daughters and a son who died in infancy. With the remainder of their lives, Horatio and his wife moved to Jerusalem and founded a colony to help the poor.
I find this story incredible. This man was a modern-day Job. In the midst of his struggles and grief and losing most of everything he had in life, he still praised G-d. And not only did he choose to adopt this attitude of praise, he wrote a song about it and lived it out. He chose not to dwell in his grief and loss, though it would have been easy to do so. Instead, he chose to praise G-d with his life and to help people.

I wonder, what are we complaining about today? And why are we complaining instead of praising our Abba?

I would encourage you all today, please take the time to do this: Sit down and write a list of the things you worry about, stress about, complain about. Then spend some time in prayer just praising G-d for his goodness and mercy and grace. Praise his name despite your circumstances. I think you'll find that having an attitude of praise is much better than a lifestyle of complaining.
Then I would encourage you, look around and see where you can get involved, how you can help out. It is much better to help others than to spend all your time focusing on yourself and your own problems.

And please, let me know your thoughts on this post. Let me know if you took my challenge and if it changed something for you. I'd love to hear comments and stories! I pray Abba's blessing on you all today and each day, and may the peace of Jehovah be with you always.

Shalom.

FREEDOM

So much holds us back from true freedom. Material wealth, fear of failure, fear of man, and the list goes on. We cling too tightly, trying to hold onto things of no real worth or significance as if they were the great pearls in this life.
I want to laugh and weep at the same time over this clever ruse to keep us living in blind poverty. Richness is ours for the taking. No, not material gain. What would that add to our lives? No, the richness to be had is LIFE. FREEDOM. LOVE. PEACE. JOY.
These are treasures beyond compare, and not everyone can say they have them, although they are there for the taking.
Life cannot truly be life without freedom. One may think they are living, but without the unadulterated rush of pure freedom they are living in a cage of their own making. No one forces you to live in the cage. The key is yours, the door open if you so choose. But too often we fear the unknown, choosing to close the door on our gilded prison rather than risk it all and face the vast unknown called freedom.
LET GO. Stop holding onto the things you think are important. A job, a car, status, appearance, the latest technology. What is all this? Merely the decorations in your cage.
GIVE IT UP. All of it. Dare to risk, to dream, to believe the impossible can happen. Dare to live. Really live. All your possessions are nothing. They cannot bring you happiness. True joy is found in freedom.
Christ has set us free. We have the choice to step out of our prisons of doubt and fear, away from a meaningless, pitiful existence, into our true callings. We were made for so much more, what are we waiting for?
Take it! It's yours! LIVE IT!

Breathe it in. FREEDOM.

Finding Yahweh

"Before any person can begin seriously to pursue God, God must first pursue him or her. Before anyone can begin seriously to seek God, God must already have begun to seek him or her." (Tozer)
I wonder how many of us go about our daily lives thinking we have to "meet Yahweh" in a certain place or at a certain time. Oh how we put him in a box so often. And for what? Because we as humans, with our limited minds, cannot grasp a God so big that he has no beginning and no end. Our brains cannot comprehend that. So to make Yahweh seem more plausible, more explainable, we create a beginning and an end. We give Yahweh definition and think up rules and laws to apply to him. As if he lives by rules. As if our laws could govern him.
I wonder if we even realise that as we try to shove Yahweh in a box, it is not the real God we're trying to control. Yahweh is not even where we think he is.
I wonder if you realise that God is everywhere, in everything. He is in a smile, in the wind, in a voice, in a song, in someone's tears, in a child, in the flowers of the fields. He has created everything. This creation is a piece of him. We are a reflection of our Father. We have his spiritual DNA flowing through our veins.
I wonder how often we live life and forget about God. We don't see him for who he is. We don't recognise his presence all around us because we live under the falsehood and religious tradition that Yahweh's presence only exists when we beg him for it. How sad that idea is.
Freedom will come when we throw all our misconceptions out the window and take God for who he really is instead of what religion tells us he is.
Think of Jacob, as he was running for his life after deceiving his father and stealing his brother's birthright, and Yahweh appeared to him in a dream to make a great promise of land and descendants. When Jacob awoke, he uttered these words: "Surely the Lord is present in this place, and I did not know it!" (Genesis 28:16) The text goes on to say, "Shaken, he said, 'How awesome is this place! There is none other than the abode of God, and that is the gateway to heaven.' "
"God had been there all the time. The problem was that Jacob did not know it." (Tozer)

How often do we live life without Yahweh because we fail to realise he is already a part of it? No begging is required, no hours of intense prayer to "see his face" or "know his will".
Who is Yahweh? Look at the life of Yeshua to know that.
"Yeshua said, 'I AM the way - and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through me. Because you have known me, you will also know my Father; from now on, you do know him - in fact, you have seen him.' Philip said to him, 'Lord, show us the Father, and it will be enough for us.' Yeshua replied to him, 'Have I been with you so long without your knowing me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father; so how can you say, "Show us the Father"? Don't you believe that I am united with the Father, and the Father united with me?' "(John 14:6-10)

Through Yeshua we see Yahweh. And I ask you, how can we claim to be "followers of Yahweh" unless we know Yeshua?
Seek and you will find. Why? Because he is already there. He is in everything.

Selah.

Why are you alive? What is the purpose of your existence here on earth? I think perhaps for this point in my life Tozer sums it up best: "If you are living only to buy and sell and get gain, that is not enough. If you are living only to sleep and work, that is not enough. If you are living only to prosper and marry and raise a family, that is not enough. If you live only to get old and die, and never find forgiveness and the daily sense of God's presence in your life, you have missed God's great purpose for you."
As I write this, I am laying in a field of wildflowers and fresh green spring grass. (Yes, what a hippie-ish thing to do.) As I look around, I'm astounded by the simplicity yet astonishing beauty of this field. Each flower was crafted with care, each petal and colour, each design... these flowers are beautiful. I know God is proud of his handiwork. How could he not be?
I know that he is much more proud of us, his living, breathing, reflection of him.
I think when we strip away all that the world holds close and deems important, we will finally get down to the simplistic way of life, the small things that matter so much. The faith of a child. The wonder in each moment, in each skip through the park, in each dancing session in a field, in each piece of grass, in each small flower.
Freedom.
I can almost hear the earth groaning, the rocks crying out... because I haven't been. We were made to praise. My soul yearns to praise. My mind tells me this is a stupid concept, an embarrassing habit that will make me an outcast, a lonely creature in the midst of a bustling world. But is this such a bad thing? I think it's quite the opposite... being an outcast means I'm standing for things the world doesn't understand, things they can't possibly grasp unless they too strip away all they think is important.
The faith of a child.
Freedom.
We need to get back to the place where we are amazed with everything God is, everything he has done, everything he represents.
Condemnation does not exist there. Failure has no hold. Pride is not important. Worry and fear are unheard of - we simply trust our Abba to be there, to take care of us. Trust is always present, never questioned. Forgiveness is given regardless of the offense. Our eyes take on a different, softer, more innocent look.
The faith of a child.
Freedom.

It is easy for a child to enter the kingdom of heaven. Why is that? What does that child see that we (with all our seemingly important knowledge, wisdom, and experience) cannot understand?

Selah.

Words of Wisdom

For today, the topics of prayer and peace....

I've heard so many Christians who prayer as loud as possible, as long as possible, thinking somehow that if they say enough of the right words God will hear them, or they'll sound as if they have a closer relationship with God, or they're more righteous than others...

I would caution everyone against this insidious type of pride. It comes easily, and is hard to purge from your life. Especially when one is trained that this is way Christians should pray - loud, obnoxious, for all the world to hear our tzedakah (righteousness).

This is what Yeshua says on the matter:
"Be careful not to parade your acts of tzedakah in front of peoplein order to be seen by them! If you do, you have no reward from your Father in heaven. So, when you do tzedakah, don't announce it with trumpets to win people's praise, like the hypocrites in the synagogues and on the streets.... When you pray, don't be like the hypocrites, who love to pray standing in the synagogues and on street corners, so that people can see them. Yes! I tell you, they have their reward already! But you, when you pray, do into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. Your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
"And when you pray, don't babble on and on like the pagans, who think God will hear them better if they talk a lot. Don't be like them, because your Father knows what you need before you ask him. You, therefore, pray like this:
"Our Father in heaven!
May your name be kept holy.
May your Kingdom come,
your will be done on earth as in heaven.
Give us the food we need today.
Forgive us what we have done wrong,
as we too have forgiven those who have wronged us.
And do not lead us into hard testing,
but keep us safe from the Evil One.
For kingship, power and glory are yours forever. Amen."

Many Christians also fall into the habit of constantly worrying about life. You might say, "Well, it's not just Christians, everyone worries!"
Why is that? We are called to be holy, set apart, different. Why is it then that our lifestyle mirrors that of "pagans"?
Worrying is telling Yahweh that you don't trust Him enough to take care of everything, down to the smallest detail. Relationships are built on trust. If there is no trust, there is no close relationship. So how then could you call Yahweh your Lord, savior, closest friend, confidante, etc if you still worry about earthly matters?

This is what Yeshua says:
"Therefore, I tell you, don't worry about your life - what you will eat or drink; or about your body - what you will wear. Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds flying about! They neither plant nor harvest, nor do they gather food into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you worth more than they are? Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to his life?
"And why be anxious about clothing? Think about the fields of wild irises, and how they they grow. They neither work nor spin thread, yet I tell you that not even Shlomo in all his glory was clothed as beautifully as one of these.
"If this is how God clothes grass in the field - which is here today and gone tomorrow, thrown in an oven - won't he much more clothe you? What little trust you have!
"So don't be anxious, asking, 'What will we eat?', 'What will we drink?' or 'How will we be clothed?' For it is the pagans who set their hearts on all these things. Your heavenly Father knows you need them all. But seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Don't worry about tomorrow - tomorrow will worry about itself! Today has enough tsuris already!"

I hope that you read all this, and that it has both encouraged and chastised you (in love). Don't allow guilt to weigh you down; instead, put the past behind you, lift your face to the sunrise, and realise that Yahweh doesn't remember our mistakes and sins. Today is a new day. You will have choices to make, some easy, some tough. I pray that what you do, you do for the glory of Yahweh.

Shalom.

Repainting the Christian Faith

"Our words aren't absolutes. Only God is absolute, and God has no intention of sharing this absoluteness with anything, especially words people have come up with to talk about him. This is something people have struggled with since the beginning: how to talk about God when God is bigger than our words, our brains, our worldviews, and our imaginations.

In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses reminds the people that when they encountered God, they 'heard the sounds of words but saw no form'.

No form, no shape.

Nothing you could see.

In Moses' day, the way you honored and respected whatever gods you followed was by making carvings or sculptures of them and then bowing down to what you had made. These were the gods you could get your mind around. Moses is confronting people with an entirely new concept of what the true God is like. He is claiming that no statue or carving could ever capture this God, because this God has no shape or form.

This was a revolutionary idea in the history of religion.

You are holding a book in your hands. It has shape and volume and weight and all the stuff that makes it a thing.

It has thingness.

This book has edges and boundaries that define it as a finite thing. It is a book and nothing else.

But the writers of the Bible go to great lengths to describe God as a being with no edges or boundaries or limits. God has no thingness because there's no end to God.

Or as the question goes in the book of Job: 'Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?'

It makes sense, then, in a strange sort of way, that when Moses asks God for his name, God replies, 'I am.'

Doesn't really clear things up, does it?

Moses is looking for a being he can wrap his mind around. Is this the god of water or power or soil or fertility? All the other gods made sense; you could understand them - who they were and what they did and what they stood for. But this God is different. Mysterious. Unfathomable.

'I am.'

The name's origins come from the verb to be, so some read it as 'I will be who I will be.'

Others suggest it should be read like this: 'I always have been, I am, and I always will be.'

Perhaps this is God's way of saying, 'If your goal is to figure me out and totally understand me, it's not going to happen. Even my name is more than you can comprehend.'

Later Moses says to God, 'Now show me your glory.'

Which is our way of saying, 'I need more. I need something I can see. Something tangible.'

God's response? He tells Moses to go stand on a rock, because he's going to pass by. He explains to Moses that no one can see him and live, so he'll cover Moses with his hand (God's hand?) as he passes by, and then he says, 'I will remove my hand and you will see my back.'

The ancient rabbis has all sorts of things to say about this passage, but one of the most fascinating things they picked up on is the part about God's back. They argued that in the original Hebrew language, the word back should be understood as a euphemism for 'where I just was'.

It is as if God is saying, 'The best you're going to do, the most you are capable of, is seeing where I... just... was.'

That's the closest you are going to get."

~ Excerpt taken from Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith by Rob Bell ~

Servanthood

I went to church this morning, it was amazing... it made me think all day. I'm still thinking about it, trying to grasp it all....

Matthew 20:25-27
"Jesus called them together and said, 'You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave.' "

When Jesus says "not so with you", it's because we're different. We're not supposed to be like everyone else, think like everyone else, act like everyone else. We are called to be different.
The pastor has been talking about what our heart attitudes should be like when we're serving, and what will keep us going and going instead of burning out. If we have the wrong motives, we will quickly fail. But if we have our priorities straight, we will succeed.

We were talking about Jesus' example after he feeds the five thousand...
Matthew 14:22-23
"Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone."

This is what we should be like... Jesus is able to serve continually and show compassion on everyone because his main priority is His relationship with His Father. We can't seek to serve for accolades or recognition, or to make ourselves feel better, or to assuage our guilty consciences, because our servanthood will not last a day.

Also take the example of Martha and Mary...
Luke 10:38-42
"As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, 'Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!'
'Martha, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.' "

The problem here is that Martha's priorities are out of line. Granted, there are many things in life that need to be taken care of, and Jesus understood that Martha needed to prepare dinner... but the main focus must be your relationship with God. Nothing else can take the place of that. This is why Jesus said, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed". Also understand that when you focus completely on the Lord, there are things that will fall to the side and not be taken care of....

But ask yourself, which is more important: the world, or the Father? When your priorities are where they should be and your main focus is Yahweh, everything else will fall into place.

"Mary has chosen what is better"....

I want to be a Mary.

Adultery and Temptation

I was reading Proverb 7 today, and I never took a closer look at this chapter until now. I'm going to copy and paste the chapter here so you can be lazy and just read it now instead of grabbing your Bible....

"My son, keep my words, and treasure my commands within you. Keep my commands and live, and my law as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call understanding your nearest kin, that they may keep you from the immoral woman, from the seductress who flatters with her words. For at the window of my house I looked through my lattice, and saw among the simple, I perceived among the youths, a young man devoid of understanding, passing along the street near her corner; and he took the path to her house in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night. And there a woman met him, with the attire of a harlot, and a crafty heart. She was loud and rebellious, her feet would not stay at home. At times she was outside, at times in the open square, lurking at every corner. So she caught him and kissed him; with an impudent face she said to him: 'I have peace offerings with me; today I have paid my vows. So I came out to meet you, diligently to seek your face, and I have found you. I have spread my bed with tapestry, colored coverings of Egyptian linen. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until morning; let us delight ourselves with love. For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey; he has taken a bag of money with him, and will come home on the appointed day.' With her enticing speech she caused him to yield, with her flattering lips she seduced him. Immediately he went after her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks, till an arrow struck his liver. As a bird hastens to the snare, he did not know it would cost his life. Now therefore, listen to me, my children; pay attention to the words of my mouth: Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, do not stray into her paths; for she has cast down many wounded, and all who were slain by her were strong men. Her house is the way to hell, descending to the chambers of death."

I believe Solomon isn't merely talking about an adulteress, he's really talking about how we allow the temptations of the world to seduce us. We have been prostituting ourselves and also allowing the temptations of this world to overcome us.
Read verses 18-21 again.... Why do we turn ourselves into harlots, eager to seek the world and fall prey to its temptations? We should be conditioning and preparing ourselves for the return of our husband "on the appointed day". We won't know when that day is, so every moment that slips by is an eternity wasted - or spent diligently and wisely.

What are we doing with every second of our lives that makes an impact on eternity?

Also think on these verses again: "For at the window of my house I looked through my lattice, and saw among the simple, I perceived among the youths, a young man devoid of understanding, passing along the street near her corner; and he took the path to her house in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night."
Simple here is meaning lacking spiritual maturity, not meaning stupid. If you read this verse over and over again, you will notice something that may tug at your mind and make you think on this throughout the day.... The simpleton being observed is "devoid of understanding", aka lacking sense or wisdom. Because he hasn't spent enough time investing in his spiritual growth, he willingly takes the "path to her house in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night". Why do you think Solomon uses all those adjectives to describe when the simpleton falls prey? Do you think he's referring to the time of day, or do you think he's referring to the spiritual state of the simpleton?
It is also very hard to believe that the man stumbled upon her house by accident. I prefer to think he knew beforehand her reputation and purposefully walked that direction seeking a thrill. Perhaps he had determined not to go in, just to walk by... but still, walking the line is playing with fire and sooner or later you will be consumed and burn up.

There are several ways of protecting yourself from this kind of folly (not adultery specifically, but foolishness, allowing yourself to be tempted, even seeking the thrills of this world).... First, spend your life seeking the Lord and nothing else. He must be your main priority, your first thought when you wake up and the last thing on your mind as you drift to sleep. Everything you do or say should be to glorify Him and make His name known.
Second, find accountability. No one can make it alone. Find someone who is stronger spiritually so that you are constantly being challenged. If you're struggling in an area, find someone who has successfully overcome those temptations and seek wisdom from them.
Third, put into practice what you preach (or read). It doesn't matter if you have the entire Bible memorized, cover to cover... if you're just sitting on that knowledge and not sharing it. You'll find that the more you talk about Yahweh and all His characteristics, the more you'll fall in love with Him and the greater influence you'll have on the people around you.

I challenge everyone... regardless of where you are at in your life or relationship with Christ right now... take it deeper. Risk it all. Jump off the cliff. Have the faith of a child.
Your lover awaits.