Finger Thinking 010513 A Certain Darkness

Finger Thinking 030513

There's a certain darkness
which some of us know.
It is just part of us
not flesh
but wounds
not sin
but the effects.
There is relief
but rarely
release.
We carry it
like a secret
ashamed
and afraid.
We pray
for healing
and yet
we hear "No."
So,
we keep going
forward
as best we can.
Walking towards the light
even if just on its fringe.
Wanting to know
it is OK
knowing it may not be
until the finishing is finished.
Most of us
hang on.
Some don't.
But we all know
He knows
and cares
and provides.
We can't escape the truth,
His truth.
We may not feel His love
but we know it.
We may not experience His joy
but His promise is enough.
It's harder
for us than for some
but we know it is harder
for others.
So we learn
to pray in a different way
for what we sometimes don;t know.
But we pray
knowing He hears
knowing He has a plan
and a purpose
and in that
we hope. 

Finger Thinking - On Me

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  Gal. 5:24  ESV

Have we?  Have we indeed nailed "our" fleshly passions and desires to the cross?

Paul says that we have done this, not that it has been done.  This is an engagement the believer will be involved in until He comes.  But are we engaged in it?  Do we, with willfull intention and humble dependence actively seek to crucify the flesh - to kill it?  Or do we merely swat at it and/or just battle those desires and passions for which we would suffer some public shame?

The life of the believer is an up-stream journey.  The world, the flesh and the devil ae the river in which we journey.  We don't just float up-stream.  Nor may we tie ourselves to the bank and wait.  We are called for a purpose and in a specific direction.  Plainly put we are to glorify God - now that it is possible through the sacrificed of Christ.
We are not "saved' for ourselves but for His glory and praise.  For His good pleasure.  And yet we seem to miss that point.

In this river there are rapids and rocks and eddys.  There are dangers.  There are calm places where the progress is pleasant and there are those places where we must paddle with every ounce of energy we have.  Why?  To "gain" something?  No!  We paddle becasue we have gained something by His grace and in humble submission and thanks we live appropriately and intentionally for the purpose of the gift.

Consider whether your salvation is of such great value as your glorifying of Him.  Do you not see the connection?  Do you not see that it is a horror to assume the gift was only about or for you?  Indeed it is a great gift but it for His glory and righteousness first and foremost.

Our redemption glorifies Him and so everything the redeemed think, feel or do is to glorify Him.  Yes, He is passively glorified in what He has done in and for us BUT He will be actively glorified in and through our lvin for Him.

Note the subtle difference:
"Jesus saved me."
"God has glorified Himself in redeeming me through Jesus the Christ, the Son of God.

Can you see the difference?

Our salvation is all fo His glory.  Certainly we benefit - we benefit worderfully - but it is for His glroy we do so.

This is not something I have understood for most of my life in Him.  Like many I was just happy to be saved.  But as I learned more, studied more I was greatly convicted that there was something missing in my understanding and appreciation.  I was more focused on what was in it for me than what His purpose is in my salvation.  I can best describe it as finally seeing salvation from His point of view as opposed to the common view most of us have.

The greatest change this has had for me is in my prayer life.  As the model prayer teaches us to begin with Him and His glory so I find myself stuck in my prayers glorifying Him and fighting what I see as my fleshly supplications and requests.  Somehow, what I need or want has grown smaller compared to my need to praise and glorify Him.

Oh, I want to eat and have a roof and enjoy the blessings of His creation but more and more I find that my desires are based upon wheher or not my "getting" is for and to His glory.  I am growing in my desire to glorify Him over and above my desire to be comforable and satisfied by anything here.  It has made many many of my requests suspect in my mind and heart.

He is my God - I am His servant and His child - I want Him and His glory to be he focus of my life and living.  Yes, that is kind of scary.  When I read in the Word and in the history of His pepole what the probable cost of that is - it is scary.

I want to forsake all for His glory and yet my flesh is terrified of what that might mean.  Of course my flesh would not have me glorify Him at all - but, except for what little I can do about it - my flesh is His problem.  Certainly the God who defeated sin and death can and will ovecome my fleshy parts.

Examine yourself to see ---- 112712

   All that I am, all that I have - indeed that I am at all - is His.
Everything is placed in my hands for His purposes.
He kindly allows me to use some for my sustenance even my pleasure but it is not mine, it is His.

So when my mind wanders into the probability that what He has given me that what can be taken will be taken and I find myself growing inflamed with keeping it and/or defending it and I am cast down.

It is not my car or my house or my rights or my guns (ouch) - they are all His even to the smallest cell of the body He has given me.  I am obligated to use it wisely and well but I don't know that I am obligated to defend it - even if I could.

It was His to give and is still His after the giving.  It is never mine.  If through some secondary cause, for His purposes, it comes to a place where it is taken, even taken by force of arms or law or both am I to trust Him to leave me with what He would have me steward or am I to meet force (any type of force) with force?

I wonder if I am not to simply trust Him and allow Him to preserve and protect even my life.  Indeed the very history of our faith demontrates that there is a time and place where we must stand passive as we are persecuted and oppressed, even robbed by force of arms or force of law.

When they came for Him in the garden one only met force with force.  Not only was he foolish but he was wrong and the Lord undid the harm he inflicted.  It does, I hope, make one wonder.

We are raised to believe that we have three inalienable rights.  Life, liberty and happiness (which was originally property).  But I would ask where I am to find my right to any of these in His sovereignty and providence?  A right?  Then it is not grace or mercy but something the creator God is oblidged to provide and preserve?  And what text pray tell gives proof to that?

Paul counted all things as dung compared to the excellency of Christ.  But we, do we really count "all things" so?

Ah you will hack away at self-protection or self-preservation?  And what convinces you that you can, much less are obligated to preserve your self?  Are we not all utterly in His keeping?  Is not our very life His to give, to moderate, even to take?  Is He not sovereign, holy and good in all that happens in His creation?

He has blessed me with much - and I have much through my own foolishness and flesh.  He has allowed it but that does not mitigate my follishness and fleshness.  I have much that is there by sin.  Much.  I can not in good conscience hold that I have a right to keep any of it.  To use it for Him is my duty but that duty does not negate His right to take it away.

Job woefully lamented the loss of all He allowed to be taken.  Yet we read no claim made against God.  Naked Job came and naked he would leave.  Even if God took (or allowed to be taken) his very life Job committed himself trustingly to Him.  Do we - really?

Many do - when there is no choice.  But they simply accept what is happening instead of turning to Him promptly and praise Him for His goodness.  Salvation and a cadillac too was once considered cute - but as we have come to elevate that to the level of doctrine is it devastating.

What do we mean by "mine?"  I fear we mean something very wrong hearted.  I fear we mean "sovereignly mine" not merely mine to serve Him with and through.  I know I struggle against that heart dis-ease.

"He who dies with the most toys wins," is a sad statement for a believer to ever come close to making.  But even if we never say it, I fear we shout it by our lives.  James provides us with an important insight:

James 4:3-4
You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.    ESV

He's talking to us.  He's talking "passions."  Not sex, not drugs although those certinly apply.  Rather he is talking about us wanting what we want when we want it how we want it FOR OURSELVES.  And not what He wants, when He want, how He wants for His glory.

He is talking about me, my, mine, ours.  Our passions NOT His passions.  Can you see dear ones the dangerous difference?  See the confusion - the confounding?

We ask for money to get what we want.  We ask for time to use as we want.  We ask for health so we can continue to do what we want.  Is this asking rightly or amiss?

Pau in Romans 7 writes out his turmoil - the flesh against the Spirit.  Which one do we listen to the most.  I see few of us (note I said us - that includes me) bewailing and mourning the opportunities we give the our flesh.

Not I but Christ.
Not mine but His.
What's the differentce?
Zip!

There was only ever one hope!

Dear brothers and sisters,

I want to wear a button that says, "Repent, the end is here!!!!"

I am hardly fit company today after the results of the election.  That my "soul is cast down within me," is an understatement.

Of this, I am forced to repent and seek forgiveness.

I never realized how much hope I had placed in this election.  I am ashamed of how much I had looked to man and away from God.

I do know and I hope you do - that God is still sovereign - He still rules His creation, nothing is out of His control.

I am ashamed of the fear I have (surprise?) of the inevitable loss we will now suffer in terms of our material security.  I am ashamed of the thoughts that run through my mind.  I am ashamed at my lack of faith at God's answer to my payers.

I am ashamed at the thoughts that America, as we know it and love it is done.  I am ashamed of a desire to leave - either the country or civilization.  I am ashamed of my strong desire to drop off the grid and become one of the "invisibles."

I am ashamed of my lack of faith directed at the whole purpose of faith - His glory and honor.

I am haunted by one and only one statement made by Mr. Obama.  "Vote, it's the best revenge."  Though perhaps a slip of the tongue, for me it reveals the very heart of what we will now have to trust God in.   Revenge - the fundamental purpose behind what will not come to pass.

I don't know of anywhere else to go to live.  I don't know how to "get off the grid."  I do not know how to disappear.  Perhaps that's a good thing for I fear it would be an act of faithlessness.

Like many of you, I have been sorely distracted by all the political tension and hope.  My mind has been distracted and my heart wounded by taking my eye and mind off the call of God.

Gun sales and ammunition sales are sky-rocketing.  Self-protection?  From who?  I sense it is not from the "bad-guys" but from the guys who now have the bigger guns.

I have only two consolations.  the first is that my God is sovereign and His will is good.  The second is - well - the prophets, John the Baptist, the Apostles all lived under the cruelest of political powers and yet remained faithful and fruitful.  They stood for God against warped and insidious powers of their day - yet without sin.

We too must stand.  Not primarily for our "liberties," nor our "rights," for, as a nation of laws we are subject to the changing of the laws.

We must stand for Him.  perhaps this is why we find ourselves where we are.  For generations we have have stood for all sorts of social and cultural - even moral "issues," but we have not stood for Him.  I believe that He has been and is disciplining us and calling us back to His purpose for us.

Our fight is against the flesh.  Yes, the world and the devil are involved BUT at the very core of it all is - well - us, our flesh.  It is the flesh that battles against the spirit.  It is the flesh - this body of death - that is our primary enemy.  We must repent - in weeping and even gnashing of teeth at the faithlessness we have shown.

I am "in" the world by His will - certainly not my choice.  We are not to be "of" the world - we are not to fight as it fights - but we have and we must repent.

I am encouraging all of you to examine your hearts.  Look to see what matter most in your life and living.  If God, His glory and His will - your being conformed to the likeness of His Son, is not at the center, repent - please, repent.

I am praying to find brothers and sisters who will join with me in a commitment - a singular commitment -to turn back to the call of God to His prime directive -.

Jesus came to redeem - that is not our job.  Our calling is to call men and women to repentance through the preaching of the Gospel.  We are NOT called to change the world - we never could - we never can.

A subtle persecution has long existed - there is no need for subtlety any more.  There is also no excuse for "stealth" or "compromised" Christianity.  It is time to rebuild the wall between the Body of Christ and the world.  For too long we have allowed them to be dismantled for the sake of acceptance and congeniality.  The wall must rise again.  The distinction between believers, imposters, posers and unbelievers must be made clear.

I am ashamed of my lack of faith and faithfulness.  I never knew its depth until today and now I feel it deeply and painfully.

We must rebuild the wall around God's gate, God's door.  This must begin with each of us.  We must repent of claiming to not be "of" the world and yet craving all it's goodies and making use of all its ways.

The Puritans are our best examples of men and women who forsook the world - perhaps we would do well to follow their lead.

It is now - to what ever responsible degree we can and in God's truth and wisdom - that we must, "Come out from among them,"  Do we have the faith to do that?  Do we trust God enough to seek and follow His path in this?

The world hates Him - the world hates us - what part of that do we not want to understand?

Michael "sheepdog" Sanders
ms@tc2v1.com
336-549-2081

Peter’s Pen 1st Peter 1:13-16 (D)

1Pe 1:13-16  Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  (14)  As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,  (15)  but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,  (16)  since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."

Eph 2:8  For by grace you have been saved through faith;

and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; NASB

Whenever we are convicted of our sin, we need, of course, to repent.  Repentance has been described as doing a 180 degree turn.  That’s not a bad description.  But there’s more to it within that description.  But, we’ll look at repentance later.

If this passage has made you concerned about your walk with Him, it’s supposed to.  It was written to believers just like you and me.  They were no less gobsmacked by this than we are.

I know that when I read passages like this, passages that call me to a holy life – holy living, I’m confronted with all the ways I fail to do so.  How about you?

That’s why planting Eph. 2:8 firmly in your mind and heart is so very important.  It is all about what He has done, is doing and will do for us.

I struggle with what feels like and is a battle between what He says I am and what I do (or don’t do) – my sin.

Dear brother and sister – feel the conviction but keep in mind it is for our good not our harm.  God is gracious and merciful and loving enough to keep us sensitive to our sin.  When we are convicted, we need to rejoice that we are able to be convicted.  Yes, we need to understand that having a conscience that is oh so sensitive is a sure sign that we are indeed His.  It is only in Him that is matters.

In Hebrews we read:

Heb 12:5-6  and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, "MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM;  (6)  FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES."

Heb 12:11-13  All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.  (12)  Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble,  (13)  and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.

The passage ends with, “but rather be healed.”  This is the goal of our Lord’s discipline, our healing. 

Sin is toxic.  Sin builds barriers between us and our Lord.  Sin hurts!  We need to be healed not only from the sickness of the soul that sin brings but sin itself.  And so God, in His mercy and grace provides, for us a medicine – a disciplining - that we might be healed. 

One thing I would have you note is Vs. 12 of the Hebrews passage.  As I read that I am reminded not only of my desire for my weakness and feebleness to be healed, but that I also have a responsibility in your lives, as I can, to be a part of that strengthening.  WE are to minister to one another as we walk in the Way. 

But, alas, we are so prone to hide our need for strengthening.  We are so prone to hide our weakness.  This is so very heartbreaking.  Yes, we go before the Lord with our needs and seek His kind care.  But we, His people, are called to minister His grace and mercy to one another.  As a young person once said to me, “I need Jesus with skin on.”  That is the ministry we have to one another.  To be His hands, feet, ears, eyes, arms and hands to our brothers and sisters.  But for that to happen we need two things.

First, we need the heart to walk into the messiness of sin in the lives of our brothers (as well as the heart to have them walk in ours).  We need to pray that we will be willing to do what we can – even if it is just being there -  regardless of the circumstances to strengthen our brothers and sisters (and of course to be strengthened by them).

Second, we need to pray that we will cease to hide our weakness, our needs, whatever they are.  We need to trust Him that we might cry out to our brothers and sisters expecting only that He is in control and He will be with them and us. 

I think that if we plant the banner of Eph. 2:8 firmly before us, we will be able to do both. 

Paul writes:

Rom 12:15-16  Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.  (16)  Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly (those who are cast down, depressed, distressed). Do not be wise in your own estimation.

If what Paul says is true:

Rom 8:38-39  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,  (39)  nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Then let us pray that we will not allow sin to separate us from the ministry and care of His people.  By His grace, wisdom and power we are able to do His work not only in “the world” but in the church as well.

This and That 082812

I had a great meeting with a local Pastor this morning and was blessed to share our concerns and needs.  I was reminded that even sheep that have a safe sheepfold can be twitchy and obstinate.  In my ministry it’s really the absolute norm but one would hope that in a body, a fellowship it would not be so.  Oh well, we can hope.

I’ve not found any reference in scripture to “bad” sheep.  lost sheep, wandering sheep even rowdy sheep – but not bad ones. 

One thing comes to mind.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.   Joh 10:27

It is soooooo easy in any form of ministry and service to take on more responsibility than is rightfully ours.  If we’re the “leader” we think it’s all on us.  That’s bad – and – that’s good.  It’s good to take responsibility and accept the challenges it brings but it is bad to let ourselves think it’s all on us.  It wasn’t, isn’t and never will be about us.  It’s all about Him.

Sheep, even wild sheep are His sheep.  Oh He lets us serve Him as under shepherds and sheepdogs but they are still His sheep.  He is the Master Shepherd – the “sheep whisperer.”   It is His voice they hear.  Yes, they can hear it through us but we have to be very sure it is His voice they are hearing – and not our own.

Sheep follow Him – If we’re behind Him and ahead of them then I guess you could say they follow us.  But we have to be following Him, depending upon Him – recognizing that He doesn’t really need us but rather has graciously invited us to work under, with and for Him.

As we serve as His under shepherds or sheepdogs we have to continually ask, “What has He said to the flock and what is He saying now?”  It won’t be anything “new” – He’s already made all things “new.”  He is saying what He has always said.  We just need to figure out how to apply it to the present context.

It is His voice they need to hear – so it is His words we need to speak. 

Of course the hard part it “getting us out of the way” of His words.  That good old (err bad old) flesh just doesn’t want us to accept that He is faithful - we are feeble and that it’s all about Him.  Sure, we do what we can do – but when we think we are supposed to or can do His thing, we get into bad trouble. 

When we take on the burden that only the Master Shepherd can carry we are – well – sinning.  I know, I have to consistently work on that.  The results are usually a time of discipline for my well intentioned efforts.  He smacks my hand and says, “That’s mine!!”  It is not pleasant but it is none the less a blessing.  The object is to submit to Him, to rely on Him even for that drive and energy to serve – especially the what and how!

I’ve been reading Flavel’s work, The Mystery of Providence and I cannot tell you how what a great blessing it has been (thanks again David).  Once you get in tune with his 17^th century style of writing I promise you, you will be well blessed.  There are some “ouches” in there but there are a lot of comforting and encouraging things as well.

I pray, for you and me, that we will seek to hear His voice more clearly and to know when the sheep need to hear His voice – or our voice from Him.  I doubt that this side of heaven we’ll ever nail this down.  But through prayer, study and sharing with others who struggle we will get better and better.

Remember too that our battle orders are summed up in one word: 

μαθητευσατε – make disciples

This is the what – we trust Him to show us the how – His how!

I like to say that by His power – the power of the Gospel, “We catch ‘em, the Holy Spirit prepares ‘em and He cooks ‘em till they’re done.”

Be being prepared!

Do Thou be with me, and prepare me for all the smiles of prosperity, the frowns of adversity, the losses of substance, the death of friends, the days of darkness, the changes of life, and the last great change of all. May I find thy grace sufficient for all my needs.      Anonymous (2010-07-01). Puritan Prayers (Kindle Locations 97-99).  . Kindle Edition.

“Be prepared!”  Not a bad motto at all! 

In this prayer our Puritan friend shows us that we do not have to wait for the need of His graces and mercies to be overwhelming to bring them to Him.  He knows our future for He has numbered our days and nothing in our lives now or in the future can catch Him unaware.  He is here now that there then.

So, as our unknown prayer partner does,  let us pray for the needs yet to be seen, to be prepared for their coming be they pleasant or not.

Notice the writer firsts asks that the Lord prepare them for the, “smiles of prosperity.”    Now that is a rare thing to see, a prayer to be prepared for the good stuff.  I know I just don’t think of that regularly in my prayers and yet it is exactly that which becomes a trap for me.

We have all experienced that decrease in attention to our relationship with Him when things are ok, good and/or great.  We seem to lose that sense – no, that certainty of, our dependence on Him in all things. 

It’s like we get our gas tank filled by Him and then we don’t need to stop by until the tank gets low.  When we “run out” of whatever blessing He gave us we run looking for the blessing He will give.  I know I have to fight that! 

Two things come to my mind.  The first is the Manna in the wilderness and the second is the passage that tells us His blessings are , “new every morning.”  I wonder if we would benefit from seeing His blessings as a “today” kind of thing.

He tells us to pray for our bread, “this day.”  We are told that whatever troubles we are facing they are sufficient for, “today,” as a focus of concern.  Today is the only today we have – “this is the day the Lord has made,” – “let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

So we live and work and pray for today.  But as He is in tomorrow (weird ) He knows and cares for us there.  We can come to Him, trusting Him that there will be a tomorrow and accepting that we will be no less dependent upon Him then than now.  And we should ask Him to prepare us for whatever may come.  We may and should ask Him to strengthen our hearts and minds and our yieldedness to the Holy Spirit.

We naturally ask Him to carry us and prepare us for the hard parts.  

Let’s not forget to ask Him to prepare us for the good parts as well.

Peter’s Pen 1st Peter 1:2

(1Pe 1:2)  according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

You’ve heard the saying, “He said a mouthful.”  Well, Peter says several mouths-full in this verse.

Peter gives us a box in which we can see something about our lives in Jesus.  Our lives in Christ are:

1     1.  according to the foreknowledge of God the Father

2     2.  in the sanctification of the Spirit

3     3.  or obedience to Jesus Christ

4     4.  or sprinkling with his blood

Look at each point this way:

1     1.  You are His and that is no surprise to God He knew it and if He knew it He brought it to pass.

2     2.  You are His inside and out, over and under and His “seal” of the relationship, the Spirit, is in you an        

             upon you – and that Spirit works in you making you like Him.

3     3.  We couldn’t and wouldn’t obey without 1 and 2.  Now we can and do.  Don’t go all legalistic on me 

            now - !

4     4.  Huh?  This means you are His forever.  His blood has cleansed you and made you His dear child – and 

            this blood will always have its effect. 

I would love to launch into a lot of information about the broad and deep meaning of this passage but I won’t.  What Peter is telling you and I is that we are His – period – not questions on His part and that ought to help us when we question it on our part.  He did it – it is done!

One little – kool beans part.  Notice that Peter tells us 1 and 2 were done for obedience and then he mentions the sprinkling of the blood.  For me that’s a comfort.

When I read “for obedience,” my flesh is very quick to tell me how poorly I obey.  I get this big spreadsheet of all the rebellious and unthinking ways I disobey.  I’m sure Peter knew all about this.  I wonder how often his flesh reminded him of his sins (see Peter in the Gospels). 

So knowing that we would iinstantly default to our weak and struggling obedience Peter with the Spirit’s guidance brings up the blood of Jesus which cleanses us from all unrighteousness.

This knee jerk to our weakness/sin is what I call a “Romans 7 moment.”  Get your Bible and read Romans 7.  Ouch!  But please do not skip verse 25!!!!! 

From there Paul writes:

There is therefore now

no condemnation

for those who are in Christ Jesus.(Rom 8:1)

There we are – this are us.  This is YOU!

Brothers and sisters, “in Christ,” no failure is ever final.  No one and nothing can undo what God has done.  Our hope here and our hope for heaven is secured by Him – not by us.

“Walk behind Him leaning forward.  If you fall, fall in His direction.  If you smack the ground, crawl towards Him.” MS

Walk with Patti and me 02

Walk with Patti and me….02

This weekend was a real learning experience.  For several hours all our worry and concern just faded away.  It was as though everything was AOK.

How did this happen?  Well, Saturday we spent several hours collaborating on some of the blogs.  It was a wonderful time of questions and challenges and laughter (ok if you’ve read any of the pieces Patti didn’t get to edit you understand the laughter).

The thing is that we were so focused on the work of improving the blogs that we were absorbed by it.  This wasn’t busy work; it was a mutual concentrated focus on serving Him through the blogs.  What was so wonderful was that we both had such openness and freedom in the exchange.  It wasn’t about us and our circumstances it was about Him and you.

The second experience of relief was, as you might suspect, at worship.  Again, our problems were kept from imposing themselves on us.  We were not giddy but at peace and a little joyous.  Again, for that period of time it wasn’t about us and we were safe from the distraction.

What’s the point?  I think it was the experience of fellowship – real fellowship with each other and the body of Christ.  We weren’t “distracted” (that’s what TV is for ;-}).  We were focused off ourselves and on a greater priority.

In the lesson at church Pastor David mentioned perspective.  Well maybe it was being engaged with Him that altered our perspective.  Even when I shared our circumstances with the fellowship the impact seemed smaller.  Maybe we were repairing our nets but it was a wonderful gift from Him to be working and worshipping together.

A thought -

In Sibbes’ book, The Souls Conflict With Itself, he devotes an entire section to the imagination.  It is tied, of course, to our vanity and our difficulty in being un-autonomous. 

I was especially convicted when he wrote about how we imagine things to be worse or potentially worse than the reality. 

It’s real easy for Patti and I to “imagine,” how things will go and it is typically a terrible imagining.  What Sibbes helped me see is that there is very little of the rational in our common imaginings.

Just yesterday my Pastor taught about the need to know and the need to be biblically rational.  As the Puritans would say, the mind needs to direct the affections (feelings) and no doubt that needs to be true of our imaginings as well. 

Here’s the great thing (thank you David) about starting with what we know.  Of course I use know in the “know God” (John 17:3).

When we begin with what we know (and it must be biblically sound) our imaginings start with the final truth and its assurance.  So we know, regardless of our imaginings, that it all ends well – in Him.  Now it’s the time between this moment and that one that we have to deal with.

But the lovely truth is that God has provided us with examples of a lot of in between stuff.  Some of it is tough to accept, some of it we hope for – but all of it has happy endings for those who are His.

Now, imagining can be a useful powerful tool when done in submission to and dependence upon the Holy Spirit and the Word.  The Word gives us boundaries, the Holy Spirit works with our consciences to warn or encourage us. 

What we’re working on:

There ought to be in man a conformity to the truth and goodness of things, or else, 1, we shall wrong our own souls with false apprehensions; and 2, the creature, by putting a fashion upon it otherwise than God hath made; and 3, we shall wrong God himself, the author of good-ness, who cannot have his true glory but from a right apprehension of things as they are.

Sibbes, Richard (2012-04-24). The Soul's Conflict With Itself: And Victory Over Itself By Faith. (p. 153). A Puritan At Heart Press. Kindle Edition.

Keep praying with and for us!!

THANK YOU!

Michael & Patti Sanders

2205 New Garden Rd # 2807

Greensboro, NC 27410