KingSHIP 001

"KingSHIP"  001 
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Gloom and Doom - Doom and Gloom

They're really nothing new and other than the fact they make everything very uncomfortable, they're not out of God's sight or withdrawn from His concern and attention.  But Satan loves to scare the children of God and get their eyes off the Master and on to the Mess.  Well, let's not be tricked by that - OK?

As you begin your new 365 consider:

  Luke 12:22-31 ESV
And he said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. [23] For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. [24] Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! [25] And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? [26] If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? [27] Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. [28] But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! [29] And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. [30] For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. [31] Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

Consider verse 26 especially:  "If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?"

The key here for me is, "why are you anxious about the rest?"  My response to God is a resounding, "Becaue of three reasons:  First, I'm a weenie.  Second, I still think I can and need to make it all work.  Third, it's not that my faith is weak - it's more like I don't use it first but wait until I've tried all my ideas first."

Instead of anxiety (not the neurochemical kind ;-}) He calls us to: "Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you."

Remember the song, "Don't worry be happy"?  Well, he seems to be saying, "Don't worry get busy (specifically busy!)"

"Seek His Kingdom!"  Proposed:  There is no real difference between God's Kingdom and His Kingship - so we can legitimately use either term - Ok?

So, the alternative (and perhaps the remedy) for anxiousness is Kingdom/ship seeking.  Mmmmmm - that's a pretty big seekiing.

But let me suggest that you consider that it all begins with "ship" and you.  What I suggest is that we first seek to live out His King SHIIP over us - individualy and uniquely before we run off trying to do the King DOM thing.  

So, we begin a series on SHIP KingSHIP which, on the other end of the stick, is submission as vassals to the King.

I'll try to keep these brief - just hints and suggstions from scripture and my own turbulent seeking.

First step:
James 4:7 ESV
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Second step:
James 4:8 ESV
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Just consider and pray about these imperatives and NEVER forget -----

2 Peter 1:3-4 ESV
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, [4] by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

Walk with P & Me 082612

Today is the lord’s Day and it appears He was working in hyper-drive.  Patti and I woke up kind of numb and sluggish and our concerns seemed so very distracting.

But, knowing there was no better place to be we got it together and went to join our brothers and sisters for worship.  Things got funky from there on.

A dear brother stopped by us and asked how we were bearing up.  I responded with my typical, “We’re hanging in there.”  For some reason he persisted in patting us and asking about us and to tell the truth, for a moment, I was a little irritated. 

But, I realized that while I was trying real hard to distract myself from our needs and worries, God was trying to comfort and encourage us through this brother.  That was a smack in the back of the head!  Here I am feeling sorry for myself and here’s God providing comfort and care through another and I’m being a fussy camper.

Thankfully I wasn’t so full of me that God couldn’t get through.  Or rather God was a lot bigger than the “me” I was full of and there was no way I was gonna get away with my little “pity party.”  Whichever it was He lifted my heart and my spirit all the while convicting me of my whining (and Oh was I whining).

Then a brother I really love came by and showed me his new I-pod.  He was so excited as it is a great tool for him in his work and ministry.  He was absolutely joyous.  Well, my first thought was about Patti’s computer which is ancient and holds a charge for about an hour and is still XP.  Then  I thought about how ai had planned to get her a new one and to look into a new tablet for me.  Needless to say my “joy” in my brother’s I-pod was at least a little less that sincere.

Bam – again I found my heart all stuck with “me.”  Conviction?  Oh yeah! 

Then we gather around the Lord’s Table – ouch – just what I needed, a reminder of my unworthiness.  But as we took the elements my mind and heart were turned to Him and His worthiness and my being His and what it cost Him.  I’m not saying that I experienced what we think of as a miracle but I did experience something comforting and correcting.

OK, then comes the message.  Let me give you a little background. 

The other day I was listening to Alistair Begg and happened to click on a message concerning evangelism.  Now I’ve never thought of myself as being an “evangelist.”  My gift is teaching so I left evangelism to the evangelist.  But this program – an evangelistic study of the Gospel of Mark caught my interest.  I began to form my prayers around its potential in Us In Him.

The message today – basically evangelism – the Gospel.  Ouch!!!  Not wholly convicted but close.  Now I’m (actually we are) praying about  this course as part of Us In Him.  We don’t know – we kind of think maybe – but we are being taught to wait upon Him.  And since He’ll have to provide the means for us to use the courses – we have some idea what we’re waiting for.

I write this because we rarely share this kind of experiences with one another.  Is it a big deal?  Well, it was for me. 

In one morning I went from numb and nasty to grateful and hopeful and He used both my sinfulness and His grace in others to change my mind and heart. 

I had this thought about the Marianas Trench out in the Pacific Ocean.  It is so deep that light never penetrates.  I am considering its relation to my heart.  I am discovering that there are depths to my heart I have never plumbed.  Nor have I asked God to do so – not really.  Oh, I’ve asked Him to heal my booboos and remove the most obvious and common corruptions but I’ve asked for what I find comfortable and not what needs to be done.

I found this and am thankfully hopeful:

Psa 36:1  Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes. ff

Why?  As a former unredeemed “wicked,” person this was me.  I have been content to let God do a “detail” job on me (like you do a car) but I can’t remember asking Him to plumb those depths of my heart that rival the Marianas Trench.  It’s an awesome thing when you find those deep dark places.  You find them by what comes to your mind or jumps out of your mouth.

Today a couple of those weird darkness/bottom feeders rose close enough to the surface to be seen, recognized and taken to the only one who can deal with it.  I’m thankful for that and am looking to build a rememberance of it – maybe a pile of mental stones.  God has done good work for me,  but today I learned He has just begun.

Puritan Prayers - recommended

Give me a deeper trust, that I may lose myself to find myself in Thee, the ground of my rest, the spring of my being. Give me a deeper knowledge of Thyself as saviour, master, lord, and king. Give me deeper power in private prayer, more sweetness in Thy Word, more steadfast grip on its truth. Give me deeper holiness in speech, thought, action, and let me not seek moral virtue apart from Thee.  Anonymous (2010-07-01). Puritan Prayers (Kindle Locations 37-39).  . Kindle Edition.

How blessed we are to have recorded for our benefit the honest searching prayers of those who have walked with Him before us!  How clear and deep are these pools of grace.  How sweet the waters held within.  How simple and yet mighty are these petitions.

If we but borrow these might not our prayers be altered, made higher from a lower place?  Might we not find in them that for which our hearts yearn to express?  Might we not more readily seek the Holy Spirit of God with a greater hunder and yearning?  Might we not be blessed beyond measure?

I believe these prayers are ours not by divine inspiration but by His providential preservation.  From Him to them and down to us they come to raise us up and join us to the saints now in His presence.  In them we are joined with the hearts of our forefathers in the faith and in them we find the depth of our need expressed.

They need to be prayed not merely read.  They might be prayed slowly, reflectively seeking how they might call from our hidden or murky needs. 

Who knows from what specific circumstance they were prayered?  And yet, who cares?  I do not need to know the writers need but rather to find his expressed need my own.

What assurance we find here:  that we are not alone in our struggles; we are not alone in our need.  That we are not alone and never have been in seeking to be more faithful servants, submitted to the King.  Indeed there is nothing new under the sun, not even our weakenesses and fears as His servants. 

We are told to be bold and of good courage and yet we shrink and cower.  It is in prayers like these that we see the remedy for this.  We see that we need only seek Him, to pound upon the door insistently while we await His providence.   He will find us, He will answer the pounding for so He has promised.

Borrowed prayers are not some spiritual form of plagiarism.  Not when we ask Him to make them our own.  Not when we ask Him to use them to dig deeply into our hearts and minds and where we find a lack of one thing asked for we cry out louder for its provision.

Often I do not know the “what” or “how “of my prayers.  I am confounded by the cacophony of the flesh.  Yet in borrowing these prayers I find the cacophony stilled and silent and I hear my need expressed. 

I recommend this little book to you all.  To keep by your bedside or bettr yet to keep with you at all times.  Some of the prayers will instantly lift your spirit and heal your wounds, while others at first may not touch your heart, they will as He makes you ready. 

Puritan Prayers