Psa. 119:116-117

Psalm 119:116-117 ESV
Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live, and let me not be put to shame in my hope! [117] Hold me up, that I may be safe and have regard for your statutes continually!

"Uphold,"  "Hold me up."  

The Psalmist seeks support to stand, stability to not waiver, comfort in distress - and who among us does not?  Of course, we all do.

BUT - one scheme of our enemies (w,f,d = the world the flesh and the devil) like to use is to get us to be at ease.  To get us to trust more in ourselves and others than we do in Him.  

I have a very close friend who shares about God answering prayer and his saying, "Ok God, I've got it from here."  He relates that, as he looks back, God seems to have said to him, "Oh, you do? Well, I'll just step over here and let you do it."  Then he goes on to share how he learned that there is never a time when he can not be utterly dependent upon God.

This passage reminded me of that and of the foolishness of my self-conceit - my prideful self-confidence.  

The only answer to the danger of "ease" or "prosperity" is to discipline ourselves to continually (vs. 117) attend to God and His Word.  It's a battle not uncommon to believers and though we do not want to fall into the trap of "works" we do need to be about the duties and blessings of the faith (which are one in the same).

As we are so very prone to cry out to God in times of need so we should be in times of less or little need.  Our need for the essentials for life, He has promised.  Their quality and quantity He has not promised.  When have or sense a lack of what we think we "need" we must be very careful to examine our sensation.  Where does this sense of need come from, why is it distressing me?

Certainly we have very real needs and when we can't see how they will be met it is chilling.  But when the chill passes we can grow lukewarm and lazy and complacent until we sense another need.

I am learning that as I am sure many of you are as well.  When we find that this has been a redundant state we (I) need to repent.  But, more than that I need to seek to have my need for that state/condition/habit/SIN to be put far from me.  The lesson isn't so much about what I need to do but what I need for Him to do in me.  First In need for Him to grow greater in my heart and mind - to be more Him. 

Second I need Him to keep this lesson in my mind and heart.  I need Him to change my mind and heart so that this lesson is learned and learned well.

Third I need Him to move me and to help me examine my heart and for Him to "keep" it as I do.

Fourth I need His grace to remember that it is more about He than me.  

Fifth, I need to look at the product(s) and possessions of my selfness and be grateful that though I wandered and He loves me enough to catch me and draw me back.  I also need to accept His forgiveness and not grovel or snivel but rather come to Him humbly - as a child found and restored.

Overall, I need Him to grow me in the likeness of His Son and accept that is the most important thing I can ask for.

Anxious?

"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?    (Mat 6:24-25)

I am astounded at the "therefore."  Jesus has called His hearers to a point of decision, Mammon or God.  It's a hard choice in that our service to Mammon can be so very very subtle and has roots running deep into our flesh.  We can make the good choice but that only initiates the hard work of "rooting out" Mammon-ness.

But having called them to a point of decision He goes on as though they had indeed made the right choice.  He is telling us, "Having chosen God over Mammon do not be anxious about your life."  then he enumerates many of the things we do ge anxious about.  I hesitate to see this list as definitive (that is limited only to what is here) but rather I am tempted to expand it this way:

"Do not be anxious about those material things you need God to provide so that you may serve and honor Him while you are here."

I am reminded of Abraham when he was called to sacrifice Issac.  I can think of no greater "hard place" to be than the one he found himself in and yet he states:

Abraham said, "God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." (Gen 22:8)

As i read this I wonder if we might consider that God will provide Himself with what is needed for His children to live in obedience and service.  The twist here is that God is providing it for Himself to us for His glory and honor.  Hope that's not too weird I don't want to start a theological fuss!

But if everything God does (and calls us to do) is for His glory - can't we see that he is providing it for Himself to us so we might glorify Him?

He KNOWS what we need - we THINK we know what we need.  See the difference?

Jesus asks a question we need to prayerfully consider and seek the Spirits guidance concerning:

"Is not life more than.....?"

Isn't it?  Really?

Please know I am aware of how tough a question that is and how so very much works to keep us from accepting this and living it out.  I am especially aware at how parents struggle so very much to raise their children to know this and live this.  We are in prayer for you all - please be in prayer for us as well.

msanders.bc@gmail.com

Grey day - hopeful heart - a prayer

031113

It's a cold and foggy day, just made for a fire and a good book.  But, maybe for some it's just a grey day.  You know, one of those days where you can only see so far, your a little stressed by the fogginess not sure what's ahead.

Well, as I think about that I realize that even without the fog our ability to see what's ahead is still limited.  It's the shrinking of that ability that makes is seem worse.  So I went to the Word to find some encouragement.  I didn't want to go for all the common, be joyful or don't worry, or fear not verse.  I wanted something fresh - and I think I found it.

We read the scriptures and if we're honest, there are parts that we are so familiar with that we fly right past them.  There are also parts that we may read but we don't expect to gain any great insight from.  The introductions and and endings of the epistles are one example.

But today I found a real gem - at  least for me.


2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 ESV
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, [17] comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

Read it    s l o w l y.

I realized that it is so easy to get so fixed on the issues Patti and I face and that those we're close to face that I forget - well - you guys.  Of course not knowing your circumstances or needs it's a bit difficult to pray knowingly.  But here in these verses I found a prayer I can pray for us all - all the time - with GREAT confidence.

It would only require a little change to be utterly inclusive.

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 ESV

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, [17] comfort your  (OUR)   hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

I plan to memorize this benediction - not to be used as some vain repetition but rather as a whole hearted supplication for us all.  I find that for me, it's short, sweet and right on point.

Over the past few days I have been kind of hooked (ok, obsessed) with the whole idea of comfort.  In my initial study I am beginning to see that "comfort" is what we need in distress and not in good times.  So far in the Word I find comfort more mentioned more often in regards to trials than as a blessing that stands alone.   I hope to continue to understand comfort and our need for it and hope to share what I find with you.

But - to close - Please know that there is a scruffy old sheepdog our here going to the throne of grace beseeching our Lord for your comfort and that it enables you to continue in every good work and word.

M(S)S

EXTRA For we who fear, pray and work to fear rightly!

Sinful fear -- not uncommon - not good.

In his work, Triumphing Over Sinful Fear, John flavel writes some things that I have found convicting and heart breaking in my life.  Perhaps you will be blessed by his words as I was.  I highly recommend the book as a companion to scripture in these difficult times.  He writes of 3 kinds of fear, natural, sinful and holy --- well worth reading and following his guidance.

"Some fear more than they ought, some fear before they ought and others when they ought not at all.  The strong Christian fears God, not man.  The weak Christian fears man too much and God too little."

Based upon what we find in Hosea Flavel writes:
"But their eyes do not look to Me for protection and deliverance.  They expect more from Egypt than from heaven, more from a broken reed than from the Rock of Ages.  Do not fear their fear!  It drives them from Me to the creature.  It first distracts them, and then ensnares them.  In marked contrast, see that you and all the faithful in the land sanctify Me in your hearts, and make Me your fear and dread.  Rely upon Me by faith in this day of trouble.  See that you give Me the glory of My wisdom, power, and faithfulness by relying entirely upon My attributes that are engaged for you in so many tested promises.  Do not give yourself to sinful and vain dealings, as those who have no interest in Me nor experience of Me."

"Sinful fear will cause the best people to attempt to help themselves through sinful compromises."

Isa. 30:15-17a
"In a word, one act of faith will do them more good than Pharaoh and all his forces.  But they refuse to trust God."

"The sinfulness of fear lies in its exess and immoderacy when we fear more than we ought. . . . . Our fear exceeds the value and merit of its cause.  It is a great sin to love or fear any creature above its worth, as if it were master of all our temporal and eternal comforts."

"To trust in any creature as if it had God's power to help us, or to fear any creature as if it had God's power to hurt us, is exceedingly sinful."

Isa. 31:1
"It is a sinful and dangerous mistake to give to a creature that trust and dependence that belongs to God alone."

"Be careful not to fear any man, as if the power of making or marring you were in his hands - as if it were his will and pleasure to save or ruin you.  Do not fear those who can only touch your body, as if they could damn your soul; do not attribute to any creature God's sovereign and incommunicable power."

"The sinfulness of fear consists in its power to dispose and incline people to use sinful means to escape danger.  This casts them into the hands of temptation."

You are in our prayers.

Finger Thinking 122612

Luke 9:23 ESV
And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

"AND follow me"

Consecutive?  Concurrent?

How do we read this admonition?  Is it steps?  One big "happening?"

Can we "follow" Him without His call?  Without self-denial?  Without daily taking up our cross?

His call makes me His.  "It is finished."  But even though His work is finished for me it is not finished in me.  The denial and the taking up are both part and parcel of the journey - the following of Him.

At least in my experience they are.

Everyday I find that I forget that I am His and not my own.  Perhaps I do that because I know that such a surrender may result in a loss of comfort and ease in my life here.  Perhaps I am afraid of that loss to too great a degree.  Perhaps I am yet too attached to me and my material ease and comfort.  Well - we both know there is no "perhaps" in it.  There is little question of my attachment and my struggle with it.

A poor man can be proud and possessive of his poverty.  He can cling to and depend upon what little he has and hoard it jealously.  He can clasp it in an iron hand refusing to let God remove it so that it might be replaced.  He indeed has a "death grip" upon what little he has.

The rich man may cling to all he has just a passionately as the poor man clings to his little.

But for most of us there is a middle place.  We will "give up" just so much before we begin to balk and sulk.  I know I do.  I find that I cling to too much even if it's just a little.  That "little" is mine and as long as it is, I think I am OK.  Of course, that in itself shows me that I have a long way to go.

Remember the poster of the kitten clinging to the limb?  Remember the caption, "Just hang in there?"  Well, that's where I find myself all too often.  I'm clinging to the dubious security I have (the limb) and refusing so let it go so that I might trust Him.  My "hanging in there" smacks too much of "hanging on to."

Now, on the other end of that stick is a "letting go" that's just as bad.  It's a self-motivated letting go - a proud and resentful - "Well, just take it all then!"  It's an angry and proud surrender (??) to God that really is no surrender at all.  It is more of a throwing whatever I do have back into God's face.  It isn't a pretty or a useful thing.

Paul wrote:
1 Timothy 6:6-8 ESV
Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, [7] for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. [8] But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.

So, there is no gain and perhaps even loss in godliness without contentment?  Mmmm, Ouch!  There certainly can be no true value in contentment without godiliness.

Ahhh but then there is vers 8.  Food and clothing = content.  Am I willing?  I can say that, but will I accept that?  Or, do I have a few other "buts," I'd like to throw in?  Oh how I wish I didn't!!!!  But, I know I do - even if I'm being very effective at not seeing them right now.

Here's my quandry.  What, if anything (stuff, aspirations, feelings, associations, $), does God want me to give up?  It is clear from the Gospels that following Him carried with it the very real potential of giving up stuff - but what do "I" need to give up?

Then, is it actually "stuff" He wants me to give up or is it an attitude, thought process, false belief, sinful fear---------?  I think of Job and I shiver.  Job has got me beat hands down!  Yet in his loss he struggles with everything but trusting God.  It's almost viscseral to read, "Even if He kills me, I will trust in Him."

Maybe the struggle is between having everything we want and being dead.  I feel like a petulant child fussing over surrendering toys I haven't played with in ages - "Well just take it all - all of it - I don't want any of it.  Why don't you just kill me?"

Wow - are you as suprised at the depth of my shallowness as I am?  And you know what's even more disturbing?  So far I haven't "lost" anything.  Oh, we can see potential even probable loss looming ahead of us but so far - we really haven't "lost" anything we've noticed.

Ok - maybe that's not true.  We have lost (or at least are losing - letting go of) trusting in others, even trusting in ourselves instead of Him.  We have faced the fact that "chariots" are not the answer.  We've lost that, "I'm counting on you," attitude towards others and ourselves.  We've discovered that "faith" belongs only in Him - not in friends, associates - not even those with whom and for whom we've sacrifced and worked and prayed.  "Chariots," can't work when the other option is Him.  And making aliances with "Egypt" won't work ethier.

We, like so many of you, are waiting - or at least struggling to wait - upon Him to do what we should depend upon Him alone to do.  We are getting to know the feeling David must have felt when those about him mocked asking, "Where's your God?"

Do you feel like the only answer to that mocking is, "I don't know."  Or perhaps an overly cocky, "He is there."  Or do you just pray no one asks you that quesiton?

Times are tough and I believe that especially for believers it will get tougher.  Yes, I mean that in a material way but it will also be a tough time for our faith and our faithfulness.

Not naked and not starving.  If that's what He has for me will I be faithful in it?  Right now, all I can say is that I want to be - I hope to be - but I will not do it by my own ability or power.  So, like many many of you, I sit and pray and wait, fighting myself to trust only in Him.

Examine yourself - Contentment 007

Examine yourself - Contentment 007

For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
(2 Corinthians 12:10 ESV)

LEARNED

Paul did not learn contentment from just the scriptures or the Holy Spirit.  He learned contentment in the crucible of life.  (NOTE: People experience – endure hardships yet not learn contentment –- would you say it was the combination of experiences, scriptures and the Holy Spirit?)

Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;
on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.  (2 Corinthians 11:24-28 ESV)

So, any questions?

We do not learn contentment from being in a situation that breeds contentment.  The contentment Paul learned was a contentment in adversity - in life threatening circumstances, in knowing that the above difficulties (what an understatement) would probably continue to present themselves.

Paul accepted Christ's teaching that in this world we would have tribulation and be hated.  He accepted persecution and other dangers.

There are two aspects to the crucible in which he learned contentment.  The first was the crucible of persecution and the second was the crucible of life.  Life here is full of uncertainty and danger.  Life here, as a follower of Christ, is full of certain danger.  Paul accepted that - it is what it is.

He didn't try to control of conquer his circumstances.  He didn't try to manipulate or manage the conditions or people he lived among.  It is what it is.
He accepted that.

But he accepted that within a specific context.  That context was the sovereignty and faithfulness of God in Christ.  Paul did not WANT to be beaten or stoned or naked or hungry.  He did not seek these things in some warped quest for higher spirituality.  They were simply what they were.

But Paul also accepted that his sovereign and faithful God was in total control and that anything that happened was in God's control and for God's glory.

There's an old chorus I remember singing:
In my life Lord be glorified, be glorified.
In my life Lord, be glorified today.

I'm a lot more tremulous when I sing that today.  When I used to sing it, my mind was seeing success and influence and prosperity and health.  That's what I thought was glorifying to God and it can be - but not in every life.

I made this statement at a Bible study last night.  "The love of God is meaningless without the wrath of God."

We are all too willing to accept nice things as God's will but not so nice or un-nice things?  We always ascribe them to Satan or men.  But God is sovereign - right?  See Job the first two chapters.

Contentment for Paul was defined by his heart, not his circumstances:

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith--   (Philippians 3:7-9 ESV)

The "whatever" in verse 7 certainly refers to the accomplishments Paul lists before it but it is not limited to it.  He says, "For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish."

"Count" = in the above passage carries more than a simple "consideration."  There is an element of command in this counting.  Paul pronounced all these things rubbish.  It was a pronouncement of commitment.  He decided that in his life everything was rubbish in comparison to the grace of God in Christ.

When he says he did this for, Christ's "sake," he is saying that because of Christ he does so.  It also carried the idea that Paul does this "through" Christ.

Paul determined that apart from Christ there was no contentment and that in Christ there was no reason for discontent.

Ahh - here's the rub!  Do we really say with Paul, "I no longer live!"

Think on the following:

I have been crucified with Christ. (Not "in" but "with")

 It is no longer I who live, (Not "me")

but Christ who lives in me. (Just Him)

And the life I now live in the flesh  (Here and now - hated and persecuted, hungry and naked, beaten and stoned etc...)

 I live by faith (This is a biggie!!  Faith = trust, submission, surrender, dependence, etc.......)

in the Son of God,
who loved me and
gave himself for me.
(Galatians 2:20 ESV)


Think about that - more later --

This is not some legalistic imposition I'm striving for here - I am trying to help us see that contentment is utterly redefined in Christ.  Simply put, we must be content with our redemption and not seek it anywhere else - because, if we are indeed "in Him," it can't be found anywhere else.  ms

Examine yourself - Contentment 001

I'm beginning a series on Contentment.  Why"  Well because "things" are tough for a lot of us right now and if you're like Patti and I, it's is really easy to get bogged down in them.  I'm not writing form some ivory tower but from the trenches where "hand to mouth," is a very  uncomfortable reality.  We are struggling on living "God to mouth," and it's tough - contentment is a real challenge.

Examine yourself - Contentment  001

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.  (Philippians 4:11-13 ESV)

Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.   (1 Timothy 6:6-8 ESV)

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." So we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?" 

(Hebrews 13:5-6 ESV)

One of the signs of our maturing in the faith is contentment.  I don't know about you - but for me that's a tough one.  From my studies I see contentment as the resulting sense or composure of trusting in God's goodness and the goodness of His providence.

If you read the verse above closely it is obvious that what battles against contentment is - well - stuff.  By stuff I mean everything in this world from food to all that neat goodies.  Regardless of the stuff we look at (food or cultural signs of prosperity) contentment is tough.

Contentment is not just sucking it up and carrying on.  There is a definitive element of satisfaction in true contentment.  It's a "This is fine," perspective on our present conditions and provision.  Like I said, it's tough.

Of course the clearest demonstration of the lack of contentment is seen in Israel's exodus from Egypt.  Once they were out they immediately began to grumble and mummer against God.  Basically they felt that all He had done was not sufficient for them to trust Him and they didn't see what He was doing as "good enough."

They "murmured," or "grumbled," against God and His provision.

They were DIS-contented.  Discontent has within it elements of bitterness and anger so we may assume that contentment is, at least in part, an absence of bitterness and anger.

But here's my conundrum.  I find that event though I don't express bitterness and anger at God's provision I am still anxious and fretful about it.  I also have to admit that when His provision is not what I wanted or expected I fall into a rather grudging "suck it up and take it," mode.

What I want to do is to live with praise and thanksgiving in my heart for what He has given me right now.  That is number one.  Then, number two is to joyfully and expectantly look forward to whatever He has for me in tomorrow.  

I find the worst word that can com to my mind is, "but."  

BUT;

It's not what I wanted

It's not what I expected

It's not what I needed

It's no what "I" ---------

BUT:

Will He provide for this need I know it coming and what do I do if He doesn't?

Will He give enough?

Will He determine that I am to go through a trial concerning this?

Then there are all the possible negative scenarios that may result.  Then there are all the possible ways I can fix it.  The there are all the reasons that He should just ell me that I made my bed and I'll have to lie in it - alone.  Then there are all the reasons I know I don't deserve for Him to do anything.

Yeah, it kind of snowballs in your head and weighs heavily on your heart.  

Working backwards, the passage from Hebrews is a help.  The writer begins with the admonition to, "Keep your life free from love of money,"  Nice translation but a little short.  Actually the word means "unavoritious," or "un-coveting."  of course the idea is to not love money but it is bigger - much bigger than that.

Money is a means - a means of power and a means of provision.  This is why Jesus tells us we can either love Mammon (money) or God but not both.  We can get want we want and need via money (a mere means)- or we can get what we truly need (wants are another matter) from God.

Here's the conflict.  Money I can "get" or God I must trust.

So this is where we begin - hope you'll follow along!

Peter's Pen 1 Peter 5:6

1 Peter 5:6

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.  ESV

Redundant?  Perhaps but don't we all need t be reminded - often and loudly?

It is God's hand under which we humble ourselves.  It is a mighty hand.  Because it is a mighty hand it will provide all we need.

We can and should cast all our anxieties on Him.  This word anxieties carries the important idea of "distractions."  That is the cares that distract us from serving Him.  That is a big and long list.  

This also points us to what should be our main focus, "to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." (WCF)  It is enough (as we will see) for Satan to distract us from our duties and obligations, from our service to Him and one another.  That's all Satan needs to do - that is to get our attention focused on our lack, our need, even our desires and off of Him, His grace, His promises, His power and His provision.

"Keep your eye on the ball," is not a bad admonition (I prefer it to keep your eye on the prize).  If our desire is to "put it our of the park," for Him then all Satan had to do is distract us from the pitch and we'll swing and miss.  

It is not just tough times that Satan uses and it is not just good times either.  There are those middle of the road times when we are neither in great need nor great prosperity.  For many of us, these are the times we grow slack and perhaps a little cocky.  We tend to prefer to have things on cruise control.  That way we can attend to other things.  They may be Ok things, they may be good things- but if they are not focus on Him they are just distractions.  And oh the multiplicity of distractions the world, the flesh and the Devil proved.

It is important that we keep our hearts under His scrutiny.  John Flavel in his book, Keeping the Heart, goes into great detail concerning the difficulty and imperative of this duty.  Our heart are easily distracted even mis-directed.  Though they are His they are prone to wander towards things necessary.  The bright and shiny things are as distracting as the dark and gloomy ones.

That is where remembering our moral littleness needs to be tattooed on our hearts.  This is a constant duty, keeping the heart.  We need to keep it for Him and from sin.  the idea of "keeping" is related to the old "keeps" that castles had.  The "keep" was the last bastion of safety when the castle was attacked.  Once the walls or gates were breached everyone fled to the keep.

Typically the keep was a rounded tower several stories high.  It was entered via a stairway made of wood.  Once everyone was inside the stairs were burned or otherwise dismantled denying access to the attackers.  The "keep" was well supplied with food and water and often had some secret passage for those inside to use for escape.

Such is the keeping of the heart.  It assumes the walls and gates are or will be breached and provides us with protection.  We live in hostile territory.  We are, whether we admit and accept it or not, surrounded by barbarians who are bent on conquering us.  Though we know they can never separate us from the love of God they are content to separate us from a sense of the love of God.  They are content with tipping the scales in favor of fearing them and away from trusting God.  They desire to destroy our effectiveness by distraction and distress.  hence, we must work to keep our hearts safe and protected in Him.

Now a "keep" is a small and confining place.  But it is a safe place.  Such is our life in Him.  It is small and confined.  There are many places we can not go and many things we can not do because we are in His "keep." But outside the "keep" our enemies wait.  Though were ever we go He is with us and we are in His care we also know that there are places of great danger and things to do that carry great hazard.  Why dear brothers and sisters would we desire to venture beyond the "keep?"

Humility - casting all our cares on Him - keeps us in His "keep."  Pride makes us think we can venture forth into the enemies camp and not be harmed.  Foolish, foolish pride convinces us that we have reached a point where our need for Him is somehow diminished, that we can handle somethings on our own.  Foolish, foolish pride.

Yes, we might be thrown into a lion's den.  We might be thrown into a fiery furnace.  But we are never told to go looking for a den to invade or a furnace to fling ourselves into.  

Only foolish, vain pride could ever move us to that.  There is a story of a believer who during English Civil War cried out, "Forward. God is on our side!"  He mounted the barricades behind which he had been safe.  After only a few paces he was cut down by a cannon ball.  

Pride, even in a believer, is still pride.

This and That Kind of a weird good news 101612

There still remains some wildness in the thoughts and fancies of the best Christians, to humble them; but if you find a concern before to prevent them, and opposition against them when they come, and grief and sorrow afterward, you find enough to clear you from the charge of reigning hypocrisy.  John Flavel

For all the bad press the Puritans get it's amazing how it's refuted when we actually read their works.  But they we a practical and realistic people who knew that living here for Him is a moment by moment fight.  They also knew that sometimes we get whipped.

They knew that the great victory was sure but they also knew some battles would go to the other side.  Their works are full of comforts like those above.  Read and consider the following:

If any upright soul should hence infer, 'I am a hypocrite too, for many times my heart departs from God in duty; do what I can, yet I cannot hold it close with God!' I answer, the very objection carries in it its own solution. You say, 'Do what I can, yet I cannot keep my heart with God.' Soul, if you do what you can, you have the blessing of an upright, though God sees good to exercise you under the affliction of a discomposed heart.  John Flavel

Though I hate to use the term, this middle ground or no-mans-land where the fighting is tooth and tallon is where we tend to be condeming when we ought not.  From the above quote we can see that the Puritans understood the nature and measure of the battle we fight and they considered fighting them evidence of our uprightness in Him.

Who else but a believer would be concerned with potential hypocricy?  Who else but a believer would have any conerns God-ward?  Who else but a believer would concern themselves with living out the faith?

We need to see our struggles as comforts and encouragements - as evidences that we are of the faith.  To be able to see and to be broken by the fact that we are not good enough to apporach the throne is to celebrate and acknowledge His grace and love.  Dead men and women do not so worry and distress themselves.  They can't, they are dead.  They may pretend to life, somehow being animated in a religious fashion but they are dead pretenders, hypocrites.

You, however, who have great and grave concern for the honor and glory of God in your lives, should, even in the midst of your weeping, rejoice that God has so softened and enlivened your heart that you may be broken.  Oh that all men and women would be so tender hearted - so sensitive to sin.  A hypocrite never fears hypocricy for it is their normal condition.  You, however, find even the hint of hypocricy in your life to be a matter of crying out to God and drawing closer, tending to your duties with greater diligence and calling our for His provision in a loud and weeping voice.  

You also are blessed in recognizing the weakness of your strength and your need for Him.  You do all you can and it is not enough.  But dear brother and sister it would never be enough - it could never be enough.  This fact is as critical to the Gospel as any other.  Indeed it is the very furrow in which the seed of the Gospel is planted and grows.  How blessed are we who know our need for Him in all things especially in living for Him.

It fascinates me though that so many books are written about material, physical and even emotional struggles as being indicative of the state of our walks and yet so few books are written about the state of our hearts.  Is not the heart the very core of the matter?  Does not our Lord tell us that it is out of the heart evil comes?  And yet we see so few works addressing the heart.

You are at great loss materially and you question if you are His?  You are ill and wonder about His love?  You are living with some psychological or psychiatric conition and you doubt your usefulness to Him?

The problem is not your money or your helth our your mental condition.  the problem is your heart.  Poor, terminally ill or crazy as a loon, you are His, He loves you forever and is using you to His glory and honor.  You may not see it, you certainly may not feel it but I don't see the air and I don't feel the air and yet air is.  I'll be bold - He can not NOT love you and us you.  He paid too great a price to redeem you to let you sit on the bench.

Everyone of the struggles that make you cry out and reach out to Him is, at least in part, His calling you closer to Himself.  He will do it in His own way according to our need but it is done out of love.

Wow - He's awesome!

Had a "business" meeting I was anxious about.  I was getting a little obsessed about it and kept rehearsing it in my mind.  of course this made doing anything else very difficult.

So I prayed - I simply told God that I was really tired of  "chewing" on it and that it was distracting me from other things he had given me to do.  I told Him quite plainly that I needed Him to take it out of my mind.  I told Him that I had concluded that it was something He had to deal with because obviously I was not getting anywhere.

The next day and then the morning of the meeting every time the meeting came to mind I found myself distracted away from it to do something constructive - something I could do.

Patti asked me how I was doing and I had to tell her that every time the meeting came to mind I seemed to forget it almost immediately.  it was like nothing I've ever experienced.

I went to the meeting with very little so say - and that I felt very calm about.  I said my "thing" and shut-up.  Once i had said my "piece" I was encouraging and gracious and calm.

What was so very interesting is that when I made my points there was no opposition or argument.  I said what I believed I needed to say and the meeting went on to other things.  that was absolutely un-expected.

Now maybe "my piece" was just ignored of blown-off but that was of no concern to me.  I had a peace and confidence that could only have one source.

Oh, the ramifications of the meeting and "my piece" may be used to injure me but ya know, I really can't work up any true concern about it.  I left the meeting in His hands and he did, in my view, a great job.  so, I'll leave the results of the meeting with Him as well and just keep doing what He hands me to do.

Now I know me well enough to know that I'll find something else to get all anxious about - but I also know that I'll have that meeting to remember and rest in.

Peter's pen is in edit and This and That(s) are in the works - thank you all for at least peaking at the blog - it's a real encouragement.
Michel
ms@tc2v1.com

This and That 090212 Trusting more?

There was a discussion this morning during sharing time about learning to trust God more.  Of course, being left-handed I was provoked by this idea.

What came to mind was that maybe it’s not so much a matter of trusting God more but of trusting other things less. 

There is nothing greater for which we can trust God than our redemption.  Everything after that should be a cake walk.  But it isn’t, is it?  Isn’t that, well, weird?

We have enough faith/trust to be saved and yet we struggle trusting God for the minutia (minutia compared to eternity). 

I know that I am learning that I put trust in a lot of things other than God.  It’s not fun to learn this – at times it’s nauseating but it’s important learning.   I find it awkward that it feels so bad to quit trusting things other than God.  It feels, well, kind of scary. 

How many times have we said or heard, “Put your trust in……” or “I’m trust ……..?”  Even more powerful is,  “I have faith in……….”  or “Have a little faith………”

I was very convicted when I was doing a study of traditional Jewish prayers.  I discovered one that is giving praise and thanks to God for the various “orifices” He has put in the human body, “which if any one of them is closed off, we cannot live.”

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Imagine, praising God and thanking Him for our “orifices.”    I know that must seem strange BUT it does show how intensely the writers of that prayer recognized their dependence upon – need to trust in God.

Now, this isn’t a, “go beat-up on yourself,” thing.  But it is a compassionately and gently examine what you trust kind of thing.  It is something we all need to do, not as an exception but as a norm. 

I know I’ve discovered a lot of “little idols,” in my life that I never realized I had. 

People, things, places, opportunities, even wishes and dreams have drawn away trust that would have been better invested in Him.  It is a “deal” but let’s not make it a soul crushing “BIG deal.”  Just withdraw your trust from “it” or “them” and give it Him. 

Yes, trusting something or someone other than Him is a sin – but it’s a forgiven one – right?  Accept His forgiveness and ask for the strength and insight to withdraw from and keep those “little idols” out of your life. 

Walk with P and me 081612

Walk with P and me 081612

Today was the first day of the “hours” cut we’re facing.  Of course, cut hours = cut income.  So some decisions have to be made –

Having no “fiduciary” sense what so ever, I decided to let the gifted one in the house have the reins.  Yep – Patti is now our official nickel squeezer.  Patti approved the decision ;-}.

Having made the decision I wrote and Elder to kind of feel him out.  Wow!  He made it very clear that if $$$ managing wasn’t my gift I was nutz to do it and since it is Patti’s – of course she should. 

Two things happened almost immediately.  I became very proud of my wife and very chagrinned at my (former) determined obstinacy.

I wrote a while back about husbands giving their “selfs” for their wives.  I think I did that!?!  I gave up control ( even very poor control) to her.  She will get the “picture” together get with a friend who does $ management and I will follow orders.

How could something that was sooo hard feel soooo good?  Don’t know – don’t care – but I suspect taking a little more air out of my “me ballon” and acknowledging her gift played a big part in it. 

Ya know, I’m slowly and at times painfully realizing that even without all the hot air in my “me balloon,” it still says “Me” and that’s ok.  I’m probably a better “me” without it (No comments from you Sinclair!!!)

That’s the most recent step.  God hasn’t revealed how His providence is working out but we trust that it is working.  

Thank you for your prayers and please continue – they are working!

Walk with P & me 07

Walk with P & me  07

Note:  No, you haven’t missed anything.  The blogs are numbered as they are written and published as they are done.

When does a positive (kauchēsis; kow'-khay-sis), boasting , become (ἀλαζονεία; alazoneia,) a sinful boasting/self-confidence.

In 1 Cor. 7:4 Paul speaks his boasting of the of his “pride” in the Corinthian believers.  This is a good “pride.”

I am acting with great boldness toward you;

I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort.

In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.

(2Co 7:4)

In I John 2:16 the apostle warns against “pride” – alazoneia.

For all that is in the world--the desires of the flesh

and the desires of the eyes a

and pride in possessions--is not from the Father but is from the world.

(I John 2:16)

Pride biblically is neutral.  Whether it is good or bad depends upon what it is rests upon.  Pride is confidence.  It’s what one’s confidence is in that makes pride either an asset or a sin.  To place our confidence in anything other than the providence of God is an arrogant pride.

When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.

(Pro 11:2)

This verse speaks to pride misplaced or mis-sourced.  This “pride” is arrogance and presumption.

Yesterday I was listening to Alistair Begg via Truth for Life and he was talking about Paul’s admonition to believers to support their teachers:

Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, "You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain," and, "The laborer deserves his wages."   (1Ti 5:17-18)

I was curiously convicted by this.

I was convicted of having become prideful, presumptive and even arrogant.

For years I have been a “tent-maker.”  That simply means that I have worked to support myself and rarely accepted any kind of “support” from those I ministered to.  Now, that’s not a bad thing – that is until you begin to think it makes you special.

The reason I wanted to be a tent-maker was because it was being “like Paul.”  That is not a bad thing except that being “like Paul” can puff you up – and it does.

Not only that but doing well in the “tent-making” can make one think more of themselves than they ought.

But the real problem is that I began to see the tent-making as “mine” and the ministry as “His.”  Can you catch the subtleness of the sin there?  Simply put I was proud I was a tent-maker.  Actually, as I prayed and thought about it I discovered I had become arrogant about it.  I began so really think I was “self-supporting.”  Somehow I had slipped into that sin of pride.

Not only was there sinful pride involved but there was a failure to let others be a part of the work by helping Patti and support ourselves as we went about the work.  There was also a failure to allow myself to depend upon God working through others for the work to continue.

Well, let’s heap it on – There was also a sinful failure to be in a position to be accountable to those who were blessed by and supported the work.  Perhaps this is the root of it all.  I have been un-autonomous.  I have not honestly depended upon God or His people, which makes me wonder if my ministry has been somewhat of a sham.

So I am confessing to you and to Him that I know more of my heart than I did before.  It is not pretty.  I am humbled and if it takes out right humiliation to tattoo this on my mind and heart then I will accept that. 

Right now we have five people interested in the Us In Him, Sunday @ 6 fellowship.  The support of the work will be in His and their hands.  We will simply put it out there and allow Him to work.  I will continue to make tents but I know now that that is and always has been His.

One thing I would ask of those of you whom I have been allowed to serve.  Let me hear from you – I don’t want to assume anything about the work I have done and pray to do.  Your feedback, council, correction, encouragement would be a real blessing.  Write me at:  ms@tc2v1.com 

Pray my repentance holds and that I grow from and in it.

God bless you!

Michael

Patti and Michael Sanders

2205 New Garden Rd.

# 2807

Greensboro, NC 27410

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