"Beautiful Life"

A flame with shadows: dancing

Here glimmering on the wall

Its passion seems from quick a glance un-brilliant and small
“Why so?” Its question raised
Now imprisoned in a cage
For such a flame, it seems a shame to limit it at all
      A canopy so small

Too fast, the oxygen
Exhausted by this light
Was swallowed up from with-in that small canopy that night
Yet still the flame: sustained
Though it was not in sight
The canopy was famed as suddenly it took to flight
      Adrift the wind at night
      Glowing by the little light

By just the light of just one flame
By just the bow after the rain
The Earth can see True Hope again
      And claim its Light

A Man with weakness: wrestling
So visible to all
His passion viewed by ignorance un-brilliant and small
“Why so?” His question raised
Judgment traps Him in a cage
But when God’s Man is in God’s plan He worries not at all
     No fear – not great or small

Yet still the man: sustained
And little was his might
The judgments made of him defamed as God He glorified
     Unto the heart so cold
     Amidst the day of strife
     Truth articulated bold
     Death articulated Life

By just the life of just one Man
By just the dew upon the land
We all may claim “I’m in His hands”
      Beautiful life

Jesus Answered.

Matthew 4:1-4
"Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

"Jesus answered"

In Matthew chapter 4 is the story of satan tempting Jesus in the wilderness. Multiple times it says, "Jesus answered." What a powerful statement! It dawned on me that Jesus did not merely 'ignore' temptation. Jesus did not tune out satan's voice. His encounter with satan is actually similar to the way He encountered the religious rulers. He 'heard him out' and responded in bold holiness. How was He so successful in doing this? For every temptation that satan threw at Jesus, Jesus answered. We might say that we have our answers to temptation figured out in our head. We can legitimately claim to know the 'jist' of what the Bible deems righteous and wicked. For Jesus, it was not good enough to know the "jist". Jesus did not approach life with the mindset of "I know the basics of what God's Word says." Within EVERY response Jesus gave to satan He quoted relevant Scripture passages WORD for WORD. Jesus knew His answer to temptation BEFORE being tempted.

Matthew 7:24-27 (NIV)
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

If you continue to face life in the strength of your opinions and knowledge of the 'jist' of Bible teaching then you will not be victorious over sin. You will not please the Lord. Romans 8:8 says, "...those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God."

We must stand strong against temptation. The strength required is greater than our capability. We must discover for ourselves what God's Word says about particular things, and we must memorize what is True.

Psalm 119:11
"I have hidden your word in my heart
    that I might not sin against you."

What has your answer been to your temptations? Do you think, "Maybe I will do better next time"? Do you ask God, "Give me strength to say no to temptation"? I assure you, God has given you strength - His Word. Jesus Himself relied solely upon the Scripture's teaching (so far as to quote it!) when facing temptation. If Jesus did not rely upon His own words and opinions in those moments, what makes us think that we can reason our way out? NO! Our only strength against temptation is the knowing and internalizing of God's Word (and specifically what God's Word says about the sin we are tempted with). Our only strength against temptation is in the foundation. Let us rely entirely on God's Word.

1 Corinthians 3:11
"For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ."

James 4:7-10
"Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up."

Holiness: Difficult and Doable

I tried learning a new song on the guitar tonight. So difficult. At first it sounded BAD. But as I practiced, it started sounding better. I focused on the weak parts of the song until they were all strong.  The song was not easier, I just became more prepared to play it.

The melody of holiness is beautiful and intricate.  Difficult to learn.  But as I exercise my mind and heart and body to be holy (pushing past the excruciating discomfort of denying temptation . . . choosing the UN-familiar path of righteousness) I find God's grace in great measure.

I believe that, in disciplined relationship with Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is bulking me up - so that I (IN HIM) am better enabled to be pure and holy today.  Not that the holy life is becoming easier, but that my strength is finally beginning to exceed my own capability. And I find that, the more I live out this melody of Christ, the more His holiness resides in me!

To be like Jesus..
This hope possesses me!
His Spirit helping me,
Like Him I'll be.

Man, I really want to resemble Jesus. 
For my church, my friends, my future family. 
Father, help me to resemble Jesus!

About Hidden Sin

Beware of hiding your sin.

It is good to conceal your deep secrets from general public. In other words, you cannot trust everybody who claims to genuinely care for you. The "intention" of someone whose faith is shallow and unproductive doesn't have the capacity to be good- at least not good for the purpose of wise and holy guidance and direction. Someone's "best intentions" are not always a trustworthy cause for you to become vulnerable. Still other's "best intentions" are not always sincere, but are with hidden motives.

Are these reasons for which few Christians will discuss their sin? The Word is clear that we have hope of overcoming temptation and sins which have gained a foothold on us. But we are not going to accomplish this on our own.

If you have unresolved guilt or undisclosed sin that you don't want to carry anymore, find someone worthy of your trust and vulnerability to share it with. If you're like the wicked ones in Psalm 36, then you would prefer to keep to yourself, entirely too conceited and self righteous to admit your faults.

Be humble, not foolishly arrogant. You can't do life with Christ on your own. Find someone with whom you can share your deepest secrets, and in prayer together in the presence of our Lord, by the Grace of Jesus, and the power of the empty tomb, you will find redemption, restoration, healing, deliverance.

“People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy. Blessed are those who fear to do wrong, but the stubborn are headed for serious trouble.” (Proverbs 28:13-14 NLT)

“I have a message from God in my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God before their eyes. In their own eyes they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin. The words of their mouths are wicked and deceitful; they fail to act wisely or do good. Even on their beds they plot evil; they commit themselves to a sinful course and do not reject what is wrong.” (Psalm 36:1-4 NIV)

The Love of God

When God seeks our hearts to know whether or not we truly love Him, I believe He asks these two questions:

          1. "Are you loving me?"

          2. "Are you receiving my love?"

God wants to be accepted by us as the father and savior of our lives. This is His identity and it brings Him joy when we receive His love and acknowledge/appreciate Him for who He is (Psalm 91:14).

As I search my heart and its intentions, I feel helpless because...

- I will never be capable of loving God as well as He deserves to be loved.

- (even worse...) I haven't even been loving God as well as I can. I fall shorter than short.

It is by accepting God’s perfect love for me (which perfects me) that I can love Him. By His grace alone do I love Him. God sure has shown me how inadequate I am to properly love Him. But He showed me this so that I might better understand His love for me. The beauty of God’s love is that it makes my life unfair in this way:

I am not able to love God as well as He deserves. And yet...
     -In His great mercy, He accepts me as His own.
     -In His amazing grace, He treats (loves) me as His own as well.

The love that God has for me is made evident in the life of Jesus because of the fact that I was still a sinner when He insisted on dying for me (Romans 5:8).

Whatever the Future Holds

Knowledge of the future is simply not helpful in preparation for it when the future is totally out of our control. Don't be misled - your future is in God's hands whether or not you admit it to yourself - you are not in control and that's okay! :)

The days I cannot see
Have all been planned for me
His way is best you see
I'm in His hands
(Stanley Ditmer)

Example:
Suppose we can communicate with caterpillars and one of them was very curious about his future. We explained to him that, in time, he will have wings to fly. What would that little caterpillar say?

"What are wings?"
"I'm going to fly?"
"I'm content with crawling safely on the ground."
"I'm afraid of heights!"
....and on and on and on

Eventually, that little caterpillar will be locked in a confined cocoon where he will complain. As soon as he is in it, he will be asking again and again with bold faith that God removes him from the cocoon. Little did he know the transformation that was taking place. From this mini jail, he will break out with magnificent wings - bright, new, and colorful. He even gets a new name! He is now the butterfly. His old self is gone without a trace. He has become something new. I wonder if that butterfly ever thought to himself, "I wish I could return to crawling on the ground."

Do you have something in common with that caterpillar? Are you also interested in God's plans for your life? Maybe you have been asking the wrong questions lately. Check out what God's Word tells us about God's plans for our future.

Jeremiah 29:11
"'For I know the plans I have for you,'
    declares the Lord,
'plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
    plans to give you hope and a future.'"

Psalm 139:16
"Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be."

Habakkuk 1:5
“Look at the nations and watch—
    and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
    that you would not believe,
    even if you were told.

"I don't know what the future holds,
    but I know the one who holds the future."
-Major Tom Hinzman

Friends,
God has a plan for you (which is already happening) that would most likely terrify you if you knew it all right now. In God's time, if you are faithful to Him, it will be revealed to you along the way. You will get your wings. Live within the discomforts of holiness! Persevere through it all. You will find, after all, that it is not worthwhile to discover what the future holds; it is far more important to know the One who holds it. I'm in the hands of the Almighty God. God will have His way in me.

I doubt you will ever look back and think to yourself, "I wish I could return to life on my own terms."

"Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.
The old life is gone; a new life has begun!"
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT)

___________________________

Matthew 6:31-34
"So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
___________________________
 
I'm In His Hands
Stanley E. Ditmer

Verse 1
I shall not fear though darkened clouds
May gather round me
The God I serve is one who cares and understands
Although the storms I face
Would threaten to confound me
Of this I am assured I'm in His hands

Chorus 1
I'm in His hands I'm in His hands
Whate'er the future holds
I'm in His hands
The days I cannot see
Have all been planned for me
His way is best you see
I'm in His hands

Verse 2
What though I cannot know
The way that lies before me
I still can trust and freely follow His commands
My faith is firm since He it is who watches o'er me
Of this I'm confident I'm in His hands

Verse 3
In days gone by my Lord has always proved sufficient
When I have yielded to the law of love's demands
Why should I doubt that He will evermore be present
To make His will my own I'm in His hands

YOU Give and Take Away

If you take the time to read at least the first chapter in Job, you'll see exactly what I'm saying.

This is awesome. Let me sum it up.
Job was righteous in God's eyes.
Satan blamed God of being overprotective of Job, and that his righteousness wasn't legit.
Job was also wealthy and had a huge strong family line.
God challenged satan on this point.
Satan accepted the challenge to prove that Job was not committed to God.
Satan killed all of Job's kids and burned up all of his wealth.
It is very clear that satan was the one who did all of these terrible things.
If you want to know what Job did, you have to read the chapter.

Have you ever noticed Job's response to the desolation of his wealth and loved ones?

Job 1:20-22
20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said:

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
    and naked I will depart.[c]
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
    may the name of the Lord be praised.”
22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

He gave the credit to God.
Interesting huh?

Although satan tries to hold my attention and tear me down, I believe it is important to see God's wisdom in the midst of these trials instead of satan's disastrous efforts. I still try to make sense of it all, when what I really need to do is follow Job's example and take Proverbs 3:5-6 to heart again.

Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.

You give and take away! 
You give and take away!
My heart will choose to say:
Lord, blessed be Your Name.