DECEMBER 10, 2016

“Humility is the displacement of self by the enthronement of God.” 
― Andrew Murray, Humility

HOSEA 5-8

6For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,

and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.(6:6) 

REVELATION 1

17When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

19“Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. 20The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels^e of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

JOURNAL 

These later books and especially Revelations have always been a tough read for me. So many things that seem so cryptically written and that seem to really have no bearing on me and my life. They also seem to talk about things of which I have no control and that are completely in God's hands. 

I wonder more or less if this is not the point. The workings of God and the future are completely out of my hands. God has them...he is aware...I can do nothing but surrender to his obedience and worry with today in my own life. 

This is a very humbling realization and yet also comforting. I don't have to figure it all out. I don't have to deal with the future of the world or how God is going to redeem mankind. I just have to operate myself and the best way to do that is in trusting God.

6Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

1 PETER 5:7

DECEMBER 9, 2016

“Our anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strengths.” 
― Charles Haddon Spurgeon

HOSEA 1-4

A spirit of prostitution leads them astray;

they are unfaithful to their God.(4:10) 

JUDE

17But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

20But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

22Be merciful to those who doubt; 23save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.^f

24To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— 25to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

JOURNAL 

Salvation and being a believer means the spirit of God lives within. It means that no longer does an individual depend on their own "natural instincts" but rather are guided and depend on the spirit. 

This then becomes the anchor of the personality. Individuality then flows out of this foundation. No longer is the foundation based on instinct, tradition and how a person is raised. The actions and soul of the individual are transformed in the love of God. This is what they depend upon, this is what they follow at all cost. No matter the consequences. 

This life is impossible without God, because it is the spirit of God that fuels this very life. To betray this spirit is to serve the self, serving the self leads to death and a life that takes instead of gives. A life lived this way becomes fueled and controlled by anxiety, desperation and fear. 

6Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

1 PETER 5:7

DECEMBER 8, 2016

“Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.” 
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

DANIEL 11-12

33“Those who are wise will instruct many, though for a time they will fall by the sword or be burned or captured or plundered. 34When they fall, they will receive a little help, and many who are not sincere will join them. 35Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time.(11:33-35) 

3 JOHN

9I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. 10So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. Not satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.

11Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God. 12Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone—and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.

JOURNAL 

Actions are the fruit of the heart. A changed heart will follow with actions that reflect that change. Arrogance and selfishness cannot come from a heart that has been fundamentally changed by God. John says that "anyone who does what is evil has not seen God". This is a bold statement and seems to indicate that once you have seen God and have been transformed then evil no longer exists within you and therefore your actions will reflect that.

Yet I also know from scripture that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". Yet what I think this is getting at is that a truly transformed heart can no longer operate in pursuit of evil. I think it is the pursuit and intent rather than a specific action. Therefore the action will no longer be about glorifying the self but rather glorifying God.

. 26Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

JOHN 12:26

DECEMBER 7, 2016

“When you love you wish to do things for. You wish to sacrifice for. You wish to serve.” 
― Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms

DANIEL 9-19

12Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. 13But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. 14Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.”(10:12-14) 

2 JOHN 

4It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. 5And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. 6And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

JOURNAL 

Here it is again...the command to love. It is over and over and over again throughout the new testament. I could almost sum up the new and old testament in that the old is to obey and they new is to love. 

But isn't that how things usually work anyway...through obedience I love. Obedience comes first and then love. Once a commitment is made it is love that gives the fuel to continue in that commitment. It is love that carries that commitment to completion. That is represented in the life of Christ...his commitment unto death, sealed in love. 

5In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

6Who, being in very nature^a God,

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

7rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very nature^b of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

8And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

by becoming obedient to death—

even death on a cross!

PHILIPPIANS 2:5-8

DECEMBER 6, 2016

“God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.” 
― Vance Havner

DANIEL 7-8

1In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he was lying in bed. He wrote down the substance of his dream.(7:1) 

1 JOHN 5

1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

JOURNAL 

What does it mean to overcome the world? I think it means that the world stops controlling us. We no longer are controlled by the emotions and temptations that arise because of evil and sin. It is not that they no longer exist, for they will exist as long as we are in this world. But through loving God, keeping his commands and loving others, we continually gain victory over the world and sin. 

This is a complete mind shift. This changes us fundamentally at our core. It does not suppress or change the fact that we are still human and will always deal with distracting thoughts, anxiety, stress...troubling emotions etc. Yet we have the power to see and understand what is going on and choose differently. Just because I experience an emotion does not mean I have to roll with it and allow it to dictate my actions. Because of the power and love of God, I can stand apart from the emotion and choose how I will respond.

Yet it is often because of my failures and my brokenness that I can see more clearly the better path, the path of God. Therefore my past sins and failures are not to induce shame but rather wisdom and joy in that the renewing of my mind is giving me a power to renew my life.

1Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

ROMANS 12:1-2