Experienced Teacher

He [Jesus] was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil for forty days.  (parts of Luke 4:1-2 NLT) 
For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.  (Hebrews 4:15 NASB) 

When Jesus taught us to pray, "and lead us not into temptation," (Luke 11:4)  he knew what he was talking about.

Self-protection

I Samuel 17:38-48

Little David first dressed in big Saul's armor. It was cumbersome, heavy, wearying. Ill-fitting. David cast it all aside and went out to face the enemy with five smooth stones and Almighty God. Good exchange.

Sometimes I face the day with the clunky armor of mankind about my shoulders. I put on the things I think will protect me from being wounded by a hostile world. I arm myself with defensiveness, suspicion, selfish ambition. It is a burdensome load to bare to protect myself from the fears and worries of the day.

God invites me to lay that man-made, self-protecting armor aside and instead to pick up five smooth, well-worn, stones -- stones such as faith, truth, obedience, love, and the Name of the Lord Almighty. With these I am ready to go into the day with confidence and peace.

... it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s...

Adventesimal

This poem was written by our son, Drake (26), and appears on his church's website as a part of their Advent Reflection series. Posted here with his permission.

Standing with my back to the past

I hunch slightly as most wouldn’t notice

We all do:

We maintain—collective—that you are coming

Bringing or sending

Sweet relief in the right hand

Sweeter justice in the other

A dark-grey form in the blackness ahead

Yet too distant, yet worthy of hope

But I suspect—no, anticipate—more:

More bending beneath the yoke of experience

More desperate squinting, ever straining to know

Shivering with uncertainty in the lukewarm air

Surely you are coming [Selah]

Ground beneath, its groans, reverberating

Provoke me to kneel, to steady

Groping blindly the dirt with one hand

Pressing softly my chest with the other

Peace:

I tell myself on your behalf

On your behalf, are you not coming?

Low I remain, fearfully planted

Unsure, unseeing, unable of other—

Lo! I remain:

Spring up, O righteous Jeremiah’s Branch

O living Redeemer of Job

For trembling I here of this clay and this stone

Have naught but to wait for my Lord

-------------
Happy Birthday (yesterday), Drake.

What do you want?

And Jesus stopped and called them, and said, "What do you want Me to do for you?" Matthew 20:32 (NASB) 


The crowd was large. Noisy. Busy.
The men were blind. Desperate. Determined.
Jesus passed by. Merciful. Compassionate.
The men cried out.
The crowd tried to silence them.
They cried out again.
Jesus heard. Jesus stopped. Jesus called. Jesus asked:
"What do you want Me to do for you?"

My world is large. Noisy. Busy.
I am needy. Desperate. Determined.
Jesus is here. Merciful. Compassionate.
I cry out.
My world tries to silence me.
I cry out again.
Jesus hears. Jesus stops. Jesus calls. Jesus asks:
"What do you want Me to do for you?"

Re-do

"Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.  Isaiah 1:18 (NASB) 


When God shows me an area of my life that needs attention,

He does not say:
This is wrong. Revise it.
This is broken. Repair it.
This is a problem. Resolve it.

Instead he says:
This is wrong. Repent of it.
This is broken. Reject it.
This is a problem. Release it.

For in truth, I can't revise, repair or resolve anything.
All I can do is reason with God, who calls to me repent, reject, release.

And then my God reassures, restores, remakes me.

RANDOM #6

Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. 
1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NLT) 

True gratitude of heart and soul
gives thanks for the doughnut ...
and the doughnut hole.

Other "random" blogs: #7  #5,  #4  #3,  #2,  #1

Anticipation

And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.   Romans 15:4b (NLT) 


This coming Sunday, in the liturgical Christian Church calendar, is the first Sunday of Advent. Advent means "coming" -- and we spend four weeks building our anticipation for the remembrance and celebration of the first coming of Christ.  But during these weeks we also remind ourselves of the coming yet to be -- the second coming of Christ.

God made good on his promise to send a Redeemer. He will make good on his promise to send him again.

Remembering what God has already done (as told to us in the Scriptures, as we have experienced in our own lives) enables us to wait, not in fear or worry, but with hope and encouragement and anticipation as we watch for the fulfillment of the rest of his promises.

Lepers in my world Part 3

A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. “If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,” he said.  Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” Mark 1:40-41 (NLT)

I have to realize that I am both characters in this story. I am the leper. Damaged and deformed. Unable to be a part of the true life because of my uncleanness, I lurk in the shadows hoping no one will notice the rotting places in my soul. But I must take the risk and take my place at the feet of Jesus. Not just one time, but everyday, I must make my confession to Christ: "If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean."

I am also Christ's ambassador, one he appointed to represent him to the discarded in soul, discouraged in heart, disfigured in body, damaged in mind.  When they see me are they drawn to him?  And when they are, am I willing to respond? Does his compassion for the cast out motivate me to reach out? In what ways can Jesus touch their hearts through the touch of my hands? What words of hope and healing will Christ speak through my lips? 

Read Part One. Read Part Two.

Lepers in my world Part 2

Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” (Mark 1:41 NLT)  

In response to the leper's request to be healed and cleansed, Jesus willingly does three things:

1) Jesus reached out. In the leper's world people don't reach out. They recoil. People don't move toward lepers, they move away. But Jesus is different. Jesus reached out.

2) Jesus touched him. The holy, holy, holy touched the unclean, unclean, unclean. He didn't just give a glance or write a check. He put his skin onto the leper's skin. When was the last time that leper had felt another's touch?

3) Jesus spoke. He said two things. First: "I am willing." Nothing obligated the Son of God to help this son of man. Nothing, except that Jesus was willing to be "moved with compassion." Second, since compassion prompts action, Jesus says, "Be healed." The power of the Holy God met the weakness of the unclean man and everything changed.


Read part one.
Read part three.

Lepers in my world

A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. “If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,” he said.  (Mark 1:40 NLT)

The man's name is unknown. He is just "leper" to us - unnamed and unclean. He approaches Jesus. Really? Aren't lepers supposed to stay out of the way, unnoticed and unseen? What was there about Jesus that emboldened the leper to come to him?

Jesus responds with kindness. He is he motivated from a heart of compassion. Not from arrogant condescension ('poor pitiful guy,' deep sigh, 'I guess I can help') or from duty ('I am a Christian, I have to be nice'), but from a heart broken for the lost, the least, the leper.

Who are the lepers in my world? Do I even see them? Is there enough Jesus in me that they would feel invited to approach me? And if so, what is my response?

Read Part 2.
Read Part 3.