Just before writing the bulletin cover (which I blogged below) called A gift from the creator of the universe.
I was struggling with hope. I never really recognised the true issue before...in waves I get dismayed and am pulled down...on the surface I could tell you that I wanted a baby, wanted to be married, was tired of waiting, tired of life going by, tired of living at home, my sisters were buggin me, life was buggin me, feeling alone and worthless, struggling with my concept of me and in general feeling like crap...
But I have come to realise that what I am really struggling with in these times is hope.
A few weeks ago after sitting in my self righteous crap for a few weeks I was starting to take out how I was feeling on other people and was in general pushing people away. One of my new pastors had mentioned in a sermon that she made scripture cards and when whatever the issue is comes up she pulls out her card and to quote her ’kicks devil butt.’ I had heard of a few people making lists of scriptures on cards to pull out and so decided to give it a go. In my head I was thinking well the least it can do is get me into the Word so it wont be all a waste of time.
So I sat at the kitchen table with some cards, my NKJV and a concordance. Not knowing what I was going to look up or how long it was going to take.
Looking back through the cards there are several main themes that run through them. They are, hope, trust, strength, God, doing God stuff and focus (on God). The time spent reading and writing out the verses was so powerful and God ministered to my heart and brought about a measure of healing (I just counted and I have 59 cards). I was struck though by how many times hope and trust kept coming up in what I was reading.
Now to add some context to this blog...God and I weren't on specking terms cos He kept saying these three words to me and I didn't like it so I stopped listening and got angry. He was saying to me ’In My time.’ Well that’s all well and good but His time and my time seemed to be different and I right royally spat my dummy.
Anyways after my measure of healing from writing out my cards I went to ignite (the Saturday night session) and then to church on Sunday and the sermons were on similar topics...yep you guessed it trusting in the Lord and hoping in His plan with special reference in both to delighting in the Lord.
Delighting in the Lord was not a new concept to me but it felt like it. The main verses used were psalm 37: 3-4 ’trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.’ It seems so simple...delight in the Lord...and He shall give you the desires of your heart...not delight in the Lord...keep worrying, planning, doing, fretting...and maybe you will get a measure of what your looking for cos you worked at it enough...NO!!! All we need to do is to delight in Him and God does the rest...now this may seem trivial but it was huge to me...
A weight was lifted and I have been simply delighting in the Lord...I accept that He will bring things to be in His time...here’s the best bit...in delighting in the Lord, in trusting him and simply enjoying Him, my hope is constantly renewed and I am not weighed down by longing...
Proverbs speaks of deferred hope making the heart sick. And I think this is so...hope draws our focus to the future and gives us a will to go on...loss of hope creates darkness and despair.
And so to end this rather long blog I will share some of my favourite verses with you from my cards...im only going to put the references up...cos if it truly matters to you to look up the verses on hope, trust etc you will do it...if not keep them in mind for later down the road and remember hope is one of the most important things you can possess and just delight in God...it will bring you joy...
Proverbs 13:12
Proverbs 17:22
Psalms 31:24
Hebrews 10:23
Psalms 31:15a
Psalms 37:3-4
Isaiah 43:1-7 (my verses from God)
Psalm 130:1-6
Psalm 119:114
Micah 6:8
Proverbs 3:5-6
Thursday, August 28, 2008
An Interesting thought...
In my reading I came across this quote in a section about election....
“If indeed the bible teaches election (or any other doctrine) then one is obligated to believe in it.”
At this point I’m not interested in election, mainly cos I don't understand it. At some point I want to do more reading but I’m not there yet. But the quote struck me...and my initial response was yea of coarse but it has made me think...do I believe everything the bible teaches just because and only because its in the bible...I should but do I...have I trained myself through my study at college to question to much instead of accepting??? Its an interesting thought...
“If indeed the bible teaches election (or any other doctrine) then one is obligated to believe in it.”
At this point I’m not interested in election, mainly cos I don't understand it. At some point I want to do more reading but I’m not there yet. But the quote struck me...and my initial response was yea of coarse but it has made me think...do I believe everything the bible teaches just because and only because its in the bible...I should but do I...have I trained myself through my study at college to question to much instead of accepting??? Its an interesting thought...
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Atonement
I’ve been reading this week about Soteriology...which is basically doctrine of salvation and has to do with atonement, justification, sanctification, propitiation etc...
I generally studied all these at college but it has been good to revisit them in more depth and time than I did before...What has caught my eye so far has been atonement...
A quick def of Atonement is the bringing of people back into a relationship with God. Literally it means At-one-ment...
In particular limited and unlimited atonement...I have decided that I lean more to the unlimited atonement camp...let me explain what it’s all about from my reading so far.
Limited atonement – suggests that the atonement of Christ is limited to a definite or particular number of people.
There are some interesting arguments for this...
1) As the good shepherd Christ died for the flock, not everyone is included in the flock (john 10:15)
2) Christ died for the church (Acts 20:28, Eph 5:25)
3) Christ died for the elect (Rom 8:32-33)
‘This would seem to indicate that Gods love is particular and not shown to all’...they back this theory up by referencing Rom 1:7, 8:29, 9:13, Col 3:12, 1 Thes 1:4, 2 Thes 2:13.
They also argue that if not everyone is saved whom Christ died/atoned for then the act is weakened.
But their biggest argument in favour of limited atonement (as far as I have read) is as follows and I’m going to quote this bit cos it’s hard to paraphrase...
‘If God is sovereign (Eph 1:11), then His plan cannot be frustrated, but if Christ died for all people and all people are not saved, then God’s plan IS frustrated. If Christ died for all people, then redemption has been made for all and all are justified.’
So if I’m getting this right the people who sit in this camp believe that Christ died for only the ‘elect’ of God because Christs act is weakened if not everyone believes. Therefore if Gods plan doesn’t come to be then that’s making God somehow imperfect cos something He did didn’t workout???
Unlimited Atonement – Christ died for everyone but His death but is effective only in those who believe the gospel.
Arguments for ...(I am for the most part quoting again here)
1) If the statements of the NT are taken at face value then it is evident they teach Christ died for everyone.
2) Limited atonement is not based on exegesis of the scripture but more on the logical premise that if Christ died for everyone and everyone is not saved then Gods plan is thwarted.
3) The world, as John describes it, is God hating, Christ rejecting and Satan dominated. Yet that is the world for which Christ died (John 1:29, 3:16, 17, 4:42, 1 John 4:14) these passages emphasize universal atonement.
4) The word ‘whosoever’ is used more than 110 times in the NT and ALWAYS with an unrestricted meaning (John 3:16, Acts 2:21, 10:43, Rom 10:13, Rev 22:17)
5) The word ‘all’ is an equivalent term used to denote everyone. Christ died for the ungodly – everyone is ungodly...Christ died for all i.e. everyone (2 Cor 5:14-15, 1 Tim 2:6, 4:10, Titus 2:11, Heb 2:9, 2 Pete 3:9)
6) The bible teaches that Christ died for sinners. The word ‘sinners’ nowhere means ‘church’ or ‘elect’, but simply all of lost mankind.
Personally I don’t see the point of limited atonement even in the very limited argument I have put out in this blog (sry I know this is a long one) Yes I know that Israel were the elect of God...He had to choose a nation to use and He chose them...I know that God has chosen people to work in and through down the ages...I guess I see this as another topic/issue altogether from atonement...Christ died for all of mankind for all time, in my opinion the biblical evidence overwhelmingly suggests that. This may just be my compassionate side but I honestly don’t think God would willingly condemn any of His beloved creation to hell (He’s not up there choosing who gets saved and who doesn’t...His desire is that all be saved as is evidenced through the whole of the bible as He has been seeking to draw people back to Him, culminating in the death of Jesus as the act of atonement to the whole of humanity and now it’s up to the individual to make the choice).
I also think that putting all this back on God and saying that if Christ died for all and all aren’t saved then Gods plan is thwarted is shirking the responsibility of each individual when it comes to their own salvation. To believe is a choice...its God granted cos He loved us so much He gave us free will to choose Him or not...Gods plan of atonement is perfect and righteous and satisfies every part of His holiness. It is then up to us whether or not we accept it...
I generally studied all these at college but it has been good to revisit them in more depth and time than I did before...What has caught my eye so far has been atonement...
A quick def of Atonement is the bringing of people back into a relationship with God. Literally it means At-one-ment...
In particular limited and unlimited atonement...I have decided that I lean more to the unlimited atonement camp...let me explain what it’s all about from my reading so far.
Limited atonement – suggests that the atonement of Christ is limited to a definite or particular number of people.
There are some interesting arguments for this...
1) As the good shepherd Christ died for the flock, not everyone is included in the flock (john 10:15)
2) Christ died for the church (Acts 20:28, Eph 5:25)
3) Christ died for the elect (Rom 8:32-33)
‘This would seem to indicate that Gods love is particular and not shown to all’...they back this theory up by referencing Rom 1:7, 8:29, 9:13, Col 3:12, 1 Thes 1:4, 2 Thes 2:13.
They also argue that if not everyone is saved whom Christ died/atoned for then the act is weakened.
But their biggest argument in favour of limited atonement (as far as I have read) is as follows and I’m going to quote this bit cos it’s hard to paraphrase...
‘If God is sovereign (Eph 1:11), then His plan cannot be frustrated, but if Christ died for all people and all people are not saved, then God’s plan IS frustrated. If Christ died for all people, then redemption has been made for all and all are justified.’
So if I’m getting this right the people who sit in this camp believe that Christ died for only the ‘elect’ of God because Christs act is weakened if not everyone believes. Therefore if Gods plan doesn’t come to be then that’s making God somehow imperfect cos something He did didn’t workout???
Unlimited Atonement – Christ died for everyone but His death but is effective only in those who believe the gospel.
Arguments for ...(I am for the most part quoting again here)
1) If the statements of the NT are taken at face value then it is evident they teach Christ died for everyone.
2) Limited atonement is not based on exegesis of the scripture but more on the logical premise that if Christ died for everyone and everyone is not saved then Gods plan is thwarted.
3) The world, as John describes it, is God hating, Christ rejecting and Satan dominated. Yet that is the world for which Christ died (John 1:29, 3:16, 17, 4:42, 1 John 4:14) these passages emphasize universal atonement.
4) The word ‘whosoever’ is used more than 110 times in the NT and ALWAYS with an unrestricted meaning (John 3:16, Acts 2:21, 10:43, Rom 10:13, Rev 22:17)
5) The word ‘all’ is an equivalent term used to denote everyone. Christ died for the ungodly – everyone is ungodly...Christ died for all i.e. everyone (2 Cor 5:14-15, 1 Tim 2:6, 4:10, Titus 2:11, Heb 2:9, 2 Pete 3:9)
6) The bible teaches that Christ died for sinners. The word ‘sinners’ nowhere means ‘church’ or ‘elect’, but simply all of lost mankind.
Personally I don’t see the point of limited atonement even in the very limited argument I have put out in this blog (sry I know this is a long one) Yes I know that Israel were the elect of God...He had to choose a nation to use and He chose them...I know that God has chosen people to work in and through down the ages...I guess I see this as another topic/issue altogether from atonement...Christ died for all of mankind for all time, in my opinion the biblical evidence overwhelmingly suggests that. This may just be my compassionate side but I honestly don’t think God would willingly condemn any of His beloved creation to hell (He’s not up there choosing who gets saved and who doesn’t...His desire is that all be saved as is evidenced through the whole of the bible as He has been seeking to draw people back to Him, culminating in the death of Jesus as the act of atonement to the whole of humanity and now it’s up to the individual to make the choice).
I also think that putting all this back on God and saying that if Christ died for all and all aren’t saved then Gods plan is thwarted is shirking the responsibility of each individual when it comes to their own salvation. To believe is a choice...its God granted cos He loved us so much He gave us free will to choose Him or not...Gods plan of atonement is perfect and righteous and satisfies every part of His holiness. It is then up to us whether or not we accept it...
Thursday, August 21, 2008
A Promise from the Creator of the universe!
"Delight thyself also in the Lord: and He shall give the desires of thy heart".
When was the last time you delighted in something let alone the Lord?
To "delight" is to rejoice... to revel in the glory of the circumstance. And what better circumstance is there to rejoice in, than that of the Salvation of our Lord?
In the light of all that God has done for us... His death, resurrection, and great Salvation, surely it is not a burden to delight ourselves in Him! And when we do... we are promised the "desires of our heart"! What an awesome promise...
When you find yourself down, and struggling - no matter what the circumstance - start to lift up the name of Jesus, and worship Him in Spirit and Truth! You will be amazed at how the Word comes alive through your praises (it's true: He inhabits the praises of His people!), and the joy of the Lord becomes your strength!
When our focus comes off ourselves and we focus on God, when we delight in Him, He is given the space to move in our circumstance to bring about refreshment and our own delight as he grants the desires of our heart.
"Delight thyself also in the Lord: and He shall give the desires of thy heart".
When was the last time you delighted in something let alone the Lord?
To "delight" is to rejoice... to revel in the glory of the circumstance. And what better circumstance is there to rejoice in, than that of the Salvation of our Lord?
In the light of all that God has done for us... His death, resurrection, and great Salvation, surely it is not a burden to delight ourselves in Him! And when we do... we are promised the "desires of our heart"! What an awesome promise...
When you find yourself down, and struggling - no matter what the circumstance - start to lift up the name of Jesus, and worship Him in Spirit and Truth! You will be amazed at how the Word comes alive through your praises (it's true: He inhabits the praises of His people!), and the joy of the Lord becomes your strength!
When our focus comes off ourselves and we focus on God, when we delight in Him, He is given the space to move in our circumstance to bring about refreshment and our own delight as he grants the desires of our heart.
We are family
I have 2 rainbows groups goin here at school...this week they were on the same day cos my dayz were changed...
the topic of the day was...we are family and about how families are big and small and have stepparents and it went through some other family make ups and then i opened it up to the group and said...what does ur family look like?
there are 7 kids in each group and all 14 kids families looked/were made up differantly...
none of them were a 'traditional' family of mum and dad and kids...
my family was the only one...and im 26...
i guess my eyes are continually opened to the resiliance of children...they are awesome...
the topic of the day was...we are family and about how families are big and small and have stepparents and it went through some other family make ups and then i opened it up to the group and said...what does ur family look like?
there are 7 kids in each group and all 14 kids families looked/were made up differantly...
none of them were a 'traditional' family of mum and dad and kids...
my family was the only one...and im 26...
i guess my eyes are continually opened to the resiliance of children...they are awesome...
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