Destruction or Liberation?

11-10-13 Sunday

Morning:

Psalm 10 is a beautiful picture of your justice.  The wicked rejoice in beating and destroying the weak, saying , “God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it. “ They don’t see God, so they believe he has abandoned the poor. 

But you will “Break the arm of the wicked and the evildoer” and will “call his wickedness to account till you find none. You don’t forget the poor; in fact, you love them.  You want them to inherit your kingdom.

 O Lord, you hear the desire

Of the afflicted;

You will strengthen their heart;

You will incline your ear to

Do justice to the fatherless and the

Oppressed, so

That man who is of the earth may

Strike terror no more.

Psalm 10:17-18

Time and time again David sings of how you don’t forget the humble.  You are a just God and you arm yourself to cast off the chains of the oppressed.  Holy are you God; you defend your sheep from the wolves. And hallelujah, you even seek to make the wolves into your sheep.

Do I rejoice more over the destruction of the oppressor or the liberation of the oppressed?

The Subject of my Soul

11-28-13 Thursday

THANKSGIVING

Morning:

I’m so far from understanding how much God wants to do life with me.  Sometimes, I even forget or reject that fact.  But this truth is the only thing that leads to everlasting joy.  He loves me.  He truly, deeply, passionately loves me.  And sometimes, there won’t be miraculous things all around me to back that up.  But there are always blessings, there are always expressions of his love.  It doesn’t take me seeing a blind man healed to know that. 

Jesus, over and over I’ve rejected you.  I’ve rejected this perfect, pure intimacy for trash.  I’m so, so sorry Lord.  Please, be the cry of my heart, the subject of my soul.  Fill me and fulfill me.  Refine me and renew me.  Fight with all your love against my stubbornness: break me if you have to.  You are the only thing worth living for. 

Deep calls to deep

Burst

11-6-13 Wednesday

Morning:

Another beautiful morning in the treehouse 

Love is Freedom!

Love has saved us, but that’s not just a cliché. It’s a fact that changes everything.  So much is beautiful now, because it changed the way I see the world to realize that God puts things I love in my day-to-day life as He plays the strings of my heart.  As one in love with God, each day is an invitation to see Him work.  I see Him in everything from his rescuing [people from death] to a gentle sea breeze. 

If I live fully engaged, if I commit myself to this marriage with Christ, my joy and my peace and my love will be contagious. His perfect love will burst through my actions and decisions and make people wonder about this God I worship. 

Hosea 6:8

 “Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.”

What Changes Everything

11-5-13 Tuesday

Morning:

This is what Satan would like me to believe about pride: that it is a sin that will hound so hard after me that I’ll never be able to focus on loving people.  But that’s not true.  By the power of the gospel I am free; I don’t need to worry or think I can’t love because of the temptation.  Instead of being afraid of pride, I can be stoked on loving others.  Love is the lens that makes us realize how wrong and detrimental pride is. 

I don’t have to live a life of guilt and depression over my sin.  I have been brought to live because God died painfully for me! For this, I ought to live a life of passionate thankfulness and joy.  The king of Heaven loves me, I will live out of that truth. 

Psalm 119—David is overjoyed at the Lord’s commands because he has found what it is to love, and that changes everything in someone’s life. 

Come and see what God has

Done;

He is awesome in his deeds toward the children

Of man.

Psalm 66:6

Come and hear, all you

Who fear God

And I will tell what he

Has done for my

Soul.

Psalm 66:16

I need to tell the world of God’s goodness!

Worth the Fight

11-18-13

I have been brought out of darkness and into the light.  Am I living in purposeful acknowledgement of the latter, or dwelling on the former? 

Rejoice always, pray without

Ceasing,

Give thanks in all circumstances;

For this is the will of

God in Christ Jesus for

You.

1 Thess 5:16-18 

This is the lifestyle I’ve been called to.

Why is it sometimes so easy to forget how much God loves me?

Yes, being in love with Jesus is hard sometimes. It’s hard because I don’t always feel his Spirit right on me.  But minute by minute, I WILL SEEK GOD. And even if I’m struggling to see him through veils I’ve set up, he is pleased that I think he’s worth the fight.  And I will keep fighting, and he will not turn a blind eye to my striving. 

Cure for Pride

11-4-13  Monday

Morning:

Pride is my greatest weakness, my greatest struggle.  But I need to remember I’m free from it.  I don’t have to be selfish anymore.  And if I fall into temptation, God will forgive me. 

Isaiah 40: 9-28 Who is like God? We build ourselves wooden idols (mine is often me) and bow down to them instead of worshiping the Creator of the stars. 

 To whom then will

You compare me,

That I should be like him?

Says, the Holy One.

Isaiah 40:25

I know what defeats pride: love.  Love forces me to put my eyes on others.  And oh my gosh, it’s so much more rewarding.  Love is more than a perspective, it is an action. 

There is so much potential in the people around me.  To love them is to see that. 

Only Eyes for You

10-28-13

Evening:

The struggle will always be selfishness.  The rejection of blessing and the striving after self are two of the most obviously sad, negative, detrimental things I could do.  Yet I still do them.  Despite all he’s done, how faithful he’s been.  Thank you, Jesus, for taking my punishment for this.  You have done more than taken me in, you have dressed me up as your desirable bride.  I’m not worthy, Lord, but you have saved me.  I’m sorry I run, God.  I want to live in deep love with you, with eyes for no one else.  Break me as much as it takes to tear down my sinful veils; refine me by fire.  I am yours. 

Paid

11-21-13 Thursday

Morning

Micah 6:6-8

--Even today, many Christians think they have to be religious enough or righteous enough to reach Heaven/God’s presence

--In 6&7, the hypothetical seeker gradually asks if more and more expensive things would be sufficient, ending with an absurd sacrifice.

--But Lord, you have told me what you want, for me to take care of the oppressed, love everyone I meet, and walk in faith and reverence before you

--You brought the sacrifice.  You don’t want me to be anxiously penitent, always giving things up or hurting myself in hopes of paying for my sins.  You already paid for them.   

Now, you have work for me to do. 

No Angles

11-3-13 Sunday

Morning:

If I’m not loving others, I will be prideful. 

I don’t want a single relationship to be founded on an angle.  Every relationship should be made from love, that’s it.  When people realize you love them, so many barriers are broken down. 

I read Philemon for the third time.  This guy is such a great example of love.  People felt renewed and at peace because of his love and faith. I think that’s really cool. 

So Many More Ways

9-26-13 Thursday

Morning:

God, there is so much more to learn about You. So many more ways to know you and fall more in love with you.  Right now, Lord, I feel like I’m on the verge of sleepwalking.  I need your powerful love and glory to burn within me and give me purpose.  I am meant to glorify you, and I am to love others.  What I seek, Lord, is to fall deeper and deeper in love with you until I’m giddy with joy at the things you’re doing.  I know you want this too, Father.  Break me as much as it takes for me to fall passionately in love with you. 

THANKFULNESS

Made for More

11-11-13

Romans 8

What do I think about? What do I focus on? Too often I let my mind wander places it shouldn’t, contemplating sin in my mind. 

I’m realizing something cool.  Though there are sins I battle with over and over again, if from the moment I wake to the moment I sleep I am filled with love, I won’t have time for self-serving sin. 

I was made for more than sin.  I was made for love.  Made to give my life and find it by loving and encouraging and refreshing others.  My sin is holding that back.

Father, I offer you all of me.  Break me to pieces if you have to, but let me live in victorious love instead of the chains of sin that have been cast off.  I am in love with God.  There is nothing sweeter of more pleasurable than that. 

Ensename A Amar

The Best Lover

10-28-13 Monday

Morning:

In romantic love you have to pursue.  You have to figure out what she loves and do it for her, because you love her.  When she sees how much you’re doing for her, she’ll realize just how much you love her. 

  

I think God is doing just that for us.  Pursuing us, setting up just the right things to blow our minds and make us realize His love for us.  The sad thing is, we often turn our heads.  We let stress or hate or disappointment bring us down and make us not care about love.  But He keeps going.  And He won’t stop. “Love is strong as death, jealousy is demanding as the grave”

I don’t wanna miss out on this.  I will not place my goals, my responsibilities, or my passions over this.  I will not make this love something I’ll participate in only if I have time for it.  No, I’m going to throw everything to the side like Peter did, in complete awe and joy at this love that’s relentlessly passionate for me.  He is the best lover, because He knows everything that makes me tick, and goes after that with all His heart. 

Only One

9-4-13 approximately

Jesus, let not a single prideful thing be on my mind! Don't let me think of myself, Father, how I appear or how people view me; being careful to act in a way that people would like me.  Lord, you are the only one that I seek to please! You are the only one worthy of my heart! Let not my mind wander from glorifying you.  

Mark