give me something brighter, give me something i can see
give me something vicious, give me something i can be
give me all the love and peace to end these wars
give me something sacred
something worth fighting for
its clear enough for me
the ugliness i see
is evidence of who i need
give me an answer
give me the way out
give me the faith
to believe in these hard times...
needtobreathe
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Freedom of choice
"for we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." eph 2:10
so, God prepared good works for us? he prepared them in advance and gave us a choice: good works or no works. how cool is that? he not only breathed life into us, gave his son for our sins, SAVED US! he also took the time to plan out our good works.
that much planning must have taken some time! BUT, here's what makes it even better. God lets us choose our own fate.
God will not hound us, beat us up or even ground us for not meeting expectations. because he has no expectation! ( i could learn a few things from God about his parenting)
He allows us to cultivate his crops (good works) or let his crops wither and die (no works). And he does so while walking patiently beside us, step by step waiting for our hand to reach for his.
His lack of expectations in our lives is clear. He knew we would stumble and fall. He knew we would fail and curse his name for our failures. He knew we could never earn our way into his kingdom by the good works he prepared for us SO... He put himself on this earth and lived a mortal life.
God walked this earth for 30 years. He faced our curses, he saw our failures and he still chose to become our sacrifice. He became our death.
GOOD WORKS or NO WORKS ?
this whole thought leads me to this point: if God has no expectation for me in my life, why do i have such high expectations for folks in my life? He knows we fail, ALL the time. why should i be so surprised when i fail? or when my people fail?
its time to celebrate the freedom God has given us by allowing others the same freedom. PRAY HARD for good works to come naturally, PRAY HARD for good works to be hard work. either way, pray and let them decide.
GOOD WORKS or NO WORKS ?
so, God prepared good works for us? he prepared them in advance and gave us a choice: good works or no works. how cool is that? he not only breathed life into us, gave his son for our sins, SAVED US! he also took the time to plan out our good works.
that much planning must have taken some time! BUT, here's what makes it even better. God lets us choose our own fate.
God will not hound us, beat us up or even ground us for not meeting expectations. because he has no expectation! ( i could learn a few things from God about his parenting)
He allows us to cultivate his crops (good works) or let his crops wither and die (no works). And he does so while walking patiently beside us, step by step waiting for our hand to reach for his.
His lack of expectations in our lives is clear. He knew we would stumble and fall. He knew we would fail and curse his name for our failures. He knew we could never earn our way into his kingdom by the good works he prepared for us SO... He put himself on this earth and lived a mortal life.
God walked this earth for 30 years. He faced our curses, he saw our failures and he still chose to become our sacrifice. He became our death.
GOOD WORKS or NO WORKS ?
this whole thought leads me to this point: if God has no expectation for me in my life, why do i have such high expectations for folks in my life? He knows we fail, ALL the time. why should i be so surprised when i fail? or when my people fail?
its time to celebrate the freedom God has given us by allowing others the same freedom. PRAY HARD for good works to come naturally, PRAY HARD for good works to be hard work. either way, pray and let them decide.
GOOD WORKS or NO WORKS ?
Saturday, August 15, 2009
who's the man?
working on something lately (obviously on paper, not on this blog) that has been eye opening. at least opened my eyes. the folks more in tuned with God might have realized this all along.
i have always known the story of christ. (and when i say always, i mean always. thank you mom and dad for never letting a moment pass when we didn't recognize christ as our savior.) i have until recently always considered christ walk on this earth as other worldly. he made it easy because he was God's son. he was a third of the trinity so he could never have been truly tempted by the junk this world throws around at us.
i think many of us might view christs walk the same way. we appreciate his sacrifice but we believe he only did what he was sent here to do. and that's a huge "only". the ultimate sacrifice is definitely recognized!
here's where recent study has led me, although it is incomplete:
hebrews 2:9 jesus made little lower than angels
2:14 jesus shared in our humanity
2:17 jesus made like his brothers in every way
2:18 jesus suffered just like we suffer
4:15 jesus understands temptation ( yet he lived without sin)
5:8 jesus learned obedience from what he suffered
Philippians 2:6-11 who, being the very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death- even death on a cross! therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name above every name, that at the name of jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that jesus christ is lord, to the glory of God the father.
jesus chose to leave heaven and take on the likeness of man. he came to this earth as a man and suffered the life of a man. jesus the man faced all of our temptations and understands our weaknesses. he walked our walk and for one thing, HE WAS JUST A MAN.
the one thing that makes him different from us is substantial. Jesus did it all, faced it all without selling out. by faith, he lived on this earth as a vessel of his father. no temptation caused him to waver, even the prospect of being sacrificed on a cross. there is a huge difference between christ and me. its not that he was GOD, nor is it that he lived without sin. the difference is FAITH.
jesus didn't practice his faith as i do. christ lived his faith and became the author and perfecter of it. (hebrews 2:12)
he was a man as i am man. he is the son of God as i am a son of God.
i have always known the story of christ. (and when i say always, i mean always. thank you mom and dad for never letting a moment pass when we didn't recognize christ as our savior.) i have until recently always considered christ walk on this earth as other worldly. he made it easy because he was God's son. he was a third of the trinity so he could never have been truly tempted by the junk this world throws around at us.
i think many of us might view christs walk the same way. we appreciate his sacrifice but we believe he only did what he was sent here to do. and that's a huge "only". the ultimate sacrifice is definitely recognized!
here's where recent study has led me, although it is incomplete:
hebrews 2:9 jesus made little lower than angels
2:14 jesus shared in our humanity
2:17 jesus made like his brothers in every way
2:18 jesus suffered just like we suffer
4:15 jesus understands temptation ( yet he lived without sin)
5:8 jesus learned obedience from what he suffered
Philippians 2:6-11 who, being the very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death- even death on a cross! therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name above every name, that at the name of jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that jesus christ is lord, to the glory of God the father.
jesus chose to leave heaven and take on the likeness of man. he came to this earth as a man and suffered the life of a man. jesus the man faced all of our temptations and understands our weaknesses. he walked our walk and for one thing, HE WAS JUST A MAN.
the one thing that makes him different from us is substantial. Jesus did it all, faced it all without selling out. by faith, he lived on this earth as a vessel of his father. no temptation caused him to waver, even the prospect of being sacrificed on a cross. there is a huge difference between christ and me. its not that he was GOD, nor is it that he lived without sin. the difference is FAITH.
jesus didn't practice his faith as i do. christ lived his faith and became the author and perfecter of it. (hebrews 2:12)
he was a man as i am man. he is the son of God as i am a son of God.
Monday, July 13, 2009
purrrrfection
struggle with Matthew 5:48. thinking about perfection and how inconceivable it is in my mind. came across a quote in some old ramblings of mine. not sure who made the statement ( definitely not me) but it was scribbled next to the text of matt 5:48.
" our perfection in Christ does not mean flawless or without fault. folks, we are perfected when our spiritual life is fulfilled. when we mature spiritually (Ephesians 4) we become completely perfect in Christ."
perfect in the world is way different than being perfected in Christ. I'll take being perfected in Christ, its a lot more attainable.
"it was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors or teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." Ephesians 4:11-13
" our perfection in Christ does not mean flawless or without fault. folks, we are perfected when our spiritual life is fulfilled. when we mature spiritually (Ephesians 4) we become completely perfect in Christ."
perfect in the world is way different than being perfected in Christ. I'll take being perfected in Christ, its a lot more attainable.
"it was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors or teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." Ephesians 4:11-13
Saturday, July 11, 2009
today!
therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. each day has enough trouble of its own. matthew 6:34
GOD is warning us. do not look ahead! let today end before you think about tomorrow. your troubles today may seem minor compared to tomorrows.
OR
why are you waiting for tomorrow to do what i told you to do today. today it will be easier. tomorrow gives you too much time to change your mind!
however i interpret his words, i know that he wants me to make the most of this day. by most i don't mean stuff. or the earning of more stuff. talking about the eternal most.
what have i done today to grow myself into his perfection?( matthew 5:48) if i did nothing today, what makes me think tomorrow will be any different?
so we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 corinthians 4:18
Friday, July 10, 2009
"we fear our highest possibility (as well as our lowest one). we are generally afraid to become that which we can glimpse in our most perfect moments." Abraham Maslow
scared of failure. scared of success.
nice to know that GOD has no expectations for my life. his hope is that my relationship with him allows me to give up control and finish this walk of life with him.
he leads. i follow freely
scared of failure. scared of success.
nice to know that GOD has no expectations for my life. his hope is that my relationship with him allows me to give up control and finish this walk of life with him.
he leads. i follow freely
nameless face
spent the last couple of hours checking out different websites connected to tulsans. what did i find? mikey d giorno ( forgotten about him. had a good little talk show that at times turned my stomach and at times intrigued me), bob wills ( great music! have been a fan since my first trip to caines ballroom), jim inhoffe ( has this dude been a politician forever?), garth brooks ( uhh, great guy), oral roberts ( built a really big hospital that is now an office building, namesake for a university, charismatic evangelist), weber's root beer ( hawking franchises, god bless them)...
a bunch of different names, businesses that have different degrees of importance to most of us in our great city. this blog has no real explanation, its just me thinking about how important we find ourselves to be.
type in my name and you'll find nothing about me. however, ask my wife and kids and they would say i am important in their lives. insert your name and wait for a response from the great wide web. how important are you? if nothing pops up on the monitor, trust me- YOU ARE IMPORTANT TO SOMEONE!
too often we count success as the number of people that know our names. not the number of people we have touched with the grace of GOD! people that may not even recall my name but know that some dude prayed with them or for them. how much more important are the nameless?
when my mother was ill and we were at our lowest point of the battle some guy came in to her room, stood by her hospital bed and prayed with us. at the time we knew his name. more importantly, we knew his heart. he broke down with us. he spent time with us. he prayed fervently with my parents on numerous occasions when they simply didn't have the strength (physically or spiritually) to knell down before GOD. he brought peace into a very unpeaceful place.
we have all since forgotten his name. we will never forget the prayers! thank GOD this man came to us. he came as just another nameless face but he left a lasting impression.
never consider yourself unknown. the unknown are often the most known to the one that matters: GOD.
a bunch of different names, businesses that have different degrees of importance to most of us in our great city. this blog has no real explanation, its just me thinking about how important we find ourselves to be.
type in my name and you'll find nothing about me. however, ask my wife and kids and they would say i am important in their lives. insert your name and wait for a response from the great wide web. how important are you? if nothing pops up on the monitor, trust me- YOU ARE IMPORTANT TO SOMEONE!
too often we count success as the number of people that know our names. not the number of people we have touched with the grace of GOD! people that may not even recall my name but know that some dude prayed with them or for them. how much more important are the nameless?
when my mother was ill and we were at our lowest point of the battle some guy came in to her room, stood by her hospital bed and prayed with us. at the time we knew his name. more importantly, we knew his heart. he broke down with us. he spent time with us. he prayed fervently with my parents on numerous occasions when they simply didn't have the strength (physically or spiritually) to knell down before GOD. he brought peace into a very unpeaceful place.
we have all since forgotten his name. we will never forget the prayers! thank GOD this man came to us. he came as just another nameless face but he left a lasting impression.
never consider yourself unknown. the unknown are often the most known to the one that matters: GOD.
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