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Category Archives: spiritual questions/musings/wonderings
going to the ink well
In a conversation this morning, the subject of operating from an empty tank came up. I thought about pens and how in the old days people wrote with a pen that required periodic sharpening and the writer constantly had to go to the ink well to fill her quill.
As the pen ran dry, every line or so I guess, the writer would pause and fill his pen from the well.
Eventually the ball point pen (or something like it) became the choice. The writer was freed from the restriction of having to go to the well and fill her pen with ink (or even be sitting at a desk). She had become self-sufficient (for as long as the refill lasted anyway) and did not need to go to the well.
I think it is the natural tendency of the follower of Jesus to operate like a ball point pen. Self sufficiently, we say, I will change the refill when I run out. Meaning: I will go to God when I feel the need.
Rather than this, we need to be more like the quill and ink writer, going back to the well all the time so that we do not become self sufficient. In this way, we will be filled with God so as to serve him and bring him glory as he works through us.
Jesus said to abide in HIM, let’s go to the well.
A Hungarian Commemoration day – October 23
This is a guest post and is one man’s “take” (author will remain anonymous, used with permission) but I thought it useful and thought provoking…
Today, October 23, is a Hungarian national holiday. It is the 57th anniversary of their uprising against the Russians in 1956, which was the first forceful opposition to the Soviet Union’s domination of Eastern Europe after World War II. After a couple of startling weeks of freedom from oppression, it was crushed by the Red Army. Hungarians do not celebrate, they COMMEMORATE the students, workers, and ordinary people who fought against Russian tanks with homemade or confiscated weapons. From a population of 10 million people, a couple thousand were killed. Tens of thousands were wounded. Hundreds were afterwards executed or deported to Siberia. Two hundred thousand more escaped to the West.
Unfortunately, all these years after the Revolution, and over 20 years since the change from one-party rule to democracy, talented and motivated Hungarians still want to leave the country. The political, social, and economic systems still have debilitating problems, many of them self-inflicted.
How will this change? Political power will not do it; the political elites are insulated from the public. Financial power will not do it; the common people do not command enough of the money, and this is a relatively poor nation. Social power will not do it; the cultural fabric is not strong enough; Hungarians do not know how to be good neighbors to each other. The only power remaining is the power of God in the churches, but most of the churches are unfruitful. They need revival as much as their country needs reform. But first the churches must get off their own agenda, turn from their self-centered ways, and think beyond their walls (God-style!).
+ Please pray that believers will examine themselves, realize their persistent sins, and turn away from self-centeredness, inconsequential living, and lack of faith. Please pray that passages like 2 Chronicles 7:14 and Daniel 9:4-19 will lead to repentance (change!) and awakening (hope!) instead of regret and despair (the normal Hungarian result).
+ Please pray that believers and churches in Hungary will LIVE IN JESUS and start to MAKE A DIFFERENCE in the lives of their neighbors and neighborhoods —instead of being disregarded as people who have trouble distinguishing real life from fairy tales.
+ Please pray that we followers of Jesus do our own confession, repentance, and growth in God. Please pray that God the Holy Spirit will enable us to be confident witnesses of the power of God among us: Emmanuel, Jesus the Messiah.
Now, you may not agree with all that this writer said, but I think that his observations are worthy of consideration, and perhaps comment…
seedlings
a couple of weeks ago, I posted some thoughts about planting seeds HERE… I did NOT dig up the seeds to check on their progress…
today: a progress report on the spinach seedlings…
shrinking the cross
I was excited to start “Gospel Centered Life”* with another friend on Tuesday. I always look forward to the journey through those 9 lessons because, even after going through it 30+ times, I am always drawn back to God.
At the beginning, we consider the concept of “shrinking the cross.” I had a new insight on that concept this morning… but I need to give a bit of background first.
The basis of these 9 conversations is the fact that we need to have a “growing awareness of our sinfulness” and a “growing awareness of God’s holiness.” If this is the case, the cross is growing in our awareness and therefore the importance of Jesus’ work gets larger and larger as time goes by…
If our awareness of these two is not growing, we may have plateaued… then we “shrink the cross.” The cross is not looming larger in our lives, it is smaller or stagnant (which, it seems to me, if not growing, is shrinking)…
This morning, I was praying and thinking about what it means to “shrink the cross” (as I see that I have been doing of late) and this is what occurred to me:
When my awareness of God has shrunk and my awareness of my sinfulness has shrunk, the cross is not as large as it was… maybe what is really going on is that as I have drifted way from God, I have tried to climb up on the cross and become the Savior.
Who are we trying to save anyway?
*This is an incredible 9 week journey published by World Harvest Mission LEARN MORE
like a seed
I planted some spinach on Friday.
I loosened the dirt, removed weeds that would strangle the seeds, dug a trench to the appropriate depth (according to package instructions), planted the seed, covered them, watered them and now the sun, the dirt and today’s rain will do the trick.
I just wait. I’ve put the seed in an environment to grow.
Yesterday our pastor said something like this:
Are we failing to grow because we keep pulling the seed up to check on growth?
See sometimes we are trying to make things happen and instead of receiving God’s grace, to grow as the ground, the rain and sun cause the seed to grow, we keep fooling around with the formula.
To climb into God’s lap is to place ourselves in an environment to grow. Sit with God and receive grace, let Him restore and grow you.
“In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” But you were unwilling, (Isa 30:15 ESV)
Are we willing to be a seed and grow as God gives you grace?
Are we willing to sit with God?
If so, He will direct us and then we will be less hasty, less frustrated by people who are not as committed to working as we are, we will have more love.
Filed under spiritual questions/musings/wonderings
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