Advent?

Having heard of Advent many times, but never really understanding anything about it, this year I decided to dive right in. There are a lot of reasons, but the main one being that I really want Christ to be the driving force of my Christmas celebrations, and I want to get into the meaty concepts behind the incarnation of God himself.

According one resource, the word Advent is from the Latin adventus for "coming" and is associated with the four weeks of preparation for Christmas. 

Taken from a Noel Piper article, Looking Forward: Preparing to Meet Jesus Face to Face, this is a great brief on Advent and its purposes:

"Advent is a time of looking back, remembering the faithful people who were waiting for the salvation God had promised, as 1 Peter 1:10-12 tells us.

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully,inquiring  what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted  the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

Then the very next verses continue by turning our eyes forward in Advent, looking toward the return of Jesus.

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. (1 Peter 1:13-19)

There will be another advent of Christ; he will come again. This makes Advent a season for introspection. Peter gives us God’s high standard as we contemplate our standing with him: “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16)...."

Awesome Resources:

• Journey to the Manger, an Advent devotional from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary
• Go sign up HERE, for daily emails. So far I have really enjoyed it.
• Daily Scripture Reading from CRI Voice for Advent 2010
• check that out HERE
• What is Advent?  by 
• Noel Piper, from Desiring God.org
• A Season to Look Back and Ahead, by Noel Piper from Desiring God.org 
•  The Jesus Advent Celebration: The Jesse Tree Journey
• a free Jesse Tree Advent book 
• from aHolyExperience.com    Click HERE to download it now!
• (pretty cool illustrations as well)

Bountiful Thankfulness

This is my favorite prayer from the Puritan prayer book, Valley of Vision, and at the end one of my favorite psalms. 

Have a great day of Thanksgiving.

Bounty:  

Thou great and only potentate,

Thou hast made summer and winter, day and night;

each of these revolutions serves out welfare

and is full of thy care and kindness

Thy bounty is seen

in the relations that train us

  the laws that defend us 

  the homes that shelter us

   the food that builds us

   the raiment that comforts us

   the continuance of our health, members, senses,

      understanding, memory, affection, will.

But as stars fade before a rising sun,

 thou hast eclipsed all these benefits

 in the wisdom and grace that purposed

 redemption by Jesus thy Son.

Blessed be thy mercy that laid help on

  one that is mighty and willing,

 one that is able to save the uttermost.

Make us deeply sensible to our need of his saving grace,

                                   of the blood that cleanses

                                   of the rest he has promised

And impute to us that righteousness which justifies the uilty,

   gives them a title to eternal life,

  and possession of the spirit

May we love the freeness of salvation, and joy in its holiness;

Give us faith to grasp the promises,that are our hope,

Keep our hearts from straying after forbidden pleasures;

May thy will bind all our wishes;

Let us live out of the world as to its spirit, maxim, and manners,

  but live in it as the sphere of our action and usefulnesss;

May we be able to live to every call of duty, accepting without question

   they determination of our circumstances and our service.

[The Valley of Vision, pg 212)

Psalm 13:4-5

But I have trusted in your steadfast love;   my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

I will sing to the LORD,   because he has dealt bountifully with me.

Titus 2: But Where's My Older woman?

In her Radical Womanhood blog post- "Where's My Older Woman," Carolyn McCulley talks about how many times she has read the Titus 2 passage, where God is exhorting older women to train-up the younger women in godliness:

Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. Titus 2:3-4

And after reading said, "Ok God, where is my older women to mentor and disciple me? I'm not seeing her." All the while expecting that some "elusive, grandmotherly type" would come and take her under her wing and teach her everything about being a godly woman, just like her. But then she realized she had never asked God, "Lord, who is my younger woman to disciple?"

Wow. Ouch. How challenging. 

I honestly spent a lot of time this summer in a needy, selfish mindset, complaining to God that there weren't any older women in our church who could disciple me, while hardly even looking for a younger person who I could disciple!  I love how Carolyn says:  

Yes, you are a sinner, but Jesus has redeemed you. 

Yes, you need to grow and mature, but God has also given you a tremendous amount of wisdom and insight. True, you will never be perfect, but that doesn’t mean you can’t by God’s grace be a loving, caring older woman to a younger woman."  

She goes on, pointing to 1 Corinthians 12:12-31- 

Paul explains that we are one body united by Jesus through the Holy Spirit. As a body we are to care for individual members, using the gifts and abilities God has given us. We don’t have to wait for the Christian Martha Stewart to come along and make us just like her. We have been adopted by God the Father through his Son, Jesus, and are now being made more like him (Ephesians 4:22-24).

Who knows, maybe if we all took that more seriously, your older woman would come along, too. But if not, what joy you will have in training your younger woman! Let’s not allow Jesus’ sanctification, the gifts for life and godliness that we each possess, end with us, ladies. Pray for God to put younger women in your life, who you can pursue and help point to Jesus.

I am only 21, and maybe you are only 25, or 31. But lets really take the time to ask:

  "Ladies, who is your younger woman?" 

Sacred Struggle

When I am visiting someone's house, there is a tendency in me to to become curiously enamored by their books. I'll usually pick up a quick stack and glance through them, noting which ones I would love to read at a later time, or borrow of course. Well, last night I was hanging out with some friends and came across two books that stood out to me. The first one is a William Butler Yeats Selected Poems book, full of poems that warmly remind me of my love of poetry in high school (and how much I want to love it again). The second one, interestingly enough is "Sacred Marriage" by Gary Thomas. I am definitely adding this to my "to read" shelf on GoodReads. I would like to share a selection of that book, one that really caught my eye. The book is about marriage, but this portion more specifically, about our Christian lives. At the moment, I really relate to it. So here we go, taken from chapter eight, "Sacred Struggle."

   The tendency to avoid difficulty is a grave spiritual failing that can and often does keep us in Christian infancy. The great spiritual writers warned that this life is difficult and that we should use the difficulty to build up character.
   William Law, an eighteen century Anglican writer, asks, "How many saints has adversity sent to Heaven? And how many poor sinners has prosperity plunged into everlasting misery?"  

John Climacus, who wrote the Eastern classic on the Christian faith in the fifth century, mocks our demand to have it easy and to shun struggle:   "I would not consider any spirituality worthwhile that wants to walk in sweetness and ease and run from the imitation of Christ." 

Jesus promised us that everyone will be seasoned with fire, and every sacrifice seasoned with salt (Mark 9:49). The desire for ease, comfort, and stress-free living is an indirect desire to remain an  "unseasoned," immature Christian. Struggle makes us stronger; it builds us up and deepens our faith.

  But this result is achieved only when we face the struggle head on, not when we run from it. Gary and Betsy Ricucci point out, "Our Lord has sovereignly ordained that our refining process take place as we go through difficulties, not around them. The Bible is filled with examples of those who overcame as they passed through the desert, the Red Sea, the fiery furnace, and ultimately the cross. God doesnt protect Christians from their problems, but he helps them walk victoriously through them.

Are we indirectly desiring to remain unseasoned infants? Or are we relying on God to get us through and deepen our faith?

What do you think?

Service Instead of Service

Lately there has been a bunch of churches swapping their Sunday morning services out for "service" in the community... involving a wide range of things from cleaning up a park to handing out water bottles to joggers.

A while back I was struggling with the biblical "idealness" of concept, (I think it is NOT ideal, or a even a great idea) and couldn't exactly organize my thoughts in the most effective manner, as you would probably be able to ask my sister. Haha.

Well, I love this new blog post from Kevin DeYoung, and think he communicates the topic in a clear and compelling light and have included the link below:

Should Churches Trade in Services for Serving? (link)

Here are the major points of the article, but I encourage you to read them in their entirety.

1. Consider practically if this is a good strategy. 

2. Consider if there is good (or any) historical precedence for routinely canceling your worship service

3. Consider that all of life is worship, but corporate worship is still unique.

4. Consider what it may communicate when you replace services with serving. 

5. Consider that corporate worship is a means of grace.

What do you think? Swapping service for serving?

"About Love, or, Why I Hate Attraction."

I love CCEF (Christian Counseling and Education Foundation). I literally aim to read all of their books, blogs, booklets, web content, and heck I would go to their school if I lived in Philly. They are legit, bible based, gospel oriented, and rock solid. And so I figured I would share the love.

Ed Welch recently wrote an article titled "About Love, or, Why I Hate Attraction," and its super interesting. If you have been around me for more than 231431 minutes, you will know how I stand on relationships and attraction. No, I DO NOT hate attraction, and I am NOT some sort of crazy prudish love hater.

I just think the role that so many people place attraction in, the center role usually- well, needs to be rethought a little bit.
I IMPLORE you to read the whole article. Click the title below.

About Love, Or, Why I Hate Attraction: by Ed Welch

Here is a tasty tidbit:

"Attraction is fun, and in Western systems of courtship and marriage, it is the way couples get started, but attraction is about me. It’s about how someone makes me feel. In that sense, attraction is rubbish. It gets people together but it is powerless to keep them together. Even more, attraction, without the addition of other forms of love, promises to separate marriages and any once-close relationship."

Amen brother, and I would possibly go so far to say that this kind of love should be adapted and applied to all Christian relationships. Example, are we "attracted" to your friends, because they can do something for us? Are we "attracted" to our church because of how it serves our "needs"? Or are we loving like Christ has called us to?


Thoughts?

A Wild, Romantic Undertaking

So, I am reading this book called "To the Golden Shore," a biography of Adoniram Judson. It's an intense 500 pages, but I would recommend it. He was one of the first missionaries sent out of America back in the 1700s. There is a lot of rich theology and interesting perspectives to be had in this book, and if I could quote the whole thing, surely that would happen, but lets not get crazy. 

I briefly wanted to share a letter that Adoniram Judson wrote to the father of a woman he is interested in, asking him for permission and favor regarding their hopeful relationship. Mind you, this is before Judson has left to go to Burma and in consideration of all the hardships that will be. The title of the chapter is "A Wild, Romantic Undertaking," and I thought it would be fitting. Read on.

"I have to ask, whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world; whether you can consent to her departure, and he subjection to the hardships and sufferings of a missionary life; whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean; to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India; to every kind of want a distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death. Can you consent to all this, for the sake of him to left his heavenly home, and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing, immortal souls; for the sake of Zion, and the glory of God? Can you consent to all this, in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory, with the crown of righteousness, brightened with the acclamations of praise which shall redound to her Saviour from heathens saved, through her means, from eternal woe and despair?" (pg 83)

Dang son. "To see her no more in this world."

This brings tears to my eyes as I think about the outlook Judson has about life, and how often I might not think this way, but hold onto this life like it's all I have. I love my family, I love my friends and my church, and there is nothing wrong with that. But to choose to see them no more in this world? This world is nothing compared to the next, and any sacrifice to share this news- it is worth it. Even if we arent personally considering overseas missions work, it is still a world view to be challenged by. How are we living this out? 

Im not typically a fan of taking one little verse out of its context, but I think Colossians 3:2, and its surrounding context really fit into this post. The whole chapter three is basically defined by verse two:


"Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." 


I love how it goes on to say that we live this way by loving and forgiving. Missions work, or really any true, daily Christian living is nothing close to a romanticized picture, but it is indeed a wild undertaking, a worthwhile, wild undertaking that has to do with a love like no other. 


What do you think?

Blessings of Singleness?

So I stumbled upon this series on "Singleness Suffering," and I just "couldn't put it down." I've compiled it and hope you too can benefit from some of the interesting and powerful perspectives. Some of the titles confused me, I mean come on, a blessing of singleness to be loneliness? But you will understand by the end, and certain attitudes will definitely be challenged.

 Let me know what you think if you happen to read any of them. Under the link there are little clips to peak your interest :)    Enjoy...

Blessings of Singleness#1: Loneliness

 "...Loneliness is rooted in the pain of never feeling truly known; not having anyone who shares my deepest fears, dreams or longings.  And the fraudulent reality that singles sometimes believe is that no one has even attempted to know us.  We feel alone in decisions.  We feel alone in our fears.  We feel alone in our dreams.  The weird thing about singleness is that no one is supposed to know us in the deepest ways.  I am in a season of life where God has declared that no mortal being will know me intimately.  And that’s lonely...."

Blessings of Singleness #2: The Pain of Freedom
"Okay – this may be a hard sell – but there is a unique pain in singleness in what the world affectionately calls ‘freedom’."


Blessings of Singleness #3: Losing Control
"...I still cling to the lie that I have control over certain things in my life.  I believe I have control over my schedule and my day and my life.  The pain of losing control in singleness constantly reels me back in from my imaginary world where I can make anything happen that I want."


Blessings of Singleness#4: The Pain of Rejection
"Jesus talks about the danger of receiving affirmation from people in such a way that it adds something to you.  People’s instinct is to assure you that it’s valid to want or even need affirmation from other people, but Jesus says otherwise.  He says that affirmation and love from another human being should not be wanted or even received in such a way that it fills deficiency in us.  He says that when affirmation from people adds to our sense of self and security, it robs us of the ability to be satisfied in Him."


Blessings of Singleness #5: Lack of Physical Intimacy
"Part of why it’s been so painful is it is probably the struggle that has confused me most.  It’s been (and is) a pretty hard sell to get my body on board with the idea that I’m not missing out on what I was created for.  It’s challenging to not feel entitled."


Blessings of Singleness #6: The Pain of Misplaced Shame "Every single in the world knows what I’m taking about.  It’s the shame you feel when someone exclaims out loud ‘why are you still single???’ and inside your head comes the shame: people are only single if they have some flaw.  what’s mine?"

Where is my Righteousness?

My pastor shared this John Bunyan quote during a recent sermon and it hit home, so I thought I would share it with you, as well as the following sermon text:

…”But one day, as I was passing in the field, and that too with some dashes on my conscience, fearing lest yet all was not right, suddenly this sentence fell upon my soul, Thy righteousness is in heaven;…I saw, with the eyes of my soul, Jesus Christ at God’s right hand; there, I say, is my righteousness; so that wherever I was, or whatever I was a-doing, God could not say of me, He wants my righteousness, for that was just before Him. I also saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse; for my righteousness was Jesus Christ Himself, the same yesterday, and today, and forever…Now did my chains fall off my legs indeed, I was loosed from my affliction and irons, my temptations had fled away; so that, from that time, those dreadful scriptures of God left off to trouble me now; now went I also home rejoicing, for the grace and love of God.”


o Do you see this? Bunyan grasped the truth of the Gospel! Friends, if you are trusting in Jesus Christ by faith, HE IS YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Top Ten Biblical Ways to Acquire a Wife

This cracked me up, (I couldn't find the author.) 
Check it out :)


Top 10 Biblical Ways to Acquire a Wife 

10. Find a prostitute and marry her. (Hosea 1:1-3) 

9. Purchase a piece of property, and get a woman as part of the deal. (Ruth 
4:5-10) 

8. Find an attractive prisoner of war, bring her home, shave her head, trim 
her nails, and give her new clothes. Then she’s yours. (Deuteronomy 21:11-13) 

7. Go to a party and hide. When the women come out to dance, grab one 
and carry her off to be your wife. (Judges 21:19-25) 

6. Cut 200 foreskins off of your future father-in-law’s enemies and get his 
daughter for a wife. (I Samuel 18:27) 

5. Become the emperor of a huge nation and hold a beauty contest. (Esther 2:3-4) 

4. Find a man with seven daughters, and impress him by watering his 
flock. (Exodus 2:16-21) 

3. When you see someone you like, go home and tell your parents, “I have 
seen a woman; now get her for me.” If your parents question your decision, 
simply say, “Get her for me. She’s the one for me.” (Judges 14:1-3) 

2. Agree to work seven years in exchange for a woman’s hand in marriage. 
Get tricked into marrying the wrong woman. Then work another seven years 
for the woman you wanted to marry in the first place. That’s right. Fourteen 
years of toil for a woman. (Genesis 29:15-30) 

1. Have God create a wife for you while you sleep. Note: this will cost you 
a rib. (Genesis 2:19-24)

Fighting for Joy and I-O-U-S

Honestly, I have not been very joyful lately, and sadly more than a few people could probably testify to this. It has been an uphill fight to keep the joy of the Lord as my strength- instead of letting lies and sin contribute to my weakness.

Recently while reading some blogs, I stumbled across this blog which featured a quote from John Piper's book "How to Fight for Joy" and it really hit home. The following chunk has been a helpful tool to aid me in seeking God. Take a gander:

I—Incline "Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain." (Psalm 119:36)
O—Open "Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law." (Psalm 119:18)
U—Unite "Unite my heart to fear your name." (Psalm 86:11)
S—Satisfy "Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days." (Psalm 90:14)


I—(Incline!) The first thing my soul needs is an inclination toward God and his Word. Without that, nothing else will happen of any value in my life. I must want to know God and read his Word and draw near to him. Where does that “want to” come from? It comes from God. So Psalm 119:36 teaches us to pray, “Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!” Very simply we ask God to take our hearts, which are more inclined to breakfast and the newspaper, and change that inclination. We are asking that God create desires that are not there.

O—(Open!) Next I need to have the eyes of my heart opened so that when my inclination leads me to the Word, I see what is really there, and not just my own ideas. Who opens the eyes of the heart? God does. So Psalm 119:18 teaches us to pray, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” So many times we read the Bible and see nothing wonderful. Its reading does not produce joy. So what can we do? We can cry to God: “Open the eyes of my heart, O Lord, to see what it says about you as wonderful.”

U—(Unite!) Then I am concerned that my heart is badly fragmented. Parts of it are inclined, and parts of it are not. Parts see wonder, and parts say, “That’s not so wonderful.” What I long for is a united heart where all the parts say a joyful Yes! to what God reveals in his Word. Where does that wholeness and unity come from? It comes from God. So Psalm 86:11 teaches us to pray, “Unite my heart to fear your name.”

S—(Satisfy!) What I really want from all this engagement with the Word of God and the work of his Spirit in answer to my prayers is for my heart to be satisfied with God and not with the world. Where does that satisfaction come from? It comes from God. So Psalm 90:14 teaches us to pray, “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.”


God, help me to find joy, and that that joy will be purely in your wonder and perfectly holy self.
 

Above All, My Hope Is In You

Above All, My Hope Is In You
by Alissa M Graham 

Above all, You are my Sustainer
My hope is in your goodness
When I crave what will die
Lord revive me in your satisfaction

Above all, You are my Guide
My hope is in your sovereignty
When I lack faith
Lord, reconcile me with your wisdom

Above all, You are my refuge
My hope is in your comfort
When I face loneliness
Lord, rekindle my desire for your love

Above all, You are my defender
My hope is in your mighty Fortress
When I run in fear
Lord, reinforce me in your strength.

Above all, You are my teacher
My hope is in your counsel
When my ignorance is rampant
Lord, reform me in your truth

Above all, You are my Perseverance
My hope is in your eternity
When I start to lose endurance
Lord, refute my fleeting ways with your everlasting attributes

Above all, You, Jesus Christ, are my Saviour
My hope is in your resurrection
When my sin seems overbearing
Lord, remind me of your salvation.

Psalms 71:14, 19-21
 But as for me, I will always have hope;
  I will praise you more and more.
Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God,
  You who have done great things.
  Who, O God, is like you?
Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter,
  You will restore my life again;
  from the depths of the earth
  You will again bring me up.
You will increase my honor
  and comfort me once again.

Revelations and Sun "Rise"

This weekend, I attended a Christian collegiate conference in Hull, Massachussetts. It was a splended time with my group and with many other college groups. Here is a picture of the Johnson & Wales Christian Student Fellowship:

There were some great speakers and had alot of fun bonding with each other.  We always make an effort to be friendly and introduce ourselves to new people. A bunch of others joined in and we made alot of new friends, hopefully we will be able to stay in touch through the year.

Every year, (starting last year haha), I make an effort to come out onto the beach one morning and watch the sun rise. Usually no one really comes with me, but this year I made sure to let everyone know and encourage people to come. So Sunday morning I woke up around 6am and came out to see the 6:24 rise. Surprisingly, about 7 other people joined in. The pictures above are my awesome friends who woke up at the crack of dawn to come to the cold beach with me. Kim, Elyse, Hannah, Michelle, Corey, Sandra, Katherine! BUT- This year there was an epic storm the night before and the clouds hadnt moved away yet. So there was no sunrise to be seen. Quite sad actually. It was cloudy and dim, but it was still beautiful, and we told God that next year He should be nice to us and bring up the most glorious sun rise EVER!

Alon, Kim, and I= My fabulous roommates. I love them!

This weekend I learned a few surprising things. The main topic of the conference was "The Sufficiency of the Word," and it was quite interesting. But for some reason, I always tend to catch smaller points and get the most from those. One of the speakers was talking about being a Paul and being a Timothy. The idea is that they kind of needed each other to grow through a discipleship relationship. He encouraged all the "Timothys" to find "Pauls" and all the "Pauls" to find "Timothys" and just pour into each other. Pray with each other, give each other books to read, go through the bible with each other, challenge one another with personal struggles. I can think of all the people who have impacted me in this kind of personal one on one mentor kind of way- Jen and Craig Campbell, Pastor Tim, Mrs Watkins, Mrs Attfield, Mrs McDonald, Andy and Amy Haynes, Kevin and Melissa Mckay, Karissa Tolli, etc etc it could go on and on. I know that if these people had not been in my life, constantly spurring me to pursue the truth and holiness, who knows where I would be. I think a new goal for this year is to find some Timothys and just start encouraging them to take their faith to a deeper level.

Another thing that I gained as a result of this conference was some new friends. Because of this, I randomly stumbled upon an interesting note on facebook from someone that I dont know, but it really spoke to my life.

Without copying and pasting exactly, it goes a little something like this: Girl gets something she really wants. Girl puts all her energy and focus into pursuing and holding onto that thing that she wants. She takes her focus off of God and His blessings and constantly focuses on the blessing day and night. All the time previously spent on knowing God and hearing from Him is now spent waiting around and trying to get to know her blessing.

The note then goes on to say something like this:

"God has the power to show you who God is.
And this is God showing me who God is.
He's a jealous God. He doesn't like someone else becoming number one in my heart."

And for some reason I really relate to this. I lost focus on what was really important and I was dwelling on something secondary and the more I thought I was going to loose it, the tighter I gripped. But you cant hoard things in the Kingdom of God, especially if they become what your mind obsesses over and practically worships. God is not pleased when that happens and He will not let it happen for too long before He sends you on your way, empty handed and into the land of "Hey why dont you remember who gave you this gift in the first place and worship me."

 I think thats where Ive been for a few months now. In that crazy land of emptiness and realization that I have to repent of my idoltry and make God totally number one again. Even if it was just a sidetrack for a minute or an hour it doesnt matter. ANYTHING "good" or "bad" thats unchecked that takes God's place in your heart for more than a second is an idol. I think God has brought me a long way since entering this land. He has allowed me to realize what happened and that I need to turn my eyes back to Him. After this weekend and all the thinking I did, I think Im finally seeing the end of this empty and alone season and the beginning of a new refreshing one where God is the center, my portion, my rock, my sword, my shield.



Hope that all made sense.
Time to pack up and go home.
-Alissa

Philemon

Now, let me just tell you, Philemon is a small book (doesnt even have chapters, just 25 verses), but it packs a big punch. Take five seconds and read the whole thing HERE. It has also enouraged me alot this summer in various areas. One of the main themes running through the letter of Philemon is forgiveness wrapped in the fact that becoming a christian should transform our personal relationships. In a nut shell- Paul is writing a recomendation letter for a slave named Onesimus to a guy named Philemon in order to get Philemon to forgive Onesimus and accept him back into the household. Got that? Ok. See, Onesy here was a slave but he had run away and not kept a deal he had with Philemon, but on the road to escape, he met Paul and became a christian, and knew he had to go back and make things right. In order to pave the way for Onsey, Paul wrote this letter.

My favorite verses in this book touch on the very theme-
"If then you count me as a parnter, receive him as you would me. But if he has wronged you or owes anything, PUT THAT ON MY ACCOUNT." (vs 17-18) (Paul talking to Philemon)

This has G_O_S_P_E_L written all over it. Paul is urging Philemon to accept Onsey back into the house, to forgive him, and recieve him as if it was Paul himself. Imagine that. On top of that he tells Philemon to charge Paul with any debt that Onsey has incurred. It probably takes alot for Philemon to trust Onsey again, after running away, betraying his trust, breaking a deal.

Hi, Think about it. Philemon is God. Paul represents Jesus. We are Onsey. Jesus is begging God to take us back into his household for we have sinned against him. Jesus takes all our debt on himself, and pleads with the Father for forgiveness on our behalf, for God to receive us like he would receive his very own son.

Are you still with me? Let me know if this makes sense. Its powerful.
Ohh man, I love this book.

So back to personal relationships. As much as this verse is vertical in our relationship with God it is also horizontal in our relationship to others. Say someone wrongs you, guess what? We need to forgive them and welcome them back as if they were Jesus himself. Ouch, thats hard. But its what we need to do.


What do ya'll think?

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From the CSF Leadership blog

re: Bitterness pt 2

I'm ok you know. My life still goes on as I deal with this stupid problem. Looking at it from a wide angle view, it all seems so ridiculous and unworthy of my stress. I know and earnestly hope that in one year there will be no remnant of this balderdash. Also in eternity, we will just be loving siblings, worshiping our Creator with no hindrances.

My friend Isaiah is a funny guy. He told me that he too is trying to oust a root of bitterness in his life, or as he says "been putting weed killer on it, good stuff that Bible is." Hes a funny guy, and always really encouraging, always directing my attention past myself to the Creator.

Im trying to kill this junk off by just being stronger. Well.. technically I am weak, and when I am weak, He is strong, so I am just being more reliant on God. That sounded confusing. Another helpful thing is working on having more self control and boundaries when it comes to this situation. There are just times when I need to rely on others, or my self, or God, and not on this person. Focusing on other relationships is helpful, and just working on being more encouraging to others is awesome.

Its still hard though and sometimes I just have so many questions that arent getting answers because others feel like Ive beat this situation to death and it should be easy to figure out. Not so much.

This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope.
22 Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
24 “ The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,

“ Therefore I hope in Him!”
25 The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him.
26 It is good that one should hope and wait quietly
For the salvation of the LORD.
27 It is good for a man to bear
The yoke in his youth.

Lamentations 3:21-27