So my link group decided to study the book of James these next few weeks and We read the first chapter tonight. I noticed somethings that I missed before.
One verse in particular caught my attention.
James 1:21
"Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you."
The part I really wanted to focus on is the second half, "humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you."
I wanna draw your attention to two other verses.
Mark 4:1-20
The Parable of the Sower
1Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water's edge. 2He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3"Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times."
9Then Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
10When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11He told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12so that, " 'they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!'[a]"
13Then Jesus said to them, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14The farmer sows the word. 15Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown."
John 1:1-2
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning.
The use of word in the verse from James makes me think of it's use in John. That of Jesus as the word. Carrying that over to James. The word planted in you. God planted inside us. So I move on the the verse in Mark, about the soil that the seeds fall into being what makes the difference in the growth of it.
So if we believe this verse, we have a choice, what kind of soil are we. Will we let the word in us, fall on rocks and unyielding ground and never grow or share the word with others. Or will we be like the best soil, where the word takes root and becomes a beautiful garden that keeps growing and sharing that growth with others?
What kind of soil are you?
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
The theory of relative control!
Control,
We all want it, we all believe we have it. We don't, in fact It has us.
But let me back up, I will tell you a little story, There once was a girl, she was born to two loving parents, a huge extended family and a sister who swore she was her baby! She grew up in the country, knowing she was loved. Her dad was a cop and her mom worked at the church. She spent her first five years as her grandmother and great grandmothers constant companion. She started school and exceled for the first 8 years. Then she learned that the power of the word No only mattered when It was respected and that some people cared only about controling others.
Fast forward three years, she is 17 now, and sitting in her bedroom with a pair of scissors, watching her arm bleed. The only thing that stops the pain inside is the control she has at this moment.
But who is really in control?
Fast forward again, she is now 21, she dosen't cut anymore, now she binges and then starves herself. All so that something is in her control.
Do we really ever have control? Is controling everything healthy? I stop and think about the people I know, how many of them have struggled in someway with disorders relating to control. I know that God calls us to something more. He came to earth and gave up all control in His life, for us. He could have stopped it all, but He didn't, He died for us.
Can we surrender control to God? Can we give Him everything and rest in the knowledge that He will supply all our needs?
"Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."
Matthew 26:39
What are you clinging to, what control are you not giving to God?
We all want it, we all believe we have it. We don't, in fact It has us.
But let me back up, I will tell you a little story, There once was a girl, she was born to two loving parents, a huge extended family and a sister who swore she was her baby! She grew up in the country, knowing she was loved. Her dad was a cop and her mom worked at the church. She spent her first five years as her grandmother and great grandmothers constant companion. She started school and exceled for the first 8 years. Then she learned that the power of the word No only mattered when It was respected and that some people cared only about controling others.
Fast forward three years, she is 17 now, and sitting in her bedroom with a pair of scissors, watching her arm bleed. The only thing that stops the pain inside is the control she has at this moment.
But who is really in control?
Fast forward again, she is now 21, she dosen't cut anymore, now she binges and then starves herself. All so that something is in her control.
Do we really ever have control? Is controling everything healthy? I stop and think about the people I know, how many of them have struggled in someway with disorders relating to control. I know that God calls us to something more. He came to earth and gave up all control in His life, for us. He could have stopped it all, but He didn't, He died for us.
Can we surrender control to God? Can we give Him everything and rest in the knowledge that He will supply all our needs?
"Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."
Matthew 26:39
What are you clinging to, what control are you not giving to God?
Hands of Christ
1 Corinthians 12:12-22
12The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized by[a] one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
14Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
21The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" 22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,1 Corinthians 12:26
26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. One of my favorite songs is "If we are the body" by Casting crowns. The chorus of the song says, "If we are the body, why aren't His arms reaching? Why aren't His hands healing? Why aren't His words teaching?, If we are the body, why aren't His feet going? why is His love not showing them there is a way?" I wanna look at this song in relation to the verse I put above this. In these verses, Paul is talking about how the church, us, is the body of Christ, we are His hands, feet, ears, here on earth. Each person, is a different part. Some people are hands, they reach out, they sooth nervous hands, and wipe away tears. Some people are feet, they walk to where people need them, They don't think about the distance, They just go. Some people are mouths, They speak truth, even if it is hard to hear and say. Some are ears, they listen and wait on God to speck through there presence. There are many other parts as well. Arms that hold, eyes that see, and cry for the broken hearted. We could never be the church alone. It is all the parts working together. If anyone was missing, the body would be incomplete. Every person who walks through the doors of the church building, where ever it may be (movie theater) has a role to play in the body. Without the arms, can the hands reach out, with out the feet walking, can the voice be heard in the darkness. I found a quote I like in a book, called, "Where is God when It hurts" "I want a church where anyone is welcome, no matter their color, a church where people pray and expect answers to their prayers. I want a church where people are known by their love for one another."Not just color, but class, religion, history. I know that these issuse aren't as big of a problem in the modern church, but It does happen. Haw many people do we pull away from because there issue is to hard for us to handle?Is it really to hard to call someone who may be suffering today, just to let them know you thought of them? That you are praying for them today? God never said it would be easy. "Christianity has always insisted that the cross we bear precedes the crown we wear." Martin Luther King Jr.Arms, reach, hands, heal, words, teach, feet, go, love, show. Can you follow His lead today. Love God, and because you love Him love for others will pour out. I love you guys.
12The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized by[a] one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
14Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
21The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" 22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,1 Corinthians 12:26
26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. One of my favorite songs is "If we are the body" by Casting crowns. The chorus of the song says, "If we are the body, why aren't His arms reaching? Why aren't His hands healing? Why aren't His words teaching?, If we are the body, why aren't His feet going? why is His love not showing them there is a way?" I wanna look at this song in relation to the verse I put above this. In these verses, Paul is talking about how the church, us, is the body of Christ, we are His hands, feet, ears, here on earth. Each person, is a different part. Some people are hands, they reach out, they sooth nervous hands, and wipe away tears. Some people are feet, they walk to where people need them, They don't think about the distance, They just go. Some people are mouths, They speak truth, even if it is hard to hear and say. Some are ears, they listen and wait on God to speck through there presence. There are many other parts as well. Arms that hold, eyes that see, and cry for the broken hearted. We could never be the church alone. It is all the parts working together. If anyone was missing, the body would be incomplete. Every person who walks through the doors of the church building, where ever it may be (movie theater) has a role to play in the body. Without the arms, can the hands reach out, with out the feet walking, can the voice be heard in the darkness. I found a quote I like in a book, called, "Where is God when It hurts" "I want a church where anyone is welcome, no matter their color, a church where people pray and expect answers to their prayers. I want a church where people are known by their love for one another."Not just color, but class, religion, history. I know that these issuse aren't as big of a problem in the modern church, but It does happen. Haw many people do we pull away from because there issue is to hard for us to handle?Is it really to hard to call someone who may be suffering today, just to let them know you thought of them? That you are praying for them today? God never said it would be easy. "Christianity has always insisted that the cross we bear precedes the crown we wear." Martin Luther King Jr.Arms, reach, hands, heal, words, teach, feet, go, love, show. Can you follow His lead today. Love God, and because you love Him love for others will pour out. I love you guys.
Faith
Mark 5:21-34
A Dead Girl and a Sick Woman 21When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet 23and pleaded earnestly with him, "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live." 24So Jesus went with him.
A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." 29Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
30At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"
31"You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?' "
32But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."
I was reading in the book of Mark today, surprise I know, I have read this story many times and heard many takes on It, but I think it is worth looking at again. In the story, Jesus is walking around, surrounded by people on all sides, many rows deep, all calling out to him. Through the crowds, comes a women, a women who has suffered for twelve years with bleeding. I don't know about you, but when I am sick for a day, It takes me at least two to start gainning my strength back. Twelve years, imagine how weak she had to be. To push through all those people. She was most likely knocked down and stepped on, but she kept moving, reaching for Jesus, the hem of his robe, knowing, that she wasn't even allowed to be there, because she was unclean. She was so desparate to be healed that she fought her way through all those people, and then she touched His robes. His robes, and she felt herself being healed. How freeing that had to be, for the first time in twelve years, she was healthy. Jesus felt the power leave him and called for the one who touched him. I love his response, Daughter, your faith has healed you. He calls her daughter, His beloved child. For the first time in twelve years, someone had helped her, because she had faith that Jesus would make her well. I wish I had the kind of Faith she had. I have to constantly remind myself of this. What is your twelve year sickness? Can you reach out you weak hand and grasp the robe of the one who died for you? Reach out to Him, call Him, and know He is reaching for you, calling you beloved, wanting you!
A Dead Girl and a Sick Woman 21When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet 23and pleaded earnestly with him, "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live." 24So Jesus went with him.
A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." 29Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
30At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"
31"You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?' "
32But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."
I was reading in the book of Mark today, surprise I know, I have read this story many times and heard many takes on It, but I think it is worth looking at again. In the story, Jesus is walking around, surrounded by people on all sides, many rows deep, all calling out to him. Through the crowds, comes a women, a women who has suffered for twelve years with bleeding. I don't know about you, but when I am sick for a day, It takes me at least two to start gainning my strength back. Twelve years, imagine how weak she had to be. To push through all those people. She was most likely knocked down and stepped on, but she kept moving, reaching for Jesus, the hem of his robe, knowing, that she wasn't even allowed to be there, because she was unclean. She was so desparate to be healed that she fought her way through all those people, and then she touched His robes. His robes, and she felt herself being healed. How freeing that had to be, for the first time in twelve years, she was healthy. Jesus felt the power leave him and called for the one who touched him. I love his response, Daughter, your faith has healed you. He calls her daughter, His beloved child. For the first time in twelve years, someone had helped her, because she had faith that Jesus would make her well. I wish I had the kind of Faith she had. I have to constantly remind myself of this. What is your twelve year sickness? Can you reach out you weak hand and grasp the robe of the one who died for you? Reach out to Him, call Him, and know He is reaching for you, calling you beloved, wanting you!
Love
I am in love! I always dreamed about the way it would be. He is amazing; He shows me everyday how much I mean to Him. He brings me fresh, beautiful flowers all the time. He writes me letters, telling me how much I mean to Him. He catches my tears in His hands and cries with me when I am sad. He smiles when I am happy, or when I learn something new. He knows that I need to fall sometimes and He lets me, and when I am ready to stand again, He reaches out open arms to embrace me. Sometimes I am mean and spiteful, I yell at Him and I get mad, blaming Him for some offense I feel He has done to me. He never yells back, He stands patiently, until my anger fades and when I weep tears of grief, it is His arms I cling to. When I make mistakes, I hurt Him, but He always forgives when I ask, and when I try to bring it up again and apologize, He asks what for, because He has forgotten. He knows I am human, and I will screw up, He also knows that more then anything, I need Him to keep loving me, and the best part is, He will.
So, by now you should have figured out that I am talking about God. I wanted to write it this way to show all the little things He does for us that we take for granted. I don't always believe that I am worthy of love, that I really don't deserve it or will ever find it. God says I am, He calls me beautiful, me, beautiful. That is not a word I would ever use about myself. I don't see myself that way, because I look through the eyes of the world. But the God, who made everything in this world, calls me beautiful. I hurt Him when I don't believe. How often do we question and judge ourselves through the world's eyes, and in the process, hurt the one who made us? How often do we question God? Why did you make me this way? Why is this how I am? How many tears does He cry for you? He loves you so much!
Romans 9:20-21
"But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'" Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?"
So, by now you should have figured out that I am talking about God. I wanted to write it this way to show all the little things He does for us that we take for granted. I don't always believe that I am worthy of love, that I really don't deserve it or will ever find it. God says I am, He calls me beautiful, me, beautiful. That is not a word I would ever use about myself. I don't see myself that way, because I look through the eyes of the world. But the God, who made everything in this world, calls me beautiful. I hurt Him when I don't believe. How often do we question and judge ourselves through the world's eyes, and in the process, hurt the one who made us? How often do we question God? Why did you make me this way? Why is this how I am? How many tears does He cry for you? He loves you so much!
Romans 9:20-21
"But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'" Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?"
Just A Thought!
I am posting a few of my old blog posts to put up here.
Life is funny sometimes. I was driving last night and the song, "For Good" from Wicked came on my IPOD. I relized last night how true the song is. I could bore you with long post but I will stick to one main point. One line says that people come into our lives for a reason, bringing something we need to learn. If we believe this is true, when we don't hang out with people, and decide we just don't like them, or we don't have time. How many lessons are we missing? How many people who we are supposed to learn from do we miss because we forget to love them and get to know them simply because God calls us to. I know I have done this, and It saddens me, I wonder what I was supposed to learn, and more then that, what were they supposed to learn from me? Even people who are no longer in my life now, who hurt me, or maybe I hurt them, I learned lessons from them. I will never be the same because Of them, and I praise God for that. I know that sometimes I wish that some of them had never been a part of my life, of me. But without them I wouldn't be the person I am now. Look around, who can you see that has a lesson for you, and who needs a lesson only you can teach.
Life is funny sometimes. I was driving last night and the song, "For Good" from Wicked came on my IPOD. I relized last night how true the song is. I could bore you with long post but I will stick to one main point. One line says that people come into our lives for a reason, bringing something we need to learn. If we believe this is true, when we don't hang out with people, and decide we just don't like them, or we don't have time. How many lessons are we missing? How many people who we are supposed to learn from do we miss because we forget to love them and get to know them simply because God calls us to. I know I have done this, and It saddens me, I wonder what I was supposed to learn, and more then that, what were they supposed to learn from me? Even people who are no longer in my life now, who hurt me, or maybe I hurt them, I learned lessons from them. I will never be the same because Of them, and I praise God for that. I know that sometimes I wish that some of them had never been a part of my life, of me. But without them I wouldn't be the person I am now. Look around, who can you see that has a lesson for you, and who needs a lesson only you can teach.
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