The Glory of God

Piecing together things I read today:

1. "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness and into his wonderful light." 1 Peter 2:9-10
2. From the biography of Ann Judson (Adoniram Judson's wife): "Ann and Adoniram had no sense of God 'needing' them; in a real sense they believed that what happened to them was of secondary importance. A sovereign God could use them as long as he wanted but then raise up others in their place. Their religion was God-centered, not man-centered... By faith, through many long years of discouragement, they endured, as seeing Him who is invisible; relying not at all on what they could do, but wholly on what God had promised to do for them."
3. "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. The chief end of God is to glorify God and enjoy himself forever." -John Piper, "Let the Nations be Glad"

God has called me into Himself. He has set me apart as his royal priest. I believe this so wholeheartedly that this morning I donned my best priestly purple shirt symbolically stating that I am a people belonging to God. I was thinking of the office of priest, one who labors for God, who sacrifices and intercedes for people. I feel God's pleasure in intercession, but I think there is more to it. I know God has called me to be his royal priest, But why? For what purpose? 

God has set me apart that I might declared the praises of him who called me out of darkness into his wonderful light. He has set me apart so that my religion might be God-centered, not man-centered. My suffering, my health, my joy, my disappoint, my strength, my weakness all exist to bring him glory. While I benefit from his calling and his promises, the ultimate purpose is so that I might join him in his work of making his name great. He is my God and I will serve Him. If the heavens declare his glory, so must I. He is greatly to be praised!!!

disappointment

Today I am struggling with disappointment. It's nothing major. Simply something I hoped to happened, didn't. So I wonder where is God in disappointment. Then I think, well He must be there for throughout Scripture people were disappointed. In fact, God seems to initiate it. Leah was disappointed she didn't have her husband's love, Rachel she didn't have her husband's children. Job was disappointed that in his greatest pain God was so long silent. Samuel was disappointed that Israel wanted a king like the other nations. I'm sure Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego were disappointed when they take their stand, don't bow down, and hear the news they are still getting thrown in the fiery furnace. And then the greatest disappointment of all... the disciples. The man they had dedicated the last three years of their lives, the One they thought would change everything, the One they loved, died. For three days, He left them the most disappointed anyone could ever be. All their hopes were shattered, all their dreams destroyed.

In light of all these, my tee-tiny disappoint today seems like nothing. Yet I feel it, I don't want to diminish it, but I do wonder what God wants me to do with it? Here is how the Lord answered me.... Call to me, Come to me, throw your burden on me. Your disappointment, no matter what size, has a purpose. It is a catalyst to intimacy. I want to be what you put your hope in. I might restore your hope in what disappointed you, I might not. But your disappointment, bring to me, now. Let's grieve it together.

PS. Rachel got her kids, Leah never got her love (though she was later satisfied). Job got his answer. Samuel got God's reassurance that they hadn't rejected him but God. Rack, Shack and Benny got delivered. And the disciples, well they got to see the risen Lord! God can restore what was lost.

Three weeks

I realized a few nights ago that it has been three weeks since I last blogged. Many reasons come to the surface. Mostly, it has been a hard three weeks. In this time period, I have struggled and fallen. I lived in open rebellion going back to old sins that I had once seen victory over. I struggled with energy and sleeplessness. I struggled with the hardest confrontation to date at work. I struggled with irritability and weariness. With all this spiritual and emotional upheaval, it is evident why taking time to type out my thoughts was not high on the priority list.

This blog has been a creative outlet for me. It has been therapeutic and worshipful. And so the other day on a walk around my neighborhood the thought came "I haven't blogged in a while." I was heartbroken. Creativity is the first to go when our focus is off of Jesus. So in the last three weeks, I have not been focused on Jesus. Like Peter I got distracted by the winds and the waves and started sinking.

As these thoughts came in, so did an awareness of something else. It started when my senses were assailed by a giant vine of honeysuckle. It was huge, growing unchecked up and around four trees in the parking lot. The smell was intoxicating and a taste of heaven. Then I noticed a single magnolia blossom on a large tree a little down the road. A smile crept from my heart to my face. I felt as if Jesus was walking beside me pointing things out, asking me to drink it all in, deeply. He gave me a spark of life that I had not been expecting.

He also gave me a message, one that I want to share on here, but something deep within makes me want to keep it a secret between me and my Creator. I can tell you this, though, He is faithful and He is close. I feel Him calling me to fix my eyes on Him, to run hard after Him, to seek intimacy and closeness. This is spiritual meat: to know Him in a new way... constantly going to a deeper level. So on my walk: I took a stand against my besetting sin, for I have been declared more than a conqueror, and I took hold of Jesus. I will have to do this again I am sure. But that doesn't take away from the beauty of doing it right now. I belong to the Lord. He holds my hands, looks straight into my eyes, and is content to know me and be known by me.

What a Wonderful Savior!

Battle Song

What a terrible and beautiful picture! The severity of it strikes deep in the heart. Men of war, going to war. Their leader a moment earlier had stared at the great adversary, far greater than they would be able to have victory over. For a moment he stood with fear in his eyes and hesitation in his stance. Suddenly, though, the king is awakened from his trance. Ride on! He calls to his men and his horse. They all burst onto the battlefield with their leader always before them. Then come these lines...

"For morning came, morning and a wind from the sea; and darkness was removed, and the hosts of Mordor wailed, and terror took them, and they fled, and died, and the hoofs of wrath rode over them. And then all the host of Rohan burst into song, and they sang and they slew, for the joy of battle was on them, and the sound of their singing that was fair and terrible came even to the City." J.R.R. Tolkien, Return of the King.

Singing in battle! What a terrible thing to behold! One day, Christ will ride on his white horse. He will look upon what seems a great enemy as all the kings of the earth will gather. He, like King Theoden, will lead his men into war. He will call and his people will answer. He will swing his sword and shield and claim his rightful throne. He will invite his followers to fight along side. And then, I imagine, they (we) will burst into song, and we will sing as we slay, for the joy of the battle will be upon us. Our song will be fair and terrible and heard even to the ends of the earth, for our king will lead us to victory.

Thoughts on Lent

This year for lent, I decided to give up something and to add something. The subtraction sugar, the addition memorizing the book of Romans. I want to share my journey and conclusions thus far.

I have given up sugar before and found it so helpful and so beneficial. Seeing as it is my drug of choice the decision to give it up was pretty automatic. I give a version of it almost every year (chocolate, dessert, candy, or sugar all together like this time). Normally, I have three days of torture where all I can think about is that sweet. But then around day four I find the cravings slacken and I can live normally. Around day fifteen I feel healthy and alive. Then the last three days bring a new torture, the craving, the desire to quit, and the thought that I have held out for so long, I would love to finish.

 This year totally different. Almost everyday of lent has been filled with craving, desire, longing, obsession for anything sweet. I have done okay at fending it off, but it has been a constant and persistent craving. So I read Made to Crave (I didn't really want to, for I hate reading books that are popular, however...). I read it in a weekend, zoomed through it. I was struck down. My issue is not with sugar, my issue is with control. My issue is with idolatry. Like the Israelites I have been bowing down to a craven image. My god has been my stomach. Reading that book jarred me. It shook me. It changed my thought process. I knew all of the truths it mentions. I have been down this road before. But I love how God makes it new. I was made to crave Him. I was made to worship Him. When I replace Him with any idol, I exist and don't really live.

Since reading this book, I have had real victory over my cravings and obsessions. Yesterday, I got two giant bags of mini-twix in my box at school. Twix are my favorite. I asked God what to do with them; He told me to give them away. I did and didn't eat a single one. I knew I was too weak to eat one, for it would have led to eating ten. So the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

The addition: Memorizing Romans. This has also proven to be a wonderful challenge. I am completion driven. I hate missing deadlines. Easter is a week away and I have memorized four chapters out of 16. God spoke to me yesterday and said that the knowledge I have gained, the time I have spent in silence in order to create the margin for this challenge, has been invaluable. It has been the process that He is using to transform me, not the goal. Eventually, I will memorize the whole thing, but I am and have to be okay with not meeting my goal. What freedom there is in releasing myself from the tyranny of doing things for God. Instead, I just get to be with Him and so indulge in His words pouring over me like a salve. Words like: "This righteousness is from God to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and have been justified freely through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in His blood. He did it to demonstrate His justice, because in His forbearance He left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. He did it to demonstrate His justice at the present time so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus."

Dr. Cooper's Cups

My advisor in college presented me with an analogy that has stuck with me ever since. Here is a synopsis.

Our heart is made up of different cups. We have a husband cup (gentlemen you have a wife cup), kids cup, friend cup, ministry cup. These cups begin empty, and nothing can fill them but the recipient of the cup. Nothing but a husband will fill my husband cup. Nothing will fill my kids cup but kids. Nothing will fill my ministry cup but ministry. The unfortunate thing is that people are flawed, so sometimes though the position is filled, the cup is still empty. We are a people that long, as long as we have empty cups we long to have them filled.

What keeps these longings at bay and our hearts from exploding when the cups are empty, is the giant God-cup we all also have. This is the only cup that can be satisfied, fully satisfied. When we ask God to fill our God-cup He does. In fact, He fills it to the measure of all the fullness of Christ. That means that our God-cup not only can be filled, but there is always more of God than can fill the cup. He is a never-depleted source. The intent I think God had in mind is that He would fill our God-cup so full that it would overflow in such abundance so as to spill out and fill the other cups. Granted, the recipients of the cups are still meant to fill the cups, but God can fill them with Himself in a different way, a way that fully satisfies though the longing is still there.

Romani

This summer I am going on a mission trip to Romania. The reason is to be for the Roma people. I wanted to give a little information on Roma Gypsies, so that you who read this blog could join me in prayer.

Roma Gypsies call themselves Rom which comes from a Hindi words that means "a man of low caste who gains his livelihood from singing and dancing." What a description! Gypsies have their roots in India. During the tenth century, they began a large-spread migration westward, most settling in the Balkan mountains. Many lived then and still continue to live now as nomads. To non-gypsies they have appeared a mysterious and strange people. It is because of the mystery and strange ways that prejudice, bigotry and hatred first sprang to life and continues today.

In the past, gypsies were not allowed to own land which furthered their nomadic lifestyle and their unique choices of occupation. They are fortune-tellers, horse traders, vendors, entertainers, acrobats, metal and wood workers.

While they are often known as beggars and thieves, they also have great acumen with music. They are wonderful musicians, singers and dancers. They are people who love life. They value family and will do anything to keep family intact and close. They wear clothes to entertain, as a costume or statement, and have a flare for the dramatic and eccentric. They are an uninhibited people.