Long weekend

I have no idea how it could be Monday already. I mean, it was just a moment ago I was heading home for the weekend. Friday night - I can't even remember what we did... but I do remember getting to bed a little late. Saturday we had a few errands to run before an afternoon Fall party that my beloved was throwing (she is an awesome hostess IMO). Friends stayed WAY late (into Sunday AM). Sunday was a real blur. DD3 has a music thing at 8:30, and then we get the whole gang for 9:45 service. We (my beloved and I) were not slated to serve in the children's ministry, but since my beloved heads that ministry up we ended up serving (well she did) at the 11:00 o'clock service. After that we got DS1's hair cut.. ran to Sam's... then to DS1's last soccer game of the season, and then we split up. I took DD3 to Awana's and she took both sons to the season end soccer thing at Pizza Hut. When we got home around 7:45 last night there was still one more errand to run... as a result none of us got into bed at the time I would have preferred. And now it's Monday, and I am wondering where my weekend went. If anyone finds it, please let me know. :) In other news there were three things that God spoke to me about over the weekend. And they were kind of "whispers". The first one was during the sermon yesterday morning. It had to deal with "do unto others". Not just our friends, or those who are kind to us, those we get along with. But we are to be kind to our enemies too. What would we do for ourselves? Would we be really willing to do that for an enemy? And what about rejoicing when a foe suffers in some way? Do we rejoice? I really wanted to think about this one some more... what does it mean to love myself... and how does that reflect in my dealings with others. I'm mortal so I am going to look at my own house first (my beloved and children). The second thing was do I really expect the best when I pray. Do I expect the God's best in my life? Now, I have to admit that this point was given me through Joel Osteen. I was listening to his broadcast again yesterday as I was getting ready for church. When we come to God are we acting like "Eeyore"? We can come to God with joy and expecting our prayers to be "yes, and Amen" - even if the answer is "No" or "not yet". The greatest gift (Christ dying on the cross) is exactly what enables me as a Christian to have such a joy and expectation. I know Pastor Osteen has been criticozed for not taking a stand about the path of Christianity being the only way to heaven, and for not presenting the gospel in his sermons. He did conclude his broadcast yesterday with (albeit brief) invitation and sinners prayer for those who do not yet believe in Christ. While I do feel he should do more, Pastor Orsteen did present the message in light of the Gospel yesterday. It may not have been as thorough as I personally would have preferred - it was there. The last item, and most likely by far not the least, has to do with the sabbath. God made it a point to include it in His "top ten". It is not a little thing. Thinking through this entire post, and my real life scheduling of things. Do I take a sabbath day? Be it Sunday, Saturday, or any other day? There is a reason God made the sabbath for man. And that was because we are indeed limited. We require sleep, we require rest, we require sustanence. If we do not take that time to rest (let alone time to worship and reflect on the Creator) we will eventually just collapse (wither metally or physically). All of these things God spoke to me... and I really need to take some time - make some time - to reflect on them. Verse for today: 1 Kings 19: 9b-13, ESV And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. [1] And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

The Objective and the subjective

A week or so back (I'm pretty sure it was on the 7th) I was getting ready for church. I had the TV on (I use it to sometimes help me pull out of my slumber) and Pastor Joel Osteen was on. As I've mentioned in the past, I am not a reall big 'fan' of Pastor Osteen's message, but his broadcast is so much better than say news or even sports (gasp!) when I am trying to wake up and get myself and my family ready for church. Anyway, I was still fairly groggy when I heard, "...and he changed God's mind". That pretty much snapped me out of my half-asleep state. "What do you mean he changed God's mind?" I thought to myself. I couldn't have heard a Pastor say that a man, any man, changed God's mind, did I? I grabbed the remote, scrolled through the listings and saw that Pastor Orsteen's broadcast was going to be played on a different station during the next half hour. I quickly jumped in the shower so I could catch the sermon from its beginning, and I could then hear the entire message in context. Meanwhile all kinds of thoughts are jamming through my mind. To be totally honest, I was distracted as I "monitored" Pastor Osteen's broadcast the second time, and time has faded the 'edges' from my memory, but the item that I had concern with was his use of a passage from 2 Kings. God's prophet was told to go to the king and inform him that he would die. When the prophet confronts the king with this terrible news, the king pleads with the prophet (and thus with God indirectly), citing all that he had done to tear down the idols left behind by his father. How he had turned himself, and Isreal, back to the one true God. And that is when I heard it again, "...and He changed God's mind." I want to be perfectly clear in my next point... how is it possible for a man to change God's mind?!? We are finite, He is infinite, we are mortal, He is immortal, we are limited in what we know, He knows all things from all times, we are subjective, He is objective. I went back and read throught this account (2 Kings 20). I do not see God's mind changing, I see a king changing. I see a message being recorded for those whom come after. The story of Jonah - the whole purpose of Jonah going to Ninivah was not to destroy those people, but to bring a message of hope. The angels that went into Sodom and Gemorah were sent there to see if they could be redeemed. I feel that such messages, that man can change anything about God, are dangerous. It says that God can be molded into what we want. That He can be formed into a God who serves the creation instead of creation serving the Creator. If such a thing where possible how could we ever trust a God who changes at the whims of others - especially if there are two of us who may disagree on something. God's Word is clear: “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:8, ESV) God has known each of us, not just those called to His Son, but all of His creation. He knows all of our days... "in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them." (Psalm 139:16, ESV). Therefor He is not surprised when the king of Isreal weaps and repents, God is not surprised when the people of Ninavah put on sack cloth and throw ashes on their heads - nor is God surprised when we are convicted of our sin and fall on our knees to beg forgiveness at His alter. I don't think Pastor Osteen's intent is in anyway to distort or mislead God's people. I really believe his intent is not to paint a misleading image of the Lord. I fully believe his intent is to have people believe in themselves, to pull themselves up by their boot straps (so to speak), and take a proactive role (from their subjective point of view) in their relationship with God. But what I think would have served Pastor Orsteen's congregatin better, and those who are in the audience of his weekly broadcasts, is to preach that it was not God who changed, but the king's heart and his view of God. The message of sin, and the terrible consequenses of them, is not to drag a person down into the mud to wallow in self pity - but it is to shed light on what Christ has actually accomplished on the cross. The gospel is not about what we accomplish, but what He accomplished. God knows it all. He knew it all before He even formed the earth. He does not change, but He uses our circumstances to change us (Romans 8:28-30). So when the Holy Spirit speaks to you (either through a 'prophet', or His Word, or just a 'gut feeling'), and you see the circumstances changing after you have reacted, remember it is not because God has changed - but it's because God was using something to change you, and He is revealing the change through external means. Verse for today: 2 Kings 20:1-6, ESV In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.’” Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, “Now, O Lord, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. 4 And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord, and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.”

A secret to contentment?

I once heard C.J. Mahaney say that "disappointment occurs when expectations exceed our experience". Basically saying that when we expect something to happen - for whatever reason - and it does not happen the way we expect it to, we become disappointed. Bear with me as my points will probably be a little scatter brained. :) My beloved and I have some friends who are raving about this video that, I believe, they ordered from Pastor Joel Orsteen's church about - and I am paraphrasing here - that in order to find contentment and hapiness we essentially need to think positive. That when we live in self doubt or downing out abilities, lot in life, etc. we handicap ourselves and we are not able to achieve all that God has for us. I have listened to Pastor Orsteen and enjoy his teaching very much. It is obvious that he is being used by God to reach people, not just in his local community, but throughout the U.S. and probably the world. But I think if this message is carried too far it can lead to a misunderstanding of who God is and our relationship with Him. Now I in no way think that is what Pastor Orsteen intends. Anytime we equate our actions to a cause and effect in regards to what God is doing we are in danger of equating our works to our justification. When our works are seen in the light of our ongoing sanctification then I can get on board with it. I am going slightly off track... ok, back on-topic. :) But, in a sense this is true. In order to achieve and get ahead we need to first conquer ourlseves. "The longest journey begins with a single step", but if we are afraid or say we cannot make it we will either never take that first step, or we will stop somewhere along the journey before we reach the finish line. And are we not told to run the race as if to gain the prize? (1 Cor 9:24) We are also to run the race as if we are running a marathon and not a wind sprint. (Hebrews 12:1-2) My father-in-law got me hooked on "The Unit" on CBS, which in turn led me to pick up the book Inside Delta Force by Eric Haney. I have not finished the book yet, but the first part is about Selection process from the author's point of view. Many of those who did not make it simply gave up. (And I am in now way diminishing what they did accomplish because those men were, and probably still are, better soldiers than I ever was.) The thing that has stuck with me, well two things, from the book is this:

"All day long, I crossed that mountain from one side to the other.... I would arrive exhausted and breathless at one RV (check point) only to be sent to the next back on the other side I had just come from. The mountain was too big to contour around, and the lay of the was such that I could never anything approximating a direct approach or maintain the hard-earned high ground for any length of time. Never getting anywhere, back and forth across the same mountain. It was a masterful torture. But then I had a revelation. What difference could it possibly make if I crossed back and forth over this mountain until doomsday? A mountain is a mountian, time was time, and route selection was route selection. The only that that mattered was speed and ground made good.... The frustration and mental torture I had been suffering were completely of my own making - and completely within my power to disregard." (1)

The other quote is;

"I was physically spent and sore in every part of my body, But as I reflected on what I had undergone, I felt a calm sense of satisfaction and contentment. I had not just survived an ordeal, because survival in a sense if passive. No, I had conquered. But conquered what? I had to think about that a while, and then I realized: myself." (2)

In a sense we can never take credit for what we accomplish because the initiative always begins with God (Romans 5:8). And yet there are things we must perform in order to continue along the process of being conformed into the likeness of our Savior. (Romans 8:29) And we can not do that in a passive mode. Sorry for the long winded post today. :) It is something God put on my heart and in many ways I believe He has driven it. I pray that it may be used by the Holy Spirit to bless any who He brings. May the Lord bless each and everyone of you. Verse for today: Romans 8:26-30, ESV Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because [6] the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, [7] for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. 1. Eric Haney, Inside Delta Force, Delacorte Press, 2006, pg 79 2. pg 100-101