Ale

May this life be,

in balance containing good ingredients in the right proportion,

exciting….a story worth living..as the hops spice and preserve,

of you not the world lest the wild yeast sour your perfect plan,

expectant waiting in faith for each new batch…that first draft,

filled with awareness of your divine spark of making it all good.

Lord may I be like this Ale.

Tuesday, 27 May 2008

I am reading 1 Peter 1 today.

(NCV) 5 God’s power protects you through your faith until salvation is shown to you at the end of time.

This verse has got me thinking about our protection by God’s power through our faith.  This is slightly different than Ephesians 2:8 (NCV) I mean that you have been saved by grace through believing. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God.

I would love any insights into the differences or simmilarities in these verses.

Also, I am going to try posting on Tuesday and Thursdays for a while.

Grace and Peace

 

Monday, 05 May 2008

I just finished Organic Church by Neil Cole.  It is an outstanding book which speaks to what I have been hearing and seeing from many very different places; go into all the world and make disciples.  Neil tells a powerful story of a small church church started by his daughter , 15, and her friends.  After they had been meeting for a few months he visited them and saw a great church.  He ask everyone what other churches they had been to and they were mega-churches or Godzilla churches as he called them.  He ask how many feel they could start a Godzilla church and no one raised their hand, but when he ask who thought they could start a church like they were in all hands were raised.  He then made a powerful observation, “This scares the devil to death”.

This story made me question two things.  First is why do we set the bar for fulfilling the great commission so high by imposing a man made goal of getting people to come to our traditional churches?  We are told that those in darkness will not come into the light because they fear it so should we not follow the example of Jesus and take the light into the darkness?  The second question is what is keeping me from fulfilling the great commission? 

My prayer is that I will follow the Lord in such a way as my actions will result in, 18 Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Listen, I have given you power to walk on snakes and scorpions, power that is greater than the enemy has. So nothing will hurt you. 20 But you should not be happy because the spirits obey you but because your names are written in heaven.”, Luke 10.

Tuesday, 29 April 2008

I missed a few devotionals over the last few days.

James 1 contains the five lessons.  The first two are:

1.  Faith and Wisdom:  “6 But when you ask God you must believe.”  Forgive me when I ask for things and do not believe.  I know it is a reflection of my weakness and beg forgiveness for forgetting Your greatness and power.

2.  True Riches:  Lord, let me have not business other than your business.  Please bend my heart to desire only to be like You as all other ends are death.  May I be consumed by Christ.

Lord I love You and I want to act like it.

Friday, 04 April 2008

Today I read Psalm 101 aloud and from “Organic Church”

I am not always brave and bold.  I profess to believe in the Godhead and His power, but I do not act like it a lot of the time.  Cole tells a story of a drug addict that can not stay off drugs even after becoming a christian.  His suggestion to the addict was to share Jesus with his dealer.  That is bold.  That is trust in the power of Jesus.

Lord forgive me for being a coward.

Jim, you are an inspiration to me the way you keep getting up when satan steals your bracelet.  God give you peace.

Thursday, 27 Mar 2008

Today I read Psalms 93-94 aloud.  I have just started the book Organic Church by Niel Cole.

I am excited to spend the day thinking about “love being the key” and how to put legs on that thought.  I love when Rich Mullins says “faith without works is like a screen door on a submarine”.  I have faith in God, but that does not always translate into loving my neighbor.  Cole had a good line in his introduction when he told a kid with a broken bike chain yelling at a passing preacher, asking if he had enough time to stop being a preacher and help him.  I think christian could easily be substituted for christian, “Hey Bart can you stop being a christian long enough to help me?”.

Jim, Congratulations on seven days!  You got any extra bracelets?????

Again, I pray you all will have grace and peace in your days.

Easter 2008

Today I read Psalm 88 aloud and the resurrection story form the Gospels.

The story of the tomb struck me differently this time.  The stone and the emptiness of the tomb struck me.  What was in the tomb?  Jesus’ body and then an angel were the physical presences, but the promise and reality of everlasting life was what the tomb actually contained.  The stone separated the women from realizing this promise.  It still separates us from claiming the promise as the stone was/is too big to be moved by us (Mark 16:3) and it must be supernaturally moved.  What is my stone is the question that comes to my mind.  What is standing in the way or keeping me from moving off the porch and through the door of faith?

Lord, Please make me aware of what is standing in the way of faith today.

The other thing that stood out is the state of mind the of the women as they went to the disciples, “with fear and great joy”, Mathew 28:8.  I often feel like I / we have lost our fear.  I will not deal with this now, but I wanted to capture the thought.

Be blessed today with fear and great joy.