Monday, June 27, 2011

Love one another . . .

Lord you are working on me, and I thank you for it. It doesn’t feel like you hand of rebuke, yet I sense you at work.

I thank you for having your hands are in the dough of my life. You’re kneading and working out the ‘leaven’ in places I didn’t know were there. You cover me with a damp towel of tears. Your tears for me, your care for me, your correct for and within me; as often as you know I need it. No one knows the places of deep wounds you’re healing; those places that seems as if they are bottomless with pain. Yet here you are at work. Why in my silly sinful behavior you remind me you love and forgiven and sent your healing, if I will only allow you to do your best work in me.

Help me to love those who don’t seem to have any interest in loving me and others. May their selfishness be washed away in the flood of your love. Many have built ‘levee’s’ around themselves to keep your love out; and are comfortable keeping everyone (or most) away and at a distance. Yet your loving voice says again, I love you. Help them to hear it, even when it comes from one like me.

I thank you for your  embrace of grace, which knows no bounds. You’re here for me, help me to present (here) for those who like myself, need you because others won’t, or don’t know how too. You said, “. . . love one another, as I have loved you . . .” may I live this out, not in some future time, but today, this week to someone who needs it, even when I don’t know it is.

This I ask in strong Name of Jesus, Amen.

Love ya, T

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

I've found a new friend - and he said . . .

"The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him." 

"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried." 

"The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because generally they are the same people." 

"Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously." 

"If there were no God, there would be no atheists." 

"Religious liberty might be supposed to mean that everybody is free to discuss religion. In practice it means that hardly anybody is allowed to mention it." 

"Dear Sir: Regarding your article 'What's Wrong with the World?' I am. Yours truly," 

"It isn't that they can't see the solution. It is that they can't see the problem." 

"I believe in getting into hot water; it keeps you clean." 

"It is absurd for the Evolutionist to complain that it is unthinkable for an admittedly unthinkable God to make everything out of nothing, and then pretend that it is more thinkable that nothing should turn itself into everything." 

"There are those who hate Christianity and call their hatred an all-embracing love for all religions
"Impartiality is a pompous name for indifference which is an elegant name for ignorance." 
 G.K. Chesterton

Are we praying for each other?

Interesting that this thought should cross my mind. How often have I said to someone, ‘pray for me.’ Did they (you) pray? Are we praying for each other or has it too become just something we say?

Prayer doesn’t take long, but I believe it should be focused. Not just a general, “Lord bless so and so,” but taking a moment and ask, ‘what two or three things, do you want me to pray for?” And then spend some real time with God in prayer. It’s okay for you to ask me, “Tony, what’s pressing you right now?” Beyond the finances, (most of us have that one, I think.)

Let’s get real here, I know you can’t be that transparent with everyone, so pick somebody, anybody and say to them, will you pray with me about . . .? Yes, even I struggle, some of you may find that hard to believe, but I’m not ‘there yet’ myself. I’m sorry if that let you down, but the truth is I’ve got some closets I’d rather not you open, and only God can clean them out or up. Okay, there I’ve said it ‘out loud!”

I need your support as well as you need mine, maybe a little more or less, but frankly who cares? We need each other. And if you don’t need me, that’s okay, but I need you! I’d love to hear from you, over the net or over the phone, why even ‘snail-mail,’ will work, it takes a little longer but I’ll be glad to get it.

God has not called you to be ‘The Lone Ranger,” Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Eccl. 4:9-10.

Nor am I suggesting that something is wrong with or about you, it’s the fact that you are important to me, and I don’t like a great deal of silence. It’s fine and I often enjoy it, but went it comes to my brother and sisters in Christ, I want to heard from them as often as possible. I can’t do this without you and frankly I don’t want too.

That’s my prayer for this week Jesus, you know what to do with and how to handle it. In the name of Jesus I pray, Amen.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

An Anglican Prayer

"What we know not, Teach us;

What we are not, Make us;

What we have not, Give us."

Quoted by Alistair Begg

Monday, June 6, 2011

Praying for you on Monday

Father,

I thank you for theses my brothers and sister who work for you. We forget we’re not employed by the church or its board, but by you. You called us, and you promised to provide for us, so I thank you for enough. I can’t see, where or how it’s coming, and I’m not asking for more than you know I (we) can handle, but I thank you for enough.

In the church and ministry I lead and work with, for those who labor with me, I thank you for enough. You are my and our provision, long before I answered your call, you understood I would be here now. You’re not surprised by where I am, so I thank you for the comfort of this moment. I continue to have questions for which I have no answers, but I thank you for the resources you are making possible.

Bless I pray our minds with clarity for what must be done, and that which only we can do; thank you for help from unexpected sources; courage for what you say “NO!” too; strength to take the next step and the one after that; faith in the face of the impossible, and yes, to what seems most difficult. I thank you

I thank you for walking with us throughout this coming week, help me to listen and hear you voice in places I never expected. This is my Fathers world, I am His child and you care for me. I love you Jesus, I can’t do this alone, and you don’t want me too, so THANKS!

In the strong Name of Jesus I pray, amen.
 -- 
T.A.B.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Somewhere along the road . . .

I’ve made mistakes, errors and as a result I’ve hurt, wounded and offended those I’ve walked with. It may have been a word, or an idle remark or a thoughtless comment. It’s too late to try to take it back or hope you can forgive me. So it is, I ask for your forgiveness and hope there is room in you heart to grant forgiveness.

Too often I can go merrily along, never thinking of damage I’ve done, without meaning to. You endure it, but it’s often painful and those wounds often go deep. The Lord reminded me of how much He has forgiven me and He expects that I, where possible repent and ask forgiveness to those I have wounded or offended. There will be those who won’t forgive regardless of how sincere I might be, because they ‘just can’t see how that is possible.’ Even that is okay and I will try my best to move on, hoping that someday God’s grace will be sufficed even for the worst offense.

My love for you is real, I can only pray God’s riches blessing upon you, not just today, but everyday of your life.

Respectfully,
T..A.B. 

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

The power of Lament

Until I attended Pastors of Excellence at The Sandburg Leadership (ATS), I had not heard about the "Psalms of Lament." I know, I live a time when we have nothing to lament, HA! Let's get real. "Our English word lament comes from the Latin word for weeping. Psalms 6, 13, 22, 35, 43, 88, 102, 109, and 137  are examples of this type of psalm. You'll know you've come across one when you feel like you've turned the corner in a hallway and bumped into someone kicking, punching and screaming at a locker door; the psalms of lament are that intense.

When you find a psalm of lament that expresses what you're feeling, take that psalm and read it out loud to God. Pray that psalm. Read it with as much force and anger and depth as you can muster. A mentor of mine told me that when I'm unable to pray, I should let someone else pray for me - let the psalms become your prayers." Second Guessing God - hanging on when you can't see his plan by Brian Jones. 

I don't know about you, but I've had a great deal of pain and wounding in my 65 years of life. I received a lot of what I didn't need and very little of what I really needed most. Things I should have received were withheld, whether it was on purpose or the fact they didn't know how to give me what I needed I can't tell. Perhaps you where blessed with wonderful people around you who made sure you were given all the love and affection you needed and wanted, sorry I wasn't one of those. I too ". . . was wounded in the house of my friends." (Zech. 13:6)

I didn't understand that it was and is alright to cry out to God and yes, perhaps at God for how I've been treated. According to much of the material I've read, there are three parts of a lament: accusations against god, hatred toward enemies, and vows of praise. I've notice of late that very few in any of the preaching and teaching I've heard or read deals with any of this, if at ALL!

Perhaps you think I've fallen of the wagon, or read one too many books, but I'm convinced there is an unknown (or unspoken) truth here that needs to exposed. First let me be clear, I believe God love me, and that without question! I am His son for whom Jesus bled and died for, and nothing and no one can pluck me out of His hand. I'm SAVED, not by what I do, or don't do, I'm SAVED, because of Christ's death on Calvary. If that's too preachy for you, you're reading the wrong blog.

"Accusations against God. The first thing we notice when we read the paslms of lament is that those praying felt free to accuse God of not caring about them. There accusations are, at times brutal. Consider Ps. 44:24
. . . The author essentially tells God to wipe the sleep from his eyes and quit being lazy! How could these psalms writers talk this way? I think the reason they were so bold is because they were being honest. They wrote what they felt." When was the last time I was willing to be brutally frank with God about how I'm feeling, or was I just being polite? You know what I mean, When addressing the Almighty one should be on there best behavior. Sorry, I'm past that now, He knows me, He knows my thoughts, (before they are connected to me,) I'm a fool is I think I can hide my real and true feeling from Him. Yes, yell, screm, get honest with Him, He is God and he's heard it all before, i won't be his first child that has said, "right now I'm not happy with you God!"

"What has so completely broken your soul that you wonder if you'll ever be able to recover? Tell that to God. Dispense with the polite, positive self-talk and ask God directly, Where were you when this happened? Were you sleeping? Are you lazy? Are you too chicken and you're hiding? Take the psalms of lament as your permission slip to be honest with God.

Hatred toward enemies.
Oh, yeah, how about that"love your enemy stuff? Have you read any of the Psalms? Ps. 3:7; 55:15; 143:12; 137:8, 9, don't sound like "love your enemies . . . that Jesus talked about in Matt. 5:44. "Maybe the reason the psalms of lament portray people praying for the destruction of their enemies because we can't love our enemies until God gives us the ability to love them. And maybe God can't give us the ability to love our enemies until we expressed to him, in specific detail, the full brunt of our rage and hatred for our enemies. Maybe it's not until we've pulled the every last ounce of hatred out of our hearts and flug it into the lap of God that we can authentically love our enemies."

Vows of praise.
"Interspersed among the kicking, screaming, and pleading is something biblical scholars call "a vow of praise." We see a perfect example of this in Psalms 43:1, which begins with a desperate petition, . . . but ends in v.5   . . . "

"The contrast is so stark, you wonder if the same person is writing the first and the last verses. How can someone go from such desperate circumstances to a position of confidence in God's goodness?

A vow. In just about every psalm of lament, you'll find a statement that expresses, "No matter how dark my circumstances get, no matter how much rage I feel toward God or those around me , not matter how much everything I think and feel tells me to give up on God, I will not. I will not give up on God." Have you ever made a vow like that?"

Here's a prayer from Brian Jones:
Yes, Father, I still believe in your goodness, despite What I see with my eyes:
Yes, Father, I still believe you have a plan for my life, despite what I feel in my heart;
Yes, Father, I still believe my best days are ahead of me, despite what my enemies and friends and loved ones say to me;
Even if you ask me to live in mystery the rest of my life, I will wake up every day and say yes, Father, I sill believe in you.
 Second Guessing God - hanging on when you can't see his plan by Brian Jones. Chapter 8 Mystery




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Love ya,
T.A.B.