I'm copying my column from Live As If... because it made me cry and I wanted to share it here, too.
One of my all time favorite songs is "For I know Whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day..." That is found in most hymnals even though it is such a very old song. So old, it is found in 2 Timothy 1:12. How sweet to have that deep confidence and that utter trust in the One who saves us from that most heinous day of judgement. There is another verse in that chapter that holds sweet assurance.
2Timothy 1:7 For God did not give a spirit of cowardice to us, but of power and of love and of self-control.
Other translations call it a "spirit of fear". Fear does not come from God, guess who it comes from? That old dragon who knows his time is drawing near and is getting angier and angier, but not more cunning. He just watches and listens and catches us when we are not looking at Jesus and looking down instead of up.
Paul is not talking about Fear of the Lord here. He is talking about that irrational (for Christians) fear that closes up our throats and gives us that adrenal rush of urgent flight when we come up against things we have a difficult time handling or don't even want to face in our daily living. Things like losing a job, or facing cancer in ourself or loved ones, uncertainty of the future. Satan uses those feelings we have and intensifies them with his whisperings creating more fear if we allow him to do so.
A synonym for fear is "awe".
"Awe1.a mixed feeling or reverence, fear and wonder caused by something majestic, sublime, sacred etc.2. the power of inspiring intense fear or fearful reverence.SYN- awe refers to a feeling of fearful or profound respect or wonder inspired by the greatness,superiority,grandeur etc of a person or thing and suggests and immobilizing effect. reverence is applied to a feeling of deep respect mingled with love for something one holds sacred or inviolable and suggests a display of homage, deference etc."
That is a lot stronger than what is usually meant when we hear, "Oh that is awesome!" How trite that word sounds next to its literal meaning. When we acknowledge Satan's whisperings with feelings of fear, we are actually giving him profound respect and to a lesser degree, homage and respect. We actually should have a healthy respect for the Devil because he rules the earth and is the prince of the air, (Eph 2:2) who sows disobedience.
When I am inspired with an intense feeling of wonder, peace, respect and a feeling of being tiny and insignificant when I look at a sun rise or sun set knowing that God designed this perfect artwork, is that just plain awe or reverential awe? Does that feeling of being insignificant put it into the "reverential awe" catagory?
I know it sounds as if I'm being facitious here, but I'm not. I think Fear of the Lord is catagorized into two distinct parts. One is the respect and reverence that Christians give to our Father. The other is what will be felt by many unbelievers when they face the Great White Throne., that awlful day of jujdgement. The first is action and the second is emotion. As Christians we are commanded to fear the LORD.
Jesus said in Luke 12:5
But I will warn you whom you should fear; fear the One who after the killing has authority to cast into Hell; yea, I say to you, Fear that One!
The trouble is, there are far too many who don't have a clue just how horrible Hell is. They joke about meeting their friends in Hell, they put cans of beer and packs of cigarettes in caskets because "Old Joe never went anywhere without a cigarette and he'll need them in Hell."
How ridiculous, we say. Yet, that is Satan's lie that many believe. Some hold back from commiting to Jesus becauuse they don't want to go where their loved ones won't be... they'd rather go to Hell with their spouse than to Heaven with a real Husband. May it not be so! Yet, it is. There is no fear of the LORD any more. This is why sin is rampant and why we hear a "feel good" philosophy from the pulpit instead of the harsh truth of judgement. Amen? Amen.
You know what? When ever I think about going before the Throne of God I get tears in my eyes where I can hardly see--like right now. I think of all the times I've let Him down. I think of how I am absolutely nothing--like Paul says, a worm. And the only way I can even imagine myself before the Throne of God is behind the robe of Jesus.
To me, this robe is red with blood...
As I touch this robe so I can peek at God the Father, it is soft and comforting but the color reminds me so powerfully of what I have done to cause that blood to be there. Tears stream down my face and I can't stand up, my face falls to the ground and there is just no way I can even look into the Face of the Lord for I am so unworthy. At my touch to His robe, Jesus bends down and picks me up, holds me and turns back to the Father...yet, I still cannot look at the Father for I am too ashamed.
Jesus, holding me really close and very tightly, gently pushes my face to His chest and whispers in my ear, "It's okay, Gina. I claim you as My own." Only then do my tears dry up and as my feet touch the floor of this majestic Throne Room, my heart is light and I finally see the Face of my Beloved Father.
Tears well up again, and I fall to the ground again but NOT in shame but in true, full worship of the Living God. Worship that I can barely understand now in this physical body. The worship from a true and perfect heart with no thought of "how's the roast doing?" but with one mind and purpose to praise and glory The Lord God Almighty, The Creator, The I AM, The Parter of Seas, the Provider of manna, The Pillar of Fire. The Raiser of Jesus Christ. And He knows me, little old Gina...Ach! The awesome wonderment of it all! Amen.
Spread too thin
I am spread way too thin these days. I keep thinking about this Chamber of Commerce exec who said, "Do just a few things really well."
Jesus did so very many things extremely well, except He chose not to change stubborn hearts. It's one of those things that makes you go hmmmm. Jesus could have changed them, He could have touched those inner souls and could have, with the brush of His hand bent the stiffest of necks. Yet, He chose not to.
It's that freedom of choice thing that gets so many people hot under the collar.
Jesus presented the Truth and He left it up to those who were listening to believe... or not believe.
Compare...
Hot, tired and thirsty He asks a woman for a drink and winds up telling her all about living water. She drank eagerly and brought all from her village who would come with her to drink of this living water.
After crossing the Sea of Gallilee, he tells his disciples (more than 500 of them) that His body is the Bread of Life and that anyone coming to Him would never go hungry or thirsty again. And this made many of His disciples sick at their stomachs, so they turned their backs on Him and left Him that day, never to return down that dusty road.
The same choice only much different decisions.
Because Jesus spoke to a Samaritan woman, an entire village heard the Gospel and was saved during the three days Jesus stayed there performing no miracles, just speaking Truth.
Because Jesus said He was the Son of God and spoke the truth about being the Bread of Life, thousands of Jews chose to ignore His teachings and cling to the religous leaders.
It isn't about doing something really well. It isn't about doing anything. It is about believing truth. Do you believe?
Jesus did so very many things extremely well, except He chose not to change stubborn hearts. It's one of those things that makes you go hmmmm. Jesus could have changed them, He could have touched those inner souls and could have, with the brush of His hand bent the stiffest of necks. Yet, He chose not to.
It's that freedom of choice thing that gets so many people hot under the collar.
Jesus presented the Truth and He left it up to those who were listening to believe... or not believe.
Compare...
Hot, tired and thirsty He asks a woman for a drink and winds up telling her all about living water. She drank eagerly and brought all from her village who would come with her to drink of this living water.
After crossing the Sea of Gallilee, he tells his disciples (more than 500 of them) that His body is the Bread of Life and that anyone coming to Him would never go hungry or thirsty again. And this made many of His disciples sick at their stomachs, so they turned their backs on Him and left Him that day, never to return down that dusty road.
The same choice only much different decisions.
Because Jesus spoke to a Samaritan woman, an entire village heard the Gospel and was saved during the three days Jesus stayed there performing no miracles, just speaking Truth.
Because Jesus said He was the Son of God and spoke the truth about being the Bread of Life, thousands of Jews chose to ignore His teachings and cling to the religous leaders.
It isn't about doing something really well. It isn't about doing anything. It is about believing truth. Do you believe?
But I have no husband
The message of the Cross is "No Stones". There are two stories that come to mind which convey this strongly and Jesus is prominant in both. One is the woman who was caught in adultery and brought before Jesus, the other is the Woman at the Well. Can't you just feel the heat of that day? It was the sixth hour. Jesus was weary from His journey. He was hot and He was thirsty, but that didn't stop Him from recruiting a most unlikely missionary. Someone who was counted as worthless in her village, but would be instrumental in the salvation of the entire village...
Jesus instructed her before He told her to go call her husband, and He did a lot more than tell her she was living in adultery.
He spoke to her... Jews of that day lived in mortal hatred of Samaritans who they called curs and halfbreeds. They so dispised the Samaritans they would walk 100 miles out of the way around the country God gave to Joseph's descendants just to not come into contact with the tainted soil.
He asked a drink of her... Jews would have rather endured a time of torturous thirst rather than ask anything from a Samaritan.
He did not draw back from her... This was the heat of the day at the 6th hour. She came to the well at that time most likely because "decent" women shunned her and men found extreme fault with her. Most likely because she was barren. Men cast her aside, usually women did not ask or obtain divorces, but men had no compunction if they were not given heirs. Most likely she was beautiful and had a good personality or at least could cook well becaue she had been married five times. But now, having been cast off five times, she was probably getting on in years, not as beautiful as in her youth and no hope for giving fruit from her womb so the man she was currently living with had not married her. She was a stigma, considered far below worthiness, yet our LORD not only spoke to her, not only asked of her, but leaned forward and taught her about living water.
He told her what she had done... Any gypsy can foretell the future in broad general terms, but no one unless gifted by God can tell you what you did yesterday or five years ago with accuracy. Jesus said she had had five husbands and was now living with a man not her husband. At no time in the conversation did Jesus say, "You are an adulterer." Nor did He say, "You are living in adultery." He simply spoke facts without condemnation or judgement.
She perceived... The woman recognized the truth He spoke and called Him a prophet.
She asked... The woman asked about worship. She called Him on the Jewish tradition that worship could only take place in Jerusalem. When Jesus told her point blank that Samaritans didn't know what they worshiped and that salvation came from the Jews, meaning that the Messiah would be from the Royal Lineage of David, she accepted the truth without argument as most of the Jews gave Him.
When Jesus told her He was the Messiah...
She became a missionary... The woman went to her village and rounded up everyone who would listen to her. I can hear her excitment and I know her eagerness. She didn't say, "Go listen to Him." She said, "Come hear Him, is He not the Christ?" She was herding them toward Jesus as if their lives depended on it, which they did. "He told me everything I did."
She was saved not condemned... So often today we see sin and glorify the sin by hate, by accusation, by condemnation, by pointing fingers and by gossip, by shunning, by ostracising, by cold shoulders, by casting off, by hurtful words and actions.
Everything that woman felt... the rejection, the wounded heart because every man she married divorced her, all her friends denied her, words of condemnation and scorn lacerated her and scarred her soul... and yet, everything she felt, Jesus felt.
Jesus forgave. Jesus loved. Jesus died, and now He lives. Amen.
The message of the Cross is "No Stones"
Jesus instructed her before He told her to go call her husband, and He did a lot more than tell her she was living in adultery.
He spoke to her... Jews of that day lived in mortal hatred of Samaritans who they called curs and halfbreeds. They so dispised the Samaritans they would walk 100 miles out of the way around the country God gave to Joseph's descendants just to not come into contact with the tainted soil.
He asked a drink of her... Jews would have rather endured a time of torturous thirst rather than ask anything from a Samaritan.
He did not draw back from her... This was the heat of the day at the 6th hour. She came to the well at that time most likely because "decent" women shunned her and men found extreme fault with her. Most likely because she was barren. Men cast her aside, usually women did not ask or obtain divorces, but men had no compunction if they were not given heirs. Most likely she was beautiful and had a good personality or at least could cook well becaue she had been married five times. But now, having been cast off five times, she was probably getting on in years, not as beautiful as in her youth and no hope for giving fruit from her womb so the man she was currently living with had not married her. She was a stigma, considered far below worthiness, yet our LORD not only spoke to her, not only asked of her, but leaned forward and taught her about living water.
He told her what she had done... Any gypsy can foretell the future in broad general terms, but no one unless gifted by God can tell you what you did yesterday or five years ago with accuracy. Jesus said she had had five husbands and was now living with a man not her husband. At no time in the conversation did Jesus say, "You are an adulterer." Nor did He say, "You are living in adultery." He simply spoke facts without condemnation or judgement.
She perceived... The woman recognized the truth He spoke and called Him a prophet.
She asked... The woman asked about worship. She called Him on the Jewish tradition that worship could only take place in Jerusalem. When Jesus told her point blank that Samaritans didn't know what they worshiped and that salvation came from the Jews, meaning that the Messiah would be from the Royal Lineage of David, she accepted the truth without argument as most of the Jews gave Him.
When Jesus told her He was the Messiah...
She became a missionary... The woman went to her village and rounded up everyone who would listen to her. I can hear her excitment and I know her eagerness. She didn't say, "Go listen to Him." She said, "Come hear Him, is He not the Christ?" She was herding them toward Jesus as if their lives depended on it, which they did. "He told me everything I did."
She was saved not condemned... So often today we see sin and glorify the sin by hate, by accusation, by condemnation, by pointing fingers and by gossip, by shunning, by ostracising, by cold shoulders, by casting off, by hurtful words and actions.
Everything that woman felt... the rejection, the wounded heart because every man she married divorced her, all her friends denied her, words of condemnation and scorn lacerated her and scarred her soul... and yet, everything she felt, Jesus felt.
Jesus forgave. Jesus loved. Jesus died, and now He lives. Amen.
The message of the Cross is "No Stones"
Movie cliche's
These from Matthew Boice. He seems to know something about Star Wars:
Buttons are impervious to the Force; you can use the Force to fling an object at a button, but not to press the button directly.
Everyone falling from a great height is strong enough to grab a non-elastic rope or cable, stopping their descent instantaneously, without ripping their arms off. Also, a superhero in a standing position can catch you 4 feet above the ground without hurting you. The lesson is, just don't hit the ground and you'll be fine.
Even though turning on a light doesn't eject the bulb from its socket, giving a person an electric shock will fling him over a counter (there is always a counter or a table or a hand cart) and across the room.
Electricity prefers to travel through the air just outside of an actual conductor to give it that neat crackly lightning effect.
Castration and groin injuries change the pitch of a man's voice as if he had never had testosterone in the first place.
Guns have no recoil.
No airliner can survive an action movie without a gunshot causing decompression. Luckily, having half the fuselage ripped off will not change the aerodynamics of the plane.
A ghost possessing a living person uses that person's lips and tongue to form sounds, but it uses someone else's vocal cords.
Some thoughts of my own...
It is necessary for the heroine to pant when she’s been scared because this allows the audience to not have to hold their breath. (I thought everyone knew this.)
People actually do go into shock at traumatic events like car wrecks and erupting volcanoes but only those that do not have a last name in the credits or who are known as ‘man on highway’ or ‘waitress no. 2’ die.
Cars are always crashed end over end or take 3 flips in the air. The reason for this is so that there is a reason for all the fake blood or for the broken ankle which makes it necessary for the female to be carried over 50 miles of desert.
Which reminds me that broken ankles, twisted ankles or sprained ankles never swell up in movies, nor do they turn blue. It only takes about an hour and the thing’s perfectly healed.
That reminds me that bruises, cuts, scrapes and vast amounts of blood loss are miraculously healed in the matter of a few moments, but a broken pair of glasses must be mended with a white piece of tape for the entire movie.
Action movie actors can run faster than cars.
It only takes 30 seconds to teach someone how to dance good enough to win an award – at the max an hour.
It is perfectly all right to wake up and kiss your mate without brushing your teeth. In the movies there is no such thing as morning breath.
It is absolutely necessary in horror movies for the victim to lock all the doors and windows with the homicidal maniac inside the house.
Arbitrary endings are out of fashion.... THANK you!
It is critical to make a movie from a book that actually had no foul language and put foul language in it for exactly what reason I have no clue.
What are some things YOU have noticed?
Buttons are impervious to the Force; you can use the Force to fling an object at a button, but not to press the button directly.
Everyone falling from a great height is strong enough to grab a non-elastic rope or cable, stopping their descent instantaneously, without ripping their arms off. Also, a superhero in a standing position can catch you 4 feet above the ground without hurting you. The lesson is, just don't hit the ground and you'll be fine.
Even though turning on a light doesn't eject the bulb from its socket, giving a person an electric shock will fling him over a counter (there is always a counter or a table or a hand cart) and across the room.
Electricity prefers to travel through the air just outside of an actual conductor to give it that neat crackly lightning effect.
Castration and groin injuries change the pitch of a man's voice as if he had never had testosterone in the first place.
Guns have no recoil.
No airliner can survive an action movie without a gunshot causing decompression. Luckily, having half the fuselage ripped off will not change the aerodynamics of the plane.
A ghost possessing a living person uses that person's lips and tongue to form sounds, but it uses someone else's vocal cords.
Some thoughts of my own...
It is necessary for the heroine to pant when she’s been scared because this allows the audience to not have to hold their breath. (I thought everyone knew this.)
People actually do go into shock at traumatic events like car wrecks and erupting volcanoes but only those that do not have a last name in the credits or who are known as ‘man on highway’ or ‘waitress no. 2’ die.
Cars are always crashed end over end or take 3 flips in the air. The reason for this is so that there is a reason for all the fake blood or for the broken ankle which makes it necessary for the female to be carried over 50 miles of desert.
Which reminds me that broken ankles, twisted ankles or sprained ankles never swell up in movies, nor do they turn blue. It only takes about an hour and the thing’s perfectly healed.
That reminds me that bruises, cuts, scrapes and vast amounts of blood loss are miraculously healed in the matter of a few moments, but a broken pair of glasses must be mended with a white piece of tape for the entire movie.
Action movie actors can run faster than cars.
It only takes 30 seconds to teach someone how to dance good enough to win an award – at the max an hour.
It is perfectly all right to wake up and kiss your mate without brushing your teeth. In the movies there is no such thing as morning breath.
It is absolutely necessary in horror movies for the victim to lock all the doors and windows with the homicidal maniac inside the house.
Arbitrary endings are out of fashion.... THANK you!
It is critical to make a movie from a book that actually had no foul language and put foul language in it for exactly what reason I have no clue.
What are some things YOU have noticed?
Deep spring waters that never run dry
Isaiah 58 hold dear words of promise:
If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your gloom shall be as the noon day. The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. Those from among you shall build the old waste places; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of Streets to Dwell In... the Mouth of the LORD has spoken.
But sometimes Ifeel so very dry, parched and panting for Him like the deer pants for water. I thirst for more of Him. It is not with a faint heart that I reach out for Him. It is with confidence that I know He will fill me up, if I look up. I am saved with no effort on my part except to believe He is Who He says He is and will do what He says He will do. It is with no effort on my part that I live the Christian life except to determine I will not allow anything to come between me and my first Love. Without that, I am lost. Not because God has dropped me from His hand. I am lost wholly on my part, my side of therelationship. I have not cracked open my Bible or have not prayed. From God's vantage point, there is no wall. There is a difficult thing to understand.
If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your gloom shall be as the noon day. The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. Those from among you shall build the old waste places; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of Streets to Dwell In... the Mouth of the LORD has spoken.
But sometimes Ifeel so very dry, parched and panting for Him like the deer pants for water. I thirst for more of Him. It is not with a faint heart that I reach out for Him. It is with confidence that I know He will fill me up, if I look up. I am saved with no effort on my part except to believe He is Who He says He is and will do what He says He will do. It is with no effort on my part that I live the Christian life except to determine I will not allow anything to come between me and my first Love. Without that, I am lost. Not because God has dropped me from His hand. I am lost wholly on my part, my side of therelationship. I have not cracked open my Bible or have not prayed. From God's vantage point, there is no wall. There is a difficult thing to understand.
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