Bible
A Mighty Fortress …
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A God Who Sings
As we start the working week, here is a verse that reminds us that God sings over his children like a loving mother over her baby:
The Lord your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.”
Zephaniah 3:17
Categories: Bible, christian, Christianity, Devotional, Faith
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We Did Not Follow Cleverly Invented Stories
“For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.“ 2 Peter 1:16
Lord’s Prayer at the Sagrada Familia
When Peter starts his second letter which is aimed at false teachers, he clearly makes Christ the anchor of his authority. Peter speaks from the foundation of knowing Christ and and the Old Testament. This is his measuring stick for truth and sound knowledge.
It amazes me how often Christians are distracted and misled by “invented stories”. In the last generation we have had the “prosperity gospel”, gold dust descending on believers, the virgin Mary appearing in toast, trees and a whole host of other places, as well as many many more unsound and unhealthy ideas.
But there are more subtle “invented stories”, such as, the middle class materialistic lifestyle is a Christian life style, right wing politics is Christian politics, it is ok to pilage the environment and, once again, there are many many more perversions. We have been conned by celebrities, populist preachers and glib advertisers, as well as our own desires.
Peter’s solution is still the best: Measure all thing we hear and see against Christ and Scripture. The question is, “what is God’s intention?” and not “what is my desire”? Our desires will, time and again, lead us astray.
I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but chapter 2 alerts us to the destruction that false and misleading teaching produces. Our aim, in contrast, is to seek God’s will and promote His purposes. In our “Me Centred” generation the calling of the Christian and the Church is to point to Christ. That simple focus will prevent most of the “cleverly invented stories” arising.
Categories: Bible, christian, Christianity, Faith, Second Peter, Uncategorized
Tags: Christian, Christianity, Devotion, Faith
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All Creatures Great and Small
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The Ladder of Faith
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 2 peter 1:5-7
The Christian life is not some inert situation. Faith, as Peter reflects, is a doorway to a whole new way of existing, no, more than existing, truly living. In this passage, which has echoes of Paul’s “fruit of the Spirit” (Gal 5:22-23) we see that we have a responsibility in this new life to build our spiritual muscles. By God’s “divine power’ there are steps we can take to me more Christlike and productive in the kingdom.
The first after faith is
- goodness or excellence: this describes the expectation that the character of Christ now grows in the person of faith,
- then the next is knowledge or wisdom, the ability to distinguish good from bad – especially important at the time of writing as false teachers were having an impact. This is an importance that is not diminished today.
- The third is self control. This is the ability to have authority over our sinful nature. Some believed if they were saved they could do anything they liked. Peter stresses that the child of God reflects a control over their actions rather than abandonment to their desires.
- That in turn enables endurance – the mature Christian is resolute and determined to maintain this new life,
- and exude a godliness – a way of living that shows reverence to God and a right attitude to those around him –
- mutual affection or brotherly love. As John writes, how can a person love God and hate his brother (1 John 4:20)? The two are inseparably linked.
- These all culminate in the fulfilment of the law – love. Our lives are to be witnesses to Christ’s agape – sacrificial – love. This is the love for the lives and souls of people around us that empowers the mission of the church.
Above are three short verses we can all spend a life time in practising and the more we do, the more we will see Christ.
Categories: Bible, Christianity, Church, Devotional, Faith, Second Peter
Tags: Christian, Christianity, Devotion, Faith
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Fountain of Life
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Blessed to be a Blessing
… and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you. Gen 12:3b
When Abram (later Abraham) was told by God that he was “blessed to be blessing”, Abram was one of the few people with whom God had had such a close and personal encounter. In fact, throughout the Old Testament only a few prophets, priests and Kings encountered God in such a personal and immediate way.
We learn from Romans that it was Abraham’s faith, enabled by the Spirit of God, that enabled him to be that blessing and become the “father of many nations” but most importantly, a crucial and fundamental link in the coming of the Messiah – Jesus.
What people like Abraham, Moses, David and Samuel indicate is what the divine power of God is capable of when unleashed in His people. At Pentecost that power of the presence of God was poured out on the whole church – not just a selected few. All God’s children have his presence and therefore this amazing potential.
I say “potential” because so often we live like OT people who only knew of the presence of God vicariously through a prophet, priest of king. Too often we live outside that presence of God.
My constant challenge to myself and my fellow believers is to live in the power of the presence of God. Church history has many examples, past and contemporary: From the saints tortured under Nero, to missionaries who forsook and still forsake all, to serve God and many, many more who faithfully serve God wherever He has placed them.
So my question is simple but profound: Do you live in the power of the presence of God’s Spirit in your life? Can your neighbors see in your words and deeds that you serve the King of all creation? Is your life advancing God’s name? That is a daily challenge. Living the challenge is true joy!
Blessing Our Children – continued
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8
Another blogger, Christine Sine at Godspace, alerted me to a message by Dr. Rowan Williams the Archbishop Canterbury for a Conference on Sustainable Development. (Follow link if you wish to hear the message). Unusually (seeing it was Dr. Williams), I agreed wholeheartedly with the essence of the message – as far as it went. Dr. Williams’ question: what legacy, environmental, social and religious are we leaving our children? It echoed Micah 6:8. But like Micah 6:8, something else was needed – a sharper gospel perspective. In other words, Micah 6:8 comes alive in the person and ministry of Christ.
One of the failures of Evangelicalism is that it has simply personalised faith: faith, it tells us, is a personal matter between us and God. What it fails to recognize is that Christ, in fact, came to redeem all creation – and point to a new Kingdom: A new heaven and Earth. By personalising Jesus and forgetting the Kingdom, we have given people permission to rape and pillage the earth. After all, when it is all finished Jesus will come and take me away – game over. Isn’t that the case? Not really.
The first Adam was made a steward by God. His task was to tend the garden God had lovingly created (Gen 1:28). Dealing with our sin, the second Adam (Jesus) recreated his body – us/the church – into redeemed stewards. When we fail to care for our environment we are discounting and minimising what Jesus came to do. Our sin impacts not just us but also our world. A redeemed child of God is called to live out this new life (by the power of the Spirit) but that new life also involves the world in which we live.
How can we bless our children? We can bless them by showing in our lives how big the Kingdom is. As heralds of that new creation, Christians are called to reveal the way we steward and care for our environment. Which, sadly, has too seldom been the case. It is a practical way of showing love and appreciation to God the creator and loving our neighbour.
So in short, we bless our kids by showing them that Christ’s death and resurrection is real because it shapes the very way we live, not just our “spiritual” lives but also our everyday, social, economic and environmental existence. If we did this of course, our environment would be blessed – because we care as Jesus did.
Categories: Bible, christian, Christianity, Church, Devotional, Environment, Family
Tags: Christian, Christianity, Devotion, environment, Faith
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The Story in the Heavens
A Re-Telling of Psalm 19: 1-6
The night sky sings mighty hallelujahs that praise the Maker. In every moment of their existence the stars and planets shine evidence, no, proof of His great skill. Silently its witness speaks forever, boundless. Leaving us speechless. The Sun, Moon and Milky Way are a romance of beauty and class Led by the Sun which, circuit after circuit, patiently measures our days, warms and delights us.
Categories: Bible, christian, Christianity, Faith, Poem, poetry
Tags: Christian, Christianity, Devotion, Faith, Poem, poems, poetry, Psalms
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Calvin and the Holy Spirit
“We have also seen, that since the knowledge of the divine goodness cannot be of much importance unless it leads us to confide in it, we must exclude a knowledge mingled with doubt, – a knowledge which, so far from being firm, is continually wavering. But the human mind, when blinded and darkened, is very far from being able to rise to a proper knowledge of the divine will; nor can the heart, fluctuating with perpetual doubt, rest secure in such knowledge. Hence, in order that the word of God may gain full credit, the mind must be enlightened, and the heart confirmed, from some other quarter. We shall now have a full definition of faith, if we say that it is a firm and sure knowledge of the divine favor toward us, founded on the truth of a free promise in Christ, and revealed to our minds, and sealed on our hearts, by the Holy Spirit.” (emphasis mine)
From the Institutes Book 3.2.7
Ref: http://www.reformed.org/master/index.html?mainframe=/books/institutes/books/indxbk3.html
Categories: Bible, christian, Christianity, Devotional, Faith, Uncategorized
Tags: "Holy Spirit", Calvin, Christian, Christianity, Devotion, Faith
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Travels from Ur 