Thoughts From Under My Willow Tree #1

This is my willow tree.

So I've been spending a fair amount of time underneath my willow tree

either late at night or early in the morning and watching the moon make its journey brings so many mysterious stories, symbolic references and just a general feeling of mystique which I like. I mean I'm hoping the mystique comes more because I'm trying to commune more with God but the moon definitely adds to the atmosphere. Anyway this morning was pretty cool because I had asked God the night before to help me get up early so I could come back out and talk more with Him. Being the good guy that He is, He decided that the best time for that would be 3:55 and so at that blessed hour I awoke, not to an annoying alarm or a sibling slamming a door. I just awoke with a great feeling of God's presence it wasn't something super miraculous or awe inspiring, just a quiet awareness of God as if He was saying, "I'm here and we now have all morning to talk." As an added bonus I got to hear the rooster crow at a nearby farm. I'd never heard a rooster actually welcome the day before so I found that it was super cool. 

Next cool thing, after finishing Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret and Watchmen Nee's The Normal Christian Life I've realized how I'm lacking in practical everyday faith. So starting today I begin compiling a list of all the promises of God made too me as well as a list of the commands God gives to me in the scriptures. My goal is to finish the New Testament this week. By finish I mean read through it and make not of the promises and commands which I understand to apply directly to current Christians. So we'll see how that works out, I'd like to post portions of those lists as I create them but we'll see. An encouraging thing I've noticed just from my reading today from the Gospels was that Jesus has a tendency to pair a command with a promise. 

For example Luke 12:22 says, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat nor about your body, what you will put on." A command, Jesus says, "don't be anxious" a straightforward but very difficult task if that's all He said. Fortunately for us God is not a tyrant who simply demands and does not supply. After His command He gives us perspective in the next verse, Luke12:23 For life is more than food and the body more than clothing. When we adopt this perspective we are ready for what He says in verse 31, "Instead, seek His kingdom and these things will be added to you." Rather than be anxious we are given a replacement task, do not worry and with all the time you have freed up now that your not worrying seek His kingdom and the things you worried about will be taken care of. I have been encouraged as I've read the gospels today how God doesn't command without specific reasons and His promises are never forgotten. 

That's all for now, carry on.

An Update On Life

 

I tried earlier to make a video blogpost but my movie was too long and I wasn't able to upload it. Soon I'd like to have a youtube channel for all sorts of movies but for now I'm going to attempt at reawakening my long slumbering blog. My guess is she will not be too pleased and will fight hard making my posts infrequant but we'll see. For tonight I'm going to try and explain where I hope this blog will go in the future as well as providing a quick summary of where my life has been going in the past months.

 

Previously my goal for this blog was to encourage and teach my fellow believers by creating well thought out blogposts about life, God, the scriptures and other like things. You say, "what? that was your purpose? I never would have guessed" I'l be the first to admit I did not do well in meetin that original goal but I've always been a proponent of setting goals higher then I can reach and in failure I'm still further along then I was before I set the goal meaning I'm ahead. Not that it justifies me failing to meet my goal for this blog, hence my changing of this blogs purpose. I've realized I'm neither smart enough nor adequatly in command of the english language to write well ordered constructive works of didactic worth. Therefore, as the blogs new title indicates, I'm simply going to comment and keep record of God's hands as they move in my life, both dicating my circumstances and molding me into conformatiy with the image of His son. I hope people will still find this blog worth reading as it will continue to bear testimoney to the great God whom we serve but it's purpose will no longer be for you the reader but rather for me the author.

 

That being said I proceed to a list of signifcant things which have happened to me this summer.

 

I graduated highschool.

As of next Thursday I will have earned 66 credits towards my BA in History.

I turned 18 last Saturday

I've found piano, frisbee, and certain relationships to be holding me back as a Christian and I've dropped them, at least temporarily to engage more in prayer, study of the scriptures and the reading of the Saints.

I bought my first tobacco pipe on my birthday and while I still enjoy it my expectations were not met.

I attended a good friends wedding in mid July down in North Carolina which was definitly a highlight of my summer. I got to meet two friends who I haven't seen, ever and I got to see a good friend get married to an awesome guy who I didn't find fault with, which if you know me is not an easy thing to do because I find faults in most everything.

 

 

 

 

A good weekday for me looks like this:

I. Between 5-6 I wake up to study the bible and pray and try not to fall back asleep before 7 when I have breakfast.

II. Between 7:30 and 8 we'll have family quiet time and by 9 I've usually started my college work.

III. By 12:30 I'm sick of college and facebook and I"m hungry so I'll eat.

IV 1:30 will see the end of lunch cleanup and I'll try to find a good book to read and if I haven't already drunk a pot of tea in the morning I'll make some for the afternoon.

V. If I can make it till 4 without falling asleep I'll help with the daily housecleanup and then help with dinner

VI. Dinner usually runs from 5:30ish until 7:00 when we have finished cleaningup and the coffee is brewing.

VII. 7-10 is dedicated to things like blogging, skyping/IMing with friends, prayer, smoking, writing emails and such.

 

 

VIII. Usually by ten I'm in bed unless something cool is happening

 

Note this schedule does not include, unlooked for Star Wars Battlefront II or SuperSmash Brothers Brawl games with siblings, random snacks, unforseen work oppurtunities, familiy or friendship emergencies, mom's "adventures" which are like homeschooler field trips and a host of other unkown things which arise during an average day. I'm so thankful to God for this season of my life which doesn't have me boxed into school or work from 8-5 and I'm excited to see where God leads me as I seek Him. I already feel Him as He works his magic in me as I've read Watchman Nee's The Normal Christian Life and Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret which I hope to blog about soon.

 

Well that is me as of tonight, I know lots of what I say will be misunderstood and misinterpreted because of my poor use of language and because of sin reigning in so many of our hearts. Therefore I entrust myself and this post to God as well as you who read it, may we receive in humility the grace of God which He bestows upon those unashamed of Him both in word and in deed.

 

"1 Peter 2:11-12 "Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us."

 

 

Crucifying The Flesh

I hope this is thought provoking and I'd love to get some discussion going so any comments, or differing opinions from mine are welcome.

I’ve been puzzling over why so many people who call themselves Christians have a very hard time sacrificing things to further their understanding of God.  Most Christians can count on the fingers of one hand how many times they’ve directly heard from God.  Christians are supposed to conquer, redeem and save the world not to putter around half in the world half in eternity waiting in immaturity for Christ to return and fix everything.

An answer explaining our great weakness is that many of us come to the cross of Christ but we never get on our own cross. We bow before Christ in shame at our sin but we never crucify ourselves with Christ as we are told to do in Galatians 5:24 This results in a group of people who simply trust Christ to forgive sins without trusting Christ to change them. So we continue our whole lives as sinners without ever embracing the true reason for Christ's incarnation. Which was not to forgive us from sin but to free us from sin's bondage, now and in eternity. Galatians 5:24 “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

Practically speaking how does one do this. Well the process of crucifying must be done alone. We walk in the footsteps of our savior and master Jesus Christ so let's follow Him. Matthew 26:56 “Then all the disciples left him and fled.” Christ was left alone to meet His fate, none of His disciplies, his friends, his family could do it for Him and if you ever crucify your flesh for Christ you’ll have to do it yourself. After being left alone Christ was humiliated. He was stripped, beaten(Matthew 26:67), mocked and misjudged (Matthew 27:34) all as preparation for the cross. Christians if they desire true godliness must also travel a journey of humiliation. We must learn that we are not necessary to God’s plan, that we are mere grains of sand in a cosmic beachhead, that our lives are merely a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. (James 4:14) THe world was not created for us and we were not created to be glorified. We were created to be image bearers of God’s greatness, glorifying Him in all that we do. Until we humbly submit to our own smallness we will be at odds with the plans of God for this world. After being humiliated Jesus walked the road to his own death. Without fear and without regret our Lord wavered not in his resolve to bring glory to the Father. He never looked back. Lot’s wife looked back because she had bound herself to the temporal things she loved, her house, her friends, her money, her worldliness and she was forever crystallized as a memoriam to the snare that worldliness is. (Genesis 19:26) As Christians today walking the straight and narrow way we must not look longingly back at the palace of self indulgence from whence we came.  We must not be ashamed of our humiliation, of our rejection of worldly things. To follow in the bloody footsteps of our maker in pain and discomfort is a greater honor than wearing a kings crown or any other really cool thing you’d like to do on this side of eternity.

Finally in loneliness for none could come with Him, in humiliation for He had been beaten beyond recognition our Lord ascended Golgotha where he was nailed to the cross and lost all His rights. (Matthew 27:35) So it will be with us as well if we ever get nailed to the cross we will lose all our rights. No longer can we claim we are being mistreated, or wronged because a crucified person has no rights. Upon the cross Jesus had his mind on only two things, those entrusted to Him and the Father whom He trusted. His mother who He was responsible for He entrusted to another (John 19:26-27) and He entrusted Himself to His Father (Luke 24:46) Those crucified with Christ will follow this example. In the midst of excruciating pain our thoughts will be far from us, resting in love on the people God has entrusted to us, our friends, our families, our schools, our communities, our churches and our nations. When we crucify ourselves we abandon the road of self glorification and began to walk on the high road of God glorification.

It is amazing how crucifying yourself to the world makes one totally invulnerable to anything but oneself. Just think, how can you harm a person who doesn’t care about themselves? You can only harm a person by harming what they care about and if all you care about is Christ you can’t be harmed. Sure you may suffer pain, heartache, grief, stress and all the other results of living in a sin filled world but once an individual submits to Christ, totally and without reserve he is completely invincible to the attacks of other people, the devil and in submission to Christ he will be saved from himself. So do not hurt yourself more by only coming to the cross of Christ and not getting on the cross yourself. Do not waste the gift Christ gave you and merely allow Him to forgive sin, let Him free you from sin and death. Submit in humility to the tutelage of the only man who ever really knew how to love, Jesus Christ.