I have so many friends who have talked at one time or another about adopting a child. It seems that the thing that stands in the way is always money. It's sad because there are so many kids out there who need loving families. A friend sent me a link to this blog this morning. Please look it over and consider purchasing or donating to help them out on their journey.
http://teamkeehn.blogspot..com/
She makes adorable little onsies for babies, plus there is a store where you can shop and 40% of the proceeds goes to their adoption costs. Please consider sharing this link on Facebook, or whatever social platform you use!
God Bless~
Monday, June 20, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
The Scarlet "A"
It's a nasty word. We run from it. We shun it. We call it "judgmental." We avoid it like the plague.
Accountability.
Non-believers hate it because it is scary to think that there is something or someone that we might be accountable to.
Believers hate it because it is painful.
Yet it is a glorious tool that the Holy Spirit uses to shape and mold us into the image of the one who saved us.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 "All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work."
I read an article on a blog a few weeks back. I can't remember now which blog it was, probably The Gospel Coalition or The Resurgence. I am sorry that I cannot give kudos to who it is due, but it was a point too great not to share. The author was addressing those who were seeking positions in church leadership. The very first piece of advice he gave to prospective leaders was to find a group of men/women to whom you can be accountable. Find a group that will not be afraid to correct, rebuke, or instruct you. Spend your first year of training with these people and be humble. Then, and only then, will you be ready for leadership.
Wow.
I thought that was incredible advice. And I began to think: what if we are not in a leadership position? Shouldn't we be doing the same?
I know from experience that the people who are the best equipped to correct, rebuke, and instruct are the hardest people to be around. For a time, that is. I *think* it gets easier as time goes on. But I am not really sure. I am still at the point in my life where I am acutely aware that I need that direction.
But sometimes I think we get mixed up in the grace-accountability web. We think that because it is not our works that save us, that the rest is unimportant. I personally think that the rest is unimportant before we come to Christ, but after it is of the utmost importance for our spiritual growth and well-being. Yet we (I) fight it with all the strength of a heavy-weight champion.
I believe that it is all part of the war.. It makes us ineffective for the kingdom of Christ. It blends us in with the world.
2 Timothy 4:2-4 "Preach the Word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, (because) they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables."
I always appreciate the wisdom of others, and I would love to hear from you. If you are a follower of Christ, what do you think about this matter?
Accountability.
Non-believers hate it because it is scary to think that there is something or someone that we might be accountable to.
Believers hate it because it is painful.
Yet it is a glorious tool that the Holy Spirit uses to shape and mold us into the image of the one who saved us.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 "All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work."
I read an article on a blog a few weeks back. I can't remember now which blog it was, probably The Gospel Coalition or The Resurgence. I am sorry that I cannot give kudos to who it is due, but it was a point too great not to share. The author was addressing those who were seeking positions in church leadership. The very first piece of advice he gave to prospective leaders was to find a group of men/women to whom you can be accountable. Find a group that will not be afraid to correct, rebuke, or instruct you. Spend your first year of training with these people and be humble. Then, and only then, will you be ready for leadership.
Wow.
I thought that was incredible advice. And I began to think: what if we are not in a leadership position? Shouldn't we be doing the same?
I know from experience that the people who are the best equipped to correct, rebuke, and instruct are the hardest people to be around. For a time, that is. I *think* it gets easier as time goes on. But I am not really sure. I am still at the point in my life where I am acutely aware that I need that direction.
But sometimes I think we get mixed up in the grace-accountability web. We think that because it is not our works that save us, that the rest is unimportant. I personally think that the rest is unimportant before we come to Christ, but after it is of the utmost importance for our spiritual growth and well-being. Yet we (I) fight it with all the strength of a heavy-weight champion.
I believe that it is all part of the war.. It makes us ineffective for the kingdom of Christ. It blends us in with the world.
2 Timothy 4:2-4 "Preach the Word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, (because) they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables."
I always appreciate the wisdom of others, and I would love to hear from you. If you are a follower of Christ, what do you think about this matter?
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
The War
There is a war going on. One that most are not aware of. It is a war for the hearts and minds of God's people. It is an all-time war--waged since the beginning of time. It's blows render us ineffective for a time. They are subtle, we really don't even notice most days. True, we cannot see the warfare around us, but we feel the effects, and usually when it is too late.
In England, that war escalated recently. What was once a "civil rights" struggle for one group has now become a freedom of speech-religion issue for another. The problem is~ where do we draw the lines? How do we speak up for what we believe in, and when do we stop speaking? If you have not read the article, it talks about a street preacher being arrested for calling homosexuality a sin. He was not violent. He was not shouting hate speech. He was simply sharing his beliefs, which is something that Christians do out of love and commandment.
The war is going on behind the scenes in America. Liberal law professors are working hard to outlaw the exclusive teaching of Christianity in our country. After listening to Michael Farris speak at the Indiana Convention of Home Educators, I am more and more convinced that America's rights to freedom of religion are dwindling every year. Farris read from papers published by these law "experts" that attempted to convey the threat of the home school community on the future of America. We are dangerous to them because we refuse to let them have our kids. We indoctrinate them into Biblical theology, and teach them that Jesus is the only way to God. (YES!!) They can't have our kids for 40 hours a week to tell them any different. We are raising a generation of dissenters. Whether you believe it or not, there are many working hard behind the scenes to turn America into a Orwellian utopia.
So what can we do about it?
Obviously, I am not an expert on anything. But I do have an opinion. And a blog. And freedom of press--for now.
This is a tough war because the enemy is tricky. He has successfully divided God's people. We turn on each other. As another blogger put it: we shoot our own.. And the truth is, if we cannot stand unified as a body of believers, we will lose the civil right to spread the truth of Jesus in this country. It might not be in my lifetime, but my children and grandchildren will suffer the effects.
The only way that revival will happen in our country is if it starts with the family. Sure, we can go to church every Sunday. We can even go on Wednesday nights. We can drop our kids off at every program the church offers. We've been doing that for years. Statistically, 85% of our youth will leave the church at some point. So how's that working for us?
The truth is that we have been brainwashed so much that we even question our own convictions to call sin, well sin. We worry about hurting someone's feelings. And in this day and age...it is all about feelings. We worry that we will come off as unloving, yet we fail to realize that true love always points the object of it's affection to truth. We are afraid to share what God has done to radically transform our lives for fear of being called legalistic. (true legalism does exist, and I realize that there are many people who have been hurt by it.--I do not endorse it.) As a result, the church has become an institution that fails to recognize the fact that they have assimilated themselves into the "collective." The same thing happened in Nazi Germany. By the time people realized it, their Bibles had been replaced with Mein Kampf--and there was little they could do about it.
At the current rate of decline in America, I believe that in my lifetime I will see many Christian things outlawed. I have already seen hate crime legislation that sets Bible believing Christians up for persecution should they vocalize their belief about a particular sin. I would not be surprised if my children are forbidden by law to home educate their own children, or even take them along to church if they resist. (for more insight check out my post 20 things you need to know about the CRC.)
Our first defense is always prayer.
2 Chronicles 7:14 "If my people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."
Isn't humility what it is all about? Can we really approach the Creator of the universe thinking that our ways are higher or better than His?
We have to ask ourselves: How do we become a people who hunger and thirst for the righteousness of God, instead of our own man-made righteousness? Then we need to ask: Am I willing to stand for the truth of God no matter what persecution I might face?
If American believers cannot figure out where we are losing ground--and do it quickly--we will lose the freedoms that we enjoy and take for granted. We need to stop what we are doing and take a look around us. We need to know what we are fighting against and who our enemy is. We are not battling flesh and blood here. The only way revival will happen in our land is if it starts within the family.
In England, that war escalated recently. What was once a "civil rights" struggle for one group has now become a freedom of speech-religion issue for another. The problem is~ where do we draw the lines? How do we speak up for what we believe in, and when do we stop speaking? If you have not read the article, it talks about a street preacher being arrested for calling homosexuality a sin. He was not violent. He was not shouting hate speech. He was simply sharing his beliefs, which is something that Christians do out of love and commandment.
The war is going on behind the scenes in America. Liberal law professors are working hard to outlaw the exclusive teaching of Christianity in our country. After listening to Michael Farris speak at the Indiana Convention of Home Educators, I am more and more convinced that America's rights to freedom of religion are dwindling every year. Farris read from papers published by these law "experts" that attempted to convey the threat of the home school community on the future of America. We are dangerous to them because we refuse to let them have our kids. We indoctrinate them into Biblical theology, and teach them that Jesus is the only way to God. (YES!!) They can't have our kids for 40 hours a week to tell them any different. We are raising a generation of dissenters. Whether you believe it or not, there are many working hard behind the scenes to turn America into a Orwellian utopia.
So what can we do about it?
Obviously, I am not an expert on anything. But I do have an opinion. And a blog. And freedom of press--for now.
This is a tough war because the enemy is tricky. He has successfully divided God's people. We turn on each other. As another blogger put it: we shoot our own.. And the truth is, if we cannot stand unified as a body of believers, we will lose the civil right to spread the truth of Jesus in this country. It might not be in my lifetime, but my children and grandchildren will suffer the effects.
The only way that revival will happen in our country is if it starts with the family. Sure, we can go to church every Sunday. We can even go on Wednesday nights. We can drop our kids off at every program the church offers. We've been doing that for years. Statistically, 85% of our youth will leave the church at some point. So how's that working for us?
The truth is that we have been brainwashed so much that we even question our own convictions to call sin, well sin. We worry about hurting someone's feelings. And in this day and age...it is all about feelings. We worry that we will come off as unloving, yet we fail to realize that true love always points the object of it's affection to truth. We are afraid to share what God has done to radically transform our lives for fear of being called legalistic. (true legalism does exist, and I realize that there are many people who have been hurt by it.--I do not endorse it.) As a result, the church has become an institution that fails to recognize the fact that they have assimilated themselves into the "collective." The same thing happened in Nazi Germany. By the time people realized it, their Bibles had been replaced with Mein Kampf--and there was little they could do about it.
At the current rate of decline in America, I believe that in my lifetime I will see many Christian things outlawed. I have already seen hate crime legislation that sets Bible believing Christians up for persecution should they vocalize their belief about a particular sin. I would not be surprised if my children are forbidden by law to home educate their own children, or even take them along to church if they resist. (for more insight check out my post 20 things you need to know about the CRC.)
Our first defense is always prayer.
2 Chronicles 7:14 "If my people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."
Isn't humility what it is all about? Can we really approach the Creator of the universe thinking that our ways are higher or better than His?
We have to ask ourselves: How do we become a people who hunger and thirst for the righteousness of God, instead of our own man-made righteousness? Then we need to ask: Am I willing to stand for the truth of God no matter what persecution I might face?
If American believers cannot figure out where we are losing ground--and do it quickly--we will lose the freedoms that we enjoy and take for granted. We need to stop what we are doing and take a look around us. We need to know what we are fighting against and who our enemy is. We are not battling flesh and blood here. The only way revival will happen in our land is if it starts within the family.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
A God I Could Love.......
There are so many people around me struggling with hurts.
Some are reeling from abuse.
Some are recovering from the race of trying to just be good enough.
When our hearts have been wounded by the ones we love, we need refuge. A safe place to hide from the condemnation.
There is a safety in the arms of Jesus.
BUT
Jesus is not safe.
A life lived in relentless pursuit of Jesus will result in~
A relentless pursuit of our hearts and minds by the Holy Spirit.
Jesus Christ will not condemn us. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. That's God's promise to us.
BUT
He also promises to transform us into His image. He promises the Holy Spirit who is there to perform heart surgery on us.
And it is painful sometimes.
But it is for His Kingdom. His glory.
I cannot make God who I want Him to be. I can't take the parts of Him that don't make sense to me and discard them.
God is God~and I am not.
I can only rest in the glory of His love and let Him do His work in me~knowing that He loves me, and I am His for eternity.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Beauty and Love
We all struggle with something.
For me it is insecurity and fear of rejection.
There. I said it.
I have struggled with these things all of my life. They have affected my relationships on almost every level.
Fear of really reaching out and connecting with someone.
What if they don't want to be my friend?
What will that say about me?
The truth is, most of us probably struggle with this on some level. We worry about how other people perceive us.
We worry that we will wear out our welcome.
We worry that we are not loved the way we long to be.
There is a love that desired and pursues us even when we are unlovely. There is a friend who will hold on to us and see us through the insecurity. A friend who loves loves at all times.
A friend who helps us to love others where they are.
And when we know that we have been loved right where we are, it is easier to give that love in return.
There is such beauty in the love of Jesus.
We only need to open our eyes and look.
Open your eyes and look upon the handiwork of God. Open your soul and feel the breath of glory all around~everywhere there's evidence of love...
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