Let my Love Increase

To fully love people, I need to have the foundation of loving thoughts towards them.

"Our Father"

Good Word for the day at church: "When God answers prayer, it's not just what's best for you but what is best for everyone."

Mountain Rain: A Biography of James O. Fraser, pioneer misionary of china

Excerpts:

"Hoste (Frazer's director) was quick to point out that his time and energy was always saved by prayer and wasted with out it."

"I used to think that prayer should have the first place and teaching the second.  I now feel that prayer should have the first, second and third place and teaching the fourth."






 (p, 127, 188)
1982, OMF Books

Teachability

One of the best rebukes I ever got:  'Stop trying to prove a lie is true.'

Relationships

Impossible thing happen when they are accomplished together.

Suffering's Victory

Satan has tried to ruin me, but in doing so, God has made me.

Patience

Credibility is only built with time, lots of time.  And testing.  Lots of testing.

Self Pity False Responsibility

I was observing tonight that self-pity seems to claim a greater burden of responsibility than is actual.

Crucifed Love of the Caregiver

Those black circles under my eyes?
They're not pretty to you,
but they're actually halos of love.
Not the mushy, starry eyed kind
but the love that says I'll do what it takes
to love her with all I have.

That fragrance you smell when I'm around?
It's not pleasant to you,
but it's actually a very expensive perfume.
It may smell like urine and not having showered enough,
but it's the smell of love that says I'll do anything
to love her even if I get soiled.

That messy house that you no longer visit?
It's not proper to you,
but it's actually a glorious cathedral.
Not the kind that has stained glass windows and vaulted ceilings,
but the cathedral of love that says I'll give my best
to love her most.

Those words that you hear?
They're not patient worded for you,
but they're actually beautiful music.
Not the kind with violins and drums
but the kind that says I'll do what it takes
to protect her heart and life from harm.

This love that I talk about?
It's not always doable, even for me,
but my effort to live it is heaven's joy.
And it's the kind that comes with angels' songs and tambourines
to the glory of one who is love to me.

Self Pity Pitfall

Right now is a season of great trial.  And I realized yesterday that as soon as I started to walk down the road of self-pity, a lack of patience and teary-eyed frustration came right alongside me as well.  As soon as I stopped the counting of my hardships, they went away.  I'm in a battle of life and death right now and I can't afford to go down the roads that sap life.  Lord, protect me from myself.

Self-Discipline

Self-discipline is not something I have, it's something I grow.  Gifts are given, but fruit is grown.

This Christian Life

We believe when things are unbelievable.

We hope when there is no hope.

Sin Deflection

"Do not let sin against you create sin within you."

Porn

Fantasy is the same as pornography, it's just that the screen is in the mind instead of on paper.

Holiness--"Set Apart"

The opposite of holiness is not sinfulness, but commonness.

Joseph Prince

Can you guess what they have in common?

What do Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, the Israel nation, David and Jesus all have in common?














They were all refugees:

Abraham--Egypt, Philistia
Isaac--Philistia
Jacob-Egypt
Joseph--Egypt
Moses-Desert
Israel nation--Egypt, desert
David--Philistia
Jesus --Egypt

5 Degrees of Separation

Fear leads to an attempt to control, which leads to anger (when control doesn't work), which leads to bitterness/resentment which leads to separation.

Judgmental

Jealousy is the root of judgment.

If I could give advice to my younger self...

1) Guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Strengthen relationships. Have fun. Life is more than just work. Play also. Become emotionally healthy. Time will reveal sin weakness. Don’t let sin enter in as it will bite hard and last long. Listen to your body. Listen to the Lord. Strengthen your heart.

2) Strengthen self-respect. Be your own best friend. Make your thoughts captive to love yourself because when you do, it will be foundational to loving others. Set boundaries. Say no. Then keep your boundaries. It’s Ok that people don’t like you or that they get angry with you. Don’t give in. Seasons of loneliness come and go. Setting healthy boundaries will give you healthier friends. Honor your body. Take care of it by the food you eat and the way you showcase it. You are worth investing $ into. Not just your spiritual life but your physical and emotional well-being also.

3) Let go of control and trust the Lord. He does things better than you can imagine. I realize you think you have let go of control, but when you feel helpless, unprotected, alone, oftentimes it’s because you’re scared because you’re in control and it doesn’t look good. These are warning lights to remove trust in yourself and trust in the Lord. It doesn’t mean things will turn out happy and good and like you want.

4) **Edited as some things just aren't for public knowledge.

5) Take every thought captive. Your life will go in the direction of your most dominant thought. There’s always a different way to perceive things. Perceive them in light of trusting the Lord.

6) Develop your forgiving muscle. You will need it your whole life. The stronger it is, the better life you will have.

7) Nurture hope. Take jobs that give you pleasure. You can do jobs you don’t like for a season, but eventually they will crush your heart. Find solutions not problems. Hope against hope in every situation. God loves it when we discover Him between the rock and a hard place.

8) Be devoted to prayer and the Word. Always. Be led by the Spirit. Discover the riches of the Spirit of God.

9) The great commandment came before the great commission. Learn to love. You will always hunger for the truth, but you must learn to love. God takes sons of thunder and turns them into brothers of love. Let him do that for you.

10) Life is relationships.

The Way Things Change

John Piper, in his book on fasting, Hunger for God: Desiring God through Fasting and Prayer

We are not able in ourselves to win this battle.
We are not able to change hearts or minds.
We are not able to change worldviews and transform culture and save 1.6 million children.
We are not able to reform the judiciary or embolden the legislature or mobilize the slumbering population.
We are not able to heal the endless wounds of godless ideologies and their bloody deeds.
But, O God, you are able!
And we turn from reliance on ourselves to you.

And we cry out to you and plead that for the sake of your name, and for the sake of your glory, and for the advancement of your saving purpose in the world, and for the demonstration of your wisdom and your power and your authority over all things, and for the sway of your Truth and the relief of the poor and the helpless, act, O God.
This much we hunger for the revelation of your power.

With all our thinking and all our writing and all our doing, we pray and we fast.
Come. Manifest your glory.

I appeal to you to seek the Lord with me concerning the place of fasting and prayer in breaking through the darkened mind that engulfs the modern world, in regard to abortion and a hundred other ills.

This is not a call for a collective tantrum that screams at the bad people, “Give me back my country.”

It is a call to aliens and exiles in the earth, whose citizenship is in heaven and who await the appearance of their King, to “do business” until he comes (Luke 19:13).
And the great business of the Christian is to “do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31), and to pray that God’s name be hallowed and his kingdom come and his will be done in the earth (Matthew 6:9-10). And to yearn and work and pray and fast not only for the final revelation of the Son of Man, but in the meantime, for the demonstration of his Spirit and power in the reaching of every people, and the rescuing of the perishing, and the purifying of the church, and the putting right of as many wrongs as God will grant.