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Archive for the ‘Christ’ Category

Staring Me In The Face!

Posted in Calling, Choice, Christ, Faith, tagged , , , , , on December 9, 2012| 1 Comment »

StaringEyes

The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him. Doing things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you” — Galatians 3:11b (The Message)

I sought God for 30 years, requesting a vision or direction concerning some task I could do for him, something I could say, “Here, God, I have done this for you!”, when all along there was (and is) nothing I can do for God but worship him.

It was staring me in the face all along! Life can’t be lived by trying to do something for him but by accepting what he has done and continues to do for us and being grateful. He’s not looking for those who want to do great things, he is looking for those who will choose to love the greatest thing in the universe (Him), letting him express his love in and through us.

I think God doesn’t so much want us to do great things but, instead, do the right thing — to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with him. *

 

— fritz
* Micah 6:8, John 4:23

Throwback Thursday Post 2021-12-21

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A Prayer Exercise

Posted in Christ, Encouragement, Prayer, tagged on November 30, 2012| Leave a Comment »

PersistentPrayerHere’s a prayer exercise I’ve discovered to be a blessing:

Turn the Message version’s paraphrase of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians into a personal, individual prayer (replacing the “us” with “me”, the “we” with “I”, the “His” with “Your”, and “He” with “You”).

Here’s an example to get started:

3-6 How blessed you are God! And what a blessing you are! You’re the Father of my Master, Jesus Christ, and you take me to the high places of blessing in him. Long before you laid down earth’s foundations, you had me in mind, had settled on me as the focus of your love, to be made whole and holy by your love. Long, long ago you decided to adopt me into your family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure you took in planning this!) You wanted me to enter into the celebration of your lavish gift-giving by the hand of your beloved Son.

7-10 Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, I’m a free person —free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all my misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! You thought of everything, provided for everything I could possibly need, letting me in on the plans You took such delight in making. You set it all out before me in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.

11-12 It’s in Christ that I find out who I am and what I am living for. Long before I first heard of Christ and got my hopes up, you had your eye on me, had designs on me for glorious living, part of the overall purpose you are working out in everything and everyone.

13-14 It’s in Christ that I, once I heard the truth and believed it (this Message of my salvation), found myself home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from you is the first installment on what’s coming, a reminder that I’ll get everything you planned for me, a praising and glorious life.

Ephesians 1:3-14 Message Bible (italics mine)

Wow! What a prayer!

-fritz

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Careening Through Fog

Posted in Choice, Christ, Faith, Hearing from God, tagged , on November 28, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Recently and close more than 140 cars piled up in an accident. Fog was so thick one could see no more than ten (10) feet ahead but they were traveling at highway speed anyway.

In a sense we are all like that. None of us can see what is in front of us in time yet we can not stop. Like it or not we are careening forward in that fog making decisions only guessing what will happen next and hoping for the best.

But while we have no eyes to see the future we were made to hear. Jesus said,

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:” (John 10:27)

We have the capacity to hear God. When we give ourselves to Christ we begin to “hear” his peace in our inner being.

Christ’s sacrifice not only saves us into eternity, it removes the figurative “wax from our ears”. We start learning to “listen” to his peaceful urging how to live, when to act, when to wait, what to do.

As we learn to listen we crash less and discover God sees, he cares, and he speaks.

Prayer: Jesus, like your apostle John leaned on your chest at the last supper to hear your heartbeat, so I desire to “hear” you moment by moment.

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