Conversational Scripture Reading

Have you ever tried praying Scripture back to God? I’m talking about actually speaking the text back to Him using conversational pronouns (I may have just made that term up, but you get the point), for example, changing “He” and “the Lord” to “You”.  It makes for an amazing prayer and worship time.  Give it a shot.  Here’s a good one to start with: Psalm 18:1-3

Ummmm…just one word of warning: be careful to know the context.  Every passage in Scripture is not suitable for this kind of reading.  There are sometimes specific prophecies, instructions, etc. that were for a particular people at a particular time.  Pick the ones that are obviously more universal, in nature.  If you have questions about whether a specific passage fits the bill, shoot it to me and I’d be happy to try and help you figure it out.

I’m Journibling Romans

No, I didn’t misspell it. I’m actually Journibling.  It’s supposed to be a combination of “journal” and “Bible” in which you become a scribe, actually writing out the text of Scripture, giving you an opportunity to think through what you are writing and also, by writing, a greater shot at retention.

It’s a pretty cool idea that you may want to check out and try for yourself.  Journibles have been put together for several books so far, with (I’m sure) more on the way.  Currently they’re on sale and can be purchased here.  Let me know if you get one and what you think.

The Amazing God of Manasseh

To read the account of Manasseh (2 Chronicles 33:1-17, 20) is absolutely amazing in regards to the mercy of God. Manasseh did everything he could to provoke God. Reading about his faithlessness and sin toward God is like watching a fatal train crash. I found myself actually getting angry at him myself as it was mentioned he went as far as burning his own sons as sacrifices to idols. How could God ever forgive someone for something so vile?! Besides that, he “led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel.” God spoke to them and they refused to listen and “he did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.”

And yet…

There’s that phrase…and yet. It often follows when talking about God. I can read about the horrible way God’s people act and of how faithless we can be, then follows, and yet.

Manasseh was entirely faithless…completely faithless, AND YET God was faithful. The following is a remarkable passage in light of Manasseh’s depth of depravity:

12 And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.13 He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.

Look at that! God was moved by his entreaty and forgave him. Is there really no depths from which God cannot restore? Is there really no one too far gone that God cannot bring back. If God can bring Manasseh to restoration after such amazingly depraved actions, surely there is hope for anyone…there is hope for us.

The Lord, my God, is an alarmingly merciful God. Yes, a God of justice and judgment, but of mercy and grace. Thank you, Father, for your abundant and sufficient loving-kindness. Your mercy endures forever!

What are some ways God has shown you the “and yet” kind of grace?

The Depths of the Cross

As we enter into this week before Easter, called Passion Week, I read what I believe is one of, if not the most profound and rich sections of Oswald Chambers’ famous devotional, My Utmost for His Highest.  Living in a world where misguided terrorists regularly commit suicide, killing not only themselves but countless others along with them in a vain attempt to become “martyrs” for Allah, Chambers puts the death of Christ in perspective, standing in stark contrast not only to those mass murderers, but even those who willingly give their lives for others and the cause of Christ:

Never associate the idea of martyrdom with the Cross of Christ. It was the supreme triumph, and it shook the very foundations of hell. There is nothing in time or eternity more absolutely certain and irrefutable than what Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross— He made it possible for the entire human race to be brought back into a right-standing relationship with God. He made redemption the foundation of human life; that is, He made a way for every person to have fellowship with God.

As you turn your attention towards Easter Sunday, I encourage to read through and think about the depth of meaning in the cross of Christ as is communicated in this Chambers classic, The Collision of God and Sin.

Doubt-Less – 1 John 3:19-24

Have you ever had serious doubts about your salvation?  I think we all have from time-to-time.  Sometimes they’re well founded because it is possible to spend an entire lifetime going to church, doing all the religious ritual stuff, “doing good,” never having entered into a saving knowledge of Jesus (beyond head knowledge to the heart level, where Jesus–not the Jesus stuff–has become the center of your life).

Sometimes, though, even those who have trusted Jesus begin to have doubts…serious doubts…about the condition of our souls.  This should certainly give us pause, understanding that these are often times when we have drifted away from the relationship with God we have had, being blocked from him by sin.

Our conscience plays a vital role in remedying this as we listen when conviction comes, realizing what has happened, and moving back to Him through confession.

“Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God.”

This is really the key to maintaining a healthy and right relationship with God:  keeping His commandments, namely, loving Him with all our hearts and loving each other.  Love is the commandment.  This can take a thousand different forms, but that is the bedrock foundation upon which our faith is founded, having been loved to the extreme by Jesus Christ who makes this whole thing possible.

Some of the expressions come through sacrificing our needs and wants for that of others.  Giving sacrificially to those who do not have enough to sustain them (which is not a political issue–liberal, progressive, conservative or otherwise–so let’s stop making it one), or simply being there for a friend who is hurting.

So many ways are there of loving and yet I find myself often “condemned” in my soul, as John says, because I’ve not done any of them.  As we’ve said before, real faith is that of actions, not merely lofty rhetoric.  Keeping the commandment keeps the doubt at bay and, then, if those times when Satan is the one convicting, John reminds us that “God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.”

It’s easy to talk big…but we need to stop long enough to listen to what are our hearts telling us.