God Breaks Hearts

Originally posted November 1, 2007

The question begins... (and ends) Am I committed to God such that I don't care what happens to me as long as God fulfills His purpose of Redemption of the world?

Oswald Chambers put it best in Today's reading

The first thing God does with us is to get us based on rugged Reality until we do not care what becomes of us individually as long as He gets His way for the purpose of His Redemption. Why shouldn't we go through heartbreaks? Through those doorways God is opening up ways of fellowship with His Son. Most of us fall and collapse at the first grip of pain; we sit down on the threshold of God's purpose and die away of self-pity, and all so called Christian sympathy will aid us to our death bed. But God will not. He comes with the grip of the pierced hand of His Son, and says - "Enter into fellowship with Me; arise and shine." If through a broken heart God can bring His purposes to pass in the world, then thank Him for breaking your heart.

Questions of Life

Originally posted January 13, 2006

• Oswald Chambers May 28 “Until the resurrection life of Jesus is fully exhibited in you, you have questions about many things. Then after a while you find that all your questions are gone -- you don't seem to have any left to ask. You have come to the point of total reliance on the resurrection life of Jesus, which brings you into complete oneness with the purpose of God.”
• If anything is a mystery to you and is coming between you and God, never look for the explanation in your mind, but look for it in your spirit, your true inner nature -- that is where the problem is. 
• Once your inner spiritual nature is willing to submit to the life of Jesus, your understanding will be perfectly clear, and you will come to the place where there is no distance between the Father and you, His child, because the Lord has made you one. 
• "In that day you will ask Me nothing."
• If you still have lots of questions, then you aren’t there yet!

Difficult

Originally published Jan 2, 2006

Difficult is a profound theme for the last while. 

My solace is that truly we as a community care about one another and are pulling for each other. 

My encouragement comes from Paul's prayer for us the saints:

"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

My temptation is to believe that it is combination of my experience, effort, talent, and timing that is going to result in productivity both for the kingdom in the big picture but as well as prosperity in the here and now.

I'm reminded that we are simply the objects of grace and mercy "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Does this mean I should not use my experience, effort, or talents?  By no means!  But all the more should we work hard to accomplish that which is before us.  The difference is the comfort we can take in who gets the glory.