09Mar

Spiritual Helps (Part 2)

In the previous post on Spiritual Helps I was simply reflecting on the wonderful character of God. The encouragement and the change it could provide in our life if we could truly grasp the effects. The writer of this prayer continues the thought of Gods care with this:

…All heaven subserves the welfare of a poor worm.

Permit thy unseen servants to be ever active

on my behalf,

and to rejoice when grace expands in me.

Suffer them never to rest until my conflict is over,

and I stand victorious on salvation’s shore.

Grant that my proneness to evil, deadness to good,

resistance to thy Spirit’s motions,

may never provoke thee to abandon me.

Lord Allow that the unseen servants, or angles would give care to me and allow me to see where your graces are extended. I fear often times in our age of modernity I can often forget that point of who He is and what he is doing in our life. I all to quickly will turn to drugs for pain, or sickness than for prayer.  (I do not say one should not be grateful for medical advancement, no. But Prayer is just a valuable)

That it would be possible we could see in our journey that Gods hand is working and it would never stop until we find our rest in heaven. “All heaven subserves the welfare of a poor worm.”  Lord, if you desire to promote the well being of birds worms, how much more me man of your likeness.  If it were only possible in this world to be made perfect, ha ha. We know Lord it is not what we should expect, but might we agree that you would not be provoked by our easily turned nature to the things we enjoy. Often times not you. “Prone to wander Lord I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love..” Turn us lord back to you.

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02Mar

Spiritual Helps (Part 1)

In the Valley of Vision we have the prayer titled Spiritual Helps a prayer that starts with:

Eternal Father,

I t is amazing love,

that thou hast sent thy Son

to suffer in my stead,

that thou hast added the Spirit

to teach, comfort, guide,

that thou hast allowed the ministry of angels

to wall me round;

If we can find our joy and satisfactions in these simple truths it would be amazing to view of live and our own nature we would have.

First, the amazement we have that God would send his son to suffer for us. Shows the writer knew of his own sinfulness, he realized his personally need for salvation. Christ the Son of God took the suffering and the judgment that was rightfully His. This alone is a humbling thought.

Still to find that we have the power of the Holy Spirit to teach, comfort, and guide.  Often times while living overseas I have thought how lonely it can be to live as only one of a hand full of believers in an area. At times I have had a longing for a community that spoke my language to just talk about the scriptures, and to provide comfort and encouragement as I dealt with issues.  Yet, to read this prayer and to be reminding that it is His Spirit that is with me always.

Not only his Spirit but also the covering of angels to protect me when I had no idea what challenged me.

To only be reminded that we have such great Spiritual Help in the love and care of God.  Lord that they should always be around me.

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27Feb

Nature or Missions? The Stars or the Scriptures!

Does nature not give enough information about God that we have no reason to do Missions? Or said a different way is the Bible and people teaching the truth of the scriptures necessary. Has God not given enough insight into whom he is in the general or natural order.

To clearly understand this we need to look at the difference in General and Special revelation.

Let us start with general revelation, “all persons everywhere have a deep, inner sense that God exists, that they are his creatures, and that he is their Creator. Paul says that even Gentile unbelievers “knew God” but did not honor him as God or give thanks to him (Rom. 1:21).”[1] This is an understanding of general revelation referred to as nature/created. It is here we see His divine nature, His invisible attributes displayed within the universe like a theatrical play. “David tells us of the witness of the heavens: “The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge” (Ps. 19:1–2).[2]

General revelation is also understood, as a moral law of the human heart. Romans 2 describes this as the words written on the heart. The basic nature of people in their purest form know right and wrong in their actions. Paul says in Romans that the Gentiles also do not obey the moral law written on their hearts. Although they do not have the Law, they do have a moral law. This points to knowledge of a power outside of oneself.

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24Feb

Resting on God

Do you ever just long for the words?  Are you like me some times just caught in the rush that things are difficult to process or say with words.  I find many times that there is food for though in “The Valley of Vision”.  I have several favorite prayers that I will read one being the following.

Resting on God

O GOD MOST HIGH, MOST GLORIOUS

The thought of thine infinite serenity cheers me,
For I am toiling and moiling, troubled and distressed,

Thy designs cause thee no fear or care of unfulfilment,

they stand fast as the eternal hills.

They power knows no bond, thy goodness no stint.
Thou bringest order out of confusion,

and my defeats are thy victories:
The Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
I come to thee as a sinner with cares and sorrows,

to leave every concern entirely to thee,
every sin calling for Christ’s precious blood;

Revive deep spirituality in my heart; Let me live near to the great shepherd,

hear his voice, know its tones, follow its calls.
Keep me from deception by causing me to abide in the truth,

from harm by helping me to walk in the power of the Spirit. Give me intenser faith in the eternal verities,

burning into me by experience the things I know; Let me never be ashamed of the truth of the gospel,

that I may bear its reproach, vindicate it,

see Jesus as its essence,

know in it the power of the Spirit. Lord, help me, for I am often lukewarm and chill;

unbelief mars my confidence,

sin makes me forget thee.
Let the weeds that grow in my soul be cut at their roots; Grant me to know that I truly live only when I live to thee,

that all else is trifling.
Thy presence alone can make me holy, devout, strong and happy. Abide in me, gracious God.

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15Jul

Apple Method of Missions

While Reading about the Apple iPhone 4 issues I found the following article from whatsbestnext.com. While refection the the Apple method of Business. I started to think of the way we have changed the approach to Missions over the years.

Lessons from Apple on Innovation
This is from my notes — I think I got these from an article a few years ago:
1. Innovation can come from without as well as within. Apple’s real skill lies in stitching together its own ideas with technologies from outside and then wrapping the results in elegant software and stylish design. Apple is an orchestrator and integrator of technologies, unafraid to bring in ideas from outside but always adding its own twists. This approach is known as network innovation.
2. Apple illustrates the importance of designing new products around the needs of the user, not the demands of the technology.
3. Apple teaches us that smart companies should sometimes ignore what the market says it wants today.
4. Fail wisely. Learn and try again.

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19Oct

Called to the World

While reading the Book of Acts and considering the way our “christian walk” compares to that of the first followers, I have ask my self several hard questions. My prayer has been that my life would have the impact of the early disciples. It was during those prayers I realized I must live like they lived.

Would I be willing to faced persecution? If I am arrested beaten or treated like a servant will I respond in joy?

The men and women of the book of Acts considered it a privilege to be God’s representative of the message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified for the forgiveness of Sin. They would preach teach, to the point of their own determinant. Today I think many of us (that includes myself) have lost sight of what God has called us to. The Jewish people were known to lose sight of what God had called them to. If you read the stories of the Old Testament carefully you will see the Nation of Israel forgot God and failed to fulfill their holy mission. The blessings they received brought no blessing to the nations around them. They closed themselves away from the world in order to escape temptation, and to not be polluted by the negative influences of false gods.

The Priest and leaders of the Nation of Isreal found themselves fixed in a rut of ceremonal action. In our daily ministry and actions how will we respond.

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07Sep

“Cheers” The World we all want to live in!

Do you ever look around the church when you have lost your place in the hymn, or when the preacher is droning on and on?  Do you just ever look around and think, “why do we come here every Sunday morning and sit in these pews, and watch this guy go on and on.”  If your like me, you don’t even know the names of more than half the people in the church.  That is unless you are  a member of a church with 100 people, all of whom you grew up with.   We always go where the activity is, right? That very idea is what made me think of the theme song from Cheers.

Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got.
Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.

Wouldn’t you like to get away?

Sometimes you want to go

Where everybody knows your name,
and they’re always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see,
our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows
Your name.

You wanna go where people know,
people are all the same,
You wanna go where everybody knows
your name.

After premiering on September 30, 1982, it was nearly canceled during its first season when it ranked dead last in ratings. (This goes to dis-prove my theory of how Christian communities need to me more like Cheers, right?  Wrong.)  Cheers eventually became a highly rated television show in the United States, earning a top-ten rating during eight of its eleven seasons, including one season at #1. Why?

Think of the Cast: Sam, Diane, Norm, Cliff, Frasier… there was some one that you could identify with.

What if your Christian community were more like Cheers, where every one realizes they have issues and they just don’t want people to point fingers in judgment.  Rather, point a finger and say, “Man I have been there, and  dealt with that issue.”

The problem with most Christian communities has to do with the simple fact people are trying to be so perfect they simply can’t be friends, and talk for fear of some one realizing we are all sinners.

So how do we develop a community where every one knows your name, where people always wana go, casue they know we are all the same.

Posted in Community, Culture | 2 Comments »

14Aug

Facebook a Missions Model

Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. People use Facebook to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet.

Facebook is now the largest social network in the world,—with 132 million unique visitors in June—it is also the fastest growing social network. 1

Facebook’s growth is different among regions:

  • North America is still growing at a healthy 38 %
  • Europe (with 35 million visitors a month) is growing nearly ten times as fast.
  • Middle East and Africa 403% growth in the
  • Asia Pacific 458% growth
  • Latin America 10,555% growth

Much of these huge growth numbers come from the fact that Facebook had hardly no presence in many of these regions until recently when it started its major push to translate the site to other languages. One year ago, there were only one million monthly visits in all of Latin America, three million in the Middle East and Africa, and four million in all of Asia Pacific. 2

Facebook has adapted one of the key elements every missionary team needs to remember the language of the people. When people are seeking community they want what is comfortable for them. I have recently heard people say they speak a broken English well enough to understand me. Yes, but what language do they use when they tell jokes to their children.

When missionaries share the gospel in English, im not saying a seed isn’t planted. What I know to be true is when the gospel is shared in the persons heart language they understand and the % of response increases drastically.

Posted in Community, Culture | 3 Comments »