Heavy heart, why are you mourning?

Heavy heart, why are you mourning?
There is no provision for the longings of the flesh.
You are yearning for Egypt greens – this is not godly sorrow.
God cannot comfort you in your lust.
Rouse yourself! Repent of self-pity.
The wine of disobedience has thrown you into a stupor.
Wake up! Heavy heart, you are eager to justify
Your misery. You are blaming the Maker & His gifts
as if together they have tied the millstone around your joy.

That is foolishness.

God is not robbing you,
You are robbing God. Do you not realize that there is
No joy apart from Christ? You are an errant sheep
Chewing on thistles far from your shepherd’s pasture.
He is not to blame for the bitterness on your tongue.
Repent, you black-sheep heart!
Turn your feet towards His stable,
Bend your knees before His throne.
He, and he alone, is able to lift you…
Without Him you will be heavy for the rest of your life.

Truth & lies

When I lie, I deny Christ in me victory.
I denigrate the authority of the Spirit in my life.
I make an argument, not for the glory and kindness of God, but for craftiness and rebellion of Satan.

I degrade my sonship into willful slavery to evil, I compartmentalize my spiritual identity, rationalize my infidelity, like a promiscuous pragmatist in the bed of a prostitute.

Yet Jesus prayed (John 17?) for me, asking the Father to "sanctify" me in His Truth. I want to yield my whole soul, my whole mind, my entire ends-justifies-the-means heart to the deep plowing work of the Holy Spirit. Furrow me deep, o Lord, uproot and destroy these weedy lies that seek to throttle out the wheat of truth.

Discipline me, o my Father

"If we would put some slight stress on ourselves at the beginning, then afterwards we should be able to do all things with ease and joy. It is a hard thing to break through a habit, and a yet harder thing to go contrary to our own will. Yet, if thou overcome not slight and easy obstacles, how wilt thou overcome greater ones? Withstand thy will at the beginning, and unlearn an evil habit, lest it lead thee little by little into worse difficulties. Oh, if thou knewest what peace to thyself thy holy life should bring,...and what joy to others, methinketh thou wouldst be more zealous for spiritual profit."

-Thomas a Kempis

Loneliness comes over us sometimes as a sudden tide. It is one of the terms of our humanness, and, in a sense, therefore, incurable. Yet I have found peace in my loneliest times not only through acceptance of the situation, but through making it an offering to God, who can transfigure it into something for the good of others.

Elisabeth Elliot

How should I think about Islam?

Brother Daniel is a former Muslim, now a missionary in an undisclosed Islamic country. He conducts outreach efforts to Islamic leaders and pastoral training for new converts. My sister shared this sermon with me, after hearing Daniel speak to a missions conference in Kentucky (Fall 2009).

"From the time that there was no Time, there was God. He created man in his own image. All the offspring of Adam became sinners. Now it is God, who is sinless, took the form of a human being in order to restore us to his image. The Bible said that there is no mediator between God and man, only Christ Jesus. The Bible tells us that Christ was before all things. All that has been created is through Christ Jesus. All that you are doing is sharing the Light and bringing people to the Kingdom of God. It is not an assignment. It is not something you should even be worried about. It is telling people about Christ…he came to pay the penalty for sin. God is a just God and he must punish sin.

Islam does not know that Jesus Christ is God. That Jesus Christ came to save. Christ said, “The evil one comes only to kill and destroy…I came that you may have life.”
We have the words of Hope, but we are keeping them to ourselves!!!"

In His Words (a coversation with my boss)

Cate, your generation has been sold the bill of good about tolerance. "Tolerance is the highest ideal, the best way to live in peace, the American way." Is it? What about what Christ said, that we're all evil? Jesus Christ didn't preach a mantra of tolerance. But he did out talk about, and live, love. Our mistake is equating the two. Tolerance is NOT love. Love is sacrificial; love fights against anything that will harm the beloved; love is active, sometimes results in intervention, and comes personal cost.

Our country was founded on the very Christian idea that liberty is only possible when men are virtuous, as opposed to carnal, licentious, and indolent. Good and evil are realities, and virtue is virtue only when it moves from theory to practice. In my eyes, defending the freedoms enjoyed by American citizens, regardless of gender or race, is a virtue. And by "defending," I mean actively ensuring that no one abridges or abolishes these freedoms.

When Frank Gaffney investigates and reports that 80 percent of the mosques built in the U.S. are built with money from Saudi Arabia (Wahabbi Islam), as an American, I am concerned. Shari'a law is a revered cornerstone of their religion, and is incompatible with the rule of law here in the United States. When I ask for further information about what these mosques are teaching, or how they are being funded, I am not asking a bigoted question - I'm asking a national security question. I'm not adverse to the teachings of Muhammad because I hate Muslims, but rather because I love the liberty found in Christ and I want ALL men to experience it.

In Matthew 5:43, Jesus commanded us to emulate his example: "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor & hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies & pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven."

On 9-11, what I was feeling was exactly hate. Throughout the hours and days that followed, I was praying, "Lord, take this hate away from me! Give me clear thinking, let me step up and do what needs to be done to defend this country- but let me not hate!

Several years went by, and I came to work here at Smyrna Ministries. Day after day, I read incidents of persecution, Muslims killing Christians, and I thought, "Is this going to lead me back to hate?"

I wrestled with this, but then I realized that these Christians dying at the hands of their tormentors are free, and it is the Muslims who are enslaved in bondage.

When Jesus condemned sin and commanded love, he was only echoing what his Father in heaven had said centuries earlier: "Do not go about spreading slander among your people, and do not do anything that endangers your neighbor's life. Do not hate your brother in your heart...and do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself, for I AM the LORD" (Leviticus 19:16-18).

When it comes to love and tolerance, the world is competing for your loyalty. It wants you to sell out to their definition, and enter an ethical arena where everything is gray, and virtue can claim no superiority to vice. Hold fast to what Christ taught, and remember: Tolerance is over-rated. Love is not.

2 Kings 5 - RICH TOWARD GOD

Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said, "Now I KNOW that there is no God in ALL THE WORLD except in Israel. Please accept now a gift from your servant."

But the prophet answered, "As surely as the LORD lives, whom I serve, I will not accept a thing." And even though Naaman urged him, Elisha refused.

Elisha blatantly served God. No taint of personal gain clung to his obedience. Naaman couldn't pay for his healing. The God of Israel really was different than the other gods, & so were his followers.

Enter Elisha's servant, the ever-practical Gehazi. He's Elisha's servant. Doubtless, he went hungry along with Elisha. He knew what welcome relief Naaman's gift of silver would bring to their state of near-poverty.

Taking the "What he doesn't know won't hurt" approach, Gehazi sprints after Naaman's chariot, and asks for the silver. Embarrassed to ask it directly for himself or his master, Gehazi invents two needy young men, convincing Naaman that his silver will help out the friends of the prophet who just healed him.

Gehazi does all this in secret, and thinks he can lie to Elisah. Talk about compartmentalizing the power of God! Gehazi just SAW a man with leprosy healed by muddy river water. Yet instead of processing the miracle as an example of God's omnipotent & immanent involvement in human life, Gehazi is focused on how it will serve his personal needs. He lies to Elisha.

"Where have you been, Gehazi?" Elisha asked.
"Your servant didn't go anywhere," Gehazi answered.

But Elisha said to him, "Was not my spirit with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to take money, or to accept clothes, olive groves, vineyards, flocks, herds, or menservants and maidservants? 27 Naaman's leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever." Then Gehazi went from Elisha's presence and he was leprous, as white as snow.

There is something reprehensible about churches that make a profit off of their members, pastors who bleed their sheep, and Christians who see God not as Jehovah Provider, but as a the means to a well-fed life.

In Luke 12:21, Jesus minces no words. Those who store up treasure for themselves on earth will die & turn to dust. "This is what will happen to anyone who is NOT RICH TOWARD GOD."

Elisha rejoiced that Naaman found the one true God.
Gehazi rejoiced that Naaman was free-thinking with his silver.

Pesonal Application:
"Is this the time to take money, or to accept clothes, olive groves, vineyards, flocks, herds, or menservants and maidservants?"

The days are short, and Christians MUST love with actions, not just words. I don't EVER want to place my needs above the work of God. Especially because he already knows my needs and will provide. I don't want to run after chariots & make up sob stories to get a free lunch. It is NOT the time to take money, or accept payment for sharing the Gospel. It is time for the workers of the harvest to WORK!