Walking with God

Walking with God, then, consists especially in the fixed habitual bent of the will for God, in an habitual dependence upon His power and promise, in an habitual voluntary dedication of our all to His glory, in an habitual eyeing of His precept in all we do, and in an habitual satisfaction in His pleasure in all we suffer.

George Whitefield

Interview with a soldier

Hello Everyone~
Here is an interview with a good friend of mine in Iraq. Pray for him as you remember it. Enjoy !

Major Dan Whisnant's Interview with Brian and the Judge on Fox News Radio.8 min 15 sec - Nov 13, 2006Description: Major Dan Whisnant's Interview with Brian and the Judge on Fox News Radio

Warm Glows

Often we talk about “burning out for Jesus” but the reality is that we are a “warm glow”. An interesting quotation here, “God, I pray Thee, light the idle sticks of my life and may I burn for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like You, Lord Jesus.” Jim Elliot

I think that we all know the life and death of Jim Elliot. (If you have not read “The Shadow of the Almighty”, you have missed one of the best biographies of the past century.) He was a man truly on fire for the Lord. He lived only a short time (early 30s) but his life was a whirlwind of joy and delight in God. He was one of the missionaries killed by the hand of the Aqua Indians in South America in 1956. His wife, Elizabeth Elliot, was his sweetheart and mate. She tells the story of her husband with all of his quirks and quotes (sp. but it sounds good). He reminds me of David Brainerd who also lived a short, intense, and dramatic life for God. Both of these men followed after the Lord with an intensity unmatched in their generation. I personally believe that as God’s plan unfolded for them, the entire love life with God for a regular-aged individual of 70 years was crammed into a their short 30 years. But nonetheless, we do well to look and learn from their life and love. I find myself to quick to slow down, cool down, and even stand down from the walk with God. “We are in it for the long haul”, we say. Which often, I think, (at least in my life) means a shadow of mixed bags of focus with deceived perceptions. God commands me to love Him with all I am. Everything! It is not up to me to determine the gauge of commitment. He has already set that. It is up to me to be eternally vigilant in fanning the flames of ardent love and commitment.

To be open about this, I have learned, too late, that the influence of the world through seemingly unimposing avenues into my heart will hardened and cool my love for God. It is not quick or brilliant or I would catch it and resist it. But it is the slow, simple, and superficial influence that molds my heart to being “cool”. It is imperceptible. The pictures of a newspaper which house so many words in them telling me of the global needs, will confiscate my sensitivity to give aid in my corner. There is too much need from this information. So to begin and try to help is almost an inept endeavor. Listening to the nightly news again gives me all the bad reports of everything that is wrong, sinful, wicked, or destroyed. The immensity of it usually distorts my view of God’s control because of its universal confusion and carelessness. Knowledge of need without ability to help cools the heart and numbs the mind. We turn away imperceptibly harder and then tend to objectively reject it.

I am not suggesting that we bring up the burner heat and explode in quick brilliance of love. But I am encouraging a quiet turning of the gaze away from the hardening influence of the world and toward the supple softening of the disciplines of grace through the Spirit. Take a walk and look at God. See His creation and wonder. Bask in the pleasure of reminding yourself of His absolute control and intense love for you. Listen to the speaking of God in your soul as He ushers passages of scripture memorized years ago in the “first love”. I promise you. You will be more at rest in your heart with peace from God. He will delight in the quiet focus on Him. You will again know a deeper sense of His greatness and goodness that fans the flame of love and covers the fire of the world. Now do not just read this. Go on a walk with your Friend, like another man who did not come home. He walked with God so far one night that God said, “Enoch, it is closer to my home than it is to yours, so come to My house tonight. Then we will not have to quit walking”.

Really, enjoy your walk,
will


Good stuff:
If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator.
If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist.
If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist.
If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer.
But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.

Providence

Warfield:

"Throughout the Old Testament, behind the processes of nature, the march of history and the fortunes of each individual life alike, there is steadily kept in view the governing hand of God working out his preconceived plan – a plan broad enough to embrace the whole universe of things, minute enough to concern itself with the smallest details, and actualizing itself with inevitable certainty in every event that comes to pass."

Inscribed on God's Hands

Good morning and I hope you are well,

This morning I was reading and thinking about

Isa. 49:16 Look, I have inscribed your name on my palms; your walls are constantly before me.

This impression verse follows on the fearful heels of Israel’s honest statement or belief that the sovereign Lord has openly forsaken them because of their rebellious sins. Although God had and has every holy right to reject the sinner’s good, He has continually provided the seal of His covenant of loyal love and pure justice to them by inscribing it on His hands. Of course this is spoken before the human incarnation of Jesus but it has bright ramifications to the hands of the dual-natured Christ. How could God say that He has inscribed in blood the covenant of promise on His hands being a spirit? He saw His gracious redemption by Jesus Christ and told it in grand prophecy to an ignorant, blind, and even despicable nation. (And it has ramifications to us also.)
I have several scares on my hands from work, play, and mistakes. One thing that is usual about these “reminders” is that they continue with me and I cannot forget them as long as my hands are. Now they will quietly and slowly lessen with time but that is because I am very human. But they bring back memories of foolishness, humor, and pain. Just as I was responsible for the scars on my hands, so is God. He allowed, or determined, His hands be maliciously scared by those “cutting names” who did the work. He put out his strong and submissive hands and wrote our names with the vicious knife we were holding. Some of these things are more than I can fully understand and all of them are more than I deserve. Remember today that your name has been written by the “eternal purpose of God which He accomplished through Jesus Christ” through Whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him”.

But also remember that your name is on the dexterous hands of your eternal Workman. He works through you on you. Great thought! Great love!

will

Here is a quotation for thought:
“Do the hardest task first. Attacking your hardest task of the day without delay will build your resistance to passivity. Waiting until the end of the day only reinforces your sinful tendencies toward passivity. Make the hard phone call first. While this is similar to the first suggestion, it deals more with passivity within interpersonal relationships. Some men are willing to do the hard task first, but avoid difficult situations involving other people. Run to the battle. One only needs to consider the life of the Apostle Paul to see that conflict is a regular feature of the Christian life. Men who think all conflict should be avoided, or who refuse to engage with those who would harm the body of Christ or their family, not only model passivity but fail in the area of protection. Do you work now as opposed to later. From term papers to tax filing, the man who is cultivating biblical masculinity will not allow these things to rule him. He will exercise dominion over them by doing them in a timely manner. Keep your domain in order. While most of us on occasion have a messy desk or car trunk, a life that is characterized by disorder is evidence of passivity. Your home, dorm room, garage, office and car should bear the mark of your masculinity as you subdue it and keep it in order.”