Provocations

update

2010-04-18T17:54:00.000-07:00

as always, it's a crazy season. maybe it would be easier to just tell you all when it isn't crazy.

life is good... hard, but good.

moonravennnnnnnn and billlllll, yay! i've missed you guys along with all the others, mike, cyn, raw, jay, treyyy, etc., and all the ones i know irl.

tonight it is our sunday night meet up and i'm not feeling so hot... so i'm chilling in the back thinking and praying... wondering.

sarah is speaking tonight. she's back and the Creator is continuing the work in her. drew took his mcats yesterday. huge, huge, huge... and jc is in guatemala for 10 months... we have 2 new ones here wes and mike. wes, is not really new, he's been here before, hahah, however, mike is new and his backstory is heartbreaking... we are blessed and honoured to be able to give him a place to call home... and katie and alexander have set a wedding date for august.

all is well, all is well, all is well...

life rolls on. find beauty in the moments...

muchlove.

Hahah

2010-03-19T14:23:00.000-07:00

I know some of you guys remember this...

I drew it on the wall in the apartment where i met so many of you... Back when we were exploring all the endless possibilities of this new life... We would talk for hours on end, never tiring of all the good things God was doing.

Great times, those days... Kids sleeping on the floor, the hallway, the balcony and the kitchen. The drama, the breakups, the fights, the incredible love that was woven thru each and every situation.

We didn't even know what we were doing... and yet, we were fueled by something beyond us. Times have changed. Big house, lots of connects... we are beautifully networked in to something beyond us...

However, never let us forget our humble beginnings... never let us forget that this is about loving one person at a time... the one directly in front of us.

Donald Miller

2010-03-13T11:13:00.001-08:00

"And so my prayer is that your story will have involved some leaving and some coming home, some summer and some winter, some roses blooming out like children in a play. My hope is your story will be about changing, about getting something beautiful born inside of you about learning to love a woman or a man, about learning to love a child, about moving yourself around water, around mountains, around friends, about learning to love others more than we love ourselves, about learning oneness as a way of understanding God. We get one story, you and I, and one story alone. God has established the elements, the setting and the climax and the resolution. It would be a crime not to venture out, wouldn't it?

It might be time for you to go. It might be time to change, to shine out.

I want to repeat one word for you:
Leave.

Roll the word around on your tongue for a bit. It is a beautiful word, isn't it? So strong and forceful, the way you have always wanted to be. And you will not be alone. You have never been alone. Don't worry. Everything will still be here when you get back. It is you who will have changed."
— Donald Miller (Through Painted Deserts: Light, God, and Beauty on the Open Road)

2010-03-09T16:01:00.000-08:00

There is always hope...

2010-03-04T10:37:00.000-08:00

“You can always tell the difference between the voice of the enemy and the voice of God. When the enemy speaks to you and points out your sin, it will always leave you in despair, discouragement, and it will encourage you to run as far away from God as you can possibly get. He will tell you that there is no hope.

When God rebukes a person or when God rebukes His church, even though He may say some very hard things, He will always end His invitation with hope - an invitation of salvation, that no matter what you’ve become, no matter what you’ve done, there is hope and there is salvation.” —Paul Washer

Psalm 36

2010-03-02T09:53:00.000-08:00

1 I have a message from God in my heart
concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: [b]
There is no fear of God
before their eyes.

2 In their own eyes they flatter themselves
too much to detect or hate their sin.

3 The words of their mouths are wicked and deceitful;
they have ceased to be wise and to do good.

4 Even on their beds they plot evil;
they commit themselves to a sinful course
and do not reject what is wrong.

5 Your love, LORD, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies.

6 Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
your justice like the great deep.
You, LORD, preserve both people and animals.

7 How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

8 They feast on the abundance of your house;
you give them drink from your river of delights.

9 For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.

10 Continue your love to those who know you,
your righteousness to the upright in heart.

11 May the foot of the proud not come against me,
nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.

12 See how the evildoers lie fallen—
thrown down, not able to rise!

Studies in the Gospel of Matthew

2010-02-28T10:28:00.000-08:00

Matthew 5:8
Blessed are the pure in heart...

In his book, The Sermon on the Mount, Kent Hughes quotes a nineteenth-century Russian novelist, Ivan Turgenev:

“I do not know what the heart of a bad man is like. But I do know what the heart of a good man is like. And it is terrible.”

Although it is impossible for us to have a pure heart in and of ourselves, we can have a pure heart by the grace of God. What is impossible for man is possible for God. A pure heart is a gift from God, and it comes by a new birth, by a new creation, and by the Spirit living in us.

God had promised in the Old Testament through the prophet Jeremiah, “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33), and “I will give them singleness of heart and action” (Jeremiah 32:39). This was finally fulfilled in and through Jesus Christ, Who makes us a new creation with a new heart (2 Corinthians 5:17).

There are ways we can maintain the purity of our heart, and one of the most primary is our time in the Word of God. As the psalmist said, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word” (Psalm 119:9), and, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11).

A second way to maintain the purity of our heart is through fellowship with the people of God. It helps to be accountable to one another. Solomon said:

Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their work:
If one falls down,
his friend can help him up.
But pity the man who falls
and has no one to help him up! (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10).

That is why the author of the Book of Hebrews exhorts us, “Let us consider how we can spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:24).

Thirdly, we can train our heart for pure living by doing the works of God. As we are involved in His service and as God uses us for the blessing of others, we are encouraged towards our devotion to God and to keeping our hearts morally pure.

Full article here

State of the heart

2010-02-27T07:29:00.000-08:00

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness” (Matthew 23:25-28).

“You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34).

Quoting Isaiah, Jesus said,

“‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men’” (Matthew 15:8-9).

Explaining to the disciples, He said,

“Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean’…” (Matthew 15:19-20).

This is the impure heart.

To have a pure heart means to have a heart that is committed to living a life that is totally pleasing to God, because “… the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts” (1 Chronicles 28:9). That is why David’s prayer was:

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting (Psalm 139:23-24).

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. (Matthew 5:8)

(From this great article)

Psalm 73:21-28

2010-02-15T13:47:00.000-08:00

When my heart was grieved
and my spirit embittered,

I was senseless and ignorant;
I was a brute beast before you.

Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.

You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.

Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.

Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.

But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.

HolyHolyHoly

2010-02-14T21:17:00.000-08:00

The revelation is never ending,
so their song is never ceasing.

You never come to the end of God.