Remember this, and be assured;
Recall it to mind, you transgressors.
Remember the former things long past,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is no one like Me,
Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, ‘My purpose will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;
Calling a bird of prey from the east,
The man of My purpose from a far country
Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass.
I have planned it; surely I will do it.
Listen to me, you stubborn-minded,
Who are far from righteousness,
I bring near my righteousness, it is not far off;
And my salvation will not delay
And I will grant salvation in Zion,
And My glory for Israel.
-Isaiah 46:8-13
Tag: bible
September 9th, 2010
Who will separate us from the love of Christ?
Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or
peril, or sword? Just as it is written,
“FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO
DEATH ALL DAY LONG;
WE ARE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE
SLAUGHTERED.”
But in all these things we overwhelmingly
conquer through Him
who loved us. For I am convinced
that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor powers, nor
height, nor depth, nor any other created
thing, will be able to separate us from
the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord.
But we all, with unveiled face,
beholding as in a mirror
the glory of the Lord,
are being transformed into
the same image from
glory to glory,
just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
-2 Corinthians 3:18
So just got back from a sweet weekend in Tampa!!! Admittedly, it was bracketed by crazy car adventures(car breaking down in rain + impending flight + me hitchhiking to airport + car being impounded = just a little stress and anxiety. I do NOT like allowing myself to be overwhelmed by worry or uncertainty, but this weekend cut it a little close. But now I have regained my car and I *believe* it’s fixed, bar a slightly alarming rattle in my compressor flywheel. And I have been affirmed in my conviction that I have two of the most awesome friends in the world…Alex driving to check for my car on the beltway at 3 in the morning…and Will helping me rescue and fix my car today. I gotta say, I feel so blessed to know that I have friends who have my back! God is good, INDEED. And thus ends the longest parenthetical thought of all time.), and now I have totally lost my train of thought. *scans back to top of parentheses* Ah yes. The weekend of Tampa and family awesomeness!! Full of the *whole* family together again and taking naps on the couch and late night talks with the sisters and lasagna of amazing awesomeness and Spades tournament with the fam and just loving my family!!! And of course, I did see some other people(including Dream and David, enjoying delicious ice cream and more delicious conversation! And I got to have lunch at Steve and Vickie’s, enjoying hamburgers and beans and encouraging words. And I got my Christmas(ok, a little late) present from them – this awesome handmade blown-glass alligator head. It is AMAZING. If you are in Houston, come over and you can see it. And Gary and Janet came over on Sunday night and again, I am constantly reassured of the amazing blessings of the LORD in the people he surrounds me with. Ah it is too much for someone as silly as I!!) And seriously, these parentheses have got to stop! I am henceforth banning myself from using them for…the rest of this entry.
I have now decided it’s time for dinner. And I’m binging on Snow Patrol on the moment, and I’m not quite sure if that’s a good thing or not. It’s chill enough to be relaxing, but romance-tinged enough to be slightly dangerous to the emotions. Like I’ve said before, music can be a most wonderful and perilous creation!
And now I take my leave. Before I do though, let me share what has been most encouraging these past few days:
Therefore humble yourselves
under the mighty hand of God,
that He may exalt you at the proper time,
casting all our anxiety on Him,
because He cares for you.
1 Peter 5:6-7
He cares for you. How awesome is that?
Peace be to you all!
Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to dine with him, and
He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. And there
was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He
was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an
alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping,
she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the
hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the
perfume. Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said
to himself, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort
of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.”
And Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And
he replied, “Say it, Teacher.”
“A moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the
other fifty. When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them
both. So which of them will love him more?” Simon answered and said,
“I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have
judged correctly.” Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you
see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet,
but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You
gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss
My feet. You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet
with perfume. For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many,
have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little,
loves little.” Then He said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.”
Those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say to themselves,
“Who is this man who even forgives sins?” And He said to the woman,
“Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
-Luke 8:36-50
I cannot say anything to add to the beauty of these words. But oh how these words have touched my heart! I ask myself, how much have I been forgiven? And the answer is clear. I have been forgiven…everything. Oh how great is my love for my Saviour!! If only I were in His presence and could kiss His feet. If only I could kneel and hug his feet to myself! Oh I would cry for love! I have sinned much. I have sinned completely. And I have been forgiven much. I have been forgiven completely. Oh the beauty! Oh I could weep!
…and though you have
not seen Him, you love Him,
and though you do not see
Him now, but believe in Him,
you greatly rejoice with
JOY INEXPRESSIBLE
and full of glory, obtaining
as the outcome of your faith
the salvation of your souls.
-1 Peter 1:8-9
One thing
I have asked from the LORD,
That I shall seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD,
And to meditate in His temple.
-Psalm 27:4
Well, I wanted to post a nice long entry, but alas, I am leaving for a camping trip in less than twenty minutes! I was enjoying my coffee and bacon and buried in reading and…well, sort of lost track of time. And now it’s past 12:30. Oops. Well, suffice it to say that this past week has been pretty ridiculous(and I really want to post an entry soon detailing my adventures in California with Katharyn!) and this weekend is set to be pretty spectacular! Because finally, I will be hiking in the wilds of Texas. When(if) I return, I’ll let you all know what the wilderness of Texas is like. And now, on to the meat of this post…I was going to post this in my other(theological/serious/one-I-never-post-in) blog, but thought that I may as well post it here.
And so today, on the day that we remember as the day that Christ died for us, what do we say? Can we say truly that as Christ died, so we died to sin? Can we say that as Christ lived, we live His life by His Holy Spirit? Sometimes it is so hard to live in this lost world – it yet spins, but groans with every revolution, awaiting with eagerness the return of the King. And as we live in this world, we remember that we are to live renouncing the things hidden because of shame(2 Cor 4:2) and to live by the grace so abundantly given to us by our God the Father! And now, for what do we wait? Our hope is in the LORD!(Psalm 39:7). Let us live with the passion of Christ, forsaking the beguiling pleasures of this world and cling to the feet of Jesus! Let us live with the sorrow of Christ, weeping over the desolation of those who know Him not!(Matt. 24:37-39) Let us live with Christ!! And indeed, we do, because Christ died that we may yet live. He, who knew no sin, died that we may know the righteousness of God. He, who committed no sin, died with the sins of the world upon his shoulders that we may be freed from the bondage of hell! He, who was the perfect and spotless Lamb, was slain by His Father that we may be priests forever, to our LORD and God! Christ alone is our righteousness! Christ alone is our passion! To Him be all the glory and all majesty and all power and authority, from now to the day of eternity! May we look to the heavens and see Him standing at the right Hand of the Almighty, robed in glory and power!! As we groan and falter in this bleeding world, let us look into the Holy of Holies and see the very Son of God! As the wrath of God was poured upon Jesus, so the treasuries of heaven were poured upon us! Our lives were bought with a price, the very blood of Christ. And so we love Him. Because He first loved us!!!!!
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And all that is within me, bless
His holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget none of His benefits;
Who pardons all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
Who redeems your life from the pit,
Who crowns you with
lovingkindness and compassion;
Who satisfies your years with
good things,
So that your youth is renewed
like the eagle.
Bless the LORD, all you works of His,
In all places of His dominion;
Bless the LORD, O my soul!
Psalm 103:1-5, 22
You have turned for me my
mourning into dancing;
You have loosed my sackcloth
and girded me with gladness,
That my soul may sing praise to
You and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give
thanks to You forever.
-Psalm 30:11-12
Something Weird 