David begins by telling of the underground house churches who couldn’t get enough of the Word. They studied for hours on end, and still they hungered for more. These people were risking their lives to attend these meetings, and leaving their farms unattended, but they continued to meet and study.
Is His Word enough for me? Do I hunger for it regardless of my circumstances?
We like to think of God as a loving Father, but He is also a wrathful judge who hates sinners. I’m a sinner, so that is hard to chew! ” He demands more than I give.
“We are each born with an evil, God hating heart. In our evil we rebel against God. Everything in all creation responds in obedience to the Creator, but we have the audacity to look God in the face and say NO.” (pg 30 & 31) Would I choose to say no if Jesus were physically standing in front of me??
Often times we don’t like what we see in the bible, so we change it to make it more acceptible to our beliefs. We take all the power away from God and place it on ourselves with the New Age beliefs that our positive thoughts can change our situations. What we really need is unconditional surrender of all that we are and all that we have to all that He is.
I admit that I desperately, daily, need His grace. He gives me that through the Holy Spirit, and renews my heart. It involves a hunger for God. A need for Him. “We want Him so much that we abandon everything else to experience Him.”
Create in me a clean heart O God, one that is only satisfied by your Word. Change me and make me into a Radical Disciple for You.
You can find more Radical responses here.
Author Archives: Jen
Radical-chapter one
Someone Worth Losing Everything For
Jesus took the few who believed him when he said radical things, and turned the course of history in a new direction through radical obedience. What am I radically obedient to? If Jesus came to me today and told me to pick up and leave my family to follow Him, would I? Author David Platt talks about his fear of pastoring a modern day megachurch, where success is measured by the size of your crowd, building, and budget. Faced with the realization that Jesus spurned what his church culture said was most important, he asked himself two questions.
1. Am I going to believe Jesus?
2. Am I going to obey Jesus?
We can choose to believe and obey Jesus, to find true satisfaction that only comes from radical abandonment to Jesus. The central message of Christianity is about abandoning ourselves. Abandon our comforts, and all that is familiar and natural to us. Would I still proclaim to be a Christian if I had to attend an underground church without a place to sit or cool air in the summer? If I knew I was risking my life to study the bible, but my hunger for His word was so strong that I didn’t care?
“The cost of discipleship is great. But I wonder if the cost of nondiscipleship is even greater.”
So in answer to the two questions above, I commit to believe whatever Jesus says. I will say yes to the words of Jesus before I even hear them. I commit to obey what I hear. And that my friends, honestly scares me. Scares me a lot, but I need to be on this journey! For more responses to this book, hop on over here.
Radical
A few weeks ago I happened on a blog about the book by David Platt called Radical, taking back your faith from the american dream. I quickly ran to my local Christian book store and they were sold out, so I downloaded it on my Nook. Quickly noted that I was taking lots of notes and wanted to hold the actual book in one hand with a highlighter in the other. So I went to another Christian book store and found a large display! Yeah, it’s that good.
Tomorrow I will be posting about Chapter 3, along with 1 & 2 as it seems satan is upset that I’m reading this book, and every time I tried to post from home the internet wasn’t working. It became funny when everyone else could get online, but not me. Ha! satan, I will win this, because Jesus has already won the battle!!
Anyway, I digress.. go on out and buy the book, then join in on the discussions at Marla’s blog.
The Christian Atheist
Sunday’s sermon was so powerful and convicting. It was one of those fire and brimstone, digs down deep into the matters of your heart kind. I was moved, convicted, and repentant. I hardly wrote anything down on my outline, afraid to look down at the page for fear that I would miss something. Have you ever experienced that? It was GOOD! So good, that I have to share it. It won’t be as good, since I’m not Pastor Scott, but you’ll get the gist of it.
He starts out with this statement. I believe in God, but I don’t fear Him.
Yes, God is good, we have heard that. But God is also a just God, mighty, omniscient, omnipotent, fierce, jealous, terrifying, cunning God too. Do you fear Him? He holds your eternity in His hands. Fear Him now? Noah did. If God asked me to build an ark today, would I start the project or ask lots of questions? Abraham feared God, and was obedient. He was willing to sacrifice his son, and God stopped him when He saw that obedience. He later sacrificed His own Son. Do you fear Him?
But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God–having a form of godliness but denying its power. 2Timothy 3:1-5 (NIV) Wow! What a powerful passage that clearly describes things we can relate to as seeing in ourselves or someone we know. You’re calling me out now, and I can feel the heat! I’ll just go through some of them that were screaming at me from the page. Forgiveness is a big struggle for me, and I wrestle with God many times before I can finally let go and give Him control of it. So that one jumped out at me. I don’t really think of myself as an ungrateful person, but I know that at times I ask for His blessing and He never receives a Thank you. That is ungrateful! And here is the big one, the one monster in my closet if you will. A couple weeks ago at the race track, my son was getting some bad calls. In the grand scheme of life, I know that it’s no big deal. But that Friday night it was. I lacked self-control and acted in an unholy manner. I knew it at the time the words came out of my mouth, but I was so angry, and had let satan grab hold so tightly, that I could not stop. Physically, I could not stop. I was sorry that I yelled at that corner worker that way, and ashamed of my behavior. I apologized to the people around me, and deleted the video that I was recording. Yeah, I was that bad. I had my younger son right beside me, and apologized to him, saying that mommy should not have said those things. Over and over I apologized, but I never let go of it. I never felt released from it. It was ugly!
Sin whispers to the wicked, deep within their hearts. They have no fear of God at all. In their blind conceit, they cannot see how wicked they really are. Psalm 36:1-2 (NLT)
When you fear God, you will serve Him wholeheartedly without any conditions. I’ll serve You Lord, but don’t ask me to give anything up. I’ll take Your blessings, but don’t expect me to be thankful or use them the way You want me to. We make God into our image, and that’s not what Abraham did. We need to be fully committed. For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the eart to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. 2Chron. 16:9 (NIV)
Fear of God is reverent Awe. Experience Divine Wow.
When you fear God, you will be forever ruined. You will never be the same again. Your priorities will change. He will bring you to the end of yourself. God will convict you, He will appear to you, and heal you. The power of God restores and renews us.
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, hight and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” Isaiah 6:1-8 (NIV)
So at the end, there was an altar call while the worship band was playing. The prayer benches were up front, and we were encouraged to use them if we felt the need. Of course, I felt the need. The whole incident at the track had not left the forefront of my mind, I had unclean lips. Let me tell you that I knelt at that prayer bench and felt God’s love on me. It washed over me. I cried, I repented and asked for forgiveness, and received healing and love. My guilt was taken away and my sin atoned for. I don’t want to be a Christian Atheist. I don’t want to be one of those Christians that non Christ followers point to and call a hypocrite. I want to be a light. A good example to others, especially my kids.
Matthew-ism
Last week Brian and the boys were working on the race cars when Matthew came up to Brian and said, “I’m so British, do you know what that means?” Brian says, yeah, it means you’re from England. Matthew promptly replies, “no, it means I’ll believe anything!” Brian says, “no, that’s gullible.”
The Knots Prayer
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They grow up fast
I remember way back when I was pregnant for the first time, lots of people would look at my growing belly and tell me to cherish every moment because she won’t stay little forever. Then when I laid my eyes on her, and held her in my arms, I knew she was going to do big things. The responsibility rushes at you with all the love and fears. I remember looking at that sweet little pink face, and thinking I had forever.
As it turns out, they DO grow up way too fast. Today I drove my daughter to the high school and dropped her off for freshman orientation. My baby girl! Where did the time go? Where are the carefree days of butterfly kisses and sun dresses, the Little Mermaid, and Barbies? I don’t think I took the time to cherish them then, in the midst of it all, but I remember them now. When she is 14 and starting high school. When she walked away from the car to meet up with her friends, and the little girl that she used to be flashed before my eyes.
Now she’s growing up and maturing daily. DAILY! The woman that she is becoming is amazing to me. She finds strength in God, happiness in dance, and joy in her friends. I’m enjoying this time of her life too. It just makes me emotional, and she told me I couldn’t be emotional. So I waited until she walked away from the car, and then I cried. For the child that she once was, the young woman that she is, and the woman that she will be.
So now I give the same advice to new moms, knowing that internally they are rolling their eyes! Cherish them, for they grow up way too fast.
What a week!
Last week was a star studded, crazy, off the map, busy one! Monday morning we made the drive over to Kings Island, knowing that rain was in the forecast and extreme heat. That must have worked in our favor because we were able to pretty much walk onto all the rides, with very little waiting in lines. This was the first year for Matthew to ride the big coasters, and we kind of thought he would take some coaxing to get on one and then hate them. Boy were we WRONG!! The boy is a roller coaster fanatic and wore us out! I felt like the Beast was going to beat us to death, and he loved it. It seemed like Vortex was going to throw us off of the rails, and he screamed with delight. By 2 0’clock I was done. DONE. But daddy said we could stay until the fireworks…
So we rode and rode, and I sat a few out, and we rode some more. We were on our way to do our last rides of Vortex and the Beast for the night and we saw lightening. Then we heard they were closing the rides due to the lightening. The sky started to get black, but it was 8:30, so we couldn’t tell if it was rain or not. The kids were all disappointed, but we explained to them what an awesome day we had had, ridden everything multiple times, and had not had to wait to do all of it. They were ok after that discussion, and we rode one more carnival type ride, then headed for the car. I had blisters on the balls of both feet, and it started raining on us. It was a good day!
Tuesday night we went to the fair and basically ate our way through it. I won’t go into details because it makes me green around the gills, but I will tell you that the watermelon whip was delightful! We also came home with 6 goldfish, and they are all still kicking.
Wednesday was a work day, and I had to leave early because Brooke and her friend were home with the dogs and one of them is pregnant. Apparently they gave her a treat and she started choking, so they called me in a panic that the dog was throwing up and would not come out from under the bed. I rushed home and discovered the dog was freaking out because the girls were freaking out. Once we figured out she was not choking, nor in labor, we had a girls night out to dinner at a little Mexican place I had never been to. It was so good that Brooke and I went there again for lunch on Saturday
Thursday Brooke was one of the Start girls for the USAC race at O’reilly Raceway Park. She left on the bus with dance team at 2:00pm and we went out there a little while later. It was still hot, and the girls had to wear green wigs, so I felt really sorry for them. They did a wonderful job starting the race, and then we watched some great racing. I don’t want to mention that my mother in law passed out on me because she will kill me, but I will tell you that she is fine.
Friday was our wedding anniversary. 16 years! That makes me feel old. Brian never updates his status on facebook, so when he posted a message to me about our anniversary, it saved him from the beating he was going to get for not getting me a card. It was sweet, and I love him. We of course spent the evening at the race track. I would like to say that we had a great night, but we had some crazy things, bad calls, and were sent to the tail in the heat and feature. I must be PMSing because an alter ego came over me and I stood on the bleachers and screamed my opinion of that. Yeah, not proud of that, but still pretty angry about the calls. Zach did great though, he raced his way back up to third.
Saturday Brian took the boys to ORP for the Nationwide race. It was still hotttt! Apparently Matthew got overheated and asked to go home right before the race started, then threw up in his mouth. He held it there until they walked down from the bleachers and got to a trash can. That happened a few times, then he felt better. Better enough that when they came home, he was carrying a quarter pounder to eat. They had fun and it didn’t rain on them, but they were all really tired.
All this leads me to Sunday, and Zach’s 12th birthday. He’s such a funny kid, or young man now. When I asked what he wanted for his birthday, he showed me a list he had made on his phone. I looked at it and asked if I could just get him a Gander Mountain gift card. He really wanted a pair of boots, so we went and he picked out a pair of boots. We have a tradition that they can pick what restaraunt they want to eat at for their birthday, and he chose Stone Creek. We almost had the place to ourselves, which is good because Matthew was wild. The food was good, and they gave Zach a free brownie sundae that he shared with Brooke and Matthew. Then we went home and had his DQ ice cream cake.
It was crazy busy, but it was filled with family, and my family is wonderful. I am so blessed and thankful.
Zach-ism
Funny, sweet, sincere, passionate, and thoughtful can be used to describe Zach. He’d been out of school for a few days and I kept hearing his alarm go off. After the third day, I told him to turn his alarm off because it was summer vacation. His reply was, “exactly, it’s summer vacation, and I don’t want to miss it.” After convincing him to turn it off, he begrudgingly went to bed. The next day when he woke up, I was reading in the chair. He came out of his room, looked at me and then looked at the clock on the wall behind me, and went on a rant. “That…that..that’s disgraceful! It’s 12:22! That’s disgraceful!!” When I finished laughing, I explained to him that he’d been up very late the past few nights and his body needed the sleep. Zach goes on to say, “I missed a meal! Now I’m going to have to eat breakfast and lunch!” He cracks me up. He missed a meal and probably a few video games, and he didn’t want to sleep away his summer.
Summer Vacation
Alas, the time is here, and it has been much awaited for. Last year I was more excited, but after going back to work, I’m not so looking forward to it. I want to be able to lounge in bed with them while watching TV on rainy days, and play in the pool with them when it’s sunny. They’re growing up so fast that I can almost feel them slipping through my fingers. I want to chericsh every smile, giggle, and hug. My kids are amazing!