Counting The Cost

Random thoughts on walking with Jesus in this turvy-topsy world

100% Gutter-Free

Encouragement for Today by Crosswalk.com:

 

 

 

Gutter Free

 

 

Devotion by By Luann Prater :

 

 

 

2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (NIV)

 

 

 

It was Oswald Chambers, the author of My Utmost for His Highest who wrote, “God not only knows where we live, he knows the gutters into which we crawl!”

 

 

 

I’m sitting on my deck overlooking the lake.  A crisp gentle breeze kisses my nose and I need someone to pinch me.  How can I be in this place, with this life, resting in my God’s arms?  Rewind my life just a few years and you would not believe that I could be here, reading my Bible, praising my God.

 

 

 

In 1956 my dad, who had been a hopeless alcoholic, accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior.  His life was abruptly changed.  From that day forward he didn’t have a drop of liquor or smoke another cigarette.  It was a radical change.

 

 

 

So you would think his daughter, who was then raised in the church would just color inside the lines and walk the straight and narrow path, right?  Wrong.  I made horrible decisions in my youth which left me feeling worthless.  Those “feelings” then led to more unlovely decisions and soon I had to look up to see pond scum. Trying to lift myself up, then inevitably crashing, created a circle of defeat.  I was in the gutter.

 

 

 

I knew about God, but didn’t know God.  I had heard the stories of my dad’s miraculous transition which often made me feel even more flawed.  What in the world was wrong with me?  Why couldn’t I just get it right?  For years it was my own effort, my own thoughts, my own decisions that traced the lines of brokenness in my life.  Sure there were temporary moments of simulated peace, but when failure arrived again, crawling into the gutter seemed only natural.

 

 

 

 

Then I met Jesus and He shined a light on my soul and the shattered debris of a “me, mine and I” way of living.  I discovered that without making some changes, there really wasn’t any room for Him in there.  I stopped trying to imitate Christianity and began a journey to know my Savior.  Mine was a slower process than my dad’s.  When I faltered, my natural tendencies wanted to find the nearest trench, yet the new creation inside gave me wings to fly above it.  In the 16^th chapter of John, Jesus tells us, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me." John Darby’s synopsis of this verse says, “Nature is occupied with that which it loses. Faith looks at the future into which God leads.”

 

 

 

 

God calls to each of us day-by-day, minute-by-minute.  He uses creation and circumstances and people we haven’t even met, to bring about His purposes, His plans and His hope.  Sometimes He works like an overnight sensation, but more often than not, He touches and changes us one predicament at a time.  Either way, we are guaranteed a gutter-free life when we seek His face.

 

 

 

Dear Lord, how insufficient we are at finding our true path in life.  We need You to navigate our steps.  Our own efforts at trying to be good are never good enough, we need You to take us by the hand today and lead us.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

 

 

 

 

Related Resources:

 

 

Do You Know Him?

 

 

Who Holds the Key to Your Heart? by Lysa TerKeurst

 

 

 

Coming Out of the Dark, an ETC article

posted by: Jrobbins at 13:27 | link | comments |
gutter free

Keep on believing!

From Christianity Today’s Ignite Your Faith:

 

The Feelings are Gone … is God?

Answer by Marshall Shelley

 

Q. When I go to conferences and youth group retreats, I feel like I get very close to God. But then I come home, and I back away from my faith. I love Jesus and want to grow in my personal relationship with him, but how can I stay close to God like when I am at conferences?

 

 

A. I'm glad you've experienced the joy of feeling close to God. I have, too, and those are special moments. Conferences and other inspiring events like that are like inhaling—you can feel yourself getting filled. But inhaling can't continue indefinitely. We need to exhale, too.

 

 

In our walk with God, the "exhaling" means going out to serve others, living by faith and not by sight, and trusting God even when we don't sense his presence at the moment. All that is an important part of the spiritual life, too.

 

 

Some people have pointed out that we all enjoy "mountaintop experiences"—those high points like you describe at conferences and retreats—but most of our daily growth takes place in the valleys. It's in the struggle and the daily routines that we put into practice what we've seen on the mountaintop. Those mountaintop feelings are great, but they are only feelings. God calls us to live by faith and to commit ourselves to living fully for him—by regularly praying, following his will and reading our Bibles—no matter how we're feeling. Hopefully you'll have opportunities to both inhale and exhale regularly.

 

Marshall, a former pastor, is now editor of Leadership Journal, a magazine for pastors.

 

Copyright © 2006 by the author or Christianity Today International/Ignite Your Faith magazine.

posted by: Jrobbins at 13:22 | link | comments |
faith and feelings

A new look at the "old" Book!

The Word

by Sara Groves

album: Conversations (2001)

 

 

 

I've done every devotional

Been every place emotional

Trying to hear a new word from God

And I think it's very odd,

that while I attempt to help myself

My Bible sits upon my shelf

With every promise I could ever need

 

And the Word was 

And the Word is

And the Word will be

The old Word is the new Word

The old Word is the new Word..

People are getting fit for Truth

Like they're buying a new tailored suit

Does it fit across the shoulders?

Does it fade when it gets older?

We throw ideas that aren't in style

In the Salvation Army pile

And search for something more to meet our needs.

 

I think it's time I rediscover

All the ground that I have covered, like:

Seek Ye first - what a verse!

We are pressed but not crushed, perplexed but don't despair.

We are persecuted but not abandoned

We are no longer slaves - we are daughters and sons,

and when we are weak  we are very strong.

And neither death nor life ,  nor present nor future

nor depth nor height  can keep us from the love of Christ

And the Word I need 

is the Word that was who put on flesh to dwell with us.

In the beginning....

posted by: Jrobbins at 13:32 | link | comments |
the word of god

A Rational Response to Irrational Anger

I thought these two articles went really well together!      Don't the people making these angry videos wonder why they have such an irrational anger against a God they don't believe in?    Doesn't sound like a very "Rational Response" to me...

 

 

 

Young Christians Taking Testimonies to the Web
by Allie Martin
AgapePress

 

To counter an Internet-based attack against the Holy Spirit, a Christian website is encouraging young believers to post to the web a video message that affirms their faith in Christ.

 

Recently, a group calling itself the "Rational Response Squad" launched a website asking people to post video clips on YouTube.com blaspheming the Holy Spirit. The group's website says it is "fighting to free humanity from the mind disorder known as theism." In promoting its movement, the website is giving away 1001 DVDs of the documentary The God Who Wasn't There to individuals who are successful in getting their video clip on YouTube -- provided the clip includes the phrase: "I deny the Holy Spirit." Otherwise, says the website, "You may d--- yourself to hell however you would like."

 

To counter that call for blasphemous video postings, Michael Mickey, a Christian from Virginia, has started a website that lets Christian teenagers make a public statement about their faith in Christ. Mickey says ChallengeBlasphemy.com allows young people to witness for Christ through one of the most popular websites.

 

"Blasphemy Challenge has seemed to reached a lot of young people, so our hope is we can get youth leaders and pastors ... to try to get young people [particularly] to reach out to that young audience that visits YouTube and demonstrate their faith in the Lord Jesus," explains Mickey.

 

Joining ChallengeBlasphemy.com in the call for online video testimonies is another website -- RaptureAlert.com. According to Mickey, the project has received widespread response, along with media attention from around the country. He believes the project can send a strong message that Christian faith among America's youth is strong -- contrary to what the Rational Response Team might want to portray.

 

"It's not a provocation on our part toward them," says Mickey. "We just want to present the other end of the spectrum so that young people -- well, all people -- when they go on YouTube ... can see the other end of the spectrum; that there are people of faith, people who love the Lord."

 

NBC affiliate WSLS in Roanoke, Virginia, recently aired a segment featuring comments from Mickey and from two area teens who produced videos testifying of their faith in Christ.

 

Copyright 2007 AgapePress

 

 

 

A Matter of Light and Darkness

Devotional by Greg Laurie of Harvest Ministries

 

 

And the judgment is based on this fact: God's light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. – John 3:19

 

 

I have always been amazed at how upset and completely irrational some people can become when the subject of Jesus Christ comes up. You can be talking about anything, even politics, and they will be relatively nice—even considerate. But just mention Jesus Christ, and you will see veins pop out of the foreheads of otherwise rational and considerate people.

 

 

We wonder, What's with this? It is a matter of light and darkness. It's a different dynamic altogether when you talk about the things of God. There is something about the name of Jesus that arrests a person's attention. Why else would people use it for effect when they take the Lord's name in vain? There is power in that name. Even the unbeliever, in a warped sense, recognizes that.

 

 

Jesus said, "All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed" (John 3:20). They hate the light for fear that it will expose their darkness.

 

 

The same is true of the Bible. When I travel, I will occasionally wind up in the middle seat, which I try very hard not to get. I am usually seated between two big guys who spill over their seats a little. As we are talking, I sometimes will reach into my briefcase and take out my Bible. They look at it. They see the gold pages and the ribbons. And at that point, I might as well have pulled out a live skunk. It represents truth to them, and deep down inside, they know it is the truth.

 

 

There is power in the name of Jesus and in the Word of God.

 

 

- Pastor Greg

 

P.S. For more of my writing, check out my weekly column at WorldNetDaily. Click here to read this week's article.

posted by: Jrobbins at 13:27 | link | comments |
light and darkness

Risky Business

---

posted by: Jrobbins at 13:10 | link | comments |
risk it all for the lord

Counting the Cost in China

And you thought your dorm room was cramped!!

NewsMax.com Wires
Friday, March 2, 2001

posted by: Jrobbins at 13:26 | link | comments |
china bible study

Jesus = Lord

From Christianity Today:

 

 

Dethroned

 

Jesus puts the all-important self in its place.

 

 Written by David P. Gushee

 

 posted 1/08/2007 04:21PM

 

 

 

When poised before the decision of faith, the first thing I was asked to do was confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Almost 30 years later, it is clear that no affirmation I have ever made has more radical implications. Daily I face its uncomfortable, sometimes scandalous, demands. If you are a Christian, so do you.

 

 

 

As a young convert, I learned that confessing Christ as Lord meant renouncing lordship over my own life. The Four Spiritual Laws tract illustrated for me this transition in control—henceforth Jesus, not me, would occupy the throne of my life. Living out that throne-room transition isn't any easier today than it was in 1978.

 

 

 

To say that Jesus is Lord is to renounce our natural instincts, several philosophical systems, and the constantly reinforced message of the culture, which upholds the primacy of the self and the supposed need to organize my life around advancing my interests. When I remind myself in prayer at the beginning of a day that Jesus is Lord, I am challenged to dethrone the All-Important Self, just as I was taught long ago.

 

 

 

Mentors and authors have helped to sharpen my understanding of Christ's lordship. They've warned me about idols that threaten to replace him. Jesus Christ is Lord, so mammon cannot be. Jesus Christ is Lord, so relationships and pleasure cannot be. Neither can fame or power or education or career or success or, well, anything at all.

 

 

 

Affirming Jesus as Lord relativizes all earthly attractions, pleasures, and goods. They all come a distant second to Christ himself. That's why we can hardly be reminded too frequently of the implications of his lordship.

 

 

 

Hot-Blooded for Politics

 

When I started getting interested in politics and national affairs, I once again was brought up short by the claims of Jesus. To affirm that Jesus Christ is Lord is to acknowledge that no political leader, party, flag, nation, or ideology can share lordship over my life. The one who confesses Christ alone as Lord cannot simultaneously affirm utmost loyalty to another idea or person.

 

 

 

This realization has constricted my understanding of politics. I've learned to fear the seductive power of political ideologies, the temptation to idealize political leaders, and the amoral bloodlust of partisan politics. Perhaps I have overreacted.

My study of German churches under Nazism has certainly formed my understanding of how disastrous the confusion of loyalties to God and country can become. But especially around election time, I feel my blood run hot for politics once again—so a reminder that Jesus Christ is Lord is very timely.

 

 

 

In recent years, I have found the confession that Jesus Christ is Lord remarkably inconvenient in ecumenical and interfaith dialogue. I am often asked to represent evangelicals in various settings. In such places, I choose to speak my native language, which includes an affirmation that Jesus is Lord. This sometimes evokes puzzled or even angry dialogue, as listeners ask why I must use such exclusivist language about God, faith, and ethics. I respond by saying I would rather engage in a richly textured dialogue involving native languages than a desiccated, thin exchange of inoffensive mush. These are uncomfortable moments.

 

 

 

Today, I find the affirmation that Jesus Christ is Lord most relevant in the context of my fears. When one of my daughters was seriously injured in a car accident, it was important for me to continue affirming that Jesus Christ is Lord. Now my 16-year-old son is driving, and Jesus Christ is still Lord.

 

 

 

When heated opposition tempts me to pull back from teaching or writing the things that I believe to be true, I return to the affirmation that Jesus Christ is Lord of my life, and he constantly spoke the truth regardless of the opposition he faced.

 

 

 

When I am distressed at what goes wrong in church life in America and fear for the future of the church, I remind myself that Jesus Christ is Lord of the church, and he is the steadfast Groom who never abandons his Bride.

 

 

 

When I worry over threats to human and planetary wellbeing, I recall that Jesus Christ is Lord of the world as well, and he holds creation together and will bring it to its glorious consummation.

 

 

 

One day, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Christians are those who seek to live out the implications of that confession—each day, every day, till we go to meet him at last.

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright © 2007 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

 

 

Related Elsewhere:

 

David P. Gushee is Graves Professor of Moral Philosophy at Union University. His books include Only Human: Christian Reflections on the Journey Toward Wholeness, Getting Marriage Right, and he is coauthor of Kingdom Ethics Following Jesus in a Contemporary Context.

 

 

Previous "Do Likewise" columns include:

 

Children of a Lesser Hope | What happens when we lose confidence in the church.

How to Create Cynics | Everybody knows when we're covering up our confusion with God-talk.

What's Right About Patriotism | The nation is not our highest love, but it still deserves our affection.

Crash | What our harrowing experience taught me about human nature.

The Truth About Deceit | Most lies are pitiful attempts to protect our pride.

Bill's Big Career Move | How do we make important family decisions?

Our Missing Moral Compass | Christianity is more than an event, an experience, or a set of beliefs.

Serious About Ethics

posted by: Jrobbins at 13:41 | link | comments |
dethroned

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