Counting The Cost

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

From death to life

The Valley of Dry Bones

Ezekiel 37:1-14

 

 

“The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"
      I said, "O Sovereign LORD, you alone know."

 

 

Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath ^[a] enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.' "

 

 

So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

 

 

Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.' " So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

 

 

Then he said to me: "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.' Therefore prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel.

 

Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.' " “

posted by: Jrobbins at 17:40 | link | comments |
from death to life

Out of hate

Excerpt from Christianity Today’s

Ignite Your Faith site:

 

 

“I Hated Everyone”

by Todd Hertz

 

An Interview with Flyleaf’s Lacey Mosely

 

 

I had nothing:

Flyleaf lead singer Lacey Mosely started doing drugs at 13. It was her escape from life. "Home was a war zone and I dealt a lot with low self-esteem and depression," Lacey says. "All that carried over into my relationships. I hated everyone."

By 16, Lacey was constantly fighting—verbally and physically—with her mom. Their fights got so violent that Lacey chose to go live with her grandparents. But moving away didn't make her any happier. "I lost my primary connection to drugs," she says. "I lost the guy I'd dated for three years. And I lost my brothers and sisters. I had nothing. I didn't know why I was waking up every day."

 

 

One Wednesday after school, she decided to kill herself. "But when I came home from school, my grandma knew something was wrong," Lacey says. "She told me I needed to go to church that night. To get her to stop yelling, I said I'd go…."

 

 

 

 

Click HERE to read the rest of Lacey’s story

posted by: Jrobbins at 13:26 | link | comments |
love

Faith doesn't see prison bars

From Prison Meditations: A Poem

by John Bunyan

1665:

 

 

I am indeed in prison now
In body, but my mind
Is free to study Christ, and how
Unto me he is kind.


For tho' men keep my outward man
Within their locks and bars,
Yet by the faith of Christ I can
Mount higher than the stars.


Their fetters cannot spirits tame,
Nor tie up God from me;
My faith and hope they cannot lame;
Above them I shall be.

 

 

The prison very sweet to me
Hath been since I came here,
And so would also hanging be,
If God would there appear.


Here dwells good conscience, also peace;
Here be my garments white;
Here, though in bonds, I have release
From guilt, which else would bite.


When they do talk of banishment,
Of death, or such like things,
Then to me God send heart's content,
That like a fountain springs.


Alas! they little think what peace
They help me to, for by
Their rage my comforts do increase;
Bless God, therefore, do I.


If they do give me gall to drink,
Then God doth sweet'ning cast -
So much thereto that they can't think
How bravely it doth taste.


For as the devil sets before
Me heaviness and grief,
So God sets Christ and grace much more,
Whereby I take relief.


Though they say then that we are fools
Because we here do lie,
I answer, Jails are Christ his schools,
In them we learn to die.

 

 

We sell our earthly happiness
For heavenly house and home;
We leave this world because 'tis less
And worse than that to come.


We change our drossy dust for gold,
From death to life we fly;
We let go shadows, and take hold
Of immortality.


We trade for that which lasting is,
And nothing for it give
But that which is already His
By whom we breathe and live.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click HERE to read the entire poem

posted by: Jrobbins at 14:06 | link | comments |
faith under fire

Truth trumps experience

From the always excellent

Of First Importance blog:

 

 

The Jesus of History

Posted: 26 Oct 2007 12:29 AM CDT

 

 

“My ‘experience’ of Jesus can and must only be understood in terms of God’s revelation of him in the Scriptures. The gospel is anchored in history. In an age which studies little history and puts such a high premium on experience, this aspect of the gospel is often forgotten, yet it is the ground of our assurance.

 

 

Often I feel as if living the Christian life is too difficult and am tempted to give it all away. However I remind myself that this is just not on! Jesus Christ really did live. He did die on the cross and rise again. He did ascend into heaven. I am not mistaken. There is no other life to live than the Christian life unless I ignore the facts. So I press on with it.

 

 

The Jesus of my ‘experience’ cannot sustain me in a such a moment of temptation because I am not sure if my experience is real and true. The Jesus of history can and does sustain me in such a moment because there is no doubt about his reality. He really did happen.”

 

 

- John Chapman, Know and Tell the Gospel

(Kingsford, NSW: St Matthias Press), 21-21

Click HERE to read more

from this great blog

posted by: Jrobbins at 14:37 | link | comments |
faith and feelings

Hope

From John Piper’s

Desiring God Ministry:

 

 

You Are What You Eat

by Jon Bloom

 

What to Feed Your Soul So that You Abound in Hope

May 2007

 

 

We are hope-guzzling machines. We consume hope every day. If we run out of it, we become desperate. We must have hope. All the wonderful things that have happened to us in the past will not fuel our hope if our future looks bleak. We can be grateful for the past. But we must have hope for the future. It’s what keeps us going.

 

 

When we’re hopeful, the world is full of wonder and possibilities. We have drive and curiosity. We want as much life as we can get. We take on challenges and see adversity as something to be overcome.

 

 

But when we lose hope, the world becomes a fearful, threatening place, full of chaotic futility. Hopelessness saps us of energy and desire. It robs us of interest and appetite. We just want to curl up and protect our soul. We call it depression. The Bible calls it hopelessness.

 

 

So what do you do when you lose hope? Note the psalmist’s prescription for his depression:

 

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God (Psalm 43:5).

 

 

Hope in God. Three simple words, but what exactly do they mean? This verse gives us a clue:

 

It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Deuteronomy 8:3, Matthew 4:4).

 

 

God created us with bodies and souls. Both require sustenance for life. What energy is to the body, hope is to the soul. When our body needs energy, we eat food. But when our soul needs hope, how do we “eat” God’s words? We eat God’s promises.

 

 

A promise is a pledge of a good or better future for us. God’s promises are what he pledges to be for us, do for us, and provide for us. Here is a powerful example of a promise God has used to feed saints throughout the ages and give them hope:

 

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11).

 

 

Jesus Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promises for “all the promises of God find their Yes in him” (2 Corinthians 1:20). He is the very Word of God (Revelation 19:13), which is why he called himself the Bread of Life (John 6:35) for “whoever feeds on this bread will live forever” (John 6:58). Jesus is the Source and Sustainer of our hope because without him we would not have a future.

 

 

What could possibly give more hope to our sinful souls than Jesus’ promises of complete forgiveness of our sins, the removal of all of the Father’s judgment and wrath against us, to always be with us (Matthew 28:20), and give us eternal life in God’s presence with full joy and pleasures forever (Psalm 16:11)? Nothing!

 

 

Now these are the “precious and very great promises” (2 Peter 1:4) that our souls are designed to be nourished by. However, our souls will actually digest any promise we feed them and try and convert it into hope. And here’s the danger: the world and the devil are very aware that we feed our souls promises.

 

Have you noticed that every advertisement and every temptation to sin is a promise of happiness? If we eat them, we hope they will bring us the happiness they promise. But they are “junk food promises.” They can never deliver the happiness our souls crave because we are designed to hope in God’s promises.

What are your promise-eating habits? I mean, junk food promises are everywhere. They are often convenient and usually alluring, especially when you’re hungry. They ruin your appetite for real promises. They deliver a fast buzz of false hope, but always disappoint because the buzz is followed by a hope-plunge into guilt, shame, and or emptiness.

 

 

The only way to break a habit of eating junk food promises is cultivating a taste for rich, nourishing, long-lasting, deeply satisfying, and true promises. And God freely gives us such promises to eat because he wants us to abound in hope:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope (Romans 15:13).

 

 

Our deep desire at DG is to help you taste and see that the Lord and his promises are good. One way we can do that this month is to point you John Piper’s message, “How Can I Keep Hoping? The Scriptures!” We will find no greater place to feed our souls than with the banquet God has provided for us in the Bible. For, as John explains, all the Scriptures have this one goal: to sustain our hope.

 

© Desiring God

 

 

 

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Desiring God.

 

Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

posted by: Jrobbins at 14:49 | link | comments |
hope for the future

God is Grace-Full

From Revive Our Hearts Ministry:

 

Sufficient

by

Nancy Leigh DeMoss:

 

 

God's Word says, "My grace is sufficient for you" (2 Cor. 12:9). 

Just what does that mean?

 

 

It means that when I'm exhausted and think I can't possibly get everything done—His grace is sufficient for me.

 

 

When I'm having a hard time with the person who gets under my skin—His grace is sufficient for me.

 

 

When I'm tempted to let my frustration loose and speak harsh words—His grace is sufficient for me.

 

 

When I've given in to my lust for food for the umpteenth time in a day—His grace is sufficient for me.

 

 

When I don't know which direction to go or how to make a decision—His grace is sufficient for me.

 

 

What do you need God's grace for? Wayward children? An aching body? Loneliness? Hormones going haywire?

 

 

Whatever your story, His grace is sufficient for you. Ask Him for His resources to meet your need and His grace to help you endure.

 

 

With Seeking Him, I'm Nancy Leigh DeMoss.

 

 

 

 

 

Click HERE to read more from Nancy