1Thess:2:13; Phil2:13
Logos, Rama, and Energeo are Greek words. (Now, you Greek Scholars and English Majors must forgive me if I spelled them wrong. We can look them up later.) They refer to what I read in the verses above.
Logos is the written Word of God. The Bible
Rama is the Word of God when He speaks into our heart
Energeo is the energy (power) of God.
Now, here is when it gets exciting. The Holy Spirit of God takes the Logos and the Rama and causes us to experience the Energeo of God. Simply said: He works changes in our lives through the spoke word in our hearts and the written word in the Bible. God speaks to us, we believe. The result is a changed life.
Why do I get excited about this? It means that God works in us. It means that His word both Rama and Logos changes our lives. It means the scriptures are alive and powerful today. It means we can relax, believe, enjoy, and experience God. We lean on Him as He completes the work needed in our hearts. We can do nothing on our own. He does the work in us and through us.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Heart talk
Proverbs 11:3; 3:5; 17:3-6; Psm141:3-5
All of us, male and female, long for heart talk. Just look around at all the ways we try to connect today. We all want to interact in such a way as to be known by another. We want to be heard and understood. We search for someone somewhere who will truly connect to us. It's as if we believe that a soul mate is out there somewhere and we need to find them.
I am not sure I believe in soul mates. I am not even sure that it is wise. But I do know we were created to interact and connect. Yet, as many times as we reach out for and search out connections we are disappointed and often unsatisfied. That is because we are looking for a connection that only God can fill. We need to connect to Him first for He is the only true soul mate.
The longing in us to connect on a heart level is there because God wants to connect to us on a heart level. It is a hunger placed in us by Him so we will seek Him out and it is not to be satisfied by anything or anyone else. That is why most relationships fall short, even friendships. However, once that need is filled by a personal relationship with God (Found in my book Teach Me Lord under lesson 1) then all the other connections we make have deeper meaning.
God reaches out to us all the time. He speaks to us all the time. Heart talk is on His lips all the time. In the verses above, He talks about integrity and how it guides us. How He tests the heart, how we are to trust in His heart. He asks us to acknowledge Him and let Him guide us. He warns us to not let our hearts be drawn to the world and people of the world. He basically draws us to Himself throughout scripture. He wants us to receive Him as Lord, Savior...God; so we can experience Him, know Him and be known by Him. That is a soul mate.
He is the answer to heart talk because He wants us to connect to Him on that level. He is the soul mate. He is the connection. When we lean on Him, go to Him, let Him fill our heart we will know Him and be known. We will have the relationship we seek.
When the bank wants their tellers to recognize a counterfeit they have them study and handle real money. They do not show them counterfeit money. Then when a teller experiences counterfeit money they immediately recognize the fake. God is the real heart connection, the only soul mate, the only one who knows heart talk. So allow yourself to experience Him through worship, prayer and scripture. Be still and let His heart connect to yours. (Teach Me Lord lesson 2) Then when you connect to people you will recognize the real thing.
God wants us for soul mates. He wants to make a heart connection to us. He wants heart talk. Why would we want to settle for anything less.
All of us, male and female, long for heart talk. Just look around at all the ways we try to connect today. We all want to interact in such a way as to be known by another. We want to be heard and understood. We search for someone somewhere who will truly connect to us. It's as if we believe that a soul mate is out there somewhere and we need to find them.
I am not sure I believe in soul mates. I am not even sure that it is wise. But I do know we were created to interact and connect. Yet, as many times as we reach out for and search out connections we are disappointed and often unsatisfied. That is because we are looking for a connection that only God can fill. We need to connect to Him first for He is the only true soul mate.
The longing in us to connect on a heart level is there because God wants to connect to us on a heart level. It is a hunger placed in us by Him so we will seek Him out and it is not to be satisfied by anything or anyone else. That is why most relationships fall short, even friendships. However, once that need is filled by a personal relationship with God (Found in my book Teach Me Lord under lesson 1) then all the other connections we make have deeper meaning.
God reaches out to us all the time. He speaks to us all the time. Heart talk is on His lips all the time. In the verses above, He talks about integrity and how it guides us. How He tests the heart, how we are to trust in His heart. He asks us to acknowledge Him and let Him guide us. He warns us to not let our hearts be drawn to the world and people of the world. He basically draws us to Himself throughout scripture. He wants us to receive Him as Lord, Savior...God; so we can experience Him, know Him and be known by Him. That is a soul mate.
He is the answer to heart talk because He wants us to connect to Him on that level. He is the soul mate. He is the connection. When we lean on Him, go to Him, let Him fill our heart we will know Him and be known. We will have the relationship we seek.
When the bank wants their tellers to recognize a counterfeit they have them study and handle real money. They do not show them counterfeit money. Then when a teller experiences counterfeit money they immediately recognize the fake. God is the real heart connection, the only soul mate, the only one who knows heart talk. So allow yourself to experience Him through worship, prayer and scripture. Be still and let His heart connect to yours. (Teach Me Lord lesson 2) Then when you connect to people you will recognize the real thing.
God wants us for soul mates. He wants to make a heart connection to us. He wants heart talk. Why would we want to settle for anything less.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
The excuse
Galatians 5:22-26
This morning I woke to a speaker that said we could love with out restraint. We have God living in us and because of his presence we have the capacity to love without restraint. I had to look at myself once again and notice that I give myself an excuse for not living that way. I say, "I am human, not god; thus I am not perfect enough to live that way."
Well, this is true. I am not God. I am not perfect and I will not live a God inspired love walk without restraint. But that is not the point. You see, the point is that the possibility is there. That maybe we all live below the mark because we give ourselves this excuse.
I am not suggesting we will live a perfect love walk. What I want to say is that maybe we should allow the Spirit of God to have His way in our hearts more often. Not turn ourselves over to selfishness so often. Maybe say..."Father here I am, use me. I surrender my heart and soul to love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control...Your nature that already lives in me."
Yes, this requires us to grow up and to stop with the ME attitude. The selfish, self-centered me, myself and I attitude. But then is that not the goal; to be more like Him. That can only come if we surrender our lives and let Him be God in us.
I, at this age, have regrets for not being more mature in Him, for not being more loving in years past, for being too selfish in relationships. In fact, I think that we all would notice a marked difference in all our relationships if we allowed Him to have His way more often. I do know that when we walk in Him and follow His ways we experience less pain. His way is the best way.
No more excuses.
This morning I woke to a speaker that said we could love with out restraint. We have God living in us and because of his presence we have the capacity to love without restraint. I had to look at myself once again and notice that I give myself an excuse for not living that way. I say, "I am human, not god; thus I am not perfect enough to live that way."
Well, this is true. I am not God. I am not perfect and I will not live a God inspired love walk without restraint. But that is not the point. You see, the point is that the possibility is there. That maybe we all live below the mark because we give ourselves this excuse.
I am not suggesting we will live a perfect love walk. What I want to say is that maybe we should allow the Spirit of God to have His way in our hearts more often. Not turn ourselves over to selfishness so often. Maybe say..."Father here I am, use me. I surrender my heart and soul to love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control...Your nature that already lives in me."
Yes, this requires us to grow up and to stop with the ME attitude. The selfish, self-centered me, myself and I attitude. But then is that not the goal; to be more like Him. That can only come if we surrender our lives and let Him be God in us.
I, at this age, have regrets for not being more mature in Him, for not being more loving in years past, for being too selfish in relationships. In fact, I think that we all would notice a marked difference in all our relationships if we allowed Him to have His way more often. I do know that when we walk in Him and follow His ways we experience less pain. His way is the best way.
No more excuses.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Samson
Judges16
Remember this guy. He had super-human strength. A gift from God. As long as he did not cut his hair he kept the gift.... BUT... poor Samson fell in love and turned his life over to Delia. She, a wicked person out to destroy this child of God, managed to accomplish her goal; or did she.
I heard this week at bible study that God answers prayer His way. We ask, hope, believe but His answer is not always what we want or think. However, it is always answered in a way that gives God the most glory. Isn't that what we want for our lives? We want God to receive all the glory for our lives, correct? In fact our lives, in our minds, are not a success until He receives the glory. It is a built in desire that comes from hearts surrendered to Him.
This Samson story is a little like that thought. He gave his life over to Delia and she had her way and put him in a painful place. Blind and in a prison. His hair grew while in prison and at the end of chapter 16 he comes back to God and ask for help. He does not ask that he be spared but that God would use him once more and be glorified. God was glorified for it says that Samson in his last act on earth did more for God than he had his entire life.
This encourages me because it tells me that regardless of our mistakes we can turn to God anytime, turn our lives back over to Him and He will rescue, deliver and use our lives again...BIG TIME.
Remember this guy. He had super-human strength. A gift from God. As long as he did not cut his hair he kept the gift.... BUT... poor Samson fell in love and turned his life over to Delia. She, a wicked person out to destroy this child of God, managed to accomplish her goal; or did she.
I heard this week at bible study that God answers prayer His way. We ask, hope, believe but His answer is not always what we want or think. However, it is always answered in a way that gives God the most glory. Isn't that what we want for our lives? We want God to receive all the glory for our lives, correct? In fact our lives, in our minds, are not a success until He receives the glory. It is a built in desire that comes from hearts surrendered to Him.
This Samson story is a little like that thought. He gave his life over to Delia and she had her way and put him in a painful place. Blind and in a prison. His hair grew while in prison and at the end of chapter 16 he comes back to God and ask for help. He does not ask that he be spared but that God would use him once more and be glorified. God was glorified for it says that Samson in his last act on earth did more for God than he had his entire life.
This encourages me because it tells me that regardless of our mistakes we can turn to God anytime, turn our lives back over to Him and He will rescue, deliver and use our lives again...BIG TIME.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Lost?
Do you feel lost sometimes? Do you wonder how you got where you are and why you even decided to go there? Do you want to curl up in a blanket and close your eyes in hopes that when you open them again the mess around you will be gone? Do you want that slate clean so you could start over again? Are you confused about truth, life and yourself?
Well, join the crowd. These are things we all feel more than once in life. The answer is found in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ who is God. These feelings come when we decide to be our own God. We fall away, get into a mess, get lost and confused when we decide to be our own god. (By the way, that new religion that Oprah is endorsing is based on everyone being their own god.)
Now, let me point you in the right direction, the path, the way. Jesus said "I am the way the truth and the life. No man comes to the father (God) except by way of me." What does this mean?
It means we have sinned. Jesus died for those sins. We repent of those sins. God forgives us because of what Jesus did. We trust in His sacrifice personally to make us righteous. We invite Him into our lives as Lord (boss). We then are no longer lost, wondering and trying to make sense out of life because His wisdom now lives in us to shows us the way.
If you have lost your way, turn your heart once again toward Jesus and repent. Receive His words, truth and life. Enjoy.
These thought come to me today because of Proverbs 2. It talks about listening to wisdom, wisdom only found in God (not the Oprah show.) He left us a guide book, the Bible. In this passage it calls us to search for wisdom as if it were a treasure. Wisdom always points to the creator, God. We fear (respect and reverence) Him and experience the knowledge of Him as we read scripture and receive (believe) truth.
In plain simple terms it means this: When we receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we escape the result of sin. We find the right path (Jesus is the way). Because of Jesus we are the righteousness of God, we are blameless and we bow down before Him our Lord and follow Him. This is wisdom
Do you feel lost? Look to Him, Jesus the Christ.
Read all of Proverbs 2 today if you have a minute.
Well, join the crowd. These are things we all feel more than once in life. The answer is found in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ who is God. These feelings come when we decide to be our own God. We fall away, get into a mess, get lost and confused when we decide to be our own god. (By the way, that new religion that Oprah is endorsing is based on everyone being their own god.)
Now, let me point you in the right direction, the path, the way. Jesus said "I am the way the truth and the life. No man comes to the father (God) except by way of me." What does this mean?
It means we have sinned. Jesus died for those sins. We repent of those sins. God forgives us because of what Jesus did. We trust in His sacrifice personally to make us righteous. We invite Him into our lives as Lord (boss). We then are no longer lost, wondering and trying to make sense out of life because His wisdom now lives in us to shows us the way.
If you have lost your way, turn your heart once again toward Jesus and repent. Receive His words, truth and life. Enjoy.
These thought come to me today because of Proverbs 2. It talks about listening to wisdom, wisdom only found in God (not the Oprah show.) He left us a guide book, the Bible. In this passage it calls us to search for wisdom as if it were a treasure. Wisdom always points to the creator, God. We fear (respect and reverence) Him and experience the knowledge of Him as we read scripture and receive (believe) truth.
In plain simple terms it means this: When we receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we escape the result of sin. We find the right path (Jesus is the way). Because of Jesus we are the righteousness of God, we are blameless and we bow down before Him our Lord and follow Him. This is wisdom
Do you feel lost? Look to Him, Jesus the Christ.
Read all of Proverbs 2 today if you have a minute.
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