Posted on 01/23/2007 2:56:18 AM PST by .30Carbine
The greatest characteristic a Christian can exhibit is this completely unveiled openness before God, which allows that person’s life to become a mirror for others. When the Spirit fills us, we are transformed, and by beholding God we become mirrors. You can always tell when someone has been beholding the glory of the Lord, because your inner spirit senses that he mirrors the Lord’s own character. Beware of anything that would spot or tarnish that mirror in you. It is almost always something good that will stain it— something good, but not what is best.
The most important rule for us is to concentrate on keeping our lives open to God. Let everything else including work, clothes, and food be set aside. The busyness of things obscures our concentration on God. We must maintain a position of beholding Him, keeping our lives completely spiritual through and through. Let other things come and go as they will; let other people criticize us as they will; but never allow anything to obscure the life that "is hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3). Never let a hurried lifestyle disturb the relationship of abiding in Him. This is an easy thing to allow, but we must guard against it. The most difficult lesson of the Christian life is learning how to continue "beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord . . . ."
In 1910 Chambers married Gertrude Hobbs. They had one daughter, Kathleen, who still resides in London (as of 1992).
In 1911 he founded and became principal of the Bible Training College in Clapham, London, where he lectured until the school was closed in 1915 because of World War I. In October 1915 he sailed for Zeitoun, Egypt (near Cairo), where he ministered to Australian and New Zealand troops as a YMCA chaplain. He died there November 15, 1917, following surgery for a ruptured appendix.
My Utmost for His Highest, his best-known book, has been continuously in print in the United States since 1935 and in this, the last decade of the century, remains in the top ten titles of the religious book bestseller list with millions of copies in print. It has become a Christian classic. [from the flyleaf of the book]
It's huge, what your family is doing. I have friends that have entered into this ministry, too. I keep a picture of them on my bookcase to remember to keep them in prayer. They have adopted one child so far, and have been caring for a baby since days after birth. When I think of the heartache that attends every hope for every one of these children I can only bow my head in thanksgiving to our Mighty God that He has grace for these very callings and chooses of His Love to watch over specially the orphans. The work you have been called to is glorious. I praise God for you and for your daughter and son in law. It's a blessing to know you and an honor to pray for you.
Thank you so very much.....
"Blessed be Jehovah God,
The God of Israel,
Who Only Does
Wonderful Things!
Blessed be
His Glorious Name
Forever!
Let the Whole Earth
Be Filled with His Glory.
Amen, and Amen!" (Ps.72:18,19)
And Amen!
Will Pray Sir, as requested.
bp7
Father I agree with my Sister Carb's prayer.
I ask that you would work all things together for their good.
Let nothing withstand your will, in the Name of Jesus.
Thanks, as always, for your encouragement. I do wish we lived next door to each other! Wouldn't that be fun?
Light An FR Prayer Room Candle
There are two candles labeled "GULF" in the FRPR candle room. I misspelled Toby's FReep name in the first one and caught the error just as I hit "light the candle", so please excuse. God knows who I mean, so that's doubling up, lol! So sorry.
Chores!
My strict/devout/borderline psychotic extremist Catholic grandma shoved certain chores down my throat that I REFUSED to do a large number of things for spite as an adult.
Years and years of refusing to make my bed...
Hanging clothes with the hangers backwards on the rod, clothes backwards on the hangers...
Intentionally folding towels a different way...
Throwing silverware into the drawer any old which way...
I told someone that God is so good to me to make up for how screwed up I was in the head before I was 4 thanks to granny's version of Catholicism.
I also thank God for letting her get married and only have one son and five grandchildren to mess up from a mental perspective.
Had she become a nun and a school teacher, the entire state of New Jersey would be an asylum today.
I guess that is partly why I have issues with going to church. Then there are the other traumas of life...
You're quite welcome, dear sister in Christ!
He forgives us our trespasses, sins, our debts, as we forgive those who trespass, incur debts, sin against us (see Luke 11:4).
Alamo-Girl has written good words on this theme, on this truth. Doing a find-in-forum on her posts is always beneficial, educational and edifying to me - perhaps you will find another sort of mentor as I consider her to be in my life, one who "speaks your language."
LOL, on the "chores" - I actually love and delight and rejoice in a clean, orderly home; it's just that these things are way down my list of priorities now. My relationship with my Jesus is first and most beloved; my relationship with other human beings comes next, "a distant second," as A-G says. Everything else, all the dailinesses, fall in line far below these two. It was not always so for me, but the more I fall in love with Jesus the more excellent and good I know this Way to be, amen.
By loving Him more than them
We shall love them more than we do now.
~C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves
Great God of wonders! All Thy ways
Are matchless, Godlike and divine;
But the fair glories of Thy grace
More Godlike and unrivaled shine,
More Godlike and unrivaled shine.
Crimes of such horror to forgive,
Such guilty, daring worms to spare;
This is Thy grand prerogative,
And none shall in the honor share,
And none shall in the honor share
Angels and men, resign your claim
To pity, mercy, love and grace:
These glories crown Jehovah’s Name
With an incomparable glaze
With an incomparable glaze.
In wonder lost, with trembling joy,
We take the pardon of our God:
Pardon for crimes of deepest dye,
A pardon bought with Jesus’ blood,
A pardon bought with Jesus’ blood.
O may this strange, this matchless grace,
This Godlike miracle of love,
Fill the whole earth with grateful praise,
And all th’angelic choirs above,
And all th’angelic choirs above.
Who is a pardoning God like Thee?
Or who has grace so rich and free?
Or who has grace so rich and free?
~Samuel Davies (1723-1761)
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/g/r/greatgow.htm
Yes, I would be delighted to be able to just pop out the door for a visit with you any time we wanted! Oh think of the prayer meetings! (:
Truly, forgiveness is near and dear to my heart...
After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as [it is] in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. - Matt 6:9-12You see, I expect to be forgiven in precisely the same manner and extent to which I forgive others. And to whatever extent I forgive others, Jesus will also forgive them. And if I bear a grudge or refuse to forgive, so will Jesus – and He’ll turn it right back on my head also, because I cannot judge someone else without having imagined the offense myself.Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. - Matt 7:1-2
Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: - Luke 6:37
Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. - Romans 2:1
And when he had said this, he breathed on [them], and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; [and] whose soever [sins] ye retain, they are retained. - John 20:22-23
My sins are many and thus the desire of my heart is that Christ forgive my sins so completely that He’ll never remember them again.
So that is how I forgive, I forget as well – and should the offense be brought to mind, I repent and forgive again and forget. It takes a lot of discipline at first.
I expect to arrive in heaven without an accusation of any kind toward another other being, physical or spiritual. Of course, I do expect others to be accusing me but I am counting of Christ's mercy alone - because I never in this life or the next want to even try to justify or excuse myself before Him or before my accuser.
The blessing of this community grows daily. Thank you for your good words on this true thing.
Bless you for your candor, Kate.
God loves candor. Give Him more freedom to move within a person to mature and bless them more, somehow.
I once had a Methodist MD head of a Charismatic home church ministry. He had a son who had become B'Hai--had even gone so far as to write him out of his will rather than have their resources used by a satanic cult via the son--was a source of great grief.
But at some point, Rob [now passed on], said that God told him that SOME of the son's rebellion was essential for the son's personhood. That otherwise, the son would have been squashed and obliterated intolerably as a person. It was quite a startling paradox to think of any rebellion as in any way healthy.
Perhaps something similar has been true in your life. I know if I had not at some [however covert] level--had I not resisted my mother's smothering, domineering, obliterating personality, I'd have ceased to exist as a viable person.
Of course, later in life, God has to help us deal with the rebellion. Rebellion, normal rebellion, in and of itself is deadly.
But asserting the individual that God birthed into and through your DNA is not (apart from our origina-sin nature) inherently evil. That is, God created you TO BE YOU and DELIGHTS IN YOU BEING YOU. Of course, He's determined that
YOU BECOME THE BEST YOU THAT YOU CAN BE--and that means conforming all of you to the image of His Son. That way, the fullest expressions of all the uniquenesses of you become most fully flowered and most fruitful.
But that's a long term process; a long term dance.
And, usually, relentlessly serving satan's aims by ruthlessly kicking ourselves for every infraction and frown . . . just ends up not being that helpful. Sure, we are to confess and repent when Holy Spirit notes something needing such. But then to leave the deed on the altar; pick ourselves up and go on IN HIS STRENGTH and growing maturity and wholeness.
I sometimes think that God has an easier time overhauling the obstreporous teen who has the courage to at least BE--than He does the poor crushed, near obliterated creature cowering in the corner virtually afraid or too exhausted from the battle to breathe, much less BE. I've too often and too long, in too many ways been that cowering creature.
One of the things that rebelling against someone like the fierce religionist in your ancestory results in is that we become married, chained to that which we hate--just the other side of the coin. It's still a more or less equal prison.
Realizing it, we can take God's hand and allow Him; cooperate with His bringing us out of that prison--partly of our own making and partly of our 'thrownness' composed of our initial earthly existential environment--our family.
We may decide we find the clothes backwards on the hangers somehow more functional. We may find that knives, forks and spoons in disaraay is more fun.
Or, we may find that doing them grandma's way really does work better; saves us time--is essentially useful.
Some things--there IS a right and a wrong way and it's time saving; energy saving; bother saving; horse sense, matuirty and Christ-like to find that right way and !conform! [horrors!] to it.
Some things, it doesn't matter. And what matters for one, may not matter for you. God is still THE BOSS in your life regardless of what others think.
Some things, even though all the world conforms to a different standard, are not to be your standard. John the Baptist ate grasshoppers and honey. Most people didn't--at least not that consistently, evidently.
But it is a satanic delusion that we can always DO OUR OWN THING and prosper.
Doing God's thing FOR US [whatever GOD'S THING FOR US is] is REALLY the ONLY way to EVEN TRULY BECOME WHO WE REALLY ARE.
I've been a bird of rare plumage all my life. It's been a hard road in a long list of ways. Yet, there's been no other road.
We each have to come to God led and God blessed peace and terms with our own God given uniquenesses. At some point, we learn to flower, rejoice, dance in them and with them as we draw closer to God in our walk.
I pray for that, for you.
If you have specific questions, please feel free. I can only offer from my own flawed life experiences and . . . on occasion . . . perhaps some bits from Holy Spirit as He gives them and as I have horse sense to perceive them.
God's best to you,
Qx
In terms of chores and everything else . . .
MAJORING IN MAJORS and MINORING IN MINORS
makes life a LOT easier.
Majoring in minors and minoring in majors brings pain and growing complications, hassles, trouble, bother.
30 days; 6 months; 10 years from now, what will you care that you didn't sweep the floor on Wednesday 24 Jan 2007?
Of course, at some point, if one never sweeps the floor, then THAT becomes a major complication in life. Dirt and mess eventually become stressful and begin to degrade the quality of our lives. There is benefit in SOME order and cleanliness vis a vis health, time effeciency, peace, etc.
But order in and of itself is not the GOAL AND PURPOSE OF LIFE. It just facilitates life--at it's best. It can also facilitate death when it becomes a narrow, rigid straight-jacket.
Balance is vital.
Bureaucracies can be so klunky.
We have similar problems here in our church with a wonderful couple caring for foster kids.
Keeping siblings together can be a viable ideal goal. But horse sense also needs to reign.
Prayers,
But the fair glories of Thy grace
More Godlike and unrivaled shine,
amen....it is so.
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