Conformed or Transformed?

Last night I finally took that sliver out of my foot. Because it was so small, I had to dig a bit to get it out and now today, my foot really hurts. It hurts worse than when I had the sliver in there. Every step I feel the cut. I thought about that for a bit, as it pertains to my post from yesterday. When we confess our sin and finally get it out of our lives, the pain of the consequences of our sin linger. Sometimes the consequences of our sin are worse than the pain of having the sin in our life. The good news is...that pain may feel worse at first, but it goes away and you become stronger and wiser for having gone through that process. Key for today: Cut out the slivers in your life and rejoice in God's grace and healing power in your life.

I have been reading a book called The Prayer Life by Andrew Murray. This book was written after a ministerial conference in Stellenbosch, South Africa in 1912. The ministers at the conference realized that one of the deepest roots of evil is the sin of prayerlessness. Andrew Murray writes about what they talked about to be victorious in this area. It was interesting to me that the reasons they struggled with not praying back in the late 1800's and early 1900's are the same reasons we give today: distractions, busyness, sin, ect.... It is not that we don't have time to pray, as we make time for friends to come over when they call. It's a matter of choice. Just as a doctor takes our pulse, our level of prayer is the pulse of our spiritual life. Prayer is a weapon that can destroy in a fight. We can conquer EVERYTHING by prayer. "Is it any wonder taht Satan does his utmost to snatch that weapon fromn the Christian or to hinder him from the use of it." ...

I have been watching some of the speeches this week from the Republican Convention. I was really impressed with Sarah Palin. She's got such personality! You could feel the people being drawn in by her speech and by the end, you could tell that they loved her! The commentators at the end of the speech were saying what an incredible job she did and then it immediately went to a clip about a lawsuit she is currently fighting in Alaska. I was really disappointed. It seemed they took her great moment and tried to squelch it. Every decision she has ever made, her family life, her job, everything is under scrutiny. It got me thinking, what if my life "went public" tomorrow? What if others evaluated my every decision? If they scrutized how I raised our family and spend my money, how would I hold up? Would they have a lot of "dirt" to proclaim to the press or would they see a life of integrity? 1 Peter 2:12 says to live such good lives among the pagans that, ...

I was outside pulling weeds in my garden and was reminded of the spiritual impact of "pullin' weeds". If the weeds are left to themselves in the garden, they will take over the beautiful flowers and vegetables that should be growing there. The garden was meant for beauty and producing fruit (or vegetables). We may think that now that we are a Christian that we have our ticket to heaven and that is enough. IT'S NOT! We have to pull the weeds, the sin, to be what God created us to be. He desires that we grow, flourish and bear fruit, but sin left untreated, will take over our life and choke us out. I can go out on any given day and pull at least ONE weed. Spiritually, I can go to prayer and seek my heart and almost always find at least ONE weed (sin, bad attitude, ect.) that needs to be removed. How about you? When was that last time you opened your heart up and let God reveal improper motives, attitudes and sin? Does your heart break over the sin or have you become in...

In my Spiritual Formation class with Mark Wilson , I was given these questions and they were very revealing in my own life. I would encourage you to use them in your own devotional time. They are from John Wesley's Holy Club and Loyola, the found of the Society of Jesus. Here is one set of nearly two dozen questions which John Wesley gave to members of his discipleship groups more than 200 years ago. The questions may have their origin in the spiritual accountability group started by Wesley when he was a student at Oxford -- a group that detractors called "The Holy Club." 1. Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I really am? In other words, am I a hypocrite? 2. Do I confidentially pass on to others what has been said to me in confidence? 3. Can I be trusted? 4. Am I a slave to dress, friends, work or habits? 5. Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying? 6. Did the Bible live in me today? 7. Do I give the Bible t...

I have been reading the Imitation of Christ by Thomas A. Kempis slowly over the past few months. There is so much rich material in there that I can't possibly take it all in by reading it through in a few days like I would like to. So, periodically I have been sharing a few thoughts from the book here. On how to aquire peace and on the desire to improve: "Resist one sin for a year!" Simple. We tend to look at all the things we need to do better in and then end up not doing well in any of the areas. If we became truely disciplined in ONE area of our life that needs attention, in a few years, we would cover some of the hardest things we deal with and be victorious. This idea reminds me of dieting. When I go on a diet, I tend to say "Ok, I am going to eat right, drink my water, exercise every day, and get good sleep" Yeah right! And day two of the diet, I am overwhelmed and discouraged because I can't change all those habits overnight. But....what if...

We are doing a sermon series based on the movie "Facing the Giants" and today I preached on Complete Surrender. We ended the sermon with my first communion service that I have performed. I felt so unworthy to be serving. What an awesome privilege I have been given. Here are some of the notes from my sermon: What does it mean to love God more than anything else? The first time “love” is used in the Bible is when Genesis speaks of Abraham’s love for his son Isaac. Isaac was Abraham and Sarah’s only child, born to them when they were past child-bearing age. God promised to Abraham that Isaac would continue the legacy and ancestry of Abraham for future generations. Did Abraham love Isaac more than God? God was going to test Abraham’s commitment to Him by asking Abraham to do the unthinkable. Let’s read about it in Genesis 22...... Genesis 22:1-18 1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. 2 Then God said...

O MOST kind, most loving Lord, Whom I now desire to receive with devotion, You know the weakness and the necessity which I suffer, in what great evils and vices I am involved, how often I am depressed, tempted, defiled, and troubled. To You I come for help, to You I pray for comfort and relief. I speak to Him Who knows all things, to Whom my whole inner life is manifest, and Who alone can perfectly comfort and help me. You know what good things I am most in need of and how poor I am in virtue. Behold I stand before You, poor and naked, asking Your grace and imploring Your mercy. Feed Your hungry beggar. Inflame my coldness with the fire of Your love. Enlighten my blindness with the brightness of Your presence. Turn all earthly things to bitterness for me, all grievance and adversity to patience, all lowly creation to contempt and oblivion. Raise my heart to You in heaven and suffer me not to wander on earth. From this moment to all eternity do You alone grow sweet to me, for You alone ...

"If you want to learn anything worthwhile, seek rather to be unknown and to be thought of as nothing." - Thomas A Kempis This is the true concept of humbleness. I want to serve and do things for God, but I need to do it for the Lord…serving Him only and if nobody else ever knows or acknowledges it, the fact that God knows is enough and satisfying to me. But, to do nothing, because I can’t be known while doing it is sin. It’s hard not to want recognition for our work, yet our soul motivation should be out of a love for God …nothing more….nothing less.

"A holy life will make the deepest impression. Lighthouses blow no horns, they just shine." -D.L. Moody

I find that there are so many lessons we can learn just by listening to our children. This morning, my daughter wanted some toast with her breakfast. So, she popped the bread in the toaster and when it popped up, I grabbed it and said "would you like me to butter your bread?" She replied "Mommy, that's not bread, it's TOAST!" Somehow her bread had changed into toast in the toaster. I explained to her that the toast was still bread but had changed it's form. When I became a Christian, I was still Joy, but I had changed forms. It changed the places I went, the way I thought and talked and the friends I had. Everything that I did changed. My priorities were different. When I am baked in the presence of God, it changes how I look, just as bread being baked in the toaster changes how it looks. So, when you look at your life, is it obvious that there has been a change in your life? Have you allowed the Spirit to change you from bread to toast (or s...

Last night as I was doing some cooking in the kitchen, the smoke alarms went off in the house. Now, some of you who know me, wouldn't really be suprised by this and are laughing at me right now, but I wasn't burning anything.....this time! We had company visiting, and I looked at them and said "Wow, that shouldn't be happening, I'm not doing anything worthy of that!" I decided to head down the hallway to fan the alarm, realizing that small children were sleeping and I needed to get them off (especially, since all the alarms in the house are connected and it was not only going off in the hallway, but in each of the bedrooms too!) As I walked down the hallway, I smelled smoke. I knew it was more than my cooking that set the alarms off. I ran into my bedroom, where my daughter was sitting on the bed crying and next to her was a burned kleenex from the candle burning in my bedroom. I made sure all the pieces were blown out and got the alarms off. I discussed with ...