via silas
Remember what I said about compatibility? You and your spouse may not like the same movies or have the same favorite color, but you should share the same love for Christ.
Hughes separates marital love into 3 categories: sacrificial love, sanctifying love, and self-love.
Sacrificial love can be explained in Ephesians 5:25. Men, we are to love our wives as Christ loves the Church, in which he went so far as to die for it. It’s about giving over all that you have and also all that you are. Give her your time and energy while paying attention to her needs, both physical and spiritual. Intercede and pray for her too! Rob has said that you can’t call someone a friend until you’ve prayed for them. More so for your spouse.
Sanctifying love is meant to move you two to holiness. Look at Ephesians 5:26-27. Is she more like Christ because she married you? Is she a better mother because of you? A better friend? Rick Holland has said (unfortunately, I don’t remember the Scripture reference right now) that in heaven, God holds a man accountable not only for his own life but also for the life of his wife. So how are you elevating her?
Self-love can be summarized with “love your neighbor as yourself.” How much more so is your wife your neighbor? Treat her as your own flesh! You love yourself, so love her the same way. Her worries, comfort, adornment, and care should become yours.
Marriage will be your second most important relationship in life (Christ comes first), so work on it.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
hopefully wholesome movie
hoping to watch "Blind Side" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0878804/ with joyce tomorr :)
hmm interesting. LMPTM
interesting book~ (not that i think my pastor has told me these things, some i may have heard from other ppl).
do you agree/disagree?
http://www.liesmypastortoldme.com/
(an excerpt):
"I have peace about this decision"
Life is filled with decisions. Sometimes making these decisions can be difficult, even frightening. This is especially true when there are several options that appear to be equally viable. In such cases we want God to tell us which decision we should make. But where the Scriptures are not explicit it can sometimes be difficult to discern which direction he is leading us. My pastor had a solution for that: simply make the decision that you feel the most peace about. If you feel peace about a decision, he would say, then that is evidence that you are walking in God’s will. If you don’t feel peace about a decision, he would advise, then that decision is not in line with the will of God.
I have since learned that my pastor’s view is not a unique one. Over the years I have heard Christian after Christian claim that that their decisions are in line with God’s will with the simple words, “I have peace about this decision!” This idea that feeling peace about a decision is evidence that it is God’s will (and that not feeling peace about a decision is evidence that it is not God’s will) is commonly held. Nevertheless, it is a lie.
First, we know it is a lie because it is nowhere taught in the Scriptures. Of course, there are many New Testament passages that promise peace to the believer. These passages, however, are not primarily concerned with an emotional feeling but with an objective fact. As the Apostle Paul explains in Romans 5:1, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” According to the Scriptures, believers experience objective peace as a result of being reconciled to God in Christ and not as a result of making the right decisions.
Second, we know it is a lie because we see multiple stories in the Bible that directly contradict it. For example, consider the story of Moses. God himself audibly spoke to Moses and made his will for Moses known. Yet Moses did not feel peace about the decision God was calling him to make. To the contrary, Moses was using every excuse he could find hoping to get out of it.
“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?” When God didn’t accept that excuse Moses tried a second. “Suppose they ask me who sent me? What should I tell them?” When that excuse didn’t work Moses looked for another. “What if they do not believe me or listen to me?” When God refused that excuse Moses tried another. “But I have never been eloquent. I am slow in speech and tongue.” Finally, with no plausible excuses remaining, Moses directly asked God for an out. “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.” Does that sound like a man who feels peace about his decision? Of course not. Yet there is no question that the decision he was
making was entirely consistent with God’s will. Not only did God communicate his will to Moses audibly, he also accompanied that verbal communication with multiple miracles. Yet even that was not enough to give Moses peace about the decision. And this story is not unique to Moses. We find this with many of the Old Testament prophets. God clearly calls them to a specific task and they feel anything but at peace about pursuing it.
The Bible also introduces us to characters who have the opposite experience. Take Jonah for example. As God’s prophet, Jonah knew with certainty that God had called him to go to Nineveh. Yet Jonah did not feel peace about that decision so he fled in the opposite direction. In so doing, Jonah was directly going against God’s revealed will. If my pastor’s claim was true then Jonah should not have been at peace with his decision. But he was. He was so at peace with his decision that he was able to sleep soundly on his get-away ship in the middle of a violent storm. While everyone else on the ship was concerned about their life, Jonah was peacefully sleeping below deck. Jonah knew precisely what God’s will was. Yet he did not feel peace about making that decision. Instead, he felt peace as he fled -- in willful rebellion -- from the decision God told him to make.
Clearly, the claim that I can know I’m in God’s will because “I have peace about that decision” is a lie that has no basis in Scripture. Nevertheless, many Christians believe it. But we don’t have to. The truth of the matter is that we have been given everything we need to guide us in our decisions: we have been given God’s Word and we have been given God’s Work.
God’s Word often provides explicit instructions about what decisions we should and should not make and, even where it does not, it still supplies us with sufficient information to make a decision with confidence. It does this by revealing to us who God is, what he is like, and what he wills.
There will be times, though, when you have to apply God’s Word to very specific situations in very specific ways and it will be un- clear to you which of the two or three options before you is the best option. But this does not mean you need to look to emotions or other signs to confirm God’s will for you. Instead, you can look to God’s Work. Specifically, you look to the work accomplished by Jesus Christ through his perfect life, sacrificial death, and victorious resurrection. It is through faith in this work that we can now be certain that “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). This means that we can have peace in any decision that is consistent with God’s Word because we know – through God’s Work – that in whatever decision we make God will love us, be with us, and use our decision to make us more like his Son.
do you agree/disagree?
http://www.liesmypastortoldme.com/
(an excerpt):
"I have peace about this decision"
Life is filled with decisions. Sometimes making these decisions can be difficult, even frightening. This is especially true when there are several options that appear to be equally viable. In such cases we want God to tell us which decision we should make. But where the Scriptures are not explicit it can sometimes be difficult to discern which direction he is leading us. My pastor had a solution for that: simply make the decision that you feel the most peace about. If you feel peace about a decision, he would say, then that is evidence that you are walking in God’s will. If you don’t feel peace about a decision, he would advise, then that decision is not in line with the will of God.
I have since learned that my pastor’s view is not a unique one. Over the years I have heard Christian after Christian claim that that their decisions are in line with God’s will with the simple words, “I have peace about this decision!” This idea that feeling peace about a decision is evidence that it is God’s will (and that not feeling peace about a decision is evidence that it is not God’s will) is commonly held. Nevertheless, it is a lie.
First, we know it is a lie because it is nowhere taught in the Scriptures. Of course, there are many New Testament passages that promise peace to the believer. These passages, however, are not primarily concerned with an emotional feeling but with an objective fact. As the Apostle Paul explains in Romans 5:1, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” According to the Scriptures, believers experience objective peace as a result of being reconciled to God in Christ and not as a result of making the right decisions.
Second, we know it is a lie because we see multiple stories in the Bible that directly contradict it. For example, consider the story of Moses. God himself audibly spoke to Moses and made his will for Moses known. Yet Moses did not feel peace about the decision God was calling him to make. To the contrary, Moses was using every excuse he could find hoping to get out of it.
“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?” When God didn’t accept that excuse Moses tried a second. “Suppose they ask me who sent me? What should I tell them?” When that excuse didn’t work Moses looked for another. “What if they do not believe me or listen to me?” When God refused that excuse Moses tried another. “But I have never been eloquent. I am slow in speech and tongue.” Finally, with no plausible excuses remaining, Moses directly asked God for an out. “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.” Does that sound like a man who feels peace about his decision? Of course not. Yet there is no question that the decision he was
making was entirely consistent with God’s will. Not only did God communicate his will to Moses audibly, he also accompanied that verbal communication with multiple miracles. Yet even that was not enough to give Moses peace about the decision. And this story is not unique to Moses. We find this with many of the Old Testament prophets. God clearly calls them to a specific task and they feel anything but at peace about pursuing it.
The Bible also introduces us to characters who have the opposite experience. Take Jonah for example. As God’s prophet, Jonah knew with certainty that God had called him to go to Nineveh. Yet Jonah did not feel peace about that decision so he fled in the opposite direction. In so doing, Jonah was directly going against God’s revealed will. If my pastor’s claim was true then Jonah should not have been at peace with his decision. But he was. He was so at peace with his decision that he was able to sleep soundly on his get-away ship in the middle of a violent storm. While everyone else on the ship was concerned about their life, Jonah was peacefully sleeping below deck. Jonah knew precisely what God’s will was. Yet he did not feel peace about making that decision. Instead, he felt peace as he fled -- in willful rebellion -- from the decision God told him to make.
Clearly, the claim that I can know I’m in God’s will because “I have peace about that decision” is a lie that has no basis in Scripture. Nevertheless, many Christians believe it. But we don’t have to. The truth of the matter is that we have been given everything we need to guide us in our decisions: we have been given God’s Word and we have been given God’s Work.
God’s Word often provides explicit instructions about what decisions we should and should not make and, even where it does not, it still supplies us with sufficient information to make a decision with confidence. It does this by revealing to us who God is, what he is like, and what he wills.
There will be times, though, when you have to apply God’s Word to very specific situations in very specific ways and it will be un- clear to you which of the two or three options before you is the best option. But this does not mean you need to look to emotions or other signs to confirm God’s will for you. Instead, you can look to God’s Work. Specifically, you look to the work accomplished by Jesus Christ through his perfect life, sacrificial death, and victorious resurrection. It is through faith in this work that we can now be certain that “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). This means that we can have peace in any decision that is consistent with God’s Word because we know – through God’s Work – that in whatever decision we make God will love us, be with us, and use our decision to make us more like his Son.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
spiritual bastards
http://dennisafricatrip.blogspot.com/2010/08/stop-creating-spiritual-bastards.html
via jeanelle.
i want more faith! Kingdom come
via jeanelle.
i want more faith! Kingdom come
Sunday, August 22, 2010
gooooood quote
If you don't love somebody, it gets annoying when they tell you what to do or what to feel. When you love them you get pleasure from their pleasure, and it makes it easy to serve. I didn't love God because I didn't know God. - Donald Miller
stolen from dchung's profile.
stolen from dchung's profile.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Utmost Aug. 19
Self-Consciousness
(i was almost gonna type it out, but googled it! ^^)
its not king james sp33k (like the version i'm reading), but its still pretty good.
Come to Me . . . —Matthew 11:28
God intends for us to live a well-rounded life in Christ Jesus, but there are times when that life is attacked from the outside. Then we tend to fall back into self-examination, a habit that we thought was gone. Self-awareness is the first thing that will upset the completeness of our life in God, and self-awareness continually produces a sense of struggling and turmoil in our lives. Self-awareness is not sin, and it can be produced by nervous emotions or by suddenly being dropped into a totally new set of circumstances. Yet it is never God’s will that we should be anything less than absolutely complete in Him. Anything that disturbs our rest in Him must be rectified at once, and it is not rectified by being ignored but only by coming to Jesus Christ. If we will come to Him, asking Him to produce Christ-awareness in us, He will always do it, until we fully learn to abide in Him.
Never allow anything that divides or destroys the oneness of your life with Christ to remain in your life without facing it. Beware of allowing the influence of your friends or your circumstances to divide your life. This only serves to sap your strength and slow your spiritual growth. Beware of anything that can split your oneness with Him, causing you to see yourself as separate from Him. Nothing is as important as staying right spiritually. And the only solution is a very simple one— “Come to Me . . . .” The intellectual, moral, and spiritual depth of our reality as a person is tested and measured by these words. Yet in every detail of our lives where we are found not to be real, we would rather dispute the findings than come to Jesus.
http://utmost.org/
wow Utmost. so good! so convicting! so crazy that chamber's devotionals are relevant today.
church prayer meeting. refreshing. share <3 older bros ftw!
cool jamming with timwang from san marino :) good talks and encouragement.
"give me a word"
sprouts.
(i was almost gonna type it out, but googled it! ^^)
its not king james sp33k (like the version i'm reading), but its still pretty good.
Come to Me . . . —Matthew 11:28
God intends for us to live a well-rounded life in Christ Jesus, but there are times when that life is attacked from the outside. Then we tend to fall back into self-examination, a habit that we thought was gone. Self-awareness is the first thing that will upset the completeness of our life in God, and self-awareness continually produces a sense of struggling and turmoil in our lives. Self-awareness is not sin, and it can be produced by nervous emotions or by suddenly being dropped into a totally new set of circumstances. Yet it is never God’s will that we should be anything less than absolutely complete in Him. Anything that disturbs our rest in Him must be rectified at once, and it is not rectified by being ignored but only by coming to Jesus Christ. If we will come to Him, asking Him to produce Christ-awareness in us, He will always do it, until we fully learn to abide in Him.
Never allow anything that divides or destroys the oneness of your life with Christ to remain in your life without facing it. Beware of allowing the influence of your friends or your circumstances to divide your life. This only serves to sap your strength and slow your spiritual growth. Beware of anything that can split your oneness with Him, causing you to see yourself as separate from Him. Nothing is as important as staying right spiritually. And the only solution is a very simple one— “Come to Me . . . .” The intellectual, moral, and spiritual depth of our reality as a person is tested and measured by these words. Yet in every detail of our lives where we are found not to be real, we would rather dispute the findings than come to Jesus.
http://utmost.org/
wow Utmost. so good! so convicting! so crazy that chamber's devotionals are relevant today.
church prayer meeting. refreshing. share <3 older bros ftw!
cool jamming with timwang from san marino :) good talks and encouragement.
"give me a word"
sprouts.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
just random thoughts/not cohesive
1) Fireseeds from Korea to the World is a good book. wanna know how some kccc traditions came ab? read the book ^^ its also encouraging. <<>
Would've been pretty cool to read it before I transitioned out of kccc to aacf but thats okay ^^ i'm more than half way done with the book.
2) at uscwm, prudence has been giving morning seminars on the names of the Lord. This one came up in my head recently:
http://www.preceptaustin.org/el_roi_-_god_who_sees.htm EL ROI.
if u are reading through my ramblings, praying to the Lord's different names is good and biblical >opens up your prayer life even more.
Why study God's Names? |
| Da 11:32b "...the people who know their God will display strength and take action." (Daniel 11:32 EL ROI THE RIGHTEOUS MAN OR WOMAN RUNS INTO THE STRONG TOWER OF THE GOD WHO SEES (Genesis 16:13) 3) so i volunteered my house for house for the youth bbq/ "pool party" (dubbed by one of the girls). kinda cringe at the connotations of "pool party"
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