I Have Pressed Pause

I am now in an odd place of being between this and
that. I am doing a big project on Covenant which is
fascinating to me but I have no idea how to break it
down into small pieces. Our lives are somewhat in a
state of flux--good flux. Anyway, the bottom line is
that I don't know right now where God wants me to go
with the blog, so, you will have to check back now
and again to see. Each blog takes me about two hours
from start to finish and has been a major part of my
life for the past three years. There have been over
10,000 hits! You readers have been a huge blessing
to me and I do pray for you.

Ten Thousand Reasons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXDGE_lRI0E

Seven Year Re-Set

The evening of September 24 begins a New Year on
the Jewish calendar. The day marks the 7th year when
God asked His people to let the land rest, to cancel debts,
to trust Him. Have you ever wondered why there are so
many down turns in the economy that begin in the
September/October time frame? Has it been something
you have even noticed? It has caused me to wonder...
Actually, there are mysteries contained in these patterns.
Jonathan Cohn has written a book called,
The Mystery of The Shemita--the 7th year--, in which
he takes the reader back to 732 BC where ancient
Israel's hedge of protection was breached by an enemy
attack. What does this have to do with America?
Everything! Cohn has done extensive research into
the major downturns of the stock market, and turned
up some amazing correlations tied to the Shemita.
The book is hot off the press. At the very least it is a
fascinating read. At most it shows the hand of God
in every aspect of our economy.

Reader, how comforting to know that God is sovereign
over the markets, the world economy, and, He is not
keeping these things hidden. What a great God is
our God!

Crown Him with Many Crowns
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuYXKycGaIA

What Died?

Yesterday I asked you, 'what died?'

My identity died. You see before I came to Christ
I lived out my life from the failure of Adam. He
passed it all to me when my life began. Sigh...
But, when I confessed my sin and believed that
Jesus died for those sins, I not only received
forgiveness but a whole new identify! 'Jesus
became sin so that in Christ I could become
the righteousness of God.'

Reader, I am no longer a sinner saved by grace.
I am a saint who sometimes sins. Do you catch
the difference? The first eight chapters of
Romans contains the most compelling argument
for sainthood--what we were; what we have
become. Hallelujah, what a Savior!

His Love is Amazing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caJZ0Fqp7wM&list=RDcaJZ0Fqp7wM

Two Points of View

Righteousness, or being right with God has two points
of view:

• Righteous works--behavior oriented
• Righteous identity--state of being

Most Christians think of righteousness in terms of 

their performance. Some are better at it than others!

Holy behavior is important, but Abraham was 

called righteous because he believed God. 

Salvation is a two sided coin.

• Jesus living inside of the believer
• The believer living inside of Jesus

Did you know that for every verse about Jesus

living inside of me, there are ten verses about

my being in Christ? 

God chose me in Christ before the foundation

of the world. You and I were placed inside of

Jesus before the world was formed. This is how

Paul can say, '...knowing this, that our old self

was crucified with Him.' Romans 6:6.

When you died with Christ, God executed 

everything about you He could not tolerate

as a holy God. He buried it all with Jesus.

(See Romans 6)

Dear reader, here is my question for you.

What died in you when Jesus died?

Outrageous!

I see two pictures:

1. Jesus: glorious, beautiful, holy.
2. Jesus: sin drenched

I live inside time; God lives outside time.

Two thousand years ago, He, the Father, made His
precious Son to be sin. Outrageous, is it not, that
perfection took imperfection into Himself? Why?
So that in Him we might become the perfection,
or righteousness of God.

Righteousness: To be pure in heart, holy, a saint.

I cannot add or subtract anything to the following
statement: 'I have been crucified with Christ.'
'It is finished!'

Reader, did Jesus bear all of your sins when He
became sin? Are you now righteous in his sight?
The answer to that question determines your
peace.

My favorite rendition of Amazing Grace
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYMLMj-SibU

A Big Word

'Jesus had to be made like us in every respect
so he might become a merciful and faithful
high priest in things pertaining to God, to 
make propitiation for the sins of the people.'

Propitiation--what a big word! It is defined
as the 'atoning sacrifice offered to God to
satisfy our God whose wrath is against us
because of our sin.'

To atone means 'to stand as an equivalent.
It results in reconciliation between two parties
at odds with each other.' Jesus stood as our
equivalent.

Ug, I hate to go from verse to definitions like
this, but we throw around these words with
little understanding of their true meaning.
Bottom line:

'For our sake he made him to became sin who 
knew no sin so that in him we might become 
the righteousness of God.' (2 Corinthians 5:21)

The priests never became a sacrifice; they
offered up the lamb. Jesus gave Himself as
the sacrificial Lamb...

Ah, reader, you have no idea how much I long
to fully appreciate what I have written today!

Praise, My Soul, The King of Heaven
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx1eMwlDFb8&list=RDmDkuxEIcpdI&index=2

Faithfulness

'Jesus had to be made like us in every respect so
that he might become a merciful and faithful
high priest in the service of God, to make
propitiation for the sins of the people.' 
(Hebrews 2:17)

Stop right here! Put up your tent. I want to camp
on this verse. Ponder with me on the wonder of
Jesus.

• He was made like us in every way
• So that He might become

             Merciful

             Faithful

Faithful--One who is firm in adherence to the 

truth, constant in performing of duties and 

services, exact in attending to commands.

'Since we have a great high priest...let us 

draw near with a true heart in full assurance

of faith...let us hold fast the confession of

our hope without wavering, for he who 

promised is faithful.' (Hebrews 10:21-23)

Dearest reader, ponder these verses. What 

does it mean to you right now, that Jesus is 

your faithful high priest?

Like Father, Like Son

Great is Thy Faithfulness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k1WhFtVp0o

It is Impossible

The ingrained lie in each one of us is that 'God helps
those who help themselves.' Not So! You will not
find those words in the Bible. But do you think that
you should be able to live the Christian Life? Living
the Christian life is impossible. Try harder, fail. Try
harder, fail... Only One ever lived the Christian life.
His Name is Jesus. Jesus lives in you. He is your
life. He is your victory. He wants you to come to
the end of 'trying harder.' It is the broken vessel that
releases the fragrance within. Feeling broken and
helpless is not such a bad thing.

Reader, God is waiting for you to cry: 'Help!!!! I
can't do this. Lord, please live your Life through me.'

Merciful

'Jesus did not die to help out the angels but the
offspring of Abraham. He had to be made like
us in every respect so he might become a 
merciful and faithful high priest--for us.'

I love the word merciful. The verse says that
Jesus is merciful to his kids. We tend to think
that He expects perfect behavior, that He
stands in his perfect priestly garments with a
frown when we fail. Not so! His heart is
moved with compassion by our struggles.
He was tempted, but unlike Adam, did not
sin. He was made like us not to show us the
way, but to be the way. He who lived a
sinless life lives in us, so He can give life
through us.

Reader, does the fear of his displeasure keep
you in bondage? Jesus is your freedom!

The Gold Nugget

We pushed our way into the bank to see the gold
nugget. I don't know what I expected but it looked
like an ordinary rock to me; nothing glittered,
nothing shone. The rock was balanced on a scale
with a four pound weight. That little rock weighed
in heavy!!!!

I am like that gold nugget. There is nothing on the
outside that makes me truly of value or different,
if anything, the body is aging into new folds and
wrinkles. BUT, the Lord Jesus and His glory dwells
within! CS Lewis wrote a little book called,
The Weight of Glory.
Glory is heavy--with promise

Papa--Remind me the of the value within the
Christians I encounter--regardless of the outside.
Each of us is a gold nugget, in a rather ordinary
package.

Forty Four Years

The number rolls off my tongue. The years roll back to
that special day when we pledged ourselves to each
other "until death do us part." That day I could not
even fathom the ten year mark!

Forty four years puts us back,
Before Roe Vs Wade;
Before desk top computers, Cell Phones, iPads;
Before Don't Ask Don't Tell; the Aids Epidemic;
Before the end of the Vietnam War.

Gas was 35 cents a gallon; rent in NYC, $95;
the home we bought in St Louis, $27,500.

Much has changed. New wrinkles and rolls. We
have lived in a bunch of houses in our many
moves; have traveled into the ends of the
earth, even lived overseas. Dull is not something
I would tack on to our life together! Friends of
every stripe and color live all over the world.
We are rich in so many ways.

We are a good fit.
We are good for each other.
We can see why God placed us together as man and wife.

Thank you, Glen, for loving me and being
there when I need you. I love you.

We Can Live Free!

'...that through death he might destroy the one
who has the power of death, that is, the devil,
and deliver all those who through fear of 
death, were subject to life long bondage.'
Hebrews 2:14,15

When Jesus died everything changed! Satan
lost, not just some of his power, but all of
his power. How does he wage war now?
Through deception. He is like the wizard in
The Wizard of OZ who worked his magic
behind the curtain. He was such a small
nothing. Yes, the devil can still roar, harass
intimidate and make our lives miserable--if
we let him. The truth is that Jesus, has
delivered--past tense-- us from sin, bondage
and death. We can live free! Jesus said,
'It is finished!'

A few days ago my blood pressure shot up
and I had some difficulty getting it down.
For some days I had been walking out of
my own resources in a series of difficult
situations. I was clueless but my body was
not. Fear had taken over. When I was a
child I posted this rhyme:

Fear knocked
Faith opened the door--
and, there was no one there.

Reader, the indwelling Christ is our only source
for victorious living.

In Christ Alone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWXcRVZWTb8

Death

'Since therefore the children share in flesh and 
blood, he himself likewise partook of the same 
things, that through death he might destroy the 
one who has the power of death, that is, the 
devil.' (Hebrews 2:14)

Jesus became like us in his suffering. But even
more startling, Jesus received death into himself.
He did this in order to destroy death and also
the one who uses death as a weapon--the devil.

Do you not think, reader, that when death entered
into Jesus, all hell celebrated? Satan thought he
had won. He now had the world and everything
in it. It was his, just as he had planned. Really?
Does it not seem that way sometimes in your
world?

Thankfulness Corner:
Summer heat gone. Lows in the 40's

His Pleasure

Glen's brother and wife arrived late Friday afternoon.
Getting the hay in had taken time early in the day.
They came with a purpose: The wrap around deck of
40 years needed some serious help.

The two hour power outage left us in close proximity
by candlelight as we sat around the uncleared dinner
table.

A sudden storm caught us by surprise. Lightning,
booming thunder, heavy rain soaked the land--and
the deck.

The goats next door discovered a hole in the fence
and followed each other into the pasture where
three calves grazed. It took time to sort them out.

Men gathered together around the piano in the
living room to practice, 'Be Thou My Vision.'
As the music filled the air in perfect harmony,
memories stirred of other times over the years...

What about the deck? It received its first coat on
Monday morning, followed by a surprise visit by
the family from Boise. The painting crew met for
Pizza. The second coat went on as Labor Day
waned. Mission accomplished!

Seriously, reader, God wrote the script. He
watched with pleasure as we received all the
gifts He had planned for us!