If we are blessed, then what?

I always seem to hear the phrase, "God has blessed America so much", or "We are so blessed in America". If this is true, and God has actually given us wealth and possessions, then why do you think that is?

If this quote is correct by David Platt, it is pretty astonishing, in 2009 America spent $10 billion on church buildings and total structures owned by churches in America come to $250 billion + . I can't even imagine what the stats would be for how much christians spent last year on unnecessary items or upgrades to what they already had. Would our giving outweigh our spending? I doubt it. What does this show the unbelieving world?

Jesus said in Matt 6:21, Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Where are we showing the world that our heart, treasure is?

I need to be reminded of this because it is hard not to get caught up in wanting more stuff. We are even called "consumers" , that doesn't even sound good. I know this is a heart issue and it NEEDS to be dealt with. God forgive us and me, how long before His patience runs out for us? When will he shake the nations, or has this already begun? To shake off false gods, false dependence, half hearted worship, and direct disobedience to his Word.

Ps 82:5, They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

Matt 24:29, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

Heb 12:27-28, This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.

2 Chron 7:14, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Oh Jesus, how we need our land healed and sins forgiven, and we don't even think we do! Have mercy on us..... again! !

If God has blessed us with wealth and possessions, it certainly IS NOT for us to build ourselves a (treasure on earth) comfortable lifestyle, secure financial future, secure retirement plan, and an easy life. That doesn't look like loving our neighbor as our-self, only the loving our-self part.

David Platt also says this, God gives wealth and possessions to build a people who take His glory to the nations.

Now I'm not saying we don't do this at all, because obviously we do. There are many good organizations that are built on serving those in need and going to the nations with the Gospel and urgent need, Faith with Works. I'm just saying as a whole the American evangelical church is not living this way. The way Jesus asks us to live. How are YOU doing?

I'm asking myself these same questions.

Lord, do you want me to go serve in a less fortunate nation? To live out James 1:27, you know my heart, Just show me the way.

Roger

The Cost of following Christ

You don't hear much about the Cost of following Christ these days. What you will hear is, come to Jesus so He can save you, forgive your sins, heal you, prosper you, give you a better, more comfortable, easier life. While some things are biblical of what He will do for you, I think He is asking what will you DO or give up for Him?

I am going to be looking at some of the verses that Jesus taught about being worthy of being His disciple, and what that may mean for me today.

The first one is in Matthew 19:21-23. Now is this a teaching for those who are held in bondage to money and possessions or for everyone? If everyone that is wealthy is commanded to sell all that they have and give to the poor, didn't all of the wealthy now become poor? Is this what Jesus wants?

I will be seeking the Lord on these verses and seeing what they mean for ME, so I'm not saying what they should mean for you. If you want, you can look them up and do the same, but that is up to you. I am just going to write out my part of the journey.

Matthew 9:37-38, Then Jesus said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few, therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."

Ok Lord, so are you calling me to be a laborer? I thought you were calling me to Romania but I felt you said no. I'm still seeking Lord, where would I best be used?

Blessings, R.B.

Can you hear me?

I guess it's been some time since I have written, but I didn't plan on making this a regular part of my routine. There are many other things to do and I have been reading some good books. I'm still focusing on hearing God's voice and what He has planned for me.

I have heard this before and I need to keep reminding myself that it's not so much about where I go or what I do, but about the WHO I know. God wants me to know Him better through this journey, I just want to be in His Will.

I have to keep trusting in His ability to lead, rather than my ability to hear, I think. God is a great leader and He wants me to do His will more than I want to do it.

He is still breaking my heart for orphans and the least of these. I just went to another orphan conference and I'm not sure why, but He is leading me closer to His heart, I'm just not sure where that is going to lead.
Also, something in my past was laid to rest on Sat 20th, regarding my former spouse and any hopes of reconciliation. Our paths were going in two different directions, so now what does that mean for me?

Is there someone for me out there that shares the same convictions, burdens, and call to a simple and radical lifestyle? Am I to journey on the path alone? Either way, I already gave God my YES before I knew the question.

So Lord, what is the question?

R.B.

Are you yielded?

I am currently reading some of A.B. Simpson's work. This comes from "Himself",

Is your body yielded to Christ for Him thus to indwell and work through? Have you ever considered why He is called the Son of man? The title means that Jesus Christ is the one typical, comprehensive, universal, all-inclusive Man. Jesus is the one Man who contains in Himself all that man ought to be, all that man needs to have. All the fullness of the Godhead and the fullness of perfect manhood has been embodied in Christ, and He stands now as the summing up of all that man needs. His spirit is all that our spirits need. His body possesses all that our bodies need. He has a heart beating with the strength that our hearts need. He has organs and functions redundant with life not for Himself but for Humanity...

This is also good from "Christ our Savior",

Not all the preaching we have done or all the service we have rendered will amount to anything there. We must be identified with the Man who wore the thorns; we must be accepted in the Beloved, and then the Father will love us even as He loves His Son. We shall stand with Him even as Christ does.

Roger.

Prayer- mysterious and intimate

Many books have been written and dedicated to prayer and there is much to be learned from prayer.

Prayer- being spiritual is hard to explain and reading many books on prayer has not made the journey any easier for me. What I have learned, is that from saints of earlier times relied on prayer and spent much time in prayer and in the Word of God.

Much can be written, discussed, and debated about prayer. I’m not going to try to expound to a degree of depth of any sorts on prayer. Much debate can be said about How, When, Where, Posture, and a big one, How long.

Why does God seem to answer some prayers and not others, can we change God’s mind by seeking and praying enough, do we pray once about something or keep asking?????

As I said, learning from and reading about past spiritual leaders of whom God used mightily, who seemed to have a unique and close relationship to God, has helped me more than reading “about” prayer.

Luther, Muller, and Tozer to name a few, relied heavily on prayer and also much time devoted to it. To say I don’t need it or rely on it seems to me a bit arrogant. Much can be learned from Godly men and women now gone, but living on in spirit and influence.

I desire to have a close fellowship with God, to really KNOW Christ, and commune with the Holy Spirit. To say that can be done by spending a few minutes a day in that communion, to me seems presumptuous. If you don’t agree, that’s fair, we each have to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.

I just know if I am going to pursue a human relationship, say with one of the opposite sex with intents for marriage. I don’t think that relationship would grow or become very deep by spending five minutes a day with that person, do you?

Another way to look at it. If you are a student in college or your specific job calls for study and further education. If you put little time into studying or research, what do you expect to get out of it?

You may say, that is different, I have to study for school or work. So why is it different? What is more important to you, your career or relationship with God?????

This is taken from a biography on A.W. Tozer titled, A Passion for God. One I have just finished reading. This is from pg. 121.

“Although the author never boasted about his devotional habits, those few who knew him well knew that the angular man with little formal schooling learned much about his Lord and his God in the secret place. Tozer spent incalculable hours in prayer. Most of his prolonged prayer time- with his Bible and hymnals as his only companions- took place in his church office on the back side of the second floor. He would carefully hang up his suit trousers and don his sweater and raggedy old “prayer pants” and sit for a while on his ancient office couch. After a time his spirit would drift into another realm. In time, he would abandon the couch, get on his knees, and eventually lie face down on the floor, singing praises to the Lion of the Tribe of Judah....

pg. 122.

Spiritually alert Christians said the the “bouquet of the Holy Spirit” was all over Tozer. Others used different rhetoric, saying that he had the “sacred anointing” or that is was evident “he had been with Jesus.” Tozer never denied that he spent many hours in prayer out of his increasingly demanding schedule. On the contrary, he maintained that anyone who wanted to know Christ better and love Him more must devote more time to closet prayer.”

pg. 146.

“That this modern prophet was genuinely humble, even if his methods could be acerbic can be seen in his dedication to prayer. Tozer took Jesus Christ seriously when He said, ‘whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.’ To guard against a ministry with works that appear successful yet are fruitless, Tozer did only what he knew could keep him in a place to abide- that is, he spent increasing time in the Scriptures and in prayer. As the years passed Tozer increased his daily time in Bible reading and prayer- at once meditating on the Scriptures, praising the One who inspired them, seeking God’s help in writing words with the power to transform souls, and applying truth to everyday life. E.M. Bounds once said that a preacher who prays little is prideful because he thinks he can minister out of his own strength. Conversely, if an awareness of the need to pray is evidence of at least a modicum of humility, Tozer certainly manifested it.”

Quote from C.S. Lewis as he sums up the drama of human history as one “in which the scene and general outline of the story is fixed by the author, but certain minor details are left for the actors to improvise. It may be a mystery why He should have allowed us to cause real events at all; but it is no odder that He should allow us to cause them by praying than by any other method.” Prayer is a designated instrument of God’s power, as real and as “natural” as any other power God may use.

To sum up I will leave you with this quote from one of Tozer’s best selling little books, called “The Knowledge of the Holy”

Chapter 1 pg. 1. “ What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

Blessing, R.B.

Tickets secured

Finally found some tickets at a decent price. I will be flying Air France Sept 16th-24th. I will be transferring in Paris.

I am currently reading a biography on A.W. Tozer called A Passion for God. I spent most of the day reading today, as I have come down with a little cold, so I rested and read all day. It was a beautiful day out so I spent a lot of the day reading on my back deck in the sun. I love these cool sunny fall like days. I really like fall, sweaters, warm cider, pumpkin donuts, cool weather.

So that's about all for now.

Love in Christ, R.B.

God's voice

I've been looking at John 10 and really trying to get a grasp on knowing and hearing God's voice.

John 10:3 "The doorkeeper opens the door for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought all his own sheep out, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice. 5 They will never follow a stranger, but will run away from him, because they do not recognize the stranger’s voice."

I was listening to a message by James MacDonald the other day and he was talking about hearing God's voice over all the distractions in the world, and compared it to a symphony. I thought this was a good analogy. I wrote this down as I thought about that.

Like in a symphony, the drums can drowned out the sound of a flute.

So in life, the world can be like the drums, and drowned out God's voice.

His voice is more like the flute, delicate, beautiful, quiet.

Not like the big bass drums beating out strong sounds.

Don't let the drums of the world drowned out the voice of God;

He's trying to tell you something, listen...

Not to say this is always the way of God, because he doesn't always do everything the same for everyone. I don't claim to have ever actually heard the voice of God, but his promptings haven't been loud and obnoxious, instead soft and subtle.

With others He can be louder, more direct, and speak in obvious ways. That just hasn't been my experience so far. I don't put God in a box and hope for clear, direct, and even interfering ways, because I don't want to miss what He has planned for me.

I will continue to study John 10 about Jesus being our shepherd also. This has so much meaning for us, and this one sentence could be studied quite deeply.

John 10:11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."

Blessings, Roger