Adopted in… hang on. What??
June 21, 2009
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Tags: 1 Chronicles, 1 John, adoption, beauty, Bible, Bible study, Deuteronomy, Genesis, God, holiness, Isaiah, Jesus, John, love, Matthew, Old Testament, Romans, sin, the cross
Something I have been pondering as of late is that God gave His only begotten Son to adopt whoever would believe in Him in as sons and daughters (John 3:16). What a high value has been placed on us! Yes, God has many sons and daughters now… us. But only one begotten.
I never really understood the concept of begotten… but I had it explained to me by some quote that went along the lines of:
Horses begat horses, sheep begat sheep, God begot God.
(NB: I am sorry if you know who that quote was by and what it’s really meant to say and you’re offended by my mutilation of it. But I couldn’t remember the who or exact wording… comment it if you know 
)
But the point of all of that is… Jesus was God’s begotten Son. God of God, Light of Light (I think that one is from the Apostle’s Creed… ugh, I don’t know my quotes… but I’m trying to get my head around Bible verses first, other peoples quotes are a little lower down on the priority list…). Begotten, not made.
But us, the created image-bearers (Genesis 1:26), chose sin. Separating us from the God who is beautiful in His holiness (1 Chronicles 16:29). In order for us to draw near to Him, as children to a Father, our punishment had to be borne by someone. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). So He had His only begotten Son bear the punishment… the punishment that brought us peace with God (Isaiah 53:5)… that we could be adopted into the family of God… to be co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17)… children of our Heavenly Father (Matthew 6:26).
Now, I do know that a few times in the Old Testament God is referred to as a Father… but not many. The first reference of God as Father I can remember is in Isaiah (Isaiah 63:16, to be exact). But it may have been referred to in Deuteronomy as well. I can’t remember… argh I will have to dig out my study notes and get back to you… comment me now if you know… I want to know!! At any rate, there was some concept of God being a Father to us back in the BC days… but as far as I can gather, it was at the cross that we were truly and ‘legally’ (well, by God’s law) adopted into the family of God.
And that does my head in. I echo John’s cry…
“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!“
– 1 John 3:1
I will bless the Lord at all times
June 12, 2009
Filed under Uncategorized
Tags: bitterness, faithfulness, fire of God, God, Jeremiah, Jesus, Job, John, joy, knowing God, life, loving God, my little heart, pain, poverty of spirit, praise, Psalms
The story of Job is pretty familiar.
- his 500 yoke of oxen are carried off by Sabeans (Job 1:3, 14)
- his 500 donkeys are also carried off by Sabeans (Job 1:3, 14)
- his large number of servant are put to death by Sabean and Chaldean swords, and some are incinerated by fire that fell from the sky (Job 1:3, 15)
- his 7 000 sheep are incinerated by fire that fell from the sky (Job 1 :3, 16)
- his 3 000 camels are carried off by three Chaldean raiding parties (Job 1:3,17)
- his seven sons and three daughters die when a house collapses on them (Job 1:2, 18-19)
- he was afflicted with painful sores all over his body (Job 2:7)
“In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.”
– Job 1:22
We are pretty hard on his wife for telling him to “Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9) I had always thought she was just a complainer and a bad influence on him. But the other night I realised that this all affected her too. If Job’s children died, that means that her children died. If Job’s wealth was taken away, hers was too. Maybe she didn’t break out into sores, but her husband did. Maybe she even thought it was all his fault. Maybe in her distress she decided that Job must’ve done something wrong, since God struck down their family and afflicted Job with sores. I can imagine her… “this is ALL your fault, foolish husband!!”
… I thought this was very interesting.
Same circumstances, two very different responses. And who am I when trouble comes my way? Am I Job, not charging God with wrongdoing and being faithful to Him? Or am I the wife, being made bitter by circumstance. Having my emotional chemistry controlled by circumstance, rather than the person of God.
“I will extol the Lord at all times; His praise will always be on my lips.”
– Psalm 34:1
This is a wonderful verse to declare when life is wonderful. But also when your little world seems to be collapsing around you and God seems far away… or even the cause of it all… this is a powerful declaration. One I need to declare to my deceitful heart (Jeremiah 17:9). This is a joyful verse. Yes. But also a cry of determination. I will extol the Lord at all times. Through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23:4). When everything is rosy. I will extol the Lord.
And this requires more than just gritting your teeth and pressing through. We can’t get far in our own strength. He said it Himself, we can do nothing apart from Him (John 15:5). I need revelation of God. I need to know who He is and truly believe it. I need to encounter Him and know that what He says about Himself is true… so that when painful circumstances are clouding my eyes, making it hard to see Him around me, I will still have great faith on the inside. There will still be love deeply rooted in me. I need Him.
Jeremiah
June 8, 2009
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Tags: 2 Chronicles, Babylon, Baruch, eschatology, Hebrews, Jeremiah, Jesus, John, Josiah, Judah, Lamentations, major prophets, Revelation
Hello world
This isn’t a full-on blog… but tonight I have to do a spiel about Jeremiah, and so I’ve written up a page of notes. And I thought, maybe someone outside of my Onething crew could do with some basic Jeremiah info. So here is my note page
(props to ‘The New Unger’s Bible Handbook’ by Merrill F. Unger for some of this info…)
Who wrote the book?
- Jeremiah (with the help of his scribe, Baruch)
- Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah, who was a priest. Jeremiah’s family lived in the Levitical town of Anathoth.
- The name ‘Jeremiah’ means ‘the Lord exalts’
- Jeremiah is one of the major prophets
- He is known as the ‘weeping prophet’ because of his many laments over Judah and the pain of his own life as a prophet
- He is also accredited with writing Lamentations, as well as a lament at the death of King Josiah (2 Chron 35:25)
Where did he live?
- Jeremiah’s family was from Anathoth (Jer 1:1), but he was living in Jerusalem from the reign of Josiah onwards
- He was in Jerusalem when it fell to the Babylonians. Interestingly, at this time he was treated kindly by the Babylonians and allowed to live where he chose. He moved to Mizpah with Gedaliah, the governor of Judah (Jer 40:1-6).
- After Gedaliah was assassinated, Jeremiah went to Egypt with the remnant of Jerusalem (Jer 43). No more is heard from Jeremiah after this, so he probably died in Egypt.
When was it written?
- 627-585 B.C.
- The book is as recorded in the Bible is not in chronological order. This was probably intentional, so that the book would be arranged by subject matter, rather than date of composition
- Outline:
- Ch 1-45: prophecies against Judah and Jerusalem
- Ch 46-51: prophecies against other nations
- Ch 52: historical appendix
- Outline:
Who was he speaking to?
- The people of Judah, who despite seeing the destruction of their sister Israel, were still engaging in all kinds of wickedness (Jer 3:6-11)
Summary of message:
His message was mainly a message of stern warning against the inevitable doom of the Babylonian captivity, if the people of Judah did not repent of idolatry and sin. However, he also speaks of restoration after a period of great suffering.
References to Jesus/Messiah:
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References to the End Times:
- Jer 30
- Jer 50-51 (cf. Rev 17-18)
About arks and foundations.
June 1, 2009
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Tags: 1 John, Bible, books, Christianity, Ephesians, eschatology, God, Haggai, Hebrews, Jesus, John, John Stott, life, love, loving God, Mark, Matthew, my little heart, Noah, reality, Revelation, Romans, Sermon on the Mount, Song of Songs, the prophetic, things I like, truth, university days
I love books!! I am slowly expanding my library… slowly because I am a poor student and can’t afford all the wonderful books I see 
but I have a poke around the discount bins in Christian bookshops, and the religion section in secondhand bookstores… and every now and then I come across some gems! For example, the book I am currently reading is AWESOME… and it was 50c from a thrift store. It is called ‘Focus on Christ’ by John Stott and it is rocking my bedtime/waking up/bus riding world.
I was reading a chapter today about building your house on the rock (from the Sermon on the Mount [Matthew 5-7]). Good stuff. And not just what the book said, but what Jesus said
I was reminded of when Jesus rebuked the Pharisees in Matthew 23:27. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.” This verse terrifies me. How easy I can find it to focus my energy on keeping up a ‘having it all together in God’ facade. But a reputation just isn’t enough. I want reality. To truly have depth in God. Because a mere reputation will not be enough when He is shaking everything that can be shaken (Haggai 2:6). A reputation for loving God will not be enough to keep me steady when loving God could get me killed. And when I stand before Him and give an account of my life (Romans 14:12), I won’t have other people putting in their two cents. Reality will be what matters in that day. The truth that He sees will be what matters (Hebrews 4:13). So I need to cultivate that now. I don’t want to be likened to the church in Sardis: “… you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.” (Revelation 3:1) No. I want to be alive from the inside out.
I once had someone pray for me, and while they were I saw a picture of a huge statue that looked just like me. It looked lovely from the front… then the picture wheeled around and I saw that behind it was crumbling away. I have never forgotten that. I don’t want that to be true of me.
All that to say… I think that this inward reality is so essential in the building of our firm foundations. As pointed out in Stott’s book, two houses may look the same on the outside, but their foundation can determine whether one may stand and one may fall. I don’t want to waste my life building a pretty looking house founded on nothing. I want to take the time to establish a good foundation. To build upon the true rock… Jesus. To be one who hears and puts into practice His word. In the parable of the houses, both builders heard the word. But only one chose to put it into practice. Reality matters. Living the word in our everyday lives is essential. That is what counts. And that terrifies me. Oh, that I would not be lulled into complaceny. That I would not be fooled by a false reputation and live maintaining it.
I need to be found rooted and grounded in love (Ephesians 3:17). Love is what will keep me steady. Love is as strong as death (Song of Songs 8:6). One day I may have to chose loving Him over keeping my life. But I don’t want fear of death to control me then. Would His love be my strength. Love is what will remain. All we are commanded to do is summed up in love (Mark 12:30-31). God is love (1 John 4:8), and He stands eternal… the strongest force in the universe. I want to cultivate love for God and others that will stand steady through the troubles that will come in this life (John 16:33). As in the days of Noah, the flood will come suddenly (Matthew 24:37)… there was no slow buildup of water over the years to encourage Noah along the way. But faithfully, he kept building the ark in a dry land. Apparently it took hundreds of years. I am sure people thought he was ridiculous. Maybe even the people closest to him thought so too. He had the opposite of a good reputation. But at the end of the day, that reputation was irrelevant. He and his family lived because He listened to God and prepared for a day of trouble.
When the flood comes I won’t have time to build my ark/foundation then. So the choices I make today matter. So would I choose every day to keep building on rock and not sand.
More about His faithfulness…
May 25, 2009
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Tags: 2 Thessalonians, blessings, blogging, faithfulness, God, grace, gratefulness, humility, IHOP, Jeremiah, Jesus, John, knowing God, life, loving God, my little heart, patience, Proverbs, Psalms, Revelation, Song of Songs, time management, trust, truth, wisdom
I miss blogging. However, this latest leg of the journey of my life has involved being crazily busy… a wonderful opportunity for me to learn how to wisely manage my time. But there have been casualties along the way… blogging has been one of them I have missed it. I have missed YOU readers
The standout thing I have been learning is that He is faithful. In a previous post I think I mentioned how before leaving IHOP I had the dream about God promising to reveal Himself to me as Faithful and True (Revelation 19:11)… and He has proceeded to do just that. How? By putting and keeping me in times and places where I encounter my own unbelief, as well my need for Him… it has hurt much. And yet I am beginning to see that this place is the perfect arena for me to encounter His faithfulness. Yet, my response has frequently been so much less than gratefulness… my response is so often a wounded accusation against Him. Or, I have chosen to respond by not responding. Sweeping it all under the rug in the name of ‘getting on with real life’. But He is the Life (John 14:6). He is my life. I have no good apart from Him (Psalm 16:2).
But I am beginning to see His wisdom. And part of me hurts to say that… my deceitful heart has yet to always love the truth (Jeremiah 17:9). Which terrifies me (see 2 Thessalonians 2:10)… and yet not enough!! … but I am getting there… and He will see me through. He will. He is faithful.
And these days I still find myself in more instances where I can’t see His faithfulness. But the way I see things isn’t truth. His Word is (John 17:17). So I want to put my trust in His Word. I have to be found leaning upon my Beloved (Song of Songs 8:5)… because my own understanding is so very weak (Proverbs 3:5). And I don’t always do this. I don’t trust Him perfectly. But that is how I desire to be… and He wants that for me even more than I do. And He is so patient with me until I do get there. Yes, sometimes I doubt His faithfulness. But He is set on convincing me. And I want to be convinced. And He is so patient. Showing His faithfulness over and over again until I get it… and even then He continues to be faithful because that is just who He is.
*happy sigh*
I love grace… not an excuse to mess up, but what keeps us going on the journey towards not messing up. He is so patient. He gives grace to the humble (Proverbs 3:34). Oh, that I would be found humble… ever knowing that I need Him. I do. And I love Him. I do. This is my Beloved, this is my friend (Song of Songs 5:16)… I am blessed
My Beloved, my intercessor and my friend
April 11, 2009
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Tags: 1 Samuel, 2 Timothy, Bible, blogging, Easter, eternity, faith, faithfulness, God, Hebrews, intercession, Isaiah, Job, Lamentations, my little heart, Romans, salvation, sin, the cross, the Holy Spirit, things I like
I want to blog more than I do…
So, it is Easter again… and so in the prayer room we were worship with the Word-ing through Isaiah 53. One thought that struck me as I was singing away was verse 12: “… He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.” This got me thinking about Hebrews 7:25: “… He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them.”
He died to make intercession for us… and now He is alive forever, still making intercession for us. He is so committed. Great is His faithfulness (Lamentations 3:23)… even if we are faithless, He remains faithful (2 Timothy 2:13).
And I did a little word study of intercession and the like… as always, props to Biblegateway! I thought these verses were interesting:
“If a man sins against another man, God may mediate for him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who will intercede for him?” 1 Samuel 2:25
“My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God…” Job 16:20
“… the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.” Romans 8:26-27
“Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” Romans 8:34
He is so committed, and He is so intimately involved in our lives. And I want to believe this more than I do.
Jesus 1, loneliness 0
March 8, 2009
Filed under Uncategorized
Tags: 1 John, blogging, dating, depression, Deuteronomy, Ephesians, eternity, Exodus, faithfulness, family, fear, friendship, God, Hebrews, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jesus, joy, knowing God, life, loneliness, love, loving God, Philippians, Psalms, Romans, Song of Songs, suicide, the cross, the Trinity
Yes, I have fallen off the face of the blogging world… I can’t promise a total comeback, but I’m here now…
Something I’ve wanted to blog about for a while is loneliness. I used to struggle with depression… in my case it was fueled by the fear that I was alone and unloved in the world… a world that wouldn’t care if I wasn’t there anymore… a world that would maybe even be better off without me. And I had a stable family, a couple of boyfriends along the way, a good circle of friends… but none of that could truly convince me that I wasn’t alone.
At the darkest of times I simply wanted to give up and die. And yet… I was aware of the fact that I didn’t want to die. I wanted to live and love and be loved… and to know joy. True joy… I just didn’t think that was possible. Not for me. Not in my life.
… but then God showed me Himself.
Jesus is amazing. He who had since eternity past dwelt in perfect, unbroken love in the Trinity… took on flesh and came to earth as a man (Philippians 2:6-7). A man who was despised and rejected… a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not (Isaiah 53:3). The beautiful and glorious One (Isaiah 4:2), the One whose desire is for us (Song of Songs 7:10) became one with no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him (Isaiah 53:2). Forsaken by both God and man at the cross… He died all alone.
He died alone so that I can live with Him forever. He died so that I don’t have to be dead to Him (Ephesians 2:5). He died so that I could be dead to sin and alive to God in Him (Romans 6:11). He was lonely so that for eternity I will join in that perfect, unbroken love and community. He died to show me what love is (1 John 3:16). He showed me His unfailing love (Exodus 15:13… and many others…)… the love that is knowledge-surpassing (Ephesians 3:19) and all-consuming (Deuteronomy 4:24)… the passion that stands unmatched… His unrelenting devotion. Love that is ever for me and unquenchable (Song of Songs 8:7)… to Him I cling to.
In Him my loneliness ends. He will never leave me nor forsake me (Deuteronomy 31:6). He loves me with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3). He who watches over neither slumbers nor sleeps (Psalm 121:4).
And I will not be defeated by loneliness… because He defeated it already.
And His love for me teaches me to love others well. Relationship with Him is crucial for me to have healthy relationship with others. When I am not looking to others to fill the void of loneliness, I am better equipped to love well and be loved too. I am especially feeling this being taught to me now that there is a wonderful man after God’s own heart pursuing my little heart… I no less need to be found rooted and grounded in the love of God (Ephesians 3:17). To truly know His nearness and faithfulness. To take loneliness and run into Him. As always… I have to look to Jesus (Hebrews 12:2).
In Him, loneliness ends. *happy sigh* I love Him.
Rooted and grounded in love that endures forever…
January 30, 2009
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Tags: Bible, emotions, eschatology, eternity, faithfulness, God, intercession, Jesus, life, love, loving God, my little heart, patience, truth
People who know me well can confidently tell you that I am very emotion-led… *sigh* quick to run, quick to lose heart, quick to get my hopes up… and so on and so on.
But He is constant. His love endures forever… and so I have to be found in Him. I have to be led by truth… not leaning on my own weak understanding but leaning on my Beloved… clinging to His words of life. His Word that is truth that stands eternal. This has to be my firm foundation. So often I feel so tossed and turned and shaken by what goes on around me… but He is going to shake everything that can be shaken… and I want… need… HAVE to be found standing firm, on a firm foundation with my roots going down deep… that takes time to cultivate.
So oh, that I would be one of patient endurance… steady in my pursuit of Him… the One who pursues me so faithfully… and ever lives to intercede for me.
Great is His love and faithfulness… so to Him I cling to.
I know… and yet I don’t…
January 19, 2009
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Tags: 1 John, Bible, faith, frustration, God's leadership, God's will, identity, Jesus, John, knowing God, life, love, loving God, mercy, Micah, my little heart, Psalms, Romans, Song of Songs, sovereignty, the cross, truth
Something that has been brought to my attention as of late is my ability to know things… and yet not. To know things about God up in my head… because the Word tells it to me, or maybe someone told it to me… and I say I believe it. And to some extent I do. And I would tell it to anyone else… encourage them with the same truths, etc etc.
… but then when the rubber hits the road I find I struggle to live like I believe it. Which shows me that deep down I don’t truly – 100% – wholeheartedly believe it.
Sometimes I find myself too scared to let go and take God at His Word. Yeh, I can trust Him with the little things… those things or plans that don’t hurt me too much if I don’t get my way… but those things so dear to me? So often I’m the sulky child who stomps my foot and crosses my arms and yells “no!!” … choosing at that moment to deny His sovereignty and perfect leadership of my life… these things which I say I believe… but sometimes find myself struggling to live like I believe it.
Whyyy do I find my head and my heart so far apart? I sometimes feel like that man crying out to Jesus “I believe! But help my unbelief!”
I want His Word written upon my heart… alive on the inside… I want His Word lived out in my day-to-day life. His Word is truth (John 17:17)… and I want to truly believe it. And He wants that for me too… so I can take heart, for He is fully committed to and fully able to bring me forth in love and trust and maturity…
He is so kind… ever delighting to show me mercy (Micah 7:18)… His gentleness makes me great (Psalm 18:35). I am so thankful that He is so patient with me… loving me even though I don’t ‘have it all together’… though I’m dark He says I’m lovely (Song of Songs 1:5)… and so I am. And so I will be.
“God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for the ungodly.” — Romans 5:8
“We love because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19
Recap on ‘08… looking at ‘09
January 4, 2009
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Tags: 2008, 2009, Bible, dreams, eternity, faithfulness, God, Hosea, life, love, loving God, Merchant Band, mercy, Micah, Revelation, Song of Songs, the prophetic, things I like, truth, wisdom
So, here we are just a couple of days into a new year.
Last year was a tough one for me. Just before last year started I had a dream… the main point of it is that God told me He was going to reveal Himself as Faithful and True (Revelation 19:11). And I was like “… sweet!! Faithful and true… sounds good to me.” And it is. I love that He is perfect in truth and faithfulness. I love who He is…
But He is the One who is perfect in wisdom… not me. And so although I didn’t think that the best context to teach me that He is faithful and true would be in a year of frustrating and upsetting circumstances… He knew best. Buuut I struggled. I like the line from a Merchant Band song… “I’m a stranger here with You… struggling inside to be a resting place for You.” Yep. I struggled. Doubted His faithfulness… felt forgotten… felt pushed aside…
I am so thankful that His love endures forever. That even though don’t respond to His perfect love with perfect love of my own, He remains faithful… knowing that His faithful love for me will grow faithful love in me. I love that He is so patient… never giving up on me… even when I feel like giving up. He goes again and again and again (Hosea 3:1)… even when I can’t see things right and accuse Him of pushing me aside… trusting my perceptions more than His Word. He is so patient… fully committed to bringing me forth in love. Fully committed to growing me to trust Him still more and more. And ever delighting to show me mercy (Micah 7:18).
… and you know what? After all of that… my confession is that He is Faithful and True. I believe that more now than I did a year ago. And I am so in awe of His love and faithfulness that He has shown me over the years… the delight He has in me which I could never earn… all I can do is respond to His love and faithfulness and delight with my own… so very weak compared to Him… but enough to overwhelm His heart (Song of Songs 4:9)… because He loves me so much.
So a new year is ahead. I want to look back in a year’s time and find that I know and love Him more. This do I desire above all else.
