Monthly Archives: January 2015
Caddo’s Seven Word Sunday 1-18-15
MY LIFE NEEDS A HOLY GHOST TOUCH!
Share this:
Insane Attachments
“Contemporary culture lacks both the inward reality and the outward life-style of simplicity. We must live in the modern world, and we are affected by its fractured and fragmented state. We are trapped in a maze of competing attachments. One moment we make decisions on the basis of sound reason and the next moment out of fear of what others will think of us. We have no unity or focus around which our lives are oriented.
Because we lack a divine Center our need for security has led us into an insane attachment to things.- Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline/ Simplicity
Share this:
Our Own Devising
“God made man simple; Man’s complex problems are of his own devising.” Ecclesiastes 7:30, JB
Share this:
Dare To Be A Daniel Pt. 2: Pt. 1
Here is the Scripture passage for my next sermon, Dare To Be A Daniel Pt. 2. This is a continuation of Pastor Risto’s message from last week.
DANIEL 2
In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his mind was troubled and he could not sleep. 2 So the king summoned the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers[a] to tell him what he had dreamed. When they came in and stood before the king, 3 he said to them, “I have had a dream that troubles me and I want to know what it means.[b]”
4 Then the astrologers answered the king,[c] “May the king live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will interpret it.”
5 The king replied to the astrologers, “This is what I have firmly decided: If you do not tell me what my dream was and interpret it, I will have you cut into pieces and your houses turned into piles of rubble. 6 But if you tell me the dream and explain it, you will receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. So tell me the dream and interpret it for me.”
7 Once more they replied, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will interpret it.”
8 Then the king answered, “I am certain that you are trying to gain time, because you realize that this is what I have firmly decided: 9 If you do not tell me the dream, there is only one penalty for you. You have conspired to tell me misleading and wicked things, hoping the situation will change. So then, tell me the dream, and I will know that you can interpret it for me.”
10 The astrologers answered the king, “There is no one on earth who can do what the king asks! No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer. 11 What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among humans.”
12 This made the king so angry and furious that he ordered the execution of all the wise men of Babylon. 13 So the decree was issued to put the wise men to death, and men were sent to look for Daniel and his friends to put them to death.
14 When Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard, had gone out to put to death the wise men of Babylon, Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and tact. 15 He asked the king’s officer, “Why did the king issue such a harsh decree?” Arioch then explained the matter to Daniel. 16 At this, Daniel went in to the king and asked for time, so that he might interpret the dream for him.
17 Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 18 He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 19 During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven 20 and said:
“Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;
wisdom and power are his.
21 He changes times and seasons;
he deposes kings and raises up others.
He gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to the discerning.
22 He reveals deep and hidden things;
he knows what lies in darkness,
and light dwells with him.
23 I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors:
You have given me wisdom and power,
you have made known to me what we asked of you,
you have made known to us the dream of the king.”
Daniel Interprets the Dream
24 Then Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to execute the wise men of Babylon, and said to him, “Do not execute the wise men of Babylon. Take me to the king, and I will interpret his dream for him.”
25 Arioch took Daniel to the king at once and said, “I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can tell the king what his dream means.”
26 The king asked Daniel (also called Belteshazzar), “Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?”
27 Daniel replied, “No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, 28 but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you were lying in bed are these:
29 “As Your Majesty was lying there, your mind turned to things to come, and the revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen. 30 As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than anyone else alive, but so that Your Majesty may know the interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind.
31 “Your Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. 32 The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. 34 While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.
36 “This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. 37 Your Majesty, you are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; 38 in your hands he has placed all mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds in the sky. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.
39 “After you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. 40 Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. 41 Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. 42 As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.
44 “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. 45 This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.
“The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.”
46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel and paid him honor and ordered that an offering and incense be presented to him. 47 The king said to Daniel, “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.”
48 Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men. 49 Moreover, at Daniel’s request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court.
Share this:
Supercession
In my afternoon meditation I was thinking on the Book of Esther. You remember the story: A Jewish girl is chosen to be the Queen of Persia, An enemy of the Hebrew people cons the King of Persia into signing an extermination order for the entire Jewish race. Esther, the Jewish Queen, is convinced to come to the aid of her people at the risk of her own life. Esther gains an audience with the King. Esther throws a dinner for said king and for Haman, the mastermind of the plot against the Jews. Through a series of events Esther wins the day, Haman is killed and the Jews do not die. The end…well sort of.
Here is the section that I ruminated on this afternoon.
Esther said, “If it please the king, and if I have found favor with him, and if he thinks it is right, and if I am pleasing to him, let there be a decree that reverses the orders of Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, who ordered that Jews throughout all the king’s provinces should be destroyed. 6 For how can I endure to see my people and my family slaughtered and destroyed?”
7 Then King Xerxes said to Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew, “I have given Esther the property of Haman, and he has been impaled on a pole because he tried to destroy the Jews. 8 Now go ahead and send a message to the Jews in the king’s name, telling them whatever you want, and seal it with the king’s signet ring. But remember that whatever has already been written in the king’s name and sealed with his signet ring can never be revoked.”
9 So on June 25[a] the king’s secretaries were summoned, and a decree was written exactly as Mordecai dictated. It was sent to the Jews and to the highest officers, the governors, and the nobles of all the 127 provinces stretching from India to Ethiopia.[b] The decree was written in the scripts and languages of all the peoples of the empire, including that of the Jews. 10 The decree was written in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the king’s signet ring. Mordecai sent the dispatches by swift messengers, who rode fast horses especially bred for the king’s service.
11 The king’s decree gave the Jews in every city authority to unite to defend their lives. They were allowed to kill, slaughter, and annihilate anyone of any nationality or province who might attack them or their children and wives, and to take the property of their enemies. Esther 8: 3-11
The nature of the Persian legal system made any law sealed by the king irrevocable. So the nature of the King’s help could not come in the form of “reversing the curse” so to speak. The first law of extermination could not be undone or declared illegal. The Jews were henceforth condemned to death…BUT while the old law of death could not be undone a new law allowing the Jews to unite and fight could be and was made and that second law effectively cancelled out the effect of the first law
We live under an old law too. It’s called the law of sin and death. It was instituted in Genesis chapter 3 at the fall of man and has been in effect ever since. This law is the reason our race is prone towards evil. It is this law that subjects us to every illness and plague throughout the world and it is this law that insures that one out one will die. This law, like the laws of the Persian Kings cannot be unmade, at least not while keeping the universe intact. Yet God has chosen to deal with this problematic law in the same way Esther dealt with her problematic law. He has simply made a new law. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
In the shadow of the cross
In Romans 8:1,2 Paul writes, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set youb free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. ”
The law of sin and death is still active in the world. It hasn’t been rescinded. Satan still has the power to utilize it against us. We still sometimes stumble into evil, We still experience sickness. One out of one still die. But while that law is still active a new law has also been activated and this new law, gives us the power to combat sinful habits and win; It allows us to pray for and receive healing and this new law grants us eternal life in new bodies that will be glorified to the extent that the old law can never affect them again!
There is a role for us to play though. In Esther’s day the new law would have had no effect if the Jewish people had not risen up to fight and in our day the law of the spirit of life will have no effect if we choose not to apply it. We can defeat sin but we must be willing to flee temptation. We can be healed but we must be willing to pray until… And we will live forever but we must first choose to make Jesus Lord and Savior. We must embrace the supercession of the second law over the first BY FAITH.
So dear reader, will you choose to believe?
Share this:
Weekly Photo Challenge: Serenity
This week the Daily Post has asked us to display: SERENITY
Discover other serene spots at
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/serenity/
Here are mine along with a poem I love from Emerson
The Apology
Think me not unkind and rude
That I walk alone in grove and glen;
I go to the god of the wood
To fetch his word to men.
Tax not my sloth that I
Fold my arms beside the brook;
Each cloud that floated in the sky
Writes a letter in my book.
Kylemore Abbey
Chide me not, laborious band,
For the idle flowers I brought;
Every aster in my hand
Goes home loaded with a thought.
There was never mystery
But ’tis figured in the flowers;
Was never secret history
But birds tell it in the bowers.
One harvest from thy field
Homeward brought the oxen strong;
A second crop thine acres yield,
Which I gather in a song.- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Share this:
The Central Avenue
Prayer is the central avenue God uses to transform us. Richard Foster
God does nothing but in answer to prayer. John Wesley
Share this:
Mischievous Me or Them or… Travel Theme
Ailsa has asked us to travel to the land of MISCHIEF with our photos this week. Let me encourage you to visit her at
http://wheresmybackpack.com/2015/01/16/travel-theme-mischievous/
Her tales of mischief are lots of fun especially the one about the Deer/Raven tag team!
Here are my mischief makers:
Pretty Kitty was always trying to break into my sister’s place in Womerveer.
My sister tries to sneak up on me at the Oude Kerk, in Delft. She is really bad at it.
The Giant’s Causeway was supposedly built by the Mischievous Giant Finn McCool.
Here is a little history on the famous giant and his causeway courtesy of Wikipedia
Many geographical features in Ireland are attributed to Fionn. Legend has it he built the Giant’s Causeway as stepping-stones to Scotland, so as not to get his feet wet; he also once scooped up part of Ireland to fling it at a rival, but it missed and landed in the Irish Sea — the clump became the Isle of Man and the pebble became Rockall, the void became Lough Neagh. Fingal’s Cave in Scotland is also named after him, and shares the feature of hexagonal basalt columns with the nearby Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland.
In both Irish and Manx popular folklore,[5] Fionn mac Cumhail (known as “Finn McCool” or “Finn MacCooill” respectively) is portrayed as a magical, benevolent giant. The most famous story attached to this version of Fionn tells of how one day, while making a pathway in the sea towards Scotland, known as The Giants Causeway, Finn is told that the giant Benandonner(or, in the Manx version, a buggane) is coming to fight him. Knowing he cannot withstand Benandonner due to his size, Fionn asks his wife Oona to help him. She dresses her husband as a baby, and he hides in a cradle; then she makes a batch of griddle-cakes, hiding griddle-irons in some. When Benandonner arrives, Oona tells him Fionn is out but will be back shortly. As Benandonner waits, he tries to intimidate Oona with his immense power, breaking rocks with his little finger. Oona then offers Benandonner a griddle-cake, but when he bites into the iron he chips his teeth. Oona scolds him for being weak (saying her husband eats such cakes easily), and feeds one without an iron to McCool, who eats it without trouble.
In the Irish version, Benandonner is so awed by the power of the baby’s teeth and the size of the baby that, at Oona’s prompting, he puts his fingers in Fionn’s mouth to feel how sharp his teeth are. Fionn bites Benandonner’s little finger, and scared of the prospect of meeting his father considering the baby’s size, Benandonner runs back towards Scotland across the Causeway.
The Manx Gaelic version contains a further tale of how Fionn and the buggane battle at Kirk Christ Rushen. Finn’s feet carve out the channels between the Calf of Man and Kitterland and between Kitterland and the Isle of Man, while the buggane’s feet make an opening for the port at Port Erin. The buggane injures Finn, who flees over the sea (where the buggane cannot follow), but the buggane tears out one of his own teeth and strikes Finn as he runs away. The tooth falls into the sea, becoming the Chicken Rock, and Finn curses the tooth, explaining why it is a hazard to sailors.
In Newfoundland, and some parts of Nova Scotia, “Fingal’s Rising” is spoken of in a distinct nationalistic sense. Made popular in songs and bars alike, to speak of “Fingle,” as his name is pronounced in English versus “Fion MaCool” in Newfoundland Irish, is sometimes used as a stand-in for Newfoundland or its culture.
Share this:
Bought With a Price
We need to remember this.
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
I Corinthians 6:19-20
This is a famous passage for a reason. It contains a great truth. Often, we start thinking that we are in control of our own lives. We start thinking that we “run the show.” But, if we are Christians, we do not even own ourselves.
This passage tells us that our very bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost. We have our bodies because of God. We have everything from God through Jesus Christ. He created us. He gave us life. He gave us everything. And not only did He give us everything, He purchased us by…
View original post 139 more words
Lillie-Put 