July 2011
2 posts
May 2011
3 posts
2 tags
“I can deny you. That’s pretty easy. Deny myself? Now that’s hard!”
– Ernest Barr - Christian Heritage Church
3 tags
I'm Taken
Past all doing. Past all striving. Take me.
Past all of me. Into you. Take me.
Leaving all my piles. I did this. I missed that. Take me.
Emptying my pockets. Nothing left to keep. Take me.
Take me with you, to be with you, where you’re going. Where you are. Take me.
No more trying to get it. I can’t think hard enough.
I can’t beat my own heart, or stop it. Take me.
No more planning it...
3 tags
I am not alone
Growing up, I often felt alone. I was a peculiar kid with a funny imagination and a weird sense of humor. My family was broken with alcoholism and different kinds of abuse twisted my parent’s understanding of love. It was tough. Not the toughest, but it was tough.
On the hardest days it felt undeniably, inexplicably true that I would be alone without an advocate, without a true guardian,...
April 2011
8 posts
4 tags
I want this
They Had Everything in Common
Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said
that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in
common.
And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the
Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among
...
3 tags
“As big as You are, I am small, but Your shepherding makes me great.
I adore...”
– Sara Hagerty of Every Bitter Thing is Sweet
http://everybitterthingissweet.com/2011/03/my-shepherd/
(via minismith)
2 tags
“There is coming a day when the bridegroom will be taken away.
In that day we...”
– Jon Thurlow (paraphrased)
1 tag
Boredom
Boredom is not a good reason to slam the hammer down on the nail. Weariness is not a good reason to slice open the Savior. Emptiness does not justify my anger.
Holy God fill me.
5 tags
A great promise
1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted awaythrough my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;my strength was dried upt as by the heat of summer. Selah
5 I acknowledged my sin...
3 tags
He's faithful
Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are enlarged;bring me out of my distresses. Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins.
He is so faithful to come to us. Be with us. Make the Union he wants with us. He demands a covenant with us, and then he makes the promise for himself and for us. He stakes his life and loses, for...
March 2011
2 posts
4 tags
“I’ve felt the pain of compromise so deep inside.
I’ve known the...”
– Jon Thurlow.
3 tags
“Better a little with the fear of the lord than great wealth with turmoil.”
– Proverbs 15
January 2011
8 posts
3 tags
“The Lord has heard my cry for mercy;
the Lord accepts my prayer.”
– Psalm 6:9
1 tag
“How low are you willing to go to get free?”
– Jack Frost - Father’s Heart Ministries
(who are you willing to expose your darkness to? who are you most afraid to expose your darkness to?)
2 tags
Stop Believing
Matthew, stop believing that this world or anyone in it owes you anything. Ditch the idea that disappointment is a surprise. Nothing here is made to last. There is only one thing worth pursuing and placing all your hope in - one Man.
Only one love will fulfill. He does not disappoint. He is always faithful, always present, ever-affirming.
5 tags
“43 You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your...”
– Matthew 5:43-48
3 tags
“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on...”
– Joshua 1:8
1 tag
“As believers shouldn’t our lives continually be marked by anticipation?”
– Bradley Cox
3 tags
“Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble.”
– Psalm 119:165
4 tags
A new imagination for love
He’s giving me a new imagination. He’s healing my creativity so that I can see myself whole in him. Upright and strong in him. Walking with him, receiving the promises. They are manna cascading from the clouds like flakes of love landing on my tongue.
I assault my fears with my new imagination for strength in Christ – he in whom all things are possible. I battle all rejection with...
December 2010
4 posts
3 tags
“I look behind me and you’re there, then up ahead and you’re there,...”
– Psalm 139:5 (the Message)
2 tags
In two weeks I will, God willing, be getting up in the middle of the night to bottle feed my baby girl.
We’re coming to get you my love!!
2 tags
My body is wasted tired. My spirit is tired. I’m believing that you care. By faith, believing that you’re working out plan, long in action, for my good and your glory.
I don’t despise the way you love me.
3 tags
“Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the...”
– Isaiah 9:7
November 2010
4 posts
3 tags
“Release revelation of the love that you have for us.”
– IHOP prayer room
3 tags
A good friend would pull out the rug from under you, to love you into reality. A great friend would take the fall for you. But no normal man would spill out his life to woo you and your enemies into the wildfires of an unquenchable love. This is the deadly friendship of the beautiful God. This is Jesus.
4 tags
Who is like you?
I’m glad to be with you this morning. I don’t have to perform for you even though you’re the king adorned with a crown of stars. You’re immanent and transcendent in the same breath. Who is like you? Who can love me as you do? Who knows my mind, but you? To ‘Know thyself’ may be of some importance, but only in as much as it leads me to begin to know you - which...
3 tags
“6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near...”
– Hebrews 11:5
October 2010
16 posts
5 tags
“1 Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer; 2 from the end of the earth I call to...”
– Psalm 61:1-3
“No human being escapes the necessity of conceiving some good outside himself...”
– Simone Weil (via sethcain)
2 tags
“It may be infinitely worse to refuse to forgive than to murder. The latter may...”
– George MacDonald
2 tags
“If you find forgiveness easy you may have loved superficially or forgiven...”
– Lin Button
5 tags
Jesus does not hate our weakness
1 For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.2 He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness.
Hebrews 5:1-2
He listens. He’s not just acquainted with weakness, he’s beset with weakness. He is gentle with even our ignorance and wayward ways,...
4 tags
“14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens,...”
– Hebrews 4:14-16
3 tags
“Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might...”
– Hebrews 2:17-18
4 tags
“For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is...”
– Hebrews 2:11
3 tags
“For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing...”
– Hebrews 2:10
4 tags
“He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and...”
– Hebrews 1:3
5 tags
“1 Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.2 In my...”
– John 14:1-7
5 tags
“47 If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I...”
– John 12:47-48
6 tags
Draw Me to You
31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. John 12:31-32
Jesus, draw me into you. I haven’t the strength or the will. Thank you for moving me, changing me. Thank you for loving me even before you change me. I trust you.
4 tags
Jesus gives me Judas'
Jesus keeps Judas in his inner circle. He’s not afraid of Judas. It’s a dangerous plan. It’s wild and feels unruly to my controlling heart. He maintains close company with a thorn, and keeps the the thorn close to his other disciples. Did the other disciples complain that Judas was allowed to stay with them, as I would have?
Jesus doesn’t seem to have kept Judas with him...
3 tags
“Why should I be like a dead one?
Why should I stand at a distance?
I wanna be...”
– IHOP
2 tags
I Satisfy My Maker
Love holds no record of wrong. Love rejoices in all things. Love endures all things. Love has come for me. I will go with Love. I will have Love.
September 2010
20 posts
3 tags
“Our gifts will operate at their highest level when suffering puts us in a...”
– Parphrased / Bradley Cox
3 tags
What do I have left to lose?
Jesus, come and take from me whatever is required for me to fully lose my life. Remove everything until I am empty enough to receive all of you. I trust you.
34 Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her...
4 tags
“7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I...”
– Philippians 3:7-10