GREENE STREET LETTERS: A Total Disconnect

Thursday, May 14, 2009

A Total Disconnect

Do you have a hard time connecting what you read about God in Scripture with your everyday life?
Do you find it difficult to "see" the God you read about in your circumstances or situations?
I know many who are like this.
Could it be that our view or concept of God isn't who He really is at all? I think the answer may be yes.
Understanding who God is isn't a mental exercise.
It isn't us exerting our will to find, seek out and uncover some great hidden truth.
Understanding God comes one day at a time. Sometimes one moment at a time.
It is us walking out today under his guidance. Notice I said guidance and not leading.
John 16:13 paraphrased shows us this: When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, He will guide you into all truth. Most people agree with this verse. Trouble comes with what we do once we are guided there. Do we simply acknowledge this truth or do we set about with a purpose to let God work in us to make the truth a reality? You see, when we are guided into truth, the truth usually concerns us and the work God wants to do in us. We see our hearts as God sees us. We see all the attitudes, the sin, the behaviors that we carry around and yet, covering it all, God's truth is proclaiming God's ability to free us from these things.

If we are faithful with the little things, He will entrust to us the bigger things. Faithful with the truth that we are given today. Do we let this truth spur us onward to chase Jesus or do we simply give a nod of the head to it? It's kind of like some people we see in working in recovery. Step #1 says that we "admit that we are powerless over our drug or alcohol and that our lives have become unmanageable." We see people admit this over and over and over, yet they are not willing to do anything about it. They spoke the truth........."My life is a mess and I'm an addict." Yet they were not willing to move on into a better way of living.

Father.......Help me to not run away from your truth that you will show me today. Help me to embrace it and allow you to work in my life. Help me to not usurp your will with my own simply to feed my sin nature, but help me to bow before you and say, "Your will, Lord, not mine."
Amen.......

God on you.........

VERSE OF THE DAY:
John 16:31
Jesus answered them, "Do you now believe?"

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Looking At The World Through Cracked Lens

As ol' Paul wrote in his Corinthian letters.."We see in part and we know in part." Now what piece of this bit of wisdom do we not get? I wish to not run around acting and trying to be some sort of Biblical G00-Ru (I meant to spell it wrong). Or a sage of sages.

I simply want to be able to communicate some of what God has given to me. Why? Do I think what I get is better than what you may have received from Him? Nope. But I do think encouragement comes when we share our daily story of struggle and victory in an effort to encourage each other.

Thanks for letting me share.

Time to soldier on..

mbb

Our Statement of Faith

We believe that God is the eternal king. He is an infinite, unchangeable Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, goodness, justice, power and love. From all eternity He exists as the One Living and True God in three persons of one substance, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit equal in power and glory. we believe that God created mankind in His image, male and female, for relationship with Himself and to govern the earth. Under the temptation of Satan, our original parents fell from grace, bringing sin, sickness and God's judgment of death to the earth. Through the fall, Satan and his demonic hosts gained access to God's good creation. Creation now experiences the consequences and effects of Adam's original sin. Human beings are born into sin, subject to God's judgment of death and captive to Satan's kingdom of darkness. We believe that Jesus, God's Son, was sent to this world, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin, Mary, fully God and fully man in one person. He is humanity as God intended us to be. Jesus was anointed as God's Messiah and empowered by the Holy Spirit, ushering in God's kingdom reign on earth, overpowering the reign of Satan by resisting temptation, preaching the good news of salvation, healing the sick, casting out demons and raising the dead. Jesus' atoning death on the cross took God's judgment for sin which we deserved as law-breakers. Jesus' resurrection and ascent back to heaven opened the door for those who received salvation to begin a relationship with God.

Little Nets Into Deep Waters

Fishing nets were designed for one purpose only. To catch fish. Nets are no good if they stay on the boat. Nets serve no purpose if they are never used. I think maybe God sees us this way. We are all created for a purpose (by the way, the creator gets to define what our purpose is). Any other use besides the one we were created for does us no good. But when the creator places His hands upon us, casting us out into those scary, dark places with deep waters, it is then we can see the reality of our purpose. He knew there would be a catch waiting for us. I think I will be the net God has called me to be.

The Twelve Steps

As a community of people in recovery, we affirm that our higher power is Jesus Christ. He did for us what we could not do for ourselves. Just as God told the children of Israel He was going to give them a promised land, He has revealed to us that He desires to give us a "Promised Life." When Israel got to the promised land, God instructed them to go and in a possess it, fight for it and claim it. In recovery, the 12 Steps are the directions given to us on how to fight, possess and claim this promised life.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

A Total Disconnect

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THE REALITY OF THE NAME OF GOD