GREENE STREET LETTERS: Cloudy and Clear

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Cloudy and Clear

Cloudy and clear?
I refer to the weather and the ability to hear God.
I'm not always good at hearing God. Sometimes, well most of the time, when God communicates with me, I perceive it to be very, very faint......almost a whisper.
I have woke up the past two mornings at 2:30 and 2:35.
Really wasn't anything pressing on my mind or any sense of urgency.
I simply got up, grabbed my journal and Bible and went to the living room.
My quiet time was very good as I found myself in Deuteronomy 29.
In this chapter, Moses is talking to the people as God is going to renew the Covenant between Himself and the people.

V.18
Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.

The idea is that we need to stay in check and guard ourselves against influences from the world that will draw us away from God. Daily I hear stories that say, "I have been saved but I made this choice to do what I did." The desires of the flesh trumped the call of God and permission was given to the body to go and defile itself.

V.19
When such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself and therefore thinks, "I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way." This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry."

We are called to relationship with God not religion.
This relationship denies the flesh and seeks God first.
It is not a "Get out of Hell" card that you can use at the appropriate time.
Take time this Christmas season as we approach the end of the year, to review and look over the state of your relationship with God.
Are you playing at being a follower of Jesus?
Do you have real peace?
Do you have contentment?
I would ask myself, "Why don't I?"
Reflect on the greatest gift ever given.....

"For unto you this day is born in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord!"
This event may have taken place over 2000+ years ago, but the power of it is still here with us today, able to save the most vilest of sinners. As Corrie Ten Boom so aptly put it, "There is no hole that is so deep that God is not deeper still."
Search for Him today.

Merry Christmas!
mb

1 comment:

RODRIGUEZ said...: Great post, Michael! Thanks, Denise; December 13, 2009 at 1:33 PM

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.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Cloudy and Clear

1 comment:

THE REALITY OF THE NAME OF GOD