GREENE STREET LETTERS: Lunch @ Rpaha

Friday, November 12, 2010

Lunch @ Rpaha

Our kitchen manager here at Rapha can really whip up some good food. I just got through chowing down on a chicken sandwich that would put Chick-fill-a to shame. One thing can truly be said...."No one ever left Rapha smaller than when they came in." Good food and plenty of it to jump start the appetite that drugs and alcohol had taken away from those who come here. Plenty of exercise and sunshine, not to mention rest for the mind and body.

Psalm 139:23-24 highlight the week I've been having here at Rapha. David, the King of Israel...hand picked by God.....ruler of a kingdom, here in these verses reveals a humility that comes from a real relationship with God.

"Search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life."
That is a pretty bold statement. I don't think he made it as a challenge to God, but rather as a plea to help him stay pure in his daily walk. David is pretty much saying, "Hey God! Don't let me get away with anything." From such a view and place as this, David is not using his position as King to garner any favors with God. In fact, David is saying that he is just like everyone else. His political and social standings have nothing to do with any sense of entitlement from God. Truth be known, I think a lot of people in this country should realize and enormous truth concerning Jesus......We all stand on equal ground, level ground, at the foot of the cross. Pride creates dishonesty when we focus on ourselves because we don't want to hear the truth. Hearing that something is not right within us means that we are in need of change. Hearing that something is not right within our personality or character causes the pride to turn into rebellion. The old "I'm-captain-of-my-ship" mentality and have need of nothing and no one. It is these attitudes that keep people from receiving from God the healing they so desperately need.

Notice that David asks for God to "test" him and that through this series of testing, God will uncover any thoughts that run contrary to His wishes for David. Point out...uncover.....reveal.....anything (and what fall under anything? Everything!) in David that offends God. God reveals.............we repent.......God uncovers............we confess. It is an ongoing process that brings healing and restoration as we allow God's Holy Spirit to work in us.

God on you today.....
mb

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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.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Lunch @ Rpaha

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THE REALITY OF THE NAME OF GOD