GREENE STREET LETTERS: Between A Rock And A Hard Place

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Between A Rock And A Hard Place

Genesis 12:8

And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.

Bethel on the west.....

and Ai on the east.....

Bethel, which means the house of God.

Ai which means ruin.

Here was Abram in the middle.

In symbolic terms you could say he was between heaven and hell.

Here on earth, walking out his days yet with a heart that longed for that communion with God.

Stuck in this in between place, Abram built an altar and worshipped.

He called on the name of the LORD.

Seems like today that we only call on the name of the Lord when we get in trouble, or we need something.

If I have learned anything from the Vineyard Church is that God is worthy of worship no matter what my lot in life. No matter what my situation or circumstance I find myself in, my heart will worship Him.

On the worst day of his life.....

loosing all his material possessions....
losing his children...

Job, when told of the news of this destruction, tore his robe and shaved his head and fell to the ground and worshiped (Job 1:20).

He worshiped.

He turned his attention to God, even though he may have had a million questions as to the "why" of this event.

He worshiped.

He focused on who God is and in verse 21, the very last words of Job's worship is "Blessed be the name of the LORD."

How could anyone do this?
They have the Grace of God on them.
Grace is not the meal time prayer.

Grace is the empowering presence of God in my life that enables me to be who I was created to be and do what I was created to do.

Grace is the sufficiency of Christ given to each believer.

Grace sees me through this day.
The Holy Spirit shows me the way.....
Grace gives me the strength and power to carry out what God directs me to....

Today...take some time and worship God.

Offer to him praise for what He has done in your life.

Develop the attitude of gratitude today....

God on you.....

2 comments:

Bobby said...: Thanks for the reminder...to stop and worship.; January 6, 2011 at 11:37 AM
Greene Street Letters said...: I, personally, don't know if we truly understand what it means to worship God. If you mention today, most everyone associates music and a worship team. Is that worship? I think it involves worship but I don't know if maybe the purest form of worship happens when it is spontaneous outpouring from the heart. Words and prayer and focus all given to God.
Sometimes what I perceive to be as worship happens at the stranges times an places. I have been driving and my thoughts are on God when suddenly I am filled with tears and I begin to just thank Him and ask blessing on His name..to recognize his power and authority and majesty.
Suddenly I am in touch with my humaness in the face of God's divinity. I worship.
mb; January 6, 2011 at 6:02 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.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Between A Rock And A Hard Place

2 comments:

THE REALITY OF THE NAME OF GOD