Reading for a group Desiring God by John Piper. It’s a heady read not something I would have maybe picked up and yet in the reading of this I am finding myself agitated and moved and even affirmed. Affirmed in that my love for scripture is real. This sentence alone says what I believe have believed these last (dan and I came to it’s been 8 years reading this plan! 8 years and I still get something most days, 8 years and I wake up excited to read. 8 years, I am blown away by the love and power and conviction and forgiveness I experience from time with You in Your word. As I write this there is no pride but an absolute stunning awareness of the power available to any and all who…with a seeking heart come.) Anyway the sentence stating much more succinctly what I have found ….The Word of God begets and sustains spiritual life because it begets and sustains faith…….Faith is born and sustained by the Word of God, and out of faith grows the flower of joy.
1 Samuel 10: 17 Samuel summoned the people of Israel to the LORD at Mizpah 18 and said to them, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I brought Israel up out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the power of Egypt and all the kingdoms that oppressed you.' 19 But you have now rejected your God, who saves you out of all your calamities and distresses. And you have said, 'No, set a king over us.' So now present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes and clans."
How this attitude must have broken Your heart, people freed and choosing bondage….Dan and I again talking about that a lot lately and how very little different we are from them. Our bondage is a little less blatant maybe but every bit as binding.
2 Corinthians 10: 3-6 The world is unprincipled. It's dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn't fight fair. But we don't live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren't for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity.
More from Piper Chp. 5:
Paul puts it so plainly: "Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that by the steadfastness and by the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope" (Romans 15 :4) . The whole Bible has this aim and this power: to create hope in the hearts of God's people. And when hope abounds, the heart is filled with joy.
To be so focused on You to create hope.......to be so focused on You my hope my joy leaks out....I don't know but I 'm gonna keep goin......
"We should live by faith, be known by love and become a voice of hope." E R McManus
1 comment:
Yeah, it's probably the favorite book they have on their coffee table. . . good point there
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