I fly to Israel tomorrow, and I'll be there for 13 days. Check out followtherabbi.com to get a glimpse. I fly into L.A. on October 10 and then hop on a flight to New Mexico for the Emergent Gathering.
So I probably won't post much (not that I've been all that consistent lately anyway).
So what have I been up to? Some cool things are happening with the "Jesus Dojo" and our first event...IF YOU HAVE 2, GIVE ONE AWAY. If you are in the Bay Area and want to hear more, let me know or check out the ReIMAGINE website.
I've been enjoying spending a little time over at City Team in Oakland. There are some great people working over there who truly love the people of Oakland. I'm excited to see Creekside partner with them this year.
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Dude, I cannot wait to hear how the trip goes!
Oswald Chambers thoughts.
“Faith is not some weak and pitiful emotion, but is strong and vigorous confidence built on the facts that God is holy love. Even though you can’t see him nor understand what He is doing, you know Him. Faith is the supreme effort of your life- throwing yourself with abandon and total confidence upon God.”
“There are areas in our lives where we have not given over complete abandon and total confidence upon God so that means we still have places that faith has not moved into that are untouched so God uses hard times to discipline us so to hold on to Him as our central place of power. When we do this, we view life as a great romance, a great opportunity to see God working in all things. I believe God blesses us for our faith when we are new believers but we don’t earn anything through faith, faith brings us into right relationship with God gives God his opportunity to work. God sometimes has to knock the wind out of our life’s experiences as He gets us into direct contact with Himself. This is called a life of faith not a life emotional enjoyment of his blessings.”
“Our problem is we must prove in our own minds that God’s character is trustworthy. Is God going to do what he says he will do in the bible? Don’t confuse the trials of faith with the everyday disciplines of life, because we call the trails of faith are most of the time are just because we are alive. The bible teaches that faith in God is coming against everything that contradicts Him. One that says “ I will remain true to God’s character whatever He may do. As a Christian our real job in this life is to pray for people to come to know Jesus in whatever circumstances you are placed in.”
One of the truths I was thinking on was God’s will for me to have joy. It seems to be the original truth behind the slight distortion that Satan would have us believe, that is, God wants us all happy. The thing is, there’s something within all of us that believes at our core that we were designed for happiness. And what I see happening is that teachers of the word address the sinful results of “happiness seeking” by changing the focus to “holiness seeking” and, this seems to be emphasizing the other side of the same coin. What I mean is this. Joy, seems to be the whole coin, as it is seeking holy happiness. To seek only holiness is to neglect the truth of God’s goodness, who has designed us, as Piper says, to glorify God BY enjoying Him forever. We are NOT to NOT seek our joy, but rather seek our joy in the joy of others. Not self-extinction but self-denial regarding those things that are sinful, and holy happiness is not sinful, but rather God’s true purpose. That is, God doesn’t just want us holy, he wants to satisfy the desires of our hearts with holy living as we delight ourselves in God. To make it a case of happiness OR holiness is to distort the truth, and in practice, emphasizing holiness may be the lesser of two evils, but it still misses the mark and makes lies about God. Rather, God in His goodness has designed a system where we can seek our happiness and seek holiness at the same time, and this is called joyful living. It is not a life of happiness dependent upon good circumstances, nor is it a life of miserable, heartless, sterile, begrudging, or even dull, boring, or monotonous service to the law of God. All throughout scripture we are commanded to be joyful, happy, etc.
My problem comes when I don’t believe God’s promise about the law, thinking that my happiness would truly be accomplished in another way. And this is the reason I wander away from God, and why I’m ultimately unhappy. I am seeking my happiness in another way because I don’t believe God’s law INCLUDES my happiness. At that point, I felt like I had to choose between God’s law and my happiness, and my happiness was more important. I saw His law as compromising my happiness, so I ran from His law. Truth is, it sounds nice and all to think that I can discipline myself to be militant about God’s law. DO IT whether you like it or not because God deserves it. But I know that when the temptation comes, this rarely motivates me, or if so, not for long. I can’t help the fact that I am a happiness chaser. The good news, though, is that God hasn’t designed the system to “Just Do It” as Nike says. God thinks of everything, and my joy was included in His plan. What I’m deciding to do is to stop believing lies about God’s commands and start believing the truth, the whole truth, that this command will result in my joy when practiced in truth by His Spirit.
So I'm starting a project to go through the NT first (OT is so big, if I survive the NT I’ll press on to the OT), and write down all the Do’s I can find, and then learn how to think rightly about these Do’s, saying to myself “this command fulfills God’s promise of loving me, doing what’s best, will produce true fruit, will keep me from sin, death and even depression, hopelessness, etc.,” and then actually do these do’s. In doing so, I hope to replace depression, despair, and hopelessness, with joy, peace, and fruitful labor.
Destined for Joy
Troy
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