Oh, God, forgive me when I whine

[Shylynne]

'the crazy place, where they hope.'  

Until I learned to trust,
I never learned to pray. AMEN!

[sincereheart]

[sincereheart]

[sincereheart]

Stepping Stones To God

An aching heart is but a stepping stone
To greater joy than you've ever known,
For things that cause the heart to ache
Until you think that it must break,
Become the strength by which we climb
To higher heights that are sublime,
And feel the radiance of God's smiles
When we have soared above life's trials.

So when you're overwhelmed with fears
And all your hopes are drenched in tears,
Think not that life has been unfair
And given you too much to bear.

For God has chosen you because,
With all your weaknesses and flaws,
He feels that you are worthy of
The greatness of His wondrous love.

So welcome every stumbling block
And every thorn and jagged rock;
For each one is a steppingstone
To God, who wants you for His own.

For discipline in daily duty
Will shape your life for deeper beauty;
And as you grow in strength and grace,
The clearer you can see God's face;
And on the steppingstones of strife,
You reach at last eternal life.
By: Helen Steiner Rice
http://www.geocities.com/shellysplace_nb/indexpoetry.html
 

[sincereheart]

The Blessing And The Breaking
by Chip Brogden

"And it came to pass, as He sat at meat with them, He took bread, and blessed it, and brake and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him" (Luke 24:30-31).

There is a simple truth demonstrated in this post-resurrection encounter with Christ. Can you see it?

I cannot think of a single Christian that does not desire the blessing of the Lord. We earnestly seek and desire God's blessings on our life. We want the Lord to bless our spiritual life, our home life, our children, our finances, our churches and our ministries. Is there anything wrong with that? Of course not. But the fact remains that we do not always get what we ask for.

What does it mean to be blessed? The common assumption, I believe, is that when God has blessed a person then they will enjoy physical health, financial prosperity, and a general sense of happiness and well-being.

I want us to see that when Jesus blesses something He breaks it. The blessing results in breaking. The prayer for "more" results in "less". The request for "increase" results in "decrease". The prayer for blessing results in brokenness.

Do you want to be a blessing to other people, or a burden? Most Christians would say they want to be blessing to others. So God blesses them and then breaks them.

What is going on here? Simply put, the blessing of the Lord is in being reduced to Christ. Who is blessed? Not the one who is rich in spirit, but the one who is poor in spirit. The poor in spirit possess the Kingdom. Those who are broken are blessed, and those who are blessed are broken.

The heart-cry of a disciple of "more of Jesus". How do we get "more" of Jesus? By getting less of us. With less of me there is more of Him. As I am decreased, He is increased. This is what it means to be blessed.

A brother in the Lord related the following experience to me. As he was watching television he says he came across a woman who was yelling, "Increase! Increase! God wants to increase you and all you have!" This brother says he staggered out of his chair laughing, and said, "Decrease! Decrease! Keep decreasing me Lord, till all there is left is YOU!" Friends, when we understand the blessing and the breaking then we will find ourselves responding the same way. What I love about this is the brother LAUGHED as he rejected the "increase" and embraced the decrease. This is what it means to take up the Cross.

We cry out for "increase" but God has already (past tense) blessed us with "every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ" (Ephesians 1:3). We have the blessing already. What we are lacking is the breaking. We want the blessing without the breaking. But it is not that we need more of the Lord, because we already have all of Him; we just need less of everything else.

After Jesus blessed the bread, and broke it, and gave it to them, their eyes were opened and they knew Him. Until you have the blessing and the breaking your eyes will remain closed. Blessings alone do not open our eyes. Indeed, blessings by themselves tend to close our eyes. We do not come to know Him in the blessing, but in the breaking. Then what we already have in Him will be revealed. Our eyes will be opened and we will see that He has been standing there the whole time.

Do you want to know Him? Do you want to see Him for Who He is? Do you want to go deeper? Do you want to have your eyes opened? Embrace the blessing AND the breaking; receive them both. If you are a bruised reed or a broken cistern, take heart, because you are making progress.

 
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[sincereheart]

Making Sacrifice With Joy

I heard a story once about two wealthy Christians, a lawyer and a merchant, who traveled with a group that was going around the world. As they were visiting in Korea, they saw by the side of the road, a field in which a boy was pulling a crude plow and an old man held the plow handles and guided it. The lawyer was amused and took a snapshot of the scene.

He turned to the missionary, who served as their interpreter and guide, and he said, "That's a curious picture. I suppose they are very poor."

The guide replied, "Yes, that is the family of Chi Noue. When the place of worship was being built, they were eager to give something to it, but they had no money, so they sold their only ox and gave the money to the church. This spring, they are pulling the plow themselves."

The men were silent for several moments. Then the businessman replied, "That must have been a real sacrifice."

The guide said, "They do not call it that. They thought it was fortunate that they had an ox to sell."


by Alan Smith, http://www.aworshipleader.org/CommunionTalks.asp?id=5