Spiritual Ponderings

Rebuke the scoffers. No, I'm not suggesting a campaign of censure aimed at those who refuse to agree with me or who won't cooperate with whatever program is being promoted by the church. Rather I am referring to the far more dangerous and sinister scoffers, you know, the internal voices always ready to challenge the nudges of the Spirit of God drawing us out to trust God more implicitly. I don't know about you, but I think most people experience a running dialog in their minds about whatever is going on, maybe worrying about what might happen or dwelling on things from the past. Some people when alone even externalize this dialog talking out loud with themselves, while others simply have ongoing conversations or arguments inside. At times this becomes more intense but generally involves our emotions, sometimes our triggers, reactions and opinions about whatever it is we are thinking about or experiencing. It is these internal voices I find to b...

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. (John 14:27) We usually imagine that we could enjoy peace if only the problems around us would just go away or be resolved. We believe that if only wars could just be stopped, if fighting would die away or arguments could be silenced, then we could have peace. This kind of thinking remains stuck in the realm of external living. Satan's system of life is externalism. With our heart dominated by the fallen operating system of selfishness, self-protection at the expense of others, we tend to see only a narrow band of options in most situations. When threatened we assume we have two options – fight back or run away. Even withdrawing within ourselves is a form of running away. But both of these options are in the external realm and are both rooted in selfishness, our natural state as fallen humans. What Jesus came to...

Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. (Hebrews 5:8) Although this verse has been something of an enigma to me all of my life, I do not want to try to unpack that again from the direction of whether Jesus ever made a mistake or not. Rather, what comes to my mind this morning is the contrast between the kind of obedience that Jesus demonstrated and taught about, and the kind of obedience that I always assumed was expected of me, both by God or from those in authority over me. I suspect there is much to learn in this. The other verse that was impressed on me almost immediately was this one. Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will ...

As I lay in my bed waking up this morning and began to steer my thoughts and attention toward focusing on God, I asked Him to commune with me and bring something to my mind to work on to displace the various distractions that were swirling around in there. I decided to begin praying for a deeper experience of love, a deeper appreciation and capacity to know His love, to be transformed in His love, to better reflect His kind of love that still seems so foreign to my natural way of thinking. As my mind reviewed my past and how God has been leading me and showing me amazing things from His Word that all fits together so perfectly, my heart began to feel affection for Him. I told Him how exciting it is when I see how each new insight fits so neatly with everything else He has shown me before which only helps to affirm the continuity and truthfulness of His ways. I asked for a more passion, the kind of passion that marked the life of Jesus who's whole life was intent on revealing t...