Thankfulness and Thanksgiving

Last night Melissa and I took Cael to Walmart to do our weekly shopping. Cael usually has fun, we go shopping and he sits there and points to everything and utters gibberish. Though last night was different, he was a bit tired and feeling extremely sinful so he started to complaint. He was not yelling per se, but he had a nagging soft complaining whine. We knew that he was hungry so we gave him animal cookies and water, yet he continued to complaint. I started to talk sense into him, he is only 18 months, but I thought I could and I said to him, "Cael, don't complain, remember to be thankful. God has given us everything." OOPS... As I started saying this to him, I realize how whinny I sound to God. Granted, I do not probably yell and kick and scream, but I do have my own way of nagging and soft complaining. God has given me everything, I have to be thankful.
I need to renew my mind into making thankfulness a way of life!

A New President...

I am a big fan of Betweent Two Worlds. Not long ago, Justin Taylor wrote this
I think it is very thoughtful!

Consecrated... Do you understand what you are singing?

It was in Acts 8 when Philip meets the Ethiopian Eunuch and sees him reading the prophet Isaiah and asks him, "Do you understand what you are reading?" Sometimes I feel like doing that to myself as I sing songs and hymns of praise to God. Yesterday during our Crossroads service we were singing a great version of the song Take My Life and Let it Be, the next line is "consecrated Lord to Thee." I asked myself right a way... Do you know what you are singing. I answered myself quickly, of course, I know what consecrated means, I am in graduate school!
The problem became as I thought what I was singing; I sang "take my life and let it be consecrated...
Consecrated--

1. to make or declare sacred; set apart or dedicate to the service of a deity: to consecrate a new church building.
2. to make (something) an object of honor or veneration; hallow: a custom consecrated by time.
3. to devote or dedicate to some purpose: a life consecrated to science.

Lord to Thee..."
Is this what I want to do? Am I consecrating my life to the Lord? Do I want him to take my life?
As the song ended I felt like a hypocrite, you see I understood the words, I just did not mean them all the time. The issue is not understanding the words, but the question we need to ask is "Do you mean what you sing?"
So next time you sing, yes understand what you sing, but also to quote our Pastor Rick, "Sing it like you mean it!"

thanks for reading,

~gap

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

My friend John Fonville posted a great quote in his blog. I wanted to share it with you:

“The knowledge of our union with Christ provides us with great dignity. As I look at myself I see failure, sin, sometimes shame and disgrace. But that is neither the ultimate nor the whole truth about me as a Christian. No! I am united to Christ, a joint heir of his riches, a child of God. Knowing this to be the real truth about me lends grace and power to my life.”

Sinclair Ferguson, The Christian Life: A Doctrinal Introduction, p. 113

8 years and Counting!!!

8 years ago today, October 2nd, I asked Melissa Lawler to take our friendship to the next level and to start getting to know each other for the purpose of marriage (this is dating).
There are a few things in life that I do not regret, this is one of them!
Thank you Melissa for your friendship all these years and for saying YES that very night, before you asked me... "What level would that be?" =)

Happy 8 YEARS!!!!!!


thanks for reading

~gap

Christianity and Politics

Elections are here again... What should we do?
I was listening to the White Horse Inn, a great Reformed radio show and I thought I would share this with you.

Click Here (a two part series on Christianity and Politics)

It's been DRY for a LONG TIME!!!!

Hi all... I know that most of you have stopped reading, except for my wife. I was encouraged to keep going.
A LOT has happened since the last time I posted. I was still in summer school mode, but now I am in full FALL semester mode.
This summer was very busy, I took two summer school classes, work was crazy, my territory increased exponentially.
After summer school, I was privileged on going to Spain and Scotland to check out some future ministry opportunities. I was shocked on how the Lord blessed my trip there. I preached in Spanish for the first time ever! Yes, though I speak Spanish, it is quite different to attempt to preach, since all of my theological training has been in English; but the Lord gave me the words necessary to communicate his message.
After my time in Spain, I spent 10 days in Scotland visiting with Carrubbers Christian Centre, a church that is a light in such a dark city. I also preached there, the message was the Life of Abijah, interesting fellow. Also, I was able to help with evangelism and playing music at their coffee shop called Room 65.
I was so humbled by my time in Europe, but I really missed my wife and child. It was very hard not to come home at night and not being able to debrief with Melissa. It was hard also to not hold Cael and see his progress in walking.
Overall, my summer was busy, but the Lord has given us a desire to pursue ministry overseas. If you think about it please pray for us. Pray that God will make our desire a reality so that we would be able to serve him.

Thanks for Reading...

~gap

RESOLVED-- Enfield, O For That Day: A Review

Finding good, thoughtful, and listenable Christian music is quite difficult for me.
Usually, Christian Music, seems to be a rip-off of what was hip 5-7 years before and the fact that makes it worst is that most of the "Christian" labels are owned by 2 or 3 major secular labels, that do not discriminate against inaccurate theology, rather they discriminate against poor sales.
In Enfield, the official band of the Resolved conference, you have a group of people whose ultimate goal is to bring glory to Christ by singing songs that will cause the believer to worship. Their first release, O For That Day has fast become a favorite of mine, not only for the superior music, but their lyrics truly make me long for that day.
Having known the band for years is also a big plus, knowing that their hearts match what they sing helps in my worship as I listen to the CD.
I highly recommend this CD as an example of thoughtful worshipful lyrics set to good contemporary music.

Catching some ZZZ's

My Brother had this as his status report on his chat icon with this caption: "NAP TUTORIAL...." Enjoy!

Resolved: AMAZED

The Resolved Conference this year was an incredible testimony of God's grace in the lives of those who attended.
I am sure that you probably could read a more detailed account of the conference in another, more eloquent, blog; but suffice it to say that this year was quite amazing and God worked in my heart.
The theme of the conference was Heaven and Hell and boy did the speakers deliver!

It was great to see the ARMY of people serving at the conference and once again I was humbled by the selflessness of many who missed many sessions so that others could enjoy the experience of Resolved.

The band was incredible... They named themselves ENFIELD, a town in New England where Jonathan Edwards preached his famed "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" and they also have a new CD. GET IT!!!!

I will try to give me more updates, but know this that I LOVED IT!!!!

To get the free downloads go here

to get ENFIELD's New CD go here

To see what's happening next year go here

RESOLVED- Behind the Scenes (Doxologies)

For months now I have been looking forward to RESOLVED. I have been quite excited to see what the Lord was going to do in my heart because the topic of the conference was HEAVEN and HELL.
I had the priviledge once again to be the the band's (which is called ENFIELD now) chaplain. We had some time together before all the sessions and went through different Doxologies.
We started off with Romans 11:36 where Paul with an informed mind (the first 11 chapters of Romans) pour his heart into worshiping his GOD.
Jude 24-25 was the 2nd, 3rd, 4th time together where we saw that God was our PRESERVER, PERFECTER and PRAISEWORTHY. Then we looked at 2 Old Testament heroes of mine who in tough times wrote doxologies: Asaph in Psalm 73:25-28 and Habakkuk in Habakkuk 3:17-19; both of them writing praise to God in very difficult times.
We ended our time together last night looking at one final doxology, 1 Timothy 1: and we all crafted our own doxologies. That was the highlight of these times together; to hear the members of ENFIELD crying out to the Lord and worshiping him with humble hearts was incomparable.
I praise the Lord for being led in musical worship by men and women that are wholly devoted to God and especially by a man like John Martin whose ultimate goal is to glorify his Lord in everything he does!

What Happens Infants when they die?

My friend Chase Sears writes a thoughtful article about this difficult topic.
click here

Sproul Six Day Creationist?

Noted Theologian and Conference speaker R.C. Sproul is now a Six Day Creationist.
Read all about it here.

I know, I know, but I have been busy

If you are a Souk enthusiast, which I doubt, except for my wife, you might have noticed that I have been gone for a month or so. I have been busy with my hardest semester yet. Even though the semester ended, I am currently enrolled in summer school, taking two classes 3 weeks each. So I am still busy, but now I attempt to post, from time to time.

Wellhausen without bias?

I have been taking Old Testament Introduction, a class that deals with the inspiration, inerrancy, canonicity, and textual criticism of the Old Testament.
For my class project, I decided to study and write on Julius Wellhausen, as many call him, "the father of Old Testament Liberalism."
Here is a sampling:
Julius Wellhausen was born into a Christian home, his father was a Lutheran Cleric that was part of a movement that opposed theological liberalism. By the time that he went to the University of Gottingen, he was already corrupted in his thinking. At Gottingen he studied under famed OT scholar Heinrich Augustus Ewald. As he continued to study he became familiar with Karl Heinrich Graf's theory of Documentary Hypothesis, he writes about this experience:

“It my not be out of place here to refer to a personal experience. In my early student days I was attracted by the stories of Saul and David, Ahab and Elijah; the discourses of Amos and Isaiah laid strong hold on me, and I read myself well into the prophetic and historical books of the Old Testament. Thanks to such aids as were accessible to me, I even consider that I understood tolerably, but at the same time was troubled with a bad conscience, as if I were beginning with the roof instead of the foundation; for I had no though acquaintance with the Law, of which I was accustomed to be told that it was the bsis and postulate of the whole literature. At last I took courage and made my way though Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and even though Knoble’s Commentary to these books. But it was in vain that I look for the light which was to be shed from this source on the historical and prophetical books. On the contrary, my enjoyment of the latter was marred by the law; it did not bring them any nearer me, but intruded itself uneasily, like a ghost that makes a noise indeed, but is not visible and really effects nothing. At last, in the course of a casual visit in Göttingen in the summer of 1867, I learned through Ritschl that Karl Heinrich Graf placed the Law later than the Prophets, and, almost without knowing his reasons for the hypothesis, I was prepared to accept it; I readily acknowledge to myself the possibility of understanding Hebrew antiquity without the book of the Torah.”

(Julius Wellhausen, Prolegomena to the History of Ancient Israel, (Glouchester, Mass.: Meridian Books, 1973), 4)

Wellhausen opposed the supernatural, he could not and would not believe in the stories of the OT.
Wellhausen, who believes that the first few chapters of Genesis were myth, he writes, “A true myth is never invented; it is handed down. It is not true, but it is honest.” (Prolegomena, 314) On the patriachical history of Israel, he commented, “The materials here are not mythical but national, and therefore more transparent, and in a certain sense more historical.” (Prolegomena, 315)

Wellhausen is the face of OT liberalism, his views on the Documentary Hypothesis, although having sustained much revisions, still are held by many scholars. Yet the damage done by his discrediting of Scripture lives on. However, one cannot but to think about his bias and conviction that lead him through that path.

For Melissa:

In October of 1991, Christo and Jeanne-Claude began work on two great art projects in Bakersfield, CA and Ibaraki, Japan.
Over 3,100 umbrellas were set YELLOW (Bakersfield) and BLUE (IBARAKI)










You can see some more pictures here.

Lukas makes it BIG!

My friend Lukas VanDyke is featured by Tim Challies.

Read here his interview.

Facebook, part deux

I almost forgot to mention this little deuce about Facebook.
In fact, just by looking at Chase Sears, it reminding me of mentioning this.

The status update Bar.
At the risk of sounding heartless I will only say, "Why?"
If we all truly cared what you are doing 100% of the time, we would be living together.
I do not need to know that you are "watching TV," nor that you "have not gotten enough sleep," or that you are "feeling tired." Honestly, if something truly important happens in your life, then BY ALL MEANS post it. However, if you just want attention, tell me so.

Gus is... SEEKING ATTENTION FROM YOU

Facebook: Friendship with no Strings Attached

Let me preface this post by saying, I do have a facebook account and I use it.
Facebook has become a crazed in the last few years, in fact it was launched in February of 2004 a mere 4 years ago. By september of 2007, facebook had over 64 million subscribers and about 14 million uploads DAILY!
Facebook is a new technology that I call Friendship with No strings attached. It is easy to be a "friend" in facebook, you only have to ask someone to be your friend and 99% of the time, they will say, "YES."
The amazing fact that I have people on my "friend's list" that I have NEVER EVER EVER spoken to. In fact, I was asked to be friends with people at the School that I attend that I normally would not recognized.
Another "important" aspect of facebook are applications. One can get the "daily verse," or "the farside of the day," or "fun fact." However the most revolting part of this application comes by way of SUPERPOKE. Superpoke, which I could never sign up for, is an application that allows you to, "dance with," "throw a sheep at," "hug," "eat thanksgiving with," etc. This application allows you to do things with people that you would never do in real life.
Facebook is a great technological advance, it allows people to keep in touch with others, and helps you find people that you have not seen. YET I have to ask, if you have lost touch with someone, why do you need to find them again?
If you are not friends with someone, why are you looking to be "friends" with them over facebook?
If you are not going to throw a live sheep; why must you do this on facebook?

Facebook is Friendship with no strings attached! I wanted you to know that.

gap

With all this busyness... Here is a Proverb!

I have not posted for over a week.
It has been quite a busy couple of weeks at school and work, and I could not get time to post.
I was thinking about what to post early this morning. The truth is that for days now, I have had in my head the passage that I will be teaching on this Friday night at Hillside.
Proverbs 15:11
Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the LORD;
how much more the hearts of the children of man!

Sheol was consider for the Jewish people as the place of the dead.
Abaddon was the place of destruction.
The NIV says, "Death and Destruction lie open before the LORD;"
This is an argument from the Greater to the lesser; that is, God can see Death and Destruction open before Him... How much more can He see your small heart.

I will not give you the whole lesson, but suffice it to say that Knows it all, even your heart.
As I was thinking about this for Friday, I pondered on the fact that God is omniscient and that He is omnipresent. These truths should not only be a deterrent to not harbor hidden sin, but they also should be an encouragement to look for vindication only before our God.
As we think of our God, let us worship him and fear him because even Death and Destruction Lie open before Him.

Worshiping Jesus Christ

I was quite surprised as I was watching a re-run episode of the Simpsons about this line.
Though it seems like a shot a Christianity, I could easily imagine how this can become true in the minds of unbelievers.
Take a quick sampler of some of our Christian songs,

"I love You, I need You
Though my world may fall,
I'll never let You go My Savior, my closest friend
I will worship You until the very end"

"My heart is glad that You've called me Your own
Cause There's no place I'd rather be
Than In Your arms of love, In Your arms of love.
Holding me still, holding me near, In Your arms of love.
I sing a simple song of love To my Savior, to my Jesus.
I'm grateful for the things You've done, My loving Savior, my
precious Jesus."

What are the songs that we should sing?
How should we sing to our God? How are we to worship him?

I will attempt to develop this in the next week...

Here is a song that will wet your appetite for true worship:

Man of Sorrows! what a name
For the Son of God, who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned He stood;
Sealed my pardon with His blood.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Guilty, vile, and helpless we;
Spotless Lamb of God was He;
“Full atonement!” can it be?
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Lifted up was He to die;
“It is finished!” was His cry;
Now in Heav’n exalted high.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

When He comes, our glorious King,
All His ransomed home to bring,
Then anew His song we’ll sing:
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

American Karaoke!

Melissa, my dear wife, convinced me that I should prefer her and that I'd watch American Karaoke err... Idol with her.
I did, well I guess I am. She told me that tonight they were going to do songs from the Beatles and I love the Beatles.
American Karaoke is probably the biggest show in television right now, but I do not seem to understand the point.
I told Melissa that if I wanted to see average singers, I would go to my local bar, which I do not frequent, and see some dude attempt to sing "Boulevard of Broken Dreams."
But I digress, these Beatles songs were completely trashed by these amateurish mediocre singers. Melissa kept asking me if I liked the singers, I kept saying, "they are nothing special."
American Karaoke might be huge in pop-culture, but I will stick to NOT watching, unless my sweetheart insist.
For now, I will continue to listen to my IPOD, where TRUE artists reside!

gap

News: New Seven Deadly Sins

I saw this in a couple of blogs.

Look at this

I wonder if they will make a new Movie?

Shepherds' Conference

Shepherds Conference came and went... Probably the fastest one ever!
I was so blessed by the Plenary Sessions and Seminars.
As I was poking around the website I saw what the Mission Statement of the Shepherds' Conference.

Our mission is to provide the opportunity for men in church leadership to be challenged in their commitment to biblical ministry and to find encouragement as together we seek to become more effective servants of our Chief Shepherd.

This is exactly what happened this year.

I was also blessed by seeing so many of my old friends, I even saw a guy who I had not seen since I was a freshmen in College!
Also, I was also quite blessed by meeting some new friends.

Here are my HIGHLIGHTS!

*Dr. MacArthur's Message on the Widow's Mite
*Andy Snider's Seminar on Worship
*Dr. Lawson's Message on Hebrews 4:12-13
*Matt Waymeyer's Seminar on A Biblical Critique of Infant Baptism
*Phil Johnson's AMAZING Sermon on Mars Hill [the Acts one, not the church =) ]
*My Lunch with Jon Blakely (old friend from our CSUN bible study)
*My Dinners with Melissa, Cael, Shannon and Spencer
*My Lunch with Joe Penberthy (Old Friend from Seminary/Crossroads)

All in all, It was so much fun!

Like a kid before Christmas...

Every year our church puts together The Shepherd's Conference.
This year is another treat to be there and enjoy the fellowship of men that are ministering around the world.
I will not be live-blogging :)
You might want to check Challies for that. Or Pulpit Magazine

One of Those Verses

Sometimes we need a reminder of how valuable Scripture is to us.
Yesterday I was in a meeting where this verse was read.
I have had this verse in my mind ever since; I want to share it with you.

1Pet. 3:18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;

Rick Holland said yesterday that this verse is "pregnant with gospel truth." It is so true!

Enjoy our Savior as you meditate on this verse.

When I grow up I want to be a...

The first time I thought of that question I was probably under 4 years old.
I remember my grandfather, brothers and I were "working" in my grandpa's shed (which was huge) and I remembering thinking, "When I grow up I want to be a carpenter."
A carpenter? Yes, a carpenter.
I would love to tell you that I wanted to be a carpenter because Joseph, Jesus' dad, was a carpenter and thus he, Jesus, probably was in the family business, but no. I wanted to be a carpenter because I loved saws, hammers, and the smell of wood.
Unfortunately, it didn't take long for my dreams to be shattered, 4th grade wood-shop class took care of that. I realized then that I probably would need a desk job or talk to people in order to make money, instead of sanding, cutting and nailing.
I was reminded of that today as I was driving to work. It is funny to think that we usually end up a million miles away from where we first start and yet we end up in the same place that God wants us to be.
I was talking to a friend last week and I was telling him that for us Hollywood does not really apply. We could never think "I missed my chance." We know that we are exactly where God wants us. Somehow our choices and God's sovereignty work in perfect harmony.
You see, the best way I can explain this is: God is a great God, he knows all and somehow all things work together to bring him glory. So...
No... I did not get to be a carpenter, or a doctor, nor an astronaut, nor a soccer player, and I did not get to sail around the world, but wherever I am at, it is the perfect place where he wants us to be.

Republican? Democrat? No Thanks, I am a Monarchist!

Last week one of our professors told us that he was neither a Republican, nor a Democrat; he said, "I am a Monarchist, I am waiting for my King to come and Rule perfectly over the earth."
That statement caused me to change what I was going to teach on friday.
I was schedule to teach on Proverbs 31, the excellent woman! However, I could not help for my mind to gravitate to another passage, Proverbs 21:1 "The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will."
This proverb shows us that God is in control, even in human government.
The image is pretty vivid, God hands moving a flow of water wherever he desires, that is the heart of the king. I think that sometimes we worry too much about who will win, what they stand for, but we forget that behind EVERY ruler, stands the RULER of the universe.
There are four responses to this verse.
1) Trust God- That whatever happens in government, He is still sitting on the throne
2) Pray- Pray for your leaders, for wisdom.
3) Vote- Since we live on a democracy, there is nothing wrong for us to vote for the candidates that will help the right people.
4) Remember- We need to remember that God wins at the end. No matter how bleak the outlook, God still wins at the end.

Busyness and Thoughts

The last 3 weeks have been probably the busiest weeks of my life. Work has picked up, School is still relentless, and everything else around me is still going on.
Last week I began to despair, it was a very tough week, not only in busyness, but also emotionally draining for other reasons. I was sharing this with my beautiful wife and she read to me this very well known passage.

21 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood since the earth was founded?

22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

23 He brings princes to naught
and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.

24 No sooner are they planted,
no sooner are they sown,
no sooner do they take root in the ground,
than he blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.

25 "To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One.

26 Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one,
and calls them each by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.

27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and complain, O Israel,
"My way is hidden from the LORD;
my cause is disregarded by my God"?

28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

In all of my busyness, I had forgotten that God is still the one that sits on the throne. He is the one that gives strength to the weary, he increases the power of the weak.
God is still King!
I know that this is a short post, but I wanted to share this passage of Scripture with you.

gap

Dying to Self

Friday and Saturday, Crossroads sponsored a very different conference, it was called AWARE or it should have been called HOW TO MATURE IN CHRIST.
We heard four great sermons about maturing in leadership, finances, planning, and the value of awareness.
This latter one was quite convicting to me:

Download Here

Rick Holland finished his sermon with this great anonymous poem:


When you are forgotten, neglected, or purposely set at naught, and you don't sting or hurt with the oversight, but your heart is happy being counted worthy to suffer for Christ;

That is dying to self.
When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinion ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart or even defend yourself, but take it all in patient, loving silence;
That is dying to self.
When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, any annoyance; when you can stand face to face with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility, and endure it as Jesus did;
That is dying to self.
When you are content with any food, and offering, any raiment, any climate, any society, any solitude, any interruption by the will of God;
That is dying to self.
When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation or record your own good works or itch after commendation, when you can truly love to be unknown;
That is dying to self.
When you can see your brother prosper and have his needs met, and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy, nor question God, while your own needs are far greater and you are in desperate circumstances;
That is dying to self.
When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less stature than yourself and can humbly submit, inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart;
That is dying to self.

A Remembrance

Psalm 70 deals is a particular Song of the Psalter, it is a Remembrance.
In the superscript David writes, "For the Music Director, a psalm of David, to remember."
Only in Psalm 38 is this superscript found, this remembrance was probably sung with a sacrifice that would act as a reminder to Yahweh of the psalmist needs and requests.
As I was reading and re-reading this psalm, I was struck by his dependence on the Yahweh. David understood quite well that God was the only one that could remember him while he was in distress. I thought about the fact that when we are in distress we seek people, comfort, and other devices, instead of clinging to the Rock, instead of "reminding" the Lord about our distress.
How different our lives might be if we would go to Yahweh and casts all of our cares on Him, because he cares for us.

Thoughts on Psalm 69

I am taking an Exegesis of Selected Psalms class. This class has been, to say the least, challenging, not only in the Hebrew, but also in my own understanding of the Psalms.
One such case has been, Psalm 69. This song of the psalter is an imprecatory Psalm, that is a psalm in which the writer is asking God to judge his enemies. Here is a sampling:

22 May the table set before them become a snare;
may it become retribution and [a] a trap.

23 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
and their backs be bent forever.

24 Pour out your wrath on them;
let your fierce anger overtake them.

25 May their place be deserted;
let there be no one to dwell in their tents.

26 For they persecute those you wound
and talk about the pain of those you hurt.

27 Charge them with crime upon crime;
do not let them share in your salvation.

28 May they be blotted out of the book of life
and not be listed with the righteous.

David is at his wit's end and he is asking God to judge his enemies in a rather colorful and poetic fashion.
Now the question is how can we apply that to us today in the 21st century? Also how can we reconcile this with Jesus' teaching of loving those who persecute us and our enemies?

I read the great article on this issue where the author suggested that David is not praying this out of malice, rather to see justice done. We are even called by Paul to "abhor what is evil and to cling to what is good." (Rom 12.9)
We need to be aware that God will judge the earth and every human will stand before Him; thus we need to pray with our Lord, "Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be Done in earth as it is in heaven."
This is probably the best way to pray for God's judgment, and not do it out of a self-righteous way, rather one that longs to see the Eternal King reign forever and his justice be established.

Loose Lips Sink Ships

Free speech is something people cling to so that they can say whatever they want. Yet in Scripture we find that limiting our speech is better than, FREE SPEECH.
Provers 10.19 says, "When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, But he who restrains his lips is wise."
Solomon, the king of Israel, is writing to his son and tells them that wisdom is found in limiting words.
I was talking to someone last night and told her that I was going to be making sure Cael memorizes this verse. She asked, "Do you think he will be a talker?" I responded that I was not sure, but I knew one thing that he would not be perfect. James says that a person that is able to restrain his lips is perfect, thus this passage applies to all, talkatives-types and non-talkative-types.
We find two motivations for limiting our words, 1) you will avoid sin; and 2) you will show wisdom.
Wisdom is found in what we say, but also in what we do not say.

Whate'er My God Ordains Is Right:

This song has ministered to me a lot today.
Though it is hard to sing, I find myself meditating on these great lyrics.
I hope you enjoy them as well.


Whate’er my God ordains is right:
His holy will abideth;
I will be still whate’er He doth;
And follow where He guideth;
He is my God; though dark my road,
He holds me that I shall not fall:
Wherefore to Him I leave it all.

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
He never will deceive me;
He leads me by the proper path:
I know He will not leave me.
I take, content, what He hath sent;
His hand can turn my griefs away,
And patiently I wait His day.

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
His loving thought attends me;
No poison can be in the cup
That my Physician sends me.
My God is true; each morn anew
I’ll trust His grace unending,
My life to Him commending.

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
He is my Friend and Father;
He suffers naught to do me harm,
Though many storms may gather,
Now I may know both joy and woe,
Some day I shall see clearly
That He hath loved me dearly.

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
Though now this cup, in drinking,
May bitter seem to my faint heart,
I take it, all unshrinking.
My God is true; each morn anew
Sweet comfort yet shall fill my heart,
And pain and sorrow shall depart.

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
Here shall my stand be taken;
Though sorrow, need, or death be mine,
Yet I am not forsaken.
My Father’s care is round me there;
He holds me that I shall not fall:
And so to Him I leave it all.

Samuel Rodigast, 1676

Proverbs

It seems like every language in the world has its sayings. In fact, there are websites devoted to sayings and proverbs.
This year I have decided to start reading proverbs to Cael. Yes, I know he is only 7 months old, but being that proverbs was written by Solomon and they were written for his son, I thought I could start now reading them to Cael.
Also we are doing a series on the proverbs at Bible Study. We started off with Proverbs 15.20, "He who neglects discipline despises himself, But he who listens to reproof acquires understanding."
I am excited to see how God will bless our study and also to see how Cael will be blest in the future by the teachings in Proverbs.

ps. It is good to be back.

After a break, I am back!

I am back after taking a prolonged break. School is starting on Monday the 7th. I am taking a "one week class" on the book of James.
I am exited about this, yet I know that I will be very busy.
I will be starting to write again!