Open your heart and mind to the Lord!
You will gain nothing by grappling with your problems apart from the enlightenment that only the Holy Spirit can bring, and the Holy Spirit is not stirred up within you by struggle, but by praise.
Don’t be afraid of your pain. If death were as close as you fear, there would be no need to store sustenance for the winter to come. Your strength and help come from the Lord; abide in Him. Let your roots run so deeply that you are able to withstand cold, storms, or drought.
The Lord will exchange your weariness for strength; come unto Him!
Scripture: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Saturday, September 3, 2011
How to Think About Death
Sometimes those who are the most spiritually perceptive are the most prone to fear. You see and sense spiritual truths you cannot completely understand, and apart from a steadfast focus upon the Lord, you fall to fear.
Let go your fear of death. As Jesus told the thief, “Today you will be with me in Paradise,” so the Lord tells you, “You’ll only pass through shadow, and into light again.”
Death is a passageway. Stop thinking of death as a different level of consciousness; it is like walking through a door. You will still be aware, you will still be you. Death is not like anesthesia. There is nothing of paralysis, constriction, or altered consciousness about death. Almost the opposite is true, death is a freeing process that delivers you to new life.
Death is somewhat like falling asleep, but for the Christian, death does not entrap, it releases. The distorted awareness and paralysis of anesthesia are responsible for the fears you harbor now. Let go this misconception that death is like anesthesia. It is not.
The Valley of the Shadow is a passageway to be traversed, not a place to set up camp. God's children do not linger in the valley. In the same way that a baby being born is pushed down the birth canal and then delivered, death is only the passageway between this world and the next; and the Lord is with you. Dying is sometimes as simple as stepping across a threshold.
Do not be afraid.
Scripture: "Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death" Hebrews 2:14-15
Let go your fear of death. As Jesus told the thief, “Today you will be with me in Paradise,” so the Lord tells you, “You’ll only pass through shadow, and into light again.”
Death is a passageway. Stop thinking of death as a different level of consciousness; it is like walking through a door. You will still be aware, you will still be you. Death is not like anesthesia. There is nothing of paralysis, constriction, or altered consciousness about death. Almost the opposite is true, death is a freeing process that delivers you to new life.
Death is somewhat like falling asleep, but for the Christian, death does not entrap, it releases. The distorted awareness and paralysis of anesthesia are responsible for the fears you harbor now. Let go this misconception that death is like anesthesia. It is not.
The Valley of the Shadow is a passageway to be traversed, not a place to set up camp. God's children do not linger in the valley. In the same way that a baby being born is pushed down the birth canal and then delivered, death is only the passageway between this world and the next; and the Lord is with you. Dying is sometimes as simple as stepping across a threshold.
Do not be afraid.
Scripture: "Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death" Hebrews 2:14-15
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
What You Can Change
You can’t correct what is wrong in anyone but yourself, and even that project requires the Almighty God’s help! You could do a fairly accurate analysis of what is amiss in those you love, but what is the point? You do not have the tools to put to rights what is wrong. It is much more expedient for you to pray for them and to yield to the Lord's correcting influence in your own life. Your example and your prayers will combine to create the most powerful force for change that is possible for one human being to exert over another, because you will not be exerting force at all; but will become a cleaner vessel through which the Holy Spirit's powerful influence can flow.
Scripture: "Don't hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you've got it in you, get along with everybody. Don't insist on getting even; that's not for you to do. 'I'll do the judging,' says God. 'I'll take care of it'" (Romans 12:17-19, the Message).
Scripture: "Don't hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you've got it in you, get along with everybody. Don't insist on getting even; that's not for you to do. 'I'll do the judging,' says God. 'I'll take care of it'" (Romans 12:17-19, the Message).
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
A Chosen Servant of Christ
Note: Here at "Just the Boldfaced Print," I am careful to record as purely as I'm able only the Holy Spirit directed guidance the Lord provides to me. I seek not to muddy the waters with my own thoughts and feelings; but to be a vessel for His words. In this way, because of the Holy Spirit's unique and powerful ability to speak to many hearts at once with living and active words that become custom tailored to each need, most entries recorded here are for every believer. The following entry, however, is addressed to those who have made it their life's work to accept God's anointing as writers. A Christian scribe is one who opens his or her heart to the Holy Spirit's guidance, and labors to put the Lord's thoughts into words for the edification of this generation. This entry is addressed to the Lord's scribes, but with very little editing can also apply to every member of Christ's body by replacing the word "scribe" with whatever unique anointing God has given you. "All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines" (1 Corinthians 12:11).
For every age scribes are chosen who will reveal the portion of God's word most needed for the people of that generation. You are a chosen scribe. Do not either overestimate or underestimate your own value to those who will receive your words; the Lord's words through you.
Always remember that you are of inestimable worth to God, apart from any work you may perform on His behalf.
Scripture: "And he said to them, 'Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.'" (Matthew 13:52, ESV).
"Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you" (Romans 12:3).
For every age scribes are chosen who will reveal the portion of God's word most needed for the people of that generation. You are a chosen scribe. Do not either overestimate or underestimate your own value to those who will receive your words; the Lord's words through you.
Always remember that you are of inestimable worth to God, apart from any work you may perform on His behalf.
Scripture: "And he said to them, 'Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.'" (Matthew 13:52, ESV).
"Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you" (Romans 12:3).
Monday, July 18, 2011
All Have Sinned
Don't be a whitewashed wall. The wall was crumbling away, but the builders painted over its flaws to make it appear better than it was (Ezekiel 13:10-16). You may possess greater skill at hiding your sin than the ones who have cost you pain, but the sin itself is no different than theirs.
You are upset and have difficulty admitting that the same sin that hurt you so badly in others is present in you. You feel devastated, as though to admit you are guilty of this same brand of sin dis-acknowledges the fact that you suffered at their hands. Think of it this way: if a child runs into the path of a car because he did not look both ways, and if the resulting accident is the child's fault, does a loving father withhold aid? NO!
Grace does not depend upon the one who is in need, but upon the One who grants the gift. Mercy does not depend on the one who cries out for help, but upon the One who is the source of all mercy and grace. God sees the state of the heart. You are under grace; you have received mercy, He is with you.
You are upset and have difficulty admitting that the same sin that hurt you so badly in others is present in you. You feel devastated, as though to admit you are guilty of this same brand of sin dis-acknowledges the fact that you suffered at their hands. Think of it this way: if a child runs into the path of a car because he did not look both ways, and if the resulting accident is the child's fault, does a loving father withhold aid? NO!
Grace does not depend upon the one who is in need, but upon the One who grants the gift. Mercy does not depend on the one who cries out for help, but upon the One who is the source of all mercy and grace. God sees the state of the heart. You are under grace; you have received mercy, He is with you.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
In Christ Alone
There can be no salvation without a savior. That seems obvious, and yet in popular culture there is found a motif wherein a Holy and powerful God (force, power) is presented as being all wise and kind, and yet paltry human beings in these imaginary worlds are able to interact with Him with no intermediary. In reality, the Lord our God is so immutably and terrifyingly holy that human beings cannot stand in His presence apart from Christ. Any plan of salvation that does not include Jesus is a lie, meant to lull people into a false sense of security through a fairy tale of weakly divine goodness that can be manipulated by mere human beings. We are less than nothing as compared to the magnificence and glory of the most Holy God, and why He has chosen to love us is a divine mystery, made known to us in Christ. In Christ alone lies our hope for eternal peace and life; only through Christ may we participate in the divine nature.
Scripture: "And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ" (Ephesians 1:9-10).
Scripture: "And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ" (Ephesians 1:9-10).
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Don't Hide From God
In this stressful season, you cannot spare time to indulge the luxury of avoidance. When you feel tired, rest; when you feel the urge for escapism, resist. This is not too difficult for you. Turn to the Lord each time you feel that restless sense of being overwhelmed or overtired.
It is natural to pull one’s hand back from a thorn prick. God does not chastise you for recoiling from the discomfort of stress, but He does want you to handle it differently. Do not hide from it. Take a step back, yes, but let that step bring you into His arms. Don’t hide.
Your tendency is to sit down between the stress and God's solace and cover your head. Flee to the Lord if you must flee, or stand firm and trust His deliverance; but when you run from the stress take care that you do not also hide your face from the Lord your God.
Scripture: "...they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, 'Where are you?'" (Genesis 3:8-9)
"If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers..." (John 15:6).
It is natural to pull one’s hand back from a thorn prick. God does not chastise you for recoiling from the discomfort of stress, but He does want you to handle it differently. Do not hide from it. Take a step back, yes, but let that step bring you into His arms. Don’t hide.
Your tendency is to sit down between the stress and God's solace and cover your head. Flee to the Lord if you must flee, or stand firm and trust His deliverance; but when you run from the stress take care that you do not also hide your face from the Lord your God.
Scripture: "...they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, 'Where are you?'" (Genesis 3:8-9)
"If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers..." (John 15:6).
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