Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Almost There!

As of right now I have 96 pages to read to finish the bible in 40 days!!

This time has been so amazing, I am sort of sad to see it end. I have learned more than I could ever tell, reading the bible through in such a short time.

Just a few things . . .

I am in awe of our HOLY God!

The Fear of the Lord has definitely increased in my heart.

I think, after reading through the Old Testament, we (the church) may have swung a little too far towards 'grace'. You don't hear much (or see, for that matter) about holiness. Lots and lots of teaching on the grace of God, not much on the HOLINESS of God.
The fact that young 'Christian' couples are living together before they get married and then, in church, say in their vows about being 'best friends and LOVERS' while parents and pastors just smile!!! Makes me crazy! How is this okay?
Or, 'Christian' teenagers reading the Twilight series by the millions!? Are you kidding me?
Sorry, for the rant. I'll get back to that in another post. It just slipped out ;-)

Do you know that there were sacrifices even for sins you did not know you committed?? Once you realized you had sinned you needed to sacrifice. Sounds like taking responsibility for our sins.

While we serve a God who demands and expects holiness, we also serve a God who is merciful beyond belief. Over and over again He showed His mercy to a people who continually disobeyed His commands. That encourages this sinner.

His love for His people was beautiful to behold.

I was inspired over and over again by the beautiful prayers throughout the bible. Not just the Psalms, but prayers by Nehemiah, Daniel, Jehoshaphat and others who poured out their hearts to the Sovereign God of the universe.

Reading through the Gospels and Acts was quite convicting. I hope to share more in the future, but what has happened to the Church??!! The following verse will not leave me:

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. (John 14:12)

What works did Jesus do? Which of those works are we doing greater? Do we really "believe" in Him?

Do you know over and over again, as I read through huge chunks of the Gospels at a time, that one could not help but notice that Jesus healed over and over and over again? He cast out demons over and over again?

Are we really obeying the whole counsel of the Word??

Do we love the Lord our God with ALL our heart, soul, mind and strength?

Do we love our neighbor as our selves?

Are we willing to sell all and give to the poor?

Do we obey Mark 16?

“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Oh, we send out the missionaries, but what about the signs and wonders??? I haven't had any following me lately, have you? What about casting out demons? Speaking in new tongues? Laying hands on the sick and them actually recovering!

I could go on, but I won't right now. The Lord began stirring in our hearts quite awhile ago and reading through the Word has only excited and ignited the fire more. I think we are actually getting fed up with living life 'as usual'. We don't know what it means, but we are quite sick of it. Sometimes when I think about my shallow life compared to the followers of Jesus I get a sick feeling in my stomach.

Am I willing to go where ever He sends me? Am I willing to give it all up? The comfort of my home?

We saw this video several months ago and it stirred us up. The Lord recently brought it back across our path. It was so neat to remember how we felt the first time we saw it compared to now, several months into this journey He has us on. It is only about 2 minutes long and it is quite powerful. ( I have the book, a couple of my children have read it, I have not. I am not posting the video to advertise the book. I think the video says quite a bit!)
I thought our thinking was pretty radical before, but I think we are about to get a whole lot more radical. Care to join us?


4 comments:

Cranberry Morning said...

This is such an important post! The holiness of God is something far too often overlooked. God does not take sin lightly, and all the wrath that He poured out on Jesus because of our sin should remind us of the huge price of our sin.

Thank you for this post. It's also an inspiration to follow your example and read through the Bible in a short time, to more easily see the whole picture.

Kate said...

I recently read this quote, and it really got me thinking:

"If no one is accusing you of being too legalistic, then you probably aren't living a holy life. If no one is accusing you of being a 'bleeding heart', then you probably aren't loving enough. If no one is accusing you of being too dogmatic, then you probably aren't standing for the truth. If no one is accusing you or criticizing you, then you probably aren't doing anything significant."

~Israel Wayne

Sounds like you're thinking the same thing too!

Marilyn@Inspired Moments said...

My dear sister, God in his holiness is so awesome. I have been contemplating Romans 6--sin reigning in us, yielding member of unrighteousness, letting sin have dominion, serving sin, bondage--all of this leading to death. This is the position of most of our churches today. Yet "lifting holy hands." Whom are we serving? Where does a life of holiness fit in? Yielding to God, obedience that leads to righteousness, being made free from sin, being servants of righteousness, freedom--all of this leading to eternal life.

It is more than a radical change. It is dying as Christ did to live in newness of life. This is all done by faith keeping inmmind that "faith without works is dead.

Radical change in the way we think and do things. It is going against what society deems as normal.

I think the scary thing is that "going against the tide" a lot of times means going against what the church is deeming as normal. Over the years, the standard of the church in general has shifted from a true grace to grace--unmerited favor "but I can still do what I want to do." We need help from the Almighty.

Thank you so much for for blog post, they do remind us of our need of Christ.

May God Bless

Mrs. White said...

This is so inspiring! I am amazed you are reading the entire Bible in such a short period of time. It must be quiet an experience!

I read David's book and it is wonderful!

blessings
Mrs. White