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As I was mowing my mother's lawn today her neighbor's 15 yr old daughter came out of the house and started walking down the road. At 15 she is in 'mid-bloom' and no doubt struggling (as with any mid-teen) to find her identity. The thing I noticed the most about her was her particular choice of clothing. Her long-sleeved blouse was extremely low cut, maximizing the minimal amount of womanhood she possessed. Given my age, she is young enough to be my daughter and that caused me to consider my own daughters. I have two daughters ages 11 & 8.
As I continued to mow I began praying, asking what causes an innocent girl such as this to dress in such a provocative way. (That's the pious version of what I did.)
(The natural version goes like this.) I said to myself, 'My daughters will NEVER be caught in public looking like that. (The actual version lies somewhere between those two responses.) However, the thought came to me that daughters seek their father's approval. Just as I notice who and what is around me, my daughters notice what catches my attention. When I second-glance a scantily clad female my girls register this in their sub-conscious as a way to get Dad's attention. When I comment on the beauty of a seemingly less than credible female my daughters again file that information away for future recollection.
As these thoughts flooded me I suddenly realized that the exact opposite could also hold true. If I comment on the genuine beauty of a fully-clothed and serene, peaceful lady my daughters will realize that serenity and peace are qualities their father admires in women. As I interact with their mother (with all her old-fashioned qualities) in such a way that they can recognize true passion and love, their inner person which is seeking acceptance from me will emulate their mother's qualities in order to gain their father's attention and approval, will they not?
And what about our sons? Our sons also notice how 'true' men act toward women and what kind of women 'true' men recognize. Sons tend to imitate their Dad. As a recovering pornography and sex addict I take this fact serious. I have begged God to break any chain of addiction and give my sons true freedom in this area. My sons are 10, 3 and 1. I hope and pray that as my sons watch their father live life, they will see that godly qualities and character are the most admirable attributes in a wife. I pray that the Lord will continue to deliver me from the sexual bondages I have been challenged with in the past so that my sons can enter life and marriage with right concepts.
But now the question rides on you! Dad's, what kind of women do your sons and daughters witness you 'admiring'? Does your glance stray or stay too high or too low when female's are around? Can you make eye contact with women and be satisfied or must you examine their anatomy further? Men, your children ARE watching you. Your sons are learning how to treat women and your daughters are learning what kind of woman to be.
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Saturday, November 1, 2008
Friday, October 31, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Diary of a Backslider
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You remember it like yesterday. After years of struggling to find peace you finally recognized your need for something or someone outside of yourself to accomplish the task. Maybe you’d spent all you life on the streets of one of America’s cities plagued with loneliness and acceptance finding only a meager belonging in the low ranks of a gang; or maybe you’d been raised going to church learning Sunday school songs and joining Bible clubs.
Nevertheless, the time came when you recognized that you were a fake. After years of pretending to be tough and participating in every questionable activity imaginable; after years of quoting scripture and dating the preacher’s daughter; after years of wearing the right attire and blending with the crowd you had to admit, never had you experienced for yourself this genuine acceptance and peace that others claimed. Not even once had your life felt like it was less than out of control.
Then came the day you’ll never forget. You wrote the date in the front of your Bible and forever the details are etched into your memory. You remind the devil of that day on a regular basis as you mock his attempt to pull you back into your old habits and attitudes. Was it during the solitude of a nature walk? Was it at the altar in a revival meeting? Was it in a private discussion with another individual? Was it in response to a gospel message or tract? Was it a street preacher, a parent, a friend, a sibling, a child, a lover? Regardless of who it was or what the events you finally felt full acceptance from God.
Never before in your life had you been so honest about yourself. Much of what you confessed no one knew and yet you felt so clean, so free, so alive! How could this God who you had feared all your life even want to accept you after He knew all you’d done? Not knowing all the answers to these questions you accepted them and reveled in your new found spiritual and emotional freedom.
Each day found you experiencing new and deeper truths from the Bible. Each week found you eager to attend church and connect with other believers. Strangely, it almost seemed you were family. Week after week, month after month you maintained a zeal for others to know and experience what had happened to you. You spoke freely of your Savior unashamed of who may hear and what they may think. Often you would sit late at night, or rise early in the morning just to listen to the solitude so that His voice wouldn’t be drowned out by life’s noises.
Your hunger for His word was insatiable and you carried your Bible everywhere you went. Every conversation with your fellow believers soon found itself to be a discussion of God and His love, mercy and grace. You’d rise early to attend prayer breakfasts. You’d stay late to bask in the acceptance you felt at evening worship sessions. Simply put, you couldn’t get enough of Jesus.
As a meager attempt to assist in the distribution of this message you joined various ministries. Soon you were obligated to quit attending the evening worship sessions in order to organize the next outreach effort. These kept you late into the evening and you fell into bed exhausted from a full days work followed with a full evening of administration. Prayer breakfasts were replaced with a few more minutes of sleep. Seldom can you find the time, much less the energy, to spend entire nights in prayer and intercession anymore. You can hardly remember the last time you experienced solitude and you’re not sure you even remember what His voice sounds like.
Life comes at you full steam ahead and between raising children, full time employment and multiple ministry opportunities, not to mention Sunday morning church services, Wednesday evening Bible study and Friday evening youth group gathering you live just over spent. All that you do and everywhere you go is for, about or because of Jesus, and yet you hardly know who He is anymore. You find yourself asking…
Where is the blessedness I knew
When first I knew the Lord
Where is the soul refreshing view
Of Jesus and His word?
Just a few short years ago you laughed at the devils attempts to draw you back into your old, carnal, sinful lifestyle. Now it seems the devil’s laughing at you because you’re there. Once again you find yourself dabbling with old habits. Old attitudes are flaring and your responses are less than noble at times. The strength you once had to resist the ‘firey darts of satan’ now seems to be gone and in its place nothing but a weak, half-hearted praise song.
How did it happen? When did it happen? Why did it happen? No one knows, but this is sure, you have backslidden! Life has overtaken you and you have succumbed. Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
__________________________________________________
You remember it like yesterday. After years of struggling to find peace you finally recognized your need for something or someone outside of yourself to accomplish the task. Maybe you’d spent all you life on the streets of one of America’s cities plagued with loneliness and acceptance finding only a meager belonging in the low ranks of a gang; or maybe you’d been raised going to church learning Sunday school songs and joining Bible clubs.
Nevertheless, the time came when you recognized that you were a fake. After years of pretending to be tough and participating in every questionable activity imaginable; after years of quoting scripture and dating the preacher’s daughter; after years of wearing the right attire and blending with the crowd you had to admit, never had you experienced for yourself this genuine acceptance and peace that others claimed. Not even once had your life felt like it was less than out of control.
Then came the day you’ll never forget. You wrote the date in the front of your Bible and forever the details are etched into your memory. You remind the devil of that day on a regular basis as you mock his attempt to pull you back into your old habits and attitudes. Was it during the solitude of a nature walk? Was it at the altar in a revival meeting? Was it in a private discussion with another individual? Was it in response to a gospel message or tract? Was it a street preacher, a parent, a friend, a sibling, a child, a lover? Regardless of who it was or what the events you finally felt full acceptance from God.
Never before in your life had you been so honest about yourself. Much of what you confessed no one knew and yet you felt so clean, so free, so alive! How could this God who you had feared all your life even want to accept you after He knew all you’d done? Not knowing all the answers to these questions you accepted them and reveled in your new found spiritual and emotional freedom.
Each day found you experiencing new and deeper truths from the Bible. Each week found you eager to attend church and connect with other believers. Strangely, it almost seemed you were family. Week after week, month after month you maintained a zeal for others to know and experience what had happened to you. You spoke freely of your Savior unashamed of who may hear and what they may think. Often you would sit late at night, or rise early in the morning just to listen to the solitude so that His voice wouldn’t be drowned out by life’s noises.
Your hunger for His word was insatiable and you carried your Bible everywhere you went. Every conversation with your fellow believers soon found itself to be a discussion of God and His love, mercy and grace. You’d rise early to attend prayer breakfasts. You’d stay late to bask in the acceptance you felt at evening worship sessions. Simply put, you couldn’t get enough of Jesus.
As a meager attempt to assist in the distribution of this message you joined various ministries. Soon you were obligated to quit attending the evening worship sessions in order to organize the next outreach effort. These kept you late into the evening and you fell into bed exhausted from a full days work followed with a full evening of administration. Prayer breakfasts were replaced with a few more minutes of sleep. Seldom can you find the time, much less the energy, to spend entire nights in prayer and intercession anymore. You can hardly remember the last time you experienced solitude and you’re not sure you even remember what His voice sounds like.
Life comes at you full steam ahead and between raising children, full time employment and multiple ministry opportunities, not to mention Sunday morning church services, Wednesday evening Bible study and Friday evening youth group gathering you live just over spent. All that you do and everywhere you go is for, about or because of Jesus, and yet you hardly know who He is anymore. You find yourself asking…
Where is the blessedness I knew
When first I knew the Lord
Where is the soul refreshing view
Of Jesus and His word?
Just a few short years ago you laughed at the devils attempts to draw you back into your old, carnal, sinful lifestyle. Now it seems the devil’s laughing at you because you’re there. Once again you find yourself dabbling with old habits. Old attitudes are flaring and your responses are less than noble at times. The strength you once had to resist the ‘firey darts of satan’ now seems to be gone and in its place nothing but a weak, half-hearted praise song.
How did it happen? When did it happen? Why did it happen? No one knows, but this is sure, you have backslidden! Life has overtaken you and you have succumbed. Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
__________________________________________________
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Gone Fishin'
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I'm gone fishin', how about you?
__________________________________________________
I'm gone fishin', how about you?
__________________________________________________
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Some Things Never Change (I Guess)
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Regardless of the fact that it was nearly 18 months ago that I 'left the fellowship' of the German Baptists. I just found out tonight that the ghosts of fellowships past still haunt me spreading rumor and sowing strife. The sad part is people are listening and consequently I'm still living in the same drama that the 5 years prior to my 'departure from the faith' was plagued with.
*sigh*
Can I just give up?
__________________________________________________
Regardless of the fact that it was nearly 18 months ago that I 'left the fellowship' of the German Baptists. I just found out tonight that the ghosts of fellowships past still haunt me spreading rumor and sowing strife. The sad part is people are listening and consequently I'm still living in the same drama that the 5 years prior to my 'departure from the faith' was plagued with.
*sigh*
Can I just give up?
__________________________________________________
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Prayer Subject
__________________________________________________
Do any of you lack a subject for prayer? If so, please pray for/with me as I prepare for Thursday nite at NCCF. The next parable I'll be expositing is the parable of the sower and the seed along with the parable of the lamp (since they occur together in the text)(Matthew 13:3-23, Mark 4:21-23, Luke 8:4-18). For some reason I'm having a difficult time getting my mind around the emphasis of this text. I'm not satisfied to simply spend 45 minutes discussing the details of the Jesus' object lessons; rather I desire to share the same message He was sharing as He used these parable's originally.
Please pray that I will be led by the Spirit of God as I prepare and deliver this message.
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Sunday, October 5, 2008
Roman Catholic 'Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation'
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It is not from sacred Scripture alone that the Church draws her certainty about everything which has been revealed. There both sacred tradition and sacred Scripture are to be accepted and venerated with the same sense of devotion and reverence. Sacred tradition and sacred Scripture form one sacred deposit of the word of God, which is committed to the Church... The task of authentically interpreting the Word of God, whether written or handed on, has been entrusted exclusively to the living teaching office of the Church, whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ... It is clear, therefore, that sacred tradition, sacred Scripture, and the teaching authority of the Church, in accord with God's most wise design, are so linked and joined together that one cannot stand without the others, and that all together each in its own way under the action of the Holy Spirit contributes effectively to the salvation of the souls.
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