Emersed In Him...

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins Colossions 1:13-14

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ who is the head over every power and authority. Colossians 1:9

He is before all things and in him all things hold together...For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven. Colossions 1: 17 & 19

The other night we heard a little bit about how we are not to live beside Christ or behind Christ, but IN Christ - we are called to live in him, completely emersed in His totally perfect being. It is the only way we can be sure we are living in accordance with God and it is the easiest way to receive the peace and joy that accompanies an intimate relationship with God. While reading Colossians I had a small thought I felt worthy of sharing...

Colossians 1:19 says that God was pleased to have all of His fullness dwell in Christ...well...that's exactly where I want to be. If residing IN Christ means that I have access to the complete fullness of God Almighty then that's where I'm headed. It's amazing to think a/b how often we get stuck beside Christ or better yet at the foot of the Cross - not really stepping into the resurection and it's glory. How much power and freedom is available if we just get up from the cross, visit the tomb and celebrate the glory of His resurrection and then step into Him to experience the fullness of God. We step into Christ, we become a part of His being and that is why God no longer see us as we truly are, we are covered and enveloped in every sense of the word, in Christ and in His perfect holiness. We live in Him and He in us...what a safe place to be...

Take a fishbowl (I'm sure you were wondering what the picture had to do w/ anything) - the fish, while emersed in the water is safe from it's arch enemy (that would be the cat). Well, let's say the fish decides one day that he might enjoy life outside of the fishbowl more (the grass is always greener, eh?), so he starts jumping out of the water and eventually jumps out of the bowl. There he is, flopping around wondering what in the world happened and what he was thinking, completely exposed and at the mercy of the cat (his enemy). If he had only stayed emersed in the safety of his home and the very thing he was created for (the water and ultimately the fishbowl) he would have been kept safe and forever protected from any real harm the cat could have caused. Such a simple comparison, for it is just as we, who often determine that our own ways are so much better, would be so much safer if only we would keep ourselves emersed in the place we were created to reside...In Jesus Christ.

Philosophy 101

So, I'm taking a Philosophy class right now and I've got to say it's pretty much a beating. Fascinating yes...but picture me and Tyson going glove to glove in the boxing ring...it's that kind of beating. None the less, I was baffled to study some of the reasoning given by early philosophers around the existence of God. While they at first seem a little crazy - in a weird, I suppose, Philosophical sense...maybe not so crazy. Such as...

Eidological Argument: I have an idea of perfection (I know what "perfect" is in my mind). I have never experienced perfection in anything; therefore, the idea couldn't have come from me (you can't manifest an idea from something you have yet to experience). Only a perfect being could have caused the idea (an imperfect being could not create perfection). Therefore, a perfect being must exist.

Hmmm, or this one...(this one's good)

Ontological Argument: God is the greatest possible being. God exists at least in the mind or understanding (meaning we can think and conceive of God). A being who exists only in the mind is not as great as a being who exists in reality as well as in the mind. If God exists only in the mind, then He would not be the greatest possible being. Therefore, God must exist in reality as well as in the mind.

For as crazy as it all sounds - I suppose there is some round about truth to it all. When you start looking into our thought process and where it all comes from - the ideas and thoughts have to come from somewhere outside of ourselves, right? The problem is...men like Descartes (responsible for the 2 arguments above) attempt to explain a God greater than anything in this universe by our own ignorant standards and understanding. They try to box him up into this nice, neat little package that can be explained into existence when the reality of it is...you will never be able to explain God, He is just too great...I find it fascinating that there are men out there who have devoted their entire existence to figuring out the what and the why's of the world and of our role in it - when there is quite simply one answer...it's all for God's glory. Watching people try to explain God, reminds me of just how awesome He really is. I've been humbled this week to once again realize that absolutely nothing I do could ever effect the way God works. My salvation is not a product of my work, nor are the blessings that God bestows upon me. It is all orchestrated by Him in the ways that will best glorify Him in the end. For every single thing that happens in this life there is one consistent theme, it is to glorify God in some way at some point in time. I may not understand it now, but eventually I will and eventually the glory will come to pass for all to witness.

Too bad I wasn't around in the day of Descartes and Aristotle...I could have made it so much simpler for them...

Tyler...

Tyler...what a sweet and precious soul he is. My last trip to Ohio was a really special one for me as it involved a reunion that has been so many years overdue. For the first time in over 5 years I was able to see and spend time with my nephew Tyler. He lived with me for a little over a year before I moved to Texas, when he was 4, and he probably doesn't remember me now - but oh, how I remember him.

Tyler has caused me to question a lot of God's ways throughout the years. His life experiences don't make much sense to me and in all honesty, they have enraged me at times. At the age of 2, Tyler was beaten to the point of death (literally) by his own step father. He was punched, violently shaken and then thrown into a door by a man who is 6'5" and who is by far the biggest coward I have ever met. He actually died and was then revived while being life flighted to the hospital. He endured weeks in intensive care with a swollen brain, where his mere survival was in question. He survived several strokes in that time, any one of them with the ability to have taken his life. I can remember sitting with him during that time - he was so tiny - just a baby, staring at all the tubes that seemed to consume his little body...and asking 'why'? What had he done? He was such a good boy. Such a beautiful, loving boy. This was pre-salvation for me and I would have to imagine that having God to rely on in those times would have brought much more comfort. Needless to say, it was a time of question and confusion - of anger and sorrow. Watching him endure hours of painful physical therapy, at first unable to even lift his head, and then watching him learn to live all over again. The left side of his brain was said to have died due to the lack of oxygen and the numerous strokes he suffered. He initially had no use of his right side...it took him over a year to learn to walk again and even today he does so w/ a limp. It has been literally heart breaking to watch him and wonder what he thinks, if he understands, if he knows what might have been. Tyler would never be the same, he would never grow up, his future was now so limited, and so dim. The anger intensified with the non-action of our justice system - 6 months in the Brigg (Airforce Prison) for the man who stole this boys life - that's all it was worth to our government...6 months. The anger turned into disbelief when my sister opted to stay with this 'man' in light of her son's condition. Obviously there was plenty of red tape to get through with social services and it was a long road for her...it still is. Over the course of the next 3 years, somehow, they ended up living together again, with Tyler and her new baby. The reports of abuse started again, and finally after many bruises and a broken arm, Praise God, Tyler was removed permanently. He lived over a year in foster care, away from his siblings and anything he recognized as home before he was finally released into my parents care. How much does this little boy have to endure? And for what??

I have struggled with those questions so many times since this happened. After becoming a Christian obviously, I saw the need to forgive, and did so. The anger is no longer there, but the questions still haunt me at times. I have placed it into God's hands: He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he (Deut 32:4) I have found that it's not for me to understand but only to trust and believe that His ways are indeed just and perfect. In a place that I cannot see or comprehend, there was and is a purpose behind what happened and I can only trust that God sees it and is working it out for His Glory. Therefore, fix your eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Cor 4:18). I take comfort in knowing that I know so little about God's ways, it helps to trust in that.

While I visited with him, I was moved so many times at his ability to love without ceasing. He is just a little ball of love and he desires nothing more to give it away, not expecting anything in return, it's just what he does. I can't help but wonder, in a heavenly sense, where that comes from. Lord knows he wasn't raised to love, he wasn't taught to love, and yet he does it with such perfect selflessness - it is utterly amazing. I was blessed with the opportunity to talk to Tyler about God - I asked him if he knew who God was to which he responded, "God? Who's God?". I told him that God made him, and that God made me and Bubba (the dog - which, he seemed less willing to believe!) and that God loved him so very much. He laughed and smiled and went about his way - I wasn't sure that he understood me...honestly, how do you explain the greatness of God to a 10 year old with a 5 year old mind? I was brought to tears when he walked back to me a while later and asked with amazement in his eyes, in all of his precious, child-like innocence, "You know God?" to which I responded, 'Yes baby, I do - and He knows you'. We didn't get to talk about it anymore while I was there, but I have never been so touched sharing the gospel as I was in doing so with him. I'll probably never know if he understood or comprehended what I was telling him - but what I do know is that God saw, and that through the prayers I have raised up on Tyler's behalf, that He will be with him all of his days.

As for the question 'why'? I still don't know - I believe I may have witnessed some of the 'why' while I was there. My parents who are now caring for Tyler, displayed a tenderness I have never seen in all of my days. They are being showered with love every day - and they can't help but love back. Tylers presence in their lives, I believe, is teaching them love in it's most pure form. Something my parents could never express on their own. For the first time in 20 years, my father told me he loved me - and I believe for the first time, that he meant it. The LORD is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made (Psalm 145:17). How could I ever question such a perfect and Holy God? Tyler is living a life that most of us could only strive for - he loves others without reason and without expectation, without ulterior motives and with complete humility. He is not ashamed, nor afraid and he only requires love in return, nothing more. He is one of the most amazing people I know...enduring more in the first 10 years of his life than many of us ever will, and yet maintaining the joy and peace so many of us desire. The Dr's say that he'll never exceed an 8th grade mentality - I pray for more. The Dr's say he'll never regain the use of his right arm - I pray (and believe) that he will. I believe that he was wonderfully made by a loving God and that his 'purpose' is being revealed and recognized with every passing day. God doesn't make mistakes, this is fact - and even if this wasn't Gods active will, it was at the very least His permissive will and that is all I need to know to believe that He is working and moving and preparing the world for the wonderful things He has in store for this precious child.

Dear Lord...

I created this prayer for myself, to read aloud every morning - I started doing it this week and it has already been such a blessing to me - so I thought I'd share it here. There is so much power in the Word of God...in His promises and in His words of love and comfort. These are the promises He has made, the identity He has given each of us...for as different as we all are, and for all the ways in which we are unique, we all share a commonality that could never be denied or broken in that every one of us is the creation and child of God and an heir to His kingdom...we all share the exact same identity...

O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. (Ps 139:1-3) For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! (Ps 139:13-17) Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting (Ps 139:23-24)

The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation (Ps 118:14). I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness (Is 61:10) He chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will (Eph 1:4-5). I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Gal 2:20). And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. For those God knew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son. And those he predestined, he also called: those he called he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified (Ro. 8:28-30)

I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all he earth (Ro 9:17)

Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name...(3) who forgives all my sins and heals all of my diseases, who redeems my life from the pit and crowns me with love and compassion, who satisfies my desires with good things... (Ps 103:1-5). Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Ro 12:1-2) Don’t you know that you yourself are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? (1 Cor 3:16). You are controlled not by your sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. (Ro 8:9). You did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of son ship...the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are Gods children (Ro 8:15-16)

It is by grace you have been saved, through faith and not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works so that noone can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which, God prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph 2:8-10) Live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. (Eph 4:1-2) Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Eph4:31-32)

Finally be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against the flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything to stand. (Eph 6:10-13)

Create in me a pure heart, O God and renew a steadfast spirit within me (Ps 51:10) for if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Cor 5:17). Therefore, fix your eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Cor 4:18)

Peace (Part 2)

Tonight I was reading Romans and I came across something and felt that I needed to add something to my previous post.

In the last post I spoke a lot a/b how the peace of God comes at a price, which, I still beleive to be true, however, I want to clarify that in that context I am speaking a/b the feeling of daily peace, the actual mental and spiritual peace that we can 'feel' in our daily lives through trials and tribulation.

I would like to also state that there is a Peace with God that is free to all who are willing to accept it. Romans 5:1 says 'Therefore, since we have been justified through faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace which we now stand'. This peace speaks of the peace we gain with God upon our acceptance of Christ as our saviour. Colossians 1:21 'Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior' and Romans 5:10 'For if, when we were God's enemies we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!' The bible tells us numerous times that we are born into this world in a sinful state, instantly at war with God. We are literally his enemies until we accept receive the ultimate sacrafice and covering of His Son - it is then that the war with God can end and we enter into a new relationship with Him. A relationship of harmony and friendship and of perfect peace. Once we have received this core peace with God, it is then that we can learn to experience the literal feeling of daily peace offered by knowing Him more intimately.

Just wanted to tack that on for anyone who's keeping up with the posts :)