Daring to be Restless

Lately, I’ve been thinking about what the Word of God has to say about acting on the Word of God.  I’ve become frustrated with my ability to hear good sermons and read practical Scriptures and simply content myself with saying, “Oh, that’s a good idea,” remaining unchanged by it.  Considering what the Word of God says about this topic – that’s about the stupidest thing I could do: nothing.  According to Matthew 7:24-27, acting on the Word is what keeps my foundation from crumbling in the onslaught of temptations, trials, and spiritual attacks.  Mark 4:20, in the Voice translation, says that the only way to bear fruit in the faith is to “hear the Word, accept it, meditate on it, [and] act on it.”  James 1:22-25 and 2:26 tell us that acting on the Word is what proves our faith is alive, what keeps us from being like a foolish man who forgets what he looks like immediately after walking away from the mirror … I don’t know about you, but I often find myself staring...

“Because that, when they knew God they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations , and their foolish heart was darkened.   Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.   Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts …” -           Romans 1:21-24, KJV   As I drove home from work yesterday, listening to a sermon CD based on these verses and dealing specifically with the power of the imagination (as depicted in bold above), I was struck by one comment made by the preacher: It would do us all some good to spend more time remembering.   He talked about remembering all that God had done for us in the past, about remembering how faithful God had been to us, about reciting to ourselves all...

“The Lord is my fort where I can enter and be safe; no one can follow me in and slay me.   He is a rugged mountain where I hide ; he is my Savior, a rock where none can reach me, and a tower of safety.   He is my shield.   He is like the strong horn of a mighty fighting bull.” ~ Psalm 18:2, Living Bible Paraphrase ~ For those of you who have seen The Sound of Music , have watched Julie Andrews run through the rugged Austrian Alps singing, “The Hills are Alive,” or have heard Mother Superior sing “Climb Every Mountain,” and watched in trepidation as the Von Trapp family escaped to Switzerland through those same mountains – perhaps you’ll understand why I chose the title I did for this blog; perhaps even now you have goosebumps as I do, though mine are for a different reason.   Since returning home from our adventure in the mountains of Pennsylvania and watching The Sound of Music yet another time, Psalm 18:2 has been rolling around on the inside of me.   My...

As I’ve been reading through John and Stasi Edlredge’s book Captivating this month, the theme that has continued to jump out at me has been, “What lies are you believing?”   The authors write about how our past (particularly the painful parts) continue to hurt us, how it speaks messages to us that are not true, how it hinders the work of God in our lives when we do not let it go and move on with our lives.   In their own words, on pages 100-101, they write, “Your wounds brought messages with them.   Lots of messages.   Somehow they all usually land in the same place.   They had a similar theme. ‘You’re worthless’ … ‘You’re too much … and not enough.’   ‘You’re a disappointment.’   ‘You are repulsive.’   On and on they go …   They pierced our hearts, and they seemed so true.   So we accepted the message as fact.   We embraced it as the verdict on us” and lived in bondage to that verdict, whether or not it was an accurate one. ...

In the midst of lavish promises of a beautiful future and restoration, Isaiah 62:6 stands out with the glaring ferocity of a warrior in a ballet class.   Verse five is frilly, beautiful, bubbly and sweet, ending with the words “As a man rejoices over his new wife, so your God will rejoice over you” (NCV), summoning with it memories of all the festive wedding celebrations we’ve been to over the years.   So, why then, without warning, does verse six warn, in a quiet and sterling voice, with a knobby finger pointed in our face and a steely penetrating gaze: “Jerusalem, I have put guards on the walls to watch .   They must not be silent day or night.   You people who remind the Lord of your needs in prayer should never be quiet?”   Or, as the Good News Bible has it, “On your walls, Jerusalem, I have placed sentries ; they must never be silent day or night.   They must remind the Lord of His promises and never let him forget them?”   Why, after promise...