I studied Bathsheba and her relationship with both her husband Uriah and her husband David. You can read her story here .
There is so much to be gleaned and to learn from this story.
You might wonder, as I did, after reading this excerpt from David's life, how could God have called him "a man after his own heart?" (Acts 13:22)
One thing that stopped me in my tracks was this question:
"What makes us acceptable in God's eyes?"
The author poses the folowing options:
is it being sinless
or
is it being repentant and forgiven before the Lord?
I realized for so long, I've wandered this journey trying to be perfect- sinless- in order to be acceptable not only in the eyes of my God but also in the eyes of my peers, and even to the world...Of course, in my complete and utter INperfection, I've found myself at the foot of the throne, repentant, only to find myself washed in His grace, cleaned of every sin.
yet, that desire to meet perfection has remained...and enslaved me for far too long. I've seen it for what it is and it's gone...Every day, as I wake and ask the Holy Spirit to fill me and ask that today, may I be more like Him and less like me (John 3:30), my heart will also sing the new song of thankfulness for God's word and the way it brings new wisdom, promise and truth to my life each day!
May you be as blessed as I have been by these ancient words, ever true...
Exodus 34:6-7 (New King James Version)
6 And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
2 Chronicles 7:14 (New King James Version)
14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
11 For Your name’s sake, O LORD,
Pardon my iniquity, for it is great.
and finally...this wonderful, blessed promise:
12 And I will forgive their wickedness,
and I will never again remember their sins.”[a]
Please continue praying for the people of Costa Rica, especially of Villarreal. The Lord seems to be showing us more and more and with greater intensity the spiritual darkness here. There are many, many rituals, legends, folklore, myths and just outright blatent lies that are deeply rooted in the families in this community and have been passed down from generation to generation.
This week, I've had conversations with friends about the curriculum we are using for PFK and Bible Club. One friend and I discussed today for over an hour the validity of 6 day Creation, a young earth (about 6000 years old), the age of dinosaur fossils, the Ark and if dinosaurs could have been on it, if dinosaurs were included in the 6th day animals God created and ultimately, if we, as Christians, can take the Bible for it's literal meaning. I belive we can and should literally believe in all the Bible, especially Genesis, 6 day Creation, the existence of dinosaurs and their presence with Adam and Eve, and on the ark and after the flood and that their age and the age of their fossils correlates exactly with the age of the earth of about 6000 years. I believe that because scripture - specifically the first chapter and 6th chapter of Genesis, as well as Job chapters 40 and 41, in reference to the existence of dinosaurs after the flood.
What the Lord has made clear is that it is increasingly more important that our beginning (as the word Genesis implies) is the same and it is that very beginning that we need to build our faith on. We cannot rationalize or place our own thoughts and limited understanding into something that we cannot fathom about God.
All of this to say the Lord is also making very clear to me what has become a passion in my heart over the past year and a half- that of helping believers learn to study the Word for themselves, and form their view of the world and every other thing based on the truth of scripture. (it really is the same passion to make disciples, it is just becoming clearer and more specific as the Lord matures my faith and grows and molds me).
However, that stronghold that has held these people for generations in different cultic ways is still very strong. Please pray for God's Word to break through and that the people can find their faith strong enough to believe God's Word as the Truth above science and its so called evidence that lies in direct conflict with what the Bible teaches.
The strongholds became evident in a different way tonight, as our neighbor came over asking to borrow the ladder so he could get on the roof of his mothers's house to check for the "Mica" who the mother was convinced was there laughing and stomping around. The "Mica" is apparently a half-woman, half-monkey who visits houses in this area. She has both a "good" counterpart and a "bad" counterpart and has apparently visited our neighbor's mother's house before. Our neighbor does not believe in this legend, however his mother and sister were terrified and obvviously quite shaken up by all this. The son did however, climb up on the roof, to confirm that there was not, in fact, any woman or monkey there, in hopes that his mother would be able to go to bed and sleep.
Please pray for God's Word to free the captives here of these strongholds and that He would creaty beauty from ashes in this midst of these spiritually poor, darkness enslaved people.
Psalm 25:11 (New King James Version)
11 For Your name’s sake, O LORD,
Pardon my iniquity, for it is great.
and finally...this wonderful, blessed promise:
Hebrews 8:12 (New Living Translation)
12 And I will forgive their wickedness,
and I will never again remember their sins.”[a]
Please continue praying for the people of Costa Rica, especially of Villarreal. The Lord seems to be showing us more and more and with greater intensity the spiritual darkness here. There are many, many rituals, legends, folklore, myths and just outright blatent lies that are deeply rooted in the families in this community and have been passed down from generation to generation.
This week, I've had conversations with friends about the curriculum we are using for PFK and Bible Club. One friend and I discussed today for over an hour the validity of 6 day Creation, a young earth (about 6000 years old), the age of dinosaur fossils, the Ark and if dinosaurs could have been on it, if dinosaurs were included in the 6th day animals God created and ultimately, if we, as Christians, can take the Bible for it's literal meaning. I belive we can and should literally believe in all the Bible, especially Genesis, 6 day Creation, the existence of dinosaurs and their presence with Adam and Eve, and on the ark and after the flood and that their age and the age of their fossils correlates exactly with the age of the earth of about 6000 years. I believe that because scripture - specifically the first chapter and 6th chapter of Genesis, as well as Job chapters 40 and 41, in reference to the existence of dinosaurs after the flood.
What the Lord has made clear is that it is increasingly more important that our beginning (as the word Genesis implies) is the same and it is that very beginning that we need to build our faith on. We cannot rationalize or place our own thoughts and limited understanding into something that we cannot fathom about God.
All of this to say the Lord is also making very clear to me what has become a passion in my heart over the past year and a half- that of helping believers learn to study the Word for themselves, and form their view of the world and every other thing based on the truth of scripture. (it really is the same passion to make disciples, it is just becoming clearer and more specific as the Lord matures my faith and grows and molds me).
However, that stronghold that has held these people for generations in different cultic ways is still very strong. Please pray for God's Word to break through and that the people can find their faith strong enough to believe God's Word as the Truth above science and its so called evidence that lies in direct conflict with what the Bible teaches.
The strongholds became evident in a different way tonight, as our neighbor came over asking to borrow the ladder so he could get on the roof of his mothers's house to check for the "Mica" who the mother was convinced was there laughing and stomping around. The "Mica" is apparently a half-woman, half-monkey who visits houses in this area. She has both a "good" counterpart and a "bad" counterpart and has apparently visited our neighbor's mother's house before. Our neighbor does not believe in this legend, however his mother and sister were terrified and obvviously quite shaken up by all this. The son did however, climb up on the roof, to confirm that there was not, in fact, any woman or monkey there, in hopes that his mother would be able to go to bed and sleep.
Please pray for God's Word to free the captives here of these strongholds and that He would creaty beauty from ashes in this midst of these spiritually poor, darkness enslaved people.
No comments:
Post a Comment