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Articles from Living for God Blog

A MIGHTY CELEBRATION - by Calvin 2008-02-09 03:18:06 "David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the LORD." Can you imagine how loud and raucous this time of worship might have been? The rest of verse 5 in 2 Samuel Chapter 6 tells us that God's people used harps, lyres, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals. They certainly followed the admonition to" love the LORD with all your heart and all your soul and all your strength!" After all, they were celebrating the presence of God in their midst.We encounter God in such mighty worship today. Psalm 47:5 tells us, "God has ascended amid the shouts of joy, the LORD amid the sounding trumpets." If true worship occurs under the inspiration of God's Spirit, then great freedom is required for a mighty celebration such as this. I personally enjoy rich encounters with the living God when I celebrate in the congregation with all my might as David did.On the other hand, I have also experienced the profound presence of God in the liturgy of "The Great Litany." I ...

PASS IT ON - by Lisa 2008-02-08 17:40:19 Have you ever seen the movie "Amistad?"  I believe it's a Spielberg movie from about 10 years ago or so.  It tells the true story of some Africans whose slave trial goes to the Supreme Court in the 1830's.  There is a scene where one of the Africans talks about his ancestors with former president John Quincy Adams.  The African remarks that he must call up their strength to help him through the trial because he is the whole reason that they existed at all. Even though I don't follow ancient African traditions, I've always been taken by this scene.  There's a strong word here for those who follow Christ.  What we do today matters.  What we do during our lifetime matters.  Look at it this way.  We're the ones carrying the torch of Christianity right now.  People have carried the same torch for 2000 years, which is why we have it to carry ourselves.  If we carry it well, Christianity moves on intact ...

TOO MANY SECRETS - by Calvin 2008-02-08 17:39:43 Beyond finding the real Jesus, many people just want to find a place where they can be real. A sense of belonging and feeling accepted are basic emotional and spiritual needs. Spiritual growth happens best when we are around people who will love us along the way on our journey with Jesus. But that won't happen so well unless we are in a place where its OK to be real.The apostle Paul admonishes us to, "Share each other's troubles and problems, and in this way obey the law of Christ." (Gal 6:2 NLT) And the apostle assumes that the local church is a community of people where we find a level of love and grace such that we can be this real. Unfortunately, that is not always the case.Frederick Buechner, in his personal memoir titled "Telling Secrets," sums up the problem pretty well. "The church often bears an uncomfortable resemblance to the dysfunctional family," he writes.  "There are the unspoken rules and hidden agendas, the doubts and disagreements ...

ON THE EDGE - by Lisa 2008-02-08 17:39:10 I was reading a book the other day and an interesting thought popped out.  The center of life is God. But most people live on the edge, or the rim if you like.  For whatever reason, they just skirt around and around, never facing into the center.So why does it matter?  Well, if God really resides in the center of our lives, then we have nothing to fear.  Everything is all right.  We are safe.  We can't "fall off" of God because he is all and we are a part of his creation.  If God is love, then love is at our center.But for some reason, we don't like to go to the center.  We prefer to flit around on the edges, upset by this thought, challenged by that relationship, nervous about the economy.  People who live on the edge don't have stability.  They easily blow this way or that.  On the edge there isn't anything to hold onto.But if we can courageously turn and begin to walk to the center, suddenly the landscape changes.& ...

I LOST IT ALL - by Calvin 2008-02-08 17:38:25 "I am a worshiper journeying on in spite of all I have lost." These words from a song stopped my heart last Sunday morning. "That's about me," my wounded soul responded in the midst of worship. Yes, there has been suffering and many points of pain along the path of my journey with Jesus.I lost it all. Several years of immobilizing clinical depression ended a high potential corporate career. During that season, divorce shattered my dreams of family life, separating me from two young sons who I love dearly. I had everything that the world fights to own, but it was not mine to keep.Through all that, the Lord was good to me. He never let me fall from his strong arms. A man named Wayne was sent by God to lead me along the path of redemption. His gentle fatherly hand guided me into healing. Jesus bought back much of what had been lost. Today I am free from depression, I have received a new vocation in the ministry of Jesus and I have gained an awesome wife who ...

EVERY DAY COUNTS - by Lisa 2008-02-08 17:37:43 Some days just seem to end before they even get started.  Maybe something unpleasant happens.  Perhaps we get some bad news.  Sometimes we just wake up with a fuzzy mind.  But whatever the cause, when it happens to me, I just want to forget about today and start over again tomorrow.Bad idea.  It's a waste of time.  I happened to hear a TV personality, I think it was Dr. Phil, say recently that he is at the age where he can count the rest of his life in months.  Hmmm... I think I'm there too.  So every day that's thrown away is a fraction of a month that's lost.  With the end looming in sight, even though it could be 30 years, I don't want to lose any more time.But even worse than that, it's a waste of purpose.  Why am I here at this time and place?  Is it to have fun?  Is it to make a lot of money?  Is it to be famous and admired?  Well, that would be cool ...

A HEART THING - by Calvin 2008-02-08 17:36:23 There's an inherent conflict between the joy of resurrection in Christ and participating in his suffering along our journey of faith. Some may tell you that life in Christ is a life of joy, happiness and prosperity, but I tell you that those are mere idols compared to experiencing Jesus through entering into his suffering. To know Jesus will include the experience of sorrow and to become like him demands a willingness to enter into his anguish.Right now, it's a heart thing for me. As I search for The Lost Room of my heart, the exploration of my soul has become quite painful. I am jarred by emotional forces that pierce me with profound love. Then I am plunged into sadness where I am beginning to relive pain from a distant past. Tears flow and my heart aches with ecstatic sorrow. The path beyond the narrow gate has some rough and bumpy stretches along the way.I am a lost boy. The early years of my life are all but mi ...

GIVING OR GETTING? - by Lisa 2008-02-08 17:35:19 Are you a giver or a getter?  That was the question the other day in church.  The pastor wanted to know how many people were there to get something out of church.  Lots of hands went up.  Then he asked how many were there to give something.  Only a few arms were raised in the air.So I started thinking.  We all want blessings from God.  We all want the good things that he has to give us.  We all ask him daily to help us with our needs and struggles.  But something's missing.What about giving?  I don't mean just giving money.  What about giving of ourselves?  I believe it has been said that we are the hands and feet of Jesus since he doesn't have any now.  So when we're giving, are we not reflecting him to the hurting world that needs him?I have several pictures of Jesus and my favorite one is of him rising out of a communion cup.  It's called the "Bread of Life."  The reason I like it is because I hope to ha ...

TEARS OF SILVER - by Calvin 2008-02-08 17:34:06 I find that the journey from the head to the heart follows a pathway marked with tears. There are painful memories along the way. Some of them are so deep that they don't even offer clues that can be seen or heard on cognitive wavelengths. But when the sonar of the Holy Spirit hits them, they ping back.I spent a full day in solitude since my last blog entry, following the pathways of my soul. That morning I wrote, "Today I will not hurry. I will go slowly and follow where ever my heart goes. Today there is time for every needful thing." As I said before, old country-western music has been opening the depths of my soul. That was the music my father and my mother played when I was a little boy. So I listened to the songs and I followed my heart.The music led me to tears. Not just a trickle but a flooding stream. An unstopable force pushed its way through the boulders of my heart until tears ran streaming and screaming from deep into deep. I prayed, "Lo ...

WILT THOU REFUSE - by Lisa 2008-02-08 17:32:15 Mother Teresa has been the subject of much controversy lately.  A book came our recently about her private letters to her spiritual directors.  The stir has been about the darkness she experienced for many years during her ministry.But that's not what I'm writing about.  The book is called "Come Be My Light."  This title is a phrase that she says Jesus spoke to her when he called her to begin her work with the poor in India.  It's a fascinating look into the soul of a person of profound faith.One of the things that really struck me as I was reading it was that several years before she began the work, she made a solemn vow to Jesus that she would never refuse anything he asked.  Apparently this vow was undertaken with serious consequences if she should fail.  It took a few years for her to set up her organization and all during that time she kept hearing an insistent voice saying, "Wilt thou refuse?" ...

BY HEART - by Lisa 2007-12-30 10:30:54 I don't know about you, but the older I get, the harder it is to memorize.  I used to be a violinist and I could play concertos from memory at the drop of a hat.  But that was more years ago that I care to remember.  Sometimes I feel lucky just to remember where my car keys are.So what does this have to do with the spiritual life?  Well, in the early church, and indeed until fairly recently, to study meant to memorize.  Actually, back then many people couldn't read, but they could memorize what they were taught.  So they learned large sections of the Bible by heart, so to speak.  The end result of such a system was that the scripture resided in their hearts and souls.  The Word of God became a part of them.  They could call it up at any time. It was just there.Virginia is my spiritual guide and we've been together for 12 years.  She is a walking Bible.  In fact, her grown children use ...

THE REAL JESUS - by Calvin 2007-12-30 10:30:16 "Jesus has his very own brand of rock and roll," sings the Christian band called Downhere. My close friend, Dave, sent me their song, "The Real Jesus," because he wants to show people what Jesus really looks like. Have you seen the real Jesus?The opening lyrics of the song describe the Jesus we see in culture, you know, the "Jesus in the Gallup Poll." He's the Jesus we find on the cover of Time. We see this Jesus on the silver screen where he's often portrayed as "all serene." That's the Jesus most people know. "But Jesus is the only name that makes you flinch," sings the band.Then the lyrics shock us to a startling reality, "Jesus isn't white." What's that? Of course Jesus isn't white; he was born to a semitic Jewish mother. Have you seen the real Jesus?"Jesus has distinguishing marks on his hands," they sing. So now we're talking about the real Jesus. He's well acquainted with suffering, sorrow and pain. He was willing to hold the hands of prostitutes ...

FRIEND OR TRIVIA? - by Calvin 2007-12-30 10:24:36 What's the difference between a friend and trivia? Perhaps that's hard to tell these days. We live in a realm with blurry edges. The hyper-reality of media overtakes what is real around us creating friendships with the stars. Some of us know more about Britney Spears than we know about the girl next door. Now that's trivia, just in case you were wondering.The friend theme popped up a number of times over the past week. I had coffee with a young friend who was reading a book about friends. Now, I have journeyed with Blake for several years and I can tell you that he is a man following after Jesus with all his heart. So he's reading this book about friends with interesting facts such as people with friends are more happy and healthy than people without friends. I am blessed to count Blake as a friend.Then I had a conversation with Lisa. She's my best friend. A certain contemporary Christian song, "Friend of God," popped into our discussion. I happen to like the s ...

FATHERS AND MOTHERS - by Calvin 2007-12-30 10:23:36 Becoming a spiritual father or mother is not as simple as leading someone to Christ. It's like the difference between being a biological father or mother and being a daddy or mommy. Becoming a spiritual parent is a life long calling.The Apostle Paul  expressed this image well in his letter to the Galatians where he writes, "My little children, with whom I am in travail until Christ is formed in you." (Galatians 4:19) Spiritual parents join with their spiritual children in the laborious effort of Christ forming himself in the soul of the devout disciple. The parent lovingly takes on the soul of the child until the Lord has accomplishes his work of grace.It is an ancient Christian tradition. Spiritual fathers, called abbas, and spiritual mothers, called ammas, in the ancient church represent a "golden chain" that extends from Christ himself through the Apostolic Age and into to the present age. Such people have the compassion, integrity and authority to say with the Apost ...

PUT ON YOUR MASK FIRST - by Lisa 2007-12-30 10:22:28 "Put on your mask first and then assist your fellow passengers."  We've all heard this time and time again as we settle into our airplane seats.  But how many us realize this is actually spiritual advice?I was recently at a great new coffee shop that is actually run by a church.  They have all kinds of interesting books  there to read.  A thought in one of them caught my eye.  The book was called Living in Christ by a woman named Raphaela.  Here is the gist of the thought:"See to your own salvation first.  Then 1000 around you will also be saved."Now, obviously, we are saved by faith in Christ and not by our own doing.  But the important thing is the commitment to grow in Christ.  It's not enough to just receive salvation.  Our goal for the rest of our lives is to increase in Christlikeness.So... what does this have to do with the quote?  Sometimes we think we can go out and "do ministry" withou ...