God's Goodness

This was a post from a person I'm friends with on FB:

Just wanted to share that My Dear Lord has been sooooo good to me today! Yesterday I turned our central air conditioning unit on and it never cooled the house below 79 degrees. However, the guy who previously put the system in came by today and corrected that problem free of charge! Then just a few minutes ago I was able to get my printer going again after it not printing for a couple of months.

I don't want to single this person out or seem too critical, but I wanted to ask a question.

Wouldn't God STILL be good even IF the situation had been completely opposite? If BOTH circumstances had been translated into expensive repairs, isn't the intimation that God is NOT good? That's what has bothered me when something good happens, and when the situation has been favorable to us, then God must really love us. Isn't His nature ALWAYS good?

Have fun with this.
copy and paste this list into your own blog and bold the items that you have done.
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world (lost track of the number of times)
8. Climbed a mountain (Stone Mountain)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo (they were THAT hard up for talent)
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill (It's called a Mental Health Day)
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise (dinner cruise)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing (if Stone Mountain counts)
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business (kinda sorta)
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Gotten flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar (worst thing I have EVER eaten)
72. Pieced a quilt (helped my Grandmother with some)
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person (from an airplane)
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible (at least 99%)
86. Visited the White House (from the road)
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (squirrel)
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (Bobby Goldboro)
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Will You Not Listen

Another of my favorite Michael Card songs - this one is A cappella, which is one of my favorite forms of song. Listen to the bass harmony.

Michael Card

Michael Card is one of my favorite artists of all time. His lyrics have spoken to me time after time.

Here is his song, Never Will I Leave You.




Trust in Me,
Keep your life free,
From what the love of money will do
Am I not enough for you?

(Chorus)
Never will I leave you,
That's something I'll never do.
Forever remember that it's true,
Never will I leave you.

When you fear,
The scars and tears.
Remember what I have sworn,
I'll be with you through the storm.

(Chorus)

And when you fear,
That's when I'm near.
Your soul's security,
When will you believe?

(Chorus)

Mike Yaconelli

I had seen this before, but Joel reminded me of it.

Thanks Bro!

His book, Messy Spirituality, was one of my favorite books of all time.

Britain's Got Talent Lady

Wanted to link to a post on Wayne Jacobsen's site that was SO insightful. Enjoy.

Confessions Of A Hypocrite

I was catching up with a person on FB that I haven't talked to in years, and a thought struck me.

I can talk about God now and not feel like a hypocrite.

In my old life, there would have always been something that I THOUGHT would keep me from God - some secret sin or, maybe (horrors), a not so secret one. Either my soul (mind, will, emotion) or the adversary would always insert the notion that I needed to clean myself up before I could approach Father.

All my life (literally), I was taught that God was always looking for me to stumble so He could smite me with some affliction or horrible malady. Oh, he loved me, but was looking sternly down after each mistake.

I not only lived in fear, but when I DID want to talk about God to someone or offer some spiritual insight, something within me would shout "hypocrite!" and I would feel dirty for even considering to speak spiritual words.

I went for years without praying, reading His Word, or even thinking about Him because of the "dirtiness" of my thought life.

Oh, I went through the motions at church, and maybe only my closest friends could see that I was struggling. But if the average person saw me, I am sure they would have judged me MR. Spirituality with my position and level of activity I had at church.

I think that is one of the easiest lies that we can believe - that is, the notion that we are hypocrites if we are not "clean" if we talk about God with another person. In other words, the lie is that we have to shine the light on every area of your life that we struggle with BEFORE we can counsel another person about spiritual matters.

Satan is called the accuser of the brethren and we take this ONLY to mean he accuses us before God. But I believe he also accuses US to OURSELVES. He whispers these lies into our minds.

It’s interesting to see how Jesus defines condemnation:
John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
John 3:20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
John 3:21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Praise be to God that He has shown me the light in which we walk. [There is] therefore now NO (emphasis mine) condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

If HE doesn’t condemn us, who are WE to do otherwise?

Is Billy Graham A Closet Universalist?

Have been wondering about Billy Graham's "controversial" statements that I've caught wind of, so I went looking for myself and found THIS:

Fear God

"To know God, is to love Him; therefore if we only fear Him, it is because we do not really know Him."

-François Fénelon

Spiritual Warfare

Came to a vital realization today.

I've been under spiritual attack for months now. SomeTHING wants me to die - IT wants me dead.

I'm not speaking about any overt demonic presence - just an oppression that I've never experienced before.

It's kept me physically and emotionally rundown.

I don't want to share so publicly about the specifics, but I believe the HOLY Spirit has lifted the oppression somewhat with just the revelation.

Just KNOWING that it's not me, has been helped immensely.

Paul says in Ephesians "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places]."

It helps knowing that I must be getting closer to God with this kind of intensity, but I am now aware of the tactics.

Blessings to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

I Was A Spiritual Zombie

"...we learn to live with death. We learn to live with a spiritual corpse. We learn to live with our breath frosty and our cheeks pale, our toes frostbitten, without spirituality; yet we learn to live with that. We imagine it is normal. We write books to prove it is normal. It is not normal at all. It is subnormal, abnormal, below normal."

A. W. Tozer, The Mystery of the Holy Spirit

I read this passage this morning, and it struck a chord with me.

I think spiritual death creeps up on us and finds us unawares. THAT'S why it's so insidious, and why it's so prevalent in the modern church today.

Only when I began to see I was the walking dead, did God begin to bring me to life again.

Isaiah 1:13-17 from The Message

Is this a word to the modern church?

"Quit your worship charades.
I can't stand your trivial religious games:
Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings—
meetings, meetings, meetings—I can't stand one more!
Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them!
You've worn me out!
I'm sick of your religion, religion, religion,
while you go right on sinning.
When you put on your next prayer-performance,
I'll be looking the other way.
No matter how long or loud or often you pray,
I'll not be listening.
And do you know why? Because you've been tearing
people to pieces, and your hands are bloody.
Go home and wash up.
Clean up your act.
Sweep your lives clean of your evildoings
so I don't have to look at them any longer.
Say no to wrong.
Learn to do good.
Work for justice.
Help the down-and-out.
Stand up for the homeless.
Go to bat for the defenseless.

Christian Art

Went to this site after he visited my blog.

GREAT collection of Christian art.