Page 19 of 24

Posted on

Sometimes It’s Quiet

Quiet patches of journey are a common traveling companion. This awareness grows the longer a person walks with God. Stillness of voice, however,  does not mean absence of presence. But in a culture where bigger is better and greater amounts of something mean happiness, what are we to do with quietness of God?

The movement from constant divine voice to stillness punctuated with presence is truly the movement from sight to faith. God desires that we grow into people who walk by faith and not by sight. As we grow in our trust and knowing of God, we too are growing in our faith, depending less upon the signs and wonders of younger belief.

Moses’ God-journey began with burning bush, but he didn’t spend the rest of his life trying to get another one. God slowly weaned him from the visual to the austere. Next it would be signs before Pharaoh, then a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire culminating with a journey into the dark…Mount Sinai. The mountain was shrouded in darkness as Moses’ encounter with God deepened.

Moses journey ended strangely. Not allowed to enter the promised land, alone atop Mount Nebo, Moses died and was buried. Pretty obscure, no signs, no burning bush, however, the presence of God was there. You would think the funeral service for Moses would be a pretty significant event for the nation of Israel. They had escaped bondage and slavery and finally after 40 years of wandering, found their way home.

Yet the scene for Moses’ death and burial lack the expected pomp and circumstance generally afforded to those who walk intimately with God…in fact God alone officiated Moses burial. I can only imagine the conversation the two of them had there.

The following thoughts are from the book Jesus Calling and help when the voice of God seems quiet…

*****

   When I give you no special guidance, stay where you are. Concentrate on doing your everyday tasks in awareness of My Presence with you. The joy of My Presence will shine on you, as you do everything for Me. Thus you invite Me into every aspect of your life. Through collaborating with Me in all things, you allow My life to merge with yours. This is the secret not only of joyful living but also of victorious living. I designed you to depend on Me moment by moment, recognizing that apart from Me you can do nothing.
   Be thankful for quiet days, when nothing special seems to be happening. Instead of being bored by the lack of action, use times of routine to seek My Face. Although this is an invisible transaction, it speaks volumes in spiritual realms. Moreover, you are richly blessed when you walk trustingly with Me through the routines of your day. 

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters… Colossians 3:23

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5

Look to the LORD and his strength;  seek his face always. Psalm 105:4

*****

When you walk in the quiet or the unknown, you are not unknown, and the silence sings with Gods presence. Be encouraged that the quiet patches are normal, and it means that God is moving you from glory to glory, and that you are transitioning from sigh to faith.

Monty

Posted on

30k Child Boxers…


Kony forces children into becoming brutal killing machines…the U.N.  estimates human trafficking to be a 32 billion dollar industry…every day we learn of more sweat shops that exploit children so that we in the West can buy our stuff in Big Box stores for cheap.

Today I learned of another situation that truly caused me to pause. There is a new documentary coming out called Buffalo Girls. In the documentary, they follow the lives of two eight year old girls in Thailand, who fight for money. The producers of the film noted:

“In the US eight-year-old girls compete in beauty pageants. In Thailand, they compete in Muay Thai fights.”

While it is easy for us to find that place of righteous indignation against a warlord like Kony, or US corporations who exploit children workers, I am wondering how this will play out. I think most will respond with less than favorable words, but to indict this will also mean that we need to indict this for adults as well. The things a culture condones and promotes breeds acceptance and a sense of normalcy for the young who grow up in that culture.

Check out the video below, and I’d like to hear all kinds of feedback on this…lets wade through all the ethical, moral, economic and cultural waters that a subject like this stirs up.  Here’s a link to their web site:  http://www.buffalogirlsthemovie.com/#

Monty

Posted on

Sunday Night Quotes 3/18/2012

“I do not at all understand the mystery of grace – only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.”       ~Anne Lamott

This is now a covenant of pure grace; let no man attempt to mix works with it. ~C.H. Spurgeon

You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.   ~G. K. Chesterton

“Life is grace. Sleep is forgiveness. The night absolves. Darkness wipes the slate clean, not spotless to be sure, but clean enough for another day’s chalking.”
~Frederick Buechner

“Never give a sword to a man who can’t dance.”  ~Confucious

Brennan Manning

“Because salvation is by grace through faith, I believe that among the countless number of people standing in front of the throne and in front of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palms in their hands (see Revelation 7:9), I shall see the prostitute from the Kit-Kat Ranch in Carson City, Nevada, who tearfully told me that she could find no other employment to support her two-year-old son. I shall see the woman who had an abortion and is haunted by guilt and remorse but did the best she could faced with grueling alternatives; the businessman besieged with debt who sold his integrity in a series of desperate transactions; the insecure clergyman addicted to being liked, who never challenged his people from the pulpit and longed for unconditional love; the sexually abused teen molested by his father and now selling his body on the street, who, as he falls asleep each night after his last ‘trick’, whispers the name of the unknown God he learned about in Sunday school.’But how?’ we ask.

Then the voice says, ‘They have washed their robes and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’

There they are. There *we* are – the multitude who so wanted to be faithful, who at times got defeated, soiled by life, and bested by trials, wearing the bloodied garments of life’s tribulations, but through it all clung to faith.

My friends, if this is not good news to you, you have never understood the gospel of grace.”

~Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel
Posted on

Global Day of Prayer for BURMA

Sunday March 11th 2012 is the Global Day of Prayer for Burma. While there has been some positive recent developments, there continues to be great oppression, killing and displacement of the peoples of Burma by its militaristic government. Please download the this years update and pray with me on Sunday March 11th!

click here to download the magazine  DOP 2012 Booklet

Thanks!

Monty