You could have asked!
You could have listened!
You could have cared!
I should have.
I thought I did.
I was trying to,
but I'd made up my mind before you spoke.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Made up mind
How to Pray-"Our Father"
Chase Bank had this slogan, "CHASE, where the right relationship is everything."
That slogan resonates because it reveals something we know is true throughout life. There are things that I have gotten because of a relationship that would not have otherwise been accessible to me. A number of years ago, I got a new car from my parents because I needed it to commute to work. Around that time though, my cousin also needed a car. My parents didn't get her one, not even an old beat up one. She wasn't less needy. She wasn't less deserving. She just wasn't their child.
When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray (Luke 11:1-2), the first thing that He teaches them is that God is our Father. This means at least two things. The first and most obvious is that we can approach God with the love and respect that a child has for his father. The second is that God thinks of us with the special love and concern that a father has for his children. Because of that relationship, we should expect to get things that we don't deserve and be grateful for them.
We pray, not in the manner that an employee asks his boss for a raise or the way one appeals to a judge for a favorable ruling. It is more like a child asking his dad for some money to get a new toy or for school supplies. In prayer, the right relationship is everything.
That slogan resonates because it reveals something we know is true throughout life. There are things that I have gotten because of a relationship that would not have otherwise been accessible to me. A number of years ago, I got a new car from my parents because I needed it to commute to work. Around that time though, my cousin also needed a car. My parents didn't get her one, not even an old beat up one. She wasn't less needy. She wasn't less deserving. She just wasn't their child.
When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray (Luke 11:1-2), the first thing that He teaches them is that God is our Father. This means at least two things. The first and most obvious is that we can approach God with the love and respect that a child has for his father. The second is that God thinks of us with the special love and concern that a father has for his children. Because of that relationship, we should expect to get things that we don't deserve and be grateful for them.
We pray, not in the manner that an employee asks his boss for a raise or the way one appeals to a judge for a favorable ruling. It is more like a child asking his dad for some money to get a new toy or for school supplies. In prayer, the right relationship is everything.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Saturday, April 07, 2007
The Spirit of power from the perspective of physics
I worked out this illustration a few weeks ago. I thought of preaching it, but was soundly discouraged by my co-worker, Alli, who thought it was too complicated. Tell me if this makes sense to you and if you think it is accurate:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
power = W/s = Fd/s = (ma)d/s
Force is not mass times velocity(mv) but mass times acceleration(ma). (mv) is moving an object at a constant velocity while (ma) means that the velocity or speed is ever increasing throughout the
distance. This is not just the ability to go long but the ability to get faster
and faster throughout the distance.
take gravity for example:
when a penny is dropped from a balcony on someone's head it makes an
impact. It hurts.
However, when a penny is dropped from the Empire State Building on
someone's head then it is lethal because the speed of that penny
increases each second that it is falling.
Now power is the ability to move something from here to there that much
faster. I can push a 100lb box 100yds, the length of a football field. I just
can't do it very quickly. But, I can load that into my car and can go
100yds that much faster because I have more power.
How does that relate to my identity in God
as a warrior? Through the Holy Spirit, you can take someone farther in
less time than would normally be possible on my own. What would
otherwise take years of counseling to help someone cope with, can take
months or even weeks by the power of the Holy Spirit.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
power = W/s = Fd/s = (ma)d/s
Force is not mass times velocity(mv) but mass times acceleration(ma). (mv) is moving an object at a constant velocity while (ma) means that the velocity or speed is ever increasing throughout the
distance. This is not just the ability to go long but the ability to get faster
and faster throughout the distance.
take gravity for example:
when a penny is dropped from a balcony on someone's head it makes an
impact. It hurts.
However, when a penny is dropped from the Empire State Building on
someone's head then it is lethal because the speed of that penny
increases each second that it is falling.
Now power is the ability to move something from here to there that much
faster. I can push a 100lb box 100yds, the length of a football field. I just
can't do it very quickly. But, I can load that into my car and can go
100yds that much faster because I have more power.
How does that relate to my identity in God
as a warrior? Through the Holy Spirit, you can take someone farther in
less time than would normally be possible on my own. What would
otherwise take years of counseling to help someone cope with, can take
months or even weeks by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Ongoing Paradigm Shift
Paradigm shift still in progress from Holiness focus to Loving God and people focus.
Consequences
Applied :
It's better to be confident at the risk of being proud, than to be self-abasing in pursuit of humility. I find that people need my confidence. So, I'm willing to risk pride. God has promised to oppose me if I am proud, and then, I'll know I've gone overboard and can make the correction.
Being Applied:
It's better to love at the risk of lusting than to combat desire at the expense of being seen as cold. Greater harm to others will result from perceived coldness from me than will come to me from occasionally lusting.
Under Consideration:
It is better to make an attractive presentation at the risk of being vain than to make a useful thing obscure and unappealing in an effort to avoid vanity.
Consequences
Applied :
It's better to be confident at the risk of being proud, than to be self-abasing in pursuit of humility. I find that people need my confidence. So, I'm willing to risk pride. God has promised to oppose me if I am proud, and then, I'll know I've gone overboard and can make the correction.
Being Applied:
It's better to love at the risk of lusting than to combat desire at the expense of being seen as cold. Greater harm to others will result from perceived coldness from me than will come to me from occasionally lusting.
Under Consideration:
It is better to make an attractive presentation at the risk of being vain than to make a useful thing obscure and unappealing in an effort to avoid vanity.
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