Am I Not Enough

So this past week has been a real battle for me.  On Sunday night, the Holy Spirit revealed to me that I was not placing my joy in Christ.  I discovered that instead, I had placed my own self-love, my relationship, my family, my friends, the fact that I was finally almost done with college on the throne  of my heart.  Once I had made that discovery, I began to fight to surrender those things to God, and it wasn't easy, Sunday night, after praying with friends, I went to bed at peace, but immediately Monday morning, my heart was once again in turmoil.  I couldn't find peace, and so I wrestled with God to surrender again, and wrestled, and wrestled.  I was warring with God until Tuesday afternoon.  Finally I gave in, I couldn't keep fighting anymore.  I cried out for the strength to surrender, and He answered me.  And from then till now and for the rest of my days, I can have peace and contentment, I can have joy in Christ, I can have rest, but only upon surrender of my will, my pleasure, my self-sourced joy.  I must give it all up, nail it to the bloody cross I have been called to bear and find my joy in the only true source of joy, Jesus Christ.  Through this battle, I decided to write a simple poem that expresses what I have been feeling.  I hope that it can be a blessing to you as these truths have been for me.

Am I Not Enough

Clayton Campbell

See how I have made you,

Am I not enough for you?

See how I have known you,

Am I not enough for you?

See how I have chosen you,

Am I not enough for you?

See how I have loved you,

Am I not enough for you?

See how I have lived for you,

Am I not enough for you?

See I have suffered for you,

Am I not enough for you?

See I have bled for you,

Am I not enough for you?

See I have died for you,

Am I not enough for you?

See I have risen for you,

Am I not enough for you?

See I have forgiven you,

Am I not enough for you?

See I have protected you,

Am I not enough for you?

See I have prepared a place for you,

Am I not enough for you?

I see you have turned away,

Am I not enough for you?

I see you have loved another,

Am I not enough for you?

I see you have worshiped another,

Am I not enough for you?

My cross, my love, my blood,

Am I not enough for you?

One day you will return and see,

I AM enough for you!

When I consider the works of your hands...

Sorry I haven't posted in ages.  College life has been nuts and I interned this past summer so I didn't have a lot of time for blogging.  I hope to be more faithful at posting from now on.

So last night I was walking to my play practice with my girlfriend and I happened to glance upward and I was once again blown away by the beauty of the stars.  Ever since the dawn of history, mankind has been fascinated by the stars. 

We desire to see them and study them.  Since the creation of the telescope, we have been scanning the heavens and more and more, and are blown away by their intricacies and wonder.  Once the Hubble Space Telescope was created, we are able to see farther out into space, in more and more detail, seeing countless wonders in the heavens. 

The heavens have been the inspiration for so many of man's greatest works of literature.  My favorite poem, written by the great American poet Walt Whitman, is called When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer.

When I heard the learn’d astronomer;

When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me;

When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them;

When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,

How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;

Till rising and gliding out, I wander’d off by myself

In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,

Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.

That poem captures my feelings about life, especially being a college student.  Sometimes we just need to be silent and bask in the glory of what we are learning about, not the facts and figures.  Sorry, that was a bit of a rabbit trail.
The Bible speaks much about the stars.  It calls them the sons of God, it speaks in the book of Job about God leading them in their place.  One of my favorite passages about the stars however, is in the Psalms.  In Psalm 8, David writes:

¹ Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory
    in the heavens.
² Through the praise of children and infants
    you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
    to silence the foe and the avenger.
³ When I consider your heavens,
    the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
    which you have set in place,
⁴ what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    human beings that you care for them?

⁵ You have made them a little lower than the angels
    and crowned them with glory and honor.
⁶ You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
    you put everything under their feet:
⁷ all flocks and herds,
    and the animals of the wild,
⁸ the birds in the sky,
    and the fish in the sea,
    all that swim the paths of the seas.

⁹ Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

So next time you see the stars, think about how amazing they are, and think that even though they are so mighty and beautiful, He chose to love us.  He chose to make His dwelling with us.  He chose to die for us.  Think about how He loves you enough to die for you.  Let that thought blow you away. 

A powerful song in the form of a prayer to God

This song, by Christian rapper Shai Linne, is a beautiful prayer to God.  I would recommend it to anyone to read, listen to, and apply the truths and principles to your lives.

Faithful God by Shai Linne

Father God we come now before You
We were made to bow down and adore You
We’re filled with thankfulness because of Your faithfulness
To Your Word and we’ve found that it’s all true
To Your face, Lord, we turn in amazement
In Your grace, You determined to save men
From sin’s consequence because of Your promises
In Jesus Christ, which are “yes” and they’re “amen”
When Adam sinned, You provided a covering
You heard Israel cry in their suffering
You brought them out of the land with Your powerful hand
Lord, You’re truly the God of the covenant
Even though You dropped clues, they were missing it
From here, we can see the true significance
All Your acts of might were shadows and types
To point ahead to a future deliverance
From the things You say, You don’t budge
You’re faithful to save and You’re faithful to judge
The God who is just is not one of us
The faithful God is the God we can trust
We can’t trust us, on You we rely
Everything we need, Lord, You will supply
Even when we’re faithless, You remain faithful
You cannot deny Yourself

Lord, thanks for Your grace and Your favor
Your faithfulness we’ve tasted and savored
Your love and care for us is most clear to us
when we’re beholding the face of the Savior
The Human race as a whole was infected
But for those You have chosen, elected
You made a promise and it was accomplished when
The chief cornerstone was rejected
We see Him dying on the cross for our evil
Where He appeared to be soft and feeble
In actuality, He holds the galaxies
in His hands- He’s exalted and regal
When we believed, You were faithful to save us
And that means You’ll be faithful to change us
And the Spirit of Jesus will keep us ’til
You make us holy and blameless
From the things You say, You don’t budge
You’re faithful to save and You’re faithful to judge
The God who is just became one of us
The faithful God is the God we can trust
We can’t trust us- on You we rely
Everything we need, Lord, You will supply
Even when we’re faithless, You remain faithful
You cannot deny Yourself

Faithful God by Shai Linne

Something that made me think a lot...

Something that had never occurred to me really made me stop and think this Easter weekend.  
 
In Israel, on Passover, the high priest, the person appointed by God to make the atoning sacrifice of a spotless lamb in the temple.

To outline his job for the day of atonement, which completed the Passover feast, what Christians refer to as Good Friday, the day that Christ died on the cross, I will give you the outline from bible.org.

"From all appearances, the rituals outlined in our text do not begin the day’s activities for Aaron, but come after the exercise of some of his regular duties. The day would seem to begin as usual with the offering of the morning sacrifice, the burnt offering of a one year old lamb (cf. Exod. 29:38-42; Num. 28:3-6). After these duties were performed, the High Priest would commence the ceremonies of the Day of Atonement, as prescribed in our text:⁷⁰

(1) Aaron was to take off his normal priestly garments, wash, and then put on the special garments which were prescribed for the sacrifices which took him into the holy of holies (v. 4; cf. Exod. 28; 39).

(2) Aaron secured the necessary sacrificial animals: a bull for his own sin offering and two male goats for the people’s sin offering; two rams, one for Aaron’s and the other for the people’s burnt offering (vv. 3, 5).

(3) Aaron slaughtered the bull for his own sin offering (vv. 6, 11).

(4) Before entering into the Holy of Holies with the blood of the bull, Aaron had to create a “cloud” of incense in the Holy of Holies, covering the mercy seat, to “veil” the glory of God so that he could enter in (vv. 12-13). The best approximation to this in my experience is what a bee-keeper does, smoking the hive of the bees, before he begins to remove the honey. In the case of Aaron, he was to offer only the prescribed incense so as to create an obscuring veil of smoke, thus dimming the glory of God’s presence and sparing his life.

(5) Aaron then took some of the blood of the bull and sprinkled it on the mercy seat seven times (v. 14).

(6) Lots were then cast for the two goats, to determine which would be slaughtered and which would be driven away (vv. 7-8).

(7) The goat for slaughter, the goat of the people’s sin offering, was sacrificed, and its blood was taken into the Holy of Holies and applied to the mercy seat, as the bull’s blood had been (v. 15).

(8) Cleansing was then made for the holy place (v. 16), seemingly by the sprinkling of the blood of both the bull and the goat. The atonement of the holy place is done alone, without anyone present to help, or to watch (v. 17).

(9) Next, outside the tent, Aaron was to make atonement for the altar of burnt offering,⁷¹ using, it would seem, the blood of both the bull and the goat (vv. 18-19).

(10) Now the second goat, the one which was kept alive, had the sins of the nation symbolically laid on its head, and was driven from the camp to a desolate place, from which it must never return (vv. 20-22).

(11) Aaron then entered the tent of meeting, removed his linen garments, washed, and put on his normal priestly garments

(12) The burnt offerings of rams, one for Aaron and his family and the other for the people, was now offered (v. 24)

(13) The earlier sacrifices of the bull and the goat were completed. The fat of the sin offering was burned on the altar (v. 25), and the remains of the bull and the goat were taken outside the camp, where they were burned (v. 27).

(14) Those who had been rendered unclean by handling the animals on which the sins of Aaron or the people were laid were to wash themselves and then return to camp (vv. 26, 28)."

The problem on the day that Christ died, is that Caiaphas the high priest that year is that instead of being at the temple performing the duties of a high priest, he spent most of the day with Pilate, the Roman governor, to ensure the death of Jesus, a man he saw as being a blasphemer, claiming to be equal with God.  Instead of overseeing the sacrifices of that sacred day-the bulls, goats, and lambs that covered the sins of the people, he was overseeing the death of the Lamb of God, the perfect, spotless Lamb.  While appearing to neglect his God-given responsibilities, he was actually overseeing the perfect sacrifice of the Lamb whose blood would totally take away sins.

Just a thought from a poor beggar.
http://bible.org/seriespage/day-atonement-leviticus-16 

 

What does the shield of faith really mean?

Something that has been dwelling on my mind quite a lot recently is the question: what is the armor of God; in particular what is the shield of faith?

 ¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. ¹¹ Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. ¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. ¹³ Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. ¹⁴ Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵ and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; ¹⁷ and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God
Ephesians 6:10-17

When we people of 21st century western culture think of the Christian armor, he thinks of the knight in shining armor, riding in on his white steed, or standing alone on a hill, wielding his mighty sword.

This just isn't the case.  When Paul wrote the verses describing the armor, in particular the shield, both he and his reader would have had a very different mental picture.  The reader in Paul's day would have pictured one of two things: the Greek phalanx,

or the Roman legion.

These units find their strength in their unity.  They are strong because they fight as one. 
I know this is the idea that Paul is trying to convey for the Christian for a few reasons. 
1. Because of what has been mentioned, the historical context of the Greek and Roman armies. 
2. Because Paul speaks on the armor of God right after speaking on unity in the church and working together as members of the body, as slaves and masters (employees and bosses in our context), husbands and wives, and children and parents.  He goes straight from that discussion to the discussion on spiritual warfare and the armor of God.
3. Because of a principle taught in Ecclesiastes 4

⁹ Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.   
¹⁰ For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!  
¹¹ Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone?  
¹² And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
  
So what is the point?  We must learn that when Paul is talking about the armor of God, he isn't talking about individuals fighting sin as is so often proclaimed from pulpits across America today.  The preachers say that, "You have been called to fight sin," or, "You need to take up the whole armor of God."  When in all reality, they should be crying out: "We must take up the armor of God.  We must fight sin together."  It is our unity that gives us strength.

He Was Pierced for Our Transgressions

 ^{Isaiah 52:13-53:12}

¹³ Behold, my servant shall act wisely;
    he shall be high and lifted up,
    and shall be exalted.
¹⁴ As many were astonished at you—
    his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
    and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
¹⁵ so shall he sprinkle many nations;
    kings shall shut their mouths because of him;
for that which has not been told them they see,
    and that which they have not heard they understand.

 Who has believed what he has heard from us?
    And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
² For he grew up before him like a young plant,
    and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
    and no beauty that we should desire him.
³ He was despised and rejected by men;
    a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
    he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

⁴ Surely he has borne our griefs
    and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
    smitten by God, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    and with his wounds we are healed.
⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

⁷ He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
    yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
    and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
    so he opened not his mouth.
⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
    and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
    stricken for the transgression of my people?
⁹ And they made his grave with the wicked
    and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
    and there was no deceit in his mouth.

¹⁰ Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
    he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
    he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
¹¹ Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
    make many to be accounted righteous,
    and he shall bear their iniquities.
¹² Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
    and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
    and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
    and makes intercession for the transgressors.

What does it mean for God to be good?

Often humans ask the question: How can a good God allow such bad things to happen to good people?  At first glance it seems to be a valid question.  For example, why would a God who claims to love the Jews allow them to be one of the most hated races to ever walk the earth?  Why would He allow more than 9,000,000 of them to die at the hands of the Nazi's?  Allow them to be thrown from their lands for thousands of years?  Why would He allow millions of people, about half of the worlds population to be killed by the Black Death?  Why does He allow men to kill other men, or to sexually exploit others?  Every day the news is filled with stories of a world gone crazy: murder, rape, theft, and on and on and on.  Why does He allow these things?  Can He truly be good?  Do these charges make His word false?  NO!!!

Instead we should ask: Why does a good and holy God allow good things to come to wicked people?  When we first hear this statement, many of us, if not all of us probably would become offended.  But take a moment to examine yourself, not as you see yourself, but as God sees you.  You think of yourself as good because you do good things, helping those who are in need, maybe going to church, perhaps by getting baptized.  God sees you as you are: a rebel to Him.  He sees you, apart from the blood of Jesus, an evil, repugnant person.  Nothing that you can do will EVER gain you favor with God.  Instead, as Isaiah explains "We have all become like the unclean; all our righteous deeds are like a menstrual rag. All of us wither like a leaf; our sins, like the wind, carry us away"(Isaiah 64:6 Common English Bible).

I love what John Piper said on this topic in his blog on December 27, 2012.
"Where was God in 2012?

• Where was God when nine million planes landed safely in the United States?
• Where was God when the world revolved around the sun so accurately that it achieved the Winter solstice perfectly at 5:12 AM December 21 and headed back toward Spring?
• Where was God when the President was not shot at a thousand public appearances?
• Where was God when American farms produced ten million bushels of corn, and 2.8 million bushels of soybeans — enough food to sell $100 billions worth to other nations?
• Where was God when no terrorist plot brought down a single American building or plane or industry?
• Where was God when the sun maintained its heat and its gravitational pull precisely enough that we were not incinerated or frozen?
• Where was God when three hundred million Americans drank water in homes and restaurants without getting sick?
• Where was God when no new plague swept away a third of our race?
• Where was God when Americans drove three trillion accident free miles?
• Where was God when over three million healthy babies were born in America?

Here are a few of the answers given by God himself in his word.
1. God was reigning from his throne to do his sovereign will.

“Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.” (Psalm 115:3)
“He works all things according to the counsel of his will.” (Ephesians 1:11)

2. God was reigning from his throne to prevent much sin and harm in the world.

“God said to [Abimelech, the king of Gerar], it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her.” (Genesis 20:6)
“You know what is restraining [the man of lawlessness] now.” (2 Thessalonians 2:6)

3. God was reigning from his throne to give a witness to his goodness and his patience.

“God did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” (Acts 14:17)

4. God was reigning from his throne to summon the world to repentance.

“Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4)

So as the year ends, I bow my head as an undeserving sinner, amazed that I have not been swept away. And even more, that because of Jesus, I am forgiven, adopted into God’s family, and destined for eternal life.
God has been good to us. And his best gift is the one that will be there when all the others fail. Jesus, crucified, risen, reigning."

Remember before you ask where God was when tragedy strikes, ask yourself, why He has held back His hand every other day.  You deserve God's wrath, but He gives grace!  As Flyleaf, one of my favorite bands said in the song Cassie: "Don't be shocked that people die, be surprised you're still alive."