it's that time of the year again (for our community, that is). today is day #1 of the life in the spirit seminar of the rivers community. it's the second LSS for this year.
okay. it's almost midnight. i'm tired and sleepy. but happy :) :) :)
this is another one of those "post"-posts :p i was supposed to update the blog on the actual day (17 october) but i got home at around 1am already so i didn't get the chance to write a decent post.
Did you know when you go
as this strip implies, it's really all in the mind..
i have not posted *anything* for the past 7 days. (all the posts i have for the past week were "post-posts" if you get what i mean). i have not been checking my mails regularly (or at least, i wasn't actually reading them), although i've been online 'til the wee hours of the morning.
"Got no sense of direction.Of great concern to the Christian is his/her heart. By this I do not mean the physical organ of the body that is the center of life, but rather the inner principle of the soul that is the center of the spiritual life of us all. It is a principle of all gracious souls - souls that have been transformed by the love, mercy, and redemption in Christ - to guard their hearts. The heart is the spiritual center of us all. It is a mark of a Christian to guard this precious faculty with diligent care. The great Reformer Luther once said, "I more fear what is within me than what comes from without." The hardest, but also the highest work of a Christian consists in heart work. It is from the heart that higher spiritual life and experience originates and flows.
The word "watch," in the above verse is very instructive to us respecting what the Lord is calling us to do when we are told to watch over our hearts. Watching our hearts is here stated to us to be a duty. In some other translations, the word "keep" is used for "watch." The Hebrew word used for this concept of watching or keeping is natsar. We are to natsar our hearts with all diligence. We are to keep our hearts in safe custody, under lock and key, so that this noblest part of our spiritual life is consecrated to the Lord.
To gain a better idea of what is in mind in Scripture by watching or keeping our hearts, let us look at some other places in Scripture where this very word natsar is used. It is used in 1 Kings 20:39, "Guard this man." Here it is used, as it were, to keep someone under protection. The same word, natsar, is used in Genesis 39:21-23, where Joseph is the keeper, or natsar, of the prison. Consider how diligent men are when they are watching over their prisoners. This is what is in view here. The same word is used in Habakkuk 2:1, where the guard is standing guard at his post, keeping watch. We are to keep watch over our hearts as a guard watches over a garrison. Assaults may come on every side against the heart, but we are to watch over our hearts, that Satan may not gain any advantage over us.
This is also the responsibility of the Levites and priests keeping the sanctuary of God (Ezekiel 44:8, 15, 16). The holy things were under their charge, and they were to keep watch over them. They were to protect the holy things of the Lord from anything that might render them impure or defiled. Our hearts are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are not to grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30), and part of this means that we carefully guard our hearts from any sin that might defile us. All of our spiritual riches are in our hearts, just as the Jewish Temple housed the holy objects of the Israelites. So also, in our hearts, we hold those things that are most precious and sacred. We must watch over our hearts, and keep them.
God's eye is mainly on the heart. We are prone to look at the externals. Our propensity is to look at the shell, and the outer works that we or others do. It is not uncommon when we focus our thoughts upon the externals, that the inner life may suffer. The heart is command central for everything external that goes on. It is the commanders' fort, and here we are told to keep it, or watch it, with all diligence. It is a daily, even hourly work to look to our hearts. It is easy to shift our affections to the more obvious, but the inward principle is primarily where the Lord looks. The best works, when done to self, and not unto the Lord, are but filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).
At the end of his life, a pastor named Paul Baynes was showing some people around his library, which was quite extensive. One of those in his company commented on all his books, and Baynes replied, "Ay, there stand my books, but the Lord knows that for many years last past, I have studied my heart more than books." His studies were studies of his heart, and in this, he has left us a healthy example. We become more ready for Heaven, the more our hearts are watched over and prepared for residence there. Our greatest business is to prepare our hearts, our inward spiritual principle, for glory. We all really are that what we are on the inside. Our defining nature, that which will, and does, come to the surface most readily, is what we are inwardly (Romans 2:28, 29). We are not nearly as constant in our heart duties as we should be, but may the Lord help us to keep diligent watch over our hearts, to the end that we might subdue the temptations of the world and forsake the sin that so easily entangles us.
ser·en·dip·i·ty (sěr'ən-dĭp'ĭ-tē) Sin has a power and prevalence in all of us. There is a strength that sin possesses that is undeniable to the true saint who is struggling against it. For the saint, who does not struggle, has given up the struggle, or never struggled, this will make no sense. But to the saint who knows the burden of sin; has prayed against sin, but still sinned; made resolutions against sins, but still yielded; fought against sin, and still found himself/herself carried captive by its whiles; to those of us who have sweat, recoiled, and wept for their sins, yet still yielded, the statement that sin has an undeniable power over us, will ring true. Many can attest to times alone when they have had to admit to themselves, sadly, that their temptations to sin are simply too hard for them. It is a sorrowful moment for the Christian who has to admit his/her weakness, and all to common failure in the struggle to honor, serve, and live faithfully before the Lord.
May I suggest that this outward struggle is a good sign? Only the true Christian struggles with sin. Let us take hope and encouragement that we are seeking to resist. It is a work of grace that we even do so. But let us not fight and seek to resist our temptations outwardly only. Our fight against sin will have more success if we rely less upon ourselves and more upon graces that we draw from Christ. Keeping our focus in faith upon the crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ will be a great assistance in the struggle. Christ has already won the victory for us. Let us draw virtue from Him.
Consider the woman in Luke 8:43-48, who had the issue of blood for many years, had spent all she had upon doctors who did not help her. She comes to Christ and touches the hem of his garment. We must do the same. Not only let us seek to touch the hem of His garment but let us flee into His loving, caring arms in all our struggle with sin. She came to Christ, in faith, for her needs. She draws healing from Him, and is made whole. Christ tells her that her faith has made her whole. It was not her struggle. It was not her determination to get well. It was not anything but her faith that won the victory. It is not our resolutions, sweating, and fighting against sin that will stop its bloody issue in our lives, but it is our believing in Christ.
It is common for us to seek to mortify sin but prayers, setting convictions, and purposing that from here on "I will be good and not yield," without looking to the crucified Christ in whom we receive our strength. It is poor fighting when we fight alone. If we clung to Christ more, sin would die more. If we believed the promised threatenings more to those who forsake the Lord, sin would die more. If we believed the promises of God more, sin would die more in our lives.
Christian, you reign with Christ: Live up to your high calling as a child of God. If we believed more that Christ really does reign in our lives, sin would die in us more. Nothing puts out Satan more than our fleeing to, trusting upon, and believing into Christ for all grace in our afflictions.
season 4 of grey's anatomy is here.. and i was able to watch the first two episodes ("a change is gonna come" and "love/addiction"). it's kinda weird how i find comfort in watching a series that's so full of angst and melodrama.. but that's the way my brain is wired, i guess. freaky..jpg)
wind·ed 
[win-did] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation –adjective | 1. | out of breath. |
| 2. | having wind or breath of a specified kind (usually used in combination): short-winded; broken-winded. |
water stains on furniture
Why Do I Feel So Sad
He Stopped Loving Her
i don't know why, but it seems i'm in a "butterfly" mood these past days. i have my "starry," "angel-y" and "heart-y" days. but right now, i'm thinking butterflies.
flimsy and fragile
