Part 2 of Today

So...it turns out the baseball game was at 5 instead of 7 so I missed it...at least he plays again tomorrow night.

I want to share a few quotes with you that I read and provoked many thoughts for me while in Spain. Dane and I have been going through "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers so I will begin with that book.

May 14: "We have to form habits to express what God's grace has done in us. It is not a question of being saved from hell, but of being saved in order to manifest the life of the Son of God in our mortal flesh..." Now I know you may think the word "habit" doesn't necessarily fit into a relationship with God, but the devotion and surrounding days in the book explain that part and it's too long to type here. I just want to share with you the part about God's grace coming to us in order to manifest Christ in our flesh, our lives. I actually heard a preacher say once "I hope hell scares you into getting saved." Quotes like this present a false gospel and relay unbiblical teaching.

May 24: THE DELIGHT OF DESPAIR
"There are times when God cannot reveal Himself in any other way than in His majesty, and it is the awfulness of the vision which brings you to the delight of despair..." It is oddly comforting to know that the glory of God is so powerful, so magnificent that it can be seen as awful, as uncomfortable to us as humans. I think the word 'awful' does not mean 'terrible' or 'bad' here in the sense of defining God's glory; but, the knowledge that when bad things come, God is sovereign and has carried out his plan since before time. It reminds me of when Moses was on the mountain and God passed by. Moses wasn't even humanly able to see God's glory face to face!

May 26: "The danger with us [humans] is that we want to water down the things that Jesus says and make them mean something in accordance with common sense; if it were only common sense, it was not worthwhile for Him to say it. The things Jesus says about prayer are supernatural revelations." I realize only giving you these tidbits can be quite confusing without the whole devotion, but you need to read this book anyway. It's a great devotional! I have had countless discussions with people I love and respect about human logic and responsibility vs. God's purpose and plan. Many say 'God wouldn't have given us logic if he didn't want us to use it.' This is true, we are not told to follow Christ without intelligence; HOWEVER, we are told to follow. Following means doing whatever he says, whatever the cost. This is hard to swallow and brings about great conviction because I don't live this out. But just imagine what the church will look like once it truly forsakes all and follows Christ! Follows him by taking his glory to the nations!

Lastly, I want to ask you to join me in praying for the people of Afghanistan. Please pray for...
-Relationships that allow a clear and open witnessing of the gospel by foreign relief workers (medicine, education, business, agriculture, etc.).
-Protection of the workers from kidnapping and murder.
-Continued development of the small house churches scattered across the country.
-God's blessings on Afghanistan's secret believers so the Afghan Church may live and grow to be an instrument of blessing (salt), transformation (yeast), and truth-giving (light) for the nation.
-The government of Afghanistan lead by presidnet Hamid Karzai.