Still Thinking by Daniel Stevenson
I, Like in a latter day,
think away my things.
Time ebbs on
because that is what it does.
With tears that surface-coat scars
that drive me more than they should,
I reach for a tomorrow
guaranteed
in the hand of the master,
But framed in the thinking,
too common
to yesterday’s reality.
Time ebbs on
ever-closer
to that unsealed future,
The image in the rear view mirror
is fading
but I lean in straining.
Service and tears
but even today’s events
seem distant.
I am without torment
but sometimes wondering why my scars,
drive me more than they should.
Thinking
through things
like in days past,
when my thought should
simply be
of one certain tomorrow…
The thoughts I think
may be of today.
The scars I bear,
some I thought forgotten,
drive a present
seemingly based
on an old life.
This new life,
it is somehow more real,
Eyes open,
I,
like Lot,
live vexed.
Moved
to certain action,
I work
though I wonder.
My help is eternal.
My pain is temporal.
One day,
I will
stop
thinking,
but apparently
not yet.
Showing posts with label Christian living. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christian living. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Bondage Breaker-buy it...
Neil T. Anderson wrote a book called Bondage Breaker. Christians should check it out. Last Night at New Heights we went through step four of the seven steps to freedom. I can email the notes to anyone who posts a comment requesting them or message me on Facebook(tm).
Anyway, Step four is about submitting to authority. People don't like to so it. We are trained by the world to be rebellious. We even start thinking if we aren't rebellious we can't be our own person.
Trust me, you don't want to me your own person. You want to be God's. His stuff lasts.
Anyway, we went through an exercise thinking about where we have failed to submit to authority. I found several in my own life. It turns out-and I should have known this-that when you do not submit to the authorities that God has placed in your life you are opening an avenue for Satan and evil spirits to get at you. It makes perfect sense since God said that rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft when Saul was being denounced.
I want to submit myself to the authorities in my life and I made that commitment yesterday and last night. If you see me not submitting. I give you the permission to mention it.
It's serious. Satan is a rebel against God's system. How about you?
Pastor Dan Stevenson
www.newheightsfellowshipchurch.org
Anyway, Step four is about submitting to authority. People don't like to so it. We are trained by the world to be rebellious. We even start thinking if we aren't rebellious we can't be our own person.
Trust me, you don't want to me your own person. You want to be God's. His stuff lasts.
Anyway, we went through an exercise thinking about where we have failed to submit to authority. I found several in my own life. It turns out-and I should have known this-that when you do not submit to the authorities that God has placed in your life you are opening an avenue for Satan and evil spirits to get at you. It makes perfect sense since God said that rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft when Saul was being denounced.
I want to submit myself to the authorities in my life and I made that commitment yesterday and last night. If you see me not submitting. I give you the permission to mention it.
It's serious. Satan is a rebel against God's system. How about you?
Pastor Dan Stevenson
www.newheightsfellowshipchurch.org
Thursday, April 21, 2011
The Calm Before the Storm
The Calm Before the Storm
It's about to begin. It's almost time. Butterflies in the stomach...Cotton in the mouth or sweaty palms or both. It's almost my turn. She's looking at me. What will the answer be?
When many things are about to be revealed or many things are about to connect or just one thing that you can't stop thinking about is on the verge of unleashing its effect in your life...
Sometimes this eerie calm sets in. "The Calm Before the Storm."
The fact is there is nothing left to do. You can not now change the outcome. Only prayer and silence before the already determined effect of the unveiling is left to you.
The calm before the storm.
But we see only what our eyes let us see. We forget that there are so many more things that we do not understand. We think in linear time. We might even contemplate whether we can squeeze in one more thing before the climax. We decide no. We decide there is no time left and we are left with the anticipation alone.
The storm.
We perceive that it is not yet. We perceive that it is coming. It will be here any second. We become fixated on the thing and its ramifications. We wonder, what will become of me after this? Or do we? We wonder, Will I service this? We begin to think-I mean even when it's just will the answer be yes or no-we begin to think that if this thing does not go the way we want we will not live on after. Of course, that may actually be true where real danger exists. As in, the calm before the battle begins for a soldier. On the other hand, in most cases, we will survive this too. In fact, in most cases, we have already survived worse than the worst this situation could deal to us.
So, is it the storm that is worse or the anticipation of it.
The mind.
The mind is a powerful thing. We do not use it. Let's face it. We don't even memorize any more. Or even remember well. We can't calculate like used to be necessary. Smaller computers turned out to mean smaller intellects. Or at least less use and if your brain is like a muscle it atrophies from lack of use...
But the mind unleashed is a powerful thing and it can unleash itself at times. your mind can unleash itself on you.
So then, is the storm the event? Is it the anticipation of the event or is it the unleashing of an un-utilized ability to anticipate the event and its ramifications.
Coming events:
Saturday Cross March and festival: This will bring glory to God if we just do as we are supposed to do. My mind wants to wrestle control away from me and away from God to think about all the ramifications. I will not allow it. I submit myself to God. i submit my mind to God.
Jesus' return. If it is soon- I will not see my kids grow up. I will not see my grand kids grow up. if it is soon my friend will be eternally separated from God and me. We will not play together in heaven because he does not accept that God could save us this way or indeed that God cares. It seems that some believe that if it were soon they would do more or be better prepared. If they new it was soon. Tare down the billboards Mr. Billionaire-God said no one may know the time or the season of Jesus Return accept the father Himself. Hopefully he's got enough millions he won't sue me for that-hmmm.
NOW is the calm which I say is actually the storm. Jesus is coming. When? I don't know and I don't have time to waste on letting my mind go crazy about that. I want to be found serving Him when He does come. Perfect love casts out all fear. 1J4:18
Anticipation.
As for delaying while I wait for the ramifications or contemplate the outcome to try to calculate at exactly what second things will go down. No.
As for busily anticipating His return without being about the things that He has commanded. No.
As for ignoring the potential immanence of the unfolding of these events. No.
As for me and my house-We will serve the Lord-A different J.
Alfred Lord Tennision said, I must lose myself in action lest I wither in despair.
The storm is not the storm. The calm before "the storm" is the Storm. Get uncalm.
Pastor Dan Stevenson
http://www.newheightsfellowshipchurch.org/
It's about to begin. It's almost time. Butterflies in the stomach...Cotton in the mouth or sweaty palms or both. It's almost my turn. She's looking at me. What will the answer be?
When many things are about to be revealed or many things are about to connect or just one thing that you can't stop thinking about is on the verge of unleashing its effect in your life...
Sometimes this eerie calm sets in. "The Calm Before the Storm."
The fact is there is nothing left to do. You can not now change the outcome. Only prayer and silence before the already determined effect of the unveiling is left to you.
The calm before the storm.
But we see only what our eyes let us see. We forget that there are so many more things that we do not understand. We think in linear time. We might even contemplate whether we can squeeze in one more thing before the climax. We decide no. We decide there is no time left and we are left with the anticipation alone.
The storm.
We perceive that it is not yet. We perceive that it is coming. It will be here any second. We become fixated on the thing and its ramifications. We wonder, what will become of me after this? Or do we? We wonder, Will I service this? We begin to think-I mean even when it's just will the answer be yes or no-we begin to think that if this thing does not go the way we want we will not live on after. Of course, that may actually be true where real danger exists. As in, the calm before the battle begins for a soldier. On the other hand, in most cases, we will survive this too. In fact, in most cases, we have already survived worse than the worst this situation could deal to us.
So, is it the storm that is worse or the anticipation of it.
The mind.
The mind is a powerful thing. We do not use it. Let's face it. We don't even memorize any more. Or even remember well. We can't calculate like used to be necessary. Smaller computers turned out to mean smaller intellects. Or at least less use and if your brain is like a muscle it atrophies from lack of use...
But the mind unleashed is a powerful thing and it can unleash itself at times. your mind can unleash itself on you.
So then, is the storm the event? Is it the anticipation of the event or is it the unleashing of an un-utilized ability to anticipate the event and its ramifications.
Coming events:
Saturday Cross March and festival: This will bring glory to God if we just do as we are supposed to do. My mind wants to wrestle control away from me and away from God to think about all the ramifications. I will not allow it. I submit myself to God. i submit my mind to God.
Jesus' return. If it is soon- I will not see my kids grow up. I will not see my grand kids grow up. if it is soon my friend will be eternally separated from God and me. We will not play together in heaven because he does not accept that God could save us this way or indeed that God cares. It seems that some believe that if it were soon they would do more or be better prepared. If they new it was soon. Tare down the billboards Mr. Billionaire-God said no one may know the time or the season of Jesus Return accept the father Himself. Hopefully he's got enough millions he won't sue me for that-hmmm.
NOW is the calm which I say is actually the storm. Jesus is coming. When? I don't know and I don't have time to waste on letting my mind go crazy about that. I want to be found serving Him when He does come. Perfect love casts out all fear. 1J4:18
Anticipation.
As for delaying while I wait for the ramifications or contemplate the outcome to try to calculate at exactly what second things will go down. No.
As for busily anticipating His return without being about the things that He has commanded. No.
As for ignoring the potential immanence of the unfolding of these events. No.
As for me and my house-We will serve the Lord-A different J.
Alfred Lord Tennision said, I must lose myself in action lest I wither in despair.
The storm is not the storm. The calm before "the storm" is the Storm. Get uncalm.
Pastor Dan Stevenson
http://www.newheightsfellowshipchurch.org/
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Crazy Days
It occurs to me that whenever a person sets themselves out to serve Christ in whatever capacity possible...they will endure crazy days. There's this odd combination of what becomes normal, like scheduled events, and what invades your life, like opportunities to serve Christ. You wind up talking to the girl at the register a little longer than expected and someone calls who has no groceries and you already had a Bible Study scheduled and people are counting on you and you're leaving for the airport at 5:30 AM and there's paperwork to be done and who hugged your kids today? Academically speaking, one should not use that many ands in a sentence. I think Paul-or at least the translation of Paul in the NIV seems to do that but that does not make it good writing, academically. Then again, his run on sentences, as translated into English are the word of God, are really good writing, and prove to be the exception to the rule. So, I used way too many ands... It is a fairly realistic picture of certain days. This would explain why I blog not enough. Anyway, I believe that this is life and life more abundantly. Did I really only live one day since I put these socks on this morning? Can that much stuff get crammed in one day? This is my excuse for why I often do not know the day of the week as readily as I should. Though, I find that this phenomenon happens to many folks. (The forgetting the day thing) So, then, now it's late. I was going to get cleaned up before I get nestled in. And even though the day has seemed so long, i just looked at the clock and was genuinely amazed that it is not much later than it is. Very interesting isn't it... God loves me and that really is all that matters. Stink for God-2 Cor 2:14-21; I like this motto, but Amalya thinks it has issues. God Bless and Good night-stinker... Pastor Daniel Stevenson www. newheightsfellowshipchurch.org
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