A year ago, blogging was left to the side of the road as I took up a few other callings in my life. But after a year, I've felt the draw to return sorting, processing, and sharing. The adventures of this Foreign Albanian have continued on... in this year I've been silent.
I've since traveled back home twice, once at Christmas and once just a few weeks ago on a research trip. God has been faithful, and this year has been like none other.
Summer has started, and the long days are stretching into the evening. God's whispers are in the cool still spring wind of Oregon, and his glory is painted in the skies.
As always, there is a point to my writing, a personal calling and challenge of my Lord. This summer the challenge is to manhood, to learn who I am. I was at a weekend conference last month on Identity and one of the speakers described sanctification as becoming who we already are. He gave two illustrations, that of a husband and a father. On his wedding day, a man becomes a husband. It's who he is, and nobody denies that. BUT then he spends the rest of his life learning what it means to be a husband and striving to become who he already is. The same goes for a man who before the birth of his first child is not a father, but then one day becomes a father. He can never not be a father now, but he sill spend the rest of his life learning and growing into who he already is.
I need not prove my manhood, or even my status as a son of God, but I have felt a specific calling to truly learn what it means to be a man of God.
This spans over every aspect of my life from what I do when I'm at home to who I am with friends or strangers. This is my summer's journey, so far it's been amazing!
There are too many to talk about right now as my mind get's overwhelmed by the thought of even trying to mention all the lessons and thoughts that have been pouring into my head, but I guess a lot of them will need their own blogpost!
I guess this will be nothing more than an introduction, and the summer will tell how much I will actually write about my "Summer of MAN!" as I like to call it!
(after reviewing some of my old posts I see a DISTINCT need for brevity which I am now instituting!)
Friday, June 11, 2010
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
A New and Blessed Calling
I have found it near impossible to post anything since my return from Oklahoma because it is VERY difficult for me to write on subjects other than the particular ones that have captured my heart and thus inspire blogs. I have refrained from truly writing about the issues that have been bouncing around my heart and mind in order that I could keep it delicately under wraps that the Foreign Albanian has finally been called by God, to pursue the heart of a Godly young woman.
This is a delicate subject simply because dating relationships of any kind can be very taboo in Albania, and not wanting to give my Albanian friends the wrong impression of myself I have diligently kept it a secret from them (if there are any Albanians reading this PLEASE continue reading and you will see my TRUE heart concerning this relationship—my intentions, my actions, etc.). But I find myself continually turning over the reality of this calling in my head and processing it constantly, because like any other calling, I take it VERY seriously.
So my rather feeble attempt at a blog was my last post where I did not mention the fact that I have begun a relationship at all, and this post will be completely about the calling itself rather than focusing on our story. Maybe a later post will be about our story, which is quite a tale (even as short as it is) woven in are, heartache, seeking God, tears, long nights, prayer, a long semester, a letter, a trip, a return, and a romance!
But for this post, I want to focus on the calling itself. Because it IS a calling from the Lord! Someone remarked to me recently, “Well all you do with your weekends is spend time with your girlfriend!” This intrigued me slightly and got me thinking about my relationship with my girlfriend. Sheesh, we need a name for her don’t we? If I am the Foreign Albanian, shall we call her the Portland Girl? Maybe the American Blonde? I shall have to ask her how she would prefer to be referred to in future posts…
Anyways, the comment disturbed me slightly, first of all, because it is not true, but secondly because spending time with my girlfriend, even if it would happen to be all weekend was treated so flippantly. Say, for instance, that I spend my weekend preparing for teaching at the Kingdom Bible study and then cap off the weekend by teaching this thing that I have put so much time and effort into. I cannot imagine saying with the same tone of voice, “Well all you do with your weekends is prepare teachings and teach a Bible study!”
I realized that perhaps the world around me doesn’t see my relationship as a true calling from the Lord as I do. With teaching the Kingdom Bible Study at George Fox, I spend HOURS thinking, pacing, reading, listening to other sermons on the same verses, praying, and finally writing out an outline for my teaching and then teaching it! I take my calling very seriously and invest a huge amount of time and effort into it.
I have two reasons for doing this, firstly because the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY has placed that calling on my heart, and drawn me to that path. To not follow it would be disobedience and to do it half heartedly would be lukewarm and apathetic about the work of God that HE IS passionate about.
The second reason is because I LOVE IT!! I love the research, the deep thinking, the hours alone processing and searching the scriptures and seeking God for gems to share.
In a similar fashion I am JUST as passionate about pursuing this Godly young woman as I am about the Bible study. I am probably even MORE passionate about it. This calling bears SO MUCH MORE responsibility than the Bible Study.
I remember being at my church here in America when God laid the Bible Study on my shoulders and feeling the weight of the responsibility of leadership. It was an interesting feeling because I knew that I could not bear it by myself, but ONLY by God’s grace and submission to his complete authority could I not COMPLETELY screw up in my calling.
In comparison my calling to pursue this young lady’s heart scares me because of the amount of responsibility it bears. My responsibility as one of the leaders of the Kingdom Bible study at George Fox is BEANS compared to the responsibility of not only trying to with her heart EVERY DAY, but CARING for it, and PROTECTING it, and LEADING our relationship in passionate pursuit of what we’ve been called to as a couple.
I’ll get more into our story probably in another post, but the second day of our relationship we sat down and laid out our rules for passionately pursuing purity. And the thesis statement, if you will, or vision for our relationship is James 3:17-18:
“But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”
God has called us to a WISE relationship. I PRAY that we would be GRACED with that wisdom from heaven. That our relationship would be FIRST pure. That would be our FIRST goal, our abiding theme. PURITY. That our relationship would be defined by it in our minds when we’re together and apart, but also that would be the relationship’s definition for all our friends who are watching us.
Purity is SO crucial in any relationship between guys and girls. It is the CORNERSTONE to having a wise relationship. I have found that impurity in a relationship is the equivalent of pride in ministry, say teaching, or worship leading. Think about it, what is pride in ministry? To me it is the replacing of God on the throne and placing myself squarely on it to receive the glory that in not due to me!!
This CRIPPLES ministry. When pride comes into the leadership of ANY sort of ministry, it is bound for destruction. Because the leaders have exchanged the glory of God for their own glory, also known as idolatry.
Similarly in a relationship, when God is on the throne of the lives of BOTH people involved, purity reigns in order to GLORIFY God. This is in PURE interaction between a man and woman falling deeper in love with Jesus and him letting that love spill over onto each other. God CREATED romance!! He LOVES it! He also created extremely strong physical passions and desires which are AWESOME for marriage! So, I am over the moon that I get to be a part of a romance created, instigated, and LED by Jesus! I LOVE knowing that I am GLORIFYING God by pursuing this amazing woman and that he created all the feelings and emotions and for lack of a better word AMAZINGNESS that goes hand in hand with a relationship. At the same time, we have to guard against NUMEROUS feelings and emotions that are awakened by a relationship with each other that are meant STRICLTY for marriage.
So, back to my analogy of impurity in relationship and pride in ministry. Both are removing God from the throne and claiming to know better and do things MY WAY. Both are destructive, as pride will destroy a ministry so will impurity destroy a relationship.
EVERY TIME I go to spend time with my girlfriend, I pause and pray. I pray that purity would be our GOAL, not just some rule that we try to pay attention to sometimes, but it would be something that we are AIMING for, not a line we’re trying not to cross.
Remember those verses from James? “wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere”
So, I’ve explained purity, now on to peaceable. I think the NIV says “peace-loving.” This is CRUCIAL in a dating relationship. And actually before I go on anymore let me clarify. Although I may say “dating relationship” our relationship is SPECIFICALLY a courtship. The difference between a dating relationship and a courtship is that courting is not just for having fun. It is purposed and has a goal. It is God leading a man to pursue a woman in order to see if God created them to complete each other and live out the rest of their lives together.
I am courting her. Do we go on dates? Oh yeah! But I am not simply enjoying having a girlfriend around for kicks and laughs. I am STUDYING her. I am a STUDENT of her in order to know how to bless her more, and in deeper ways. Because frequently in dating relationships it’s about “what can I get from you” and in a courtship it’s “how can I serve and bless you.” I want to KNOW her so deeply, I want to NEVER be surprised by one of her actions because I am so AWARE of her feelings and emotions and inner workings that NOTHING would take me by surprise because I am a student of her! But anyways, now that the distinction between dating and courting has been made, back to a peace-loving relationship.
Like I said, our relationship’s vision is to be a flesh and blood example of James 3:17, so next is our passion for peace. This means several things. First it means that when conflicts arrive, we LOVE peace so much we fight for it! Is it hard? Yes it is, but we BOTH deal with conflict. It was actually the first thing that attracted me to her was her method of conflict resolution. We do not say goodnight angry at each other. I remember a fight we had months and months ago (as just friends) and it was primarily my fault. But as you know, it is hardly ever completely one person’s fault in conflict, and this was no different. Tensions were high and she could have responded in a better way than she did, and she apologized for it! Even though nothing would have happened if it were not for me, she still apologized for her minor offense. She humbled herself, admitted guilt, and asked for forgiveness. This is all a part of pursuing peace.
We haven’t fought in a long time, but that doesn’t mean that there haven’t been tense moments at all! I happen to talk a lot and when a person does that, there are mistakes made and things said that shouldn’t be said (if you didn’t know this already you need to spend some serious time in Proverbs). When there is tension between us, after a mini-argument, or just a disagreement where we aren’t pleased with each other, I sit down and listen to 1st Corinthians 13 over and over again. I want to make this a habit in myself to do whenever we fight in order to truly grasp God’s definition of love and to carry that out in all my words and actions towards her.
I have made more than my share of mistakes, but peace is a two-part deal. It is not only humbling oneself and asking for forgiveness, but it is also covering the other person’s mistakes in love. When this happens on BOTH sides of a relationship, there is peace. Not only is there peace in the relationship, but also that peace overflows to all other areas of life. Also, our focus on peace is not just concerning peace within the relationship but also what comes from it. For instance, we have all been around couples that have intimate/private moments in public or in the middle of a circle of friends. Our relationship is about other people and serving other people and blessing other people, not locking out the rest of the world in order to get 20 more minutes of “private” time together.
Next in the verse is “Gentle, and open to reason.” Let’s face it, relationships aren’t perfect, and sometimes close friends need to step in a lend words of wisdom to the couple. This should be our reaction. There are a TON of emotions going on in the middle of a relationship and when somebody steps in and tells you you’re doing something wrong, tensions can rise because of the sheer amount of emotion wrapped up in the subject. Being gentle, and open to reason is tied in to peace-loving too because that is how correction should be taken. It’s interesting because the next one also has to do with peace-loving in my mind because of it’s influence on conflict resolution—Mercy.
Let me share something, I have gotten SO MUCH mercy from this young lady. She has forgiven me time and time again, when I don’t deserve to be forgiven. I don’t deserve second chances, or forgiveness, love, affection, or anything really, and she ALWAYS forgives me. And covers my mistakes in love—THAT is mercy.
The verse actually puts mercy together with “good fruits” if you look at the phrasing. And I think that’s a huge part of it. If a relationship is not producing fruit, it needs to stop or change.
I am SO much better because of this young lady. I process 10X more than I used to and have the freedom to talk all my processes out with her to get them clearer in my head. Not only that, I can talk for half an hour and then she says 5 words that blow my mind. THAT is the young woman that I am pursuing. I cannot wait to begin teaching the Bible study again in the Fall with her by my side helping me! I pray that the good fruit extends beyond our own lives and into the lives of others and that God would use us for his glory, that we may prove ourselves to be his disciples by our fruit (John 15:8).
Finally, there are two qualities to heavenly wisdom left. Impartiality and sincerity. Like I said before, there are so many emotions wrapped up in a relationship that impartiality is necessary sometimes. I have to emotionally remove myself from the relationship in order to look at it (or at least try to) without bias. This is to scrutinize our actions and my own thoughts and feelings and see if they are TRULY honoring to Christ or not.
Finally, sincerity is so crucial in a relationship. I’ve seen and heard of relationships where one person is deceiving themselves and the other person into thinking that they are engaged in the other person and really care about them, but actually don’t and are maybe more into falling in love with falling in love than falling in love with a person. (haha, okay, just for kicks reread that last clause and laugh with me that I actually wrote it).
Also, truth is an abiding theme in our courtship. We communicate thoughts, feelings, emotions, and motives with eachother. A) in order to know each other better, and B) for the sake of sincerity with one another.
If there is anyone on this earth that I want to be completely myself with, it’s her. I can be myself with her like I can be with no one else. The freedom of genuinity (ok, say genuine, and then add an “ity” on the end and you’ve got it) with one another is a gift from God and when couples lose that, they lose out on God’s blessing.
This verse on wisdom in James is followed by verse 18 which says, “And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” This first implies the necessity again of peace in our relationship, but secondly notice that a HARVEST of righteousness is sown by this.
I want righteousness, I want it for my relationship.
Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled.”
In Christ-centered pursuit of an amazing, beautiful, God-fearing young woman,
-The Foreign Albanian
This is a delicate subject simply because dating relationships of any kind can be very taboo in Albania, and not wanting to give my Albanian friends the wrong impression of myself I have diligently kept it a secret from them (if there are any Albanians reading this PLEASE continue reading and you will see my TRUE heart concerning this relationship—my intentions, my actions, etc.). But I find myself continually turning over the reality of this calling in my head and processing it constantly, because like any other calling, I take it VERY seriously.
So my rather feeble attempt at a blog was my last post where I did not mention the fact that I have begun a relationship at all, and this post will be completely about the calling itself rather than focusing on our story. Maybe a later post will be about our story, which is quite a tale (even as short as it is) woven in are, heartache, seeking God, tears, long nights, prayer, a long semester, a letter, a trip, a return, and a romance!
But for this post, I want to focus on the calling itself. Because it IS a calling from the Lord! Someone remarked to me recently, “Well all you do with your weekends is spend time with your girlfriend!” This intrigued me slightly and got me thinking about my relationship with my girlfriend. Sheesh, we need a name for her don’t we? If I am the Foreign Albanian, shall we call her the Portland Girl? Maybe the American Blonde? I shall have to ask her how she would prefer to be referred to in future posts…
Anyways, the comment disturbed me slightly, first of all, because it is not true, but secondly because spending time with my girlfriend, even if it would happen to be all weekend was treated so flippantly. Say, for instance, that I spend my weekend preparing for teaching at the Kingdom Bible study and then cap off the weekend by teaching this thing that I have put so much time and effort into. I cannot imagine saying with the same tone of voice, “Well all you do with your weekends is prepare teachings and teach a Bible study!”
I realized that perhaps the world around me doesn’t see my relationship as a true calling from the Lord as I do. With teaching the Kingdom Bible Study at George Fox, I spend HOURS thinking, pacing, reading, listening to other sermons on the same verses, praying, and finally writing out an outline for my teaching and then teaching it! I take my calling very seriously and invest a huge amount of time and effort into it.
I have two reasons for doing this, firstly because the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY has placed that calling on my heart, and drawn me to that path. To not follow it would be disobedience and to do it half heartedly would be lukewarm and apathetic about the work of God that HE IS passionate about.
The second reason is because I LOVE IT!! I love the research, the deep thinking, the hours alone processing and searching the scriptures and seeking God for gems to share.
In a similar fashion I am JUST as passionate about pursuing this Godly young woman as I am about the Bible study. I am probably even MORE passionate about it. This calling bears SO MUCH MORE responsibility than the Bible Study.
I remember being at my church here in America when God laid the Bible Study on my shoulders and feeling the weight of the responsibility of leadership. It was an interesting feeling because I knew that I could not bear it by myself, but ONLY by God’s grace and submission to his complete authority could I not COMPLETELY screw up in my calling.
In comparison my calling to pursue this young lady’s heart scares me because of the amount of responsibility it bears. My responsibility as one of the leaders of the Kingdom Bible study at George Fox is BEANS compared to the responsibility of not only trying to with her heart EVERY DAY, but CARING for it, and PROTECTING it, and LEADING our relationship in passionate pursuit of what we’ve been called to as a couple.
I’ll get more into our story probably in another post, but the second day of our relationship we sat down and laid out our rules for passionately pursuing purity. And the thesis statement, if you will, or vision for our relationship is James 3:17-18:
“But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”
God has called us to a WISE relationship. I PRAY that we would be GRACED with that wisdom from heaven. That our relationship would be FIRST pure. That would be our FIRST goal, our abiding theme. PURITY. That our relationship would be defined by it in our minds when we’re together and apart, but also that would be the relationship’s definition for all our friends who are watching us.
Purity is SO crucial in any relationship between guys and girls. It is the CORNERSTONE to having a wise relationship. I have found that impurity in a relationship is the equivalent of pride in ministry, say teaching, or worship leading. Think about it, what is pride in ministry? To me it is the replacing of God on the throne and placing myself squarely on it to receive the glory that in not due to me!!
This CRIPPLES ministry. When pride comes into the leadership of ANY sort of ministry, it is bound for destruction. Because the leaders have exchanged the glory of God for their own glory, also known as idolatry.
Similarly in a relationship, when God is on the throne of the lives of BOTH people involved, purity reigns in order to GLORIFY God. This is in PURE interaction between a man and woman falling deeper in love with Jesus and him letting that love spill over onto each other. God CREATED romance!! He LOVES it! He also created extremely strong physical passions and desires which are AWESOME for marriage! So, I am over the moon that I get to be a part of a romance created, instigated, and LED by Jesus! I LOVE knowing that I am GLORIFYING God by pursuing this amazing woman and that he created all the feelings and emotions and for lack of a better word AMAZINGNESS that goes hand in hand with a relationship. At the same time, we have to guard against NUMEROUS feelings and emotions that are awakened by a relationship with each other that are meant STRICLTY for marriage.
So, back to my analogy of impurity in relationship and pride in ministry. Both are removing God from the throne and claiming to know better and do things MY WAY. Both are destructive, as pride will destroy a ministry so will impurity destroy a relationship.
EVERY TIME I go to spend time with my girlfriend, I pause and pray. I pray that purity would be our GOAL, not just some rule that we try to pay attention to sometimes, but it would be something that we are AIMING for, not a line we’re trying not to cross.
Remember those verses from James? “wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere”
So, I’ve explained purity, now on to peaceable. I think the NIV says “peace-loving.” This is CRUCIAL in a dating relationship. And actually before I go on anymore let me clarify. Although I may say “dating relationship” our relationship is SPECIFICALLY a courtship. The difference between a dating relationship and a courtship is that courting is not just for having fun. It is purposed and has a goal. It is God leading a man to pursue a woman in order to see if God created them to complete each other and live out the rest of their lives together.
I am courting her. Do we go on dates? Oh yeah! But I am not simply enjoying having a girlfriend around for kicks and laughs. I am STUDYING her. I am a STUDENT of her in order to know how to bless her more, and in deeper ways. Because frequently in dating relationships it’s about “what can I get from you” and in a courtship it’s “how can I serve and bless you.” I want to KNOW her so deeply, I want to NEVER be surprised by one of her actions because I am so AWARE of her feelings and emotions and inner workings that NOTHING would take me by surprise because I am a student of her! But anyways, now that the distinction between dating and courting has been made, back to a peace-loving relationship.
Like I said, our relationship’s vision is to be a flesh and blood example of James 3:17, so next is our passion for peace. This means several things. First it means that when conflicts arrive, we LOVE peace so much we fight for it! Is it hard? Yes it is, but we BOTH deal with conflict. It was actually the first thing that attracted me to her was her method of conflict resolution. We do not say goodnight angry at each other. I remember a fight we had months and months ago (as just friends) and it was primarily my fault. But as you know, it is hardly ever completely one person’s fault in conflict, and this was no different. Tensions were high and she could have responded in a better way than she did, and she apologized for it! Even though nothing would have happened if it were not for me, she still apologized for her minor offense. She humbled herself, admitted guilt, and asked for forgiveness. This is all a part of pursuing peace.
We haven’t fought in a long time, but that doesn’t mean that there haven’t been tense moments at all! I happen to talk a lot and when a person does that, there are mistakes made and things said that shouldn’t be said (if you didn’t know this already you need to spend some serious time in Proverbs). When there is tension between us, after a mini-argument, or just a disagreement where we aren’t pleased with each other, I sit down and listen to 1st Corinthians 13 over and over again. I want to make this a habit in myself to do whenever we fight in order to truly grasp God’s definition of love and to carry that out in all my words and actions towards her.
I have made more than my share of mistakes, but peace is a two-part deal. It is not only humbling oneself and asking for forgiveness, but it is also covering the other person’s mistakes in love. When this happens on BOTH sides of a relationship, there is peace. Not only is there peace in the relationship, but also that peace overflows to all other areas of life. Also, our focus on peace is not just concerning peace within the relationship but also what comes from it. For instance, we have all been around couples that have intimate/private moments in public or in the middle of a circle of friends. Our relationship is about other people and serving other people and blessing other people, not locking out the rest of the world in order to get 20 more minutes of “private” time together.
Next in the verse is “Gentle, and open to reason.” Let’s face it, relationships aren’t perfect, and sometimes close friends need to step in a lend words of wisdom to the couple. This should be our reaction. There are a TON of emotions going on in the middle of a relationship and when somebody steps in and tells you you’re doing something wrong, tensions can rise because of the sheer amount of emotion wrapped up in the subject. Being gentle, and open to reason is tied in to peace-loving too because that is how correction should be taken. It’s interesting because the next one also has to do with peace-loving in my mind because of it’s influence on conflict resolution—Mercy.
Let me share something, I have gotten SO MUCH mercy from this young lady. She has forgiven me time and time again, when I don’t deserve to be forgiven. I don’t deserve second chances, or forgiveness, love, affection, or anything really, and she ALWAYS forgives me. And covers my mistakes in love—THAT is mercy.
The verse actually puts mercy together with “good fruits” if you look at the phrasing. And I think that’s a huge part of it. If a relationship is not producing fruit, it needs to stop or change.
I am SO much better because of this young lady. I process 10X more than I used to and have the freedom to talk all my processes out with her to get them clearer in my head. Not only that, I can talk for half an hour and then she says 5 words that blow my mind. THAT is the young woman that I am pursuing. I cannot wait to begin teaching the Bible study again in the Fall with her by my side helping me! I pray that the good fruit extends beyond our own lives and into the lives of others and that God would use us for his glory, that we may prove ourselves to be his disciples by our fruit (John 15:8).
Finally, there are two qualities to heavenly wisdom left. Impartiality and sincerity. Like I said before, there are so many emotions wrapped up in a relationship that impartiality is necessary sometimes. I have to emotionally remove myself from the relationship in order to look at it (or at least try to) without bias. This is to scrutinize our actions and my own thoughts and feelings and see if they are TRULY honoring to Christ or not.
Finally, sincerity is so crucial in a relationship. I’ve seen and heard of relationships where one person is deceiving themselves and the other person into thinking that they are engaged in the other person and really care about them, but actually don’t and are maybe more into falling in love with falling in love than falling in love with a person. (haha, okay, just for kicks reread that last clause and laugh with me that I actually wrote it).
Also, truth is an abiding theme in our courtship. We communicate thoughts, feelings, emotions, and motives with eachother. A) in order to know each other better, and B) for the sake of sincerity with one another.
If there is anyone on this earth that I want to be completely myself with, it’s her. I can be myself with her like I can be with no one else. The freedom of genuinity (ok, say genuine, and then add an “ity” on the end and you’ve got it) with one another is a gift from God and when couples lose that, they lose out on God’s blessing.
This verse on wisdom in James is followed by verse 18 which says, “And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” This first implies the necessity again of peace in our relationship, but secondly notice that a HARVEST of righteousness is sown by this.
I want righteousness, I want it for my relationship.
Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled.”
In Christ-centered pursuit of an amazing, beautiful, God-fearing young woman,
-The Foreign Albanian
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Disciples versus Believers
Nothing made me more mad than when my Wisdom Literature teacher began watering down the Word of God. I remember him discussing how one's view of the Bible was dependent upon their view of inspiration, and how the term "infallible" really only came about in the 1800s. I didn't understand the concept of blood boiling in anger until that moment. I was furious that he would toy with the gospel in that fashion. Why did I freak out so much? Because in my calling to George Fox University the Word of God is EVERYTHING.
I'm ending the second week of summer as I type this. I spent the first ten days of my summer down in Oklahoma teaching on this very topic- the Word of God. I want to thank everybody that was praying for me in my time down there, God TRULY blessed it. He did the teaching and I got to watch the people receive (or not). I was covered in such a blanket of prayer and I felt it. But I LOVED going down there because there are so many men my age who are APATHETIC concerning the word!
When I am in worship and I am truly seeking God and I ask in what way can I glorify him most in my life, the past few times the image that comes to my mind is that of my Bible. God has blessed me with such a passionate pursuit of his Word that when my professor begin to TRIVIALIZE it, I became livid. God blessed me with the opportunity to teach for an entire semester, once a week, on the Kingdom of Heaven and I loved it. I loved watching the people and I the lives slowly being changed by the Spirit. I know that it was not me that brought this change! I even had one of my good friends say to me, "You know, your teachings aren't really that good. But God really uses them!"
The last true meeting we had, during the discussion time my co-leader asked everyone to share how the Kingdom Bible study made a difference in their lives, or simply how the Spirit worked through it. Every single person spoke and it was music to my ears to hear the work of the Lord!!
You know, when people ask me about the Bible study, generally the question I get is, "how many people show up?" That's a fine question, nothing wrong with it, but I can't say I have ever been asked, "Are people living differently? Is there eternal fruit being produced by this gathering of people on Saturday nights?" If I was asked that, the answer would be a resounding YES!! This is from the Spirit working in a group of people that gather week after week to listen to teaching and discuss the Word of God! I LOVE the Word. I love it.
When I went down to Oklahoma I taught three main points over 4 days in 5 different teachings.
1) The necessity of the Word of God for sanctification.
2) Listening to the Word of God
3) The difference between Disciples and Believers
Romans 1:16-17, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”
The gospel IS the power of God for the salvation of believers. The power of God almighty that is for the purpose of saving believers IS the gospel. I taught for 4 days the necessity of being in passionate pursuit of this salvation. But I capped off my entire time with a focus on John 8:31-32,
“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’”
ABIDING in the WORD is the difference between the two. Notice how that first verse says that Jesus is addressing Jews that believed in him? At the end of the chapter they pick up stones to throw at Jesus. THAT is what simple believers are capable of.
DISCIPLES on the other hand ABIDE in the Word. John 15 discusses this concept and even paints a word picture of grape vines.
John 15:4-8, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”
Oh to glorify God by bearing fruit and PROVING to be his disciples…
John 8:31-32 are my verses for my floor next year as an RA at George Fox. God has called me to a summer of prayer and I am praying for a mighty work that my floor would be a floor of DISCIPLES of Jesus. Please pray with me, I see so many broken men at my campus and I such a desperate need for Godly men! Pray with me for a floor of disciples!!
Paul kicks of all the book of Romans with a KILLER verse. “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.” Would it not be a great thing to be DEFINED as a servant of Christ? To have that as a job title? But most importantly, for that to be true!! I pray that I am a servant but even more so to be set apart for the gospel. Servanthood is a natural ramification of immersement in the gospel.
Paul was set apart FOR the gospel. This implies two things. First, it was an action of God that he was set apart. This is a clear action of God to set Paul apart FOR the gospel. The question, though, is immediately raised, set apart from what? The answer I would argue is the world. Set apart to be DIFFERENT from mere believers and to be a disciple.
James 4:4 says, “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. “
1st John 1:15-17, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
Notice that word “abides” at the very end of that last verse? This is a practice that needs to begin NOW and will continue through to eternity.
The second thing that Paul being set apart FOR the gospel is exactly that that the purpose for which he was set aside was the gospel. This means two things, that a) his life is forfeit to the sharing of the gospel with others because this was his purpose in Christ to share this SANCTIFICATION with others. And b) that his life is DEFINED by that gospel. The gospel was NOT set apart for Paul, but rather Paul for the gospel. So the TRANSFORMATION must happen in him in order for him to share this with others.
And this echoes the separation of the disciple from the world even more deeply in Romans 12:1-2, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Those are famous verses of great personal sacrifice which seems to require great motivation! A friend of mine was having a rough time finding motivation this week, so I sent them a message with the motivation for this sacrifice that Paul provides in the immediately preceding verses at the end of Romans 11. Here’s the message,
You know the famous verses of Romans 12:1-2? About presenting your body as a living sacrifice? They are some of my favorite verses in scripture but so many people don't know what the verses before say.
Romans 11:32-36 preface the personal sacrifice and worship and transformation of ourselves with this,
"Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
'For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?'
'Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?'
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen"
That last verse, 36, is the BATTLE CRY of Romans.
1) For from him-- EVERYTHING, absolutely ALL of creation flows through THE WORD. Remember John 1:3?
James says that every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights who DOES NOT CHANGE LIKE SHIFTING SHADOWS.
Our LOVING God is constant, steady, but most importantly, he is FOUNDATIONAL. The Word of God holds the power of creation and all good things came THROUGH Him. (notice that that was my second point)
3) To him are all things-- EVERYTHING was made for God. Everything was made for the expressed purpose of glorifying God. Everything that was created from Him, and through Him is FOR Him.
4) to him be the Glory FOREVER --- this is the motivation part. Life is not about how I feel. Life is about my "being for the praise of his glory" (Eph. 1:11-12)
I don't know if this is encouraging or not, but I sure hope so. I think you're awesome and I hope you have a day FULL of motivation driven by a passionate desire to GLORIFY!!”
Our motivation for this call to be a disciple is found in our passion for the glory of God.
Pray with me this summer for my floor of Men next year to be true disciples.
Passionately pursuing intimacy with Christ through the Word,
-The Foreign Albanian
I'm ending the second week of summer as I type this. I spent the first ten days of my summer down in Oklahoma teaching on this very topic- the Word of God. I want to thank everybody that was praying for me in my time down there, God TRULY blessed it. He did the teaching and I got to watch the people receive (or not). I was covered in such a blanket of prayer and I felt it. But I LOVED going down there because there are so many men my age who are APATHETIC concerning the word!
When I am in worship and I am truly seeking God and I ask in what way can I glorify him most in my life, the past few times the image that comes to my mind is that of my Bible. God has blessed me with such a passionate pursuit of his Word that when my professor begin to TRIVIALIZE it, I became livid. God blessed me with the opportunity to teach for an entire semester, once a week, on the Kingdom of Heaven and I loved it. I loved watching the people and I the lives slowly being changed by the Spirit. I know that it was not me that brought this change! I even had one of my good friends say to me, "You know, your teachings aren't really that good. But God really uses them!"
The last true meeting we had, during the discussion time my co-leader asked everyone to share how the Kingdom Bible study made a difference in their lives, or simply how the Spirit worked through it. Every single person spoke and it was music to my ears to hear the work of the Lord!!
You know, when people ask me about the Bible study, generally the question I get is, "how many people show up?" That's a fine question, nothing wrong with it, but I can't say I have ever been asked, "Are people living differently? Is there eternal fruit being produced by this gathering of people on Saturday nights?" If I was asked that, the answer would be a resounding YES!! This is from the Spirit working in a group of people that gather week after week to listen to teaching and discuss the Word of God! I LOVE the Word. I love it.
When I went down to Oklahoma I taught three main points over 4 days in 5 different teachings.
1) The necessity of the Word of God for sanctification.
2) Listening to the Word of God
3) The difference between Disciples and Believers
Romans 1:16-17, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”
The gospel IS the power of God for the salvation of believers. The power of God almighty that is for the purpose of saving believers IS the gospel. I taught for 4 days the necessity of being in passionate pursuit of this salvation. But I capped off my entire time with a focus on John 8:31-32,
“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’”
ABIDING in the WORD is the difference between the two. Notice how that first verse says that Jesus is addressing Jews that believed in him? At the end of the chapter they pick up stones to throw at Jesus. THAT is what simple believers are capable of.
DISCIPLES on the other hand ABIDE in the Word. John 15 discusses this concept and even paints a word picture of grape vines.
John 15:4-8, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”
Oh to glorify God by bearing fruit and PROVING to be his disciples…
John 8:31-32 are my verses for my floor next year as an RA at George Fox. God has called me to a summer of prayer and I am praying for a mighty work that my floor would be a floor of DISCIPLES of Jesus. Please pray with me, I see so many broken men at my campus and I such a desperate need for Godly men! Pray with me for a floor of disciples!!
Paul kicks of all the book of Romans with a KILLER verse. “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.” Would it not be a great thing to be DEFINED as a servant of Christ? To have that as a job title? But most importantly, for that to be true!! I pray that I am a servant but even more so to be set apart for the gospel. Servanthood is a natural ramification of immersement in the gospel.
Paul was set apart FOR the gospel. This implies two things. First, it was an action of God that he was set apart. This is a clear action of God to set Paul apart FOR the gospel. The question, though, is immediately raised, set apart from what? The answer I would argue is the world. Set apart to be DIFFERENT from mere believers and to be a disciple.
James 4:4 says, “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. “
1st John 1:15-17, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
Notice that word “abides” at the very end of that last verse? This is a practice that needs to begin NOW and will continue through to eternity.
The second thing that Paul being set apart FOR the gospel is exactly that that the purpose for which he was set aside was the gospel. This means two things, that a) his life is forfeit to the sharing of the gospel with others because this was his purpose in Christ to share this SANCTIFICATION with others. And b) that his life is DEFINED by that gospel. The gospel was NOT set apart for Paul, but rather Paul for the gospel. So the TRANSFORMATION must happen in him in order for him to share this with others.
And this echoes the separation of the disciple from the world even more deeply in Romans 12:1-2, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Those are famous verses of great personal sacrifice which seems to require great motivation! A friend of mine was having a rough time finding motivation this week, so I sent them a message with the motivation for this sacrifice that Paul provides in the immediately preceding verses at the end of Romans 11. Here’s the message,
* * *
You know the famous verses of Romans 12:1-2? About presenting your body as a living sacrifice? They are some of my favorite verses in scripture but so many people don't know what the verses before say.
Romans 11:32-36 preface the personal sacrifice and worship and transformation of ourselves with this,
"Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
'For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?'
'Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?'
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen"
That last verse, 36, is the BATTLE CRY of Romans.
1) For from him-- EVERYTHING, absolutely ALL of creation flows through THE WORD. Remember John 1:3?
James says that every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights who DOES NOT CHANGE LIKE SHIFTING SHADOWS.
Our LOVING God is constant, steady, but most importantly, he is FOUNDATIONAL. The Word of God holds the power of creation and all good things came THROUGH Him. (notice that that was my second point)
3) To him are all things-- EVERYTHING was made for God. Everything was made for the expressed purpose of glorifying God. Everything that was created from Him, and through Him is FOR Him.
4) to him be the Glory FOREVER --- this is the motivation part. Life is not about how I feel. Life is about my "being for the praise of his glory" (Eph. 1:11-12)
I don't know if this is encouraging or not, but I sure hope so. I think you're awesome and I hope you have a day FULL of motivation driven by a passionate desire to GLORIFY!!”
* * *
Our motivation for this call to be a disciple is found in our passion for the glory of God.
Pray with me this summer for my floor of Men next year to be true disciples.
Passionately pursuing intimacy with Christ through the Word,
-The Foreign Albanian
Thursday, April 2, 2009
The Nature of Servanthood
Sometimes people will email me. Sometimes people will pull me aside to talk to me. Sometimes what they have to say to me is rebuke, or correction, or they are simply asking for prayer. Other times, by email, facebook message, skype, face to face, it is to say “thank you” or, “God is using you so much,” etc. Quite honestly I love the praise (or if you didn’t know, the good Christian way to term it is “encouragement”). I don’t mean to belittle it, I truly am encouraged, and I know that nobody’s desire is to praise this Foreign Albanian, but for some reason that is EXACTLY what my ears and heart lock onto.
I’ve struggled with this, especially in response. Someone says “thank you” and I have one of two responses….1) Pride in myself and the feeling/thought of, “you know, I actually thought I was really helping people too, and did quite a smashing job of it…” or 2) “Dear Lord, what do I do? I feel as though I’m being thanked for the work that you have done.”
It probably wouldn’t take too much mental work on your part to guess which one happens most frequently, but interestingly enough did you know that BOTH now have the SAME outward action?!
When I am feeling proud of myself, I have thought it through well enough to say, “Well I’m glad that Jesus did something for you.” And EVEN IN THOSE WORDS OF MINE, the blood-sucking vine of pride wraps itself around me and drags me away. But when I truly am fully aware of my lack of the job description of the Holy Spirit, my answer remains the same, “I’m glad that Jesus did something for you.”
Pride is the most CRIPPLING sin. Can you imagine a more heinous crime? It’s not just me thinking well of myself, it is rather me REMOVING Christ as Lord of my life, and placing myself DIRECTLY on the throne, and loving every second of it.
A discourse on pride was probably not what you were expecting when you read the title was it? It’s actually only an intro to the thoughts that have been swimming around my mind concerning the true nature of serving.
I have to watch myself when I talk about the Kingdom of Heaven Bible study to other people. I have to be careful because sometimes, I’m not sharing the work of God for the glory of God, I’m sharing what God is doing for the glory of myself.
My heart and passion is to serve my God. My Lord has asked me to teach at this Bible study and so I do. It is done in obedience, love and with the purpose of pursuing humility for me. But I am dragged away and enticed by my own evil desires to “do something” or “be somebody.”
The nature of the Servant is not one that desires recognition. I wonder why I try to impress man, when I already “am somebody” to God? Jesus words in John 5:44 come to mind, “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”
Jesus even questions my BELIEF when I accept praise from man and do not SEEK praise from God!
The nature of a servant is humble. And humility is more than just a lack of pride. Humility is the death of self every day (notice how that is the OPPOSITE of placing self on the throne) and living completely dependent upon the Father.
In discussing servanthood, I am NOT referring to serving man. Yes, this IS how serving is practically displayed, but my primary purpose is not to serve man, but rather to serve the Father BY serving man.
Jesus in the gospels was tempted out in the desert by three things, selfish indulgence, fame, and power. Jesus, was TEMPTED. He felt the pull and ATTRACTION of the food, fame and power. What am I to do when I feel the urge to self indulge? Or when I desire renown among my peers? How about when I want to have power over others and am put in a position of leadership?
I am not to give in. Why not? Because my existence is not defined by the service of self. God created me to serve him, and show my heart of service in relation to other people. Why is it that I must not live for my own desires and will? Jesus again in John 5, says in verse 30, “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.”
Luke 17:7-10 “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? 10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.”
I am called to be the servant of this story. Have you ever been so tired, so in need of nourishment after an ENTIRE day of serving, and then you get back to the house, your place of comfort, and the master REQUIRES MORE? This can be difficult sometimes as the inner man demands to be noticed, thanked, appreciated rather than be driven around from one task to another.
This has been a struggle for me to overcome, but in the end of it all, I figure that God has not called me to a life for me, (what a worthless calling that would be anyways) so why would I expect anything different from my master?
An unworthy servant, doing only what is his duty
-The Foreign Albanian
I’ve struggled with this, especially in response. Someone says “thank you” and I have one of two responses….1) Pride in myself and the feeling/thought of, “you know, I actually thought I was really helping people too, and did quite a smashing job of it…” or 2) “Dear Lord, what do I do? I feel as though I’m being thanked for the work that you have done.”
It probably wouldn’t take too much mental work on your part to guess which one happens most frequently, but interestingly enough did you know that BOTH now have the SAME outward action?!
When I am feeling proud of myself, I have thought it through well enough to say, “Well I’m glad that Jesus did something for you.” And EVEN IN THOSE WORDS OF MINE, the blood-sucking vine of pride wraps itself around me and drags me away. But when I truly am fully aware of my lack of the job description of the Holy Spirit, my answer remains the same, “I’m glad that Jesus did something for you.”
Pride is the most CRIPPLING sin. Can you imagine a more heinous crime? It’s not just me thinking well of myself, it is rather me REMOVING Christ as Lord of my life, and placing myself DIRECTLY on the throne, and loving every second of it.
A discourse on pride was probably not what you were expecting when you read the title was it? It’s actually only an intro to the thoughts that have been swimming around my mind concerning the true nature of serving.
I have to watch myself when I talk about the Kingdom of Heaven Bible study to other people. I have to be careful because sometimes, I’m not sharing the work of God for the glory of God, I’m sharing what God is doing for the glory of myself.
My heart and passion is to serve my God. My Lord has asked me to teach at this Bible study and so I do. It is done in obedience, love and with the purpose of pursuing humility for me. But I am dragged away and enticed by my own evil desires to “do something” or “be somebody.”
The nature of the Servant is not one that desires recognition. I wonder why I try to impress man, when I already “am somebody” to God? Jesus words in John 5:44 come to mind, “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”
Jesus even questions my BELIEF when I accept praise from man and do not SEEK praise from God!
The nature of a servant is humble. And humility is more than just a lack of pride. Humility is the death of self every day (notice how that is the OPPOSITE of placing self on the throne) and living completely dependent upon the Father.
In discussing servanthood, I am NOT referring to serving man. Yes, this IS how serving is practically displayed, but my primary purpose is not to serve man, but rather to serve the Father BY serving man.
Jesus in the gospels was tempted out in the desert by three things, selfish indulgence, fame, and power. Jesus, was TEMPTED. He felt the pull and ATTRACTION of the food, fame and power. What am I to do when I feel the urge to self indulge? Or when I desire renown among my peers? How about when I want to have power over others and am put in a position of leadership?
I am not to give in. Why not? Because my existence is not defined by the service of self. God created me to serve him, and show my heart of service in relation to other people. Why is it that I must not live for my own desires and will? Jesus again in John 5, says in verse 30, “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.”
I am called to be the servant of this story. Have you ever been so tired, so in need of nourishment after an ENTIRE day of serving, and then you get back to the house, your place of comfort, and the master REQUIRES MORE? This can be difficult sometimes as the inner man demands to be noticed, thanked, appreciated rather than be driven around from one task to another.
This has been a struggle for me to overcome, but in the end of it all, I figure that God has not called me to a life for me, (what a worthless calling that would be anyways) so why would I expect anything different from my master?
An unworthy servant, doing only what is his duty
-The Foreign Albanian
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
The Necessity of Joy
Not to ring the John Piper bell all over again, but I am finding more and more the pursuit of Joy becoming the central aspect of my mornings. I have found that I am crippled through the rest of my day if I do not prepare my “inner man” for the day. I find myself earnestly seeking joy each morning, not for the purpose of obtaining joy being an end in itself, but rather that the glorification of my Lord might be made more luminous in my life through my attitude and approach to the day.
Since my coming here to America I have felt the grip of what I like to call “The American Grumble” creep up in my spirit. I have begun to feel “entitled” to many of the blessings God has bestowed upon me here at George Fox. As soon as even a single one of those blessings is removed, a spirit of victimization and unsatisfaction rises up within me. The hundreds of thousands of other blessings in my life become irrelevant at that moment and I am so impressed by this spirit that I feel the urge to express it out loud and even to others around me. Right now I pray David’s prayer at the end of Psalm 19: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, OLORD, my rock and my redeemer.”
The Joy of the Lord is my strength each day. He is my rock and my Salvation. Psalm 18:1-2 says, “I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” No wonder James tells us to consider it pure joy whenever we face trials of many kinds. This is not a nice suggestion, but rather the manual for survival in the horrible wilderness known as the valley of the shadow of death.
I actually looked at over ten translations of the second verse in James 1 and most of them use the word “Count” as opposed to “consider”. I like the idea of counting it ALL joy in the midst of trials, because going through and listing my blessings does bring joy. To see how many gifts God has placed in my life, especially in the realm of other human beings!
Each morning I arise and begin my prayers. I pray for my roommate. He is first and foremost in my prayers every day. Always pray for the people you live with; in a way it is a prayer for your well being as well since their situation affects you so profoundly. From him I move onto close friends and family, or specific prayer requests that have come to me. I find that I cannot find joy for myself if that is my self-centered goal. I receive my Joy through other people and praying blessing over them, because you cannot pray for someone with regularity without a huge sense of blessing overcoming your soul just by the passing thought that God has blessed you so immensely by placing them in your life.
Starting and ending each day in intercession has blessed my life and walk with the Lord in a way that I cannot fully express in writing. Imagine the first thought to pass through your head in the morning was to bless others in prayer, likewise with your final thought before drifting off to sleep.
I have found that my end purpose every day is to glorify God and that the process of preparation for the greater glorification of his name through me is just as glorifying to my Lord as the actual actions that increase the praise of his glory. So in fact, my pursuit of joy for me can never be a selfish ambition because then it ceases to glorify the maker and instead is a pitiful action of the creation to try and glorify itself.
I find myself even more grateful the more I think about this (and hence even more joyful) just at the idea that God has chosen to use me for the furthering of his kingdom and increasement of the praise of his glory—that I am given the opportunity to glorify God in my mind and in the mind of others every day. God has given me the same job he has given the beauty of the rest of his creation. That a human soul might look at the wondrousness of his creation and gasp aloud at the beauty that the master artist created and respond in turn by praising the Lord.
I think of Jesus enduring the cross for the joy set before him of reconciling all of creation back unto himself, and I consider all the things that he had to put aside in order to accomplish his mission here on earth. I look at my own life and I find that I am hesitant to give up/die unto some of the smallest things simply because of my selfish nature. The joy set before me is that I might be finally united with my creator and walk with him as Adam did in the Garden. I was created for daily relationship with my maker, and sin was a barrier that kept me from him. Now that justification allows me to approach my maker I seek him out in pursuit of this indescribable joy for the furthering of his Kingdom.
Through the study of Ephesians with some friends of mine a three step process revealed itself in chapter 4:22-24: “to put off your old self. which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” Waking each morning I first plead with God that I may put off my old self, the self that walks in independence of the Father in an attempt to live without my Lord guiding me. Second I plead for a renewal of my mind, from my old attitude to that of Christ, that of Joy. Then thirdly and finally I ask the Lord to help me put on my new self, the one created after the likeness of God in righteousness and holiness.
According to the second verse of Romans 12, once my mind is renewed to that of Christ’s I may finally discern the will of God, which is good, acceptable, and perfect. Where else can God be glorified most than in the exact center of his will?
Another thing that complete joy guards against is giving in to temptation. Because of the satisfaction and gratefulness that comes from joy, the temptations of this world seem pathetic and dim. Why would anything that has no eternal value draw me into temptation if I posses the most important treasure in eternity? I believe that Joy is realizing the very nature of God. This means that no matter what, we have this deep sense of joy (according to my dictionary, a deep sense of pleasure or happiness) because we see Almighty God and know his character.
I’m going through Philippians, my favorite book of the New Testament, right now for the reason that it seems to be all about Joy. Paul says in 3:8, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” We understand that the things of this world don’t matter and what truly matters in this life we posses in Christ, so why wouldn’t we be joyful?!? I think it’s because I forget. If I forget it’s because I don’t spend enough time with my Jesus to be daily renewed in this joy.
*sigh* Things have been getting rough over here gang. I’m doing great because of this joy that God has give me, but keep me in your prayers. Every once in a while it can be hard to be living over here, not having seen my family since June (except for mom came and visited for a few days in October). It can be difficult to deal with hard things when still learning how to function outside my comfort zone. This Foreign Albanian misses his Albania, but is so in awe of the work that God is doing here at GFU that the thought of living anywhere else is not even an option.
In the passionate pursuit of Joy
-The Foreign Albanian
Since my coming here to America I have felt the grip of what I like to call “The American Grumble” creep up in my spirit. I have begun to feel “entitled” to many of the blessings God has bestowed upon me here at George Fox. As soon as even a single one of those blessings is removed, a spirit of victimization and unsatisfaction rises up within me. The hundreds of thousands of other blessings in my life become irrelevant at that moment and I am so impressed by this spirit that I feel the urge to express it out loud and even to others around me. Right now I pray David’s prayer at the end of Psalm 19: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, OLORD, my rock and my redeemer.”
The Joy of the Lord is my strength each day. He is my rock and my Salvation. Psalm 18:1-2 says, “I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” No wonder James tells us to consider it pure joy whenever we face trials of many kinds. This is not a nice suggestion, but rather the manual for survival in the horrible wilderness known as the valley of the shadow of death.
I actually looked at over ten translations of the second verse in James 1 and most of them use the word “Count” as opposed to “consider”. I like the idea of counting it ALL joy in the midst of trials, because going through and listing my blessings does bring joy. To see how many gifts God has placed in my life, especially in the realm of other human beings!
Each morning I arise and begin my prayers. I pray for my roommate. He is first and foremost in my prayers every day. Always pray for the people you live with; in a way it is a prayer for your well being as well since their situation affects you so profoundly. From him I move onto close friends and family, or specific prayer requests that have come to me. I find that I cannot find joy for myself if that is my self-centered goal. I receive my Joy through other people and praying blessing over them, because you cannot pray for someone with regularity without a huge sense of blessing overcoming your soul just by the passing thought that God has blessed you so immensely by placing them in your life.
Starting and ending each day in intercession has blessed my life and walk with the Lord in a way that I cannot fully express in writing. Imagine the first thought to pass through your head in the morning was to bless others in prayer, likewise with your final thought before drifting off to sleep.
I have found that my end purpose every day is to glorify God and that the process of preparation for the greater glorification of his name through me is just as glorifying to my Lord as the actual actions that increase the praise of his glory. So in fact, my pursuit of joy for me can never be a selfish ambition because then it ceases to glorify the maker and instead is a pitiful action of the creation to try and glorify itself.
I find myself even more grateful the more I think about this (and hence even more joyful) just at the idea that God has chosen to use me for the furthering of his kingdom and increasement of the praise of his glory—that I am given the opportunity to glorify God in my mind and in the mind of others every day. God has given me the same job he has given the beauty of the rest of his creation. That a human soul might look at the wondrousness of his creation and gasp aloud at the beauty that the master artist created and respond in turn by praising the Lord.
I think of Jesus enduring the cross for the joy set before him of reconciling all of creation back unto himself, and I consider all the things that he had to put aside in order to accomplish his mission here on earth. I look at my own life and I find that I am hesitant to give up/die unto some of the smallest things simply because of my selfish nature. The joy set before me is that I might be finally united with my creator and walk with him as Adam did in the Garden. I was created for daily relationship with my maker, and sin was a barrier that kept me from him. Now that justification allows me to approach my maker I seek him out in pursuit of this indescribable joy for the furthering of his Kingdom.
Through the study of Ephesians with some friends of mine a three step process revealed itself in chapter 4:22-24: “to put off your old self. which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” Waking each morning I first plead with God that I may put off my old self, the self that walks in independence of the Father in an attempt to live without my Lord guiding me. Second I plead for a renewal of my mind, from my old attitude to that of Christ, that of Joy. Then thirdly and finally I ask the Lord to help me put on my new self, the one created after the likeness of God in righteousness and holiness.
According to the second verse of Romans 12, once my mind is renewed to that of Christ’s I may finally discern the will of God, which is good, acceptable, and perfect. Where else can God be glorified most than in the exact center of his will?
Another thing that complete joy guards against is giving in to temptation. Because of the satisfaction and gratefulness that comes from joy, the temptations of this world seem pathetic and dim. Why would anything that has no eternal value draw me into temptation if I posses the most important treasure in eternity? I believe that Joy is realizing the very nature of God. This means that no matter what, we have this deep sense of joy (according to my dictionary, a deep sense of pleasure or happiness) because we see Almighty God and know his character.
I’m going through Philippians, my favorite book of the New Testament, right now for the reason that it seems to be all about Joy. Paul says in 3:8, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” We understand that the things of this world don’t matter and what truly matters in this life we posses in Christ, so why wouldn’t we be joyful?!? I think it’s because I forget. If I forget it’s because I don’t spend enough time with my Jesus to be daily renewed in this joy.
*sigh* Things have been getting rough over here gang. I’m doing great because of this joy that God has give me, but keep me in your prayers. Every once in a while it can be hard to be living over here, not having seen my family since June (except for mom came and visited for a few days in October). It can be difficult to deal with hard things when still learning how to function outside my comfort zone. This Foreign Albanian misses his Albania, but is so in awe of the work that God is doing here at GFU that the thought of living anywhere else is not even an option.
In the passionate pursuit of Joy
-The Foreign Albanian
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