Thursday, May 31, 2007

So many books.....


Thanks to Guy Muse and his blog, a new book came to my attention.

Lots of good quotes....like this one.

"The quickest way to "church the un-churched" may very well be to un-church the Church."

Hmmmmmmm

Doing?

From Today's Thought


"What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Who are You?

From Lifetime Guarantee

Defining a Hypocrite

By Preston Gillham

"I found a great theological truth in, the dictionary of all places. "Hypocrite" is defined as a person who acts contrary to who they really are. Considering what God says about you is it possible that you are a hypocrite?
Do you know what God says about Believers? He says we are saints, that we are righteous, holy, and forgiven. That doesn't mean we're perfect but it does mean we're new people! Act like a saint and it will be in keeping with what God says you are... whether you feel like it's true or not.
You must understand who you are as a child of God if you ever hope to act like it. You will act like the person you believe yourself to be. Once you understand who you truly are, you'll behave as you never thought possible."


Never hurts to be reminded!

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

From Eric Michael Bryant



Peppermint-Filled Pinatas - breaking through tolerance and embracing love


"More and more people seem to have the same attitude as the bumper sticker I see on cars around town: "Jesus, protect me from your followers." Who is to blame for this anti-Christian bias?....."


"We have created an environment where we are seen as judgmental, irrelevant, mean, and hypocritical."


"For far too long, the world has been made aware of what we as Christians hate rather than whom we love. When asked what Christians believe, most people would begin creating a "Don't Do" list. People are far more aware of what Christians are against than of what we support. Rather than hearing a call for true freedom, people feel unloved by Christians and therefore unloved by God because of our behavior."


Good thoughts and I am just starting the book.......always good to be reminded once in a while what this life really looks like to those who have not surrendered their lives to God as of yet.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Packer -

From a great blog....Printed Matters

"Love, generally” wrote James Orr, “is that principle which leads one moral being to desire and delight in another, and reaches its highest form in that personal fellowship in which each lives in the life of the other, and finds his joy in imparting himself to the other, and in receiving back the outflow of that other’s affection unto himself”


J.I. Packer asks the question, “Could an observer learn from the quality and degree of love that I show to others… my family? My neighbors? People at church? People at work? —anything at all about the greatness of God’s love to me? Meditate upon these things. Examine yourself.

Taken from Knowing God p.125,127 by J.I. Packer"

My only thought is .... if Christ lives in me and through me....I pray that I am out of the way and that people see Him....because He is Love!

David Ruis

My new favourite artist and music.

A little about this man and his C.D., "when justice shines"......I just discovered him, but, it looks like he has been journeying for some time.....his heart appears genuine and soft. I like that.

And...David readily, (hopefully, not hesitantly), admits on his bio on his site that he is "I am actually Canadian, and was adopted into a Dutch (yes … the name is Dutch) family as an infant."

How very cool is that...although now residing in L.A. according to the site again, and a part of a new worship scene in that area, it appears that he and his wife and family have been a part of church planting and worship in many areas of the world, including Canada and India. This quote of his lead me to be truly be endeared to him, as my brother in Christ. I look forward to our meeting, one day!
"The walk has taken us down many paths … but all headed in the same direction … a relentless pursuit of worship and justice fusing in such a way that the fragrance of its sweet kiss cannot be ignored."

About this album from songuery....

"Recorded live at The Loft in Los Angeles, California, this project features the powerful and passionate vocals of David Ruis (author of You’re Worthy Of My Praise and Every Move I Make). Joining David are drummer Doug Mathews, guitarist Bob Hartry and bassist Jonathan Ahrens. Together they are Indigika – a collaboration of like-hearted friends pouring out worship the best way they know how. Indigika is also the fusion of acoustic and indigenous sounds with the loops and swirls of the electronic age.

When Justice Shines is all about the beginning steps of an artistic and communal journey on an old path to places never before visited. The sounds and heart are the result of kingdom seekers finding each other and making music that reflects years of searching for something that will speak to the deep place beyond the sounds and rhythms. This project is the call to justice... beyond clanging gongs and clashing cymbals to the place of spirit and truth."

Monday, May 28, 2007

My Music - Today

David Ruis and Indigika Live from the Loft
When Justice Shines
Very Awesome

Today

From God's Devotional Book for Women

"Psychologist William Marston once asked three thousand people, "What have you to live for?" He was shocked to discover that 94 percent of the people he polled were simply enduring the present while they waited for the future. Some indicated they were waiting for "something" to happen - waiting for children to grow up and leave home, waiting for next year, waiting for another time to take a long-awaited trip, waiting for someone to die, or waiting for tomorrow. They had hope but no ongoing purpose to their lives!
Only 6 percent of the people identified relationships and activities in the present tense of their lives that they counted as valuable reasons for living!"

I can relate to this. The last few weeks with stuff and such going on and kids running here, there and everywhere....sometimes it is the waiting for another time to get on with things....you know? Sadly, I realize that I am missing today....with Him, as I do the dashing here and there....He is there with me.....this devotion is a good reminder....every day is His. Live like it is!

"Not that I am implying that I was in any personal want, for I have learned how to be content {satisfied to the point where I am not disturbed or disquieted} in whatever state I am."

Philippians 4:11 AMP

Sunday, May 27, 2007

From Relevant Christian

A Great Article, some of it humourous, some of it painfully true. Christians can be such arrogant *****$#@. Time to get real.

"I used to go to a pretty hard core independent fundamental bible believing baptist church. We weren’t really legalists though - women could wear pants so we were pretty liberal. We were even heretics in a lot of circles - especially because we had drums for our choir. But the word of God in the King James AV 1611 1726 edition like Jesus used was our authority. Because we were bible believing AND independent - we preached the TRUTH untainted by denominational politics. And we sang the great hymns of the faith with conviction. And if the Spirit led we would have a special song by Ray Boltz or maybe even Steven Curtis Champan that would bring fire down from heaven. After all we wanted to be relevant so it couldn’t be all hymns. Sure, we believed Southern Baptists, most Methodists, a lot of Presbyterians, some Lutherans, a few Episcopalians, many Charismatics, and maybe a handful of Catholics were going to heaven because they believed that Jesus died, was buried, and rose the third day. But…

We understood the scriptures, had the right form of worship, practiced the proper form of church government, drilled bible verses into people’s heads, taught them the right way to believe certain things concerning the rapture, the second coming, dispensational truth, baptism, etc. We also taught them what was wrong with Calvinism and Armenian theology and how to trace the baptist lineage back through the anabaptists all the way to the church at Antioch. We told them what movies and books were acceptable for Christians and which ones weren’t. We knew which music was God honoring and held to the truth about Christian Rock. We knew alcohol was off limits because Jesus really turned water to Grape Juice and passed it off as wine and we gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to missionaries who would agree to believe and teach what we did so that we could impact the world.

Some crap like that.

Here’s the deal. Do you honestly think the way that you believe about certain doctrines, certain forms of worship (which get a lot of attention on this blog) or certain denominations etc are “more correct” than others. Do you believe your church is “more right” about Jesus than the church down the street? Do you believe because you do things a certain way or that you read a certain bible version or sing certain kinds of songs that you have more light than other people and therefore while they may be christian they are not as good a Christian as you are and that somehow you will have a bigger mansion in heaven because of it?

Do you believe your traditional Jesus can beat up my contemporary Jesus?

This is the kind of spiritual arrogance that seems to permeate the culture that I live in here in the buckle of the bible belt. And I believe it is precisely this kind of spiritual arrogance that says “we are better than you” that keeps people out of our churches. If you think your theology, style, whatever, is better than the guy right next door to you - then you also probably think that because you are a Christian you are better than the people you are trying to reach. And you are not. You are a sinner who found grace. So am I. And so is the person who lives next door and downloads porn. So is the person who gets drunk every week. So is the girl in your class that sleeps around. So is the co-worker in your office who…

Get it? What people need to know is that God loves them and Jesus died for them and we need to focus on that and figure out how to communicate that to everyone in our communities in a way they can understand so they can fall in love with the Real Jesus - the King of Kings and Lord of Lords - the Bridegroom of a glorious bride who is beautiful and without blemish and the one who already beat up the god of this world and one day will send him away for ever. And however that all works out in the end - guess what - we’ll all be together - doing one thing - worshiping Jesus.

Here is the truth. None of us have it figured out. Yes we have the word of God. But we seek through a dark glass. Absolutely there are things that are non-negotiable. Jesus Christ is the Son of God who was sinless and became sin and died and rose from the dead and He alone can save and no-one comes to the father any other way. Everything your church does to preach it, teach it, celebrate it, propagate it, etc is just details. Maybe its time we stop fighting each other and the culture - and focus on Jesus and making Him famous!"

Friday, May 25, 2007

Today

From This Day's Thought

"We must allow the Word of God to confront us, to disturb our security, to undermine our complacency and to overthrow our patterns of thought and behavior."

John Stott

(The Word of God, of course being Jesus and how wonderfully He does this as we stop being 'us' and just allow Him, as us to begin and finish the good work in and through us. Transforming, I believe this is called.)

Peace

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

My Inspiration for today

From Richard at "For such a time as this". Part of a post entitled "Back to basics" that truly captured me today.

"Some of us will plant the Gospel in the hearts of men; others of us will water the seed by encouraging continued spiritual transformation. But ultimately, it will be God that causes an individual to grow, as He orchestrates the cultivation process. The gardener may put his plants in the earth and water them, but he can't cause them to grow. The desired result of spiritual growth is a believer being transformed into the image of Christ. A mature disciple is one who walks intimately with Christ, one who lives in community with others and one who serves both the church & the world. All throughout the Bible, God has used people to bring about His purpose and plans in the lives of others. Time for Self-Examination: You are not an insignificant speck on the edge of eternity. You are a unique, divinely created individual with gifts and talents that can be used to glorify God."


I know there is more He is leading me to. To wait on Him and hear His voice, the more difficult part of this. I have this idea...it seems too fantastical for me to carry it out....is this of Him? I wait and pray to see Him develop my idea? or is it His?

Monday, May 21, 2007

Today

This Day's Thought

"God speaks to me not through the thunder and the earthquake, nor through the ocean and the stars, but through the Son of Man, and speaks in a language adapted to my imperfect sight and hearing."

William Phelps

Paradox?




"Our language has widely sensed the two sides of being alone. It has created the word "loneliness" to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word "solitude" to express the glory of being alone."

Paul Tillich


(Always needing to be connected to The Life Source)

In the Dark


"I am one of those who like to stay late at the cafe," the loder waitor said. "With all those who do not want to go to bed. With all those who need a light for the night."

Ernest Hemingway - 'A Clean Well-Lighted Place'

Loving

“It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home. Bring love into your home for this is where our love for each other must start.”

Mother Teresa

Sunday, May 20, 2007

About Disappointment

In the light of eternity we shall see that what we desired would have been fatal to us, and that what we would have avoided was essential to our well-being.

Francois de Salignac Fenelon

F A I T H

FORSAKING ALL I TRUST HIM

Saturday, May 19, 2007

More thoughts on Prayer.....

Eugene Peterson in an article in Relevant Magazine May-June issue.

Question.
'Weren't you helped by a missionary when you wanted some instruction on how to pray?"

Mr. Peterson's answer.
My parents were always hosting missionaries in our home, and one very prominent missionary was staying with us when I was a boy. I was struggling with the idea of "praying right," and I thought, If anyone would know how to pray, it would be this famous man. He was dozing in the hammock in [the] back of our house, and I simply asked him, "How do you pray?" Without even opening his eyes, he said, "Son, I haven't prayed in 40 years." This was very disconcerting! I was shocked! Here is this famous man of God, and he hasn't prayed for 40 years? I was afraid to tell my mother. I didn't want him lowered in her estimation.

Years later, when I was a pastor, I saw the wisdom in what he told me. I was looking for a "How do you do it? I was thinking that prayer was something you do in order to create a relationship with God. It's not.

(I enjoyed this story from his life.)

Friday, May 18, 2007

Happy Life???




"Humanism has so permeated our culture that it has even quietly crept into our Christianity [in two forms], liberal Christian humanism and evangelical Christian humanism... Liberal humanism says, 'The chief end of Christianity is the happiness of man when he is alive'... Evangelical humanism says, 'The chief end of Christianity is the happiness of man after he dies'..." Both liberal and evangelical humanists are Cats, but contrary to those points of view, "Dogs say, 'The chief end of Christianity is not to be happy (either before or after death), but rather it is to glorify God'. Happiness [then] is not the primary product of the Christian life; it is a byproduct of delighting in God."

Bob Sjogren in Cat and Dog Theology





Reminds me (very loosely, of course) of Hannah Whital Smith's book " The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life". Very few come close to the writers of the classics in my opinion. But some are getting a revelation and running sort of alongside......... :)

Mr. Phillips' Quote

"Jesus, like all other religious leaders, taught men to pray, that is, He taught them to look away from the world of ordinary sense impressions and to open the heart and spirit to God; yet He is always insistent that religion must be related to life. It is only by contact with God that a better quality of living can be achieved -- and Jesus Himself, as the records show, spent many hours in communion with God -- yet that new quality of life has to be both demonstrated and tested in the ordinary rough-and-tumble of plain living. It is in ordinary human relationships that the validity of a man's communion with God is to be proved."
J. B. Phillips


From Biography (this source)
John Bertram Phillips (1906–82)

Bible translator, writer, and broadcaster, born in London, UK. He was made famous by Letters to Young Churches (1947), translations of Paul's epistles begun in 1941 to encourage his church youth club, and in due course by the complete New Testament in Modern English (1958). He wrote a dozen best sellers, including Your God is Too Small (1952), A Man Called Jesus (1959), and Ring of Truth: a Translator's Testimony (1967).

One Body in Christ

Found this by Kurosaki

Recently, some Christians have recognized the existing state of the church as sinful, or, at least, as faulty and mistaken. They are trying to save the Christians out of this labyrinth by reuniting the divided churches, by forming an alliance of churches, or by trying to form an ecumenical church. For all that, it seems very difficult to obtain the desired result, because all the present churches are still standing on the principles of the Reformation, unable to rid themselves of the sectarian spirit inherited from Catholicism. So the number of denominations and sects shows no sign of decreasing, and all efforts to unite the churches seem likely to end only in the formation of yet other sects and denominations. Yet the center of Christianity is neither institution nor organization. Nor is it even the Bible itself, as the Reformers made it, for the Eklesia existed before the formation of the New Testament canon. Christians were in fellowship with God and one another, centering their faith in Christ, long before there was any accepted New Testament. There is only one center of Christianity -- spiritual fellowship with God through Jesus Christ.

Kokichi Kurosaki, One Body in Christ

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Some good advice?

I came across this You Tube video from an interesting blog (ministry, journey, way of sharing the love of God) :) called curious in ibiza. I love the video....I don't know why.....but I do.....Check out the blog of Brian Heasley but be prepared......it ain't the church down the street and around the corner. This world of God's is as wide and as wonderfully varied as it's people and cultures. God has stretched me beyond the narrow perspective I have had. It is a great thing to see Christ's Church, his Bride in action!

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Today on 'This Day's Thoughts"

The time will come when winter will ask you what you were doing all summer.

Henry Clay

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Got me thinking...

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms and grandmoms out there...or to anyone who is a mom in any way, shape or fashion. It takes all kinds to make this world. Well, there is a great article about Heroes speaking of moms :) on ginkworld, and I will give a piece of it for your perusal. Good thinking....


"They say that a broken bone, once healed, is stronger than one never broken. What if, in Gods economy, a healed person is better than one who has never been sick? What if a grateful, forgiven person is better than one who never needed forgiveness and a person who has been through tragedy, loss and suffering, yet grown because of it is better than one who never knew pain? What if a fallen world, filled with compassion, forgiveness and redemption is better than one that never knew sin. Maybe that's why God allows all those things that make us ask why."

We all need help once in a while....different kinds of help to be sure....but help nonetheless....where is the help and are we there to give it???

Friday, May 11, 2007

Happy am I!

I don't know how much you that have one of the visitor maps on your blog site watch them....I don't really except to see what continents and countries are stopping by...not being a world traveller, this is as close to connecting with other cultures as I am going to get for a while anyway.... :)
Might I just say....Africa has checked in.... this makes me very happy in an odd sort of way....
Now I am awaiting for the rest of the world to check in. So cool...I know... it really is the small things that are huge to me. I love the connections and the reality that these are my brothers and my sisters that I shall one day share the Light of Heaven with. How truly awesome!

I liked these today

From This Day's Thought, today.

"We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are."

Anais Nin


"Abundance is...taking the long-scenic route home."

Candy Paull

Thursday, May 10, 2007

The Gate....Gems today

Page 212

"God's literally transformed my life," she said, her voice as soft as rainwater. "The thoughts that come to me are so different now that I'm attuned to Him. Yesterday, a tiny hummingbird found its way to our wild plum tree. As it hovered at each blossom, it extracted the nectar and left the rest behind. It's only the sweetness of each conversation, of each event, that I intend to absorb. What feeds our minds will come out in our lives and, sooner or later, we'll all arrive at the secret thoughts of our hearts."

Pg. 215

Staring down at his own reflection, he realized that he, too, searched the face of every person he met, looking for the gentle character of Christ. Every child of God possesses the longing, he conjectured, to meet brothers and sisters born of the same Spirit. ....Why is this craving for fellowship such a mystery to unbelievers?

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

He Understands

The Challenge

From T. Austin Sparks - "His Great Love" Page 47, 48

1 John 4:11, 19
"Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another...We love, because he first loved us"

NO TRUE MINISTRY WITHOUT LOVE

There is challenge in this love of God to us. "We also ought..." It is a challenge. Nothing can be except as the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

Let us come back to where we started. If you have ever had exercise with God on any matter, do so on this matter. If you are concerned about being of any use to the Lord at all, in any capacity, - as a preacher, a teacher, a personal witness, as a life lived here without any public place at all - let me tell you (and it is the ripening knowledge of a life that has not much further to go but has for forty years been concerned with this matter of being useful to the Lord) let me tell you that nothing of usefulness to the Lord is possible except on the basis of God's love shed abroad in our hearts. It must be this Holy Ghost love for the people to whom we would minister: love for them even to the laying down of our lives for them, suffering unto death for their sakes: love to the point of being brokenhearted - I use that word quite deliberately - over people for whom you have spiritual concern and in whom you have spiritual interest; love like that. No ministry will be ministry to the Lord that is not born of that; no testimony, no life, except as rooted and grounded in the love of God. You can have all the rest, a mass of and doctrinal information and all that, but it is all without any value unless its exercise is in a love, a passion, a heart beating with the heart of God for His great love wherewith He loved us.

Sunday, May 06, 2007

The Gate - Page 170

This hymn from again this book that has been a constant reminder to me of Life in Jesus and how we are in relationship with Jesus first and foremost but how He leads us into community united one with another in Him.
Seemed more than appropriate for this day.

Dying with Jesus, by death reckoned mine;
Living with Jesus, a new life divine;
Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine;
Moment by moment, O Lord, I am thine.

Moment by moment I'm kept in His love,
Moment by moment I've life from above,
Looking to Jesus 'til glory doth shine;
Moment by moment, O Lord, I am thine.



Ephesians 3:14-21 NASB

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,
that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Saturday Night with The Gaithers

For all of you friends who couldn't make the concert..... :)
One of the highlights for me...this song - with all the hype around - It spoke volumes to me....
My sister who treated me to the night of 'good ole southern gospel', loved the show and heard the message ...... it is all good!
Enjoy!

Revelation

Some thoughts on revelation, as brought to light by John W. Woodward

Dr Cawood defined REVELATION as:"that act of God whereby He causes people to know that which in no other way could be made known."

Job 11:7 Zophar challenged Job, ("Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty?") NKJV

The answer is that we CANNOT find Him by our own efforts; God must REVEAL Himself to us.

Even so we now walk by faith in God's revelation, not by sight. But when Christ returns we shall see Him face to face.

2 Corinthians 5:7 (for we walk by faith, not by sight.) NASB

1 John 3:2 (Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.) NASB

Friday, May 04, 2007

'Tis Grace'

I used to look at people a lot more than I do now and wonder. Now I look within myself and how God has changed my thinking. He has transformed my thinking. My wondering is more loving, grace initiated. It used to be different. As I look within how can I not extend grace to others. He is the epitome of grace. He is Grace. Again, nothing I do. He works His perfectness in all things.....in my thinking, my actions, my entire life and even in the least of us.....that would be me. In Him......I am perfect....in myself, I am not....of course, I already 'know' that.....I am just realizing and recognizing it more and more.

I am amazed!

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Each connection an opportunity for Christ to be seen.

From Forward Motion
The World is Here
"April 19, 2007
Checking in to my second hotel in as many days I was struck by the fact that the world has arrived to America.
Case in point:

Mary (from Austin) greeted me at the counter and checked me into room 217.

Lousakas (from India) was behind me in line.

Eugene (from Africa) was there as a Hampton Inn engineer on call.

Nina and her co-worker (both from Mexico) were cleaning the rooms next to where I would be staying.

Aniko (from Japan) found me on the elevator as I went back downstairs to get a USA today.

Vickie (from Canada) was working the desk when I made it back downstairs.

In my first 10 minutes at this new hotel I met 7 new friends, all from different points around the world. I didn’t talk long to each of them, but long enough to learn their names and where they were from. Though the conversation was brief, it was sincere and encouraging for all involved.
I am realizing more and more that this life I live on mission for Christ doesn’t require me to board a plane to learn from and hopefully make a difference in other cultures. A simple checking in at a local hotel does the job quite nicely!
This weekend look around you. Engage the different faces you meet. Listen to them. Ask great questions (’what makes you come alive?’ or ‘what do you miss most about your country?’) Become a learner as you appreciate how God has allowed the people of the earth to come into your life. You won’t regret it, and you will make some friends from all around the globe."

I add that wherever you are....not just the jet-setters of the world...may we take the time to let His Life that is in us be seen by those we would cross paths with even if only for a moment. It can be the difference. It really can. Even for those who would condemn or judge.

Sums it up

I like this quote I found on madetopraisehim today.

"more will be accomplished on accident when I am focused on His presence than on purpose when I am focused on performance."

by David D'Louhy (student at Bill Johnson's Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry)

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

P. S.

I just wanted to add that if you take a look at what a "Professional Christian" is according to an article posted on Pastor Mike's blog, I would really choose to be real, even with all the mess that is involved with being real. As Pastor Frank quotes...."We are all a mess in the process". Just who are we trying to fool and how exactly does being anything less than real do anything to truly glorify God?

Thanks P.M. :) for sharing that article ..... it was well read by at least myself, today.

Hmmmmm

Okay, so today....I was taken aback...because again, it was shared with me very openly and definitely that what has been revealed to me as Truth is nothing but apostasy.
This is.... according to Dictionary.com
1. "a total desertion of or departure from one's religion, principles, party, cause, etc."
2. "Abandonment of one's religious faith, a political party, one's principles, or a cause."
3. "the state of having rejected your religious beliefs or your political party or a cause (often in favor of opposing beliefs or causes).

I am a little saddened by this, because I have had such an overwhelming sense of peace about my faith and have left a lot of the legalistic tendencies behind. Some people are threatened by this....but not only that.....they make very good arguments about the way things are (in their very educated and trained minds), and yet something does not ring true in my heart of hearts. There is freedom in the trusting of Jesus to do what He will, in and through us. The sin issue really bogs people down. We all sin. The two nature issue bogs people down. Why? Do you know Jesus? Do you trust Jesus? Is He able to reveal Himself and all that He is to you?

Leaving religion behind, doesn't sound like such a bad thing.
Leaving my faith. There is nothing further from the Truth. I have found a lasting, ever awakening faith in the One who is alive, and knows everything about me.....and loves me anyway, enough to live in me, through me, in His way, as I get out of the way.

I don't understand all there is ..... do I need to?
I am looking into this idea of "apostasy". I don't like the way that I felt as I was being "corrected". Is living the Exchanged Life, so radical? He speaks to me loudly about this. Where does the fear and judgement come from? Not from Him. I just don't get it. :(