Mission Faithwalk

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Competent

He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (II Corinthians 3:6) There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determine

Too Short

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. (Luke 19:1-6) I’m not sure when the idea entered popular culture, but there’s a tradition or idea that if one wishes to seek wisdom or find truth, one must go to Tibet and climb tall mountains. After dragging oneself over the lip of a thousand-foot cliff, one would find some little old monk sitting in a cave only big enough for him to do so, and he would say one sentence that would supposedly answer your question, if you could only figure out what it meant. The Bible ma

Peace?

In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord , make me dwell in safety. (Psalm 4:8) The past few nights have been tough. I expected to spend time in tears over selling Grace Cottage South, but I guess I really did make my peace with that last summer. Instead, I’ve been stressing over the immediate and near future. How long should I visit my sister? What do I want to be when I “grow up”? How am I going to use up my craft supplies? What goals should I set? How can I help my sister while I’m here? The list always continues and tends to spiral down into silliness. Last night, one of my mental gymnastics included an Olympic level back flip into the statement “Lord, I’m not at peace here!” For once, my putting something “on the table” was useful. The lack of peace had nothing to do with the people or the place, and everything to do with me. Granted, the place isn’t home, and people always complicate life, but the issue is that I’m not in control, I can’t

Roaring Lion

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. (I Peter 5:8-9) Somewhere, I read that one of the times that lions roar is to frighten prey. The male lion roars and the prey runs in the other direction, directly into the clutches of the lionesses, and “lunch is served.” This is not listed in the reasons for lion roars, but location, coordination of efforts, and territorial claims are. However, all of the items they listed in the article dealt with lion-to-lion communication, so I’m not discounting it entirely. For the people of Peter’s day, I’m sure the roar of a lion produced fear in the people who heard it, as it likely would today if the lion weren’t on TV or in a cage. Maybe even when it is. It’s unwise to take metaphors too far, but last night, thi

So That None

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9) and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” (Genesis 22:18) “This is what the Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut:” (Isaiah 45:1) Some people complain that a certain political candidate is far to great a reprobate to possibly be God’s choice for president. The first issue is that they ignore the fact that the candidate they love is seen by others as being as big a reprobate (or bigger!) as the candidate they hate. They insist that unless the candidate is as wonderful a person as they think their candidate is, no one with an IQ of 1 would vote for him. And, as often as not, they treat anyone who d

Living Sacrifice

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. (Romans 12:1) In Genesis 3, God sacrificed one or more animals so that Adam and Eve could have clothing. In Genesis 4, Cain and Abel sacrificed to the Lord. After that, it’s not until after the flood that we hear anything more about sacrificing. Noah sacrificed. Abram was credited as sacrificing his son. In Judges 11, Jephthah vowed to sacrifice to the Lord whatever came out of his house first when he returned from defeating his enemies. It turned out to be his daughter. Scripture does explicitly state that he killed her, but neither does it explicitly state that he didn’t. It also doesn’t state that Jephthah asked God His opinion on the matter. The sacrifice would have been a violation of the Law. There were legal ways around it, but one of the points of Judges is that more often than not