Prayer Requests

Well, I haven't written about what I'm up to in the last little while, so might as well. Over the last couple of weeks, I have continued my journey through the book of Romans, as well as Phillipians.

"Studying Jesus' Second Coming has no real impact on us, now, and is therefore irrelevant."

I hear this all too often, or something similar. I'm sure you have too, or maybe that is your belief and you have said it yourself? I believe that this is not only an un-Biblical, but a very dangerous position to hold as a Christian in this day and age. Some will have objections to this, of course... probably the strongest being from the camp of Preterism, who in a nutshell believe that most or all of prophecy regarding Jesus was fulfilled in or before 70 A.D.  I will not address this, here... I will simply say that this doctrine misses the mark in a terrible way, and is not worthy of rebuttal here... I have some other thoughts on it in this blog post. If you do want me to address the topic of preterism more in full, I may in the future. The others that often object to the relevancy of Jesus' Second Advent, in my experience, often seem to base it around the idea that it doesn't actually help us living our lives now.

I'm not sure what I want to write on to begin, but I do know what I feel in my heart. Over the last little while, when people ask me how I am, I'm not sure how to answer. Really, I'm good, I have little to complain about. Just below the surface, however, is this boiling ocean of discontentment. It is not that I don't have many possessions, it is not that I have little money: I have all of these I need to survive, and, indeed, more than I need to survive of both. I can fill my stomach, and pay my bills... what else do I even need? No, friends, my discontentment runs much deeper than that, still.

"I have been writing this volume while residing in Germany for a teaching trip. I am humbled by penning these 95 theses in the same country as Martin Luther did many years ago. I submit these to the evangelical church of our day and pray that God would allow anything of truth in these pages to bend and change men's hearts back to God." - Greg Gordon - http://www.sermonindex.net **

“It is useless for large companies of believers to spend long hours begging God to send revival. Unless we intend to reform we may as well not pray. Unless praying men have the insight and faith to amend their whole way of life to conform to the New Testament pattern there can be no true revival.” - A.W. Tozer

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Ahh, I have to watch my heart, friends! In some ways, I feel trapped. I have all these conflicting desires within my heart, and the main bulk of them don't feel relevant to where I am, now. The funny thing is, I want to be a missionary, but more and more I am realising that what I am doing does not seem like missions work... this article I recently posted explains what I have been learning regarding missions. That is not to say what I am doing is not important...

One month ago (give or take a week or two) I spent about a week praying pretty much the same thing over and over, whenever I felt led to pray. That prayer was one of these questions, or all of them: "What did God reveal to the hearts of such men as John the Baptist, the eleven disciples and the apostle Paul that so affected them to live an extreme lifestyle, completely devoted to their service to God?" Most of us have read the stories of famous Christian men, too... Martin Luther, John Wesley, John Calvin, William Carey, Jonathan Goforth, David Livingstone, James Hudson Taylor. What so drove these men to preach the gospel?

Well... I was writing an email, and this really got stirred up in my heart. Probably partly to do with finishing Tozer's book, too. Anyways... I was sitting in bed and considering the books I've read in the last five years, or so, and two in particular jumped out at me that actually both encourage and sadden me.

So, I've been reading A.W. Tozer's The Pursuit Of God and something really jumped out at me as I was reading, tonight. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="83" caption="The Pursuit Of God"][/caption]

"A Generation of Christians reared among pushbuttons and automatic machines is impatient of slower and less direct methods of reaching their goals. We have been trying to apply machine-age methods to our relationship with God. We read our chapter, have our short devotions, and rush away, hoping to make up for our deep inward bankruptcy by attending another gospel meeting or listening to another thrilling story told by a religious adventurer lately returned from afar." (p. 45)

How true is this? In my own life, I have tried to follow devotional guides, I have tried to read one chapter of my Bible every day. I, on an average day, listen to at least one sermon, sometimes three or four.

Hey friends! Sorry it's been so long since I have blogged, I don't really have much of an excuse! I'll record a video update sometime this week, though, let you know what I have been up to. Let's get to it! Lately, our desperate need to pursue God has been heavy on my heart. A friend told me the night before last that she, in essence, sensed that something was wrong with the Church. For all we do (and I'm including my present occupation in Youth With A Mission) at times, there seem to be relatively few new people being converted. Why?

My life feels like a cycle, sometimes. I remember once hearing someone speak on waves... how everything in life happens in waves, and it seems that way, sometimes, doesn't it? Around and around, up and down, good to bad There are days when it feels like everything is going exactly as it should be going, in my mind. I'm enjoying what I do, I'm satisfied with my spiritual life (not assuming we can separate it from everything else), I'm developing as a musician, I'm getting along well with everyone, I'm finding time for everything. Then there are most of my days, ha ha.