Blog Archives - IRONSTRIKES

Witnesses of Love

7/21/2018

How do we know that we are infinitely loved by God when our immediate surroundings keep telling us that we'd better prove our right to exist?

The knowledge of being loved in an unconditional way, before the world presents us with its conditions, cannot come from books, lectures, television programs, or workshops. This spiritual knowledge comes from people who witness to God's love for us through their words and deeds. These people can be close to us but they can also live far away or may even have lived long ago. Their witness announces the truth of God's love and calls us to act in accordance with it.

For further reflection...

I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. - Philemon 4

This post was written by Henri Nouwen.
You can find his site here: henrinouwen.org

The God of Community

7/20/2018

God has always liked community.

In the book of Genesis, God creates not just one human being as the “image of God,” but two: a community (Gen. 1:26-27, NIV). He then calls this couple to “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 1:28, ESV), enlarging their community. Through Abraham, God chooses a specific community (Gen. 17, NIV) to represent His ways, and through Moses, God leads this once captive people into the Promised Land (Exod.).

This community has its ups and downs, but God is persistent throughout.

In the Gospels, Jesus proclaims and lives out the promise given through Abraham for the creation of a new kingdom. This kingdom includes the assembly of a small community (the twelve disciples) and ultimately (after the resurrection and the gathering of the believers at Pentecost in Acts 1 and 2), the creation of a diverse and global community: the Church. The Church is called the “Body of Christ” in much the same way that Adam and Eve are called the “image of God.”

This redeemed community of faith is meant to live out the ways of the new kingdom.

In the Christian faith, we teach that God is Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—with one nature but three persons.

This God, who is the perfect expression of community, creates a community to mirror His ways (the “image of God”) and then redeems this community so that its members may bear witness of the new kingdom that has overcome sin and death.

How can we better model God’s community in light of the resurrection of Jesus Christ? How can we better teach those who congregate with us that the Christian faith is not simply an individual experience but a relationship with God through the community of faith—the Church?

While it is true that God loves us individually and gives us unique gifts, He has created us for community. We need each other, and we find our greatest fulfillment and realize our fullest potential in the context of community within Church.

Let us pray for our local churches, for denominations, and for the fulfillment of God’s vision for community that will culminate when “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah” (Rev. 11:15, NIV).

Prayer:
Gracious Father, we pray for Your holy Church. Fill it
with all truth, in all truth, with all peace. Where it is corrupt,
purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in anything it is
amiss, reform it. Where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in
want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake
of Jesus Christ Your Son, our Savior. Amen.

This post was written by Charles W. Christian the managing editor of Holiness Today. You can find the original post here: holinesstoday.org/the-god-of-community

Obedience

7/19/2018

1 Chr. 10:13 So Saul died for his unfaithfulness; he was unfaithful to the LORD in that he did not keep the command of the LORD; moreover, he had consulted a medium, seeking guidance, 14 and did not seek guidance from the LORD. Therefore the LORD put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse.

Observation:

Saul died a sad death after being wounded in battle. The man who had started his reign with such vision and excitement ended up losing it all. He had the opportunity to begin a new dynasty, a kingdom in which his family would rule. All that he had to do was be obedient to the God who had chosen Saul to be king. Sadly, he chose to go his own way, making his own decisions and continually being disobedient.

He refused to follow God’s commands and continually thought that he knew better, sometimes even trying to tell God that he had come up with an improvement on God’s plan. This disappointed God and instead of trying to rectify his wrongs, Saul continued to create distance between himself and God. God continued to be available to Saul and would have provided advice and direction. Instead, Saul went and sought the advice of a medium, or what is also called a “familiar spirit.” Someone with whom he was more comfortable than he was with God.

Finally, Saul lost everything, including the kingdom for his family. His head was placed in the temple to the god, Dagon. That’s where the ark of the covenant had been placed earlier and as a result, Dagon had failed over and broken into pieces. No such report of Dagon’s response this time. Now, God’s presence was entirely gone. Saul active and passive disobedience resulted in complete separation from God, who loved him and would have provided direction. All it required was obedience.

Application:

It seems that obedience to God ends up being quite difficult for many people. Maybe it’s stubbornness or pride that makes us want to do things our own way, but the result is never very pretty. God is not mean or trying to constrict our freedoms. Instead, God loves us and is trying to provide positive guides for our lives. Obedience is not to a hard or authoritarian leader, but to a loving heavenly Father who only wants the best for us.

Unfortunately to some it seems that obedience to God is restrictive. Society encourages everyone to do whatever it is that makes them feel good. But what if what makes us feel good is actually bad for us? Obedience to the things of God actually protects us from the things that can be hurtful to us and our lives.

Yes, there really is something about obedience. Saul learned too late in life that disobedience had dire consequences. God challenges us, in positive ways, to be dependent upon him. Obedience is a good place to learn dependence and watch the ways in which God can and will work in and through us.

Prayer

Lord, please help me to be obedient to the challenges you place in my life. Amen.

This post was written by Rev Carla Sandburg. You can find her original post here: reflectingtheimage.blogspot.com/2018/07/there-is-something-about-obedience.html

Let Everything Else Go

7/18/2018

Chasing down hot air balloons on Sunday morning
In pace with a familiar tune
I reach for nothing less but something more
All the day and the wind is at my back most of the way.

Holding conversation with a friend I know is near
Great anticipation fills my soul, it fills my heart, it fills the air
All the day and the wind is at my back

Oh, I can't wait to see you, Jesus, face to face
Nothing in this world can take Your place
All the pride of man laid low and all his works of gold
Nothing can compare with what You are
Let everything else go.
Let it all go.

And the wind is at my back ..

Oh, I can't wait to see you Jesus, face to face
Nothing in this world can take Your place
All the pride of man laid low and all his works of gold
Nothing can compare with what You are
Let everything else go.

Let it all go
Let everything else go.

To hear this song, go to: vimeo.com/68046057

Do It For Love

7/17/2018

Take back
All those things you said
When you were tired of living

Hold on
To the dreams we shared
They were so easy to believe in

Turn back
From the way you're goin'
It's a rocky road for sure

Lift up your heart to heaven
Dream this dream with me once more

Do it for love
Do it for love

Tell me
How to love you
Let me know what I've been missing

Don't walk
Out of this life again
You've got me, You've got love
You've got this world in your hand

Do it for love
Do it for love

And I can see a time
When we will dare to laugh
At all these ghosts that haunt us
Hey, that day we'll say we did it
Did it for love

To hear this song, go to: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I-cLYcbu1I

You Don't Scare Me

7/16/2018

If I'm walking in the dark
You don't scare me
Killer chasing me through the park
You don't scare me
I could ride on a plane
Losing all it's engines
Heading straight down the drain
I don't care, I don't care
I don't care, I don't care
Cuz I know, no you don't
You don't scare me

Go for a drive and hit a rock
You don't scare me
Lightning bolt give me a lethal shock
You don't scare me
I could fall down the stairs
Or get stabbed at the fair
I won't fear, I won't fear
I won't fear, I won't fear
Cuz I know, that you don't
You don't scare

Why should I go the wrong way
Down a one way street
Against the Heat
When in one moment you could
Turn my up-to-date to obsolete
And your indiscreet
And you don't repeat
And you're beat beat beat
You're so beat

Yea though I walk
Through the valley
Of your shadow so near
I will fear no man
I will fear no woman
I will fear no pain
I will fear no thing
Cuz you don't
No you don't scare me

I'm gonna show you a mystery
You'll be swallowed in victory
Where's your stinger
Where's your sting

To hear this song, go to this video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMVaHl1PCCg

Uncle Buddy: Some Impossibilities

7/15/2018

It is impossible for pride and humility to live under the same skin. It is impossible for you to be a teacher if you are unwilling to be taught. It is impossible for you to be a leader if you are not willing to be led. It is impossible for you to be a commander if you are not willing to obey. It is impossible for a man to climb Zion’s hill carrying a load of conceit. It is impossible for a man to be any better on the outside than he is on the inside. It is impossible for a man to walk straight if he lives a crooked life. It is impossible for a man to succeed in life if he spends his spare time sitting on a goods box and chewing Star Navy, talking about how the government ought to be run. It is impossible for a man to be a booster as long as he is a boaster. It is impossible for a man with a level head, a clean heart, a big soul, a good experience and a loving disposition to fail. It is also impossible for man to fail who has been cleaned up and cleaned out and filled up and sent out.

Robinson, Reuben A. (Bud). The Collected Works of 'Uncle Bud' Robinson (Kindle Locations 4529-4535). Jawbone Digital. Kindle Edition.

Royal Mediator

7/14/2018

Sometimes, there were more than one king of Sparta, who governed by joint authority. A king was occasionally sent to some neighboring state in character of a Spartan ambassador.

Did he, when so sent, cease to be a king of Sparta, because he was also an ambassador? No, he did not divest himself of his royal dignity, but only added to it that of public deputation.

So, Christ, in becoming man, did not cease to be God, but though He ever was, and still continued to be be, King of the whole creation, acted as the voluntary Servant, and Messenger of the Father.

F.W. Farrar, D.D., page 29 in One Thousand Evangelistic Illustrations, edited by Webb, A. (1924). New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers

Fish or Failure

7/12/2018

When Jesus had finished speaking to His audience from Simon Peter’s boat on the Sea of Galilee, He said to Peter, "Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught.''

Simon Peter, no doubt, was tired and sleepy, having toiled all night and caught nothing. He might have said, "What does this young man from the city know about fishing? We are experienced fishermen and know that night is the best time to fish, and yet we failed, so you see it's no use trying."

But, thank God, in this, as in every case, perfect obedience brought perfect victory or success.

No wonder Simon fell down at Jesus' knees and cried out, "Depart from me for I am a sinful man.”

Sin always brings defeat, failure, weakness, fear, and all manner of excuses. This lake or sea contained fish in great abundance. This Jesus unquestionably knew, and He knew the cause and failure of Simon & Co., which is equally true in each and every individual case.

There is not and cannot be any excuse for us as God's children as regards the deep water experience of sanctification and holiness. It is simply a question of walking in the light, with cheerful heart obedience to God's call or command. I would not say that we must leave our boats and occupations in a literal sense as did the Apostles, but in the spiritual sense, which is the real sense, our consecration must be quite as definite, thorough, and complete. It must be heart transaction between us and God, as was that of the Apostles, and anything short of this only brings dismal failure.

Jesus wants and expects us to be fishers of men, and if we suffer anything to hold us back or anchor near the high and dry sandy or rocky shore, we will prove the proverb that little fish must keep near or in shallow water. For then must we remain small fish in our experience and also fail to catch men.

T.S. Mashburn, The Nazarene Messenger, May 17, 1906

Being Authentic

7/12/2018

2 Cor. 10:7 Look at what is before your eyes. If you are confident that you belong to Christ, remind yourself of this, that just as you belong to Christ, so also do we. 8 Now, even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of it. 9 I do not want to seem as though I am trying to frighten you with my letters. 10 For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.” 11 Let such people understand that what we say by letter when absent, we will also do when present.

Observation:

Paul’s letters were written as tools of discipleship for the church in Corinth. This was a church that had issues and so Paul, with authority and power that came from his relationship with Christ, was willing to confront and deal with difficult issues. There is a warning here, that no one ought to think that they have exclusive rights to Christ. Paul didn’t think this, but some of the members of the church in Corinth seemed to think that they had some kind of elite status and Paul is saying that this is simply wrong.

Paul was an authentic man, holding to the same truths and principles in writing, as he did face to face. Some thought that he was more forceful in his writing than he was in person. The problem for Paul was that he wasn’t good looking, nor was he all that charismatic. For some, they used this to judge him but Paul had a bold reliance on his spiritual power. Not depending on himself or his own personal gifts, Paul’s writing and his personal messages were infused with power from above. He never tried to be anything else, but a simple earthen vessel, empowered by the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Application:

We aren’t currently circulating letters that will become a part of the Biblical canon, but we do live in a whole new world where people are writing about things on a daily basis. The blog-o-sphere is alive and well, as is social media. People are quite ready to jump in and offer an opinion at a moment’s notice. It’s easy to be strong and write things on social media while we would never say those things to a person, face to face. Somehow I doubt that half of what we write on in social media would actually be said, if we had to look the person in the eye.

Sometimes we are not the same in writing, as we are in person, and that raises a question of authenticity. We are living in what some have dubbed, “the age of authenticity.” Society values authenticity over everything else. Even if you’re a “bad guy,” you are acceptable, if you are being authentically yourself. Anything that sniffs of being phony is instantly rebuffed. This could be good or bad for followers of Christ. For those who are not allowing Christ to permeate every part of their lives, every bit of their being, and they are simply going through a routine of appearing Christian — this will become a problem. This results in inauthenticity in the Christian life and this becomes a poor witness of Christ in this world.

On the other hand, if words and lives match, as did Paul’s, then there is authenticity. Even in the first century the people were hungry for authentic followers of Christ. What we do must align with what we say! If you’re going to speak out on an issue, act on it as well. If you’re going to be critical of someone else’s behavior, make sure you’re living the kind of life that you should.

The challenge for followers of Christ is to allow Jesus to infiltrate to every cell of our being and transform our lives on a daily basis. Then, our words will match our actions and this alignment will reveal the true Christ to this world.

Prayer

Lord, please help me to be an authentic follower of you. Amen.

This post was written by Rev Carla Sunberg. You can find her original post here: reflectingtheimage.blogspot.com/2018/07/being-authentic.html