Even in Silence

July 31st:

"We learn to know God by worshiping Him.  The soul that puts itself in His presence, even in silence, is going to be taught by the Holy Spirit in ways that reading the Bible and listening to sermons and singing hymns can never do.  The Holy Spirit Himself meets us in that silence."


"But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit." (Jude 1:20)

Called to be Exceptional

Here is tomorrow's quote from the Elisabeth Elliot calendar...

 "We are all called to be exceptional in the ordinary things, faithful in the little things, trustworthy when nobody's looking."


"He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much." (July 30th)

Keep Faith and Wait Quietly

July 29th:

"If we could simply remember that this is true of everything--that God's purposes are slowly being worked out for His glory and our good--we would, like the farmers, keep faith and wait quietly."


"See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.  You also be patient." (James 5:7,8)

To Be Holy

July 28th:

"To be holy means to walk in harmony with God.  The deep, hidden source of discontent, frustration and bitterness is, in the last analysis, antagonism to God."


"The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." (Deuteronomy 33:27)

Learning to Know Christ

July 27th:

"There is always exactly enough in each of our lives to provide us with the opportunity to deny ourselves and to take up the cross and to follow Him--the opportunity to learn to know Jesus Christ exactly where we are."


"Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age." (Titus 2:12)

It Should be Easy to Forgive

"If we really comprehended the measure of the grace of God towards us, surely it would be easy for us to forgive others for the relatively small sins they have committed against us."  "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? ...I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven." (Matthew 18:21, 22)

More Elisabeth Elliot Quotes

I forgot to do the last couple of days.  =)

July 23rd:

"How often we misconstrue the promises of God and think that salvation means not only the hope of heaven but also exemption from all the woes of this life." "Rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ' sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy." (1 Peter 4:13)

July 24th:

"The Bible does not explain everything necessary for our intellectual satisfaction, but it explains everything necessarily for our obedience and hence for God's satisfaction." "The foolishness of God is wiser than men." (1 Corinthians 1:25)

July 25th:

"To be afraid of what happens today or what may happen tomorrow is not only an awful waste of energy, it is not only useless, it is disobedient.  We are forbidden to fear anything but the Lord Himself." "Do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind." (Luke 12:29)

Striving Well in the Midst of Pain & Suffering

Sunday night church tonight was sooo encouraging!  So thankful for the faithfulness and teaching of the Word by Joe Keller!  It is so neat how the Lord provides encouragement and conviction exactly when and how it is needed!  Here are the notes I took. 

Passage: Hebrews 4:11-16

“Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.  For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.  And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.  Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.  Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

A “rest” is promised and we are to strive to enter into it. (vs. 11)

How do we strive well?  We know the truth of God’s Word and we know “what to do” in the end but to strive well as we go between the promises of God and the end, the rest, is hard, especially when we are going through suffering and pain and even just having distractions pulling our attention away from Christ.

Hebrew 4:11-16 gives us two means by which to strive well:

1) The Word of Christ

According to verse 12, the Word of God is living and active; it is continually working.

1 Peter 1:23, “through the living and abiding Word of God.”

2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is breathed out by God.”

Psalm 119 talks about the Word of God.  It is active, alive, and relevant to us.  As we strive through life, the Word of God is supposed to infuse our souls to give us a “better” perspective.  When the writer of Hebrews uses the word “sword” it is more like a “scalpel.”  The Word of God, like a scalpel, moves through our ideas, intentions, how we discern things, our dreams, our will, etc.  The Word of God addresses these things head on; It addresses ALL.  The Word of God is truthful. (John 17:17, “Your Word is Truth”; Romans 12:2, “Be transformed by the renewal of your mind”; Colossians 3:16, “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly…”) 

The Word of God helps us “tune” or measure (it is a plumb line) our thoughts by so we can harmonize our lives by Scripture.  We must look at our lives through the grid of Scripture, not Scripture through the grid of our lives.  The Word of God brings illumination to all of life.  The way to strive well into the rest of God is by following the truth of the Word of God!  (Psalm 139)

The second thing that Hebrews 4:11-16 tells us that is given to us as a means of striving well is…

2) The Person of Christ

Christ comes with power and grace; He gives Himself to us in our times of trouble and need and gives us direct access to the Father because He is our High Priest who stands before the Father and intercedes for us.

Jesus knew what it meant to be human.  According to verse 15, Christ is able to sympathize with us and our weaknesses.  (2:17-18, “Therefore He had to be made like His brothers in every respect, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.  For because He Himself has suffered when tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.”)  He understands what it is like to be discouraged, hungry, tempted, etc.  (1 John 3:5)  He understands the implications of temptation because He NEVER sinned and NEVER gave into temptation.  We, on the other hand, do not understand the implications of temptation because we give in and we sin.

Hebrews 11 talks about those people who strove well to enter the rest.  Hebrews 12:1-2, 3 (“looking to Jesus”) tells us we can only look to the Word of God and Christ for comfort and direction.  We must ASK GOD FOR HELP when we are frustrated, tired, discouraged, tempted, distracted, etc.  The WORD OF GOD is to be our “compass” and is what must point our thoughts, desires, will, etc. in the right direction.  We must ASK God for help to strive well; we need to ASK Christ for His help!  He can help us to see the truth and to live out the truth because He IS the TRUTH.  We cannot do this on our own!  Romans 8:26-27 talks about how the Holy Spirit intercedes for us according to the will of God.

1 Peter 5:6-11, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.  Be sober-minded; be watchful.  Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.  Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experience by your brotherhood throughout the world.  And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.  To Him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” 

This is a promise of rest and eternal life; the Spirit authenticates this in us.  We must strive, sojourn, and walk through life well and the way that we strive well through pain and suffering is by the WORD OF GOD (which directs the thought and intentions of the heart) and the PERSON OF CHRIST (who we can ask help from because He understands what it means to be human).  We WILL find GRACE and MERCY when we do this!  And, as the body of Christ, according to Hebrews 10, we can encourage and exhort others that our God IS real and that He DOES care about us!

Remember: “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)

Obedience Leads to Joy & The Desire to Obey

So my mom has this day calendar with really good quotes from Elisabeth Elliot taken from various books she wrote.  I'm hoping to put up each daily quote...we'll see how that goes.  =)

Here was yesterday's:

"It is this deep mystery of surrender that give us liberty.  Obedience to the plan of God leads to joy."  "Oh, that my ways were directed to keep Your statues!  Then I would not be ashamed." (Psalm 119:5, 6)

And here's today's:

"It's to be expected that every decision made with the desire to be obedient to God will be attacked."  "Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day." (Ephesians 6:13)

"When Love Sees You"

I really like this song...very encouraging.  It's called "When Love Sees You" by Mac Powell.  Here are the lyrics too.

Blessed are you as you weep on your knees
With perfume and tears washing over My feet
And blessed are you, beggar, hopeless and blind
Calling for mercy when I'm passing by

Blessed are you, shaking your head
At two tiny fish and some bread
And blessed are you as you tremble and wait
For the first stone thrown at your sinful disgrace


Tell Me your story, show Me your wounds
And I'll show you what Love sees when Love looks at you
Hand Me the pieces, broken and bruised
And I'll show you what Love sees when Love sees you

Blessed are you, walking on waves
To find yourself sinking when you look away
Blessed are you, leper, standing alone
The fear on their faces is all that you've known

Blesses are you, lonely widow who gave
Your last shiny coin to Yahweh
Blessed are you with your silver and lies
Kissing the One who's saving your life

Tell Me your story, show Me your wounds
And I'll show you what Love sees when Love looks at you
 Hand Me the pieces, broken and bruised
And I'll show you what Love see when Love sees you

I see what I made in your mother's womb
And I see the day I fell in love with you
I see your tomorrows, nothing left to chance
I see My Father's fingerprints

I see your story, I see My name
Written on every beautiful page
You see the struggle, you see the shame
I see the reason I came


I came for your story, I came for your wounds
To show you what Love sees when I see you

Session #2 - Hear Jesus Speak to...the Pain that Can't be Prayed Away

Here are the notes from the 2^nd session at Women Discipling Women.  It was both REALLY convicting and encouraging.  The speaker’s notes that were given to us are italicized (and bolded at times) and my added notes/thoughts are in regular print.

Session #2:  “Hearing Jesus Speak to…the Pain that Can’t be Prayed Away” by Nancy Guthrie

Have you ever sensed that God has said “no” to you?

Did you know that Jesus prayed a prayer that God said no to?  Did you realize He said “no” to Paul, the apostle?

The Pain Jesus Could Not Pray Away

Matthew 26:36-30: Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before He is crucified.

Sometimes, when we’re going through something hard, we begin to think that no one around us “gets it.”  We think that no one has ever hurt like we are hurting, that no one really understands how hard the simplest things of life are these days.  But Jesus does.  Jesus is not a distant diety who knows nothing about the pain of disappointment and death.  He knows firsthand.  He understands.  Hear the words of Jesus: “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.”  Hear Jesus speaking, saying that He knows what it feels like to hurt, and let that shared experience draw you closer to Him.

Jesus understands.  H understand because He was fully God and fully man.

Earlier that week He had said, “Should I pray, ‘Father, save me from this hour’?  But this is the very reason I came.” (John 12:27)  Yet we hear Him cry out to His Father, asking if there is another way, any way at all, to avoid this.  A second time, then a gain a third, He pleaded for an alternative to the horror of abandonment by His Father.  As you hear Jesus repeat this agonized prayer three times, hear Jesus saying that He knows what it’s like to pour out repeated prayers to the Father.

It would seem to me that if anybody ever deserved to have His prayers answered in the affirmative, it was Jesus.  Here He was in the garden of Gethsemane, pouring out His repeated request to His Father, asking Him to accomplish the salvation of sinners in some other way.  Yet God, through His silence, said no.  Hear Jesus speaking saying that He too, has heard God saying “no” to His prayer.

Jesus knows what it feels like to bring a heartfelt, passionate prayer to God and to hear God say, in effect, “I’ve got something else in mind.  I have another plan.  And that plan is going to require intense suffering on your part.”  God didn’t say “no” to Him because He was asking for something He never should have asked for or because Jesus didn’t prey hard enough or get enough other people praying for Him.  God said “no” to Jesus so that He could say, “yes” to you for all eternity.  Jesus wrestled with God’s plan for His life even as He sought to submit to Him.

But even though Jesus was struggling as He told God what He wanted, He was resolute about what He wanted MOST OF ALL.  Hear Jesus saying that He knows what it means to submit His own will to the Father’s will.  He said “Not as I will, but Your will be done.”  Jesus had a GREATER longing than to avoid pain and separation from the Father…His desire was to fulfill God’s purpose.

You see, Jesus was able to submit what He wanted to what He wanted more.  He had a greater longing that trumped and trampled His desire to avoid enduring the judgment of God.  And that was to fulfill the purpose and plan of God.  Jesus’ confidence in the perfect plan and purposes of God put His own desires into proper perspective.  And this is the perspective that you and I need.  We need our confidence in God’s goodness and justice to loom so large that we, too, can entrust ourselves to our Father without fear and without resentment.  We must have FULL confidence in God’s goodness and justice.

Here is the hope we find in hearing Jesus speak into our own struggles: it is possible to overcome our own wants, to push through them to surrender.  We are given the grace we need to face whatever comes; we can learn obedience from what we suffer—as Christ did.

What we need most is not to hear God say yes to our requests.  What we need is to be filled with such deep confidence in the character of our Father that when He says “no,” we know He is doing what is right and good for us.  What we need most is the faith to trust Him.  We must be filled with confidence that when God says “no,” He is loving us and doing what He sees is BEST for us.

As we bring our wants and pour them out before our Father, He gives us the courage we need to surrender, so we can say along with Jesus, “I want Your will to be done, not mine.”  And He gives us the grace we need to say it not through gritted teeth but with open arms.  Faith is measured by our willingness to submit to God’s will.  Will we still love, obey, and call God good if He doesn’t give us what we desire?

The Pain Paul Could Not Pray Away

2 Corinthians 11:24-27: Paul explains the difficulty upon difficulty he experienced.  But as much as Paul had suffered, there was still more suffering in store for him.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10: Why would God give Paul difficulty on top of difficulty? we want to ask.  Hadn’t he endured enough?  But interestingly, Paul didn’t ask why.  He knew exactly why the thorn in the flesh had been given to him.

[Side Note: this thorn in the flesh wasn’t like a small rose thorn stuck in your thumb that is annoying and uncomfortable.  The translation from Greek to English is lost…the thorn means more of a large, wooden state for impaling; it would have caused an unrelenting agony.]

Paul saw his painful affliction as God’s provision to protect him from what would be even more painful and destructive—using his incredible spiritual experience to make himself look good.

Hear Jesus speaking, saying that He has purpose in your pain.

Paul looked at the thorn and recognized in it the loving hand of God reaching into his life to prevent him from falling into the sin of boasting.  And at the same time, in the same thorn he saw the destructive hand of Satan, seeking to wreak havoc on his faith.  Paul was tormented by the temptation to resent God for allowing the thorn to pierce his already pain-ridden life.

Paul’s experience shows us that what Satan sends to destroy our faith can, at the same time, be sent by God to develop our faith.  What Satan inflicts in an attempt to make us turn away from God in resentment, God intends to strengthen us as we turn toward Him in dependence.

My friend, if you belong to Christ, your pain is not meaningless or random.  It is purposeful.  God intends to use it in your life for His good purpose.  He may or may not reveal that purpose to you, but that doesn’t mean He doesn’t have one.  The essence of faith is being confident in what we can’t see.  You might not be able to see how or when God is using your suffering for good.  But you can still be confident that He is.  Romans 8…God promises to work all things together for good, BUT He doesn’t promise to explain why.

Paul asked God to take away what was causing him agonizing pain.  Then he asked again.  And then he asked again.  And finally he heard Jesus himself speak to him.  But what Jesus said was not what Paul wanted to hear.  And it’s not what you and I want to hear when we go to God with our desperate prayers.  Jesus responded to Paul, not by giving healing, but by giving HIMSELF.

Jesus spoke into Paul’s agony, and He speaks into your agony promising that He will be enough for you in the pain He does not take away.

When Jesus says that His grace is sufficient enough, He’s not talking only about the grace that extends pardon for what we’ve done in the past.  He’s talking about grace that is a present power.  This grace Jesus gives us is the power to go on when we think we can’t make it one more day.  It is the power to believe when doubts and questions are crowding into our conscious thoughts.  Grace gives us what we need to take hold of God’s Word and rest in it amid the voices around us and inside us that tell us God cannot be trusted.

Jesus doesn’t give this power to people who keep saying “I’m fine.  I can handle this.”  He gives it to people who turn to Him because they are facing something that is beyond their own ability to handle.  We must surrender and admit this to God!  God WILL give us more than we can handle ON OUR OWN!!!!  He does this so that we WILL turn to HIM.

We like to think that the way God can get the most glory is by doing the miracle we’ve put on order.  We’d much rather have Jesus display His power in our lives in the form of healing and wholeness, success and accomplishment, rather than dependence and weakness.  We want escape from weakness, not power in weakness.  But Jesus is saying that He wants to display His power in Paul’s life not by removing the thorn BUT by sustaining and satisfying Paul as he lives WITH the thorn.

Paul continued to pray about the thorn in his flesh, but his prayers were no longer that the thorn would be removed.  Now he prayed that the pain would be redeemed.

He prayed that God would help him achieve all WHILE he had the thorn.  He learned to say “I am content (I delight in…OR I take pleasure…) in weaknesses…” (Philippians 4)

Oftentimes we are more interested in getting more FROM God than more OF God.  Jesus satisfies our deepest and most important need…salvation. 

God will give us the grace to say “I want YOUR will to be done” and to truly mean it!  He will give us the grace in the form, timing, and quantity that we need it to live faithful and well.

GOD will be enough for what He allows in our lives.

Session #1 - Hear Jesus Speak to...the Sin, Guilt, and Failure We Can't Get Past

This weekend I--along with some other women from my church--attended the annual Women Discipling Women conference hosted by the Masters of Biblical Counseling department at The Master's College.  It was a really neat time and we were definitely given a ton of good, biblically-based information that will provide a lot of food for thought for the days, months, and even years to come.

As I reread through the notes that I took away from the conference, I want to type them up so other people can read them as well.  Although the information was give by women to women, the principles are drawn from Scripture and are, therefore, applicable to anybody and everybody.

The original notes given will be in bold...additional notes I wrote down or additional thoughts I had will be in italics.  =)

The first general Session was entitled: "Hear Jesus Speak to...the Sin, Guilt, and Failure We Can't Get Past" by Lydia Brownback

Whether it's the horror of getting caught in the act--like the adulterous woman dragged before Jesus--or the soul-crushing guilt of something we can't take back--like Peter's denial of the Lord--we've all tasted the bitterness of sin.  Sin breaks us: the besetting sin we can't seem to get past, the haunting memory of a long-ago sin, or the sin of another that devastated our life.  Jesus comes with grace to those broken by sin, and in Him we find that sin is never the end of the story.

1. The bitterness of sin

a. Sin is bitter because it enslaves.  Scripture shows us how we get hooked (which is idolatry, ultimately) (Num. 11:4-6; Rom. 1:18-32; 6:16; 2 Pet. 2:19)
-Sin can become an intense craving for something; having a desire for something is not sin in and of itself; wanting and desiring anything more than God is sin.  This desire, which is idolatry, is sinful because it causes us to complain and grumble and does not bring about true satisfaction.
-Numbers 11:4-6 -- As it did for the Israelites who complained about manna and the food God had given them in the wilderness, when we are craving something and not getting that something we can begin to grumble and complain.
-Romans 1:18-32 -- Humans became enslaved to their desires and they begin to worship creation rather than the God who created them.
-2 Peter 2:19 -- We can so easily become enslaved to passions and desired and quickly become slaves of that particular thing.  We will serve that thing and do anything--even sin--to get it or serve it.
-When we grumble, we are essentially saying that we don't think God worked things out well; we are saying that we think we have a better plan that God should have adhered to and that, in some senses, God was dumb for not adopting our plan of action.  Even when we complain about something as harmless as the weather we are essentially telling God that He did not deliver and that our day was messed up because now we cannot go to the beach because it is raining.  Our agenda can become much more important to us than God's will and THAT is idolatry.


b. Sin is bitter because it produces guilt (Ps. 32:3-4)
-When we confess sin we are freed from our guilt; when we hid sin we are enslaved to guilt; we sense David's great freedom in confessing his sin with Bathsheba in Psalm 32:1-2 and 5.
-Peter's story (Matthew 26:69-75)
-Verse 75 says that after the denial and Peter saw Jesus, he knew remember what Jesus had predicted and "he went out and wept bitterly."  It is likely that Peter lived with a feeling of guilt and despair for denying Jesus those few days after His death.

c. Sin is bitter when it defines us (Luke 7:39)
-The Pharisee condemned the woman who wept and wiped and anointed Jesus' feet for being a "sinner"; she knew she was a sinner and wept over her sin in front of Jesus.  She probably could not see a way to remove the stigma of her sin from her life in this world.
-Jesus knew she was a sinner and still showed her love and compassion.
-A lot of times people feel like they cannot get rid of their reputation for a past sin or even a present sin that they are caught it.  And sometimes--like those guilty of sex offenses who have to register as an offender--will be given the Scarlet Letter for life; people will always view them as guilty.  But we ALL must remember that we have a new reputation with Christ if we have been redeemed by Him and in the life to come we will not be defined by our sin!

2. Why do we get stuck in sin?

a. We get stuck in sin because we are idol worshipers.
-Trusting in something other than God or alongside Him is idolatry; we become like what we worship (Ps. 115:4-8); we are worshiping something at all times...but is that thing God?  If not, we are in sin.  Our hearts are "idol factories" and more often than not we end up worshiping ourselves.

b. We get stuck in sin because we have a skewed vision.
-Our skewed vision can often be a result of nostalgia...this is most times a memory stripped of reality and is inaccurate.  For example, the Israelites wished they were back in Egypt eating leeks, garlic, cucumbers, etc because they thought it was better than being in the wilderness eating manna.  They had forgotten that they had to make bricks with no resources; they had forgotten the cruelty of the Egyptians because their craving for food and "better life" was strong sharp in their minds.  They were not content in their present circumstances.
-If God had wanted us to stay in one spot in life He would have left us there; if He moves us from one spot in life to another it is because He has a BETTER plan for us in mind. 


c. We get stuck in sin because our repentance isn't genuine:
-The responses of Peter (Matt. 26:75; John 21:4-7) and Judas (Matt. 27:35)
-Peter wept bitterly after his denial...he ran to the tomb to find Jesus when the women told him that Jesus' body was no longer there; Judas felt sorry but was not truly repentant...he went out and hung himself

-the responses of David (Ps. 51) and Saul (1 Sam. 15:1-34)
-David was truly broken and repentant; Saul was sorry for the consequences (not being king anymore), not that he dishonored God; he had the audacity to shift the blame to the people and tried to cover his disobedience up with the appearance of piety to God.  Even after he acknowledges his sin he stills asks Samuel to "yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel..."  Saul was more sorry that he got caught then that God was displeased.

-true and false repentance in Hosea (6:1-6; 14:1-3)
-In chapter 6 we see that they just wanted to repent so that God would restore blessings upon them ("[so that] He will come to us as the showers as the springs rains that water the earth.")
-Finally in chapter 14 they get it and offer genuine and specific repentance
-God wants our hearts, not just "cleaning up our act"

d. We get stuck in sin because we misunderstand the process of spiritual growth (Romans 7)
- It's not just about not doing bad things for the sake of not doing bad things; we need to remember the deeper process of sanctification
-God isn't grieved by our failures...He knows we are going to fail...He is grieved by our giving up trying in the Spirit's help
-Getting "unstuck" starts with where we set our minds...we must put our focus on Christ and the empowering of the Holy Spirit     

3. What does Jesus say?

a. What Jesus said about the sinful woman in Luke (Luke 7:36-50):
"Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven--for she loved much.  But he who is forgiven little, loves little." (vs 47)
-The blood of Christ covers our sins; it/Christ has the power to give us a new identity.  Jesus gave the woman a new identity because He redeemed her.
-Grace is bigger than ALL of our sins.  Sin is NEVER the end of the story with God's grace.

b. What Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery (John 8:3-11):
"Neither do I condemn you.  Go, and sin no more." (vs 11)
-She was new and redeemed.  As believers we've been forgiven first and now we can go and obey
But how?
-By believing what we are (Romans 6-7) -> We are FREE!
-By walking by the Spirit (Galatians 5)

c. What Jesus says about our guilt (Zech. 3:1-5; Rev. 7:14)
-Joshua (the High Priest/defendant) was standing in filthy garments (literally translated they were as if they had excrement on them)
-Angel of the LORD (judge) removed the filthy garments from Joshua and gave him pure clothes
-Satan (the accuser) is condemned for his accusations
-The Accuser condemns us and accuses us for our sins.  And yes, we are guilty before God because of our sins, but we have been redeemed by Christ's blood.  Guilt makes us feel dirty (and we are) and we cannot change our own "clothes."  Jesus came and redeemed us and changes our clothes and purifies us if we are in Him.
-Revelation 7:14 -- "They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

d. What Jesus said to Peter (John 21:2-19)
-Peter had to have been nervous about seeing Jesus again after he denied Him three times!
-Christ asked Peter three times if he loved Him; it could seem that each time/question--in essence--was to refute each denial.
-Christ speaks peace and He seeks to restore us just as He restored Peter to Himself.  He tells us our sins have not disqualified us from usefulness.  Even though Peter denied his Master, Jesus showed him that He still had great plans to use him for the furtherance of the Gospel.  God uses us in spite of our sinfulness and failures!
-Those He loves, He breaks and restores.  He always breaks those He is going to truly use.  First there is brokenness and then there is restoration.
-But why does God let us fail in the first place?  Wouldn't it seem that He would be more glorified if He kept us from sinning?  By no means!!!  Being broken by our sin is necessary!  God lets us fail to show us our need for Him.  He shows us that we cannot save ourselves or even earn our way to Heaven.  God shows us our need for a Savior so that He can show us how much He has done for us.

Isn't that crazy???  I was just so encouraged by that!  =)

Duty vs. Desire

I was encouraged by this quote from Elisabeth Elliot in Passion & Purity tonight:

"[Oftentimes, a firm commitment to the Lord and a longed-for desire can seem to be in conflict.] Discipleship [that of being a disciple/follower of Christ] usually brings us into the necessity of choice between duty and desire.

They are not always mutually exclusive, however.  When our hearts are set on obedience, we can be sure of the needed wisdom to tell the difference between a conflict and a harmony.  It may be a slow and painful process." (page 51)

Psalm 32:8-11

Encouraged by these verses:

"I will teach you, and guide you in the way you should go.  I will keep you under my eye.  Do not behave like horse or mule, unreasoning creatures, whose course must be checked with bit and bridle.  Many are the torments of the ungodly; but unfailing love enfolds him who trusts in the Lord.  Rejoice in the Lord and be glad."

I LOVE the comfort we can take in God keeping us in His care!  He will always be there to care for us and will not let us ever be alone.  Even when we are disobedient or unruly or unreasoning like the horse or mule that are mentioned, God is still loving and faithful to correct us (or check us) with different means.  Even though we might not think He is being loving, we can rest in the knowing that He is actually disciplining out of love. (see Hebrews 12)

I LOVE the part of these verses that say "the unfailing love enfolds him who trusts in the Lord."  When I think of be enfolded in something or enveloped in something it just sounds like it will completely surround me and not one part of my body will be free from its touch.  =)  (Kind of like jumping into a swimming pool...there is no part of our bodies that do not get wet.  Unless of course you're wearing a bathing cap or something like that but that's besides the point. =P )  This is how God's love is for me and I can rejoice in that knowledge and have a glad spirit.  I can even be glad when the Lord disciplines me because I can know that is part of His love enfolding around me...His love spreads to my sin because He wants to purify my heart of sin and make me like Himself - holy and righteous.  He loves me so much that He cannot and chooses not to overlook my sin.  Praise the Lord for His love!