“Spiritual Time Out” – Seeking Jerusalem – Day 34
Spiritual Time Out – Lenten Season 2018 “We are fools for Christ…… We are weak, but you are strong! You are […]
Desert Warrior Ministries
A Burden of Glory
Category: 4. The Way of the Cross
Seeking Jerusalem – Day 39 "Spiritual Trust"
I have a bone to pick with Pastor Rick Warren. I like him a lot and I promote his daily devotionals on my facebook account and read all of his material. He is a wonderful Pastor. I’ve read his books and I would normally say that he is “dead on” in his ministry. But not this time.
A couple of days ago, he published a post about reconciliation that he called, Requirements of Restored Relationships in the “You Make Me Crazy” Series. Basically he says that Restoring a Relationship Requires Repentance, Restitution and Rebuilding Trust.
Most of the post was very helpful but the last part brought in some very popular but unbiblical material. Let’s go over what he says together…
Seeking Jerusalem – Day 38 "Spiritual Unity"
In a couple of weeks on Palm Sunday, we will have a potluck fellowship dinner. Everybody brings a dish and a desert. Drinks are provided. We get together and chat for a while and call it fellowship. Fellowship is supposed to be another word for Spiritual Unity. Doesn’t sound very interesting but it is nice, I suppose.
We have been talking about the Way of the Cross – confession, repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation. Fellowship or Spiritual Unity is supposed to be the result of reconciliation.
Seeking Jerusalem – Day 37 "Healing Power"
Money may make the world go round, but love is what makes it all worthwhile. Without love, without relationships it just isn’t worth the trouble. Everybody knows that.
People don’t wish that they spent more time at work or made more money when they are on their deathbed. They just want to be with their loved ones. They wish with all their heart that they could recapture those wonderful moments with their children on Christmas eve when they were young. They regret the hurts and misunderstandings that still hover over their heads and relationships. They want nothing more than that their estranged children, their brother, their ex-wife or friend would come back, that somehow, someway, a miracle would happen and love would be in the air, that Christmas would come in the middle of summer, something, anything that would close the distance and heal their hearts and make it better again.
Seeking Jerusalem – Day 36 "FaithWalking"
So my daughter and I were on our way to the mall the other day to watch a movie. I’m not sure why but she asked me a question about something I was writing about and I decided to ask her the “Chicken and the Egg” question. It’s a good question.
“What came first, the chicken or the egg?”
“That’s easy,” she said. “The chicken, of course. God had to create a chicken before you can have a chicken lay an egg.”
Seeking Jerusalem – Day 35 "The Culture of Grace"
I heard a Vicar (Pastor) from the Anglican church tell a story recently about his encounters with a young man off the streets that we will call, Paul. The vicar’s wife, who was a good judge of character, agreed that they should help the young man and so they put him up for a few days until they could find a more permanent place for him. He ended up staying for a number of months and became a part of the family. When the Vicar and his wife went on a short vacation, they left Paul in charge. Paul invited another friend from the streets over who ended up stealing the wife’s jewelry (hierlooms from her mother with more sentimental value than anything else). Paul claimed he was innocent but he still shouldn’t have invited his friend over when no one else was at home. A lapse in judgment.
Seeking Jerusalem – Day 33 "Brokenness"
Today I want you to help me solve a mystery. It is a mystery, I suppose, of our own making but it is a deeply shocking revelation of the human heart. I know, I know, it’s nothing new. The Bible says that the “heart is deceitful above all things” (Jeremiah 17:9 NIV). And that especially applies to mine. The mystery is really about the ways my heart is deceitful, the manner in which my spiritual blindness manifests itself and what I can do about it. Let me try to describe the problem in some more detail….
Seeking Jerusalem – Day 32 "The Courage of Transparency"
We gave it a try. We really did.
The new Pastor asked everyone to get together for a meeting and we all came. I brought my wife and daughter (since they were also involved) and the Pastor brought the elder who had offended. The Pastor was a believer in the power of reconciliation and apparently had convinced the elder to show up. One of the other elders had given the Pastor our names as people the Board needed to reconcile with. When we had stood up for Scottie, a street evangelist who was thrown out of the church for making people feel uncomfortable and always asking for money, we got thrown out as well.
So we all showed up, all of us believers, all of us excited about the prospect of true reconciliation. Everyone except for Scottie. They never did get around to him. They should have started with him. The ministry of reconciliation is spiritual warfare and we were terribly unprepared.
Seeking Jerusalem – Day 31 "True Confessions"
Confessions are scary business. For everyone.
True confessions sounds like one of those rag mags you find on a newstand full of the foibles and follies of the rich and famous. People love their reality shows and true confessions spice things up nicely. And celebrities are used to it, aren’t they? Nobody gets hurt. Some people like to air their dirty laundry in public, sharing their accusations and stories of betrayal and disappointment with the whole world watching. Those of us who have a bit more sense, avoid those kinds of situations like the plague. True confessions are the dirty side of reality and it just mires you in bitterness and resentment as you are reminded of all your hurts and offenses.
So when it comes to the church, most of us are rather uncomfortable with the idea of confession. Isn’t that a Catholic idea anyway? We don’t do that in my church. The Pastor might talk about it once in a while, but it is always a silent confession just between God and myself. Nobody else’s business. It’s a private thing, not public. Thank God.
Bert Amsing – Author
