Posts tagged Thoughts

¹⁰ For You, God, tested us; You refined us as silver is refined.

¹¹ You lured us into a trap; You placed burdens on our backs.

¹² You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but You brought us out to abundance.

- Psalm 66:10–12 (HCSB)

This verse really just jumped out at me as I was reading it this week. It makes me think about how sometimes in life (like right now for me) God lets us go through times of intense suffering, or stress, or hardship, but he promises to pull us out at the end of it. I guess for me right now things seem a little turbulent due to our upcoming child. Not knowing what is going to happen, worrying about the financial aspect of providing for a baby on such a tight budget, not exactly sure where or how God is going to provide. This passage provide me a little comfort, being able to connect with what the psalmist wrote several thousand years ago.

16 This is what the Lord says:

Stand by the roadways and look. Ask about the ancient paths: Which is the way to what is good? Then take it and find rest for yourselves. 

But they protested, “We won’t!”

17 I appointed watchmen over you and said: Listen for the sound of the ram’s horn. 

But they protested, “We won’t listen!”

18 Therefore listen, you nations and you witnesses, learn what the charge is against them.

19 Listen, earth! I am about to bring disaster on these people, the fruit of their own plotting, for they have paid no attention to My word. They have rejected My instruction.

- Jeremiah 6:16-19 HCSB

When studying for today’s Bible study, I came across this passage and had to read it several times. While this specific prophesy was written to a specific people at a specific time, I couldn’t help but wonder if it applied to me as well. I mean, not directly, that would violate proper hermeneutics, but perhaps the big idea that God has nothing but absolute contempt for the proud and willful who claim to know what is best for themselves, despite claiming allegiance to God.

Clearly this can only properly be applied to people who have been come into direct contact with God, that would be us believers. It should not be directly applied to the lost, those who have never encountered God, though it clearly has implications for those who have heard the gospel, yet refused to listen or respond. But, what really shakes me is that if I am not careful, I could be setting myself up in direct confrontation with God by simply choosing not to listen. This just seems like a really bad idea.

God, please help me to hear your truth and be obedient to you and your direction. Show me how to humbly obey you and follow the ancient path to what is good instead of the path that seems right to me. Allow me to show love to all, and be a right example of your grace and mercy thought the power of Jesus Christ. I pray this in your all-powerful name. Amen.

(Source: biblia.com)

Last Week’s Bible Study Thoughts

Last week at our Wednesday Bible study at Mesa Community College, we read Jeremiah 5 (biblia.com). Here are a few thoughts from our reading and some of the things we discussed about this passage:

First, I like to look at see what words or phrases or verses really jump off the page at me:

• Verse 3 The wording here makes me emotionally feel sorry for these people, and yet they clearly deserve what they are going to get. I want to implore them to turn and see their sin, and yet it would be hopeless, for if they wont listen to God, they wont listen to me either.
• Verse 4 Even Jeremiah feels sorry for these “Fools.” Note how he never questions God’s ultimate justice. 
• Verse 5 See how the powerful had broken the yoke, that is they had forsaken God. God’s yoke is His commands, His law. They are the things that God desires from us. People who have broken His yoke, disobey Him, and this displeases God.
• Verse 6 is clearly prophesying a siege. The animals are guarding the city represent an invading army that will come and prevent people from leaving for food, water, or refuge.
• Verse 7-8 Use more of the sexual language we are used to seeing which represents how vile and disgusting their idolatry is to God.
• Verse 12. See how it says they have insisted it won’t happen? This is referring to the siege which has been prophesied before. So, let’s follow this logically. God has already prophesied once about an upcoming siege through Jeremiah. The other prophets and the powerful people in the city openly deny that it is going to happen. God then instead of simply going forward with the siege, gives the people another chance and gives Jeremiah another prophesy this time including his displeasure at their denials. This reality here shows just how suffering and long-suffering God is. To allow people to rebel against Him and then ignore His warnings and pleas for repentance over and over again. Also, note how to God denial and refusal to repent is almost a worse sin then the just the original mistake. (This is what makes David’s sin so different from most people’s and why He was still able to be called a man after God’s own heart. Humans are incapable of not sinning, but those who seek God’s heart recognize their sin and repent promptly!) 
• Verse 13 The prophets stopped speaking the truth. This upsets God, and confuses the people. God’s power goes beyond what people say about Him. His will will come to pass irregardless of humanities agreement.
• Verse 14 Notice how powerful God is: all He has to do is use His words. It is His words which are going to destroy the people through Jeremiah’s mouth. God’s words are very powerful.
• Verse 18 shows how God is merciful again by promising not to completely finish off the people.
• Verse 19 God straight up tells the people what the sin is that they committed. This shows God’s justice. He is not just randomly choosing to destroy His people, but it is a direct result of their sin that He has to punish their disobedience.
• Verse 22 God’s power is directly displayed throughout all of creation. This one verse stands in for all of it. None of which we can truly describe or understand.
• Verses 28 and 29 offer a cause and effect. God is simply bringing about true justice, which clearly must be brought forth as a result of failing to show justice and mercy to those who need it the most.
• Verse 30 - 31 What a terrible thing for religious people to do what they do by their own authority. The only proper authority for any spiritual act is God alone. 

As a result of reading this passage, the question becomes what can we do to apply the universal truths found here. Some of the things that seem universal are:

• God’s power and justice are great and beyond understanding or even questioning
• God’s word is very powerful 
• Do we live for ourselves, or for God? What is the motive and authority for our actions?
• Loving God and Loving others is true religion
• Showing mercy to our enemies time and time again is God’s pattern. 

In order to be impacted by these truths, we should:

• Strive to share the love of God with others through sharing the gospel, and by showing love to them through generous acts 
• Constantly remind ourselves of God’s power
• Remind ourselves of God’s burning hot anger toward sin and continually repent/turn back toward God
• Recognize sin’s consequences can prevent us from truly experiencing all of God’s goodness and promises.

In an effort to really be transformed by this passage, let us take a minute and pray where we are that God would change us and allow us to apply these things into our lives. 

God, show us your will and grant us your vision. Let us be changed by the reality that our sin disgusts you and that we are incapable of redeeming ourselves. Apart from the blood of Jesus, we have no way to overcome our evil. Please transform us and allow us to do all things through your Holy Spirit. Let us overcome evil with good, let us show mercy to our enemies and let us show love to all. Give us boldness to share your truth with our friends and families. Lord, we love you and pray this in your Name,

Amen.

I am not sure if you have noticed or not, but recently I have made a sincere attempt to begin posting more stuff here at tumblr. I kinda dislike the idea of using a blog post to talk about posting to a blog, but I am pretty excited about this and want to share with you what I am calling my Social Media Campaign. Why am I campaigning? Well, actually that is what excites me.

God has been doing some really neat things through my work with Christian Challenge at Mesa Community College and through the worship activities I have been a part of. Some of these things are big and some of them not too big. I currently make an attempt to send out a monthly prayer letter to my supporters. This letter contains a summary of all the big things that I am doing throughout the month. While it offers a really good overview of what is going, I really want to give people an opportunity to join with me on a more regular basis. So, I have decided to use Social Media (specifically tumblr for now) as a way to share what is going on in the ministry every week. 

Essentially this boils down to a post a day on 7 different topics areas: 

1. Ecclesia Sundays: thoughts about church and it’s importance.
2. Big Dreams Monday: posts like this one which talk about dreams, goals and future plans
3. Evangelism Tuesdays: a recap of the previous week’s evangelism encounters and prayer requests for the following days EV efforts
4. Bible Study Wednesdays: a short thought from the passage for our weekly Wednesday bible study
5. Worship Thoughts Thursday: a video, song or idea as Thursday I lead worship at ASU Challenge
6. Personal Thoughts Fridays: just personal thoughts of a more spiritual nature
7. Odds ‘N Ends Saturdays: answering questions, responding, or other random posts.

I am not sure if I will continue posting everyday, but I do think the posts on these days will be in these general categories. My hope is that I will be able to engage people in the work that God is doing and that people will choose to join in the adventure with me. 

If you were following me yesterday on twitter (@jeffmashaw) you might have seen these posts:

Tucson can make me feel very schizophrenic sometimes. ;)

Here are the linked photos:

This is just so pretty to me, and one of the things I miss the most about Tucson is Mt. Lemon covered in clouds and snow.

And then there’s this:

I hate Tucson traffic and its lack of a reasonable freeway system that connects the east side to I-10.

But then I look and see a sunset and fall in love all over again:

Argh, Tucson!!! Anyway, it was a really nice time in Tucson. My dad and I are building a cajon. I will be writing more about that later this week, but I had a really great time getting together with my parents. I feel like a little time going back where I was raised can really rejuvenate me. It is tiring, but especially after the 4 hours of driving round trip I feel closer to God. I am really thankful and blessed to have such an awesome family, and such a powerful God who displays his glory in the heavens for all to see.

Just like Romans 1:20 says:

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

Monday morning is a really good time to sit back and think about what the rest of the week might hold. This week I am thinking about how awesome it is that I get the opportunity to do ministry on a college campus. I believe God wants to impact this generation of young people and I enjoy being a part of it. My only hope is that I am faithful to the call and I am obedient to the task at hand.

Here’s the thing that I have realized about confession : it takes time to do it properly. God showed me today that just because I say “I’m sorry,” after I screw up I’m not necessarily out of the water. God’s standard is higher than that. Because at the heart of all my sins I am damaging my relationship with Him, I must spend the time necessary to rebuild.

Lately I have felt like I’ve hit a brick wall when it comes to trying to accomplish all the things that I know I need to be doing. So tonight I prayed a prayer of frustration and asked God what the problem was. He told me it was sin. So I said, “Holy Spirit, tell me what my sin is.” And, He did. He revealed to me a few things which I had been holding on to and so I confessed them. I felt an immediate difference and then divine reassurance that I was right where I needed to be. God promised success in the area of my struggle and even blessing.

I am thankful that Christ is still showing up and, like the woman at the well, telling us all the things that we have done wrong. It may seem counterintuitive to those who have never experienced it, but in that wonderfully paradoxical way that God works, it is the most freeing and wonderful place to be.

“But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” - Matt 6:20

So, here’s my vain thought of the week, as it pertains to heaven. If there’s no rust, or moth in heaven, is there going to really be mold? This verse, (taken only slightly out of context) seems to imply that things won’t decay in heaven. If things don’t decay, then there probably won’t be any mold. And, if there’s no mold, there won’t be any cheese!

I think I would be very sad if I got there and found out there’s no cheese. Thankfully, though, I think the presence and Glory of God would probably make me soon forget.

So, what do you say? Will there be cheese in heaven?