Pilgrimage

I was sitting in a bible study one Sunday morning where a West African Bible teacher was sharing about building a strong family.  He talked about God’s purposes for the family being a means to transmit the gospel from generation to generation.  He also spoke of the biblical role of the father to literally lay his hands on his wife and children to bless them in the name of the Lord. I had assumed that was only Old Testament symbolism and not a modern day practice. Yet upon further inspection of the scriptures, I was convicted that I had never ceremonially and spiritually blessed my family.

Although I had been through Bible college, seminary and served several years as a staff pastor, I had failed to learn an essential aspect of what it means to be part of a biblical family.  Modeling God’s favor and grace to younger generations is at the core of the gospel.  Allowing my children to not only hear me pray for them, but also feel me physically lay my hands on them and seek God’s blessings for them is a powerful witness they will not soon forget. Continue reading

Due to being extremely busy as of late, I haven’t posted anything. I was, however, over at a friends house this weekend and he mentioned this Peanuts cartoon. I found it and thought it was excellent.

In one’s spiritual pilgrimage the realization of temporal finiteness births a longing for personal communion with God.

O my God, sweetness unspeakable, turn into bitterness all my fleshly consolation, which draweth me away from the love of eternal things, and wickedly allureth toward itself by setting before me some present delight. Let not, O my God, let not flesh and blood prevail over me, let not the world and its short glory deceive me, let not the devil and his craftiness supplant me. Give me courage to resist, patience to endure, constancy to preserve. Grant, in place of all consolations of the world, the most sweet unction of Thy Spirit, and in place of carnal love, pour into me the love of Thy Name (à Kempis 2006, 91).

This passage from Thomas Hæmmerlien’s work The Imitation of Christ illustrates the core philosophical concentration of the text: A life that seeks to become like Christ in word, thought and deed must yearn for divine grace and reject worldly enticements. Hæmmerlien, also know as Thomas à Kempis, elected to live his life in obscurity and absorb himself in the spiritual pursuit of oneness with Christ. His compilation of personal thoughts into The Imitation of Christ has served Christianity as a centerpiece of devotional literature for over a half-century. Continue reading

This is a very insightful post from Art Katz posted today at the European Prophetic College

Life is cheap…or so modern society would have us think it is. The cost of an early murder-in-utero is only a few hundred dollars.

Secular science has proven the life of a baby in the womb is distinctly separate from the mother. Secular science has proven that the baby in the womb IS NOT just tissue, but is an actual living human. The debate on abortion has moved past this concept. While in years past it would have been horrific to acknowledge these things and still be a proponent of abortion it is now becoming socially acceptable. Abortionists now argue that population control and the welfare of the more highly developed (i.e. the mother) is a more important consideration than protecting life in the womb. I have not time to articulate this slipperly slope other than to ask what are the future implications for the mentally handicapped? the elderly? terminally ill? Continue reading

The means of living the sanctified Christian life has been a subject of debate since the first century. Scholars have argued the significance of various Scripture passages seeking to determine the desire of God for His people’s lifestyle and calling. There are some aspects of the Christian life, however, which God determines to remain behind the darkened glass. He seems to shed enough light on the subject matter for believers to wrestle with it yet keeps it hidden just enough to cause the conclusion to be elusive. So it seems with the doctrine of sanctification. God has offered enough information in Scripture to determine how one should live, but the methodology whereby one may experience sanctification seems much less clear. God requires believers nonetheless, to seek His divine purposes and will with regards to their lives; thus they must wrestle with the Scriptures for personal illumination. Continue reading

Someone shared with me this very insightful post on pastoral ministry from Brian Purtle.  You can read it here. God is truly searching for men who will heed the call to be true shepherds of their congregations AND their families.  Gone are the days of a “sage on the stage.”