hmm, so Matt 24:45-47 tells me that if I'm faithful in the job I have been given, I will be REWARDED with a harder job.... hmmm.... that kind of gives one pause to think. A few things -- the first one was, why would I WANT a harder job? Then came, hmm, obviously there is something wrong with ME, if this is a promise of God and I don't want it.... Then I looked at my messy house and bagan to study the dust on my stereo, and thought about being faithful in the little things, and just being the proper keeper of my home as I should be, instead of, what? studying??? ok, facebook.... :((( granted, if I gave my facebook time to housekeeping, we'd see a big difference here. So, in keeping with the idea that I am learning to trust God to guide my paths, because I am acknowledging Him in all my ways, I have to consider here two things: 1. He's brought this to my attention. 2. He will do it in my life -- give me the desire, the energy, the self-control. Yes, I believe I need to step out in faith, and do what needs to be done. But I also believe that He will guide my steps and He will give me the desires of my heart. Meaning, He will put within me the proper desires, those that are in line with His will; but also that, since my greatest desire is to please Him, He will even give me the DESIRE to clean my house. It will be a joy! And I'm sensing that already.

BUT I also have to remember, I am learning to live by faith, NOT emotions. It is not how I feel, but it is obedience, no matter what. I am to obey, I am to do what He asks me to do, even if it goes against how I "feel". The desire will follow, or not, and that doesn't matter, either way, cuz no matter what happens on this earth, this is not paradise, this is not where we get to cease from our tears and sorrows, that doesn't happen until heaven, after we die or Jesus comes to take us away.

But, then I consider the sense of gaining responsibility. How often have I felt I wasn't being used to the fullest of my potential? I know I have abilities that are not being used, and there is the desire to use those abilities. Just because I don't want the job of taking care of an entire household as an overseer, as in the passage mentioned above, doesn't mean I wouldn't love to be teaching a class on Genesis or "Learning how to Trust", or singing solos or playing my flute on a worship team, or helping with a youth group, or taking care of the computer system, etc... So, I will continue to trust, to be content, to be faithful in the little things, in the responsibilities I have been given at this time, and do them to the best of my abilities, and I will look forward to, and consider myself blessed, when Jesus allows me to move forward to the next level of responsibility.

Joh 6:65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.

Mt 11:27 All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

Mt 16:17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

Eph 2:4 ¶ But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Eph 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Eph 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Eph 2:7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Jer 31:3 The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

So, the idea of being an intercessor, I couldn't figure out if that was man-made or from Scripture. Today the phrase "stand in the gap" came to mind and I checked it out:

Ezekiel 22:30 (New King James Version)

³⁰ So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.

then I checked out all the commentaries on www.ewordtoday.com and was reminded of Abraham praying for Sodom and Gomorrah, Moses praying for Israel when he found them worshipping the golden calf, Phineas the son of Aaron killing the man and thereby staying the hand of God (Num 25:6-15), Jeremiah being told NOT to pray for the people.

So, obviously, there is a time for intercession, God does listen when His people come before Him on behalf of others; BUT do I see it in the New Testament? Many things have changed, the covenant is slightly different, we are now free to come boldly before the throne ourselves, as individuals -- is it that He is now dealing with us singly whereas before it was as a group??? Hmmm... and I also see that now Jesus "ever liveth to make intercession for us" .... is that the other part? We don't have the call to intercede because that is Jesus' ministry?

I know Paul prayed for people, but I can't think of a time in the NT where someone prayed on behalf of someone in the sense of intercession, standing in the gap.... unless I think of Simon (the one who wanted to buy the ability to give the Holy Spirit to people) asking the apostles to pray for him....

Glen asked yesterday, "Are you the cause of the recession" (or something like that, not an exact quote...). Then in his last paragraph he wondered if we would learn from our greed. But is that not the whole point of salvation? We CAN'T go beyond our greed without Jesus. We have become, by nature, greedy and selfish, because of Adam's sin. As instinct is passed on, so is this tendency to sin: we would have done exactly what Adam did if we had been there. As a matter of fact, just as I said in a couple posts back, we choose the "knowledge of good and evil" over the "tree of Life" all the time, every day. Even as Christians we fail, every day, because "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak". That is why we must die to ourselves daily, we must remember and live out the fact that we "have been crucified with Christ", that "it is no longer [we] who live, but Christ lives in [us] and the life that [we] now live in the flesh [we must] live by faith in the Son of God who loves [us] and gave His life for [us]". There is no other way.

And this also leads to his posting regarding radical Christians. What is a radical Christian? Well, first and foremost, what is the dictionary definition of radical?

Etymology

< French radical < Late Latin radicalis (“‘of or pertaining to the root, having roots, radical’”) < Latin radix (“‘root’”); see radix.

1. (botany, not comparable) Of or pertaining to a root (of a plant).
2. Of or pertaining to the intrinsic nature of something.
3. Thoroughgoing.

   The spread of the cancer required radical surgery, and the entire organ was removed.

4. Favouring fundamental change, or change at the root cause of a matter.

   His beliefs are radical.

5. (linguistics, not comparable) Of or pertaining to the root of a word.
6. (chemistry, not comparable) Involving free radicals
7. (slang) Excellent.

   That was a radical jump!

ok, so at first I couldn't figure out how "root" had anything to do with being "radical", since my thoughts on radical differ slightly. I thought it meant out of the ordinary, beyond the norm -- that doesn't sound like "root" or "base" or anything of the sort. Then as I read more, #4 showed me the sense of it: fundamental, or root, CHANGE. CHANGE that affects the root or FOUNDATION of the matter. Ah, now I understand. So, as it pertains to Christianity, it would mean, one who favours changing the foundations of Christianity.... I don't even like the sound of that.... So, I think I must consider it in light of our present understanding of Christianity, and then say it is a RETURNING to a PROPER FOUNDATION of Christianity, which, in our present society, as a matter of fact in most of the ages of the world, IS a radical idea. Few of us have truly lived God's Word the way we should have, in any age.

Which brings me back to the original section, can we learn? I think our society has considered ourselves Christian for such a long time we forget that that has been the reason we have lived in such relative peace (ie lack of persecution, mostly law-abiding citizens) compared to some other countries of the world: our laws and the accepted practices of society followed Biblical principles -- until now. Now we are seeing the result of a society that no longer thinks the Bible is relevant, no longer believes the Bible is true. Even if not everyone actually PRACTICED Christianity "properly", at least the general "peer pressure" tended toward morality, because previous generations had been careful to pass on and uphold a basic faith in the fact that there were absolutes.

So, in answer to both posts, my prayer, daily, for my brothers and sisters around the world, is that we might "humble [ourselves] and pray and seek [His] face and turn from [our] wicked ways", that we might "trust in the Lord with all [our] heart[s], lean not on [our] own understanding, [but] in all [our] ways acknowledge Him," so that He would "guide our paths in righteousness for His Name's sake," and "that the world would know we are Christians by our love", and that "[we] would be one, as [Jesus] and the Father are one".

In matt 23, the scribes and pharisees are accused of murdering Abel, who was murdered by Cain, who did not even have any descendents that lived past the flood.... how great must have been their sin that God would even bring the retribution on them of this sin from the beginning of time....

and compare God's curse pronounced on Cain with what happened to the Jews after the destruction of the temple (emphasis mine):

Gen 4:10-15 And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.”
And Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me.”
And the LORD said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.