A Kneeling Heart

Some people pray just to pray and some people pray to know God. ~Andrew Murray

Purity is Important After All...

Prayer

Far, far from our prayers too often is any thought of prayer for a love which will lead us to give one whom we love to follow our Lord to Gethsemane, to Calvary – perhaps because we have never been there ourselves.”

- Amy Carmichael, Gold by Moonlight

The Battle of The Mind

The Nehemiah Institute's worldview PEERS test shows that 83% of the children from committed Christian families in public schools adopt a secular humanist or Marxist socialist worldview by the time they graduate. In addition, the SBC's 2002 annual meeting, the Southern Baptist Council on Family Life reported that 88% of... the children raised in evangelical homes who attend public school,
leave church at age 18.

Adam And Eve's Unhappy Sex Life

A post that caught my attention. Just ponder on this! Think of how Adam and Eve relationship would be like now being seperated from God. Isn't this what many men and women are experiencing apart from the Love of God. One relationship to another....feeling empty!

John Jansen posted this picture entitled Adam and Eve. It's a "painting that ... has [been] used in Theology of the Body presentations".


I don't know who painted it or where, but I feel compelled to re-post it. John says it speaks for itself, but I feel like it needs talking about.

It's just so potent, so visceral. I see boredom and pain. I see people trapped in a mechanical sexual relationship without pleasure. I see addiction. The half-nakedness suggests a hot summer night whose carnal activities has not brought relief from the heat outside or passion from within.

She looks old, worn out, tired; but she continues to apply make up to try to make herself alluring -- yet failing. She actually looks older than he does, suggesting some kind of cougar-love where the past-her-prime sexual aggressor actively seeks out the younger man to try to recapture her fading flower. Her vanity mirror is in front of her while she applies the makeup, but her eyes are sliding to the side, as if to see if Adam is still there, still caught in her wiles. Extending the metaphor, the classic pose of turning her head one way and her eyes another gives the viewers the impression that she is looking at us, to catch us too.

Adam looks spent, bored, and non-vital. He's either asleep, in pain, or both as his slack-jawed expression suggests. He looks post-coital, as if he's only just pulled on his pants. He grips the apple near his prominent crotch as he sits splay-legged. The apple here is a symbol of the forbidden fruit from the Garden of Eden, something that was taken in a way that was not supposed to be taken. It doesn't bring him pleasure, but he keeps hanging on to it, unable to let it go. In this picture the apple represents sex, but without love: a mechanical, even boring pursuit. He looks as if he meant to eat the apple, but fell asleep in situ before he could muster the energy.

The colors are flat: brownish and dull reds, symbolizing a lack of vitality. The browns also suggest earthiness, recalling the Garden of Eden by contrast -- in this case a barrenness, a lack of green growing things, of life. The lighting and shadows are harsh, non-flattering, as if the glare of reality is too much. The window shade is open and it's dark outside, giving the impression that it is a hot night. Since there is light on inside and darkness outside, the open window implies that anyone can see what the couple is doing from outside. The couple's half-nakedness shows a lack of modesty for their own bodies and for the sexual act. It is on display in a form of exhibitionism, but again without pleasure. In fact, Adam's base torso and passed-out pose implies they only just completed the act while the window was open the whole time.

These are just gut reactions I'm having. I'm sure others could explain it better. But I've never seen in one picture the damaging effects of sex without the proper understanding, context, and respect it demands that this picture affords.

Sex outside of marriage, contraceptive sex inside of marriage, self-gratification and selfishness: this is you -- and I've never seen you so unhappy.

Blogger: http://blynken.blogspot.com/search/label/Adam%20and%20Eve

Created for Him

We were created to be a friend and companion of god!

Man was decieved and chose to live life independently of God.
God created man and woman and placed them in a garden paradise to live and enjoy His presence. Every day God would fellowship with Adam and Eve in the Garden, and He provided for their every need. Adam and Eve were free to live and enjoy God's presence. Their only restriction was eating fro the Tree of Knowledge, which would bring death to their relationship with Him.
Satan deceived Eve by questioning God's character, word, and motives. Adam and Eve believed the lie that they could be like God. This sin affected every aspect of their lives and caused a tragic seperation in their relationship with God.

Believing THE LIE caused a tragic seperation in man's relationship with God...but this didn't stop God from loving us.

The good news provides the solution to the problem of our seperation.

God sent Jesus Christ to earth to reveal God's lve to us, and to give His life a payment for the sins of the whole world. Jesus christ experienced physical death and spiritual seperation fro His Father while paying the penalty for all our sins on the Cross. Jesus experience death for us, so we could be forgiven and receive eternal life. His perfect sacrifice satified the just and righteous demands of a holy God, so that we could enjoy an intimate love relationship with Him. This is good news!
What an Amazing selfless love!

How God Sees Us

The truth about me is always what God says! Not what I think or feel;
think or do.
The truest thing about me is what God says!

Dug Down Deep

Dug Down Deep from Sulva Productions on Vimeo.

He Loves You

You have a Father who loves you more than any other human being on this planet ever has or ever will.
Nothing you can do today will make God love you any more, and nothing you can do today will make God love you any less.
God is not disillusioned with you because he had no illusions about you to begin with.
Because shame, guilt and condemnation have no role in helping you live in God’s life, he has removed them in Christ and does not manage them for your growth.
He wants to make himself known to you daily and teach you how to recognize and follow his voice.


He Loves You!

Embracing Freedom

The greatest freedom in this kingdom is from the tyranny of your own desires, agendas and plans.

The second greatest freedom is from the tyranny of other people's opinions about you.

John Piper - What is Humility?

Our Belief System

Most of our beliefs were formed before we had any "spiritual" awareness of God.

Because we had no conscious understanding of God or "truth" as He defines it, we formed our own belief system apart from His truth. We have grown up living independently of god and relying on our own understanding-which has courrupted our belief system. Our corrupted beliefs seems more true than God's Word. They may even seem more rational.

There is a way which seems right to man, but its end is the way of death.
Proverbs 14:12 NAS

A "belief" is an assumption we hold to be true: a presupposition or conviction. We do not usually question it and are often not even consciously aware of it. We have belief about everything. We do not live by animal instincts, but by beliefs that have been developed and reinforced throughout our lives. Just as our eyes recognize color but fail to percieve x-rays or radio waves, so our beliefs cause us to process certain information and block other information.

Like a filter, our beliefs cause us to accept or reject new data.

God's Word Reveals the Root of Our Problems

We face problems every day, and we struggle from time to time in our Christian lives. Jesus assured us that we would have trouble in this world, but He also promised that He would be with us and would make us a overcomer. Only Jesus has the power and authority to overcome the problems of this world, and only Jesus can overcome the personal, internal problems we struggle with each day. Our Creator understands us better than we understand ourselves. He came that we might have and enjoy life.

I came that they might have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance 9to the full, till it overflows). John 10:10 Amplified

Why then, do I experience so little victory and joy in my life? Why are so many Christians plaqued with personal problemss? Why are we not experiencing the abundant life that Jesus promised? Whether we are struggling with emotional, relational, behavioral, or spiritual problems, Jesus is the answer and has revealed the solution in His Word. The Bible contains everything we need to know to live a successful and abundant life.
Where do you turn for help in the midst of life's problems? Where do you look for solutions? to whom do you turn for wisdom? Do you try to resolve your problems in your own strenght ans with man wisdome? Do you become so focused on the problems that fail to apply the supernatural resources available to you in Christ. Are you forcused on the symptoms instead of the solution? Do you turn to God as a last resort? In the midst the of your confusion, do you find it difficult to know where to turn in His Word for answers?

Regardless of our problems or confusion, God's Word is Truth, and Jesus is the Answer.

God's Word Reveals the Root of Our Problems

"Do not be mislead. Bad company corrupts good character. Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God--I say this to your shame." 1 Corinthians 15:33-34

He who walks with the wise become wise, but a companion of fools suffer harm. -Proverbs 13:20

Folly is bound up in the heart of a child. Proverbs 22:15

The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it. Proverbs 27:12

Follow your instincts and say no! Have courage and be bold--these are our children that are at stake. God put you in charge. No one will love and protect them the way you do. The people who will want to influence your children and lure them away will not be around for them when they fall.

Stand your ground, parents!

Protect your children

Sloth

Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger. Proverbs 19:15

How can we use this time to advance God's kingdom on earth and bring glory to Him while we are here?

The Sola Panel | Job and prayer

Job and prayer Andrew Barry

The Sola Panel | Job and prayer