Band-aid [Part 2-- Patience]

I Thessalonians 5:14 (ESV)
"And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all."

This is a verse I was looking for last week when I wrote the previous blog about Christian Radio and the sugar-coasted messages it promotes. I searched and searched but just couldn't find this verse. Low and behold, God knew I was seeking this section of His word and so on Sunday the sermon was hinged on this very scripture. I almost fell out of my seat when Pastor Reid began to read this. His sermon focused on other aspects of this verse but needless to say, I needed to be reminded of this truth, it was certainly no accident.

The way I've always read this verse was like a list of 3 types of people you may encounter and the best way to encourage each of them. It is that, but it is also more. The principle is to help the body one person at a time and in the way they need. The method varies with each situation. The key to all is patience.

With a long fuse, confront the scoffer, the lazy, the "idle". You will need it.
With faithfulness, lift up the discouraged, the downcast, the "fainthearted". They will not have enough faith on their own.
With strength of the Lord carry the spiritually diminished, the immature, the "weak". They cannot stand alone.

As I've mulled this over, its become instructions for spiritual battle in the body. The one's who need encouragement are under attack and need the family of God to stand up against the enemy in their place.

The lazy have forgotten the cause they once fought for- Remind them! This may be harsh.
The Fainthearted are unsure because they lost sight of what God can do in them- Help them see it! This is a joy.
The weak are just lacking the armor of battle and must be taught to fight- Train them! This takes time.

Conversations at Waffle House

Its become the place in my life where the truly devoted to God talk into all hours of the night about what souls are made of. These untangible and deep conversations are only had by the vessels of the Holy Spirit. Hear me when I say this, the CHURCH shows up in Waffle Houses and parking lots and Dairy Queens. God is in the midst of 2 or 3 gathered in His name. Be it in the sanctuary of a scheduled service, or the gathering of a handful of believers over eggs with salsa.
Let us not put God in a box and dictate to Him when and where He can move. God of heaven is alive and working in our lives so He will move when we are in the choir loft and in the drive-thru.
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Christian Radio: My Band-aid

Maybe it is the symptom of our parents humoring our demand for a band-aid on a mere bump, or maybe its a deeper root in our psyche. Either way I figure it, we are, as a people, addicted to band-aids. Don't go and buy up stock in BandAid or Nexcare. I am not talking physical here.I see this over and over in my life and the lives I am an audience to.

KLOVE is one such band-aid that American Christians love. Its "positve" & "encouraging". What ever happened to real encouragement? When God's people strayed, the prophets, and later the saints, pulled their fellow man from the brink. Brothers and sisters, I assure you that I'm not promoting harsh words where tenderness and love should stand. Instead I am saying to you that as Paul says to Timothy
"...preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."

They talk in Christian Radio about the ministry and the work they do. What are they doing but putting a band-aid on a cancer patient. What good is it if their hearts are in the darkness? These are good things they are doing. Just like a band-aid is a good thing for a small scrape. However when it becomes the cure-all, it falls way short.

I'm not all anti-christian radio. There are programs that are more honest to the life and teaching of Jesus. I love Mornings with Brant <http://brantsblogofawesomeness.typepad.com/> There is the blog from the show. They actually address real issues and Brant encourages people. Not just the "Isn't life such a blessing" "His mercies are new every morning" typical encouragement. Thats not enough. Because words, even good words, don't change your life.

What does change your life? When you give it over to the true doctor, Jesus Christ. The physician with the power to heal you completely, not just for a time. Let God ghange you and dont rely on a catchy tune or funny story to brighten up your day.

In Light of Good Friday,

Blair Wingo is a beautiful poet. Her powerful words grip my soul and stir my heart. Is it her word choice? Her flow? No. It is the truth she spouts, it pours out of her. She's been given grace and it has clearly rocked her whole world. THIS is the power of her words.

I aspire to live with the clear convictions she writes about in many of her poems. The emphasis is on heart change by the Spirit. You can be changed by God from the inside out. Don't be focused on the external. It can't save you. Its a facade. A veil, yeah, that one He tore. He ripped it down and said that we could know HIM. We could personally be rejoined to Him through the blood of Jesus Christ. So commune in the covenant. Live in the love. Grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

http://p4cm.com/p4cm/taxonomy/term/26

In "Don't Add On" she expounds on the untruth that is spread by Christians about baptism "as if water could do something that Jesus' blood couldn't" and tongues. "There's many gifts, did you think maybe this one isn't for you? "

"So don't add on, don't add on to the cross, cause what you're really saying it that Jesus didn't pay the total cost"

James 2:14-26

Wordle.net
This is an awesome tool for any visually inclined persons.
It arranges the words found in your submitted text by frequency of use.
In this scriture the words 'faith' and 'works' are used most often and
so appear largest. This can help you visualize the main idea of a text
or simply create a visual of a poem or favorite lyric.

Has God moved on?

While munching on my toast this morning, I lazily flipped through the channels. Let me remind those of you who never get up earlier than 10 am-- there is nothing on TV for the early birds to entertain their brains while between bites of eggs and oatmeal. So I was faced with a battle, Sham Wow! or Beth Moore. She won. I'm so glad she did. I didn't have much time to lend to her. But she's quick moving and straight to the point so in the 10 minutes or so, I was fed to the brim. And oddly, at 5:38, I'm still chewing over those words I consumed so hungrily at breakfast.

The topic was Quenching the Spirit, or rather, how NOT to. She animatedly illustrated the dangers of ignoring God's moving in our lives. She urged us to remember that God who moved with the Israelites in the desert, moves with us today. The power of God almighty, who split the waters of the Jordan so that His people might cross to the land of His promise, THAT is my God. Today.

How easy it has been to forget that. And it's only Wednesday. I saw Him moving on Sunday. What limiting memory I have. I forget who God is and what He can do. What he HAS done. It's not that God is limited but that my finite mind doesn't understand, nor fully appreciate His infinite love, mercy, faithfulness, and grace.

God is always at work in you. You WILL quench the Spirit if you are unwilling to move with Him.
She pierced me with one concept-- God may call you to move on from a place He had called you, to a new assignment. If we, in our joy with what God has done, are blinded to what God is leading us to next, we will quench the Spirit. If the cloud of the Lord, moves on and we remain, we are in sin. The question is, has God moved on?