upward & inward

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. ( Psalm 1:1-3 ) I have had repeated conversations lately regarding the importance of seeking God's power as He calls us to be His own. In a previous post , I wrote of this importance - and its difficulty.  Since then, I read Pastor John Piper's approach to avoiding the besetting sins that trip us up. He writes here of how this approach helps with our approach to lust.  However, Pastor John's later writing rightly applies this to any thinking that leads us beyond the boundaries of God's moral will for us.  Here is a summary from Pastor Piper: "I go on the attac...

As I grew up working through high school, into the military, through my college days, and into the corporate work environment, I learned that it was perfectly acceptable to speak negatively about others while they weren't around - especially about whoever I was working for at the time - but also colleagues and coworkers who weren't living up to "my expectations." At its base level, this is gossip and God is clear about what He thinks of this behavior. As God began to convict me of these (and other) sins, maturing me in my walk with and for His Son Jesus, I learned something extraordinary: gossip dishonors God, the target of the gossip, the receivers of the gossip, and me. It's plainly a lose-lose-lose-lose proposition. What's the answer? It's simpler than it may seem. Under most circumstances, words spoken to describe another should be the same whether they're in the room or not. And, those words should be as objective as possible and as kind as possib...

Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till He comes and rains righteousness on you. --Hosea 10:12 Read this quote. Another from Brother A. W. Tozer... The fallow field is smug, contented, protected from the shock of the plow and the agitation of the harrow.... But it is paying a terrible price for its tranquility: Never does it see the miracle of growth; never does it feel the motions of mounting life nor see the wonders of bursting seed nor the beauty of ripening grain. Fruit it can never know because it is afraid of the plow and the harrow. In direct opposite to this, the cultivated field has yielded itself to the adventure of living. The protecting fence has opened to admit the plow, and the plow has come as plows always come, practical, cruel, business-like and in a hurry. Peace has been shattered by the shouting farmer and the rattle of machinery. The field has felt the travail of change; it has been upset, t...

When I was in third grade, my teacher Miss Campbell encouraged me to write poetry. I loved it. I would write poems for her and be so happy with her genuinely kind responses to my struggling attempts at being the next James Whitcomb Riley , a famous Indiana poet and her favorite. My niece, Kristin Baker, is a poet. I suppose she has written hundreds of poems and readily shares them with us on her blog . I encourage you to read them...they're inspirational as is she. She's married to a great guy and they have a precocious, intelligent, and beautiful little girl who has all the makings of a Christ-filled world-changer. The Bible says that we are not to boast except to boast in the Lord. So, I boast that God is doing a great work in my sweet-niece!