::Plans::

Plans.

 

 

This week has been a little crazy, deviating from the normal plan--my entire work week was rearranged and has included more than one double shift. And then there was Monday night Bible study, and the third week of Good News Club, and Thursday night Bible class as church. I've had to repeat to myself over and over again the day's activities in order...and oh yeah, what day actually is it again??

 

I plan to attend a Biblical counseling conference in a few weeks. I plan to go to Israel in June. I plan to take a class in March.

 

I have shelled out a lot of money already for this conference--I've always wanted to go to Israel--one more class means two more credits closer to graduating--but in reality I have no control over these plans or any other I might make. Interruptions and disappointments come up that I would rather not plan on.

 

But one of my favorite songs on one of my favorite CDs reminds me,

Sovereign One, You work all things to Your plan.

Sovereign One, You hold all things in Your hands.

 

That I can count on. Even when, as the song goes on, I don't understand or I don't like what's going on...I can trust. And I must.

The World Behind Me, the Cross Before Me...

More Worldliness quotes...

 

"Yes, resisting worldliness requires strenuous effort. It's an inside problem and hard heart-work will be needed to effectively cut it out. And it's a lifelong battle. We must resist its influence until our dying breath." (pg 33)

"Do you want the world to lose its appeal? Then crowd out worldliness by filling your affections with the cross of Christ. Crucify the world as a dead and undesirable thing by meditating on the love of the Savior. Resist the bait of the world by gazing at the wondrous cross. For it is 'the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,' wrote Paul, 'by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world' (Gal. 6:14)." (pg 34)

::Embracing the Cross::

"The Gospel is not simply the story of 'Christ, and Him crucified'; it is also the story of my own crucifixion. {Galatians 2:20}

 

Crucifixion hurts. In fact, its heart-wrenching brutality can numb the senses. It is a gasping and bloody affair, and there is nothing nice, pretty, or easy about it. It is not merely death, but excruciating death.

 

Preaching [Christ's] story to myself each day puts me in a frame of mind to trust God and embrace the cross of my own dying also."

 

 

 

{The Gospel Primer, 39-41}

 

 

Thought: Am I Willing and Submissive?

O Lord, we pray, "Thy will be done,"

Or "Master, here am I."

We pray You'd do a mighty work

That to the flesh we'd die.

And when the anwer comes to us

In form of trial and test,

We fail to see Your loving hand,

Refining fire is best.

...May it purge me now

And make of  me what You require.

...Lord, send Your great refining fire.

~Mac Lynch

Thought: Is Confession and Forgiveness a Priority?

Blessed is the one

whose transgression is forgiven,

whose sin is covered.

Blessed is the man

against whom the LORD counts no iniquity,

and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

For when I kept silent,

my bones wasted away

through my groaning all day long.

For day and night

Your hand was heavy upon me;

my strength was dried up

as by the heat of summer.

I acknowledged my sin to You,

and I did not cover my iniquity;

I said, "I will confess

my transgressions to the LORD,"

and You forgave

the iniquity of my sin.  

{Psalm 32:1-5}

Thought: Is Jesus my Treasure?

"Jesus, You are the Treasure,

Treasure of my heart.
 I'm amazed at Your beauty

and all that You are.
 My everything, the song I sing,

my sun, moon, and stars,
 Jesus, You are the Treasure,

Treasure of my heart."

by Ron Hamilton and Cheryl Reid

from "We are Your Church"