The lyrics to the 1973 Areosmith hit Dream on ask the question ...where did it all go ? (my life)
I also like the acoustical sound as performed with passion by artist Kelly Sweet ..listen to video bar
"everytime I look in the mirror...(reflecting on past)
lines on my face getting clearer (body getting older and also a better view of self ..making sense of this life)
the past is gone ..(too late to change history)
it went by like dusk to dawn...(life is short ..the days are evil..time gets away)
everybody's got their dues in life to pay ...(consequencences of how we live our lives)
I know, its everybodys sin ,you got to lose to know how to win...(all have sinned and are made aware of their need for redemption by their failings ..that is if given the gift of sorrowful repentance by the holy Spirit
dream on ! NO REGRETS
All my life's on books written pages lived and learned from fools and from sages...(nothing new under the sun.... someone else has been there ,done that....Solomon /Ecclesiastes
"no temptation has seized you except what is common to man" 1 cor 10:13
We are influenced by what we read and by who we spend our time with
as put in my favorite psalm 1:1-3
1. 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.
2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3. 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.
( How to be successful in Gods ' economy)
Good and evil cannot dwell together
in the same heart, so a good man ought
not to go into evil company.
Indian proverb
( Delaware tribe )
proverbs tells us as iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another 27;17
or he who walks with the wise grows wise but a companion of fools suuffers harm.
Or to put it as it has been said of young people "show me your freinds and I will show you your future"
We all have different roles as we go through life , from student to teacher... usually both at once.
or as author Elridge puts the stages in his book Way Of The Wild Heart
1.cowboy
2.lover
3.warrior
4. king
5.mentor
6. sage
I will explain in more detail later but you can figuire it out well enough to see how we all develop and influence as well as are being influenced at any given life stage
Thats why we should heed the warning in proverbs 4:23 .." above all else, guard your heart,
for it is the well spring of life"
So that we can reflect and dream on with
no regrets
as we sing for the laughter, sing for the day ( enjoy life..live now ..not someday... dreams ?move it up)
maybe tommorrow the good Lord take you away (life is a vapor ...be ready when God calls your name)
Sunday, August 30, 2009
NO REGERETS PART 3- KNOWLEDGE AND TRUTH
Wisdom,
Understanding ,
Knowledge
These are not concepts found only in the Bible but are at the root of all questions about our existence. The body of work on these subjects could not be contained any where except in the mind of God The Creator. All the books , songs , poems and computors combined can only make an attempt on this!
John 21:25 "Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written. "
Because of our finite understanding of an infinite God we must Live, teach and study(and blog) with great care , so that our explanations are not limited by our perspectives.
Jesus gives this warning.... John 7:16 Jesus answered "My teaching is not my own.
It comes from him who sent me.
17. If anyone chooses to do Gods will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.
18. He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him."
...(there's that image managment /confession thing again)
or as Warren Wiersbe quotes A. W. TOZER
"Everywhere among Conservatives we find persons who are
Bible-taught but not Spirit-taught. They conceive
truth to be something which they can grasp with the mind.
If a man holds to the fundementals of the Christian faith he is thought to posses divine truth. But it does not follow. There is no truth apart from the Spirit"
(think pharisee and experts on the Law)
Wiersbe goes on to say "Learn all You can from every good source , but let God , not man be your teacher"
John14:26 But the counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
John 16:13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. he will not speak on his own ; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
verses 14-15 reinforce and explain further.
So we can say It is impossible to know Gods will and obey it without the truth that comes from the Father through the Spirit.
we know that all scipture is God breathed or inspired by the Holy Spirit..2 timothy 3.16
I will go on to say that to reject authority of scripture is to reject truth and Gods Spirit
...never a good idea!
We also know that we all possess knowledge, Knowledge puffs up but love builds up (1 Cor.1-3)
The man who thinks he knows something does not know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God.
John 4:24 God is spirit,and his worshipers must
worship in spirit and in truth.
So how do we do this?
to Quote Chuck Swindoll "Knowledge apart fom application falls short of Gods will for our lives"
We study Gods word to make us wiser, gain insight,understanding (psalm 119:99-104) as we obey its instruction for our lives...
JUST DO IT!
NO REGRETS !
I KNOW WHAT YOU MAY BE THINKING TOO PREACHYY
Me too but not for the apostle Paul who writes;
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing (1 cor1:18-2:16)
God chose foolish things of the world to shame the wise...
so that no one may boast before him..
so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on Gods power...
.for who has known the mind of the Lord
that he may instruct him?" Isiah 40:13
"let no flesh Glory in his prescence"
All glory belongs to, God not to man
proverbs 2;6
For the lord gives wisdom
and from his mouth come knowledge and
understanding.
Understanding ,
Knowledge
These are not concepts found only in the Bible but are at the root of all questions about our existence. The body of work on these subjects could not be contained any where except in the mind of God The Creator. All the books , songs , poems and computors combined can only make an attempt on this!
John 21:25 "Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written. "
Because of our finite understanding of an infinite God we must Live, teach and study(and blog) with great care , so that our explanations are not limited by our perspectives.
Jesus gives this warning.... John 7:16 Jesus answered "My teaching is not my own.
It comes from him who sent me.
17. If anyone chooses to do Gods will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.
18. He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him."
...(there's that image managment /confession thing again)
or as Warren Wiersbe quotes A. W. TOZER
"Everywhere among Conservatives we find persons who are
Bible-taught but not Spirit-taught. They conceive
truth to be something which they can grasp with the mind.
If a man holds to the fundementals of the Christian faith he is thought to posses divine truth. But it does not follow. There is no truth apart from the Spirit"
(think pharisee and experts on the Law)
Wiersbe goes on to say "Learn all You can from every good source , but let God , not man be your teacher"
John14:26 But the counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
John 16:13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. he will not speak on his own ; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
verses 14-15 reinforce and explain further.
So we can say It is impossible to know Gods will and obey it without the truth that comes from the Father through the Spirit.
we know that all scipture is God breathed or inspired by the Holy Spirit..2 timothy 3.16
I will go on to say that to reject authority of scripture is to reject truth and Gods Spirit
...never a good idea!
We also know that we all possess knowledge, Knowledge puffs up but love builds up (1 Cor.1-3)
The man who thinks he knows something does not know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God.
John 4:24 God is spirit,and his worshipers must
worship in spirit and in truth.
So how do we do this?
to Quote Chuck Swindoll "Knowledge apart fom application falls short of Gods will for our lives"
We study Gods word to make us wiser, gain insight,understanding (psalm 119:99-104) as we obey its instruction for our lives...
JUST DO IT!
NO REGRETS !
I KNOW WHAT YOU MAY BE THINKING TOO PREACHYY
Me too but not for the apostle Paul who writes;
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing (1 cor1:18-2:16)
God chose foolish things of the world to shame the wise...
so that no one may boast before him..
so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on Gods power...
.for who has known the mind of the Lord
that he may instruct him?" Isiah 40:13
"let no flesh Glory in his prescence"
All glory belongs to, God not to man
proverbs 2;6
For the lord gives wisdom
and from his mouth come knowledge and
understanding.
NO REGRETS PART 2 -JOHNNY CASH AND THE DASH
You can learn a lot from peoples tombstones.
Besides the dates of birth and death an epataph can be telling about what defined the deceased.
The bible verse psalm 19.14 is on the tombstone of the late Johnny Cash...."May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
O Lord my Rock and my Redeemer."
The obvious implies a person of faith but more revealing is the motive of this faith...to please God and to do his will. The life of Johnny Cash was not without pain and moral tribulation but his understanding and sharing of his personal struggles offers a hope for the hopless and downtrodden and often forgoten and despised. Who does this sound like?
Because we all try and fail we must forgive ourselves and forgive others and accept the Grace from the ULTIMATE JUDGE .
The concept of justice can evoke an image of scales and a blindfolded judge. We see this throughout the bible as Gods weighing machine verses mans voting machine (approval) an Idea introduced in the previous blog post. We see this in the book of Job often and in chapter 31 verse6 Job swears his innocence in the oath "let God weigh me in honest scales
and he will know that I am blameless ."
Could you and I say that ?
What about Johnny Cash ?
Of course the answer is a loud no!
So we confess and renounce sin ...not always so easy!
Let's look at Job 31:33
"If I have concealed my sin as men do,(or as Adam did)
by hiding my guilt in my heart
34. because I so feared the crowd
and so dreaded the contempt of the clans
that I kept silent and would not go outside.....(approval of man the voting machine)
"
Since Adam the shame of sin has lead to concealment efforts as also seen in the life of David ,"A MAN AFTER GODS OWN HEART " A national hero and popular king whose psalm (51)of confession showed his devotion to God and has served as a guide for others' confessions.
Talk about no regrets !!!!
Oh that we (I) were that strong.
Hang the the Image management and make me more transperant (dangerous prayer)
Besides the dates of birth and death an epataph can be telling about what defined the deceased.
The bible verse psalm 19.14 is on the tombstone of the late Johnny Cash...."May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
O Lord my Rock and my Redeemer."
The obvious implies a person of faith but more revealing is the motive of this faith...to please God and to do his will. The life of Johnny Cash was not without pain and moral tribulation but his understanding and sharing of his personal struggles offers a hope for the hopless and downtrodden and often forgoten and despised. Who does this sound like?
Because we all try and fail we must forgive ourselves and forgive others and accept the Grace from the ULTIMATE JUDGE .
The concept of justice can evoke an image of scales and a blindfolded judge. We see this throughout the bible as Gods weighing machine verses mans voting machine (approval) an Idea introduced in the previous blog post. We see this in the book of Job often and in chapter 31 verse6 Job swears his innocence in the oath "let God weigh me in honest scales
and he will know that I am blameless ."
Could you and I say that ?
What about Johnny Cash ?
Of course the answer is a loud no!
So we confess and renounce sin ...not always so easy!
Let's look at Job 31:33
"If I have concealed my sin as men do,(or as Adam did)
by hiding my guilt in my heart
34. because I so feared the crowd
and so dreaded the contempt of the clans
that I kept silent and would not go outside.....(approval of man the voting machine)
"
Since Adam the shame of sin has lead to concealment efforts as also seen in the life of David ,"A MAN AFTER GODS OWN HEART " A national hero and popular king whose psalm (51)of confession showed his devotion to God and has served as a guide for others' confessions.
Talk about no regrets !!!!
Oh that we (I) were that strong.
Hang the the Image management and make me more transperant (dangerous prayer)
Saturday, August 29, 2009
NO REGRETS PART 1
I know it has been a while since I last posted and it is not so much that I have been busy I have just been waiting for the right time as I process and review my thoughts and try to filter content for the most value. (Value to who...me or readers? Both I hope)
To make the impact and experience better for readers and myself I will do this in several parts with other related topics and post but mostly on living well and leaving this world with no regrets.
"Life is not seperate from death.
It only looks that way"
Indian proverb
(Lakota)
Or to quote Charles Spurgeon about a man who said to a dying believer " Farewell, friend ! I shall never see you again in the land of the living !" The dying Christian replied, "I shall see you again in the land of the living where I am going. This is the land of the dying !"
Your perspective on this subject must begin with your beliefs. There is much to debate and discuss with others who do not share the Christian faith but for the scope of this subject I am going to assume agreement with authority of scripture and form basis of my views from the philosophy that this life though important is not all there is but it is inseperatable from the after life and is actually linked in the present as eternity has no begining or end even though are lives are measured by the dates on the tombstone . Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 3: 11 "He (God) has set eternity in the hearts of men"
and in vs:17 "God will bring to judgment both the righteous and the wicked,
for there will be a time for every activity ,
a time for every deed."
So do you still think life and death are not linked to the afterlife?
or as Jack Nicholsons character in the movie" The Bucket List "(more on this film in another post) scoffed "The wheels on the bus go round and round" Rather to say" this is all there is"
Warren Buffet on the stock market and proper valuations of equities ...."the market is a voting machine(OF VALUE) but time is a weighing machine"
On this subject I have heard quote "price changes quicker than value" think about that and the tulmult of recent markets.
Proverbs 14:12 "There is a way that seems right to a man,
but in the end it leads to death."
So how should we then live ? (not my original rhetorical question....Francis Schafer at least)
Or how should we die with no regrets ?
The one who does Gods will has no regrets......Think of the apostle Paul's farwell "I have fought the good fight I have Finished the race" note the distinction of actually doing versus Just knowing Gods will.
"all the knowledge in the world is of no use to fools"( Eagles lyrics)
James 1:22 "do not merely listen to the word, and so decieve yourselves, do what it says."
This is the mantra of William Paul Young, author of the fiction best seller titled "THE SHACK"
Speaking about his life at the Mabee Center recently in Tulsa He said these challenging words...."When I get to the end I do not want to ask what if only I had completely surrendered my life to Gods will ?"......no regrets.
The best example is Jesus in John 17:4 "I have brought you glory by completing the work you gave me to do"
What was this work? To seek and save the lost by restoring a broken relationship with the Father and remove the curse of death John 17:3 "Now this is eternal life: that they may KNOW YOU,the only true God"
Even when this work was toughest Jesus prayed "not my will but yours"
So if you or I do have a" BUCKET LIST" of sorts it best be in the will and workof God (Doing not just knowing) , Not in the pursuits of this world trying to experience all our wants and desires.
"The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever" 2 JOHN 2:17
To make the impact and experience better for readers and myself I will do this in several parts with other related topics and post but mostly on living well and leaving this world with no regrets.
"Life is not seperate from death.
It only looks that way"
Indian proverb
(Lakota)
Or to quote Charles Spurgeon about a man who said to a dying believer " Farewell, friend ! I shall never see you again in the land of the living !" The dying Christian replied, "I shall see you again in the land of the living where I am going. This is the land of the dying !"
Your perspective on this subject must begin with your beliefs. There is much to debate and discuss with others who do not share the Christian faith but for the scope of this subject I am going to assume agreement with authority of scripture and form basis of my views from the philosophy that this life though important is not all there is but it is inseperatable from the after life and is actually linked in the present as eternity has no begining or end even though are lives are measured by the dates on the tombstone . Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 3: 11 "He (God) has set eternity in the hearts of men"
and in vs:17 "God will bring to judgment both the righteous and the wicked,
for there will be a time for every activity ,
a time for every deed."
So do you still think life and death are not linked to the afterlife?
or as Jack Nicholsons character in the movie" The Bucket List "(more on this film in another post) scoffed "The wheels on the bus go round and round" Rather to say" this is all there is"
Warren Buffet on the stock market and proper valuations of equities ...."the market is a voting machine(OF VALUE) but time is a weighing machine"
On this subject I have heard quote "price changes quicker than value" think about that and the tulmult of recent markets.
Proverbs 14:12 "There is a way that seems right to a man,
but in the end it leads to death."
So how should we then live ? (not my original rhetorical question....Francis Schafer at least)
Or how should we die with no regrets ?
The one who does Gods will has no regrets......Think of the apostle Paul's farwell "I have fought the good fight I have Finished the race" note the distinction of actually doing versus Just knowing Gods will.
"all the knowledge in the world is of no use to fools"( Eagles lyrics)
James 1:22 "do not merely listen to the word, and so decieve yourselves, do what it says."
This is the mantra of William Paul Young, author of the fiction best seller titled "THE SHACK"
Speaking about his life at the Mabee Center recently in Tulsa He said these challenging words...."When I get to the end I do not want to ask what if only I had completely surrendered my life to Gods will ?"......no regrets.
The best example is Jesus in John 17:4 "I have brought you glory by completing the work you gave me to do"
What was this work? To seek and save the lost by restoring a broken relationship with the Father and remove the curse of death John 17:3 "Now this is eternal life: that they may KNOW YOU,the only true God"
Even when this work was toughest Jesus prayed "not my will but yours"
So if you or I do have a" BUCKET LIST" of sorts it best be in the will and workof God (Doing not just knowing) , Not in the pursuits of this world trying to experience all our wants and desires.
"The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever" 2 JOHN 2:17
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