Growing Where Planted

Do you ever find yourself thriving in certain places or seasons of life or absolutely dying in others? I've noticed that location and environment definitely affects my spiritual outlook. Sometimes are harder than others to seek and pursue growth! Knowing this about myself, I've been struggling to invest time in some spiritual disciplines. If nothing else, seeing "The Book of Eli" shot me to the heart of my LACK in memorized scripture. I've been attempting to memorize Colossians, primarily because it talks about who we are IN CHRIST. This passage about the character of the new man has come up often... (Col. 3:12-17)

12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on TENDER MERCIES, KINDNESS, HUMILITY, MEEKNESS, LONGSUFFERING;

13 BEARING with one another, and FORGIVING one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

14 But above all these things put on LOVE, which is the bond of perfection.

15 And let the PEACE of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be THANKFUL.

16 Let the word of Christ DWELL in you richly in all WISDOM, TEACHING and ADMONISHING one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, SINGING with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

17 And whatever you do in word or deed, DO ALL in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving THANKS to God the Father through Him.

FINISHED!

As of 9:15 this morning, my semester is complete! Praise the Lord...I never thought it'd all get done! Somehow, God gives just enough strength for the tasks He sets before us. Now onto the next thing.

I've been reading in Psalms for my devotions recently. Last night as I was sleepily reading through the chapters, I came across one that was very applicable to me as I go to the Philippines.

Psalm 16: The Hope of the Faithful, and the Messiah's Victory
A Michtam of David.

Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust.

O my soul, you have said to the LORD 'You are my Lord,
My goodness is nothing apart from You.'
As for the saints who are on the earth,
'They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.'

Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god;
Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer,
Nor take up their names on my lips.

O LORD, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You maintain my lot.
The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Yes, I have a good inheritance.

I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel;
My heart also instructs me in the night seasons.
I have set the LORD always before me;
Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.

Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will rest in hope.
For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
You will show the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

SO many thoughts rushing through my brain...mmmmmmmm...so good :) Praise God for the power to think!

I'm reading through Ezekiel at the moment and today was chapter 8. Ezekiel is given this vision...he goes to the temple in Jerusalem and is commanded to dig into a wall. He does so and finds a door...a door to the room of the people's idols. The walls give witness of the abominations of the supposedly pious people...burning incense to other gods, worshiping the sun, women weeping for Tammuz (Babylonian god), etc... Then comes this key convicting verse...

"Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the room of his idols? For they say, 'Yahweh does not see us, Yahweh has forsaken the land." (vs. 12)

How many of us have committed sin, maybe thinking in our minds, "I know God sees all, but maybe He can't see this..." Do you notice how sin is so much easier when brought about in darkness...the human eyes may not see as well, but God's eyes do not require light to weep at the sin He sees us committing.

How many sins have we hidden in our hearts, thinking God cannot see them there?! "Search my heart, O God...", reveal the sin in it, and teach me how to repent.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Moody's chapel speaker today is beginning a series on "Relating to One Another." I wrote down some great quotes...mostly just a bunch of thoughts to process:

"In relationships, communication is key. Assume nothing--talk about everything."

"Biblical love is ACTION not EMOTION."

"Live by the consistency of the word of god, not your emotions."

"Develop a sensitivity to our differences."

"We shouldn't let all the things we believe cause division in the body of Christ."

"See people as who they can be and who they can reach. Don't ignore those around you."

"...for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail;
but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them.
You might even be found opposing God!"
(Acts 5:38-39)

Proverbs 23:17
"Do not let your heart envy sinners,
But be zealous for the fear of the LORD all the day."

Proverbs 23:23
"Buy the truth and do not sell it, also wisdom and instruction and understanding."

Proverbs 23:24-25
"The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, and he who begets a wise child will delight in him. Let your father and mother be glad and let her who bore you rejoice."

Psalm 28:7c
"Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song I will praise Him."

Psalm 38:17-20
"For I am ready to fall,
And my sorrow is continuously before me.
For I will declare my iniquity;
I will be in anguish over my sin.
But my enemies are vigorous and they are strong;
And those who hate me wrongfully have multiplied.
They are my adversaries--those also who render evil for good--because I follow what is good."

The fruits and nuts of the family tree...

Sorry...no pictures in this one. :)

I'm a thinker. This is a blessing and a curse. I think too long on things that don't mean 2 cents and I don't think before I act or say something stupid. Unfortunate. However, in the hours and hours of miscellaneous thought-flow, God sticks in a very directed chain of thought, and boy are those times good.

Throughout the summer, I have seen patterns in my life that reflect very similarly to some in my parents and grandparents. As I looked into it more, I realized that I had never studied or questioned the concept of generational sin. Now, be advised that these are merely the preliminary findings of an ignorant teenager. However, they have opened up some great doors of understanding for me.

First of all, there is something to be said for the way one is influenced by parents and previous generations. The all too common example people use is that of an alcoholic: a child of an alcoholic parent is statistically more likely to become an alcoholic. I think the same can be said for any prevalent sin--children watch their parents' example of sin, there is a chance they might follow such example and be guilty of the same sin.

HOWEVER...(brilliant quote I found)..."Although significantly influenced by them, believers are not slaves to their environment, circumstances, nerve endings, psyche, chemical soup, or parents."

The concept of "generational sin" seems to stem from the passage of Scripture: Exodus 34:6-7. "⁶Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; ⁷who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations."

Listen to what Wayne Grudem says about this passage: "This statement shows the horrible nature of sin in the way it has effects far beyond the individual sinner, also harming those around the sinner and harming future generations as well. We see this in tragic ways in ordinary life...the children of abusive parents often become abusive parents. Christians who are forgiven by Christ should not think of these phrases as applying to them, however, for they are in the other category of people mentioned just before this section on 'the guilty': they are among the 'thousands' to whom God continually shows 'steadfast love,' and in continually 'forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin' (vs. 7). When someone comes to Christ the chain of sin is broken (1 Peter 1:18-19)."

Unfortunately, it seems as though many people have taken the scriptures on this subject and changed them from a message of hope to one of excuse. We cannot say, "well, because of this generational sin in my family, it's not my fault that I struggle with it." WRONG-O. May I again say, if we are believers in Christ, then it is HE who has won the victory over sin and REDEEMED us from the "curse of the law" (Galatians 3:10-14).

Here is the cool part...when we believe in Christ, we are no longer heirs of SIN...but heirs of GOD. We have an inheritance in Christ.

So there are some of my random thoughts. These are some websites I read and a couple books that discuss generational sin:

www.tmch.net/gensin.htm
www.porn-free.org/generational_sin.htm
www.christianitytoday.com/tcw/2004/mayjun/4.16.html
www.voiceofonecrying.com/generational_sins_or_god.htm
Breaking Free by Beth Moore
Blessing or a Curse by Derek Prince

The concept of Thought

A definition:

Organized views of a specific topic; a intelligent production of the mind; reasoning ability; the power to imagine.

I love to think. In my romantic view of life as a young adult, I dramatize my moments of intellectual creativity by taking my journal to a tea or coffee shop and processing through the things that rattle in the emptiness upstairs :) Sometimes I draw a diagram or a picture to illustrate. Oh man...that's when I'm REALLY thinking well ;)

I have been confronted by the reality of accountability...but more than in actions...accountability of THOUGHT. Sometimes it seems as though those things that are buried so deep in our being are not important because no one can see them. We are so wrong. Guess who sees them? :)

In my musings, I did some research:

• The Origin of Thought: The Heart
• Psalm 19:14 "May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, oh LORD my strength and my Redeemer."

• What you think in your heart is a reflection of your character.
• Proverbs 23:7 "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he..."

• The ability to think is a gift of God to be used with faith.
• Romans 12:3 "For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith."

• When God calls us to repent, He tells us to repent in action AND thought.
  
• 1 Corinthians 10:12 "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall."
  
• Isaiah 55:7 "Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD..."

Bits and pieces

Confession: daily devotions are ridiculously hard for me. I am the epitome of inconsistency. BUT, despite that, God blesses the time I do spend in His word.

I'm reading through Jeremiah at present. Today I got to chapter 32.

At this point, Jerusalem has been captured by Nebuchadnezzar. Judah's king, Zedekiah, seems pretty fed up with life at this point so he takes Jeremiah and locks him up in his palace courtyard--a make-shift prison at that time. While he's in prison, Jeremiah interacts with a bunch of random people, but one man in particular approaches him and says in paraphrase: you have the right to redeem/buy this plot of land if you so desire it, even though you're in prison and have seemingly no use for it while you're locked up.

Now, who in their right mind, while locked in prison with no assurance of EVER being let go, would pay good money for land that he may never get to see or use? As I read this, I'm thinking, Jeremiah's an idiot. Haha oh Emily...if only you stood back and saw God's bigger plan.

SO. Even Jeremiah gets to wondering, why the heck did I buy this land in my present situation...so he asks God:

"Ah Lord GOD, behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. there is nothing too hard for You...

You have brought Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt...

You have given them this land...and they came in and took possession of it, but they have not obeyed Your voice or walked in your law. they have done nothing of all that You commanded them to do; therefore You have caused all this calamity to come upon them...

And You have said to me, O Lord GOD, 'Buy the field for money, and take witnesses'!--yet the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans."

But see how God responds...

"Behold, I am the LORD Yahweh, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?...I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul."

Why do we question God when we KNOW...WE KNOW (!)...that He wants what's best for us...with all His heart and soul?

As if God would withhold anything good from us?

It began in the garden, it has yet to end...our doubt of God's goodness.

Genesis 3:1-5
"Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which Yahweh Adonai had made. And he said to the woman, 'Has Adonai indeed said, 'You shall not of every tree of the garden'?' And the woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'' Then the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not surely die. For Adonai knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like Him, knowing good and evil.''"

As if God would withhold anything good from us?

Psalm 81:13-16
"Oh, that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways! I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn My hand against their adversaries. The haters of the LORD Yahweh would pretend submission to Him, but their fate would endure forever. He would have fed them also with the finest of wheat; and with honey from the rock I would have satisfied you."

As if God would withhold anything good from us?

Psalm 23
"The LORD Yahweh is my shepherd; because of this, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD Yahweh forever."

As if God would withhold anything good from us?

John 3:16
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it through Him."

As if God would withhold anything good from us?