The Stromwall's

“Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote in the Gulag Archipelago that it was in prison where he learned that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor through classes, not through political parties, either, but right through every human heart and through all human hearts.
When we give ourselves serious evaluation, we find things hiding in our hearts that, if we could choose, we would remove. Our hearts have been described as “a zoo of lusts, a bedlam of ambitions, a nursery of fears, a harem of fondled hatreds.” Yet the Church, by its very nature, must be made up of the likes of us.
However, we are not left to ourselves. God is at work in the lives of all willing people, changing and transforming them into something more than they were.”
- excerpt from 30 Days to Understanding the Bible

James 4: 5-6
In verses 5 and 6, James says that God is a jealous lover who will boy let you share your affections with anyone but him. The word jealous has negative connotations when used in reference to human beings, but it is only positive when it refers to God. When we tal about Gods love, we could appropriately replace te word jealous with the word zealous. God is zealous to recapture our affections, so the Holy Spirit works to reclaim our hearts. Isn’t that amazing? Most spurned lovers would not pursue the unfaithful spouse, but God pursues you.

Amazing

I just began reading, Everlasting righteousness, by Horatious Bonar. I’m hoping to become an expert on justification by faith alone. Pray with me that God would continue to develop my theological framework

It is hard to avoid the conclusion that there is something fundamentally wrong with the world. According to Christianity our biggest problem is sin. Yet the concept of “sin” is offensive or ludicrous to many. This often because we don’t understand what Christians mean by the term.

- Tim Keller
The reason for God

Read this from John C. Maxwell on Leadership – Promises for Every Day

So Aaron and his sons did all the things that the LORD had commanded by the hand of Moses.

Lev 8:36

Aaron, like many leaders through history, received a divine calling. God chose Aaron and his sons to serve as Israel’s priests and charged them with carrying out rituals and sacrifices on behalf of all Israelites. Scripture gives meticulous detail to their ordination and calling. Their conduct was to be beyond reproach – God made it crystal clear that failure to uphold His established guidelines would result in death.

Despite his high calling, Aaron at times struggled with his authority. He once caved into the depraved wishes of the people and led Israel in a pagan worship service, an abomination that led to the deaths of many Israelites. Aaron had been set apart for God’s service, but on that occasion, he chose to live and lead otherwise.

The failure of a leader usually results in consequences far more grave that the fall of a non-leader; On the day Aaron failed, “about three thousand men of the people fell [died] ” (Exodus 32:28). When leaders fall, followers also pay the price.

Have you read Randy Alcorn’s the Treasure Principal. If not, get it!

… from the Introduction:

“All our life, you’ve been on a treasure hunt. You’ve been searching for a perfect person and a perfect place. Jesus is that person ; heaven is that place. So if you’re a Christian, you’ve already met the person, and you’ve already headed to the place.

But there’s a problem. You’re not yet living with that person, and you’re not yet living in that place!

You may attend church regulalrly, pray, and read the Bible. But life can still be drudgery, can’t it? You dutifully put one foot in front of the other, plodding across the hot, barren ground, longing for a joy you cannot find, a treasure that eludes you.

Jesus told a story like that. It’s about a hidden treasure that, once discovered, brings life-changing joy… But before we get started on our little journey, I want you to know something. Some books try to motivate giving out of guilt. This isn’t one of them.

This book is about something else – the joy of giving. The treasure principal has long been buried. It’s time to unearth it. It’s a simple yet profound idea – with radical implications. Once you grasp it and put it into practice, nothing will ever look the same. And believe me, you won’t want it to.

When you discover the secret joy of the Treasure Principle, I guarantee you’ll never be content with less.

Amazing stuff – this will change your view on money and joy!

visit amazon.com to purchase

The Book, How to Worship Jesus Christ, has been speaking to me a lot as of late. This is a series on having and creating a true heart of worship.

“Andrew Murray, who has given us possibly the best devotional classic on Hebrews, has this to say about a true heart:

In man’s nature the heart is the central power. As the heart is so is the man … Our inmost being must in truth be yielded to Him… It is only as the desire of the heart is fixed upon God, the whole heart seeking for God, giving its love and finding its joy in God, that a man can draw nigh to God.

This may possibly cause you to think, ” What hope do I have for a true heart? Can I fix the desire of my heart upon God? Can my whole heart seek for God, giving its love to and finding its joy in God? Can i do that?”

Continue reading