The Plumbline

Where does a warrior find strength? I watched a show this weekend about the great warrior chiefs of various American Indian tribes as they were being asked to sign treaties to no longer attack the white settlers. The thing that struck me was not just that they were fighting for their land, but for their way of life - they valued their beliefs, customs, and traditions. These included how they viewed and treated the land and the animals inhabiting that land. They were willing to fight for them. The warrior has a different kind of 'heart' and 'mindset'. The warrior knows what he believes, stands upon those beliefs even when pushed to give up on them, and trusts those beliefs because he trusts what is behind those beliefs! And don't for a minute let this Book of The Revelation be out of mind. Ponder and meditate on it day and night, making sure you practice everything written in it. Then you'll get where you're going; then you'll succeed. Haven't I comma...

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. (Lao Tzu) Tzu really described what it is like to come to the revelation of how deeply we are loved by God and then in turn, we begin to draw strength way beyond whatever is resident within us - building and growing until we are able to overcome obstacles that once stood squarely in our way. To be deeply loved by God and to realize even a tenth of what that love is like is to begin the journey of walking with a strength not your own. We will never fully comprehend the love of God in this lifetime, but we have an eternity to enjoy it! 15 Every family in heaven and on earth gets its true name from him. 16 I ask the Father with his great glory to give you the power to be strong in your spirits. He will give you that strength through his Spirit. 17 I pray that Christ will live in your hearts because of your faith. I pray that your life will be strong in love and be built on love. 18 And I pr...

Be strong and brave, and don’t tremble in fear of them, because the Eternal your God is going with you. He’ll never fail you or abandon you!  (Deuteronomy 31:6 VOICE) Moses was about to "pass the baton" to Joshua, and in preparing for his leaving of this earth, as well as the future leadership of the Israelite nation, Moses gives final instructions to carry on without fear.  Great armies, vast in number and strong in "fighting force" would stand in their way, but greater forces would rear their ugly heads most of them knew nothing about.  Forces like stubborn pride, unyielding discontent, and unbridled lust.  Forces which indeed, if unchecked quickly, would lead to their fall as a nation.  I think Moses had a foreshadowing of this, since one of the very last things he did while on this earth was the recording of the words given to him by God so they could be brought out long after he had gone as a reference and reminder of all God required and promised. Charle...

If you have ever "inherited" a monumental task because someone left the company, was promoted, or you just were "tagged" as "it", you know the overwhelming sense of terror which grips you, if even for a moment, as you consider the magnitude of what you are going to have to do.  For just a moment, you are overcome by the responsibility and you might even falter a little in your acceptance of the task at hand.  This is probably a reaction quite common to man - one which is based in fear as much as it is in pride.  We might fear failure because it will impact our "impression" in the eyes of others.  We could think no task is beyond our means of completion, but silently be worrying we might not have the wherewithal to pull this one off.  What usually happens in these moments is someone bolsters our "faith" a little by reassuring us that we "can do it".  This might do more than bolster our faith - it could even make our head swell...

48 "In a word, what I'm saying is, Grow up. You're kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you." (Matthew 5:48) 13 Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here's what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It's the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts. (James 3:13) I think it takes great courage to live out the Christian life.  When you really begin to examine what Jesus outlines in this Sermon on the Mount, he is focusing on his disciples living by a standard that is just a little higher than the rest of what other "religions" require.  For example, he says to live as "kingdom subjects" - living out our God-created identity.  Before we can do that, we have to discover what that identity entails.  We have spent a couple weeks now outlining the "criteria" of our identity in Christ.  So,...

  6   "Be strong. Take courage. Don't be intimidated. Don't give them a second thought because   God , your God, is striding ahead of you. He's right there with you. He won't let you down; he won't leave you." (Deuteronomy 31:6) As a new week is starting, a month comes to an end and the issues we are facing worldwide continue to mount in severity, I encourage us to embrace these words as our standard for the various personal, national, and international challenges that are ahead of each of us.  It is quite easy to be intimidated by that which we don't understand - war, unrest, falling stock market values, crashing home sales, troubles in our homes or work environment, etc.  We can look at the challenges of our very own life and become discouraged by what seems to be mounting pressure to perform, crushing demands on our time/energy, and emotional highs/lows that keep us as unbalanced as a ride on a roller coaster.  Or...we can embrace the words of Mose...

And don't for a minute let this Book of The Revelation be out of mind. Ponder and meditate on it day and night, making sure you practice everything written in it. Then you'll get where you're going; then you'll succeed. Haven't I commanded you? Strength! Courage! Don't be timid; don't get discouraged.  God , your God, is with you every step you take. (Joshua 1:8-9) Joshua was the leader of Israel right after Moses passed away.  Moses passed the torch to him to get the Israelites out of the wilderness and into the Promised Land.  He was commissioned with a huge purpose - cross the Jordan.  It was the time for Israel to finally take what God had delivered them from Egypt to inherit.  The promise to Joshua - "I'll give you every square inch of land you set your feet on".  If that was not enough to get Joshua motivated to move into the land, God promised to be with him just like he had been with Moses. The "success" Joshua enjoyed in ta...