Putting Two and Two Together

There is a story about the boy Jesus at 12 yrs old, sitting with the scholars and teachers of the day in the Temple, listening, and asking questions. Luke records it like this, "...and all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers."

This word, "understanding" is very interesting in that it means "a putting together, a quickness of apprehension, the critical faculty for clear apprehension, intelligently assessing a situation". This word, understanding, is derived from two Greek words, phronesis and sunesis. "phronesis", acts while, "sunesis", judges. Phronesis is the practical side of the mind, while sunesis is the analyzing and discerning side.

My prayer is that God grant me understanding and the ability to put two and two together as I walk with Him daily through life.

Turning

"Turning from something takes courage, turning to something takes
faith."

		Turning from something takes courage, turning to something take faith.

Turning from something takes courage, turning to something take
faith.

Turning from something takes courage, turning to something take
faith.

Turning from something takes courage, turning to something take
faith.

Looking for God

"We habitually and instinctively look to other things besides God and His grace as our justification, hope, significance, and security. We believe the gospel at one level, but at deeper levels we do not. Human approval, professional success, power and influence, family and clan identity--all of these things serve as our heart's "functional trust" rather than what Christ has done, and as a result we continue to be driven to a great degree by fear, anger, and a lack of self-control. You cannot change such things through mere willpower, through learning Biblical principles and trying to carry them out. We can only change permanently as we take the gospel more deeply into our understanding and into our hearts.We must feed on the gospel, as it were, digesting it making it part of ourselves. That is how we grow." (excerpts from The Prodigal God by Tim Keller)

A Good Indication

"We will never find God unless He first seeks us, and He can do this in many different ways. Sometimes He jumps dramatically into our lives and shows His hand print and other times he quietly patiently argues with us even though we continue to turn away. How can you tell if He is working on you? If you begin to sense your lostness and find yourself wanting to escape, you should realize that that desire is not something you could have generated on your own. Such a process requires Help, and if it is happening it is a good indication that He is even now at your side." (excerpts from The Prodigal God by Tim Keller)

Happiness and Peace

"God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing." ~ C.S. Lewis

An Interesting Thing Happened to Me...

An interesting thing happened to me this week. I have most recently been engaged in a very busy and stressful season of life, however, I felt impressed to pray for my older brother, Steve, who lives in Arkansas. Even with so many things screaming for my attention, I was continually nudged in my spirit to pray for my brother. As I paid closer attention to the nudging, I heard the words "distraction & danger". Those words didn't mean anything to me, personally, so I knew it must have something to do with my brother, Steve. As a result, I carved out time to make a phone call in between my log-jammed schedule. As I talked with him, I told him what I was hearing in prayer and just wanted to check on him. He thanked me and said he, too, was extremely busy but everything was fine; nonetheless, I continued to pray for him. The next day I received a call from my brother Steve, and he unfolded this incredible story about what took place and his discovery later in the day after my phone call of concern. Before my call to him, he had cleaned out the ashes from his fireplace insert in order to make a new fire for the evening. He placed the ashes in a bucket on the back porch, as he usually does, and enjoyed time with his wife before retiring for bed. Later, in the night, they were awakened by the smell of smoke. He went outside to find the plastic bucket melted to the ground with the 2-day old ashes. After dousing it with water he went back to bed, only to be awakened by his wife several hours later saying, “I smell smoke again". My brother said, "It’s OK honey, I already took care of it and it’s just the lingering smell." Well, she didn't believe him and made him get up and check things again. Unable to find the cause, he made a more extensive examination and found that the bucket containing the ashes had heated up the metal kick plate at the bottom of the door so hot, it caught the wood on fire behind the kick plate. It had begun to spread along the side of the house and had melted the vinyl siding down the back of the house. If he hadn’t discovered it in time, the whole house would have gone up in smoke!! This put a new definition on "distraction & danger"! Although this sounds rather bizarre, a similar incident happened years before when my brother, Steve, called me after his normal early morning prayer time. He called saying he had great concern for my safety and asked if we were OK? He went on to describe how deeply troubled he felt in prayer for us and was actually feeling grief as if someone had died. I assured him everything was fine and that it may be a "prophetic prayer" for the something in the future; I thanked him for his sensitivity and concern. Well, later that day, a pastor friend and I took our children out 4 wheeling on the church property. My oldest son was around 2 ½ yrs old and sat in my lap as I drove the 4 wheeler—that was before laws were changed and dangers were discovered about 4 wheelers. We were having a blast climbing small hills and riding the terrain when all of sudden we hit a dip and the 4 wheeler flipped up in mid-air and threw both of us off! I can still remember watching the machine flying up in the air and landing inches from my son’s head! I could not believe it! It all happened so fast and we were being so careful. I rushed over to my son, grabbed him up in my arms, and began to thank God for his safety. He was still in a daze, scratched all over, with a gash in his chin, and bleeding. As we got in the car, rushing him to the hospital, and weeping and praying for my son Kimble II, it came to my memory, as I was holding my boy that my brother had called that very morning in a panic and concern for our safety. I truly believe that his prophetic intercession that day released God's angelic protection that saved my son's life. If that huge machine would have landed inches the other direction, it would have crushed his little skull. In the emergency room, we rightfully got a tongue lashing from the doctors as I was told how “lucky” we were that something more tragic didn’t happened. My son, Kimble’s scratches were cleaned and treated, and a butterfly bandaid was put on the gash on his chin without stitches. We were able to walk out of the ER that day, shaken but grateful to the Lord that he was alive. So, I encourage you to do as I do today, live life with a listening ear to the prodding of the Holy Spirit. It’s invaluable to not only have people in your life, but to be that person in others lives that know how to listen, pray, and act.

Worldviews Matter

"The most practical and important thing about a man is his view of the universe. For a landlady to consider a lodger, it is important to know his income, but still more important to know his philosophy. For a general to fight an enemy, it is important to know the enemy’s numbers, but still more important to know the enemy’s philosophy . The question is not whether the theory of the cosmos affects matters, but whether, in the long run, anything else affects them." G.K. Chesterton "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he." King Solomon "Worldview is the most important thing that we can know about a man. Ideas have consequences. And those consequences affect everything in the practical realm as well as in the theoretical realm. Discernment of worldview is therefore the most necessary of all the tasks of wisdom." Richard Weaver