tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-281851072024-03-07T02:18:57.261-06:00Dr. Steve McVeyPersonal Reflections From My Own Grace WalkSteve McVeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02608753297307591442noreply@blogger.comBlogger877125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28185107.post-30656618000152958682013-12-10T19:21:00.001-06:002013-12-10T19:21:33.888-06:00I Have A New Blog Site at www.stevemcvey.com - you'll need to go there.I've stopped using blogger.com as my blog site and have started a new blog over at www.stevemcvey.com It's a Wordpress site that I think will give me more flexibility once I learn how to use it properly. <br /><br />
There won't be any more posts from me on this site, so please go there to read my blog. I've moved all the posts from here over to that site.I hope you'll like it!Steve McVeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02608753297307591442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28185107.post-11329291392921276622013-09-25T17:08:00.001-05:002013-09-25T17:08:39.430-05:00A Happy MemoryJust came across this on the Internet. A few years ago Melanie and I participated in the "World's Largest Virginia Reel" that made the Guiness Book of World Records. 70 couples dancing the Virginia Reel together in a big gala weekend in Atlanta, celebrating the 70th Anniversary of Gone With The Wind. What a fun memory!<br />
<br />
<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" height="320" id="player-single" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/mnr_lib/200910/players/player-single.swf?job=41186" /><param name="allowScriptAcess" value="sameDomain" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="flashvars" value="playlistpath=warnerbros/41186" /><embed src="http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/mnr_lib/200910/players/player-single.swf?job=41186" flashvars="playlistpath=warnerbros/41186" quality="high" name="player-single" wmode="transparent" allowscriptaccess="sameDomain" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" width="320" height="320"></embed></object>Steve McVeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02608753297307591442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28185107.post-31501106430890949592013-09-10T08:45:00.001-05:002013-09-11T07:25:43.182-05:00A New Book by Steve & Melanie McVey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2IvkLbdKAXa8UIxAgQcmDX_td3SaCL1X0jurOc5YAVnlUaTBVAsw0lNjGRivjEVGbzTRJqjU1MkOw7vOnI4elHLO0TcAnckOwn0M704qCWKT6z4SrX1Uf7UQTZ7QP-imE-neS/s1600/41iFOfxP2dL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA278_PIkin4,BottomRight,-62,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2IvkLbdKAXa8UIxAgQcmDX_td3SaCL1X0jurOc5YAVnlUaTBVAsw0lNjGRivjEVGbzTRJqjU1MkOw7vOnI4elHLO0TcAnckOwn0M704qCWKT6z4SrX1Uf7UQTZ7QP-imE-neS/s1600/41iFOfxP2dL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA278_PIkin4,BottomRight,-62,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" /></a></div>
My wife, Melanie, and I have written a book that was released today on Amazon that I believe will help many, many people. Melanie was sexually molested as a child and, as is always the case, the effect on her life was huge. In fact, she came to hate the man who molested her - her grandfather. This book describes the journey she traveled from horrible hurt to hatred to healing.<br />
<br />
As Melanie shares her story of abuse, she and I both write about how our lives are affected by the pain we have experienced from others and how to find freedom from past hurts through grace. I believe this may book may touch people's lives at a more profound level than anything I've written since Grace Walk. <br />
<br />
Melanie writes: I was a little girl of about five or six when my abuse
began. My grandfather was the one person in my life who gave me love and
affection. I was a middle child, so I felt like I didn’t get much
attention from anybody, but my grandfather would come over and let me
dance on his feet. He’d set me on his big shoes, hold my hands, and walk
around the room as I danced. He’d sit me on his lap, and swing me
around in his arms. I remember so many times just being held and cuddled
by him. That was very important to me. I didn’t get that kind of
affection from anybody else. <br />
<br />
But then the time came when that
stopped being the kind of attention he gave me. Although I felt very
safe with him in the beginning, I came to realize that he didn’t
necessarily love me because of who I was. He wanted to be around me
because of what I was–I was a little child, and he was a child molester.<br />
<br />
From that dark place, hurt evolved into resentment and eventually
turned into complete hatred for her offender. It was only when she
received a call from her mother telling her that her grandfather was
dying and her response was, “Good! He’ll finally get what he deserves,”
that Melanie saw how crippling her pain had become to her emotional and
spiritual wholeness.<br />
<br />
Melanie and I have counseled
hurting people for over forty years and have seen many experience
freedom as Christ led them along the pathway you’ll discover in this
book. <br />
<br />
In these chapters, you will learn:<br />
* How to recognize the effects of internalizing painful events that have happened to you.<br />
* How to identify the hurts done to you that need to be resolved.<br />
* How to take four biblical steps that will free you from the past.<br />
* How to deal with ongoing emotions about what happened.<br />
* How to relate to the person who hurt you.<br />
* How to handle it when somebody continues to hurt you.<br />
<br />
Christ
alone sets us free and heals our wounds. "Getting Past The Hurt" is
nothing less than a description of the pathway of grace that He walks us
through to experience that healing. Many have found the healing they
needed, and so can you.<br />
<br />
You can get the book at this link: <a href="http://amzn.to/17pPZiZ">http://amzn.to/17pPZiZ</a>Steve McVeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02608753297307591442noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28185107.post-33475184608920114632013-08-22T05:45:00.001-05:002013-08-22T05:47:16.854-05:00A Sample Chapter From My New Book<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0nBKDY0Y_1ZCNyz2hgxPW8Hc79RfuTcQAEP-b6xSQpDb8287tnOt6qettr7I6Ltu4rQkxhp9v_NXPP6b_iVWrEdqL5hG7z-OvKpyTdVFPdTahSQwdLpkVMXZucQtVO_35n2S6/s1600/9780736952354_p0_v2_s260x420.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0nBKDY0Y_1ZCNyz2hgxPW8Hc79RfuTcQAEP-b6xSQpDb8287tnOt6qettr7I6Ltu4rQkxhp9v_NXPP6b_iVWrEdqL5hG7z-OvKpyTdVFPdTahSQwdLpkVMXZucQtVO_35n2S6/s200/9780736952354_p0_v2_s260x420.JPG" width="128" /></a></div>
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Chapter
Fifteen</b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Clean
Fights</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“If
you had more ambition, we’d be further along by now!” Emma angrily said to Mason.
“I’ve told you to send out resumes but you’d rather stay right where you are no
matter what the best thing for us might be!”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“There
you go again! Blame me when we come up short because you don’t understand how
to live within a budget. You <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">never</i>
give one thought to whether or not we have the money for something. If it’s in
the bank, you assume it must be there to spend. Well, Emma, we have monthly
bills that have to be paid out of that money!”<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You’re
the one who didn’t pay last month’s power bill! Now we owe two months instead
of one. It’s not like I’ve spent the money on something we don’t need. If you’d
acted with just a little responsibility we wouldn’t be having this
conversation!” Emma responded. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Yeah,
blame it on me,” Mason continued. “That’s a lot easier than admitting that you
don’t seem to be able to understand that no matter how much money a family
makes, there has to be a limit on what is being spent every month!”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Without
another word, Emily turned and walked out of the room and into the kitchen.
Mason stormed into his home office, slamming the door hard enough to make sure
Emma heard it. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
kind of exchange takes place in homes all over the world every day. Arguing.
I’m not talking about physical conflict. Most couples don’t reach that stage in
their disagreements, but many don’t realize that wrong words spoken may have
irrevocable consequences.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Disagreements
in a marriage are a universal. In fact, show me a marriage where the couple
never disagrees and I’ll show you a situation where one person is has become so
passive that the marriage is on dangerous ground for altogether different
reasons than what this chapter will discuss. Verbal disagreements are not only
normal but can be healthy if they are expressed in the appropriate way. You
can’t live with a person and not have differences of opinion. It’s how you
handle those differences that are of utmost importance.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Looking
at the brief glimpse into the argument between Emma and Mason, several things
surface that are immediate red flags about the health of their communication
skills and thus, the health of their marriage. Read the description of their
conversation again and note each of the mistakes you can identify in their
disagreement. There are at least four or five things they did wrong. Can you
see them?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Address Behavior, Not Character</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Some
things that can be said in an argument have more weight than others. When we
feel angry, the temptation may be there to go for the harshest statement we can
make but doing that can cause long-term damage to a relationship that is very,
very hard to reverse. Angry words are one thing. Words that belittle the very
essence of somebody’s character are a more serious issue.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
Emma’s criticism that Mason had no ambition crossed the
line. Married partners usually know the vulnerabilities and insecurities of
their spouse. To verbally strike in an area that diminishes your mate as a person
is not only wrong, but may do lasting damage. Think of the areas in your own
life where you feel most insecure. When anybody gouges you in those areas of sensitivity,
the effect is exaggerated and the resulting damage isn’t overcome easily. You
don’t want to do that to the man you love. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One
wife said to me, “Well, he knows how I am and that I don’t really mean it,” to
which I replied, “No, he doesn’t know you don’t really mean it because he has a
phantom voice inside him that already tells him it’s true. When you affirm what
that voice says, it is next to impossible for him to readily believe you don’t
mean it. He may know that you do love him but your love won’t soon overcome the
damage done by words that fuel an insecurity that is already inside him.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Be
careful what you say. Words can be like a shotgun blast. Once the loud noise
subsides, the blast itself may be over but the damage is done. The Bible says,
“Reckless words pierce like a sword” (Proverbs 12:18, NIV).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
Tell him what you don’t like. Say it clearly and even
firmly if you want, but make sure that what you talk about is his behavior.
Wrong actions can be changed in no time but when a person is made to feel that
he is inherently bad on the inside, that isn’t easy to move past. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What
are you to do if your husband speaks to you in the wrong way discussed here?
First, don’t react to such a thing. Instead, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">respond</i> to his words. If your husband makes it a habit to say
things to you when he is angry that diminishes you as a person, it’s likely
that his words “push your buttons” in a way that your reaction may not be the
most helpful way to answer. In fact, your reaction may almost seem involuntary
when you feel provoked.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Instead
of reacting, decide now how you will respond when he says something to you that
is out of bounds because of the nature of the remark. It may be something as
simple as, “I will not continue this conversation now because you have crossed
the line by trying to reduce me as a person instead of talking about what I’ve
done that you don’t like.” Then, every time your husband commits this
infraction, say the same words to him. If you will be consistent in this, he
will learn that attacking your character will do nothing toward allowing him to
make his point but will only cause the conversation to end abruptly. To talk
about bad behavior is acceptable, but to put somebody down crosses the line.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When
you’ve ended a conversation in this way, wait until your emotions have
stabilized and then, when the time is right, approach him about agreeing on
certain guidelines for how you will disagree with each other. Obviously, a big
one will be that you don’t belittle each other’s character. Agree together to
address actions and not go afoul by diminishing each other. Once you have
agreed on the boundary lines for arguing, if your husband crosses a line in the
future, stop at that moment and remind him that you’ve agreed not to go there.
If he continues, end the conversation immediately and later, when you’ve both
settled down, come back to the discussion about your agreement on how to
disagree in a nondestructive way.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
idea of agreeing upon established guidelines for how to disagree may seem
simple but it works. You both have control over your words. In fact, one
translation of James 1:26 says, “And if a man thinks that he serves God, and
does not hold his tongue, but deceives his heart, this person's service is
worthless” (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Aramaic Bible in Plain
English</i>). Neither of you have to react. You can learn to hold your tongue
and properly respond.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Avoid The Words “Never” and
“Always”</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Mason
made a terrible choice by what he said to Emma: “You <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">never</i> give one thought to whether or not we have the money for
something.” When he made that statement, the discussion could no longer be
about what was going on at the moment the argument began. Now it was much more
than that. Mason had unwisely turned the conversation into something much
bigger by using the word “never.” His decision to use that word would
automatically and understandably put Emma on the defense. After all, now he
wasn’t just talking about one incident but about an alleged habitual way of
behaving. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When
arguments occur there are certain words that usually do nothing except increase
the emotional intensity of an already charged atmosphere. To say, “you never”
or “you always” is to throw gasoline on an already burning fire. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the goal is to resolve the problem,
that should be avoided at all costs.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Other
things to avoid are statements that question our mate’s intelligence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Somebody might say, “What were you
thinking?” or “That’s insane!” but what the other person may likely hear is, ‘You
are stupid!” Questions and remarks like these don’t serve a useful purpose. Saying
anything that is a veiled insult should be avoided. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Making
generalized accusations when arguing is harmful too. What we are feeling at
this moment may seem like feelings we have all the time, but that often is not
the case. It is easy to project the negative emotions of one intense situation into
all of life. For example, just because your husband didn’t do the yard work he
said he would do today doesn’t warrant calling him lazy. The problem with
volatile emotions during an argument is that our minds tend to quickly scan the
history of the other person’s behavior in an attempt to build a case that it’s
always like this. That is not helpful, even it were true.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It’s
important to avoid enlarging the issue that sparked the argument by saying
things that move away from the matter at hand and turn it into something much
bigger. Stay focused on the details of this particular incident and speak in a
rational and calm way about this. Don’t let it get out of hand and turn into
something else.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Strive For Understanding, Not A
Personal Victory</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Have
you been married long enough to discover that even if you win an argument, you
haven’t necessarily won anything? Maturity causes us to realize that in
personal relationships resolving differences isn’t about being proven right.
The goal is to understand and be understood. Most arguments stem from a lack of
understanding by one or both partners involved. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Your
husband may see things in a way that makes no sense to you whatsoever. Rather
than immediately trying to prove that his way of seeing the matter is wrong,
what might happen if you tried to understand <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">why</i> he sees it that way? Chances are that once you understood why
he saw it the way he does, it would be much easier to move toward a mutually
agreeable solution to the issue. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Rather
than immediately making assertions, determine to ask questions. Not the kind of
questions that are thinly veiled points that support your view, but questions
asked with the sincere intent of understanding. If your husband isn’t normally
a highly irrational person who has no acquaintance with common sense and
ordinary logic, why not take the time to try to understand how he has reached
the opinion he has come to on the matter than has caused the disagreement? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Begin
by seeking to understand before you take the offense in an effort to be
understood. Having first shown your husband the courtesy of actively listening
to his perspective you will find yourself in a place where you can ask that he
extend the same courtesy toward you as you share your opinion. Gaining a
personal victory by proving your point isn’t the aim. Understanding is the
bedrock of conflict resolution in any situation, including marriage. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Once
you have demonstrated an understanding of your husband’s viewpoint to his
satisfaction, you will be in a better position to present your viewpoint.
People tend to not listen if they don’t fell they have themselves been heard.
That’s why it is important to demonstrate that you do understand his view.
Understanding doesn’t necessitate that you agree, but only that you have
understood. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Before
you begin to present your reasoning that supports your position on the
controversy at hand, ask him, “Are you satisfied that I’ve heard and understand
you?” If he isn’t, then ask him to say more about what he believes you haven’t
gotten yet. Calmly talk it through until he acknowledges that he does feel
heard and understood.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When
it is your time to speak, make the conscious choice to speak calmly, without
your words carrying an emotional charge. If he interrupts, stop him and ask him
if he will show you the courtesy of allowing you to complete your thoughts
before interjecting his response. Remind him that you did the same for him. These
guidelines for arguing could be applicable in any situation where people
disagree with each other. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dealing With Bickering</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Some
couples seem to bicker with each other constantly. Sometimes the arguments are
over the silliest things. Marriage is not supposed to be that way. If you find
yourself repeatedly bickering with your husband over insignificant things,
chances are that it’s not those things that are the real source of the problem.
When it seems there’s always a short fuse between you, it’s important to
discover what is causing you both to live in such an emotionally volatile
relationship.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sometimes
stress may be the cause. When couples face trying circumstances in life, it’s
easier to be impatient with each other than with anybody else. After keeping
emotions in check all day, it isn’t uncommon to let one’s guard down at home
and release the negative feelings that may have been kept pent up all day. When
we snap at each other and know that it’s because we’re inappropriately handling
stress, the easiest and most direct route to resolution is a simply apology. “I’m
sorry. I’m feeling uptight right now and I don’t want to take it out on you.
Will you forgive me?” Those words toward each other can diffuse a potentially
bleak evening for you both. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sometimes
the reason for constant bickering is that we have fallen into a rut of
misbehavior. One repeatedly does the same thing that irritates the other. The
other person reacts in the same way as always. The reaction of the offender to
the offended is what it always is. The ensuing results are always the same.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As
the old saying goes, “Insanity is repeatedly doing things the same way and
expecting different results.” Again, the answer here is communication. Talk
about it together. Change what is within your power to change. Find a way to
compromise. Agree together that whatever the behavior that triggers the
incident isn’t worth the fallout from it and seek out a new approach.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Another
cause for constant bickering is pride. There may be an inclination to see the
fault in our mate while being blind to our own responsibility in the situation.
The fact that your husband may indeed behave poorly doesn’t erase the
possibility that you may be contributing to the problem.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My
wife, Melanie, and I married when we were nineteen and eighteen, respectively.
Two years later we had our first child and within seven years we had four
children. Needless to say, stress levels were high for such a young couple.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As
is often the case in such scenarios, we found ourselves bickering often. No
matter how determined we both were to avoid it, arguments would break out over
the silliest things. It was not pleasant.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
my own blindness, I did have enough understanding from my Christian upbringing
to know that praying about the problem was wise. That much wisdom I had.
However, I didn’t have enough wisdom to know <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">what</i> to pray. So, my private prayer every day was that God would
open Melanie’s eyes to her wrong thinking and actions. “You have to change her,
Lord!” I would pray. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We
laugh about it now, but I was serious at the time. After praying this way for
some time, I sensed my Father speaking to me one night. I will never forget it.
His words arose in my consciousness so clearly that they couldn’t have been clearer
if they had been audible. The words were, “Steve, I want to change <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you.</i>”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
was stunned. In my pride, it hadn’t occurred to me that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I</i> might need to be changed. That simply wasn’t on my radar, but I
heard Him. I knew it was His voice. So I began to pray about my attitude and my
actions. I still didn’t think Melanie was without any fault, but I didn’t focus
on her need for change. I focused on allowing God’s Spirit to transform me, and
He did.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
began to treat my wife in a loving way. My actions and reactions to her began
to be aligned with what a husband who is following Christ will act like. I
changed and she saw it and when she saw it, something amazing happened. She
changed too.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Your
husband may be the one in the wrong. You may be justified in feeling the way
you do, but has it helped the situation? What might happen if you were to take
the initiative in bringing about change? What could take place if you laid down
your pride, setting aside the issue of who is right and who is wrong and simply
responded to your husband in grace – underserved grace?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Your
husband may need to learn appropriate behavior but it may be that the way your
Father intends to teach him is through your actions. The Bible teaches that the
behavior of a wife can have a profound effect in changing her husband. (See 1
Corinthians 7:14, 1Peter 3:1-2) While you’ve been waiting for him to change,
your Father may be waiting to first change you. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Arguing
is normal in any marriage relationship. The question at hand revolves around
how it will look in your marriage. Allow the Holy Spirit to teach you how to
“be angry and do not sin” (Ephesians 4:26). Wives who walk in grace sometimes
argue but they have learned how to do it properly.<br />
<br />
Get it at your local Christian bookstore or here, from our ministry:<br /> <a href="http://gracewalkresources.com/item.asp?cID=&PID=793">http://gracewalkresources.com/item.asp?cID=&PID=793</a></div>
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<br /></div>
Steve McVeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02608753297307591442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28185107.post-60219647837849877712013-08-06T05:38:00.003-05:002013-08-06T05:42:42.299-05:00Meet Us In Atlanta!<style>
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<br /></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl3oL8ObBAAh8kSwNFLh6-kH2O5l7xDYB8MUrSmlsQBx8FIUYhJnAVPKR8dtVUhzAzvEhGu71HSsmeLdTrP1PvtpeKwIAOnaxkZYbw5pJAqx3sNIX1786aVx7QKbmBWsgpPPI5/s1600/Growing+Deeper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl3oL8ObBAAh8kSwNFLh6-kH2O5l7xDYB8MUrSmlsQBx8FIUYhJnAVPKR8dtVUhzAzvEhGu71HSsmeLdTrP1PvtpeKwIAOnaxkZYbw5pJAqx3sNIX1786aVx7QKbmBWsgpPPI5/s200/Growing+Deeper.jpg" width="160" /></a><span style="font-size: small;">Join us in
Atlanta for our annual Grace Walk Leadership Summit. All of our team members
are invited to participate in the morning sessions and the evening sessions
will be open to the public<span style="font-size: small;">.</span> </span><br />
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<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> The schedule is as follows:</span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Growing Deeper In the
Heart</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>October 25-26</b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Friday October 25</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Morning: 9:00 -12:00 Team Session</b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> 9:00
Welcome & Introductions </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> 9:15
Worship </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> 9:45
Teaching </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> 10:15
Break</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">10:30 Teaching</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> 11:30
Q&A/Discussion</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b>12:00
Lunch</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Afternoon: 1:00 – 3:00</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Administrative
details about being a part of the GW Team</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Friday October 25</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Evening: 7:00 – 9:00 Public Session</b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">7:00 Welcome </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> 7:15
Worship </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> 7:30
Grace Walk Australia Report</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> 7:45
Grace Walk Latin America Report</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> 8:00
Worship & Offering</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> 8:15
Teaching – The Wounded Heart</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Saturday October 26 </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Morning: 9:00 - 12:00 Team Session</b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> 9:00
Welcome & Introductions </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> 9:15
Worship </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> 9:45
Report</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> 10:15
Break</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">10:30 Teaching </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> 11:30
Q&A/Discussion</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b>12:00
Lunch</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Afternoon: Free Time</b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Saturday Evening</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Evening: 7:00 – 9:00 Public Session</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">7:00 Welcome </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> 7:15
Worship</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> 7:30
Grace Walk Recovery Report</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> 8:00
Worship & Offering</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> 8:15
Teaching – The Warrior Heart</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The meetings
will be held at Grace Life Church in Woodstock, GA, a suburb in north Atlanta.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;">655 Molly
Ln Woodstock, GA 30189 (678)
388-8533</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The
following hotels are in the immediate area:<br /><br /><b>Embassy Suites Atlanta</b></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"> - Kennesaw
Town Center 620 Chastain Road, Kennesaw, Georgia, 30144, USA TEL:
1-770-420-2505 </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Marriott SpringHill Suites</b> Atlanta
Kennesaw 3399 Town Point Drive · Kennesaw, Georgia 30144 USA Phone:
1-770-218-5550 </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Marriott Residence Inn</b> Atlanta
Kennesaw/Town Center 3443 Busbee Drive · Kennesaw, Georgia 30144 USA Phone:
1-770-218-1018 Fax: 1-770-218-2107 Toll-Free Reservation Center: 1-800-331-3131
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Microtel Inn & Suites by Wyndham</b>
Woodstock/Atlanta North 305 Molly Lane, Woodstock, GA 30189 US Phone:
1-678-738-0001 For those with budget considerations this Microtel is almost
within site of the church and has given good rates and service.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Join us for
this event as we celebrate the grace of our Father revealed in Jesus!</span></div>
Steve McVeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02608753297307591442noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28185107.post-27252291333951635822013-07-28T05:37:00.000-05:002013-07-28T06:16:12.583-05:00Happy Anniversary to My Darling Wife<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It was exactly 40 years ago today that I woke up beside my cousin, Eddie. We had slept in the same bed because the whole family was at our house to attend my wedding that day. I was about to marry Melanie Lee, the only girl I'd ever dated. It had been three years that we dated. My Dad had asked me to "please wait until you're at least 19 to marry." I turned 19 on July 7 and on July 28, 1973, three weeks later, we were about to be married.<br />
<br />
At first, I had asked Melanie's parents if I could marry her after I graduated from college, three years later. I had been away to school for my freshman year while Melanie was still home finishing high school. I gave her the engagement ring on her birthday on May 10. The more we talked about it, the more we realized how hard it was going to be for me to leave her to go back to school alone. So back to her parents we went, this time asking to get married right away - in December. They weren't happy about that at all and didn't give an answer right then. (Her Dad loathed preachers.) <br />
<br />
A few days later, we came back and said, "We want to get married in July." Less than two months away. Her mother asked Melanie, "Is there something you need to tell me?" There wasn't. We were are pure as the fallen snow on the day we married (well, I won't promise that was true in my thoughts but it was in my actions) but I'm sure both sets of parents sighed a great sigh of relief when time passed and our chastity was verified. Our first child wasn't born until almost two years later.<br />
<br />
Over the past forty years, our life together has been incredible. We've had heartache at times - problems with finances, church members, children, and most recently health. There's much we don't know about other people but believe me, we've shed as many tears as most, if not more. Through it all, God's grace has been sufficient.<br />
<br />
The pleasures of life have far outweighed the pain. I was a local pastor for the first 21 years, from the age of nineteen to forty. I wrote *Grace Walk* when I was 40 and it was published the next year. I resigned the pastorate at 40 and began to travel in an itinerant ministry. Since then, Melanie and I have been amazed at the places ministry has carried us and the things we have been allowed to do.<br />
<br />
Because of ministry trips we have walked on the Great Wall of China, stood inside the Taj Mahal in India, cruised the Fjords of Norway, seen the windmills and tulips of Holland, saw Buddhist temples in Thailand, golden temples in Japan, watched the House of Commons debate policy in Parliament in London (from the peanut gallery), petted Kangaroos and Wallaby in Australia, stood in the Coliseum at Rome and the ruins of Pompeii, gone on a safari in Africa where we slept outside and ate wild boar for breakfast. The list could continue. We've been on six continents.<br />
<br />
The amazing thing has been that we have always had a modest income. The car I drive right now has 160,000 miles on it. Rich, we are not - at least not in money. But we are rich in grace and That Grace has *given* us these experiences.<br />
<br />
More important than the things we've done are the relationships we have. We have four wonderful children whom we love dearly and who love us. Our fourth grandchild is due to be born on Christmas Eve. <br />
<br />
We have dear friends with whom we love to laugh and play and vacation and share our lives.<br />
<br />
Melanie and I have each other, and we often thank God for that. We've both agreed that this past year has been the hardest one of our lives but we have held each other in our arms and felt Divine Love and each others healing caress through it all. With health challenges, despite sincere determination to keep a positive perspective we sometimes hear nagging voices taunting our minds about a possible future that doesn't even exist in this moment. Only Grace-Filled-Agape exists in this moment and He will be with us in every moment. So, we rest and hold each other with faith in Him.<br />
<br />
After 40 years, we are still deeply in love and that is a real gift. How are we celebrating this day? That's another miracle. Sufficient funds recently came to us unexpectedly that allowed us to plan this Anniversary Trip.<br />
<br />
We sit here in our room now, starring in amazement out the window at the canal and St. Mark's Basilca. This evening, at 6:30, we will board a Gondola for a private tour of the canals of Venice. I will hold my sweetheart's hand as the Gondolier serenades us and I will silently wonder in amazement, "Father, why me? Why would you have chosen to give me such a woman and such a life?" And I am sure that the answer will gently surface and lovingly whisper . . . "Grace." <br />
<br />
Grace. That's right. When I wrote "Grace Walk," almost 20 years ago, the Dedication read, "To Melanie, my most precious grace gift in this world." Today, I affirm that fact and thank God for it. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Steve McVeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02608753297307591442noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28185107.post-25652046650332188452013-07-13T10:45:00.000-05:002013-07-13T23:05:35.958-05:00Monkey See, Monkey Do<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A scientific study* was done in the 1960s that demonstrates how easily any of us can find ourselves trapped in traditional thoughts and actions that make no sense but are so embedded in us that we don't even think to question them. Although the study was performed with monkeys, sadly the underlying result often manifests itself in human beliefs and behavior.<br />
<br />
Five monkeys were placed in a cage together and a ladder was placed in the middle of the cage. On the top of the ladder was a bunch of bananas. Every time a monkey started to climb the ladder to get the bananas, the researchers would hose down the rest of the monkeys with cold water. It didn't take long until every time any monkey tried to go up the ladder, the others would beat him up. After a while, no monkey dared to try to go up the ladder.<br />
<br />
The scientists then decided to substitute one of the monkeys. When they put the new monkey into the cage, the first thing he did was to try to climb the ladder. Of course, the others beat him up. After a few beatings, he learned not to try to climb the ladder. <br />
<br />
Then a second monkey was placed into the cage and the same thing happened. He went straight for the ladder and the others attacked him. Interestingly, even the first monkey participated in the beating even though he had never been sprayed with the cold water. A third monkey was switched with one of the original five and the same thing happened. Then a fourth and finally the last original monkey was replaced with the fifth replacement. <br />
<br />
So, in the end, there were five monkeys in the cage and none of them had ever been soaked with the cold water. Yet they still would beat up any monkey that tried to climb the ladder. <br />
<br />
What was the rationale behind the action of these monkeys? Since none of them had been sprayed with water, why did they all act so illogically? The answer is "indoctrination." Each of them, when introduced to the group, had been indoctrinated to behave the way the rest did. The new monkey didn't know why. He just beat up the monkey trying to go up the ladder because that's what he had learned was the appropriate thing to do.<br />
<br />
This same kind of indoctrination has happened in shaping the thoughts and actions of many people today who would identify themselves as followers of Jesus Christ. The interesting thing is that the One they want to follow didn't fall into the "monkey see, monkey do" syndrome. To the contrary, He bucked the system so much that it ended up provoking people to kill Him. <br />
<br />
To take a contrarian position simply for the sake of being a contrarian is wrong. There is no value in trying to go against "the system" just for the sake of being different. In fact, it's often pride that causes a person to do that.<br />
<br />
On the other hand, it's equally as wrong to accept viewpoints and practices simply because others do. This kind of "group think" has led to great atrocities throughout history. The history of the church has not escaped the damage this kind of indoctrination can cause. I suspect that there are many sacred cows that have been embraced as sacred doctrine in the church today because of this sort of group indoctrination. They need to die.<br />
<br />
While it is unwise and unhealthy to become a belligerent skeptic who challenges everything from a knee-jerk reaction, it is important to ask yourself why you believe what you believe. The process of maturing in any area of our lives necessitates that we change. Not change for the sake of change, but a kind of change that comes with any growing thing. <br />
<br />
Don't be afraid to ask "why?" Truth is eternal and can withstand scrutiny. Avoid any environment where your questions are squelched by authority or peer pressure. None of us have a perfectly clear understanding of anything. We are all on a journey. Let's not beat up those who try to climb the ladder just because we've learned to do it that way. We aren't monkeys. We bear the image of our Creator. Let us refuse to become indoctrinated into a static system and instead spend our lives exploring the dynamic reality of discovering more and more of what it means to live in the Divine Life that embraces us. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
*Stephenson, G. R. (1967). Cultural acquisition of a specific learned
response among rhesus monkeys. In: Starek, D., Schneider, R., and Kuhn,
H. J. (eds.), Progress in Primatology, Stuttgart: Fischer, pp. 279-288.Steve McVeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02608753297307591442noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28185107.post-69373641899435942012013-06-22T12:19:00.000-05:002013-06-22T12:19:10.424-05:00The Garden<div class="_1x1">
<div class="userContentWrapper">
<div class="_wk">
<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_51c5dc08187bd8469781767">
<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">It
was a warm October afternoon in Hong Kong, where I sat around a table
with eleven other men. All of us were wiping tears from our eyes. Some
of us had our head buried in our hands and were sobbing. The reason for
our tears was because of a song being sung to us by a Chinese Christian
named George Chen. Friends from The Bible League had encouraged this
stopover on the way to Beijing so that we <span class="text_exposed_show">could meet with George and hear his story. <br /> <br />
George began to preach immediately when he became a Christian. Over the
next few years, he was arrested numerous times for preaching. As the
cultural revolution in China intensified, houses were searched and
Bibles were seized and burned. Many pastors died and the lives of the
rest were in constant jeopardy. However, this didn’t stop George from
proclaiming the gospel. <br /> <br /> He continued to preach until the day
came when he was arrested and thrown into prison. When the iron gate
slammed shut behind him, it was to be eighteen years before he would
know freedom again. His notoriety as a pastor didn’t serve George well
in prison. To make Pastor Chen an example, the communist guards assigned
him to work in the prison sewer. Pots filled with human waste from all
the prison barracks were emptied into this giant cesspool. <br /> <br />
George’s job was to spend every day in the cesspool, shoveling the human
waste onto wagons, where it was taken to fields and used as fertilizer.
Yet by the divine enablement of the life of Jesus Christ within George,
he didn’t mind. In fact, he came to enjoy his time in the cesspool.
George explained to us:<br /> <br /> “In prison, you’re never alone. You
work beside other prisoners all day, sleep close to them at night and
the guards are always watching. This is why I came to enjoy my
assignment in the prison cesspool. There I could be alone. The stench of
the filth on my clothing and body kept everyone away from me. Nobody
wanted to come near me. Not the prisoners, not the guards. Nobody! They
all kept their distance.”<br /> <br /> George continued, “Since working in
the cesspool allowed me to be alone, I was able to pray, lifting up my
voice loudly to the Lord. I was able to recite the Scripture verses I
had memorized before they took away my Bible. Oh, I would sing! I would
sing boldly to the Lord. God’s grace sustained me. The living presence
and power of the Holy Spirit encouraged and blessed me.”<br /> <br /> As we sat listening to George’s story, one of the men seated at the table asked, “George, what did you sing?” <br />
He answered, “I’ll sing it for you now.” He closed his eyes, tilted his
head toward heaven, opened his hands with palms facing upward, and with
a smile on his face, George began to sing in Chinese a hymn we all
recognized by the melody.<br /> <br /> “I come to the garden alone, While the dew is still on the roses,<br /> And the voice I hear, falling on my ear, the Son of God discloses.<br /> And He walks with me; and He talks with me; and tells me I am His own.<br /> And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.”<br /> <br />
As George sang, God’s presence in the room became powerfully evident
and grown men began to weep. It wasn’t difficult to imagine George in
that cesspool, singing praises to God as he shoveled human excrement.
George had come to know that when one has Jesus Christ, he has
everything he needs. Our God can turn a cesspool into Paradise by His
very presence.</span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
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<span class="UFIBlingBoxTimeline"><span id=".reactRoot[6544027]"><a class=" UFIBlingBoxTimelineItem" data-ft="{"tn":"O"}" data-hover="tooltip" data-tooltip-alignh="right" href="https://www.facebook.com/shares/view?id=441549362609468" id=".reactRoot[6544027].[0:0:0]" rel="async"><span id=".reactRoot[6544027].[0:0:0].[0:0]"><span class="UFIBlingBoxText" id=".reactRoot[6544027].[0:0:0].[0:0].[1:1]"></span></span></a></span></span><span class="UIActionLinks UIActionLinks_bottom" data-ft="{"tn":"=","type":20}"><span></span></span>Steve McVeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02608753297307591442noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28185107.post-55327014991251765162013-06-10T12:38:00.000-05:002013-06-10T12:38:08.750-05:00I'll Apologize In Heaven<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">If I
have overstated my Father’s love; if there is a dark side of His
character of which I’ve lost sight; a Judicial Temperament that will
hold me in account for a distorted proclamation of who He is and what He
wants us to know; an incomplete or polluted aspect of my understanding
and declaration of what I sincerely have come to believe is the true
gospel . . . if I have become confused, misled, <span class="text_exposed_show">beguiled
or misguided in what I wholeheartedly believe has been a revelation of
the meaning of “the finished work of Jesus Christ,” then I will
apologize from the bottom of my heart when I get there. I will plead
that where I have been wrong, I have been sincerely wrong. Wrong after
much Bible study and prayer and soul searching and agonizing with The
Truth. I will humbly and earnestly ask to be forgiven for exaggerating
His goodness and grace. <i>But I do not believe that will ever happen.</i> My
Father’s grace will always exceed anything you or I can imagine. I’m
gambling everything on that and it’s a gamble I am confident I will not
regret…not in this life or the next. Let the critics say what they will.
Let the like-minded stand with me. Eternity will render The Verdict.
Let us each be fully persuaded in our own minds and act on that
persuasion with boldness. Lay down your life for it, because if it's
true, it's worth it.</span></span>Steve McVeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02608753297307591442noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28185107.post-33344481625186967042013-06-10T06:37:00.001-05:002013-06-10T06:41:42.876-05:00The Power of LoveWhat would happen if we showed affectionate love to everybody???? If a person like this finds healing in the expression of love, what would it do if we loved the people we meet in our daily lives? "Love never fails." - The Apostle Paul<br />
(Watch this to the end to understand the point)<br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CrZXz10FcVM" width="420"></iframe><br />
<br />Steve McVeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02608753297307591442noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28185107.post-6200352096024154722013-06-08T17:38:00.001-05:002013-06-08T17:38:16.745-05:00Hand Me The Scapel, I'm Going In<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">Many
of you know that, my wife, Melanie has had serious back problems for
several years now. She has had multiple operations. The last one was
when she fractured vertebrae when she vomited after eating spoiled food
in a restaurant. It hasn’t been easy.<br /> <br /> Well, the good news is
that I think her troubles are soon over. I’ve been reading about a
surgery that I think I can do myself. I read on Wikipedi<span class="text_exposed_show">a
that a doctor in Switzerland developed it. I won’t try to explain it
here but it involves making an incision in her back three inched wide
and two inches deep. Then there’s tapping the vertebrae back in place
with a small hammer, sort of like a geological tool. I read on another
medical (well, actually holisitic health) site that there’s a special
bone adhesive you use. I can buy the glue from that site. I don’t have
every single detail figured out but I think I’ve got the idea well
enough that once we’ve bought the necessary supplies, I’m going to take
the scalpel and go in! We’d appreciate your prayers.<br /> <br /> Are you
okay with that? Well, relax. It’s not true. I’d be an idiot to think I
can understand back surgery by reading Wikipedia and a few web sites by
people who are generally opposed to surgery. Everybody would see through
that it in second.<br /> <br /> On the other hand, the same can’t be said
about theology. I’m amazed by the number of blogs, Facebook posts and
comments I read in which somebody professes to be solving problems and
giving exact answers about theology that have been debated from the very
beginning of the early church. How’d they come up with their definitive
answers to age-old questions? Wikipedia. Or their favorite preacher’s
blog. Or their next door neighbor’s nephew’s pastor, who reputedly told
the nephew the answer before it was passed back up line to them. <br /> <br />
And the amazing thing? People buy it. In fact, they repeat it. Like
parrots in a pet store, they all start screeching the same thing. They
haven’t studied the Bible to come to an answer. Why should they? They
learned what Trinitarianism is from Wikipedia! They understand the whole
issue of hell because they read online where (insert name) explained
it. They heard a guy say that he knew a guy who saw a guy embrace that doctrine and it wrecked his family’s life!</span></span><br />
<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="text_exposed_show"><br />
In today’s religious climate there are two dangers, coming from
opposite extremes. The first is rejecting something we hear because it
is new to us. The other is embracing something we hear because it is new
to us. Some people seek to preserve tradition and are threatened by
ideas that contradict what they’ve always believed. Others, who’ve been
burned in the religious world, impulsively jump on any new idea they
believe is a slap in the face to the tradition they have heartily
renounced.<br /> <br /> Paul commended the Berean Christians by saying,
“These people were more receptive than those in Thessalonica. They were
very willing to receive the message, and every day they carefully
examined the Scriptures to see if those things were so” (Acts 17:11)
Listen to those you respect. Read the blogs. Check out the Facebook posts, but
at the end of the day, study the Bible for yourself. None of us are
100% right on everything we say. We’re all in process. We certainly can
learn from each other but we each have the duty to study the Scripture
and see what The Teacher says to us about the things we’ve heard and
read. <br /> <br /> I need to go now. Melanie’s back hurts and I have a knife, hammer and glue to purchase.</span></span>Steve McVeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02608753297307591442noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28185107.post-34953015212552705352013-06-05T00:13:00.003-05:002013-06-05T08:02:37.886-05:00Standing On My Own Grave<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ3Xu7La9rKTQMzn_kgm68qYX-af5aJ1vImNevzQZoIhTrk2r2nYugMa4bqx5ccVZ-C7l7lshzXU943lG9hfcPyHCOpm9e8JHk46HcMlfe_idQluBTvvXdj1JYb65IUQAqARzb/s1600/graves.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ3Xu7La9rKTQMzn_kgm68qYX-af5aJ1vImNevzQZoIhTrk2r2nYugMa4bqx5ccVZ-C7l7lshzXU943lG9hfcPyHCOpm9e8JHk46HcMlfe_idQluBTvvXdj1JYb65IUQAqARzb/s200/graves.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
Nothing bridges the imagined chasm of distance between time and eternity like standing on your own grave. I did it today. I stood on the plot I purchased for myself a few years ago and, right there, in Magnolia Cemetery, over the empty ground where I stood and gazed at my parents occupied graves, I remembered again that we were not created for this world. We truly are just sojourners – temporary visitors in a place we sense within is not our true home. <br />
<br />
I felt it . . . *the desire* . . . not in a morbid sort of way, but in a way that C.S. Lewis knew:<br />
<br />
“In speaking of this desire, I feel a certain shyness. I am almost committing an indecency. I am trying to rip open the inconsolable secret in each one of you – the secret which hurts so much that you take your revenge on it by calling it names like Nostalgia and Romanticism and Adolescence.” (*Surprised By Joy*, p. 16)<br />
<br />
Have you ever felt it? I did today. And I have no fear. None. Only the anticipation that one who recognizes his origin in The Eternal can understand. I think I’ll have a blank stone placed on that plot, for it is a sacred portal. No, better still, it is a promise. “Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!” Steve McVeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02608753297307591442noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28185107.post-73878616904025711562013-06-01T13:27:00.001-05:002013-06-01T13:27:20.382-05:00From "The Secret of Grace" <div class="_1x1">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmuGU38TpuuZoRi77JEUj8wS3Hz7r3q4ey0xd8np2xco7qIL1WOewjB5LYIAd6gK7qwDtRscmv2hylzpynWEcieS32rMe84E6dzW3PUZQe3bQFZfy_TRUVOtBUGNAYKNSvFhTL/s1600/Secret+of+Grace+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmuGU38TpuuZoRi77JEUj8wS3Hz7r3q4ey0xd8np2xco7qIL1WOewjB5LYIAd6gK7qwDtRscmv2hylzpynWEcieS32rMe84E6dzW3PUZQe3bQFZfy_TRUVOtBUGNAYKNSvFhTL/s200/Secret+of+Grace+Cover.jpg" width="129" /></a>From the manuscript I just sent to Harvest House this week: <i>The Secret of Grace</i> - Release date: April 1, 2014 Harvest House Publishers</div>
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<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"> <br /> Our adoption in Him was the eternal
purpose our Triune God had in mind all along. The coming of Jesus into
this world wasn’t a reaction to what Adam did in the Garden of Eden when
he sinned. The story of redemption doesn’t begin with Adam. It <span class="text_exposed_show">predates
Adam all the way back to a time when there was no date! It was our
God’s plan to bring us into His family before the first second existed
in the human dimension we call “time” When there was no “space” there
was already Grace. You were in His heart before the first molecule was
spoken into being. <br /> <br /> Before Adam sinned, the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world had assured your safe delivery into His arms.
As numerous theologians have said: “You were found before you were
lost.” Your adoption in Jesus Christ is the result of a love set on you
long before the first ray of light exploded out of the mouth of Christ
and started its race across the universe. The gospel is the good news
that you are included in the victory Jesus accomplished over sin and
death. You were included even before you knew or believed you were
included. Even when you stood in the darkness of unbelief there was a
“true light that enlightens every person by his coming into the world”
(John 1:9) and you blindly stood in that Light of Love. People without
sight can’t see the light but it shines on them nonetheless. You may
have lived all eternity with a darkened mind and never have known the
Light but He knows you. The light of His love has always shone on you.<br /> <br />
Your faith in Christ isn’t the tipping point that causes the efficacy
of His finished work to be real. Your faith is a response to a Reality
that existed while you didn’t even know what you didn’t know. “I have
loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with
lovingkindness,” God says to you. (See Jeremiah 31:3) Speaking of His
crucifixion, Jesus promised, “And when I am lifted up from the earth, I
will draw everyone to myself" (John 12:32, NLT). “Everyone” includes
you.<br /> <br /> In Jesus Christ you have been adopted – given the full
standing of a son – by the Father Himself. “It is by His doing that you
are in Christ Jesus,” Paul told the Corinthians. (See 1 Corinthians
1:30). It’s not because of anything you do. Nothing you do has caused
you to be placed into Christ Jesus. That happened as a result of a
divine act of grace.<br /> <br /> With baited breath, all of heaven watched
until the fullness of time came and, in the person of Jesus, the eternal
plan our Triune God had held in His heart forever came bursting into
time and space like bright rays of sunshine penetrating dark clouds.
“But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of
a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were
under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons,” Paul
proclaimed in Galatians 4:5. How could such a thing happen to us? “He
predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself,
according to the kind intention of His will,” Paul explains in Ephesians
1:5. <br /> <br /> Does that include you? Jesus died once for all,
according to the Scriptures. The Apostle Peter said, “For Christ also
died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might
bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive
in the spirit” (1 Peter 3:18).</span></span></div>
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<span class="UFIBlingBoxTimeline"><span id=".reactRoot[16]"><a class="" data-ft="{"tn":"O"}" data-hover="tooltip" data-tooltip-alignh="right" href="https://www.facebook.com/shares/view?id=431412610289810" id=".reactRoot[16].:0" rel="async"><span id=".reactRoot[16].:0.:0"><span class="UFIBlingBoxText" id=".reactRoot[16].:0.:0.:1"></span></span></a></span></span><span class="UIActionLinks UIActionLinks_bottom" data-ft="{"tn":"=","type":20}"><span></span></span>Steve McVeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02608753297307591442noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28185107.post-56399259601040978922013-05-28T06:37:00.002-05:002013-05-28T06:40:00.245-05:00Get Off The Religious Treadmill<style>
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<i><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Come to Me, all who
are weary and heavy-laden, </span></i><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">and I will give you
rest (Matthew 11:28).</span></i><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEl3Y4KExpsrtI24RrDSS2SDZd_Kad6YLp85kgx2a30kiAtr0Gyjf5NjhdQwNq9jZcZy97zpToODnEH7TMFe3pDbu4zIWoyIyXXsZs3c177SsWYNHabk6I1JsQohDLgcicbV4G/s1600/Hamstesr+Wheel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEl3Y4KExpsrtI24RrDSS2SDZd_Kad6YLp85kgx2a30kiAtr0Gyjf5NjhdQwNq9jZcZy97zpToODnEH7TMFe3pDbu4zIWoyIyXXsZs3c177SsWYNHabk6I1JsQohDLgcicbV4G/s200/Hamstesr+Wheel.jpg" width="193" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Recently I was told that a pastor I knew years ago had walked into
the woods, pulled out a gun and killed himself. The man was known in his
community as a busy, sincere and hard working pastor, but behind the scenes he
had struggled with self-doubts, emotional and mental fatigue. </span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Sometimes there’s a short step between spiritual service and a
religious treadmill and that short step makes all the difference. Real love
motivates authentic service while religious laws power the religious treadmill.
Desire leads the first but duty drives the latter. It’s the difference between
a tiring sense of “ought-to” and thrilling sense of “want-to.”</span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Are you on the religious treadmill? Get off. You may find it
gratifying in the short run but over the long haul it'll drain you. Driven
religious fervor becomes a one-night stand repeated over and over and over
again. There may be a shallow gratification in one-night stands, but nobody
would ever mistake it for genuine intimacy. </span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">God offers you much more than that. He wants you to experience Him
as a soothing rhythm of grace. However, to know that kind of intimacy, you must
stop any religious hyperventilating you’ve mistaken for a grace walk, calm
down, and do what is born from the expression of Christ within you. God doesn’t
need you to break the three-minute mile for Him. He just wants you to enjoy
Him, knowing that everything else in your life will flow out of that.</span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">The fact remains, however, that a religious rat race is a tick
that slowly sucks the lifeblood out of our intimacy with God. God didn’t
invite you to be His maid, but His bride. Of course you will serve Him, but is
to be the natural expression of your love for Him. Otherwise, it becomes a
stumbling block in your grace walk.</span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Well meaning believers often find themselves in a place which can
be compared to the man adrift at sea in a life raft. Because he is dying of
thirst, he begins to drink the seawater around him. The salt water causes him
to become increasingly thirsty and his thirst causes him to drink more seawater.
This vicious cycle will ultimately bring death. </span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">This will be the fate of anybody who believes that doing more is
the remedy for his thirst. Sometimes the answer to our deepest need is
met when we understand that the best way to advance may be to retreat,
remembering that God’s ways are not our ways. </span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Blaise Pascal said, “The sole cause of man’s unhappiness is that
he does not know how to stay quietly in his room.” It isn’t frenzy, but faith
that facilitates intimacy.</span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Don’t allow yourself to be pressured by the religious machinery so
prevalent in modern Christian culture. It’s not that you are to become
spiritually passive. Christ within you will see to it that no such thing
happens. On the other hand, you are free to step away from any demand to
do more than His Spirit is leading you to do. </span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Don’t let other people manipulate you into doing what they think
you need to do. That’s not their call. That matter rests between you and the
Holy Spirit. To stand on this fact sometimes requires that you be willing to
accept the disapproval of others who try to pressure you into doing what they
think is right for you.</span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Jesus didn’t come to help us be religious superstars. Far from it,
He came to deliver us from empty religion, even orthodox, time honored
religion. Jesus came to bring us into intimacy with God through Himself. In His
earthly days, as in our day, those most offended by Him have been the
religionists who have built their reputation around keeping their golden idols
polished to a brighter shine than anybody else in town. </span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">The idols are their own particular rules of the religious
road-race that must be observed as they speed down the highway they call
“Christian living.” Their display case is filled with the specific idols that
most easily fit their own personality and temperament. They judge everybody
else by whether or not they live up to their own personal standards. People are
incidental. What matters is how you are behaving.</span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">The fact is that even Jesus wasn’t a good churchman by the
standards of the religionists of His day. He didn’t live up to what they
thought He ought to be. To them, He had no convictions. He appeared to
compromise the purity and integrity of their values by doing things like
healing people on the Sabbath, by eating with the crooks (Publicans) and
party-animals (sinners) of His day. He was a friend of the hookers and
homeless. He didn’t separate Himself far enough from the riffraff, as every
good churchman knew one should do. Consequently, He lost His testimony with the
Pharisees, an incidental matter which didn’t seem to bother him at all. Jesus
cared more about relationships than reputation. He still does.</span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">A legitimate grace walk gently flows like water along a riverbank,
refreshing all who happen to stumble upon our banks. It isn’t a flash flood of
activity that honors God. He doesn’t lead us that way, but instead He has
chosen to make “[us] lie down in green pastures. He leads [us] beside the still
waters [where] He restores [our] soul” (Psalm 23).</span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Get off the religious treadmill and just put your eyes on Him. He
will do "the rest" in you. Do the things God asks but don’t
confuse His voice with the demanding voice of dead religion.</span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<br />
Taken from <i>The Grace Walk Devotional</i>. To get the book, click <a href="http://www.gracewalkresources.com/item.asp?PID=789" target="_blank">here</a></div>
Steve McVeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02608753297307591442noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28185107.post-3884181445682754362013-05-26T09:27:00.003-05:002013-05-26T09:35:06.951-05:00Rethinking What We've Believed<style>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_05_LRPwhZuHeOMhTjvYBIDUxM91Vk54dEabdABTISeUx1kTkjtr7VbRde9D5lZKzEN2F6HGh4S3XAfMLXfhxnmbUY7vI_qo9VXC_s7BT8wsq1QedxEOm22zo3PkSk_N65xxb/s1600/Cow_tipping.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_05_LRPwhZuHeOMhTjvYBIDUxM91Vk54dEabdABTISeUx1kTkjtr7VbRde9D5lZKzEN2F6HGh4S3XAfMLXfhxnmbUY7vI_qo9VXC_s7BT8wsq1QedxEOm22zo3PkSk_N65xxb/s200/Cow_tipping.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
want to tell you a story – this is “a big story.” I think you agree after
you’ve read it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
One of my adult children has a
friend who, while she was in our home, broke something very valuable in my
house. As much as I hated it, I had to tell her that she owed me for the cost
of the thing she had broken. It wasn’t a pleasant situation for anybody but she
broke the thing and it is what it is. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Months
passed and she wouldn’t pay. Finally, I took the necessary steps to recover my
loss legally. Before the day came for me to recover the debt she owed me in
court, my own child came to me and said, “Dad, I don’t want you to sue her over
this. I know she owes you, but this is my friend, somebody I love.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
know, but she owes me the money. To pay it back is only fair,” I answered.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Yes,
but this is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">my friend</i>,” my daughter
answered.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>While
I appreciated her compassion for her friend, the situation was what it was. In
the end, my daughter paid me what her friend owed me and I forgave her friend’s
debt. The odd thing is that the “friend” of my daughter never even thanked me.
Can you believe that? I was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that</i> kind
to her and she didn’t even appreciate it? So much for showing her mercy.<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Okay,
let’s stop. I can’t continue. I'm feeling disgusted even writing about that. Here’s
the truth: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It never happened. </i>I made
up that story to illustrate a point. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What
kind of feelings did that story evoke in you as you began to read it? Did it
affect what kind of person you perceived me to truly be? Did you think it was
horrible for me to take a legal approach toward a problem in which the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">relationship</i> should have been the most
important thing to consider? Did you see the foolishness of me saying that “I
forgave her friend the debt” when, in fact, the debt had been paid by my
daughter? Did you think it was ridiculous that I would even suggest I showed
her mercy?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Why
is it that we can see the absurdity of this sort of thing when it comes to
people but, on the other hand, have no problem believing these very things
about God? Here’s the beliefs of many, many Christians today:</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Mankind broke something important to God (His
command not to eat from the forbidden tree) and as a result owed God something
for it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God hated that but, “it is
what it is.”</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Humanity had to pay God for what we did. “That’s
only fair.” (We’re told that somehow God’s “justice” demands payback.)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Jesus steps up on behalf of the friend (mankind)
and pleads our case, finally paying back God what He was owed so that we no
longer owe the debt and God will be satisfied.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Now, we’re supposed to thank God for His
kindness and mercy for forgiving the debt <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that
Jesus paid</i>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s insanity. Some offer their parroted response, “God’s
ways are not our ways.” It the description above was correct, that response
would be true. And I’d respond to it by saying, “You’re right. God is meaner
than I am.” But it’s not true; not at all.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This Western World theology of retribution has created a
concept of our Father that is totally demonic. Think of it: Satan has been able
to cause much of the church world to believe that, although Jesus is a nice
guy, His Father is one demanding deity who was so ready to fling His rage
into us with a vengeance that He couldn’t rest until He could discharge (get it
out of His system) that anger in some way. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is another way to see God the Father. It’s how the
early church saw Him before Anselm came along at the end of the 11<sup>th</sup>
century and detonated this blasphemous bomb of penal substitution – the idea
that God punished Jesus instead of us. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jesus <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">did</i> take our
place and was punished <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">by sin</i>, not
His Father. As I’ve said, “there is another way to see God the Father.” It is a
theology of affection. It would be a great thing if we all were willing to
consider that there may be another way of seeing things – a way that is
consistent with the teaching of the Bible and the understanding of the early
church. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sometimes this sort of post can trigger an instant reaction
from the “Save The Sacred Cow” group, but remember this: “Spouting off before
listening to the facts is both shameful and foolish”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- Proverbs 18:13. Most people have never seriously studied
or considered views that contradict what they’ve been taught and believed all
their lives. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Do we want to know the
truth, or not? </i>Don't take anybody's word for it. Study. Pray. Learn. You have <i>the Teacher who will guide you into all truth.</i> What is He saying about the Father of Love?</div>
Steve McVeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02608753297307591442noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28185107.post-89973342936482819682013-05-17T20:16:00.001-05:002013-05-17T20:16:08.176-05:00Charity In The Midst of Diversity<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS64gPAQJt6TSMEg83lYvWJdZzvKLfzqmkzTy9V_3Um4fqHngOdps8TBJbqz-QiRQtZCXWykHDRGqeH7n063Lt4Jlh4Cfrrxfj1KDbAjQxJshl1lVWSDnDPDx1W3lRZ4rYXhCZ/s1600/3759383-465053-a-group-of-diverse-people-talk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS64gPAQJt6TSMEg83lYvWJdZzvKLfzqmkzTy9V_3Um4fqHngOdps8TBJbqz-QiRQtZCXWykHDRGqeH7n063Lt4Jlh4Cfrrxfj1KDbAjQxJshl1lVWSDnDPDx1W3lRZ4rYXhCZ/s200/3759383-465053-a-group-of-diverse-people-talk.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
The first half of the 1950’s was a time many Americans are still embarrassed, if not ashamed about in terms of our historical blunders. “McCarthyism” took the stage front and center during that time because of intensified fears about Communist infiltration in this country through institutions and influential Americans.<br /><br />The Online Dictionary defines “McCarthyism” as:<br /><br />1. The practice of making accusations of disloyalty, especially of pro-Communist activity, in many instances unsupported by proof or based on slight, doubtful, or irrelevant evidence. <br />2. The practice of making unfair allegations or using unfair investigative techniques, especially in order to restrict dissent or political criticism.<br />As time passed, the term came to be associated with reckless, uninformed and unsubstantiated accusations. During the McCarthy era, many Americans were falsely accused and aggressively scrutinized by those who had already passed verdict in their own minds concerning those who were being accused. Despite assertions under oath concerning their innocence, many people lost their jobs, saw their reputations destroyed and some were even imprisoned. <br /><br />“Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist party? was often nothing less than an accusation posed as a question. Undoubtedly, there were those whose allegiance to the United States was exposed but, in the process, many others were unfairly persecuted to the point of great personal loss.<br /><br />The irony of the ugly tactics sometimes used during that shameful time in American history is that it was carried forward under the banner of “the fight for America.” While “the Red Scare” may have turned over rocks and exposed some, the fear-based passion among many left other innocent people with the tag of “Communist Sympathizer” even if there was no basis for such a judgment. <br /><br />Regardless of ones political predisposition concerning American politics today, almost all Americans readily recognize the excessive and unfair abuse of many people during the fifties who didn’t deserve to be judged and found guilty using such spurious claims against them.<br /><br />This is the kind of thing nobody is surprised about when it comes to the steely, cold hand of politics. As deplorable as it is, this sort of thing goes on across the world in governmental offices, agencies and committees every day. It’s “the nature of the beast.” <br /><br />Sadly, this same calloused witch-hunt seems to have moved into the church world. The modern “Fight for Othodoxy” has often brought forth the same kind of tactics employed by those in the “Fight for America” six decades ago. The sad thing that is simultaneously amazing and horrifying is that it often exists among those who profess to belong to “the grace community.” <br /><br />“Are you now or have you ever been a Universalist?” “Do you or do you not believe in a literal hell?” “Is it your viewpoint that everybody has already been saved? These type questions seem to be the order of the day for many. A forthright and avowed denial of such accusations is often still met with the cold verdict of guilt or, at the least, the lingering murmur that those in question surely are “Universalist sympathizers” if not themselves Universalists. It doesn’t matter that the accused affirms confidence in the Scripture and in the historic stand of the church on these matters. If the accuser can’t fit it into the religious, cultural boundaries of his own background and experience, no amount of clarification or explanation is enough. To the contrary, the accused is deemed guilty without even an opportunity for a fair hearing. Then the guilty verdict is spread through the rumor-mill under the guise of concern for the accused or those who could potentially be exposed to the teaching in question. Statements are lifted out of context or refitted into a contextual format for which they were never intended. <br /><br />Reckless accusation abounds. State that you believe every person was included in the finished work of Christ and that you believe the benefits of the cross are already efficacious for every person and you will likely find that no amount of explanation in the world will cause some to believe that you are not a Universalist. Tell somebody you don’t agree with the Augustinian understanding of the nature of hell, and they may well then announce that you don’t believe it hell. Fail to give adamant, ironclad, dogmatic answers to questions that have been debated for millennia and you run the risk of being called a heretic simply because you don’t express politically correct certitude on the matter. The unforgiveable sin in the Gracestapo today is to leave a question open-ended. There can be no unanswered questions. It’s all perfectly clear to those for whom it is clear. <br /><br />I cannot count the times I’ve heard Rob Bell called a Universalist despite his repeated insistence that he is not. Answering the straightforward question "Are you a Universalist?" posed by Newsweek's Lisa Miller Monday night, Bell said, "No, if by Universalist we mean there's a giant cosmic arm that swoops everybody in at some point whether you want to be there or not," he elaborated. Despite his answer, many (including a great number who have never even read his book) insist that he is a Universalist to this day. Evidence, schmevidence. "The man’s a Universalist and a heretic." So goes the momentum.<br /><br />I’ve seen that tactic myself. One “grace teacher” even said that Steve McVey is a Universalist in the same way that one is a legalist even if he doesn’t know it. My response was that his accusation impugned either my integrity or my intelligence. The accusation suggested that I was either lying about my views or else that, unlike my better-informed critic, I don’t know even understand what Universalism is. <br /><br />This is the climate in which we find ourselves and it’s unfortunate. No, on second thought, it’s tragic. While we get bogged down in sectarian arguments over things that neither deny the supremacy of Christ’s finished work nor the necessity to believe it in faith, the rest of the world is starving to taste the love of God.<br /><br />Ignorance is a curse, regardless of which position we take on a matter. In some instances, modern Evangelicalism is no different from the very cult groups we have often criticized or condemned. We have a position and that position cannot be reexamined, questioned and certainly not renounced without serious repercussions.<br /><br />Truth never changes. It is an absolute that stands the test of time. On the other hand, our understanding of truth does evolve. There was a time when the church accepted slavery, misogyny, the lack of civil rights, and other unbiblical positions that we now know were wrong. It is unrealistic to believe that there still may be areas of truth that need further exploration while maintaining complete trust in the Spirit who will guide us and holding a high view of Scripture which will instruct us? <br /><br />Show me a man who becomes angered by a different viewpoint and I’ll show you one who is insecure in his own position. If truth can’t withstand scrutiny, examination and the give and take of varying interpretations then truth isn’t all we’ve had it cracked up to be. But it can. Truth will outlast all our discussions and debates. <br /><br />In my own journey, the greatest surprise has been the ungracious way some “grace people” have responded when others spoke something that contradicted the party line. Pejorative labels have been assigned. Integrity has been questioned. People have been renounced, expelled and shunned by those who fear that exposure to the person they believe has erred may lead people astray. <br /><br />These words may sound self-serving but what I’ve witnessed reaches much further than my own experience. I could list names of others who have become castaways to those who once professed to be fellow laborers in the gospel, if not friends. These expulsions often have happened without so much as a word. Read a blog. Ask somebody else who doesn’t know the facts either. Have your opinion validated. Pass verdict and sentence. Done. End of discussion. Attack.<br /><br />It feels and looks like McCarthyism all over again. None of us have a corner on the truth, but are all in a process of personal growth and development. If a person hasn’t changed his view in any way in twenty years, I submit that that he hasn’t grown. Growth is impossible without change, but that’s a scary proposition to those who have become comfortable in their existing paradigm. <br /><br />Some who want to continue to grow in their understanding of grace have learned that Bilbo Baggins was correct: “It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to." (The Fellowship of The Ring) It’s so true that once you are willing to submit your journey to The Wind and give up your own footing, you can’t know where He may carry you.<br /><br />I submit a proposal to each of us who love the grace of God. Let’s not vilify each other, not even with cunning words cloaked in a gracious tone and vocabulary, couched under the pretense of concern. If we have a problem with each other, let’s talk about it with each other and not to others. Let’s agree to trust the Holy Spirit with His people and realize it’s not up to us to protect them from one another. Let’s realize that we may be wrong in some of our existing views, admitting that we each are where we are in our understanding after sincere and heartfelt study, prayer and confidence that His Spirit is leading us. Let’s not take offense that somebody else's view contradicts our own and let’s not feel a need to respond every time we read or hear something we disagree with. Let’s each proclaim the love of God to the extent and within the framework of what we believe the Bible teaches. Let’s not distance ourselves from each other over style, mannerisms, personality or methods by which we share the truth but instead appreciate the value of the Treasure we each are seeking to share in our respective ways. Let’s respect each others sincerity and embrace each others hearts even when our heads can’t quite make a connection. Let’s feed those who are starving to taste true Agape. Let’s lay aside offended pride, bruised egos and the urge to react to somebody just because we know we can win the argument. Let's not try to build ourselves up by bringing somebody else down. Let’s love. Because if we fail to do that, the rest of this is just a big pile of “dung” (KJV) that nobody except us even cares about. They just want Jesus and, in that way, they are ahead of all the rest of us who would rather spend our time denigrating, dissecting, and debating. <br /><br /> I offer my sincere apology to those who would contend that I, myself, have failed in this area. I have, but this is where I am at this point. By God's grace, I hope to stand here. Will you join me?<br /><br />(For those who don't even know what all this is about, thank God for having shielded you from some of the ugliness among His people.)Steve McVeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02608753297307591442noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28185107.post-46471239749006116322013-05-13T09:34:00.000-05:002013-05-13T09:34:02.287-05:00Finding Absolute Truth on the Internet <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Hv-Og8gG2L9Oh1WNtbCBVE8g1NiITcX4H3erhtZ9fbGUymOwctkmLhTL1JFPCBdjTo_V9xxlBAbTs7WW02sfLOI_pm0hDjxZxm7b4V5RsUcsfRbJQ7msDZh78mrockeWoBqZ/s1600/truth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Hv-Og8gG2L9Oh1WNtbCBVE8g1NiITcX4H3erhtZ9fbGUymOwctkmLhTL1JFPCBdjTo_V9xxlBAbTs7WW02sfLOI_pm0hDjxZxm7b4V5RsUcsfRbJQ7msDZh78mrockeWoBqZ/s200/truth.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">Across the terrain of the cyber world today, we all have a piece of the
property and are free to build anything we want on it. Facebook,
Blogger, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest,, MySpace, Google + . . . pick
your plot. The acreage available for raising our own theological
constructs (or any other kind, for that matter) is free for the taking.
The opportunity to <span class="text_exposed_show">have voices equal in
volume all over the Internet is up for grabs, and it doesn’t have to be
orthodoxy that puts you at the top. After all, we live in a culture
that loves TV shows where Master Chefs scream, swear and belittle the
wannabes who will take that crap just to get their chance at being the
head-spaghetti-cooker in a fancy restaurant in a big town. A culture
where anorexic models or hissy-fit-pitching tailors stake their future
lives on the opinions of judges whose own sane connection to the real
world is highly dubious. A culture where that which is grotesque,
vulgar, garish, and ridiculous is likely to have a higher TV rating than
something classic, of substance, and proven to be life giving does. It
is to *that* contemporary culture that we’re trying to break in and
speak theological reality, i.e. “the truth about whom God is.” <br /> <br />
A guy can eat a slightly spoiled pizza, have a fitfully sleepless night
in which his hyperactive thoughts runs all over the theological
playground of his unconscious (and uninformed) mind and wake up the next
day convinced he was shown a perspective on who God is that the world
needs to hear about and, in a matter of minutes, it’s out there for
everybody on FaceBook or Twitter to see. It’s a *revelation!* When his
friends on Facebook who ate the same pizza give him the high-five,
that’s all the validation he needs to now turn this revelation into a
revolution that only “those who understand” can understand. The rest of
we unenlightened ones just don’t’ get it. <br /> <br /> Absolute truth still
exists among us, as has been the case throughout history. The relevant
question is, “How do we know that truth?” In a world of contradicting,
clamoring voices, how do we know which voice to heed? Is it the voice
based on rationale? The one based on religion? The one that’s based on
rites and ritual? <br /> <br /> The answer to that question isn’t a
complicated solution. The way you can trust in knowing Absolute Trust is
none of the options listed in the paragraph above. The key to knowing
the truth is relationship – a dynamic, present-moment, relationship with
the Spirit of God who lives inside you.<br /> It’s amazing to see how
much theology today is embraced secondhand. Somebody respects somebody
else and that somebody else says so-and-so, thus the respecter embraces
the theological viewpoint of the respected and now clings to it to the
point that he will even argue that viewpoint with others. <br /> <br />
There are two completely trustworthy witnesses to The Truth. First,
there is the Scripture. Some, having realized that they have wrongly
held the Bible in a place equal to God Himself, have now overreacted by
discounting or even dismissing the place of the Bible in the life of the
believer. While *the Word of God* is Jesus and not the Bible, don’t let
the enemy of your soul steal away your Bible. <br /> <br /> For the record,
I have a high view of Scripture and don’t embrace the views of those
who insult the Bible. I’ve repeatedly said that it is Jesus who is the
Word of God, not the Bible, but don’t mistake that assertion as a slam
on the Bible because it’s not. It is, rather, to give Jesus His
preeminent place and the Bible its secondary place as a testimony to
Him. The Bible can be called “the word of God” (small “w”) in the sense
that it is the inspired communication to us about Himself, but it is the
witness to Christ not a co-Christ. Some speak of “the living Word and
the written word” as if they are on par with each other. Such a
comparison is an insult to the One who inspired the Bible. When John
said, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the
Word was God,” you can be sure he wasn’t talking about a Bible. That
doesn’t diminish Scripture, but exalts Jesus. Jesus doesn’t have a twin
Savior called, “The Holy Bible.”<br /> <br /> The greatest teacher of grace
who ever lived had this to say about our Bibles: “All Scripture is given
by inspiration and is profitable…. “ There is nothing grace-filled
about rejecting the Scriptures that our loving Father has given us. To
the contrary, to reject the Scriptures is to cut ourselves off from one
of the greatest grace gifts we have available to nurture and encourage
us in our walk with Jesus. Don’t trash talk the love-letter given to you
by the One who is the very topic of the Bible.<br /> <br /> The primary
reliable witness to Absolute Truth is the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that
when came He would “guide us into all truth.” You have the Holy Spirit
as your teacher. It’s not up to you to figure out the truth through
intellectual pursuit. Study is important, but the tipping point in
knowing the truth is inspiration and revelation that can only come from
the Spirit. Study, pray and ask Him to teach you and He will. Don’t
take your favorite teacher’s word for it. Study, pray and ask The
Teacher *and He will* show you. <br /> Overconfidence in a human teacher insults The Teacher who has come to guide you into the truth. Trust Him.<br /> <br />
Does that mean that it’s wrong to learn from human teachers? Of course,
it isn’t. People sometimes say, “I don’t need a teacher. I have the
Bible and the Spirit.” That’s true, but I wonder about these things.
Does that person go to the doctor? After all, God is the healer. Does
she gain help and comfort from friends in times of pain? God’s Spirit is
the comforter. I wonder if that person receives anything from anybody
since they know that it’s God who is their ultimate source in
everything. <br /> <br /> The point is that our Father has designed
community for a purpose. Do we need each other? That question misses the
point. The wonder of His grace is that *we have each other.* We are
gifts to one another. Need has nothing to do with it. As the old saying
goes, “We are blessed to be a blessing.” You can benefit from others
and they can benefit from you. Isolation is not the way of the Triune
God who exists in community and has brought us into His shared Community
of Love. If God’s nature teaches us anything, it teaches us that we are
made for community, not isolation.<br /> <br /> How, then do we learn
Absolute Truth? By encountering Him in relationship. By engaging with
Him through the Scriptures. By seeing and hearing Him in each other.
Beware of the isolationist mentality and be wary of those who seem to
define themselves by the criticism of others. There is a time for all
of us to speak out against error but many speak from their own hurt.
Deeply wounded people don’t make capable leaders. They need to heal
first.<br /> <br /> Grace speaks from love and, as such, lifts and leads
others into the gentle embrace of the One about whom it speaks. This is
something I’m still learning and I hope you are too. We all are where we
are by the grace of God. None of us have determined the direction in
which we would grow anymore than the tree outside my window made that
decision. Let’s each seek truth, learn truth and teach truth based on
that fact. “Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind,” the
Apostle Paul wisely admonished.<br /> <br /> “What is truth?” Pilate once
asked while Truth was standing eighteen inches in front of his nose.
Don’t miss Truth. He isn’t a proposition or a principle, but a Person.<br /> <br />
Ask yourself when you read theological opinions on the Internet, “Will
this cause people to more clearly see the love of God? Does this build
up or tear down? Does it come from a place of help or hurt? Is this what
Jesus Himself would say to me? Does it cause me to love Him more and to
love others more?” If we were even remotely as concerned about being
sure people see God’s love as we are about making sure they get “the
truth” as we understand it, things would be different on so many levels.<br /> <br />
None of us need to feel that we must be exactly right on everything.
Let’s just share where we are in our own understanding and leave it at
that. (If that sounds New Agey or Emergent Churchey to you, it may be
helpful to look up the word “humility” in your dictionary.) Nor do we
need to protect others from those who differ with us. I had lunch with a
“long time friend” some time ago who told me that he now cautions
others about my ministry because they might be led astray by my
understanding of the cross. While I was troubled by his arrogance, the
Spirit in me soon reminded me that I’ve done the same thing with others.
I’ve found myself rejecting those who have rejected me and, worse than
that, hoping others will reject them too. I know, it’s messed up, but
please try to remember that we all hold this “treasure in *jars of
clay.*” At least I see it and don’t want to feel or think that way. I
hope they will too. **What are we so afraid of???** The Kingdom of God
is not going to crumble because we didn’t do a good job of policing it.
His Kingdom will do fine whether people love or hate us.<br /> <br /> The
fact is that it isn’t up to any of us to protect God’s people. He’s been
doing that a long time before we got here and I suspect He’ll keep on
doing that after we’re gone. Our role is to proclaim His grace to the
extent we can see it and leave the results up to Him. <br /> <br /> There’s a
lot we can differ about, but one thing is certain: The very essence of
our God is Love. Let’s agree to focus on that, because anything else is a
distraction and *that* is the Absolute Truth.</span></span>Steve McVeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02608753297307591442noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28185107.post-32041854183444397112013-05-07T22:36:00.004-05:002013-05-07T22:38:37.283-05:00Sweet Tea: Heaven's Vintage<span class="userContent">(In the past 23 years I've been teaching grace, this is *by far* the most popular illustration I've shared...)</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq0JuK5orf4-P8VJJrN3KgGOvdTlz9YnKk27ZKIPYxKItEcHYxf2K02aJ6XUG_HTqi0K7LcNKLS7SyzglD5-wWkDeugsR8_cdyDNQiYQL6zXhP864T_gebNM_TjARX4iUQqQbP/s1600/sweet-iced-tea-glass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq0JuK5orf4-P8VJJrN3KgGOvdTlz9YnKk27ZKIPYxKItEcHYxf2K02aJ6XUG_HTqi0K7LcNKLS7SyzglD5-wWkDeugsR8_cdyDNQiYQL6zXhP864T_gebNM_TjARX4iUQqQbP/s200/sweet-iced-tea-glass.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
The most loved and delicious beverage in the southern part of the
United States is a perfect metaphor for the union with share w<span class="text_exposed_show">ith
Christ. It is a delectable treat that all self-respecting southerners
enjoy without restraint or embarrassment. It is a vintage worthy of The
Marriage Feast of The Lamb. Surely, the River of Life in heaven must
exist as the main ingredient in this holy tonic.<br /> <br /> What is this nectar of heaven? This wine of the angels?<br />
It is "Sweet Tea." I'm not talking about iced tea with sugar added at
the table. That is a sad and abominable substitute for the nectar of
heaven I will describe here. *Note:* For sweet tea to be authentic, it
must be properly made. Follow this recipe and you'll thank me for the
rest of your life (even if it is shortened by diabetes).<br /> <br /> <b>Step 1: Boil 2 family size tea bags in a pan of water.</b> <br />
The first step in making sweet tea is to turn up the heat so that the
water will boil. The sugar and tea won’t permeate the water unless it is
very hot. This is the same way that God works in a person when He is
preparing to create something wonderful of his life. Have you ever
noticed how much more receptive you are to God when the heat is turned
up high in your life? When we are in hot water, we usually get in the
receiving mode fast! If you have ever asked God to use your life, don’t
be surprised when trouble comes. God may turn up the heat in our
circumstances to prepare us to experience His life. The glory of having
Jesus expressing His life through us requires that we pass through the
fire that destroys self-sufficiency. It’s not pleasant while it is
happening, but when the process is complete the finished product is
quite a treat!<br /> <br /> The Apostle Peter said:<br /> <br /> “Beloved, do
not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for
your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but
to the degree that you share in the sufferings of Christ, keep on
rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice
with exultation” (1 Peter 4:12-13).<br /> <br /> The fire may be hot, but
don’t despair in your troubles. God often orchestrates the events of our
lives to bring us to the end of confidence in our own ability so that
He may readily complete His recipe for godliness within us. “The
revelation of His glory” that Peter mentions is not a reference to
heaven, but to the discovery of the sweet truth of our union with
Christ. However, it is impossible to make sweet tea without hot water.<br /> <br /> <b>2. Add Two Cups (2) of Sugar And Stir</b> <br />
Unlike cold tea, hot tea and sugar are totally compatible with each
other. In fact, the sugar quickly dissolves when stirred into the hot
tea. Once the sugar has dissolved into the water, the very nature of the
liquid is changed. The tea and sugar have become one and cannot be
separated again. Their distinct elements have merged together in such a
way that they are now one new entity. This isn’t the case with iced tea.
It is impossible to get sugar to dissolve into tea once it has been
served over ice. No matter how much you stir it, the two just won’t mix.<br /> <br />
When God prepares to manifest the sweet presence of His Life within us,
He uses heat to cause us to be compatible with Him permeating our
being. He will often stir things in our lives when He turns up the heat.
Then we don’t resist His sweet presence like we would when we are
spiritually cold. To recognize His life within us is to see that our
very nature has been changed. Just as the sugar and tea have become one,
we have been united with Him in His Incarnation and can never again be
separated from Him.<br /> <br /> 1 Corinthians 6:17 says, “But the one who
joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” There is no longer my
life and Christ’s life. Jesus lives in us and has changed our very
nature so that one may say quite literally that Christ is our Life.<br /> <br />
I was teaching this truth in a Grace Walk Conference once and a man
whose field of study was chemistry said, “It is a fact that tea has its
own distinct chemical composition and sugar has its own unique chemical
composition, but when you put the two together in the way you have
described, a totally new chemical composition is created which is
neither tea or sugar.” Do you know what it is called? Sweet tea!<br /> <br />
Because of Christ within us, we have a new identity. When have you ever
heard someone refer to tea as “water with tea and sugar in it”? It’s
nature has been changed, therefore it is identified by its new identity —
sweet tea.<br /> <br /> <b>3. Fill The Pitcher With Water</b><br /> <br /> Once the
sugar has been placed into the tea, the pitcher must be filled with
water, then the tea is ready to be shared with others. Water is a type
of the Holy Spirit in the Bible. The Bible says that the treasure of the
life of Jesus is contained in the earthen vessels of our bodies. (2
Corinthians 4:7) Yet we must be filled with the Holy Spirit if people
are going to be attracted to Christ within us. (Ephesians 5:18) To be
filled with the Holy Spirit means nothing less than Jesus Christ
consuming our total being and expressing His life through us.<br /> <br />
It is the Holy Spirit who dwells within our spirit. That same Spirit is
the very spirit of Jesus. His presence has given us a new nature. We
possess the nature of God. By the death and resurrection of Jesus, God
has created a new race of people who possess His nature. 2 Peter 1:4
says that through the Spirit of Christ we have “become partakers of the
divine nature.” Our new nature is a holy nature.<br /> <br /> <b>4. Tea With Sugar Just Isn’t The Same</b> <br />
I enjoy sweet tea, but I don’t like tea with sugar in it. Some may ask,
“Isn’t it the same thing?” Not at all. When I’m traveling, I sometimes
order iced tea and put sugar in it, but the tea never gets sweet enough
for my taste. I sometimes have a glass of iced tea on the table with a
half inch of sugar settled at the bottom of the glass. That is tea with
sugar, but it’s not sweet tea. It is only when the sugar has dissolved
in the tea that it receives a sweet nature.<br /> <br /> Some people think
in terms of Christ being in their life. However, the finished work of
Jesus didn’t simply facilitate Him being in our lives. He has so filled
our being that the Bible teaches that Christ is our Life. The very
essence of our being has been changed through this supernatural union
with Him through His finished work on the cross.<br /> <br /> If I held up a
glass and declared it to be full of sweet tea, someone might argue that
it isn’t the tea that is sweet, but it’s the sugar in the tea. I would
disagree. The sugar has so diffused its life into the tea that the
nature of the tea has changed. Yes, the tea is sweet.<br /> <br /> The Bible
teaches that because Christ is in us, we have been made righteous. Some
may argue that it isn’t we who are righteous, but rather it is only
Jesus within us who is righteous. This is a mistake. We are righteous
because of the presence of His Life within us.<br /> <br /> Paul said, “He
made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become
the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21) If a person
perceives his own identity only in terms of Jesus being present in his
life, he will fail to understand the radical transformation which took
place through the cross. God didn’t simply improve you by His finished
work. He created a brand new you — one like Jesus!<br /> <br /> Many fail,
however, to understand the reality of the righteousness which has become
ours through Christ. Because they don’t feel righteous, they interpret
what the Bible says about the matter in a way that falls short of the
truth. It is vital for us to recognize that God took away the
unrighteousness we possessed in Adam. In Christ, we have been given His
righteous nature. Those who fail to understand this gift are doomed to a
legalistic lifestyle, always trying to achieve righteousness by their
works and dead to the reality of what He has accomplished.<br /> <br /> Your
life is a divine treat that offers Jesus to a thirsty world. Our joy is
to declare, "Oh taste and see that the Lord is good!" (Psalm 34:8)</span>Steve McVeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02608753297307591442noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28185107.post-24660104525695850002013-05-05T09:24:00.001-05:002013-05-05T09:24:22.385-05:00Influences In My Life <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihSfPcRHZYHpzKA_H6aSBp_aA5lcq6RDUFbm7iuPzjCLQSHPHcQhe7HbyUSrptUBHbR1OlDUtgT-LvpvHkF-Yx_yIBcaxtDQmBN0ArlraT-ln-VcI_eDuJGvCFnP5GzZEvkdEg/s1600/books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihSfPcRHZYHpzKA_H6aSBp_aA5lcq6RDUFbm7iuPzjCLQSHPHcQhe7HbyUSrptUBHbR1OlDUtgT-LvpvHkF-Yx_yIBcaxtDQmBN0ArlraT-ln-VcI_eDuJGvCFnP5GzZEvkdEg/s200/books.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">During
my 20 plus years as a local church pastor, I read three books a week
every week, every year. (Now, I take some of that time to write instead
of read.) Who are the writers that have greatly influenced my thinking?
Moving from many years ago until today, here are some of the key people:
Early ministry during my 20s' and early 30's: R.A. Torrey, Charles
Finney, E.M. Bounds, B.B. Warfield, Char<span class="text_exposed_show">les Spurgeon, F.B. Meyer, J. Sidlow Baxter, Leonard Ravenhill, Carl F.H. Henry, Loraine Boettner, John Owen. <br /> <br />
Mid-years from my mid-30's to 50ish: Hudson Taylor, Hannah
Whitehall-Smith, Watchman Nee, Andrew Murray, Bill Gillham, F.J. Huegel,
Ruth Paxton, Roy Hession, Amy Carmichael, Norman Grubb, Jessie
Penn-Lewis, William Law.<br /> <br /> The past decade: Robert Capon, Baxter
Kruger, Thomas F. Torrance, Karl Barth, C.S. Lewis, Thomas Merton,
Richard Foster, Jürgen Moltmann, N.T. Wright, Dallas Willard,
Athanasius.<br /> <br /> I'm sure I've left out some who may have been more
important to me than these names. I don't agree with all these authors
wrote, nor did I agree with everything when I first read them. However,
they are people who influenced my thinking at the time I read their
works. <br /> <br /> Some people say we should only read the Bible.
Personally, I think that's an immature approach. Our Father has put us
in community with a purpose. One aspect of that purpose is that we might
learn from each other. None of us "have it all" but as we humbly
consider what others have to say, we are able to learn - to grow. <br /> <br />
The most important piece of practical advice I could give to anybody,
particularly younger people, is to READ. I have four degrees beyond high
school and heartily affirm formal education, but I can say
unequivocally that the things I have learned from books have educated me
in an exponentially greater way than what I've learned in a classroom. <br /> <br />
I'm thankful for all these writers I've listed and many others too.
Whether I agree with them on every point or not, they have helped to
shape me and each is an element of who I am in my mind and ministry
today. Who are the people whose writings have most influenced you?</span></span>Steve McVeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02608753297307591442noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28185107.post-87138772636848192242013-05-02T00:05:00.000-05:002013-05-02T00:05:01.242-05:00Starting From Idleness
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO_45EtZGzV7J6FMS8q3V6rUaf_tb_m0bZCyZOWk8_k8X3Y3kQa-x3fOQNtl1mep7BVuBbF1sO4fuXfxudGUviiSjw-5jlSp03Jl5k8IF8GUCYuUj7sefyq5ZPZnDyXbpfZZSp/s1600/moby-dick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO_45EtZGzV7J6FMS8q3V6rUaf_tb_m0bZCyZOWk8_k8X3Y3kQa-x3fOQNtl1mep7BVuBbF1sO4fuXfxudGUviiSjw-5jlSp03Jl5k8IF8GUCYuUj7sefyq5ZPZnDyXbpfZZSp/s200/moby-dick.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">In Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, there is an intense scene where Captain Ahab’s whaling boat presses through a churning sea in pursuit of the great white whale, Moby Dick. One can almost smell the salt air and feel the ocean spray as Melville describes the chase. For the sailors onboard at that moment, nothing else exists apart from the pounding waves, violent winds and the great sea monster beneath the water.<br /><br />Bulging muscles are taunt and determined minds are irrevocably resolved to do whatever necessary to triumph in this cosmic battle between good and evil. The swells of the ocean waves lift the whaleboat high above the water’s surface, only to slam it back down again. But the morally outraged Captain Ahab will not give up. Everything that matters is in the balance at this moment. No energy or determination can be spared. The boat may break apart, but to forfeit the fight is out of the question. The demon beneath must be destroyed. As Eugene Peterson notes:<br /><br />"In this boat, however, there is one man who does nothing. He doesn’t hold an oar; he doesn’t perspire; he doesn’t shout. He is languid in the crash and cursing. This man is the harpooner, quiet and poised, waiting. And then this sentence: “To insure the greatest efficiency in the dart, the harpooners of this world must start to their feet out of idleness, and not out of toil.”<br /><br />Nobody would dispute that a cosmic battle exists today between the forces of good and evil. We see this struggle on the sea of humanity in every culture of the world. Pastors and churches urge us to not give up the ship, but to labor on, to fight at all costs to ensure victory. Recruiters appeal to our sense of what is moral and right to enlist us in the struggle. <br /><br />Every Sunday in churches across the world, sincere Christians rededicate themselves with a renewed determination to become more involved and consistent in the battle against evil. Their hearts are in the right place. They feel the need to do something, but where can they be most effective in the boat?<br /><br />The majority are determined to become better oarsmen who will work harder. A few are sure they sense the calling of Captain Ahab on their lives. They express their intent to attend a religious naval academy where they can learn to be the skipper of their own boat. They want to lead other sailors and together conquer the demon of the depths. . . . thus goes contemporary church life in the world today.<br /><br />The problem isn’t that there’s something wrong in the scenario described, but that something is missing. Where are the harpooners of the 21st century church? How are we supposed to overcome the demons of the depths? In many instances, we often don’t even know how to strike a death blow against the carnality of our own behavior, much less admonish others about theirs or lead others like ourselves into battle. Note Melville’s statement again: “To insure the greatest efficiency in the dart, the harpooners of this world must start to their feet out of idleness, and not out of toil.”<br /><br />Idleness? When a violent storm is raging; when our enemy is so close that our very lives are in danger; when everybody else around us is frantic with hyperactivity; idleness is not a natural response. Yet surely it is indeed to an “idleness” of sorts that we are all called. For the person who wants to know triumph in the struggle, this idleness is indispensable. Those who are weary with fatigue are in no position to strike the fatal blow against the enemy. It is in a certain idleness that we find our strength. It is the spiritual practice of sitting still, silently staring into our Father's face. It is from that place that we find the strength we need to face the tasks life presents. It is from that place that we move into action out of supernatural power. Indeed, it is from that place that we find our very identity and destiny for time and eternity. </span>Steve McVeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02608753297307591442noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28185107.post-39427164721677904582013-04-30T22:35:00.000-05:002013-04-30T22:35:04.039-05:00A Great New Book By Frank Viola<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjViGoyrNcRvuTSkfcUpjXUMwzDQk8mUj-bRYeqyIM5wS65WW4NpTXvV8aMuO6iqg8zmYQyEbQpvEI1mKh9m8c_OYf1aEVNeu-GlkPqGoqUOranRbatV9lp-NO6LZI-hN3611rP/s1600/Viola.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjViGoyrNcRvuTSkfcUpjXUMwzDQk8mUj-bRYeqyIM5wS65WW4NpTXvV8aMuO6iqg8zmYQyEbQpvEI1mKh9m8c_OYf1aEVNeu-GlkPqGoqUOranRbatV9lp-NO6LZI-hN3611rP/s200/Viola.jpg" width="139" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">A
New Book That I Highly Recommend – Get 25 Free Gifts If You Get It Now By May
7<sup>th</sup></span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">My
friend Frank Viola has just released a new book called <a href="http://godsfavoriteplace.com/" target="_blank">God’s Favorite Place on Earth</a> that
could literally change your relationship with God, help you defeat bitterness,
free you from a guilty conscience, and help you overcome fear, doubt and
discouragement once and for all.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">This
is a book that will jar you out of your "Christian rut" and give you new eyes
for looking at EVERYTHING. It’s a quick, inspiring, and entertaining
read.</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">In
addition, if you get the book between May 1<sup>st</sup> to May 7<sup>th</sup>,
you will also get <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">25 FREE GIFTS from 15
different authors</b> including Leonard Sweet, Jeff Goins, Andrew Farley, Steve
McVey, DeVern Fromke, Pete Briscoe, Frank Viola himself, and many
others.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Over
47 Christian leaders have recommended the book, including me.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Here
is my endorsement for “God’s Favorite Place on
Earth.”</span></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">
<div>
“Frank Viola has a rare gift for helping us all to understand the intimate
union we share with the Father through Jesus Christ. <i>God’s Favorite
Place on Earth </i>will stir your emotions and empower you to open yourself
to be a ‘Bethany’<i> </i>where Jesus feels right at home. This is one of
those books you’ll read twice and then share with a friend.”</div>
<div>
<b>Steve McVey, author of <i>Grace Walk</i></b></div>
<div>
<b><i> </i></b></div>
</span>
<div class="Pa3" style="margin: 0in 0in 9pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">The premise of the
book is simple and 100% Biblical: when Jesus was on the earth, He was rejected
everywhere He went . . . from Bethlehem, to Nazareth, to Jerusalem. The only
exception was the little village of Bethany. </span></div>
<div class="Pa3" style="margin: 0in 0in 9pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="A4"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">The
curtain opens with Lazarus, who is now ready to die, telling the incomparable
story of Jesus’ interactions with him, Martha, and Mary. </span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">God’s Favorite Place
on Earth</span></i><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> blends drama,
devotion, biblical narrative, and first-century history to create a riveting
book that you’ll find difficult to put down. <span class="A4"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Within
each narrative, the common struggles Christians face are addressed and answered.
</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Go
to </span></b><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://godsfavoriteplace.com/" target="_blank"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">GodsFavoritePlace.com</b></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> to claim your 25 FREE GIFTS, read a
Sampler of the book, and watch the gripping video
trailer.</b></span></div>
</span></span>Steve McVeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02608753297307591442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28185107.post-84368436030788103442013-04-15T22:00:00.003-05:002013-04-15T22:00:52.150-05:00The Love of God<div class="_1x1">
<div class="userContentWrapper">
<div class="_wk">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrzi-cmrwdPJnACraWGDT5LXCMRnt75MsZUUZqEE_mZmn9P31oI0sobcvoMCM60yz4sbfklyrc8HuM-vPVUAYeCGJOlR-A3QItStrg7_pJXJEcHGnft10zMu2sKNZD2QjN-ZQ-/s1600/gods-love.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrzi-cmrwdPJnACraWGDT5LXCMRnt75MsZUUZqEE_mZmn9P31oI0sobcvoMCM60yz4sbfklyrc8HuM-vPVUAYeCGJOlR-A3QItStrg7_pJXJEcHGnft10zMu2sKNZD2QjN-ZQ-/s200/gods-love.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_516cbe514696b5323243801">
<span class="userContent">Our
God is the Protective Father, the Compassionate Mother, the Consummate
Lover and the Intimate Friend. In fact, He personifies the best
qualities of every human relationship. <br /> <br /> You are His child.... and His children can never be beyond the reach of His love – <br /> Jonah proved, you can’t outrun God’s love. <br /> Lot bore witness that you can’t outsin His love. <br /> Jacob laughs, “you can’t outsmart His <span class="text_exposed_show">love.” <br /> Enoch finally left this world saying, “you can’t outlive His love.” <br /> Jesus came to show, “You can’t outdo God’s love.” <br /> <br />
His love is a Song that you get on your mind and can’t stop singing.It
is the Melody in great music, the Beauty in great art and the Plot in
great literature. His love is the absolute Joy of a new marriage, and
the abiding Comfort of an old one. It rests in the Anticipation of a
kiss and the Thrill of physical intimacy. <br /> <br /> His love whispers in the Laughter in a joke, <br /> the Flavor in a gourmet meal, <br /> the Calm on a pond’s surface at dawn. <br /> His love is the Shelter in the storm, <br /> and the rainbow afterwards. <br /> <br /> His love brings Him aggressively into the circumstances of our lives: <br /> <br /> To the weary – He is Rest. <br /> To the disheartened – He is Hope.. <br /> To the confused – He is Wisdom. <br /> To the lost – He is the Way. <br /> To the guilty – He is Forgiveness. <br /> To the troubled – He is Peace. <br /> To the scared – He is Courage. <br /> To the spurned – He is the Great Lover. <br /> <br /> His love for us can’t be diminished by your doubts, or stopped by your sins, <br /> or even repelled by your rejection. <br /> <br /> His love for you is <br /> unconditional <br /> unparalleled <br /> unending <br /> unwavering <br /> untainted, <br /> unfathomable and<br /> unmatched.<br /> <br /> Wonderful grace of Jesus, <br /> Greater than all my sin, <br /> How shall my tongue describe it? <br /> Where shall His praise begin? <br /> <br /> Taking away my burden, <br /> Setting my spirit free, <br /> For the wonderful grace of Jesus <br /> Reaches me! <br /> <br /> Wonderful grace of Jesus, <br /> Reaching the most defiled, <br /> By His transforming power, <br /> Making him God’s dear child, <br /> <br /> Purchasing peace and heaven, <br /> For all eternity, <br /> And the wonderful grace of Jesus, <br /> Reaches me! <br /> <br /> Wonderful the matchless grace of Jesus! <br /> Deeper than the mighty rolling sea, <br /> Higher than the mountain, <br /> Sparkling like a fountain, <br /> All sufficient grace for even me. <br /> <br /> Broader than the scope of my transgressions, <br /> Greater far than all my sin and shame, <br /> Oh magnify the precious name of Jesus, <br /> Praise His name! <br /> <br />
All the superlatives of every language known to man bow in humble
submission before Him. His love is the greatest – the strongest – the
kindest – the gentlest, the lovingest, the mostest, the bestest....Oh, I
give up! Words of human language will always eventually stumble and
fall in hopelessness when attempting to describe the beauty of His love.
I can't explain it. I just can't do it. <br /> <br /> (These were notes from a sermon I preached in Tony Evans church a few years ago. Just came across them on my computer.)</span></span></div>
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<span class="fbTimelineFeedbackShares"><a data-hover="tooltip" data-tooltip-alignh="right" href="https://www.facebook.com/shares/view?id=412413662189705" rel="async"></a></span><span class="UIActionLinks UIActionLinks_bottom" data-ft="{"tn":"=","type":20}"><span></span></span>Steve McVeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02608753297307591442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28185107.post-80497601713727795362013-04-15T07:08:00.000-05:002013-06-10T12:36:31.938-05:00A Year Later<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI6kr7mT9cVe-Ia0p-mOjpClRaOSjuBVn6RqQc6uyYe8L0v7UMP1FRCkx0G_5ZIvwMPDumB99VWU3Keok9DONaPN_P56-0TCVG228SDdaKqisiujp708xCHhFINUHMc44tKeUU/s1600/ambulance-action.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI6kr7mT9cVe-Ia0p-mOjpClRaOSjuBVn6RqQc6uyYe8L0v7UMP1FRCkx0G_5ZIvwMPDumB99VWU3Keok9DONaPN_P56-0TCVG228SDdaKqisiujp708xCHhFINUHMc44tKeUU/s200/ambulance-action.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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It was one year ago today that I found myself in the
Intensive Care Unit at the hospital after I passed out on my patio at home and
was carried there by ambulance. It was a scary time for our whole family.
Several prominent impressions have stuck with me about that incident over the
past year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
The most memorable was waking up to my normally
mild-mannered wife, Melanie, leaning over me with an expression of horror
coming out as anger saying, “Don’t you leave me! Do you understand? Don’t you
leave me!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I’ll try not to,” I
weakly answered. “NO!” she said. “You will not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">try</i>. You will <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">do it!</i> If
you see Jesus Himself, you turn around and come back to me! He has all eternity
to spend with you!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lying on the
ground with a blood pressure so low they couldn’t even determine it, I laughed
out loud. I love that woman.<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve since told people that I can imagine what that scene
could have looked like:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Well
done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter into…”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Lord, excuse me for interrupting, but could we press the pause
button here a sec? My wife is really upset with me right now. I have to get
back home. I’m gonna have to get back to you. Let’s pick up on this again later, alrighty?
Otherwise, I’m gonna catch hell in heaven when she gets here.” </div>
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<br />
Okay, maybe I exaggerate about what might have been, but
there is an impression that is no exaggeration. It is the distinct and
indelible impression of my own mortality. Over the past year, I’ve had numerous
doctors tell me that I might have four different terminal diseases. I’ve felt physically
awful much of the year and passed out a lot. At times through the year I’ve
felt frustrated, anxious, depressed, angry and confused. The whole thing has
made no sense. I know all the right answers about faith and healing and divine
sovereignty and . . . I’ve taught it all and, more importantly, I believe it
all. But that hasn’t kept me from experiencing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">normal human reactions</span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> to my circumstances. You may or may not
agree, but I fully believe my Father is okay with that. If Jesus wept in the Garden of Gethsemene, I'm sure He's fine with feeble me having a few bad days. Thankfully, "</span>He certainly knows what we are made of. He bears in mind that we are dust" (Ps. 103:14, <i>God's Word Translation</i>).<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Mortality. It’s a
word I only associated with life insurance salesman who referenced it when they
read actuarial tables to determine premiums when I was a young man. Now it’s a
palpable word with substantive meaning that became up close and personal this
past year. I have no fear of dying. At one point when I was lying on the ground
at home, Melanie asked me, “Are you afraid?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Of what? Heaven?!?” I answered. No, of course I wasn’t
afraid of death. Not then or now.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">On that note, the
good news for me at Vanderbilt Hospital last month is that I don’t have
anything terminal. My problem is “a classic condition” that medical science has
no real answers for. “Drink more water. Eat much, much more salt. It’ll
increase your blood volume and might help. We don’t know.” That’s the answer I
got from a highly esteemed doctor who spends every day in a research study
about my very problem. I don’t expect doctors to know everything, but I was
disappointed they had no definitive answer. Oh, well. As I’ve often said, “It
is what it is.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Thankfully, over the
past month I’ve felt much better. Very much better. I had a slight hiccup here on
vacation last week, but nothing big. No passing out or anything like that. Just
warning signs that I’ve learned means it’s time to sit down. But, overall, I’m
encouraged and optimistic about my progress.Unless something changes, I won't be talking about my health anymore. Only only geezers go on and on about that subject!</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">One big thing I’ve
taken away from all this is the importance of keeping my priorities in the
right order. I want to spend time with my wife, my children, my grandchildren
and my friends. I want to play more. Even knowing grace I'm still a Type A personality and have a tendency to lapse back into my old works-a-holic flesh patterns if I'm not careful. Nobody cares how hard you worked once
you’re dead but they will remember how much you loved them as evidenced by the
time and experiences you shared together. That’s what I want to do most with
the rest of my life.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Another thing I want
to do is focus more attention on writing. My publisher and I have agreed on my
writing agenda for the next couple of years. <i>When Wives Walk in Grace</i> will be released in July. Three are scheduled for release next year. In addition I plan to do some
shorter e-books along the way. In fact, I’ll finish one while I’m here on this
trip and hope to have it on amazon.com within the next month. I’ll say more
about it once I’ve decided a title and finished it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I’m optimistic about
the future of Grace Walk. The Father has brought Robyn
Cathey on board in a part time position to carry forward the essential elements
of ministry operation. I’m excited about her becoming a part of Grace Walk. She
has a strong passion for seeing the message of grace spread and is a kindred spirit when it comes to helping further the kingdom.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I’ve been
overwhelmed by the fact that our loving Father has also brought on three men to
handle shipping Grace Walk resources. Nathan and Jason Smith and their Dad,
Roger, are handling this vital responsibility on a volunteer basis. They are
all successful professionals in both business and ministry and are now an
official part of the Grace Walk team. Amazing, huh? When God gives you a gift,
it’s always Grade-A and never fails to exceed your expectations.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">So things are
looking good in these directions. For that, I am so thankful. I still have to
learn over and over again that, as my friend, Ralph Harris, says, “God’s got
ya.” I know it but I’m still coming to know it again and again in every area of life. </span></div>
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<br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I want to thank so
many of you who have shown love and concern during this past year of challenge.
Your prayers, emails, Facebook notes and posts, and phone calls have been more
encouraging than you can imagine. I get so many emails and FB notes that I
haven’t been able to respond to each one individually but I have read each and
every one and have been lifted by your kindness. Thank you. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">So here I am a year
later. On this day last year I was in Intensive Care. Today I’m in the Bahamas
on a much-needed vacation with a great wife and great friends. So I’m thankful.
Truly thankful. Proverbs 4:18 says, “The path of the righteous is like the
morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.” I believe that.
In fact, I’m counting on it. </span></div>
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Steve McVeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02608753297307591442noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28185107.post-23181444537711693602013-04-14T08:27:00.001-05:002013-04-14T08:27:33.616-05:00The Pull of the Sea<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQl3nI8JZ8SC3cL1DcKmiJ6aZZJpzyIKLESMg8Y421912CdqWScqwFhLZ0Bm9P6PyMQrOQlYwDPU6IWBynstjeHgZC_jNkfJtOtQ6F0ODTUBvzfbQWwaX-IhfK67naV1OJaY2_/s1600/524147_504475652921273_682831620_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQl3nI8JZ8SC3cL1DcKmiJ6aZZJpzyIKLESMg8Y421912CdqWScqwFhLZ0Bm9P6PyMQrOQlYwDPU6IWBynstjeHgZC_jNkfJtOtQ6F0ODTUBvzfbQWwaX-IhfK67naV1OJaY2_/s320/524147_504475652921273_682831620_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<span class="userContent">There is a parallel between the way I relate
to the ocean and how I relate to Christ. I find Jesus to be
irresistible. I am continually and compulsively drawn to Him. Two
thousand years ago He said that He would draw men to Himself (John
12:32) and that is exactly what He has done with me by an internal pull
which is infinitely greater than that of the ocean. I didn’t choose this
relentless hunge<span class="text_exposed_show">r I have for Him any more than I chose to love the sea. It was put there, independent of anything I did or didn’t do. <br /> <br />
I act like a fool sometimes. I know what it is to have thoughts
unbefitting somebody who is following Jesus. I’ve thought things, said
things and done things that I wouldn’t write about. Sometimes I’ve
wondered if I’ll ever master the very subject which I have given my life
to teaching. The fact is that we are all in the same boat. Human
beings wrapped up in human weakness. Dependent on unilateral grace and
grace alone. <br /> <br /> Despite my deficiencies, I want God. I constantly
yearn for the tender embrace of Jesus. While my inconsistencies are
many, that’s not one of them. I have tasted Deity and am now eternally
addicted. I have no time for or interest in dead religion. Artificial
environments make me emotionally queasy these days. Been there, done
that. <br /> <br /> I'm closing in on 59 years old. Common sense causes me
to know that I must be somewhere on this side of halftime in the game of
life. I don’t want to spend the rest of the game wasting time on things
that aren’t real. I want to drink deeply from Life. My Kool-Aid days
are over. I want to become a connoisseur of fine wine in the days I have
left. <br /> I can’t explain or defend it to the skeptic, but by His
Spirit, He has seduced me to Himself in such a way that I can never be
nor want to be free of Him. I can no more understand Him than I can know
all the mysteries of the sea, but I am forever captivated by His charm
and enthralled by His love for me. <br /> <br /> I have determined to just
rest in Him and my hope in the unimaginable scope of His grace. My
choice can’t be justified in the eyes of those who don’t believe, but I
am past having to justify it. It struck me recently that the only ones
of us debating grace are those of us who profess to have some level of
understanding about it. Everybody else is just soaking it up. By grace,
I'm done with defending a message that doesn't need a defense with those
who see it and has none for those who don't. I plan to spend the rest
of my life just proclaiming it. <br /> <br /> Some may say that there is no
ocean where one can see through crystal clear water fifty feet to the
bottom, but I’ve been there. I don’t have to prove it to anybody; I know
it. I know what I know. Is it a waste for a man to spend his days
choosing to simply live in the presence of God through Christ? Not to
me.<br /> <br /> Do you sense this same inner call toward Christ? That pull
you experience isn’t generated from within yourself. It is there because
God’s Spirit is pulling you toward Jesus. He is lovingly seducing you
to Himself. God seducing you. Think about that – God wants you! <br /> <br />
He knows you completely. There’s nothing you think, say or do that He
isn’t fully aware of, yet He wants you. How can you know this is true?
It is because you want Him. Nobody wants God unless His Spirit creates a
hunger within them to know Him. <br /> <br /> So be encouraged. Do you have
doubts? Are you painfully aware or your weaknesses? Do your failures
sometimes rise up in your mind to condemn you? If so, welcome to Faith
101. That’s normal. Those same thoughts and feelings you have, I have.
So does everybody else. We are all wired the same way. It is human
circuitry and being a believer doesn’t negate normal human experiences.
But the fact that you feel a divine pull says something powerful about
what God's Spirit is doing in you.<br /> <br /> Possessing the life of Jesus
Christ offers great potential. You don’t have to be controlled by your
weaknesses. Doubts don’t have to dominate you. You can choose to put
your faith in the One who is pulling you toward Himself and simply trust
Him to finish what He has started. <br /> <br /> Grace means none of it is
up to you. It’s all about Him and what He is doing. Remember, it’s not
up to you to make anything happen between you and God. Your role is
simply to respond in faith to the pull that you are experiencing.</span></span>Steve McVeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02608753297307591442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28185107.post-12139578654326217762013-03-21T12:44:00.004-05:002013-03-21T12:46:53.885-05:00The Power of a Touch<style>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2tdvB2QyXbJs-m1PJownsU1g_fKyMK1friMgoRKHYIkNMdiSLuHEjWTQyqCQLHlr4VBZ7UMAPUyn9Tc7jy1v8qAwtp9r9xBgBOV78jM1cP9ig6AiXhjaGAKEPKkimj0kE5lcL/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2tdvB2QyXbJs-m1PJownsU1g_fKyMK1friMgoRKHYIkNMdiSLuHEjWTQyqCQLHlr4VBZ7UMAPUyn9Tc7jy1v8qAwtp9r9xBgBOV78jM1cP9ig6AiXhjaGAKEPKkimj0kE5lcL/s200/images.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Many people are self-conscious about asking somebody to pray
for them. Some don’t feel wired for verbally sharing the gospel. Others want to
share God’s love with people but just don’t know how.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is something that everybody can do. No matter who they
are or what personality type they have. It is one of the most under-utilized
ways to bring the healing love of our Father to people and is one of the
simplest things any of us can do. It is the act of a loving touch.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A hug, a pat on the back, or even the gentle squeeze of
another person’s shoulder or arm has more power than many of us realize. In
fact, there is divine power in simple acts of affection. A power that can bring
more to the recipient than we can imagine.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
It’s interesting to note how many times Jesus touched people
in the Bible when He healed them. Touch is one language of affection. Affection
is the conduit through which love flows.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
We may feel love for another person but without affection
how will the love inside us reach them? Tender words and acts of kindness are
certainly ways that love can be expressed but there is a power in affectionate
touch that is saturated with divine potential. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
In an article called, “The Power of Touch,” Ayana Byrd
writes about touch: “<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">It
can also boost your immune system and get you back on your feet sooner,
according to research done by Tiffany Field, Ph.D., director of the Touch
Research Institute at the University of Miami. And a 2004 study from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that sharing a love seat with
a partner for 10 minutes lowered blood pressure in premenopausal women. That
study also concluded that women have reduced heart rates when they get lots of
hugs. But hugs don't have to be from a romantic partner. Various other studies
have shown that touch helps asthma, eases migraines, and leads to a more
restful night's sleep.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">A
report by ABC News discussed the connection between touch and the probability
of a team winning in sports competition. They reported: “Two social
psychologists from the University of California-Berkeley, both avid basketball
players themselves, recently analyzed 90 hours of televised professional play.
They looked at every team and every player in the league, taking note of what
they determined to be 15 kinds of touch, including hugs, high fives and even
flying shoulder bump.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Their
conclusion: The teams that touch the most win the most.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Are
you an affectionate person? You can be. It’s one of the simplest ways you can
begin to communicate love and affirmation to others. The Bible has many
examples of loving touch, including John and Jesus. “And there was one of his
disciples reclining (at meat) in the bosom of Jesus, whom Jesus was loving”
(John 13:23 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Young’s Literal Translation</i>).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">You
may feel like it isn’t your nature to be affectionate, but it is because the
One who created us in His image is affectionate. Step out in faith and show
divine affection to somebody today. It’s a holy thing to do.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br />
To the loved, a word of affection is a morsel; but to the love-starved, a word
of affection can be a feast. – Max Lucado</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br />
“Reach out and touch somebody’s hand. Make this world a better place if you
can.” – Diana Ross</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Affection
is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is
in our lives. – C.S. Lewis</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I
just don't know how to deal with so many people giving me that much affection.
I never had that in my life. – Tupac Shakur</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Love
is not to be purchased, and affection has no price. – St. Jerome</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Whenever
I walk out on a stage, I'm begging for affection. – Eartha Kitt</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But
the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13</span></div>
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Steve McVeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02608753297307591442noreply@blogger.com5