The Reason for God

I am reading a heavy duty book called the Reason for God by Timothy Keller.  I have to savor and let each part sink in before I go on to more pages.  He gives much to think and ponder concerning one's belief in the Bible, creation,  working out for ourselves who we are as believers and why we believe what  what we have been taught through our lives. Like eating a steak dinner, savoring every juicy bite, and then digesting it slowly. Keller includes cheesecake, and salad, wonderful tidbits, to chew on....like: " if we let our unexamined beliefs undermine our confidence in the Bible, the cost may be greater than we think"   (Keller, page 117)  It is taking a long time to finish this book, but it just gets better and better, and challenges my thinking, and increases my desire to stay true. 

Decluttering our Hearts.... Filled with God's Love

Today, I read in Ephesians 3:17 (NLT)  that Pauls prays that  Christ would be more and more at home in our  hearts as we trust Him. King James uses the word "dwell".  

 What must we do for this to happen?  Declutter.  Get rid of all the stuff that would make Christ uncomfortable.  "Stuff "that would keep Him from feeling at home in our heart/life.   Like quarreling, selfshiness, jealousy, lustful pleasure, judging, pride. (Gal 5:19,21) ......all those items which not only displease our heavenly Father, but don't do us any good, either.  Then dust off the tables and shelves and place better items there , like love, joy, peace, longsuffering.....
(Gal. 5:22,23)
But there is more ......when Christ is at home in our hearts, dwells in our hearts..... our roots will go down deep into God's marvelous love, and we have the power to understand how wide, how long, how high and how deep God's love really is.  Even though it is so great that we can never understand it, we can be filled with the fullness of life and power from God and begin to experience it.   (Ephesians 3:17-19) 
paraphrased by RJR 

Cleaning out my Freezer

Cleaning out a freezer can be like cleaning out our heart.  I recently took on that disagreeable task and learned something about myself.  I found alot of old stuff in there, items that  were no longer useable or desirable. Raspberries that had been picked several years ago were buried in the back.  Something like the sin that lurks in a heart.  Or, emotions, and attitudes that should have been taken care of long ago.  Yes, I did find items from the past, and they had taken on the odor and flavor of the freezer.  Sometimes we take on the odor and flavor of the world around us, and we cannot be used  in God's service. 
But among those unrecognizable blobs and outdated raspberries, I did find a really nice piece of recently purchased roast that I had forgotten.  What a nice surprise!  God tells us in his word to search the scriptures  and search our hearts.  Guess I should be checking my freezer more often, and checking my heart daily.

 Search me, Know my heart: Try me,  Know my thoughts, Oh, God.

Psalm 139:23

 Hosea 6:4 the New Living Translation says: "O Israel and Judah, what should I do with you?" asks the LORD. "For your love vanishes like the morning mist and disappears like dew in the sunlight.

My desire is that my love and loyalty to the Lord would not dissapear like dew and mist in the sunlight amidst the annoyances, harships, and trials of life. 

Pam is helping me

My friend Pam W. is helping me to create this Blog.  I am so grateful for her help.  Today I ventured into this scary unknown world and explaining the reason for the title of this Blog.  I seek to honor the Lord with all I do and write, hoping to make a difference in a life, even if it is only my own.