A Romans 8 Groaning

There are no pictures below so I wonder how many people will read this... I do the same thing. No pics? Less likely to read, BUT, I just read this article and it only affirms and HUGELY resounds in me regarding what I feel God has been talking to me about A LOT!!! ... A groaning just WELLED UP in me throughout my reading this.

Lord, please show us what you would have US do ... more specifically, me, Lord. What is MY role in this?

Awaken Us, O God!
Peter Beck
Professor, Writer
January 12, 2009

One of the great things about studying history is that God brings to our remembrance the mighty and wonderful things he has done in the past.

Did you know that a number of great revivals have swept across our nation over the years? Jonathan Edwards, pastor of a small frontier town in Massachusetts in the 1730s, witnessed a great work of God in which 300 believers were added to his church in six months. For 25 straight years at the beginning of the 1800s revivals flared all across the nation. During the Civil War over 250,000 soldiers, Union and Confederate, made professions of faith.

However, studying history also reveals our shortcomings. Did you know that there’s not been a great season of continual revival in America for over 100 years?

How can we explain that? It’s simple. Just as in the days before Israel’s exile, God’s people in America have turned their back on their Creator. Oh sure, there’s more churches today than at any point in our history. Yes, there are churches bursting at the seams with people. But, on the whole, churches in America have lost their way. They’ve forgotten their first love. They’ve grown old. They’ve grown cold. They’re now dead.

What we need is a great revival--not amongst the lost but among those who claim to have been found.

William Sprague, a witness to the revivals of the Second Great Awakening, said that “the efficiency of the church depends greatly on its purity.” He wasn’t talking about the smooth operation of the church. He was talking about the church’s ability to fulfill its God-given role, that of calling a lost and dying world to the Savior. He recognized that the church was sick, that it was cancerous, and that it was dying from the inside out.

The cause? Sin.

A church that harbors and tolerates sin of any kind is a church that no longer savors of the sweet smell of forgiveness. Instead, it reeks of spiritual death. Rather than living as their Lord lived, rather than living as the world should live, they live as the world lives. There’s no longer a significant difference between the people of the church and the people of the world. Is it any wonder that our children and grandchildren see no use for the church? They see a Christianity that doesn’t really matter. They see a Christianity that doesn’t make a difference. And, they see no use for it.

Baptist preacher Vance Havner once said, “A revival is the church remembering, the church repenting, the church repeating.”

We as a church must remember all that God has done for us and all that He has commanded us. We must repent of our individual and collective sins. We must return to our first love, sharing our faith, raising our voices in praise, and once again living lives worthy of a people called to bear His wonderful name.

We must look into our hearts, we must search our souls, and we must prepare our church. After all, the stakes are high. At risk is not just the reputation and future of our church. The reputation of Jesus Christ, His sacrifice, and His church are on the line.

Join me, even now, praying that God will work a miracle of awakening among us and bring great glory to Himself.



Peter Beck (Ph.D. Southern Seminary) is assistant professor of religion at Charleston Southern University in Charleston, South Carolina and a former Senior Pastor.

Good stuff.

The healing of the soul begins by restoring the glory of God to it's flaming all-attracting place at the center. ~ John Piper

Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature. ~Hebrews 1:3

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. ~2 Corinthians 3:18

Grow. Grow strong. Stand tall. Yours is a valued treasure. ~Max Lucado

The Bible: Well, I struggle with it.

Soooo, I don't know how reading the Bible is for you ... dry, boring, exciting, interesting, dumbfounding? ... I think it has been ALL of those for me at different times, and in emailing a friend about it this morning, I wanted to put some stuff out there that has REALLY helped TRULY make the Bible come alive for me... Make me WANT to get in it, read it and DIG IN to what things really mean. SO, if you're interested, keep reading. These are the things that have ALWAYS, and I mean ALWAYS worked for me (even if you and I are completely different, it can't hurt to try it once or twice :O) ).


Getting Started
If you're new to reading the Bible and don't really know "how" or even if you've been reading for YEARS, I want to share what helps me HUGELY and really, really helps me connect EVERY TIME I open the Bible. When I do this process, it is always really rich:

1. Before you open the Bible, pray and ask God to open your mind and heart to hear anything that He has for you. I PROMISE there is MUCH He wants you to know and asking Him to speak to us before we open up the Bible really helps to quiet our hearts to hear from Him. This may sound weird and new to you, but again, it can't hurt to try :O)
2. Once you have prayed, read through the verse/passage in front of you and write down the things it says about God.
3. Soak that in. What do those things say about God ... really think about it. If there is a specific thing that impacts you, sit and talk to God about that... speak/write OPENLY as you would a GREAT friend... if it doesn't make sense/is hard to reconcile, TALK to Him about it. If you LOVE it and wonder if it's too good to be true, TALK to Him about it... if you just want to CELEBRATE that THAT is part of who God is... do that!!! There is no 'time limit' on this... you just keep engaging with Him as much or as little as you want.
4. Then, in that same passage, write down the words/phrases that impact you. Once you've identified them, you are going to do the same thing. Talk to God about why they impact you. It REALLY helps me to do that through writing because it helps me stay focused.
5. And that is IT. It really IS that easy!!! Sometimes I read something about God and can't get past that because I am so impacted by it, sometimes I whiz right on through and take a little something with me. Either way, there is no 'rule' to this, it is just to help really engage my heart with what I am reading.

Also, when you come to the Bible, come with an EXPECTANT heart... EXPECT to read something that really impacts you! LOOK for it!

Okay, Digging Deeper:
Crosswalk.com is the website I use to REALLY dig into scripture. If you want to dig even deeper, see what different people in history have to say, see what the core meaning of the words are, check out this site... it is my FAVORITE and I'll tell you why. I'm going to use Jeremiah 29:10-14 as an example: http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?new=1&word=Jeremiah+29%3A10-15&section=0&version=nsn&language=en

• SO, as you do the "Getting Started" steps and certain words impact you, you go to the link above and can click on that word (if it's underlined in blue) and it will take you to the original meaning of that word. Since the Bible was written in Hebrew and Greek (I think Greek, but that doesn't sound right to me), a lot of times the English language isn't able to catch the DEPTH of the word.
• Soooooooo,when you click on this link it will take you to the depth of meaning, like this with 'plans' ... if you click on the word it pulls up this page: http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?new=1&word=Jeremiah+29%3A10-15&section=0&version=nsn&language=en Which really breaks down the word and you see even MORE of God's intentionality in that one of the meanings is 'design' ... that feels SO much more personal to even me. Be sure to go to that link, but there are SO many other words used there!
• Anyhow, with SOME words there is an original Hebrew that the word came from... a root of the root if you will... and with 'plan' that is the case. At the page above that explains 'plan' deeper, look up and to the right and you will see "Word Origin from" with a number that is blue. That number represents the core, core, core of the word. If you click on THAT you find:http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Hebrew/heb.cgi?number=2803&version=nas

And all of this is just with ONE word! I love, love, love doing 'wordstudies' on words that impact me/make me wonder, etc because once I dig deeper it gives me even more to talk to God about, gives greater impact in explaining the verse better, and can really resound with me more.

Okay, so that is JUST words.

Now, we're going to go back to the very first page: http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?new=1&word=Jeremiah+29%3A10-15&section=0&version=nsn&language=en.

• At this page you will find on the left all kinds of study options. I think you might REALLY be interested in commentaries. Commentaries (if you aren't familiar) are what people who have studied the Bible, the history of the time, etc, in depth have to say about the passage you are looking at.
• Once you click on the word 'Commentaries' a slew of options come up. Ones I would recommend: Matthew Henry's, Wesley's Explanatory Notes (at the bottom of the page), and the Geneva StudyBible. The others I really don't know much about.
• When you click on a commentator's name, you will then be able to see which books of the Bible they have made remarks about. Just click on the book you're interested in and you can read what all they have to say.

And that is really just the beginning of all of the tools you will find at Crosswalk! I LOVE THIS SITE! So, anyhow, let me know if you have any questions about anything, would like other suggestions, just whatever :O)

I really pray you have fun talking to God about this. That you enjoy this process!

I love the freedom we have in talking about everything with God, and especially about the Bible. To be honest and say, "This is GREAT!' or "God, I really struggle with this, I don't understand." and to ask Him for His guidance, to keep digging deeper, etc.

Soooooo, that's that. This is what I love, and, again, always makes me walk away glad I did it.

I hope you have FUN!!

Red letter, or really BOLD letter, day... or both?

God changed my life today and it began with Psalm 139. I’m not even kidding. Now if I can just STAY in this!!! GUARD THIS TRUTH!

Let me just be honest and say that I’ve been very bored. Bored across the board. Heh. Seriously though, in our Small Group last week we started this new study and in it you write down ALLLLL of your “I wants.” The next step is to group them together and make a theme. The last step is to take your theme, which is your core desire, and ask the question “Why.” Like, “Why do I desire this?” until you get to the very, very core of what you desire and why it is you desire it.

I.E. I want to travel. Why? Because I like experiencing new people and new things. Why? Because it’s fun! Why? Because I’m created in the image of God and it seems that HE likes variety if He created it. *GASP!* That must mean it’s okay to have these desires!!!

And so it went and so it went… In the ‘final’ stepping back and looking at my core desires I realized I am BORED!

So, then we are in Staff Meeting this morning, and I had forgotten about the study and epiphany up above, we broke up into smaller groups and the first question they asked was, “What is most difficult for you in your current position?” My VERY first thought: I’m bored.

Is that WILD?! I hadn’t even thought about this or realized they were the same until I sat down to blog about the bored at work thing. The REASON I sat down to blog about it is because of what God has done in the 3 hours since I said it out loud.

So, backtracking to this morning, before the staff meeting, I had read Psalm 139 and was SO refreshed and invigorated and excited to be reminded of all of these things! “I see you, I know you, before you were born, etc, etc, etc”

Then, I go to staff meeting and declare, “I am bored.”

So, THEN, this is when God started really opening my eyes and doing His thing. My coworker is leaving staff and she shared something she’d journalled that she felt she needed to share with us. She began to quote the verse where God says, “I can do exceedingly abundantly more than all you could ask or imagine.” And she begins sharing how 1 year ago she had felt strongly called to a certain ministry and how God instead led her to this position where for the past year she has plotted and toiled. She shared how there is SO much that she learned, and could have only learned through this position, that prepared her for the steps that she would take now in this new life God is calling her to.

As she was saying all of this, it was all I could do not to start sobbing crying. I so LONG for that and I so FEEL like I’m in that ‘preparation’ time and just want to weep and cry and have my little tantrum. But what is WORSE:

I know, at least in part, why I am in my current job and I am not being faithful to those things. THAT was the Holy Spirit slap and it hurt and it was good.

Once I came to that, I felt like I needed to grab her and share how impacted I was and when I did, she said, “That’s really weird because I thought about you very specifically this morning… about your first day here.” And shared a bit more. I know who I was then and who I am being now and it only affirmed what God was saying, “Anna, you are not being faithful with where I have you and why I have you here.” But almost more than that, well not MORE, but yes, more. “I see you. I know your every thought. Your every desire. I know your words before you even speak them. I know how you are feeling. I am telling you I have a plan for you in this and it is more than all you could ask or imagine."

And you guys, He has only continued to AFFIRM that for the past few hours. Number 1, I feel LIFE… Holy Spirit continually being filled LIFE! Two, he has given me NUMEROUS opportunities, just since 11:30, to do the things I LOVE to do and be who I feel is ‘most me.’ THEN, to cap it ALL off, I was just asked to teach!!! One of my very core LOVES!!! MY GOSH, LORD! YOU ARE AMAZING!!!

It is like He needed to deal with my sin, and then confirm, “I know you. Be who you are where you are.”

OH my gosh, THAT’S been the big struggle. I don’t feel I’ve been faithful to be WHO I am WHERE I am and it is across the board. NO WONDER I’M BORED…. I HAVEN’T BEEN LIVING IN WHO I KNOW GOD HAS CREATED ME TO BE!

How can we ever LIVE if we aren’t growing in who God created us to be and living in what He has already shared with us? And this is REGARDLESS of circumstance. This is REGARDLESS of job, responsibilities, routines, relationships, whatever… Lord, how can I be who YOU have created me to be and who you DESIRE me to be in this situation? And am I STAYING connected to Him in that? Another verse from this morning’s staff meeting… “Do not be drunk on wine, but be filled by the Spirit.” Our pastor shared it is a CONTINUAL filling … a one stop shop won’t do it. We HAVE to stay connected to continue to be filled with Him.

OOOOHHHHH, man! Oh, Lord, THANK YOU! I NEEDED this!

In ‘closing’ I am remembering what a volunteer said today which, again, confirms what God is telling me and even builds on it. I had been feeling guilty about not being able to spend time with him and he said, “Anna, I do what I do for you because it brings me life. And it brings me life because I know that by setting up tables and chairs, which I really enjoy, you have more time to do what brings YOU to life!” His saying that was I felt the Lord continuing to confirm in me that we are ONE body and when we all walk in being who we were created to be, doing what He is leading us to do, it is BEAUTIFUL.

Please continue build this girl.