Author: Lissa Eggleston

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Can you hear me now?

“But some seeds fell on fertile soil and produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted. Anyone who is willing to hear should listen and understand!”  Matthew 13:8

‘soilandseedlingThe good soil has none of the faults of the rest of the field.  It is loose and thus unlike the path, deep and thus unlike the rocky bit, clean and thus unlike the thorny infestation.

Jesus interprets this in one word: understands. While others  received the Word, and it had some growth in them, the distinction here is surely of a moral nature.

Biblical usage of “understanding” regards the action of the whole moral and spiritual nature, not purely the intellectual process.  It involves the grasp of the truth with the whole being, the complete reception of the Word of the kingdom not merely into the intellect but into the central self that is the undivided fountain from which flow the issues of life.  Only he who has housed the Word deep in his inmost soul “understands it.”  ‘

Alexander MacLaren In His Presence, June 26th, Emerald Books, 1998.

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Walking like a Christian

0107WRK13 In Ephesians, the Apostle Paul is intent on helping Christians learn how to walk!  This skill is something that we do without thinking.  In fact, it is something we all think we mastered around the first year of life. Paul seems to think we need to be re-taught.

When you take a walk it is with the intent of being steady and consistent in your steps—not too fast, not too slow. You keep up the pace mile after mile. This image is the image Paul had in mind as he instructs us to think of the Christian life as a new walk.

    • “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world…” (2:2)
    • “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”  (2:10)
    • “walk in a manner worthy of your calling” (4:1)
    • “you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds” (4:17)
    • “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us…” (5:1)
    • "for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  Walk as children of the light.”  (5:8)
    • “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise.”  (5:15)

Walking doesn’t seem to be as easy as it once was.  Paul’s thoughts make me know why the hymn writer wrote “Just a Closer Walk with Thee.” 

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Soaking before God

cynthia heald I went to a Women’s Conference at the Hotel Jefferson Saturday morning.  There in the opulence of the Grand Ballroom a sweet 70 year old woman shone brighter than the chandelier as she reminded the women of the importance of “pitching our tents” near God.

Cynthia Heald’s message created a homesickness in my heart. I wanted to “go home” and meet with God in His Word—I knew what she was talking about and longed for it.  I also longed to be a woman who spends herself encouraging other women and pointing them to the truth of Scripture.

Oswald Chambers added to the theme of the weekend in His “The Unheeded Secret” devotion for this morning.

“It is not practical activities that are the strength of this Bible Training College, its whole strength lies in the fact that here you are put into soak before God. You have no idea of where God is going to engineer your circumstances, no knowledge of what strain is going to be put on you either at home or abroad, and if you waste your time in over-active energies instead of getting into soak on the great fundamental truths of God’s Redemption, you will snap when the strain comes…”

It was a weekend full of new mercies.  It is good of God to send messengers with reminders that I need a good soaking every day!Bible (Small)

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The Prodigal God

prodigal-god If you think you have heard it all and know it all about the parable of the Prodigal son found in Luke 15—think again!

This book by Tim Keller unfolds rich gospel truths in the simplest but most profound ways. 

The jacket description suggests that

“Keller uncovers the essential message of Jesus, locked inside his most familiar parable.  Within that parable Jesus reveals God’s prodigal grace toward the irreligious and the moralistic.  This book will challenge both the devout and skeptics to see Christianity in a whole new way.”

I found all that and more by reading these wonderful 133 pages.  If you are hungering for the grace filled truth of the gospel read this!  If you are more like the elder brother than the younger in this parable please read this!  Whatever your reason—read this book!  We are not very far into 2009 but this is my favorite so far.

 

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Renovation usurped by Restoration

“One day in the eighteenth year of his kingship, with the cleanup of country and Temple complete, King Josiah sent Shaphan …to renovate The Temple of God.”  2 Chronicles 34:8

  The story of King Josiah is such a soul refreshing read.  This young king began ruling at the age of 8 years old.  If he had lived in our time we would say he did not grow up in a Christian home.  In fact, his grandfather, King Manasseh, and his father, Amon, both modeled depraved, evil lifestyles before his eyes. Yet, Scripture records that Josiah by the grace of God "did what was right in the eyes of the Lord".

josiah_ The way Josiah "did what was right" was through a personal spiritual resolve to clean up and renovate the land that he ruled. That clean up included tearing down all the repulsive idols that had been built in rebellion to the living God. Beyond that, he desired to renovate the dwelling place of God–the Temple in Jerusalem.

It makes me smile when reading Scripture get caught up in the story of man–the thoughts and plans of characters are unfolded and it is easy to think that you are reading the real story.  It is then that God grabs you through the text and tells a greater story!  In this account God weaves His storyline right in with Josiah’s surpassing the plans of man that can only accomplish renovations–fixing up external ruins. God on the other hand is shown to be on the march to do His favorite work–He is pressing inward to the heart of the king He is accomplishing an internal restoration of the soul!

Josiah was earnestly seeking to show his love for God by fixing the Temple— a building that represented his God. God displayed His love for Josiah by allowing him to uncover a tool that goes beyond renovation –one that is powerful in the redemptive work of restoration!

During the Temple renovation, Josiah’s workmen "discovered" the Book of the Law.  Scripture is clear that it was "found" which highlights the fact that God’s people were no longer people of the Word–His Word –His agent of restoration had been lost to His people.

a_lost_book_found When Josiah heard the Word of God read aloud he was horror struck!  He realized how far his heart was from the heart of God.  His plans for renovation were dropped and he fell humbly before God in repentance.  That is the picture of devotion to  God–our external works are not the goal of God –restored hearts are.

My mother has a saying that she repeats often, "What you don’t know can’t hurt you."  The truth is, God reveals in this story of Josiah that what His people don’t know can indeed hurt them.  He has given the gift of His revealed Word–the communication of His heart–the owner’s manual for living. Losing or ignoring the manual results in the saddest waste of life as it was intended to be lived. Listen to God’s commentary on all of this as He spoke to Josiah.

"Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says concerning the words you heard: Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before God when you heard what he spoke against this place and its people, and because you humbled yourself before me and tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the LORD. Now I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be buried in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place and on those who live here.’”  2 Chronicles 34:26-28

Come restore your people again O Lord.  Guide us to discover your living and active Word.  Repentance and Restoration what a good way to live. AMEN

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The Next Step

“Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path.”

Psalm 119:105

Amy Carmichael gave me a good word to live out today as I head into a new call.

“If the next step is clear, then the one thing to do is to take it.  Don’t pledge your Lord or yourself about the steps beyond.  You don’t see them yet.

Once when I was climbing at night in the forest before there was a made path, I learned 03_02_06-003what the word meant,

Psalm 119:105: ‘Thy word is a lantern to my path’.

I had a lantern and had to hold it very low or I should certainly have slipped on those rough rocks.

We don’t walk spiritually by electric light but by a hand lantern.

And a lantern only shows the next step—not several ahead.” ((Amy Carmichael, Candles in the Dark, CLC Publications, 1981, p. 43))

“The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it,

for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.”

Revelation 21:23

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Cutting Up

22965048This summer, a group of women at my church are meeting to study the Psalms of Ascent.

We are using Beth Moore’s study “Stepping Up” as our guide.

As we consider each psalm, she asks us to write our own version.

Today’s pilgrim psalm was Psalm 129.

These are the words that tumbled as out as a prayer from this wonderful psalm:

Continue reading “Cutting Up”