What a thrill–we woke up to a clipper system that brought us snow showers today!
What an impetus to get off my duff and get decorating!Â
I am listening to Christmas music and just finished getting the tree up in front of the window so that it displays cheery light. Is there any stopping me now?Â
“Come on Frank, sing with me! Let’s enjoy the spirit of the day!”Â
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8BH4M9V1N8]
Whatever we are full of shows doesn’t it? We wear outwardly what we are influenced by inwardly.
I was thinking about that as I studied Ephesians 5 with a friend this morning. In verse 18 Paul says the same thing this way,
“Don’t drink too much wine. That cheapens your life. Drink the Spirit of God, huge draughts of him.”
(Ephesians 5:18, The Message)
June 14, 2004
Dear Jane,
I trust the time with Nancy and David Writebol was good for all, they seem like such a devoted missionary couple. I told Mike I hope you heard stories of people impassioned for Christ. I look forward to seeing them at Enrichment Week in San Antonio.
I went to Owino Market on Monday and bought 57 T-shirts, 2 pair of sandals, 42 pairs of shorts and 5 book bags for under $100. Each outfit for the children costs 75 cents! For the last two days I have been culling worn out, too little clothes from the cottages and replacing them with “new” things. The children are thrilled and are colorful as rainbows. When I give new clothes to the children, I have to first take the old ones away. If I leave them in the cottages, the mamas continue to have the children wear them no matter what the condition. This is not a culture that has the luxury of “throwing things out” — it just is not done here. They really do not have any understanding of why I come and take things away! It is very difficult for them and they continue to tell me that a pair of shorts or shirt is still good–regardless of the holes or faded look.
When I do get clothes out of the cottages, it is when they are in better condition than what most children in the surrounding areas are wearing. I take the clothes that are recyclable to Central Baptist in Wakiso and let Susan distribute them to the children in her congregation. I will never forget the day we went there for Sunday School and a little three year old girl came in by herself totally naked except for a string tied around her waist. I actually bought her a church outfit and knickers which she was so proud of she lifted her dress for everyone to see!
I had a fun morning with the aunties and children. It is Hero’s Day and so all the children were home doing chores from 9-10. At 10 the aunties had promised them that we would go get mangoes. Kasmiri our gardener got a long pole and jabbed at the mangoes until he had knocked about 15 out of a tree. We had a feast. 
They like to eat their fruit before it is ripe here so the taste of an unripe mango is about like a Granny Smith apple. We sat and laughed and enjoyed those mangos and it was a sweet time of fellowship.
Later, Mike and I went to town for groceries and we found my favorite
cracker in stock so I am a happy woman! It is difficult to find crisp things here and I get so hungry for that. Mike discovered a cracker made in Malaysia that is really the ticket! I can’t tell you how thrilled you can get when you find something like what you loved in the States–it makes a party!
It is Marsha’s afternoon to cover the activity time and dining hall so I am in with Casey who is off from school. We gave Edith a ride home from work and she took me to her place to meet the 2 orphans that she raises along with her own 3 children. John and Norbert are from 2 different women who have died of AIDS and named Edith as the caretaker. Edith’s countenance about this is never that it is burdensome or out of the ordinary to pick up a couple of extra children. She cannot imagine that there was any other response than to joyfully take these children in. One of the boys is infected with HIV but Edith has kept that from the other children so that he will not be ostracized. In material things, this family is not rich but in love and care they are most blessed!
Well it is the end of the day and I am going onto the porch with a glass of tea, my Bible and watch the sun go down…..
I hope the Lord is very near you today my friend.
with much love,
lissa
“If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.”Philippians 2:1-8
Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.” Luke 9:23
The verse is Philippians snatches the rug out from under my natural “Me-ology.” Jesus was not like us Americans! He did not think equality was the highest value in life! For Him the highest good–the greatest joy was found in emptying Himself for the sake of others. He did not demand that it be all about Him–even though in reality it is!
As Paul describes the self giving attitude of Christ, he invites us to consider a value that he says leads to complete joy…having the same mind and the same love as Christ.
“I am personally convinced that this submission, this dying to self, this crucifying of pride is crucial to our joy. We think of denying self as somber, grim-faced business when it is in truth a prelude to dancing.
The reason our death [to self] increases the joy level all around is that it also increases the love level all around.
Only when we die to self can we fully love another.
Self is a devilish creature, demanding all of our energy, wanting our constant attention, reaching even into our pocketbooks for favors.
How can we ever hope to be attuned to another when self screams for our constant care?
When self is alive and well, it offers us an all-or-nothing proposition.
We either pacify self, or crucify it!”
Judson Edwards
Pathway to joy is the pathway that goes from “Me-ology” to “Thee-ology!”
“Jesus…cried in a loud voice, “If any man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! He who believes in me–who cleaves to and trusts and relies on me–as the Scripture has said, ‘Out from his innermost being springs of living water shall continuously flow.'”  John 7:37-38 Amplified Bible
The real question, however is this: Where are we to find our fresh springs of life?Â
“Glorious things are said of you, O city of God…All my springs [of joy] are in you!” (Psalm 87:3, 7)
Can you or I say the same thing truthfully? Or is it not a fact that quite without realizing it, certain forms of “recreation” have taken hold of us and hinder rather than help?
A Nazarite was one who made a special vow—the vow of one who is willing to be separated from worldly pursuits and snares—to separate himself totally so he may be put to service by the Lord. The special vow meant total abstinence, even from certain things which were not wrong in themselves and which, to other people, might actually be beneficial.
Those of us who are God’s emissaries are to treat the world (not just its corruptions, but its legitimate joys, it privileges and blessings also), as a thing to be touched at a distance. We must be aware at all times that, if we are caught by its spirit, or fed by its meat, we lose our sensitivity to the very breath of the Highest and will no longer receive the manna that falls from heaven to feed our souls.
Therefore, we may bind ourselves to God with the kind of vow that commits us to this: to look upon the world, in all its delights and attractions, suspecting that traps are set there for us, reserving ourselves for a higher way.
We are called to live daily in a higher Kingdom, where we are touched and our souls drink from the Spirit of God. ((Amy Carmichael, God’s Missionary,p. 4-5))
My Father, so often I feel restless. Unsatisfied. Wanting something more. I try to satisfy my inner thirst for life in ways that don’t satisfy–they only leave me thirstier still.
Maybe underneath, I don’t really believe you are what you say you are: Life itself, pure-flowing.
Today, Father, help me to “cleave” to you–to embrace you fully with my trust. To see the things that draw me for the mirage they are. And to drink more deeply from your spring of living water. (David Hazard)
I love this Top Ten List of Piper’s–they are great reasons to be thankful!By John Piper November 20, 2006
1. The Bible awakens faith, the source of all obedience.
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17)
2. The Bible frees from sin.
You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. (John 8:32)
3. The Bible frees from Satan.
The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. (2 Timothy 2:24-26)
4. The Bible sanctifies.
Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. (John 17:17)
5. The Bible frees from corruption and empowers godliness.
His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. (2 Peter 1:3-4)
6. The Bible serves love.
And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment. (Philippians 1:9)
But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (1 Timothy 1:5)
7. The Bible saves.
Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you. (1 Timothy 4:16)
Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. (Acts 20:26)
[They will] perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. (2 Thessalonians 2:10)
8. The Bible gives joy.
These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. (John 15:11)
9. The Bible reveals the Lord.
And the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord. (1 Samuel 3:21)
10. Therefore, the Bible is the foundation of my happy home and life and ministry and hope of eternity with God.
Desiring GodPermissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Desiring God.Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: By John Piper. Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org
J.I. Packer has lamented: “At no time, perhaps, since the Reformation have Christians as a body been so unsure, tentative, and confused as to what they should believe and do.Â
Certainty about the great issues of Christian faith and conduct is lacking all along the line. The outside observer sees us as staggering on from gimmick to gimmick and stunt to stunt like so many drunks in a fog, not knowing at all where we are or which way we should be going.  Â
 Preaching is hazy; heads are muddled; hearts fret; doubts strain our strength; uncertainty paralyzes action…We know in our bones that we were made for certainty, and we cannot be happy without it. Yet unlike the first Christians who in three centuries won the Roman world…we lack certainty.”
We want to present the world with an upbeat message. We want to create a positive image. We want to emphasize the many and substantial benefits of the Christian life. We want to put on a happy face. A. W. Tozer decries this accommodated version of the Gospel as a “spiteful cruelty to the lost and languishing–a cruelty misguidedly offered in the name of comfort.” This updated message of indifference does not slay the sinner; it redirects him.”Â
Furthermore: “It gears him into a cleaner and jollier way of living and saves his self-respect. To the self-assertive it says, “Come and assert yourself for Christ.” To the egoist if says, “Come and do your boasting in the Lord.” To the thrill-seeker it says, “Come and enjoy the thrill of the Christian life. The idea behind this kind of thing may be sincere, but its sincerity does not save it from being false.” ((George Grant, “By a Slender Thread,” Tabletalk, May 2002, 16.))Â
Righteousness from God
comes through faith in Jesus Christ
to all who believe (trust) in Christ.
(Romans 3:22)
