How I feel today!

"Blessed"


In Genesis clear through to Revelation notion of blessing and being blessed are numbered in the 100's. In Genesis right after God created man he introduced the primary concept of blessing "God blessed them and said to ‘Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it..." Numerous times in the OT God spoke, acted and freely gave his blessing. Into the New Covenant BLESSING surfaces through the life, work and ministry of Christ. One of the greatest examples is in Mt. 5:

"His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "

It’s as if God said congratulations you who mourn, you who are weak, you who are persecuted because you belong to me and you will receive a blessing on your current state because of your faithfulness and trust in me. In Luke a woman felt the need to go to Jesus to touch the hem of his garment so that she could be healed. Simply her faith healed her upon Jesus blessing and she went in peace. What if everyone had that faith? Believers don’t need to look to the world and others around them to bless them, approve of them and provide positive comments-this is necessary but it must not be our source for effectiveness. What if those who are called by God (ALL God’s children) just looked to the Lord and accepted his blessing that he placed on us when we came to him? What would happen? It’s all a matter of perspective. In Ephesians it is recorded: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in CHRIST" (1:3) We HAVE every spiritual blessing in CHRIST! It’s there, we need to act on it. That’s where our focus should be. The coolest part of blessing is that God not only thought it was so important that he started with it in Genesis but he chose to leave it with us as one of the last recorded thoughts in Revelation. "Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophesy ..." Later in Rev 22 it says "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of live and may go through the gates into the city" That's the end thought that God gives us...we are blessed if we keep his word, wash our robes and live in the spirit that he gave us.

May this perspective be my source of encouragement.

Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!

I have a new favourite thing. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a bit of a Bible fetish I own several copies of every translation. I don't know how this got started but I love comparing texts and all that other neardy stuff. Well, I went on a field trip last week with my small groups class we travelled to a "small" mega church, average Sunday attendance of 4, 200. We met with the Small Groups Minister (odd, eh?) anyway he suggested the Serendipity Bible to us as a primary text for and group study. I was converted. I had seen it before but I thought the name was stupid so I never bothered to pick it up...don't judge a book by its cover! It just awesome, it has studies for every passage of scripture, openings, closing everything. I wish I had discovered this sooner. Everyone who does studies, small groups, one on one or whatever should really pick this up!

"Bored" Games

Last night I was forced into playing Possumopoly. For those of you who are uncultured this is the Red Green-Canadian edition that requires you to purchase Duct tape for your Outhouse. Sounds fun, eh? It's really not. I sat directly across from the clock. Thirty minutes went by and I was doing ok I had bought a bunch of properties and had a huge wad of cash then all of a sudden an hour and a half later I found myself convulsing in my seat. I had to escape the game somehow. I started giving people extra money when I landed on their properties hoping that they wouldn't notice-all with the intention that going broke would get me out. I just don't understand how sitting in the same spot going around and around in circles on a board can be fun. Perhaps I need to invent an ADD approved game. Keep you posted if I get any ideas.

Starbucks-Shmarbucks

Who ever invented Starbucks anyway? I would give my left big toe for a real coffee right now. I've been doing pretty well with drinking Starbucks for a whole month now but the "newness" has worn off. It leaves a super nasty taste in my mouth that lingers until the next time I breakdown, give in and force another one back. I can't stand the stuff. It's worse than the tar that Irving used to market as "fresh coffee". Frig. I may have an anxiety attack over this.

Cookies and Cash

First…this is conformity at its finest. I've given in, becoming like everyone else. A fought my urge to start blogging for a while now for no other reason other than I am the queen of stubbornness. I’ve often found myself deleting comments on other people’s blogs casue they were longer than the original posts and my SFG leader suggested that I have an “outlet” so here it is!
Today has been an awesome day! I love days that I wake up and it’s under 90 degrees. Then I check my email (as I do obsessively at least 20x’s a day) and I have an email addressed “Dear Good Friend”. With some further reading I discovered it was the Chief Auditor of Benin Republic, John Kuma. Benin Republic, according to trusty Google is in Western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Nigeria and Togo (geography lesson of the day). So I read on “I need your urgent assistance in transferring the sum of 8,261,210.000.” SWEET! Apparently I am the next of kind to his deceased customer Eng Reed Butler who along with his family and his next of kin (I thought I was his next of kin???) died in an air crash in December 2003. Wow! No more worries of paying for school and if anyone else needs some extra cash you know who to come to! Glad to help. As if the day couldn’t get any better than 8 million and change I had coffee with four of my five local friends and Valerie brought me cookies! Yummmmmmmmmmmy!