Check out Justin Taylor’s blogpost of different Bible Reading Plans for the upcoming year.

I used to think I was above daily reading plans.  Sadly, between preparing bible study lessons, theology studies, cross referencing reference material and case building, my daily feedings are smaller and smaller.  I am afraid at this pace, they will get pushed out the way.

I am going with the ESV Study Bible RSS feed into my Google Reader.  I am waitng to see if it will actually link up to esvstudybible.org so I can write personal notes and highlight scripture using my account.

My God does not threaten.  My God keeps His promises:

Jeremiah 23:1-4 (ESV) “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord. Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.

Your flock, your relationships, your people are not here for you.  They are here for God and they are placed under your care, designated by God alone.  There is nothing that you have done to earn that. You are not flashy enough, charismatic enough, strong enough, smart enough, holy enough, pure enough or good enough to lead others.  God placed you in charge of them.

You are suppose to take care of them, serve them, lift them up, pray over them, watch over them, keep them, bless them, even…

John 10:11 (ESV) I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Some people just don’t get it.  They think they there is no God or worst still, they think our God is only a god of grace and mercy.

No. My God is simply not a love/peace/happiness god who dances through the fields with butterflies and thinks “Oh, it is okay that you lead my people astray, preaching false doctrine and taking advantage of those who trust in you.  That is okay.  I will give you time to figure it out.”

God is both sovereign and gracious.  God is both just and merciful.  God both rules over all and cares for all.

He is not 50/50.  He is 100% of both.  He cannot help but to be both.

ht: Monday Morning Insight

Am I insane?  I like to think so.

I have taken very little college in my life.  That might be sort of surprising being how much I love taking classes back in high school (took 10 more credits then I needed to graduate) and how much I love to learn now especially when I live vicariously through college friends and love to help out with homework especially anything to do with Biblical studies.

(Then again it might be not so surprising to some given the huge amount of spelling and grammatical errors on this site )

In either case…

So yes, one of my desires to receive a Doctorate in Theology.

What would I do with it? No freakin’ clue.

Why would I want to accomplish such a feat?  Well for one, it is a challenge and I like to do things that seem impossible by me but I know that is quite possible if I depend on God.

Two, I am going to use one of my favorite scriptures to neatly sum up how I feel:

Proverbs 25:2 (ESV) It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.

Now, I am not saying a Th.D would reveal all the secrets and mysteries of God here on earth.  I do figure it would be a good foundation to take a tiny little glimpse into the possibility of seeing the glory of God.  I figure if I keep tearing at it (it being studying God) that in some weird way, I would have the same awesome chance of seeing the glory of God much in the same way that Moses did back in Exodus 33:17-23.  Maybe I can not only feel his goodness but actually see it before my very eyes:

Exodus 33:19 (ESV) And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name The Lord. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.

But what good is it to ingest all that knowledge of God when it is just for yourself?  What good are the blessings of God when they stop at you and don’t continue to flow out to those around you?  What good is it for just a little ol’ puny, foolish, sinful man such as myself just to absorb all of goodness, holiness and righteousness of God and leave none for others in the world.

But then I reminded of what Paul wrote to Timothy:

2 Timothy 3:14-17 (ESV) But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

I just hope and pray to God that in all of this seeking that I will not be selfish and never want horde this wealth for myself.  If I see the glory of God, I want to do whatever it takes to make sure that others get to see His glory as well.

Over the last couple of months, I have been struggling to truly and clearly identify the desires of my heart.  I will read Psalm 37:4 and think, “Okay, I place God first in my life for He knows the desires of my heart and I don’t have to worry about them.”

But what are the desires of my heart?

Do I not want to worry? Sure.

Do I want health for me and my love ones? Absolutely.

Who doesn’t want these things?  But including and beyond that, should we not seek out that our desires line up with who God is and His will?

For a long, long time, I have read and memorize Jeremiah 17:9 and would be absolutely scared to even want to desire anything.  I would tuck those desires away, things like to be married again, family, my son’s soul to be saved, health, comfort, peace and just simply won’t speak of them and just hope and pray that all of those things line up with His heart.

Or even struggle with specific desires like my desire to be called to one of the offices in Ephesians 4:11-16, or even received a Doctorates in Theology.  What about those wishes?

Now, in recent months, I had to bring those desires out in the light and actually deal with them.  It was the scariest thing I had to ever do.  Just as I took my sin and temptations and addictions to God and say, “I can’t do this anymore… help me!”, so too that I had to take these desires and go to God and ask, “Is this right? Does this line up with Your will, Your heart and who You are? Help me.”

So, in no particular order, let me express the desires in my heart starting with…

Desire: That God be my inheritance and portion according to…

Numbers 18:20 (ESV) And the Lord said to Aaron, You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel.

There have been many passages of scripture where I sit and think “Whoa”.  Other times, head scratching. Sometimes, laugh in joy.  Still others, cry.  But I kid you not when I read Numbers 18:20, I jumped and yelled, “THAT’S IT! THAT IS WHAT I WANT!  GOD, I WANT THAT. GIVE ME THAT. WHY CAN’T I HAVE IT!”

Lamborghini Murciélago?  Ferrari 456GT?  1999 Nissan Skyline GT-R?  Sure, I will take one of each.  Easy.

But pit anything here on earth versus letting God being your absolute provider is insane especially given that…

God is perfect.
God is good.
God always upholds his end of the promise even when we do not.

In other words, whatever He does will be perfect for me… even when I don’t see it as perfect.

Look how the richest man to ever lived, Solomon, asked God to provide for him in…

Proverbs 30:8-9 (ESV) Remove falsehood and lies far from me; Give me neither poverty nor riches— Feed me with the food allotted to me;

Lest I be full and deny You, And say, “Who is the Lord?” Or lest I be poor and steal, And profane the name of my God.

Essentially, Solomon was asking God to be God.  He was asking God to provide and be perfect and good in doing so.

My prayer:

Lord, how beautiful and holy is Your name.  I will take whatever draws me closer to You.  If You give so that I can give right back to You like You did for David in 1 Chronicles 29:14, then so be it.  But if you allure me to the wilderness like in Hosea 2:14, so be it.  You have to feed me by ravens, brooks and angels like you did for Elijah in 1 Kings 17:4, then so be it.  Because in my life, in my time, on this earth, it is not mine but thine Will alone.

It is in your wonderful and gracious name, Amen.

From The Advertiser’s article, “Porn-again pastor tells of his addiction and shame“:

“For over 16 years, I have struggled with an addiction to adult pornography. As a result of this secret life of sin my body would often break down,” his confession began.

“Two years ago, I reported that I was suffering from cancer. The truth is that although I was ill, I did not have cancer but was again using the misdiagnosis to hide the lie that I was living.”

Let us not be cynical for about a minute here and think just for a moment that Mike is telling the truth.  If the song, Healer, was actually written as a song to God in the pure belief that God would heal Mike of his addiction to porn, I am thinking that the truth was far more inspirational then the lie was told to coverup the truth.

Of course, that would be my personal opinion.