Luke 17:8

"But will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink'? NKJV

"It is more blessed to give than to receive."

Before my own comforts, I should seek to fulfill the comforts of those who are still wanting. Like a servant who prepares his masters meal and waits for the master to finish before eating his own, so too I want to devote myself to service. Less than as a moment by moment choice, but rather as an obligation and duty that comes with my choice to hold others above myself, and by the commands of God, of who I truly wish to be a bondservant.

The servant enters in from the fields and sheep, tired and hungry, but does not put a close to the day. He goes to the kitchens and prepares a meal for his master who provides; and looks on, tired, but happy, as his master finds rest and comfort from the day's work. The servant looks on, and while he can't make up for all that the master has done, he can give what service he is able in thanks. In gladness he gathers up the remnants of the meal and prepares his own. He eats his smaller meal thankful for what he has been given, and cleans the the pots and pans; plates and knives and forks; the serving bowls and tongs, cleaning up all the messes and preparing for the new day. After all of this the servant goes to wait nearby should the master need anything more, and waits for him to sleep before crawling, exhausted, into bed, wanting nothing more than to do what little he can to honor the man who has taken him in and made him a part of his household.

(In older times, a bondservant was one who willingly became the slave of one who was a good master during the servant's years of paid service, and enjoyed the life he led working under the master and being provided for.)

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
To God our savior,
Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever.
Amen.

Luke 17:7

"And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending the sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and sit down to eat'? NKJV

I do not want to allow thoughts of having 'done enough' to enter my mind or expectations of rest or even rewards whenever I please because of how much I have done, regardless of how much there is left to do. Who would expect the master to do the servants duty? Doesn't our Master already give us great blessings and hasn't He already given us a "payment"?

As we enter into the Cultural module and our work load increases, I want to pray for the ability to continue working and maintain focus as thoughts of taking a break begin to enter my mind and I can't afford it until after the work is fully done; a joyful heart and focused mind as the time drags on so that I would not feel discouraged; and a timeliness in the completion of work so that after "working the fields" and "cooking my master's meal" I might still have the time to 'eat something' myself.

In everything I do I should be honoring Christ; He is my master and I am His servant. Whether literally working in a field and cooking a meal or reading what I've been assigned and doing the homework, a servants job is not to do a portion of the work and relax when they feel enough has been done; a servant is to do all of their work and all that is commanded by their master, and THEN they are allowed to have their meal or allowed to hang out and relax with fellowship.

Besides, His yoke is light and the work I am called to here truly little, especially when compared to the work He has done and the price paid in so doing. Nothing I do can match up with THE blessing Christ gave me in forgiveness, or the multitude He provides throughout my life.

I should not expect rewards for doing that which I am called to. There is no way I can expect any reward at all. For the things He has done for us, and beyond that, for His sovereignty as God and master, no matter and whatever I am called to there is no payment I deserve; the works I am called to can be called nothing more than reasonable acts of service.

For we are His portion and He is our prize!

Brought to redemption by the grace in His eyes

If grace is an ocean we're all sinking~

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
To God our Savior,
Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever.
Amen.

Luke 17:6

So the Lord said, "If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you. NKJV

Jesus tells us that if we have faith, regardless of how 'large' it may seem, if that faith is strong and sure we can pray for real, tangible, observable things, and things which may seem fantastic to us but are the simplest of matters to God.

Perhaps it is not quite so obviously observable as having a mulberry bush follow my orders and transplant itself into the sea, but I want to begin praying for God's help in kicking bad habits and mannerisms, notably nail bitting, which I've actually worked at a few times in the past and for which in the last several weeks I've redoubled my efforts in breaking.

(( A Disclaimer:

For today's verse I began by writing the above. However, I didn't feel entirely content with what I wrote, and following one of our classes I realized that there was something much more important that God wanted me to know. Below is my second IBS for Luke 17:6 ))

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Jesus tells us that with faith comes authority. As God's children and fellow heirs in Christ we can do great things.

In the past, and even now, amazing, supernatural things occur through God's power every day. We American's seem to rarely see it or be aware of it for faith in the tangible and 'scientific', and a part of us doubts the stories of even our most trusted friends when they share experiences that we would normally reserve for a place in fantasy; myth; legend; and of course, the Bible.

As it stands, I do not know if I have grown to such a faith yet. In fact, I am sure I have not, but as the man who cried out, "Lord, I believe, help me with my unbelief!" I also cry out, "Lord, I have faith, help me with my lack of faith!"

But whether or not I have YET grown to such a deep faith, God has promised us authority. I have no reason to shy way. There is no reason for us as Christians to not be bold, assured, straight foreward and confident, bringing God His glory with our daily lives and actions.

Not everyone is an extreme 'type A' personality of course, I'm certainly not, but there is a differerence between reservation and a reserved confidence, or silence for the fear of speaking and the quiteness that comes from being softspoken.

I do not need to hold myself back.

He desires to give us authority, He has given us authority, and I do not wish to be a mouse within the world when the God of heaven stands behind me and lifts me up.

The fact is I don't fully understand who I am or what God would have of me. Many people are just naturally quiet, not everyone is the center of a crowd or the life of every conversation, and often that quiet person can be me.

And that is fine. God has made everyone different, and one of the best prayers that I can make in seeking after God is, "Why have You made me a 'Dylan'? What type of 'Dylan' do You want me to be?"

Whether I am being quite or being loud, whether I am standing in the spotlight or sitting in the corner, God has a plan and a will for my life if I would only seek after Him, and I should have confidence of that fact.

I want to go through life with greater confidence, to work at and pray for more straightforwardness in my speech and action and to not shy away when I cannot claim total self-assurance in a situation.

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
To God our Savior,
Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever.
Amen.

Ephesians 4:31

Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. NKJV

Last night Chris told our room how a good way to deal with walking into a room and feeling bitterness towards someone, maybe because you just woke up on the wrong side of the bed or they recently pushed some button you don't like having pushed, is to simply look at them and tell them, to yourself (i.e. inside your head), "I love you."

It must be sincere, otherwise you'd just be grumbling to yourself about how you might or might not like to love them and want to love them or say "love" but mean "should fall down the nearest well", but it is very difficult to be bitter towards someone while genuinely thinking about how you love them. Even if there isn't any particular reason you have to love their individual person, you can pray for love and seek it for them in and through the love of Christ, which He has for both yourself and them.

I need to start telling myself how much I love the people I don't particularly like, who I'd much rather avoid dealing with because of how much trouble it seems like and how difficult it is, at least on my side, in our interaction.

To, rather than think in my mind about the things wrong with them, pray for their troubles and problems with love.

Rather than complaining of their imperfections and little flaws, I should be crying out to God, "Mend my own! Take my bitterness and fill my heart with love!" (Mathew 7:3-5)
("And why do you look at the speck in your brothers eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.")

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
To God our Savior,
Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever.
Amen.

Ephesians 4:30

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. NKJV

I've just been going through the motions lately.

I noticed somewhat over the past few days that I just didn't seem to be 'getting into' anything. I've been learning from classes but not feeling as engaged or eager; for awhile now I've been 'decorating' my notes by writing in different colored pens, going back over words to make them bolder and stand out, even throwing in little doodles that related to the material from time to time to help engrave it in my memory and so that any time I feel like going back over my notes to see what God had been showing me everything will be more personal, each note standing apart from the others as a precious nugget or gem of information or revelation all it's own that God wanted to teach me that day.

However, lately my notes have just been in pencil. I feel like I want to be able to find what I've written later among the many other pages of notes, but I can't think of how to give them individuality. Just a bunch of gray scribbles one after the other for a few pages without any separation that might allow me to glance at the page and exclaim, "Oh yes! I remember that!" without reading more than a few words.

This is just one example, but it somewhat shows the general feeling of disconnect I've been having for the past few days.

At first when looking at this verse I wasn't sure of what to write. "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God"; Ok, so. . . don't do bad things? Better apply what He has been showing me through IBS? Pray more? Come on God, Pastor G wants us to be more specific for IBS, we're supposed to say something we can do. Please reveal to me through Your Spirit. . .

And then I started thinking more about what had been crossing my mind for awhile now; we are less excited. One way of putting it, the honeymoon phase has passed. We are adapting. We, or I anyway, have begun to just make my way through the time here without engaging. I found my corner, a quite little hypothetical nook that let's me get through and pass the time without being shaken by anything or anyone, even if I want to be.

Like my notes, I've gotten stuck in a place where I can be bland and grey and uniform even when trying to force in little bits here and there of color, life and lasting memory.

Earlier, someone had been talking about how you never forget what it felt like in the times when you have been closest to God, and those times help us to identify when we are not so close to God. When we aren't nearly so filled with His spirit, or have fallen into a snare of temptation and away from His glory. Those bright times in our life are a reference to where we want to be and, when we've fallen away, can be used as a guide so that we know where to get back to.

Having fallen away, we climb (and are carried) back up to the highest point we know of safety and comfort closest to Him as we know to reach and that we can reach, and at times find an even higher point still.

It got me thinking about a while back when I felt so full of the Holy Spirit and when I had felt a completeness in the joy and love of Christ. I want to get back to that place. I need to pray and seek after Him with a renewed energy. To, now that I am aware of it, punch through this grey period as best I can from this end, trusting God to work on His end and give me strength for mine.

I want to seek after God with a renewed energy and prayer, and to reapply myself to the time spent here and with the people at Potter's Field.

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
To God our Savior,
Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever.
Amen.

Ephesians 4:29

Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. NKJV

Lately it's been brought to my attention that I have a bad habit of putting in my extra two cents when others are trying to work out a problem between themselves and I have no place in the conversation, giving additional advice when it is not wanted. I need to be mindful of what comes out of my mouth before joining discussions that may not involve me; more often than not I probably need to stay out entirely and allow others to work things out amongst themselves. When I do feel a need to get involved, I also NEED to seek guidance in prayer, and maybe do nothing more than pray with them for guidance.

Now to Him who is able to keep us from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
To God our Savior,
Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever.
Amen.

Ephesians 4:28

Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. NKJV

I've reached a point where I need to be more active and driven in personally letting my supporters know how thankful I am for what they (or you) have done, and the great things that God is doing in my life.

When I first came to Potter's Field I had been unsure of how to address you, those supporting me in spirit, through supplications to God with prayer and those acting as willing vehicles through whom God is blessing me with the funds needed to be here and in a few weeks travel to El Salvador.

At first I was 'worried'. I trusted God to provide if it was His will that I come to Potter's Field for training and eventually leave on missions work, but I was not sure 'how much' I should do. After first arriving, I was fully prepared to devote an enormous amount of time and energy into contacting supporters, reaching out to new supporters, making sure everyone knew exactly what was happening, etc, etc, etc.

And then the pastors in charge announced we would be having a 'technological communications blackout' for our first two weeks in the program. At first I stressed about it, but then came the conclusion that I should simply be trusting God. I was letting my need for support become a distraction from my need to learn and soak up this special time with Him.

For this reason I became passive in contacting all of you. I chose to devote what free time we had to other things and my attempts to make contact were often knowingly dependent upon others for success.

However, the time for that is over. I know that with God's help I can send you news without losing the value of being here. I have been praying for God's provision since coming here, but God rarely acts for those who do not do, and it seems like the time has come I seek after the blessings He wishes to pour out on this ministry.

Beyond that though, I wish to exhort you all and provide encouragement by showing the things Christ does and how He uses myself and the whole of this ministry, which you have chosen to support.

To all of you, prayer warriors, fund providers, emotional supports and each of you who reads my blog, thank you.

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
To God our Savior,
Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever.
Amen.