Snapshots and Synapses

"...but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart; in spirit and not in letter; whose praise is not from men, but from God." - Romans 2:29 I have been in prayer that God circumcise my heart. There was a time when the phrase "circumcise my heart" didn't make sense to me. In fact, the whole act seemed rather embarrassingly pointless. But what doesn't make sense in the eyes of man is often complete wisdom.   Paul's letter to the Romans opened my eyes to circumcision as having great spiritual significance. "How", I asked God, "does one get their heart circumcised?" As I prayed about the meaning, He gently opened my eyes.   God is the ultimate EVERYTHING. He is not just the Creator of Science and Prose... He is the Creator of Poetry and Art. He hides meaning in symbolism at multiple levels. I don't profess to understand all of His purposes in commanding His people to be circumcised, but Romans 2:29 brings s...

While Jesus was speaking, a woman in the crowd shouted, "How blessed is the mother who gave birth to you and the breasts that nursed you." Jesus replied, "Rather, how blessed are those who hear and obey God's word." - Luke 11:27-28 The Gospel of Luke tells us that Mary was the "most blessed of all women" (Luke 1:42), but Jesus' words above give us an interesting comparison. Yes, Mary was indeed blessed in her role as the mother of Jesus, but we EACH have the opportunity to be blessed if we simply hear and obey God's word. To obey, we must first hear. In order to hear, we must put ourselves in a place where we can listen. And in hearing, praying that God opens our hearts and minds, we are transformed to be able to be able to obey. "It is God who produces in you the desires and actions that please Him." (Philippians 2:13) So ultimately, we just need to make the time, setting our hearts to hear God, and He does the rest. Partly, ...

Pray for this country to become faithful to Our God! For the Lord said to Ezekiel (Chapter 14:12-23): The LORD spoke his word to me. He said, "Son of man, suppose a country sins against me by being unfaithful to me. I will use my power against it, cut off its food supply, send a famine to it, and destroy its people and animals. Even if these three men--Noah, Daniel, and Job--were in that country, they would, by their righteousness, rescue only themselves," declares the Almighty LORD. "Suppose I send wild animals through that country and they make it childless and turn it into such a wasteland that no one travels through it because of the animals. As I live, declares the Almighty LORD, not even Noah, Daniel, and Job could rescue their own sons or daughters. They could rescue only themselves. And the country would become a wasteland. "Suppose I bring a war against that country by saying, 'I will let a war go throughout this country.' Suppose I destroy the pe...

I'm sending this out, asking for prayer. I also believe that I'm not the only one that needs to be reminded of God's truth in this area and therefore pray for faithfulness on the part of all of God's people. A couple days ago, I was hit hard with all sorts of negative thoughts: "You're a loser!" and "You should just give up!". Now, there were all sorts of good reasons behind both of those statements, and the accusations hit me hard. They were reinforced by the various circumstances throughout the day, and it's really easy to seek forgetfulness when that happens... to forget Whose we are... to forget to expect God's grace and power... to forget the WHOLE truth. But sometimes you know you're on the right path by the resistance you feel along the way. Maybe that's how the early church found it such a joy to suffer for Christ's sake. They realized the oppression, the resistance, was an indication that they were on the right pa...

I remember how I felt when I first started following Jesus as Lord and Savior. Perhaps you had a similar experience? I wanted to tell everyone I knew about my God, King and Friend. I wanted to purge my life of anything that would interfere with this wonderful new relationship. I yearned for that next, new revelation of His love. But there have been times since then when my Passion has dropped below other passions. I've heard others say with a defeatist attitude that it's like marriage, where the feeling dies and you just have to get used to it, moving on to a "more mature" relationship. Well, as scripture points out, my relationship with the Lord is very much like a marriage relationship. I can say that in over 15 years of marriage, my relationship has not always been "passionate", but to me, the ebbing of passion is a warning signal: either something is wrong in me (needing correction) or something is wrong in the relationship (again requiring attentio...

One of the great things about being available to others is that you get to hear how God is speaking to them... and in the process He can speak to you. For example: earlier this week, as I was praying for a friend, this person told me that God has really been emphasizing two things: "Obey and Expect". This hit me hard because, in truth, I was finding it hard to "expect" God's goodness. And as a fall-out of that, I was finding it hard to "obey". When I truly believe in all of God's goodness, His power and plans for me, then obedience is easy. But when I doubt that He is really in control or that He really has my best interests at heart, we're all more likely to take things into our own hands or try to hide in our addiction of choice (translation: "not obey"). My prayer for you, and my prayer request for you, is that we can all more fully EXPECT God's goodness in our lives. Blessings, Peace and HOPE!