I finally gave in and got a Twitter account. This will mostly be a professional microblog - thoughts and sage wisdom on web application development, fundraising in higher education, intercultural and/or organizational communication, etc.
Check it out!
twitter.com/mark_cahill
He that seeketh anything else but merely God, and the welfare of his own soul, shall find nothing but tribulation and sorrow.
-Thomas A Kempis
I’m finding that this is true more and more every day. I was listening to a session from Mike Bickle this weekend, and I was deeply moved by his explanation of the soul’s desire for God. He explained that when we experience pain or angst because we didn’t get something we wanted, it is a grace from God that reminds us that He should be our number one desire. He quotes from Genesis 15:1:
Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.
His point is that although the Lord had given Abram a promise that he would be the father of many nations, God did not want this desire to come before Abram’s desire for God. The Lord was his portion and his inheritance, his very great reward. The Lord wants us to desire to see the fulfillment of the promises He has given us. He delights in our desire to serve in His kingdom. However, he wants these desires to be secondary to the desire for experiential knowledge of the Holy.
Bickle talks about Isaiah 62, in which the Lord describes a day in which He will raise up a movement of intercession in the earth centered on praying for the peace of Jerusalem. However, he had often skipped over verses 1-5 and started with “I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem.” However, he found by experience that intercession is not consistently maintained by sheer force of the will. It is fueled by the reality of experiencing God as a bridegroom (verses 1-4).
When we really press in to knowing God, and being transformed by that knowledge, then “all these things will be added unto [us].” As the writer of Hebrews puts it,
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
-Hebrews 12:1-2, emphasis added
Jesus, I fix my eyes on you. You are the desire of my heart and my very great reward. There is no satisfaction in my soul like knowing you and being found in you. Manifest your glory and beauty in my heart, and give me a spirit of wisdom and revelation that I may know you more. Draw me in to intimacy with you, and transform my heart into your likeness.
By request of my vast following (OK - Renee wanted to know), here are some resources that are handy for going through the process of exposition. These are my favorites, and I’m a little biased, so use this as a starting point. This is definitely not an exhaustive list. I’ve provided the cheapest price available at the time of writing.
Linguistic Context
Word study
Historical and Cultural Context
Cross References
Commentaries
Take all of these with a grain of salt. All commentaries have bias, no matter who writes them.
Bible Software
What are your favorite tools for studying the Word?