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Topic: Delight Yourself In The Lord
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Eden
unregistered
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posted
hello, ttc666, the continuity of Christianity is well-documented, with some of the oldest churches at Antioch and in north Africa and Ephesus and Colossae, and others.
And the early church fathers wrote extensively about Christianity in their time. To be sure, it was not until Roman Emperor Constantine became a Christian that Christianity really took off, and by then the Romans themselves were tired of their national gods.
And again, it is true that in the 400s and 500s of our time, the barbarian visigoths and vandals set back the cause of Christianty in Europe, but it was being kept alive by monasticism whose monks copied the manuscripts of the Old Testament and the New Testament.
To be sure, Catholic Christianity was often perverted by nonbelievers being appointed to be Pope in the Middle Ages in Europe, as there was a great struggle between feudal lords and Germanic princes and French princes/lords and the Papal States, each seeking to preserve their status, but often being mutually beneficial to each other too.
Eventually with the advent of the printing press, the lay persons who could read began to read the New Testament for themselves, until Martin Luther started the Reformation as a call to return to what the Bible said and not what the Pope said.
As for the Bible, some claim that "it has often been changed", but among the Dead Sea Scrolls was found an almost complete book of Isaiah dating to about 200 B.C. which is in all material respects identical to the book of Isaiah that we have in our Bibles today.
As for what is written in the Bible, the miracles of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus and the coming again of Jesus, one has to read those accounts for oneself in order to come to a personal conviction that what is written is not just a story but is equivalent to a court transcript of events that really happened.
When Jesus did a miracle, did that really happen or did somebody just make that miracle up? There are a lot of things that can be considered, but consider this, for instance.
James and John were fishermen who had never written a book before; they were happy fishing on Lake Galilee, so what would they suddenly "decide" to write a book about "miracles of some guy named Jesus" unless they had a very good reason for doing so?
And also, the Jewish leadership in the 1st century A.D. would NEVER HAVE ALLOWED anyone "to just write genealogical nonsense" as to someone being the Messiah or not, and if these writers had written ANYTHING that was not true, there would have been an UPROAR in Judah/Israel when the books appeared.
And why would Paul risk his life daily to preach the good news that Jesus was raised from the dead and had died for our sins, unless there was some basis in truth for Paul risking his life? Paul was no dummy, he was a scholar and linguist and had a zeal for the Old Testament, Paul would have had NO REASON to risk his life preaching about Jesus unless Paul, who lived around 50-60 A.D. or only 25 years or so after Jesus resurrected, Paul MUST have known it was true in order to risk his life like he did, being beaten and stoned and left for dead by the Jews on more than one occasion, and yet Paul continued, because Jesus had appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus, and after that Paul went from being a persecutor of Christianity to being a preacher of Christianity ... and so on and so on.
love, Eden
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Carol Swenson
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Member # 6929
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posted
If you delight in the Lord, then the Lord is your delight
Posts: 6787 | From: Colorado | Registered: Dec 2007
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Eden
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posted
The article posted by Carol Swenson said quote:
There is nothing wrong with praying to be blessed - as long as its done with wisdom and a right understanding of what contrite prayer should truly be.
One does NOT have to PRAY to be blessed. It's more like a mathematical formula: IF ... THEN. IF I delight in the LORD, THEN He returns the favor by giving me the desires of my heart. We don't have to PRAY for it; it's automatic, tit for tat.
The article also said quote:
But a heart that is most completely delighting itself in the Lord is one that is not concerned with the affairs of this world, "where moth and rust destroy, and thieves break in and steal."
Rather, a total delight in the Lord is a desire to have more of Him. And that is the desire that we know He loves to fulfill.
God knows that we have needs and God DELIGHTS in giving His children the BEST, both that their budgets can afford, AND supernatural abundance over and above their budgets. Don't take this pleasure away from God:
Luke 12:32
Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Matthew 7:11
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
To repeat what the article said quote:
Rather, a total delight in the Lord is a desire to have more of Him. And that is the desire that we know He loves to fulfill.
He loves to fulfill ALL the desires of our heart if we love Him first:
Luke 12:31
But rather seek you the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.
God delights in pleasuring His children and showing them FAVOR; don't take that away from God by stating that "God mainly delights if we want more of Him".
The formula is simple and mutual: IF I delight in the LORD, THEN He returns the favor by giving me the desires of my heart. Mission accomplished.
The question therefore is, "Do I delight in the LORD?" If I do, He will fulfill my desires. But if I don't, then I'm "on my own".
love, Eden
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Carol Swenson
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Member # 6929
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posted
Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. -- Ps 37:4
Psalm 37:4 is a widely beloved verse in the Bible, with good reason. Its right up there with your Jeremiah 29:11's and Romans 8:31's and the like when it comes to getting that quick confidence boost in God's eternal providence.
Yet... I submit that it may be one of those verses that might tend to fall into that Prayer-of-Jabez, name-it-claim-it syndrome. You know the idea: be good and do what God says and he'll give you what you ask for. Which, of course, flies quite in the face of the gospel reality that the Christian life will (and indeed should) involve at least some certain amount of suffering and trial (thus making us more Christ-like). And in some places, this sadly mis-focused mind-set that God is primarily here to give us the things we ask for has begun to take quite an evident toll on the expanse of the kingdom.
"But what's wrong with God giving me what my heart desires?"
Well...nothing. As long as your heart desires the right things. And who can claim that their heart is constantly set on such things?
I don't believe that Ps. 37:4 is one of the most misinterpreted verses in the Bible, rather I would offer that I believe it to be one of the most under-interpreted. That is to say, it holds so much more than is seen at first glance.
This verse is usually read in the sense that God "will give you that which your heart desires." But that's not what it says, in fact it is specifically worded to say that God "will give you the desires of your heart." Did you catch that? Not necessarily the things you desire, but perhaps He'll simply be giving you the very desires themselves, in the first place.
And that's when you move one step closer toward your heart being constantly set on the right things.
Yes, God can, and sometimes may give you the things that you do desire. This is a good thing - Christians should rejoice in the blessings of God that He gives us in this present world. There is nothing wrong with praying to be blessed - as long as its done with wisdom and a right understanding of what contrite prayer should truly be.
But a heart that is most completely delighting itself in the Lord is one that is not concerned with the affairs of this world, "where moth and rust destroy, and thieves break in and steal." Rather, a total delight in the Lord is a desire to have more of Him. And that is the desire that we know He loves to fulfill.
http://allkindsoftime.blogspot.com/2005/10/delight-yourself-in-lord-and-he-will.html
Posts: 6787 | From: Colorado | Registered: Dec 2007
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