found it

I just googled

" The blessedness of possessing nothing" by Tozer ... here's the link

http://www.theboc.com/freestuff/awtozer/books/the_pursuit_of_god/bless_possess_nothing.html

suggestion

If you can get a copy of " The Pursuit of God" by AW Tozer I highly recommend reading chapter 2 : " The blessedness of possessing nothing."

do we have enemies ?

I try to keep a book by the bed so that before I go to sleep, I just meditate on something worthwhile.

I was reading David Wells ..." The Courage to be Protestant" and came across these statements:

" Today, prodigious amounts of energy are being poured into this effort ( of re thinking the church). Everything, it seems, must be rethought ! We must rethink how it becomes successful ! We must rethink it all because this is what businesses have to do. Their products are all the time dying as new niches and needs arise. So it is in the church. Rethink or die !

The church is not our creation. It is not our business. We are not called upon to manage it. It is not there for us to advance our careers in it. It is not there for our own success. It is not a business. The church was never our idea in the first place. No, it is not the church we need to rethink. Rather it is our thoughts about the church that need to be rethought. It is the church's faithfulness that needs to be reexamined. It is its faithfulness to who it is in Christ, its faithfulness in living out its life in the world, that should be occupying us. "

( page 222-223)

Later he mentions the idea of impacting the culture and I like this:

" Churches that want to influence their culture are so often tempted to think that to be effective they must hide their otherworldliness and become slickly this-worldly.
Churches that actually do influence the culture --- here is the paradox --- distance themselves from it in their internal life. They do not offer what can already be had on secular terms in the culture. They stand outside of its life. "

He continues:

" The temptation the church always experiences is to be like the world. It is the temptation to enjoy the comfort of a majority, to be at home, to be at peace, to have no enemies. However, if the church is to be truly successful, it must be unlike anything else we find in life. As a result, it will undoubtedly make enemies."

( page 224)

freed up

There are certain passages that should free us up from worry, anxiety and the like. One of those is Job 14:5

" Since his days are determined, the number of his months is with You, and his limits You have set so that he cannot pass."


Job really had a perspective on God's providence that few of us have. We still go into fits of rage and battle depression and worry when calamity comes. Job knew that God had appointed a certain number of days for us. I think this verse helps me hold on loosely. When riches increase... the Bible says... do not set your heart on them. Paul says: " I have learned how to do without..."

Honestly, how much of our time is spent worrying about money ? ( or planning how to make more) The message from Job to me is this: whether I have alot or little... whether I die today or 50 years from now, God is in control of my life. This is such a freeing concept to me. Who am I afraid of ? What am I afraid of ? Why would we grab and hoard ?


Psalm 65:9 ff You visit the earth and cause it to overflow; You greatly enrich it... You have crowned the year with Your goodness.

God is good.

acceptable offerings 2

It seems to me that Isaiah 56 speaks of it here:

1. those who minister to Him
2. those who love the name of the Lord
3. those who are His servants
4. those who keep from profaning the Sabbath



I ended up in Isaiah 56 after reading Malachi. I find it interesting that in all of God's statements in Malachi... they basically boil down to this: money management and marriage. He is concerned about your marriage and how you spend your money. It's less about finding the right animal to sacrifice and more about being the right kind of worshipper.

acceptable offerings

Isaiah 56:6 speaks of the foreigner who joins himself to the Lord. I like what it has to say about God's attitude toward our "offerings."

God sums it up in verse 7 : " their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar..."

So, here's the question: What kind of offering does God find acceptable ?

the stuff of the universe

This is for the next time that you think you are out of time, money and stuff:

" If you are selfish and make yourself and your own private interests your idol, God will leave you to yourself and let you promote your own interests as well as you can. But if you do not selfishly seek your own, but do seek the things that are Jesus Christ's, and things of your fellow beings, then God will make your interest and happiness His own charge, and He is infinitely more able to provide for and promote it than you are. The resources of the universe move at His bidding and He can easily command them all to serve your welfare."

He sums up: " So ... not to seek your own, in the selfish sense, is the best way of seeking your own in a better sense. It is the most direct course you can take to secure your highest happiness."



Again: The resources of the universe move at His bidding and He can easily command them all to serve your welfare.

( Taken from Charity and its Fruits Jonathan Edwards page 184)