Tag: spirit

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The Conquering Spirit

I will start by apologizing to all of my loyal readers out there for being late today.  Today was a recover day from my weekend trip, and as it were, I was not up and on the keyboard at the crack of dawn this morning.

This weekend while on the bus, I was reading the Steve Jobs biography – which is a fascinating read, by the way.  Anyway, Jobs, as you may know was into the whole Zen thing, and simplicity.  The book was comparing some of his ways to the German philosopher Nietzsche, who evidently wrote in his book Thus Spoke Zarathustra, “The spirit now wills his own will and he who had been lost to the world now conquers the world.”.  I don’t claim expertise in all of the ways to enlightenment, but I do see that those thoughts sound oddly familiar to this

 34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? Mark 8:34-37 New International Version (NIV)

and this

33 Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it. Luke 17:33 New International Version (NIV)

Of course the big difference being the guiding force – your own spirit or the spirit of the creator of the world?  Today, give up yourself, let the Spirit guide you, and the teaching of sacrifice and love light your way.

 

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World Water Day

This morning as I walked into work, I stopped by the break room and filled up my Tervis Tumbler with ice and water. As I stood there filling it, the water would not stop. My cup literally ran over with excess. How lucky!

It’s World Water Day – a day to spend thinking about water. I know this is an issue that keeps staying on the front of my mind. I often think about how much of an overlooked blessing it is to have running water at our fingertips everywhere we go! Its something we should not take lightly, because so many don’t have it.

Today grab a pint or 6 of clean, clear, bacteria free water and be thankful that you have it. It’s an incredible delight. You may also want to check out the so many organizations out there who are helping bring water to others, like water.org, or runforwater.net, or HHI, among a few.

Then consider your spirit? Are you also counting the blessing of having life-giving spiritual water so close to you and so accessible? Seriously! It’s right there waiting for you just like the tap water . Make sure you take a moment on this day to consider taking a big thirst quenching sip of that water as well.

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13-14 NIV

And remember so many don’t have it.

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Soaked with the Spirit

I am sort of at a loss of words or deep thoughts this morning. I do have one thing that keeps cycling around through my brain this week. Last week I stumbled on the blog called The Handwritten, where the author posts simple hand written thoughts each day. It’s a pretty neat site, with a very concise message delivered each day. You should check it out.

Anyway the first time I went to the site, the post simply said
‘Drip Jesus’
‘. That thought is pretty straight to the point and very thought provoking. Imagine if you were completely full of the spirit of the creator so much that it dripped from you as you went about your day!!

And the this verse was below from 1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NIV):

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Hm, what else to say, except that may we drip Jesus today!

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May the Fourth Be With You

The power is back to my house, and I feel like I have just discovered a secret power as I have been reacquainted with all of my electric gadgets and gizmos.  Sort of fitting that that happens when it’s Star Wars Day!  That’s right  – May The Fourth Be With You!

That’s a pretty cool parting salutation, up there with ‘Shalom’, and it reminds me of the way Paul ended lots of his letters to the first century churches.

23 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. (Philippians 4:23, New International Version, ©2011)

18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen. (Galatians 6:18, New International Version, ©2011)

14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13:14, New International Version, ©2011)

So, today, remember the story of the Jedi’s and where their power come from – and have fun with your friends bestowing that salutation on them. But also, be thankful for the electric power that you enjoy in your home, and spend a moment considering how the grace of Christ and the love of God will power you if you allow it to be with your spirit!

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Sick of Sweating!

I am not usually one to complain, but this heat is finally getting to me.  It’s not really the heat, its the humidity.  No, its not that is just that I am so tired of being covered with sweat – I mean soaking sweat, every time I walk outside.   On Saturday I was searching for a tool in my garage and when I was finished I had to change shirts.  And this was just standing and looking through some tool boxes.  ( I know that is pretty gross).  And I am usually not much of a sweater, not at all like the guy in my small group, apparently he sweats rivers.

And the thirst.  I can’t drink enough.  Its pretty amazing that my weight is actually staying close to the same, as on Saturday at my nephew’s birthday party I felt like I sweated out 10 pounds.  There was not enough sweet tea in the joint to keep me hydrated.  What a blessing it is to have such a great clean water system that makes it so easy to hydrate during the hot summer months like this.  Even when I am the most uncomfortable, I can still head inside and get a nice cold glass of water and I usually have a shirt that I can change into.  That’s so nice that it almost makes you think you can handle anything.  However, even with that blessing there is still a water that is better.  Its the water that your spirit thirsts for, and unlike the water we drink, it can really quench your thirst.  Listen to this exchange at the Jacob’s well.

Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

9The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

10Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

11“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?”

13Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:6-14 (New International Version)

Wow, what a great promise.  The contentment of having no thirst – mean I think means no sweating!  That’s a great peaceful promise.  A constant source of spiritual refreshment.  A well to to eternal life.  That seems the right place to be.  And then look what Jesus says later in John.

35Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.  John 6:35

Its by belief you can get that living water, and you can be constantly refreshed.  That’s something to consider on this extra hot August days.  Is your spirit thirsty?