A Healthy Fear

A Healthy Fear

Abel’s flocks spread across the fields

Grew fat without effort

Cain toiled as his father warned

Dependent on sun and rain.

God was pleased with the fat

But not the grain

God smiled on Abel

But not on brother Cain.

Without fear of any kind

Cain killed Abel

Because God’s smile was turned

Toward his brother.

God sent him to wander

The earth abroad

No fields, no grain,

Nothing he knew how to do.

From Cain his sons learned

Wandering and emptiness

Hatred and how to kill

Yet still God protected them.

Cities instead of fields

Tools of copper and bronze

Music to cover the pain

Of the mark of Cain.

God gave Adam another son

Seth carried on with Abel’s herds and flocks

Seth carried on with Cain’s fields and grain

Son after son followed Adam’s sin

God touched the heart of each child

Giving to each another chance

To redeem his people

Or at least himself.

Finally after Methuselah who would be

The longest lived of all Adam’s kin

Who taught Abraham about

The God of his father Enoch.

Enoch walked in habitual fellowship

With God against whom Adam, Cain,

And those who followed sinned.

Enoch lived in reverent fear and obedience.

Not afraid or terrified, not quaking

Sure he would follow the sins of his fathers

But in awe and respect, obedient and

Seeking to please, walked in fellowship.

Enoch was not barred from Eden,

Enoch was not sent to wander the earth,

Enoch taught his son to love and fear

Not in dread but in assurance of redemption.

Enoch walked with God

Enoch was not found among men

Because God took him away

To be home with him.

Where do you think

Noah learned what he needed to know

To please God despite the depravity

And wickedness.

To walk in the quiet of the garden

Naked and unhidden

Not perfect, but knowing

How to live in fear without being afraid. 

Genesis 15:1 Do not be afraid, I am your shield

Walking in fear

Leaves me trembling

In the bitter and the cold.

Stripped of even false bravado

I find myself frozen

Unable to retreat or advance.

In my own power

There is no safeguard;

Only exposure to my enemies.

I buckle, uncovered and empty.

Even if I win, I lose.

Despair my only companion.

I am empty,

Nothing left to give or keep.

Then I hear a whispered shout.

"Do not be afraid.

Be calm, Be fearless.

Have no regrets. Stop trembling.

"I am your shield."\

I will protect you.

I will cover and defend you.

"In this place, learn to kneel

And bow your head.

No sword can touch you.

"Accept whatever comes

I am your sure guardian

Your champion and holy hedge."

Herein is all the assurance,

The salvation, which allows me to

Accept whatever comes.

Good Enough For Me

Psalm -  41 

MieMieKhe and ThueeLin

Uploaded on Jul 16, 2007

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Psalm 52

Sons of Korah - Psalm 52: Why do you boast

ploaded on Dec 31, 2010

Sons of Korah - Psalm 52: Why do you boast

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Psalm 44

One more step along ( with lyrics)

Published on Mar 22, 2012

One more step along the world i go
from the old things to the new keep me travelling along with you


WORSHIP SONGS

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Psalms -  41, 52, 44

Old Testament -  Isaiah 48:1-11

Epistle – Galatians1:1-17

Gospel – Mark 5:21-43

All of today’s readings in some way focus on living in completeness, in harmony with one another, in true fellowship with God; as opposed to living in incompleteness, in disunity with one another, in self-created isolation.

God’s judgment lies on the deceitful, those who love evil more than good; lying more than truth. To live in communion with God and with the faithful, we must live a life of integrity, uncompromising adherence to the Word of God as it has been revealed to us. We must avoid deception, expediency, artificiality, or shallowness of any kind.

Even though God knows the secrets of the heart, we can trust in his mercy. Can it be that simple? What have we done to deserve mercy? Nothing.

We are a stubborn and rebellious people. Be assured that there are broken people and broken relationships that are the consequences of our actions or inactions, from what we have said or not said.

Yet, mercy is exactly what God offers us through grace. Grace, through faith. Faith is the key to healing and a restored life. Like the broken woman who, by faith, was healed. She stumbled through the crowd, fell to the ground, just to touch the hem of Jesus’ robe. Like Jairus, a leader of the synagogue, who prostrated himself before Jesus and begged that his daughter be healed.

One willing to break all the rules of the Law that placed her outside the fellowship of her people to ask for mercy. One willing to rely on mercy and grace rather than judgment and brokenness.

One willing to sacrifice personal honor and position to prostrate himself and beg for mercy and healing. Who, even when he was told his daughter was dead, believed that Jesus was the master of life and death.

Is it more important to be healed physically or to be healed from stubbornness, pride, expediency?  Is it more important to be free of pain, or free of artificiality and self-importance? Is it more important to be restored to busyness that creates broken relationships and broken people, or to be freed to live without pride and in quiet fellowship with God?

John Wesley, in his sermon on Original Sin (#44) said, “By repentance and lowliness of heart the deadly disease of pride is healed; that of self-will by resignation, and meek and thankful submission to the will of God.”

Which do I want more, our will, or God’s will? Where do I want to live, in incompleteness, disunity, and isolation or in completeness, harmony, and in fellowship with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit?

O Lord, at each new place of the progression of deterioration, moving from cane to walker, from walker to wheelchair, let me find within myself a new focus, zeal and passion. As one willing to rely totally on your mercy and grace regardless of the outcome, as I give up my car keys, choose to limit myself, as I become homebound and more dependent on others, let me have a renewed sense of gospel urgency. As one desiring to be always green and fruitful, no matter my circumstance, let me find ways to live in communion with the faithful. God you know the secrets and desires of my heart, I come to you in humility, begging for redemption and mercy and grace. Thank you for transforming me from weakness to wholeness. Thank you for holding me together. Thank you for never failing me, but always standing me tall in your presence so I can one day look you in the eye and know that Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah has truly paid for my sins, making me clean and pure and even now exactly as you intended and neededme to be. That is good enough for me. Amen.

Daily Readings based on the Revised Book of Common Prayer, Year A. January 29, 2013. http://www.crivoice.org/epiphany1.html

Commentary and scripture verses based on:

The Wesley Study Bible, New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Abingdon, 2009.

Peterson, Eugene H. The Message//Remix: The Bible in Contemporary Language Colorado Springs: Navpress, 2003

Thompson, Frank Charles. The Thompson Chain-Reference® Bible, New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: 1983

“integrity.” Webster’s Third New International Dictionary. Unabridged. Mierriam-Webster, 2002. http//unabridged.merriam-webster.com  (29 Jan 2013)

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Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired

Wed Jan 2

Psalms am: 34 pm: 33

Gen 12:1-7

Heb 11:1-12

John 6:35-42, 48-51

Lord, this morning I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. I know, I know – the Trouble is when I get this way I tend to over-do and then over-pay.  So today, may I just say I am sick and tired of being sick and tired - and praise you for deliverance from the Trouble – trusting I can just be sick and tired of being sick and tired?

I am sick and tired of being sick and tired

Always a day late and a dollar short

Making do with what I do not have

Some days all I can do is ask others to magnify the Lord for me

I do not have the strength to do it myself

Can I, like David, find You near when I am broken-hearted and crushed in spirit?

Keep my bones, Lord, and rescue me from my afflictions

Allow me to give you

New songs, new melodies, new understanding because

I know Your character

Demands an internal disposition of praise because You are Worthy

Tell me again how You fashion a garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness

I wait to be passed over and to

Reach out to touch Your robe as you pass by

Ever thankful that I

Do not have to be whole to be whole-hearted and whole-ly Yours

Only

Faithful

Believing and trusting, faithfully moving

Existing and looking more deeply

Inward beyond my pain

Noting it as I pass it by reaching for

God-emancipation, God-expansion, God-exculpation, God-exoneration

Step by step

Instead of by leaps and bounds

Crawling forward

Knowing the disillusionment of moving back

Assuage my thirst for wellness, Lord

Nearer

Draw me to Living Water

Trusting the unseen to be more real

I need to know that unlike other life-giving gifts

Resting in the great I AM refreshes

Eternal life is not only future but now

Dying You give me the hope and grace, faith and joy, strength and illumination

And that IS the disposition and magnification which creates joy and new songs

The Soli Deo Gloria which has nothing to do with being SICK AND TIRED OF BEING SICK AND TIRED

So be it. Amen

Soli Deo Gloria