this is awesome. i just need to repost this video. (:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpVsF4W8V2Y

I included it in my last post as a link to a song I wanted to tag at the end. I finally just watched the video.

Awesome.

"What prostrate means"

Sometimes it is
wearing out. My hands, my joints
my arms, my throat,
every point, like stars
Blinking away into space, collapsing,

and I crumble,
mere wear,
and I tear up. You win
the war, and I finally am
captivated,
free.

Sometimes
it is overcome,

I throw off the towel again.

God,
and here,
like a big bright
Light. I take You, the edge
of my feet singing silently,
every muscle vibrating.
You are the
Giver. And throwing

off the towel, no longer
afraid of the Water,
no longer ashamed of the plummet,
of sinking into
Your praise. Instead,

praise rise glowing, flushed.

Here it is again in case you missed the link at the top. (:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpVsF4W8V2Y

Praise Him

Making it a habit to praise God, praise Christ, listen to the amazingness of the Gospel. When I try to find joy any other way, it fails. I will not. That sounds like a rather blunt statement. All I know is that is true in my own life. So very true.

But it is not just for my own selfish desires. I should not look to praise God so I will be happy; that is not the end of praise at all. "Pray," writes Oswald Chambers, "because you have a Father, not because it quietens you, and give Him time to answer." The same goes for praise. Praise His because He is God; praise Him because He has made you His child. Praise Him for the Cross! It is truly a wonderful thing.

I really feel like going on an Oswald Chambers tangent...so I will include a conglomeration of his quotes on prayer. Which also goes for praise.

"We look upon prayer as a means of getting things for ourselves; The Bible idea of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself.
"Get into the habit of dealing with God about everything. Unless in the first waking moment of the day you learn to fling the door wide back and let God in, you will work on a wrong level all day; but swing the door wide open and pray to your Father in secret, and every public thing will be stamped with the presence of God.
"Do not have as your motive the desire to be known as a praying man. Get an inner chamber in which to pray where no one knows you are praying, shut the door, and talk to God in secret.
"Prayer is not only asking, it is an attitude of heart that produces an atmosphere in which asking is perfectly natural, and Jesus says, "every one that asketh receiveth."

~~~

I have been reading David Crowder's book "Praise Habit: Finding God in Sunsets and Sushi." Thus far I have only read up to, at most, the first two chapters.

"Every second is an opportunity for praise. There is a choosing to be made. A choosing at each moment. This is the Praise Habit."
- David Crowder

Praise Him

more than conquerors

Romans 8:28-39

28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

David Crowder Band's "Stars"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhayBSnG7Xk

you should see the stars tonight
how they shimmer shine so bright
against the black they look so white
comin down from such a height
to reach me now, reach me now

you should see the moon in the flight
cuttin cross the misty night
softly dancin in sunshine
reflections of this light
reach me now, you reach me now

and how could such a thing
shine its light on me
and make everything beautiful again

and you should feel the sun in the spring
comin out after a rain
suddenly all is green
sunshine on everything
i can feel it now, i feel you now

and how could such a thing
shine its light on me
and make everything beautiful

and you should hear the angels sing
all gathered round their king
more beautiful than you could dream
i've been quietly listening
you can hear 'em now, i hear em now

and how could such a king
shine His light on me
and make everything beautiful
and i wanna shine
i wanna be light
i wanna tell you it'll be alright
and i wanna shine and i wanna fly
just to tell you now
it'll be alright, it'll be alright
it'll be alright.

cus i got nothing of my own to give to you
but this light that shines on me shines on you
and makes everything beautiful, again.
it'll be alright, it'll be alright.

~~~

God is so good to me. Even in small things, but especially in the large things, in my eternity.
What can I say in response to this? God didn't spare his Son, he gave his very life for mine. Even now, right now...

“The truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there it is.” -Winston Churchill.
Whether I believe it in the moment, God, you are good.

how He loves

C.S. Lewis on becoming a Christian:
"At the moment what I heard was God saying, 'Put down your gun and we'll talk.'"

Three hours. Of history class on women and oppression and confusion. Strange laziness from no food and stress. Hmp. Well. Hopefully this blog won't come out jumbled---

Someone had noted a superiority that comes from religion. From his view, it is someone looking on another and judging, of saying that THIS religion is the only one, that it is right and therefore everything is wrong. To quote from an essay (on footbinding, kind of a different subject) by Patricia Ebrey, "With the child abuse construct [of footbinding] we are moving more toward pity, which of course also assumes a position of superiority as it empathizes with those viewed as victims." To say something is wrong means to claim to be 'enlightened' relatively.

What about the other side? What is it about us humans that does not want to be proved wrong, perhaps 'unenlightened'? To me that seems a big issue.
Also, I do not see Christianity as such. As religion, or even, really, as a 'moral' guide. It does not tells us what we can do, but what God can do. What he will change. Christianity (actually, Christ), in one sense, tears down those rules. God knows---he really knows we can't do anything good on our own. We can't.

Isaiah 64:6 (New International Version)

6 All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

We are deprived. We are depraved. We are oppressed. That is real oppression, that war that wages in our hearts and vies for our attentions, our selfishness and our ingratitude. (much like my thoughts and actions this hectic morning, I'm afraid. 'Nother story.) Our very self is in opposition against God and makes us miserable. Christ will make us understand ourselves, our nature.

"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else."
C.S. Lewis

I think what people are truly missing, what they don't know about Christianity, is that God really loves us. He really does. He REALLY loves us. He loves us! He's jealous for us! That's what this is really about! You can't down play it. I once heard a pastor say, "I think that we concentrate too much on the loving side of God, we need to mention more God's wrath." But aren't they related? God's incredible wrath on sin, his repulse and (frankly) hatred of sin is demonstrated in that he would send his Son--himself---to kill it, because he does not want any of us to live with sin! He created us to live with him, to feed of him, to be satisfied in him. His love is our motivation for living in a certain way, of not wanting any part of our lives to be wrapped around ourselves, but to embrace him fully.
"All my self-imposed wants and rights melt before the flame of a loving God."

"Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?" Romans 2:4

"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:17b-19

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWgeUrD4MHI

When I think about just how beautiful you are and how great your affections are for me...