Reveration Blog
9/29/1999 0 Comments Insight--SpiritualA man walked into his garden distressed. As he bent to water his plants he noticed the pathetic condition of the snail-eaten leaves. Beside the plant grew weeds making it hard to discern friend from predator. What an overwhelming battle he thought. What chance has beauty to blossom against the constant threat of bug and weed? Yet as he looked more closely, he observed strong vibrant shoots emerging from weary stems. Then the Lord spoke to him.
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6/28/1999 0 Comments PrioritiesMeditation
Deuteronomy 6:5-7--Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 6/21/1999 0 Comments ReverenceReveration means reverent-adoration. It is a word I created after studying one of the most overlooked major themes of Scripture—the fear of God. If love for God is food than reverence for Him is water. We need both to nourish our relationship. Love devoid of respect is emotionally unstable causing people to perceive God as some sort of cosmic Genie. Respect without love is mechanically rigid such that people approach God from a sense of duty, concerned with failing, convinced that He is a harsh Judge.
6/14/1999 0 Comments FailureMeditation
2 Corinthians 13:5,6--Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves. Or do you yourselves not recognize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless you fail the test. And I hope you will recognize that we do not fail the test. If forty is an age for contemplation than here is a provocative observation. Failure ending in disappointment with God often begins on a trail of good intentions. 3/24/1999 0 Comments PerspectiveDrafting is such an amazing art. I find it fascinating how engineers depict buildings and objects through the skillful drawing of lines and shading areas. Did you know that perspective is defined in The American Heritage Dictionary as: “The technique of representing three-dimensional objects and depth relationships on a two-dimensional surface."
3/22/1999 0 Comments MissionariesHow radical are you willing to be when it comes to supporting missionaries? It’s nice to have an annual missions week in the church. It feels good to send a check periodically to those laboring overseas. But do you honestly understand what those you know as missionaries experience on a daily basis? Do you know what it means to leave your home country and live in a strange culture among people who speak a foreign language, eat different foods, and relate to one another with a different set of mores? Do you know what it is like to be deeply homesick, constantly vulnerable and very inadequate?
3/9/1999 0 Comments ValuableIf the world was a scale it would not be able to measure this treasure. If we took all the money minted and printed throughout history from the entire globe and made one gigantic deposit in an effort to buy this prize it would be like licking the pyramids in order to dissolve them. If the earth’s greatest musicians and singers composed the most perfect melody it could not touch the soul like this gift from heaven. God’s love cannot be weighed or purchased or matched. It is eternal in life and measureless in amount.
11/29/1998 0 Comments NatureIt’s amazing what an angel will do. She sat on the low wooden bench and watched as the people passed by her. Her faded yellow dress did not match the orange socks pulled just below her knees. Tangled hair and a face unmarked by soap whispered her motherless fate. She held in one hand a beanie baby—a three legged dog, while in the other she clutched a mystery bag of who knows what treasure. Her feet lightly swung as if to some hidden melody. One shoe revealed a severed heel that if she walked would have flapped to its own rap. The other shoe no longer had lace long enough to tie a bow.
11/1/1998 0 Comments RelationshipThere are mornings when I wake up when I don’t want to read my Bible. I don’t want to pray. Surprised? No you’re not—‘cuz you have the same feelings. Admit it. There are days we get out of bed and put on our selfish clothes, brush our selfish teeth, shave our selfish whiskers, eat our selfish breakfast, drive our selfish car so we can sit at our selfish desk to be consumed with all those thoughts of what we feel like doing the whole selfish day. And we feel justified in skipping the time we ought to spend with our Lord. Why? Because we are busy! And if you’d care to go deeper, because at the center of our gnarly bodies is a heart that pumps: thump, thump, rebel, thump, thump, rebel! It’s a whole lot easier to do meaningful work than it is to meet with an invisible Friend.
10/8/1998 0 Comments KindnessMeditation
1 Corinthians 13:4--Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not conceited, Titus 3:4,5--But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared. He saved us—not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit. 10/1/1998 0 Comments IdentificationMeditation
Romans 13:14--But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no plans to satisfy the fleshly desires. 9/8/1998 0 Comments ModelThis morning a woman climbed into her car. She stopped by a Starbucks to get her caffeine jolt for the morning. Later she pulled into the parking lot at work and said “hi” to a few other employees who also just arrived. Once inside the building she encountered many people who work there—some of whom she engaged in conversation while others she passed by because they were busy. During the course of her day she will lead or serve many different people. She may talk on the phone, send and pick up email messages, and converse with her boss, those who work for her, and others nearby. After work she will drive home, have dinner, possibly call someone special, relax in front of the television or read a book before going to bed.
6/19/1998 0 Comments DiscernmentThe art of discerning is comprised of two parts—keen insight combined with good judgment. Many believe that discernment is a gift and that certain people are more adept at discerning than others. However, discernment is much more than a gift it is an ability linked closely to wisdom. Therefore, as a person grows wiser spiritually, the ability to discern should also blossom.
4/21/1998 0 Comments CauseMeditation
Matthew 19:13,14--Then children were brought to Him so He might put His hands on them and pray. But the disciples rebuked them. Then Jesus said, “Leave the children alone, and don’t try to keep them from coming to Me, because the kingdom of heaven is made up of people like this.” 2/23/1998 0 Comments CoursesMeditation
Joshua 24:14,15--Therefore, fear the Lord and worship Him in sincerity and truth. Get rid of the gods your fathers worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and worship Yahweh. But if it doesn’t please you to worship Yahweh, choose for yourselves today the one you will worship: the gods your fathers worshiped beyond the Euphrates River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my family, we will worship Yahweh. 2/2/1998 0 Comments FriendshipWhile standing in the immigration line in Narita airport—Tokyo, Japan after a long flight from San Francisco, I heard my name called by a voice from the past. There ahead of me was my best friend from college and five years in the army—Dave Mead. Wow! What are the odds of a guy from Oregon running into his friend from New York in one of the largest airports in the world?
1/16/1998 0 Comments WorthIn the marketplace of life it is a tempting thing to measure our spiritual worth by the applause of people. But an apple can look good on the outside and be rotten in the middle. A watermelon can be huge and yet be devoid of sweetness.
2/13/1997 0 Comments The Value of the WildernessI wish everyone could take a seven-day hiatus into the wilderness. There are no phones to ring. Trees do not hold ticking clocks. The ground may be uncomfortable and the weather may be cold but the air is clean and perspectives change. Sitting around a campfire for hours, the mind begins to clear. Beads of stress from a culture of busyness evaporate under stars without competition from neon lights. The sound of a rushing river soothes the soul. The cries of a vigilant falcon pierce the air with the anthem of freedom.
1/5/1997 0 Comments AffinityMeditation
Matthew 5:43-44--You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. |
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Photo from Rachel Maxey Miles