Almost two years later…

Returning of the Dove

~Though ye have lain among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold~

It is early springtime now.  My property, oh how gorgeous it is!  Yellow daffodils dance in the wind as the sun reflects off them.  Grass, so green, it looks like dark, rich velvet.  My large Redbud Tree bursting forth in glorious purple.  An explosion of white flowers on my plum tree as soft pink adorns the apricot.  And, how the air is scented with gentle perfume from such beauty!  Such fragrance to me and arising to my King!

As I sit with my morning coffee at my bedroom window, suddenly I see a flash of brilliant sunshine off wings spread forth.  It is the dove, I think with delight; her wings covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold.  I see her only for an instant but the beauty will be forever etched in my memory.   Moments later, the gentle cooing begins….she has returned, oh, my dove….my God brought her back to me once more.

The gentle Holy Spirit then leads me into study of my Savior during His passion.  There is intensity in my study that has been lacking during this hurtful time of my life.  I have been consumed with my own pain but today I am consumed with His.  I am amazed at how He endured His torture silently; never defending Himself, never offering hurtful words back to those that hurt Him.

A short time later I arise from my study and check my messages.  And there is the message I have anticipated for almost seventeen months.  It is from my husband.  He writes that He will sign the final divorce papers on Monday.

All of my anger and bitterness disappear suddenly and I am left with only profound sorrow at the end of my marriage.  My heart breaks again.

And then I hear the dove’s gentle voice once more.  It is the gentle cooing of the mourning dove.

Scripture Reference

Psalm 68: 13

The Dove

~Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves’ eyes~

Every spring, the consciousness of her gentle cooing begins to speak of the beauty of the season. After a long winter, her song begins shortly after the daffodils break through the earth, heralding the beginning of new life.

This year was no different. Her soft voice speaks to my heart as does the gentle Dove of God, the precious Holy Spirit. Once more, her cooing slowly penetrated into my consciousness as we began experiencing a glorious flower-scented spring.

One day, I noticed her voice quite near; in the walnut tree that shades my bedroom. Within a few more days I heard her fluttering, with song-like wings, across my deck. Back and forth she fluttered for days ~the dove~ appeared to experience ~no rest for her feet~.

And then…God spoke. He assured me that He had caused this reminder from His creation. He tenderly shared that, I had no rest in my heart. As the dove fluttered back and forth, the gentle Dove of God was fluttering over me; fretful at the sorrow in my heart…

The aching heart of one, whose soul has been broken, battered, bruised….

The dove stopped fluttering across my deck the other day. Once again, I only heard her gentle cooing.

And then…God spoke again….reassuring, comforting, holding me close to His breast. The fluttering of His precious Spirit will soon stop fluttering over my broken heart as His tender touch begins to bring His healing touch to me once more.

FAITH AND BELIEVE

Hebrews 11: 6 – But without faith it is “IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE” Him: for he that comes to God must “BELIEVE” that He is (God)

Hebrews 11:3 – Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God

Hebrews 1: 2 – Have in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He had appointed heir of all things, by who also He made the worlds.

I Thessalonians 4:1 – Furthermore, then we beseech you brother, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as you have received of us how you ought to walk and “TO PLEASE God”, so you would abound more and more.

Hebrews 11: 6 – But without faith it is “IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE” Him: for he that comes to God must “BELIEVE” that He is (God)

After reading the above passage of scriptures, I came to this conclusion and I hope you some how will see and understand how I came to this conclusion to have faith and believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

***

If you believe God created the heavens and the earth, and you did not see it, but believe He did; we then should believe the same God can cause His creation to have a child without having sexual intercourse; or the same God can come in the express image which is in the created image of the God Head Bodily; as stated in the beginning, “Let us make man after our image and after our likeness.”

Have you or will you consider, when we don’t believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of the living God, we are denying the power of the Living God; although we may not understand God’s reason to come to mankind in this manner, it is still God’s spoken Word, He is still God and He is the Creator.

Then answer me this, how can you say you believe God or anything that was here in the beginning?  Do you believe God can do things with or without our permission or understanding? We must have faith and believe in His power and the way He selected to use His power.  He can do as He well to do, and He has done this for all of mankind to be save from the devil, and presently from ourselves.

II Corinthians 13:8 – We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth

Have Faith and believe,

In past articles I’ve commented on the importance of community outreach. So today I wanted to take some time to give you a couple of cool new outreach ideas for you to try out in your church or ministry. Remember, not everyone of these ideas will work for every church. They will however help you think of new and exciting ways to reach out to those in your community and share Gods love through random acts of kindness.

1. Welcome Home Rally - Contact your local military base and find out when a local troop will be returning from overseas, organize church members, families and local businesses to help put on a special welcome home rally for those servicemen returning home. You could provide food, host some live music, and even make a large banner that reads “Welcome Home!” It seems simple but genuine appreciation goes a long way!

2. Tax Preparation – Tax season is upon us, so why not help the hurting by assisting them with those W-2s. Find out if there are any accountants in your church congregation and ask them if they would consider volunteering their time to help families in need or single parents by preparing their taxes for them. You could have your church goers pass out fliers for people to bring their paperwork with them to church on sunday and afterwards get their taxes done for free! It meets a need and allows them to take part in one of your church services.

3. Fire Safety – Team up with your local fire department and adopt a neighborhood in your community by offering to replace the batteries inside all the smoke detectors in their home. You could also purchase a handful of new smoke detectors incase some of the homes have broken units or no smoke detectors at all. (This outreach would have an even greater impact in a neighborhood that recently faced a home fire nearby, showing the churches response to tragedy)

Whether these ideas will work for your community or not, I urge you – do SOMETHING. If we want to see lives changed and our cities transformed, we’re going to have to get our hands dirty.

For more great outreach ideas and other insights on the world of ministry and creativity – visit Alex’s website theChristianCreative.com

“In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” – John 1:4,5

As Christians, many times we fail to understand God. We learned the he is this all powerful and all knowing being, but we never truly grasp the fact that he is actually “all knowing and all powerful.” We don’t  see the true power in being a follower of Christ and the peace and tranquility he brings to those who follow him. Though I haven’t fully grasped God’s will and ability yet, I will try to shed some of my own knowledge of the Word and God to help you in your daily path.

God is All Powerful

As humans, we never seem to be able to understand the idea of an All-Powerful being that has complete control over every single thing in the entire universe. However the fact is, God is All-Powerful. God can do anything. Thus, knowing this fact, we should always go to God first. God will provide for you if it fits his ultimate plan. And now you ask how and why God knows the ultimate plan for our life. Well, my good sir (or madam), that brings me to my next point.

God is All Knowing

The fact that God knows everything that has happened, is happening and will happen is perhaps one of the hardest things for us as Christians to understand. We were always told that God has an ultimate plan that will always work out for the best. But a lot of times, we never see situations work out for the best. But if we just zoom the camera out on our life, we see that mistakes made often end up benefiting us in the long run. Mistakes grant us wisdom for the future and trails and troubles often bring us closer to God because when we solve this problems we find that we ourselves had not fought through the situation but that God had carried us and shielded us from further harm through the worst times. In the end, when we look through the entire pciture instead of a small portion we can understand how God forms his “ultimate plan”.

But Here’s the Punchline

However, as humans, I think we will never be able to fully understand the grace, mercy, and sacrifice given by God. We could never quantify the greatness of God because he is unmeasurable. He has no beginning and has no end. God is a constant in a chaotic universe. God, perhaps, is the only stable rock that we can rely on. God gave us the amazing gift of salvation through Christ, a priceless gift, though we as Christians, (and no offense to anyone) generally suck. But still, all we can do is constantly thank him for his innumerable sacrifices. I will never understand why this All-Mighty being would care so much for us meager and crummy human but I know that until I die, I will never give up on God because he never gave up on me.

Hello All,

I am new to all this, I am a believer, but I am looking for some serious help. I have a lot of things going on with my life right now. To name some, I have a serious heart defect, one of my nieces does also. Also I having problems getting into the word like I use to. I honestly don’t know where to start. I tried to read Proverbs and succeed but I stopped after that. I read a daily devotional at least three times a day, but honestly I don’t get nothing out of it. I need help because I am going through a lot of trials right now, and I know God is walking me through it all, but at times I feel all alone. If you could please give me an idea on where I should start, that would be wonderful. Thank You. God Bless

Jimmy

I love science…I have since I was a little kid.  It was always my best subject in school.  My parents were convinced that I would grow up to be a scientist.  I still remember when I got my first telescope for Christmas and how upset I was about the bad weather over the next few days that kept me from using.

I installed the included telescope software on our home computer to study the star charts and constellation diagrams.  I read online about declination and right ascension so I could locate the planets, stars, and nebula’s that I wanted to see.  I still remember pointing my telescope at the moon and seeing all of it’s craters and mountains.  I can recall my first time seeing Jupiter.  I could just barely see it’s colorful stripes (My telescope was not very powerful).  On both sides of the planet were two little twinkles, which were four of Jupiter’s moons.

But as I grew in Christ, I felt compelled to reject/ignore science.  I thought that it was an enemy to my faith…out trying to disprove the Bible.  But is that really true?  Can a person be into science and still believe God’s Word?  Let’s explore a few points before you answer.

The Earth is Round

A round Earth is common knowledge now, but that was not all was the case.  Many cultures throughout history thought that the world was flat.  This belief was around as late as the 1500’s AD.  Yet Isaiah writes:  “He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers… (Isaiah 40:22).”  Isaiah was not a scientist or philosopher, yet he writes about a round Earth in 700 BC!  How is that possible?  Hold that thought…

Blood = Life

Another common fact is how blood circulation is vital to life.  The blood contains the cells.   It carries oxygen and nutrients to all parts of the body.  Without blood, we die.  In the Bible, Moses writes: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls…(Leviticus 17:11).”

Ever heard of bloodletting?  It’s draining huge amounts of blood to cure diseases.  We know now that bloodletting is a terrible idea.  Just ask George Washington…that’s how he died…in 1799 AD!  Yep, doctors in the 18th Century still didn’t understand that life is in the blood.  They should have read Leviticus 17:11…which was written over 3000 years prior!

Number of Stars

How many stars are there?  Well, the answer that you get depends on who you ask.  Ask Hipparchus around 135 BC and you’ll get 1035 stars.  Throughout history, many great astronomers attempted to count the stars.  But along came a man named Galileo with this new invention call a “telescope”.  He concluded that the stars were too numerous to count in the 1600’s AD.  Why is that so amazing??  The Bible says: “I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countless as the stars of the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore.’ (Jeremiah 33:22)”

As of 2003, the estimated number of  stars visible with our modern equipment was about 70 sextillion [1]!  That’s Seventy thousand million million million…or 7 followed by 22 zeros!  And that’s with today’s best equipment.  When we manage to build a stronger telescope…we’ll find even more than that.  How did Jeremiah know that the stars were to many to number back in 600 BC?

Conclusion

Moses, Isaiah, and Jeremiah were not scientists.  Yet they described scientific facts centuries before modern science could prove them.  How??  Because the Bible is GOD’s WORD!  Science isn’t disproving the Bible…but confirming it!

Do scientific theories always support the Bible??  Absolutely not!  But imagine if you were to tell Hipparchus that there were more than 1035 stars and quote Jeremiah 33:22 to him.  He would probably have laughed in your face.  But fast forward to today and we are at 70 sextillion stars and counting!  Imagine going back and telling Washington’s doctors not to drain his blood, pointing to Leviticus 17:11.  You’d be mocked and ignored for not having a PH.D.  My point is that any “science” that conflicts with the Bible just hasn’t caught up to it yet!

The Bible is not a science book….but the science found in it’s pages is totally accurate!  And our faith in God’s Word should not be based on what modern science says.  Why?  Well, science is fickle and always changing…it’s textbooks need to be revised every few years but God’s Word never changes!  So faith in God’s Word is not based on scientific proof, but in the witness of the Spirit and the work of Christ.

Yes, I love science…I have since I was a little kid.  But now, my heart is no longer burdened by a feeling that I must choose between my telescope and my Bible.  There is no choice.  God is awesome and His Word is true!  The things that I observe through my telescope (the same one I got that Christmas) don’t challenge my faith!  Because now I understand that the heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim the work of his hands (Ps 19:1).  In my life, science has ONE purpose.  And that is to explore and expose all of the amazing wonders of God’s creation.

1. When you say the Bible is “God’s Word,” what do you mean by that phrase?
2. What does the Bible say that it is?
3. Is there anything else besides the Bible that you’d consider to be “God’s Word?”

• In your responses, please number your answers to the questions. Also, try to keep them mildly brief. I understand that each question could require a book-length answer and we’ll be gracious and strive not to nit-pick your answers….
• Pretend you’re explaining this to a person who has ZERO previous experience with religion.

This year I’ve challenged myself to read through the entire bible in one year. I know this doesn’t seem like the most “creative” thing to do, but I’m a firm believer that the bible is God breathed and 100% God inspired. It truly is the WORD of God. So if I’m trying to be more creative, and I’m trying to help take the modern day church in a more creative direction, then I doesn’t hurt reading the words of the KING of all creativity and heck, of ALL CREATION! I mean, I love reading Seth Godin, Tony Morgan and Phil Cooke but God really has a monopoly on this whole ‘creative’ thing.

So to give you the tools to help you get closer to the creator, I’m including a link to my personal favorite bible software and reading plans YouVersion.com – They have over 20 different reading plans to fit your schedule or personal study approach. It’s a great resource and it’s free. Check it out and spend 2010 reading the manual from the One who has all the answers.

For more insight and resources like this – visit my website theChristianCreative.com

You may not understand me
Or question why I do
But know that its for His glory
And that I dearly love you

Know that I will fail you
That one day I’ll be gone
But you’re with me forever
In heart, and mind, and song