Verses Enjoyed

I want to note a couple of verses I've enjoyed recently.

"If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up. / If you put injustice far away from your tents, and place your gold nuggets in the dust / And your gold of Ophir in the stones of the brooks, Then the Almighty will be your gold nuggets / And precious silver to you." —Job 22:23-25

Not a common verse reference to quote, I know, but this verse came to me recently and I enjoyed it. I just want to testify that if you place your gold nuggets in the dust, the Almighty really becomes your gold nuggets and precious silver. Hallelujah!

"But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, / Which shines brighter and brighter until the full day." —Proverbs 4:18

I remembered this one in Geography class last night. In mentioning the use of animal fat for making candles during his lecture on cattle, the professor mentioned that people who couldn't afford to have lights on at night simply went to bed. With the use of tallow, however, people stayed up later, and cultivated the art of conversation! Anyway, at that point he seemed to be spitting out whatever came to mind, so regardless of the veracity of this statement, I was glad to be reminded of the verse.

Believe it or not, it's normal to go to bed at night while the sun is away, and it's normal to get up in the morning when the sun comes up! Conversely, it's abnormal to stay up all night and sleep in until half of the day is gone. I know this is a sensitive topic for people in my age group. It's really easy to become occupied with something well into the night and end up sleeping in longer than intended. With enough practice, this eventually is effortless.

Nevertheless, I would like to share my enjoyment of the vigor that results from a normal sleeping and waking schedule: it's great! I hope to do this my whole life. As a Christian, the first step to making progress in one's spiritual life is learning to be revived every morning—at a proper time. Without this important step it's impossible for a Christian to make substantial progress toward genuine growth in life. I've heard this several times in the church life, and checking with my experience, it really is the case. What a good fellowship! What a good verse!

Praise the Lord for the Bible, the Word of God. This is the most wonderful book!

Save the Ocean!

Yesterday as I was walking across campus to a class, I walked past a group of students trying to convince other students to stand for their cause: saving the world's oceans. As usual I just walked past them without saying anything (is that rude?), but simply overhearing some of what they were saying made me realize something.

You can't save the ocean.

Neither can you save any animals. Nor the rain forests, nor the atmosphere. There's nothing at all human beings can do to save any physical feature on—or above—the face of the earth.

Why? Because what is on the earth is finite. No matter what man does to save the ocean, one day it will have to go. Even if man could do something to "save" it, at best he can only prolong it's compatibility with human life.

It's curious, but after arriving at the class toward which I was headed, the assistant professor assigned to lecture turned out to be a fanatic of the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest. From time to time during her lecture, she would pose environmentalist questions on various topics, such as government conversion of lands into national parks, human use of natural resources, indigenous ownership of lands, etc. Yet every response, viable or not, was without exception a limited solution to man's infinite problem. If man exploits the earth without restriction, the earth will pass away. If he regulates his exploitation, it will still pass away. Though he can prolong its health, he cannot prevent its inevitable corruption.

In addition, man himself is also finite, both in time and in space. Everything that originates from man's doing and man's being is finite and will have a finite result. If he "saves" the earth, it will eventually come to an end. If he "saves" himself, he will also come to an end. But really, who am I telling? People know this, right? Why do I need to repeat what is—or at least should be—common knowledge? Doesn't everyone know that the result of all of man's efforts to save the world will only prolong its existence, and that it all has a last day?

Well, there's something else we all know, but some have yet to really discover it. Yes, man is finite, but man has eternity in his heart. This is by design—man was made this way, man is born this way, and man dies in the same condition. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, "He has made everything beautiful in its own time; also He has put eternity in their heart, yet so that man does not find out what God has done from the beginning to the end."

What is eternity like in man's heart? It's an endless void. A gaping hole in one's being that nothing can fill. Despite all of the information available on them, I've never figured out what a black hole really is. But my best guess would be that it's something similar to the eternity in my heart. What can fill eternity? Or who can fill eternity? A loved one? No, human love is also finite, eventually to be sucked into the black hole of eternity without leaving a trace.

God is eternity. God is infinite. Only God can fill this void in man's heart. I've heard it called a "God-shaped vacuum within man", and I couldn't come up with a better phrasing of it if i tried. In short, God created man with the capacity to contain Himself, and man isn't satisfied until he receives and is filled with God. Man may deny this fact, but throughout the history of the earth man is the only being to have been inwardly driven to worship God. Man is also the only being to have tried saving the world. Wolves hunting rabbits to local extinction don't instinctively let some live to preserve them. Banana maladies didn't spare a few plants when desolating plantations. Nope, only man.

So why save the ocean? Why not save man instead? When we speak of saving the earth, we mean to save ourselves. But why not get to the point? Man is perishing, yet man can be saved. The way is NOT to regulate exploitation of the earth; that's only temporary and won't work forever. Man must receive God in Christ as the Spirit. When he does this, he will not only be saved from corruption, but will also find true peace, rest and satisfaction, having found God—the meaning of his existence on the earth.

Verse three from hymn 1327 in my hymnal:

Empty wanderer drop the striving—
Isn't worth all the troublin';
Open up your heart believing,
Call "Lord Jesus" and He'll come in!
Then today you'll find Him,
And calling on His name,
You're joined to Him, you're one with Him—
You'll never be the same.
You won't want to!
Jesus, Jesus is my life now,
Jesus, Jesus is my life;
I'm fully satisfied now,
Jesus, Jesus is my life.

Back at school from the weekend college conference in Big Bear. It was altogether amazing! When I get home and find my outline book I'll list the title. There was so much that was spoken, but the brothers gave us 4 words to sum up the 4 messages released:

See: We need to see the history of the world and trace God's move within it. In short, human history can be summed up by the significance of the four horses in Revelation: war, famine and death. Yet these four negative things spur on the running of the white horse, which is the gospel-going forth conquering and to conquer.
Pray: After seeing this vision we need to join ourselves to the Lord by offering our cooperation in prayer. Our prayer is firstly to have fellowship with the Lord, and then in intercession, intervening in the lives of others for their benefit.
Go: We need to use our talent given by the Lord by functioning according to our measure-practically speaking, we need to speak to others for their salvation.
Build: For the work of the gospel to be a prevailing one, we must see that it's a corporate, not individual matter. We must be pratically built up as members of the body of Christ with other members. Building is simply the mingling of God with man. We must receive the divine transmission from God, and receive and transmit Christ into others. In this way, the ones who are saved by us will not only be saved souls, but they will also become what we are-materials good for the building up of the body of Christ.

I hope there will be a time of overflow of the conference material sometime soon. I know there are some things that others saw that I didn't catch.

So I'm learning that although I'm busy with work and school, I'm not really THAT busy. There is always time for the Lord, for the saints. It only depends on where the heart is. So on that note I was able to continue in The Overcoming Life. It just gets better and better!

It's the Lord's Day

All of the meetings have been exceptional lately. The ministry meeting, prayer meetings, home meeting, and today's meetings were awesome. With all of this going on, how can anyone be upset or discouraged? The church life is wonderful!

Anyway it's a great mountain. The good land is filled with mountains and valleys. Though the valleys lie ahead, they come with rivers, brooks, streams—all kinds of sources of water, supply, refreshment. The Lord is faithful, and His supply never fails. May I remain an open vessel, opening increasingly day by day. A brother shared with me not too long ago that what matters the most to the Lord is that our vessel remains open to Him. Regardless of what our situation may be, as long as we are open to the Lord, He has a way to supply you with Himself, dispensing more of Himself into you, and this is everything. Everything is to open our vessel more and more to the Lord, allowing Him to do His transforming work within us. Do it, Lord!!

Also amazing is the story of Mary mentioned in Matthew 26:6-13, and in other places in the other gospels. The title of the message for today's meeting was "The Faith of the Gospel and the Goal of the Gospel". I believe most of the saints were touched on the matter of Mary breaking the alabaster flask and pouring out the ointment on the Lord. The disciples called it a waste, but the Lord said that it was a noble deed done, and that whenever the gospel is preached on the earth, the story of Mary would also be told as a memorial. So the gospel is the story of how the Lord loved us, and the story of Mary is the story of how she loved the Lord, and "wasted" what was most precious on Him. This is the goal of the gospel, because this is what the gospel should produce—not merely persons saved from eternal perdition, but ones who would love the Lord with the first love, giving Him the preeminence in all things, willing to "waste" everything, including their own lives, entirely on the Lord. Yet this matter was preceded by the faith of the gospel, showing to us our need to develop this faith within us until we actually have something to pour out on the Lord. Anyway it's already late and I don't have much utterance to share the message in a good way…. if you want to read it, it's here. Also, there's a message by Watchman Nee on the matter that I HIGHLY recommend called "Waste and Pragmatism" (Go to chapter 2). 

hmmm

A reunião de ontem à noite foi inesquecível. No momento nem tenho palavras para compartilhar o que foi falado. Só oro que o Senhor torne as profecias da Sua volta a minha realidade subjetiva, que não sejam mera doutrina em mim.

Volte mais tarde após eu ter digerido a mensagem mais um pouco.

Stone Savior

I never really appreciated Christ as the "Stone-Savior" until the meeting Wednesday night. I always kinda glossed over it, not really paying any attention to it. But our Christ really is a solid rock!!!

Some points I enjoyed:

• "The stone which the builders rejected / Has become the head of the corner" (Psa. 118:22)
• On the day of His resurrection the Lord Jesus was made the cornerstone by God for the building up of the church—v. 24; Eph. 2:20.
• Christ was chosen by God in eternity past to be he cornerstone for God's spiritual building, but the builders rejected Him to the extent that they put Him on the cross—1 Pet. 1:20; 2:4.

It was encouraging to see that God's way of vindication is resurrection. When the pharisees asked for a sign, the Lord told them that no sign would be given except the sign of Jonah, which is a picture of the Lord's death and resurrection. So God chose Christ in eternity past, but in time He was rejected by men, crucified and put in the tomb. But God re-confirmed His selection in resurrecting this One on the third day! Now this One is the cornerstone for God's building, and everything He does in carrying out God's purpose is as the cornerstone!

So everything we do and are must go through the test of death and resurrection. We may be mocked, rejected and slain by men, but we should not fear this. Everything will eventually be tried, and whatever is natural will and should be buried and left, and whatever is of God will rise up in resurrection. Only what is of God can stand the test of death and come up in resurrection. 

I additionally enjoyed that although we have a "clay" nature, Christ is within us as a Living Stone. This Christ is solid and unshakeable! There are moments when you have a real realization that you are just clay, and you get discouraged... but as soon as you turn to the Lord, you touch this Rock, this Stone-Savior, and you realize that He's infusing you with His very nature, making you as solid as He is! Anyway, I'm speaking to myself... I felt like clay all this week, but the Lord in His mercy won't let me finish the week in this way. I may be clay, but what I am doesn't matter—what He is matters! And whether I like it or not, the Lord will carry out His transforming work! What He has begun, He will surely complete. Amen.

"Coming to Him, a living stone, rejected by men but with God chosen and precious, you yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house into a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." –1 Peter 2:4-5.

So many more points enjoyed... I need some time to digest them.

rainy day

found out this morning there's a leak in my ceiling, cleaned up the flooded floor with elijah. tile flooring is a good thing.
     the prayer meeting was exceptional last night, i'm glad i took at least thirty minutes to join. sometimes you can get so caught up in your own world and forget about what the Lord is doing—alias, sometimes you have no idea what the Lord is doing. but He speaks through His members, and through them He can release His burden. my spirit was refreshed.


"That which we have seen and heard we report also to you that you also may have fellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ." - 1 John 1:3


The second part of footnote 3 says:

Fellowship here indicates a putting away of private interests and a joining with others for a certain common purpose. Hence, to have fellowship with the apostles, to be in the fellowship of the apostles, and to have fellowship with the Triune God in the apostles' fellowship is to put aside our private interests and join with the apostles and the Triune God for the carrying out of God's purpose. This purpose, according to John's subsequent writings, is twofold: 1- that the believers grow in the divine life by abiding in the Triune God and, based on the divine birth, live a life of the divine righteousness and the divine love to overcome the world, death, sin, the devil, and idols; and 2- that the local churches be built up as the lampstands for the testimony of Jesus and consummate in the New Jerusalem as the full expression of God for eternity. Our participation int he apostles' enjoyment of the Triune God is our joining with them and with the Triune God for His divine purpose, which is common to God, the apostles, and all the believers.

hmyn 377

1. If the path I travel
     Lead me to the cross,
   If the way Thou choosest
     Lead to pain and loss,
   Let the compensation
     Daily, hourly, be
   Shadowless communion,
     Blessed Lord, with Thee.
2. If there's less of earth joy,
     Give, Lord, more of heaven.
   Let the spirit praise Thee,
     Though the heart be riven;
   If sweet earthly ties, Lord,
     Break at Thy decree,
   Let the tie that binds us,
     Closer, sweeter, be.
3. Lonely though the pathway,
     Cheer it with Thy smile;
   Be Thou my companion
     Through earth's little while;
   Selfless may I live, Lord,
     By Thy grace to be
   Just a cleansed channel
     For Thy life through me.

praise Him for the Body life and the overcoming life in Christ

Praise the Lord.


I really mean it. I'm encouraged afresh just to say those three words packed with power to do at least three things spontaneously: 1) Take me out of whatever condition I may be in as a result of the typically chaotic events of my day, and elevate me experientially to my proper position seated in the heavenlies with Christ Jesus; 2) twist the arrow that has been shot into the heart of the enemy who accuses day and night, who was defeated by Christ's vicarious death on the cross; and 3) enthrones the God of glory upon the praises of His chosen and redeemed ones. I posted this quote from an outline from a recent ministry meeting on my Facebook, but it's worth noting again here: O Senhor tem perfeito louvor ou força da boca de pequeninos e crianças de peito para fazer calar seus adversários, o inimigo e o vingador – Sl 8:2 (The Lord has perfected praise or strength from the mouths of babes and sucklings to shut the mouths of his adversaries, the enemy and the avenger—Psalms 8:2). I wish I could just drink a cup of this every morning for the rest of my life!


I appreciate the spontaneity of the life supply in the fellowship of the Body of Christ. The portion of members that I may consider small has helped me in ways I have not yet come to understand, and have trouble recognizing. I long for a spirit of lowliness to just be open to the speaking of each member, regardless of whether or not I've already heard what it is they have to say. Otherwise, I'm seriously missing out. One of the most memorable sentences shared with me during my trip to Brazil captures this exactly: If you can't receive help from anyone except the members whom you consider to be more mature than you are, you don't know the Body. Amen, it's really true. I hope the Lord would really have a way in me along these lines during my time living in the brothers' house.


One more thing I've enjoyed that I can't exclude comes from having finished chapter two of Watchman Nee's The Overcoming Life. The book is incredible. What I've seen so far is that the standard of God's salvation for a Christian as seen in the Bible is much higher than the experience of most Christians. In this, we have to acknowledge that either our experience is wrong, or God's word is wrong. As a Christian, my initial response to reading this affirmation over and over again was to think, well that's a given; I believe that God's word is right, and cannot be wrong. But then I began to consider, if I believe so fervently in the infallibility of God's word, why is my experience so low?? May the Lord continue to shine! I want the life that more than conquers! I want to reign in life! I want sin under my feet! And what's most wonderful is that this is the kind of life I received when I got saved. May I learn to stand on God's word as the solid foundation I so commonly affirm it to be! May I stop striving to attain to something apparently unattainable and simply obtain what Christ has already achieved!

some complaining, followed by dispensing

Praise the Lord. 

Preface to this entry: First off, I've never seen a blog entry with a preface. Nevertheless, I thought it might be necessary to forewarn the reader of following series of mixed thoughts that are poorly transitioned. I hope the keeping of this blog would help me learn to organize my train of thought. Secondly, I tend to switch languages often, usually in attempt to maintain precision in expression. A line of thought may be expressed more accurately in one language than in another, depending on what is said and how it needs to be said. OK, I admit, sometimes it's just for fun. Use an electronic translator if needed, but don't trust in it absolutely—that is, if something seems too outrageous to come from my blog, it probably isn't the most accurate translation. Anyway, enough of the preface... enjoy! And don't waste too much time reading this, it's probably not worth that much of your time! (I mean it!)

I just finished reading a portion of the biography of Andrés Bello, an undertaking not initiated by interest, but rather necessity; I just found out I have to give a report on the guy on Monday for my Spanish-American Civilization class (yoo hoo!). My problem is a recurring one: I begin reading something with the need to extract the principal details from it, and end up liking it and wanting to read the whole thing. The guy was quite interesting, and I can relate to many of his interests—especially in the realm of linguistics and the philosophy of language. Yet with his educational background in humanities, he held some significant governmental and administrative positions. These seemed to be opportunities for transferring much of his formal learning into practical experience, having the tasks of writing, editing, translating and interpreting. Anyway, I can go on and on since I've just put down the book (I'll probably refer back to this entry while compiling points for my powerpoint presentation)…. but I'll leave it alone for now.

…But not entirely. From time to time I've been considering whether or not to change my major (again). I can never really settle on one thing, as there are always positive and negative aspects to everything I land on. Until today business has struck me as abysmally uninteresting, yet practical in its various facets and virtually ubiquitous in today's selection of careers. I'm managing to pick up the concepts fairly quickly, but some of the classes I've taken have had the tendency of just putting me to sleep. They just don't seem to do it for me like the language classes. Or Geography. Or History. Or Biology. Anything but Business classes seems to do it for me. Nevertheless, it looks like I'm going to stick with it. At least in my case, a lack of interest originates from a lack of understanding. And with some topics, a lack of understanding can produce a lack of desire for investigation of the topic. But in this case, what I understand about the study of business (that it's potentially useful for any given career path) is what will keep me from abandoning it. For some reason the reading I just finished strengthened this thought. 

Também fazendo parte da minha decisão é a questão do tempo exigido para me formar em tal curso de estudos. Parece que, daqui adiante, vou levar mais dois anos e meio para terminar o curso—já tendo feito três anos. À primeira vista isso parece ser longo demais para um curso de comércio exterior—e além disso, para alguém que não gosta tanto do tema. E com reclamação de muitos outros aspectos, a mente fica bem inquieto e traz consigo emoções engrandecedoras. Enfim, o ser interior fica perturbado e aborrecido com todo o sistema educacional. Antes de tudo cair em colapso, bem na hora de desistir, o espírito revolta—não quer mais ficar quieto, sossegado, negligenciado—oooooh, Senhor Jesus! 

…E ao render tudo ao precioso Senhor, o Deus da paz, a paz de Deus, que excede todo entendimento, vem me encher, me livrar da vaidade dos conceitos que só dão problemas (Ajudou bastante visitar hoje aquela florestinha no campus... gostei demais dela).  Hei de aprender que não sou o meu dono, e que nem o tempo que gasto no dia-a-dia é meu. Então se o Senhor já fez com que eu permanecesse aqui estudando o quanto tempo Ele determinar, em qual outro lugar vou achar a paz Dele? Não, outro lugar não dá, não senhor. Nem outro curso. Nem outro prazo de tempo. Amém.

Good meeting tonight at the Harvey's. I hope the Lord would really build us together in that meeting this semester. 

At any rate, I'm convinced. However this turns out, whatever resistance in need of relinquishing, whatever obstacle(s) in line for removal, I'm on the glory train in the tunnel of transformation. This train is full of supply, refreshing, renewing, dispensing. From one degree of glory to the next!

a hymn

blog created. Achei bom começar com um hino que desfrutei recentemente, que também expressa o que esta atualmente no coração:

Many crowd the Savior's kingdom,
  Few receive His cross;
Many seek His consolation,
  Few will suffer loss.
For the dear sake of the Master,
  Counting all but dross,
For the dear sake of the Master,
  Counting all but dross.
Many sit at Jesus' table,
  Few will fast with Him,
When the sorrow-cup of anguish
  Trembles to the brim.
Few watch with Him in the garden,
  Who have sung the hymn,
Few watch with Him in the garden,
  Who have sung the hymn.
Many will confess His wisdom,
  Few embrace His shame.
Many, should He smile upon them,
  Will His praise proclaim;
Then, if for a while He leave them,
  They desert His name,
Then, if for a while He leave them,
  They desert His name.
But the souls who love Him truly,
  Let woe come or bliss,
These will count their dearest hearts' blood
  Not their own, but His.
Savior, Thou who thus hast loved me,
  Give me love like this,
Savior, Thou who thus hast loved me,
  Give me love like this.

Amem.