I've been working on a talk I'll be giving next week and while reading Psalm 51:7 I wondered what a 'hyssop' is.
This is what I discovered....
"Purge me with hyssop," the Bible records, "and I will be clean."
Hyssop has been used for millennia as a holy herb, consecrated
for cleaning holy places. Its name comes from the Hebrew word
adobe or ezob, which literally means*"holy herb"*.
information from the website http://www.mountainroseherbs.
com/learn/hyssop.php
I am not a prophet, but I do know what God's will for each one of us who are believers is. God's word states it succinctly in 1 Thessalonians 5: 16 - 18.
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all
circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
1. Rejoice always
This is a command. We are told not to worry about anything but instead pray about everything in Philippians 4:6.
Joy depends on Jesus not on circumstances. It is not positive or possibility thinking, but reality thinking.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. All this
is from God.
2 Corinthians 5:17-18 (RSV)
2. Pray without ceasing
Prayer is a relationship. God wants us to talk to Him about everything and He wants us to listen. Pray the promises. Pray His word. (if you want a daily scripture prayer guide, join the Daily Growth email at http://www.kenboa.org/reflections website)
Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.
Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts
and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4: 6-7 (NLT)
3. Give thanks in all circumstances
Giving thanks in all circumstances actively recognizes God's sovereignty in your life.
I am always amazed to read about Paul and Silas singing hymns and praying to God in the prison cell after being beaten. (See Acts 16: 22-34)
This has been a challenge to me to learn to give thanks, to count blessings in all circumstances. Paul and Silas' hymns and prayers in their hard time was used by God to bring jailer and his family to faith in Christ. We truly are lights that need to shine our Saviour's love to others.
Giving thanks is a discipline. I have found in my life that as I focus on giving thanks in all situations there is a peace beyond comprehension in my soul.
Often I meditate on Psalm 131...I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother;
Our son, Jerard, was used by God to teach me this. Jerard would just melt into me when I held him and I heard God tell me, "As Jerard rests on you, I want you to rest in Me."
4. This is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
Each of us who confess Jesus as Lord belong to Him. We are beloved by Him. I love the verse in Colossians 3:12 that says,
"as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved,"
Truly the hymn we often sing to little children is the theological foundation we each need to remember all of our life:
"Jesus loves me, this I know
for the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong,
They are weak but He is strong!
Yes, Jesus loves me,
Yes, Jesus loves me,
Yes, Jesus loves me,
The Bible tells me so."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks to Pastor Sam Mateer for spurring these thoughts from his sermon preached at Tyrone Covenant Presbyterian Church on 11/3/13 based on 1 Thess. 5:16-18
While here in the USA I am staying at my father-in-law's house.
He has a plane and took me flying a few weeks ago. It was a beautiful flight seeing the fall colours from above.
October 17 - 22 my father-in-law and I traveled to visit Mikayla at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia during her fall break.
My brother-in-law, sister-in-law, neice and nephew joined us too.
We had a great time touring the campus, hiking, visiting a Civil war battle field, spending time around the river front in Chattanooga, going to Rock Creek Fellowship - the church that Mikayla and some of her friends go to, touring Rock City and having fun talking and laughing.
Grandpa, Mikayla and Coley, Mikayla's roommate.
With Mikayla and some of her dorm friends.
Grandpa, Coley, and Mikayla at 'The Blink' - a coffee shop
on campus.
We went to chapel service Friday morning with Mikayla.
Point Park on Lookout Mountain
Uncle Kent, Aunt Anne, Hannah and Michael with Mikayla.
At the river front in Chattanooga
With Mikayla and her friends and family at church.
Mikayla and her Grandpa doing a ballroom dance.
Visiting Rock City.
Family in a fall season scene.
Covenant College sign with family.
Kurt has started a blog at kurtsymanzik.org.
Today we find ourselves in the process of changing mission organizations. And that is good -- we have enjoyed our service with Wycliffe Bible Translators these past 9 years but as it says in Ecclesiastes 3, "there is a season for everything".
I have been working on software engineering projects for the Wycliffe family of organizations while serving in the Philippines. What an experience: rewarding work, a different culture and an expansion of our perspective are a few of the many benefits that we have experienced. I wouldn't trade that for anything.
Yet, there is a season for everything and we have found an opportunity to expand our ministry by changing mission organizations.
As a software engineer, I have been serving one very large mission organization but all the while seeing many smaller mission organizations get by without anyone to turn to for their software development needs. And sometimes that is fine ... not all mission organizations, especially the smaller ones, need custom sofware development.
But many Christian mission organizations really do need the help of an IT professional for a specific project or problem. That is where LightSys comes in.
LightSys is a Christian mission organization that is dedicated to equipping Christian missions and ministries with the computing technology correct for them.
In practical terms, it means that the small to medium sized Christian mission organization that cannot justify having it's own missionaries that specialize in software engineering can get the help that they need. That is why LightSys exists. And that is why we joined LightSys.
article is from kurtsymanzik.org
