I Learned This In 10 Years, You Can in 10 Minutes
I enjoy reading Edmond’s thoughts, and I look forward to reading “The Secret Place” when it comes. Knowing his blog, I know it will be a blessing!
Daniel
a simple man of God
Hopefully making theology simpler to understand! (2 Corinthians 1:12)
Archive for April, 2015
Knowing Christ More Clearly with Saint Richard of Chichester
Know wisdom more clearly, and learn more from Proverbial Thought!
The prayer today reminds me of Peter’s words in his first letter:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
1 Peter 1:3-9, ESV
Thanks be to you, our Lord Jesus Christ,
for all the benefits which you have given us,
for all the pains and insults which you have borne for us.
Most merciful Redeemer, Friend and Brother,
may we know you more clearly,
love you more dearly,
and follow you more nearly,
day by day.
Amen.Saint Richard of Chichester, 1197-1253
Weekend Words & Sunday Stanzas – 04/26/2015
Allow wisdom into your life, and open the door by starting at Proverbial Thought!
I spent some time both as a teenager and a young twenty-something, both before and as a Christian, despising this world and even this life.
As a teen, I fully hated this world. It offered almost nothing good to me, and even the good seemed tainted by bad.
It was being introduced to Jesus Christ at a small church that my life and my outlook on it began to change.
Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
Ephesians 4:17-25, ESV
a regular life
i now give
a regular life
filled with the usual
hating the world
but finding it mutual
until God came along
and turned all that around
a brand new life begun
without much resound
but as God was working
through His Son Jesus Christ
this regular boy
was given extraordinary life
now the mission is clear
and the way seems obvious
who am i now
a disciple of Jesus
i will take the news
of the life that He lives
into the rest of the world
my life i now give
Being the Wheat with Ignatius of Antioch
Long for the wisdom of God, and begin feeding that longing at Proverbial Thought!
Continuing on with prayers from the Saints in history, I turn us now to Ignatius of Antioch.
It seems clear that Ignatius based this prayer on the words of Jesus from John 12:23-26 (ESV):
And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
May we become those who do not consider our lives of any worth apart from the Lord, indeed, that our lives are entirely in the hands of our God and Savior!
I am the wheat of God,
and am ground by the teeth of the wild beasts,
that I may be found the pure bread of God.
I long after the Lord,
the Son of the true God and Father, Jesus Christ.
Him I seek, who died for us and rose again.
I am eager to die for the sake of Christ.
My love has been crucified,
and there is no fire in me that loves anything.
But there is living water springing up in me,
and it says to me inwardly:
“Come to the Father.”Ignatius of Antioch, ~35-110
Weekend Words & Sunday Stanzas – 04/19/2015
Cry out for wisdom, and get some help from Proverbial Thought.
Life can be hard. The Bible tells us it is the fault of humanity (Genesis 3, Romans 3) and promises it (John 16:33).
It is in John 16:33, and really all of John 14-17, we see the promise of the Holy Spirit and His peace:
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Life may be difficult, but all we need to do is rely on God. He has promised to help those who call on Him!
this life can be so hard
at times i am over whelmed
i find i want to cry
or that i might break down
my God
my God
i feel ready to give up
my strength has all but left me
please take from me this cup
yet i implore You
do not let me control this
though life may be hard for me
i want the character of Jesus
O Lord
O Father
grant some peace in this ordeal
my Daddy and my Lord
Your strength I need to feel
and though i want to quit
for my life feels too surreal
i will press on in Your Spirit
in Whom i am sealed
Sounding the Trumpet
Please join me in praying for our brother!
Daniel
“And I said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, The work [is] great and large, and we are separated upon the wall, one far from another. In what place [therefore] ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us: our God shall fight for us.” – Nehemiah 4:19-20
The children of Israel were trying to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, yet they had to be spread out because of the size of the work. And since there were but few of them, and the threats from the enemy was ever-present, they worked with one hand, kept a sword in the other, and listened for the sound of a trumpet.
Nehemiah saw that their few numbers, if attacked in one spot, could be overrun. However, if when one group working on one section of the wall would sound a trumpet…
View original post 161 more words
Being Thine with John Wesley
Let Wisdom use your life, and learn where to start with Proverbial Thought!
Regardless of where you stand in the theological and soteriological spectrum, John Wesley was an amazing man of God.
He helped, through this prayer, to remind us of Paul’s words:
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20, ESV
May we all learn to submit ourselves completely to God’s perfect will!
I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.1755, John Wesley
Weekend Words & Sunday Stanzas – 04/12/2015
Find that woman Wisdom (for example, Proverbs 8) through the thoughts at Proverbial Thought!
There are two ways of looking at things (for my purposes today, at least): literally and allegorically. This is done with the Bible regularly ( in both good and correct ways and bad and incorrect ways). The Bible itself does this, as many verses in the New Testament make the allegorical connection to Jesus with Old Testament verses.
Likewise, the poem today has a double viewing in mind.
The literal view is based on the relationship I have with my wife. The message I would point to for others to take is that your significant other, specifically your spouse, should constantly point you back to God in the name of Jesus and through the leading of the Holy Spirit.
The allegorical view is based on how God relates to us through His Church.
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
Ephesians 5:22-27, ESVThen I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
Revelation 21:1-3
Love your husband or wife. Love the Bride of Christ. In so doing, you will see and share the love of Christ.
The woman in my life …
… makes me happy and brings me joy.
She leads me to the Father and pushes me to praise my Lord.
The woman in my life is my gift from Jesus Christ.
She mixes me up inside and also makes me smile.
The woman in my life …
… brings the love of God and shows me there is still good.
She brings me to a place of love and guides me to my God above.
This woman is a woman meant for a godly man.
If I am considered godly …
… then I must do more to honor our sovereign Lord.
I must seek His Heart and keep doing so in my heart.
If I am considered godly, it is because He made me.
I will keep my God first and give Him all He deserves.
If I am considered godly …
… then I must try the hardest to remember Jesus,
because I cannot forfeit what my Lord has sent.
The woman in my life …
… helps me be godly.
If I am considered godly …
… it is because of a godly woman in my life.
Increasing Faith with Pope Clement XI
Increase your wisdom, and get a start at Proverbial Thought!
I will simply let this prayer speak for itself.
The Universal Prayer
Lord, I believe in you: increase my faith.
I trust in you: strengthen my trust.
I love you: let me love you more and more.
I am sorry for my sins: deepen my sorrow.
I worship you as my first beginning,
I long for you as my last end.I praise you as my constant helper, and call on you as my loving protector.
Guide me by your wisdom, correct me with your justice, comfort me with your mercy,
protect me with your power. I offer you, Lord, my thoughts: to be fixed on you;
my words: to have you for their theme; my actions: to reflect my love for you;
my sufferings: to be endured for your greater glory. I want to do what you ask of me:
in the way you ask, for as long as you ask, because you ask it.Lord, enlighten my understanding, strengthen my will,
purify my heart, and make me holy.
Help me to repent of my past sins and to resist temptation in the future.
Help me to rise above my human weaknesses and to grow stronger as a Christian.
Let me love you, my Lord and my God,
and see myself as I really am: a pilgrim in this world,
a Christian called to respect and love all those lives I touch,
those in authority over me or those under my authority,
my friends and my enemies.
Help me to conquer anger with gentleness, greed by generosity, apathy by fervor.
Help me to forget myself and reach out toward others.
Make me prudent in planning, courageous in taking risks.
Make me patient in suffering, unassuming in prosperity.Keep me, Lord, attentive at prayer, temperate in food and drink, diligent in my work, firm in my good intentions.
Let my conscience be clear, my conduct without fault, my speech blameless, my life well-ordered.
Put me on guard against my human weaknesses.
Let me cherish your love for me, keep your law, and come at last to your salvation.
Teach me to realize that this world is passing,
that my true future is the happiness of heaven,
that life on earth is short, and the life to come eternal.
Help me to prepare for death with a proper fear of judgment,
but a greater trust in your goodness.
Lead me safely through death to the endless joy of heaven.
Grant this through Christ Our Lord. AmenAttributed to Pope Clement XI (1700-1721)
The Best Encouragement Ever
I really like the perspective offered through this story. Head on over to Trevor’s blog. Not just for this story, but for so many other great thoughts God uses this man to show the world.
~Daniel
a simple man of God
Do we truly love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths? Maybe I can help with the mind part, at least! This is Daniel M. Klem, apparent poet, reluctant yet passionate Disciple (Peter?), and foolish man attempting to understand theology!
Join 748 other subscribers
RSS Links
What did I just say?
Where we have been …
When we have been …
I said stuff about:
Join 748 other subscribers
a simple man of God 