Posts Tagged ‘ daniel m klem ’

When We Call, He Is Near

Find how close God is through His wisdom as discussed at Proverbial Thought.

This is a special reminder for all of us who are facing trials, confusion, and difficulties.

I will let God’s Word speak for itself:

“I called on your name, O Lord,
    from the depths of the pit;
you heard my plea, ‘Do not close
    your ear to my cry for help!’
You came near when I called on you;
    you said, ‘Do not fear!’

“You have taken up my cause, O Lord;
    you have redeemed my life.”
Lamentations 3:55-58, ESV

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
. . .
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
John 14:18-21, 27

2014
10/21
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Weekend Words & Sunday Stanzas – 10/19/2014

Count the ways wisdom is beneficial for your life through the thoughts at Proverbial Thought!

The poem today was written almost exactly seven years ago, and it was soon after meeting a young woman (who is now my wife). She and I met when she was still in a relationship with another young man (a relationship on the way out, I would learn only a week later) and I was focusing on my relationship with God. I was quite taken with her, and I did not understand why at first.

The other inspiration came from others taking note of my affinity for noting times and days (and their affinity for asking me to tell them the last time, to the minute, I had last played with Legos!), and they did not understand why. I was able to point them to a verse I had only memorized that summer:

So teach us to number our days
    that we may get a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 90:12

This poem is also a bit of a call to remember that all of our relationships are meant to honor God, and our pursuit of another person, boyfriend or girlfriend to become husband or wife, should therefore be important enough to take note of important things, such as special moments.

counting time for her and God

 

i get made fun of a lot

for being so aware of time

that i really need a girl

to straighten out my life

but having someone here

would only make it worse

for every moment with her

should be a moment of worth

every single moment is

another moment with her

keeping a catalog of those

is what she should deserve

God deserves nothing less

which is why i count time

for my life forever changed

the day i met Jesus Christ

He counts the days as well

until with all of us He can abide

He anxiously awaits the day

He returns for His Bride

so do not make fun of me

but join me in this venture

of the waiting of our Lord

and counting the days to His Return

2014
10/19
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Not So Faust …

Make a deal with Wisdom and read more at Proverbial Thought!

I read a story in high school, that I think actually played a role in my responding to Christ’s call.

The story has many variants over the centuries, but I will relate the version from my high school textbook.

Faust was a man who felt he had learned all he could. He became bored with life and lamented not being able to learn more. So he made a deal with the Devil: in exchange for his soul he could receive earthly knowledge and pleasures. After a certain amount of years, the Devil would come to collect.

Faust lived for many years growing in knowledge and enjoying many pleasures. After those years, and knowing that his time was growing short, he purchased a Bible to use to defend himself when the Devil would come. He carried the Bible everywhere with him.

One night, while Faust was eating dinner, there was a knock at the door. He went and opened the door, and there stood the Devil. In that moment, Faust realized he had left his Bible on the table. There was no time to get to it. The Devil took the man’s soul down to Hell.

When I became a Christian, I read the story of Simon the Magician in Acts chapter 8 (ESV):

9 But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great. 10 They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.” 11 And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. 12 But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed. . . .

18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” 24 And Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

Here are some lessons to be learned:

  • There are many today who offer the message that we can get happiness, health, and wealth in this world. This kind of teaching says that a) we can tell God what to do for our every whim, b) we can buy our way into the Kingdom of Heaven, and/or c) we can earn a better standing with God.

Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
John 15:20

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.”
John 16:33

For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Romans 10:5-9

  • Many believe that it is enough to be a good person, go to church, and/or own a Bible to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.
Psalm 14:3

And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
Mark 10:18

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:6

For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.
Romans 3:20-25

There is nothing we can do to escape Satan’s grasp nor the wrath of God. Jesus paid the price that moves us from being children of Satan (John 8:44) to saving us into children of God (1 John 3:1). Through Christ’s faithfulness we can have faith that Satan has no lasting power over us, that sin has no lasting hold on us, and we are God’s loved and redeemed children!

2014
10/14
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Weekend Words & Sunday Stanzas – 10/12/2014

Find the old wisdom with a new perspective at Proverbial Thought!

One of my favorite Michael W. Smith songs is Missing Person. That song was partly inspiration for this poem.

It occurred to me, though, that with just that song it can be easy to miss the point.

For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ  and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
Philippians 3:8b-16, ESV

For a Christian who has grown stale, who feels like the passion and the power of Christ is gone, trying to get back to who we once were as a new believer is not the right focus. Our focus must always be on the One who changes us through His power and resurrection: Jesus Christ. Only then can we find that passion and power we once felt.

 

   finding the old new self

most of us believe in power
then get comfortable and stale
we then begin to look for
that faith that now looks so pale
we start looking for that person
whom we were when we were younger
perhaps there is a reason
we are unable to get there
we are trying so hard to
get back to who we used to be
that we neglect the full truth
and our focus is on “me”
we had that power at first
because we gave up our lives
realized that it took rebirth
and giving control to Christ
let us stop trying to find ourselves
and return to what can save us
through faith a grace from God above
manifested in His Son Jesus

2014
10/12
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Destroying [Atheist] Arguments

Build up your knowledge and wisdom with some of the thoughts from Proverbial Thought!

I recently saw a talk given by Eric Hovind. He is a biblical Creation apologist with Creation Today and the face of Creation Minute.

His talk was simply titled “Proof of God”. In it, he laid out four questions to destroy an atheist’s argument while building a bridge to the Christian worldview. I will briefly discuss those questions here!

Question #1: Is it impossible for the God of the bible to exist?

Here is why an atheist must answer “No, it is not impossible that the God of the Bible exists”: To follow science and reason, it must be concluded that in a Universe (or even multiverse) of possibly infinite possibilities, that would mean it is possible that the God of the Bible could exist.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
Romans 1:18-19, ESV

Question #2: Is it impossible for the Bible to be what it claims to be?

This is also a “No” because if it is possible that the God of the Bible exists, then it must be possible that the Bible could be His written revelation to us.

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Romans 1:20

Question #3: Could the God of the Bible reveal Himself to us so that we can be absolutely certain of His existence?

Again, the answer to this question is a “Yes” because if it is possible that God exists and if it is possible that the Bible is His written revelation to us, then it is possible that He could reveal Himself to us so that we could be certain He exists.

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Romans 1:21

Question #4: Could you be wrong about everything you think you know?

Scientists the world over admit that we know, probably, less than 1% of what can be known about the Universe. If you look at what was believed about our own Solar System just a decade ago (let alone the entire Universe), things have changed (on a small scale, just look at the status of Pluto going from “Planet” to “Dwarf Planet” … keeping in mind we did not even know Pluto existed 100 years ago!).

An atheist, therefore, must admit that with the constant changing of our understanding of the Universe it is possible that everything he or she knows about everything could be wrong.

Therefore, atheists have no rational foundation for their worldview.

Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Romans 1:22-23

The reason I feel it is so important to share this, other than that I do subscribe to the idea of a literal 6-day Creation of the heavens and the Earth, is this little tidbit from Paul:

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ …
2 Corinthians 10:3-5

But we must always remember to do it with love, respect, and compassion, for all humans were created in the image of the God of the Bible, regardless of their beliefs:

but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
1 Peter 3:15-16

Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.
Genesis 9:6

I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.
Colossians 2:4

2014
10/07
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Weekend Words & Sunday Stanzas – 10/05/2014

Here the call of wisdom and find some insight at Proverbial Thought!

This is not a poem so much as an exclamation. It is very free-verse-y … or something.

It is based on a combination of how excited I find myself getting during singing in church services … or in the car while listening to worship-full music … or just about anywhere, really … and this little passage found in 2 Samuel 6 (verses 16-22, NIV):

As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.

They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord. After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord Almighty. Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes.

When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!”

David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When i sing for God

   i sing as loud as i can

     so that my Father hears me.

If i am not the loudest

    …

       i am still on the loudest team!

2014
10/05
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Keeping It Really Simple Today … on God’s Sovereignty

Discover the Author of Wisdom through some thoughts on both at Proverbial Thought!

Here is keeping it simple: I will just post a quick thought on a topic. Nothing else.

This week’s topic:

God’s Sovereignty

This is not a post about the battle between Calvinism/Arminianism/Molinism/everything else. All this is is a brief explanation of God’s sovereignty.

God being sovereign means that He is in complete control of everything. Period. He does not have to take orders from nor listen to anyone.

Yet, amazingly, He listens us. Because He loves us.

—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.
1 Timothy 6:15-16, ESV

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. . . . Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Hebrews 4:16, 10:19-22

2014
09/30
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Weekend Words & Sunday Stanzas – 09/28/2014

Find the wisdom of the Lover of your soul through the thoughts at Proverbial Thought!

Jesus prayed the night he was arrested,

“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.“
John 17:6-11, ESV

This is how we know as when Paul wrote in Romans 9:25-26,

As indeed he says in Hosea [2:23; 1:10],

“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
    and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”
“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
    there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”

that Jesus is speaking of us who have found faith in Christ as Lord and Savior! We have a hope beyond this life that we are forgiven and free and dearly loved!

We can rest in that hope. The poem today is a reminder of that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My beloved children,

you are loved.
You are forgiven.
You are Mine.

My beloved children,

I have you.
I am yours.
I am holding you.

My beloved children,

Beloved.
Be loved,
My beloved.

2014
09/28
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Trinitarian Elements of Doctor Who!

Find wisdom in unlikely places, such as through the thoughts of a rag-tag group of pastors, lay-leaders, and a young woman at Proverbial Thought!

If you have followed by blog for a reasonable amount of time, you may have learned I am a Whovian, a fan of the British sci-fi television show Doctor Who. The Doctor is a time-travelling alien who looks human, but he is a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. He is able to escape death by regenerating (all Time Lords can do this), but this has the side-effect of changing his appearance and personality while still being in essence himself.

The topic at hand, however, is one of his companions. He picks up companions frequently, usually from Earth but not always. For the show, companions act as a sort-of stand-in for the audience to ask the questions we might ask … or to simply help move the plot along.

Before I continue, however, I must warn of possible spoilers, specifically about an episode from Spring of 2013, The Name of the Doctor. If you do not wish to have anything spoiled as you watch through the series, you may wish to stop reading now!

How the Trinity Works Its Way into Doctor Who

In the above mentioned episode Clara Oswald helps the Doctor in a big way.

It must first be known that she is called “The Impossible Girl” because she was first seen earlier in the season in an episode in humanity’s future in which she saved the Doctor and his companions. In that season’s Christmas special, she saved the Doctor in Earth’s past.

This is the episode in which we find out how she could have existed hundreds or thousands of years in the past or future and exist in the present.

Clara “Oswin” Oswald, to save the Doctor from being torn from Time/Space by an enemy, jumps into the Doctor’s personal Time-stream. In doing so, copies of her are seeded throughout his lifetime to help him at important junctures in life and thus help him retain his Time-memory and not cease to exist. (Yes, it is very complicated. Just know that she was able to help him in every regeneration the Doctor has had.)

Recently, I have read some articles critiquing newer episodes, especially in connection with Clara’s personality and memory of these other events.

A friend and I noticed how religious some fans get over this show, and how like Christians they act over “dogma” and ideas they have but do not fully understand about the show and its characters.

How Clara Is Like the Trinity

In this similarity, Christians do not understand things such as the Trinity, and this misunderstanding throws off other elements of their theology.

The Doctrine of the Trinity is simply that God exists as three distinct Persons (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) yet is a single Being. The word “trinity” never appears in Scripture, but it has been deduced from Scripture (e.g. see Matthew 3:16-17 which has all three Persons present simultaneously).

Clara helps demonstrate this (and, please remember from here on out that nothing can adequately explain/compare to the concept of the Trinity. Our finite brains will always struggle with this concept) in that while she was interjected into various points along the Doctor’s timeline, each “incarnation” experienced birth, life, and death in each context. Therefore, while each and every “Clara” is, was, and will be Clara, they are never exactly the Clara who is the current companion of the Doctor.

In a sense, she is one being who has been many persons in the Doctor’s life.

It is no wonder, then, that so many people, many of whom are not necessarily Christians if not agnostics/atheists, struggle with this concept of Clara.

If Christians have been arguing about this concept for two thousand years, why should we expect anyone to grasp a fictional adaptation (that was not intended as such by the writers of the show)?

2014
09/23
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Weekend Words & Sunday Stanzas – 09/21/2014

Do not hold back, and find some wisdom at Proverbial Thought!

Have you ever gotten a taste of God’s love and grace?

How do you know?

It is a little different than a complete life change.

A great indication is if you experience something like Jeremiah:

If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.
Jeremiah 20:9, ESV

If you can even do this in the same kind of context of Jeremiah, in which he was tired of telling the people that God was bringing destruction, you know you have tasted His Truth. Even when life is difficult, you have to say things that are not pleasant, you have to lead by example even when it is hard, you cannot help but share God’s word and His greatness.

 

waiting to burst out of me

how can i hold it in

i cannot

it must flow forth from me

if i cannot sing

i shout

if i cannot shout

i jump

if i cannot jump

i dance

if i cannot dance

i get out

i go out and tell others

i tell them of You

of Joy

of Your Grace

of Your Love

2014
09/21
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