I cannot even begin to tell you how thrilled I am when I get to baptize folks in water who have made the decision to follow Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Today it was even sweeter when I got to baptize a father and son!
Poetry Saturday—Joy And Sorrow
August 27, 2016 — Craig T. OwensI know this technically isn’t a “poem” but I found this allegory poetically beautiful. I hope you enjoy it as I did!
“…sorrowful, yet always rejoicing…” (2 Corinthians 6:10)
Sorrow was beautiful, but her beauty was the beauty of the moonlight shining through the leafy branches of the trees in the wood, and making little pools of silver here and there on the soft green moss below. When Sorrow sang, her notes were like the low sweet call of the nightingale, and in her eyes was the unexpectant gaze of one who has ceased to look for coming gladness. She could weep in tender sympathy with those who weep, but to rejoice with those who rejoice was unknown to her.
Joy was beautiful, too, but his was the radiant beauty of the summer morning. His eyes still held the glad laughter of childhood, and his hair had the glint of the sunshine’s kiss. When Joy sang his voice soared upward as the lark’s, and his step was the step of a conqueror who has never known defeat. He could rejoice with all who rejoice, but to weep with those who weep was unknown to him.
“But we can never be united,” said Sorrow wistfully.
“No, never.” And Joy’s eyes shadowed as he spoke. “My path lies through the sunlit meadows, the sweetest roses bloom for my gathering, and the blackbirds and thrushes await my coming to pour forth their most joyous lays.”
“My path,” said Sorrow, turning slowly away, “leads through the darkening woods, with moon-flowers only shall my hands be filled. Yet the sweetest of all earth-songs—the love song of the night—shall be mine; farewell, Joy, farewell.”
Even as she spoke they became conscious of a form standing beside them; dimly seen, but of a Kingly Presence, and a great and holy awe stole over them as they sank on their knees before Him.
“I see Him as the King of Joy,” whispered Sorrow, “for on His Head are many crowns, and the nail prints in His hands and feet are the scars of a great victory. Before Him all my sorrow is melting away into deathless love and gladness, and I give myself to Him forever.”
“Nay, Sorrow,” said Joy softly, “but I see Him as the King of Sorrow, and the crown on His head is a crown of thorns, and the nail prints in His hands and feet are the scars of a great agony. I, too, give myself to Him forever, for sorrow with Him must be sweeter than any joy that I have known.”
“Then we are one in Him,” they cried in gladness, “for none but He could unite Joy and Sorrow.”
Hand in hand they passed out into the world to follow Him through storm and sunshine, in the bleakness of winter cold and the warmth of summer gladness, “as sorrowful yet always rejoicing.” —Lettie Cowman
Trust The Bridge
August 25, 2016 — Craig T. OwensFrom Corrie ten Boom’s book I Stand At The Door And Knock…
“Once I was waiting at a very primitive bridge in New Zealand. We were traveling by car, but we didn’t dare to cross. First, one of the men in the car went to investigate if the bridge was strong enough. It appeared to be strong enough, even though it was very primitive, and we crossed without a problem.
“This man was not investigating our trust in the bridge. Very often, we tend to look at our faith, and we know our faith is big and strong, or weak and small. But we shouldn’t investigate our faith; we should investigate the Bridge. We should not rely on ourselves, but on Him. And when we look to Jesus, we know that He is strong.” —Corrie ten Boom (emphasis added)
Thursdays With Oswald—Backsliding
August 25, 2016 — Craig T. Owens
This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.
Backsliding
The tendency to rest in any of the blessings which are the natural outcome of union with God is the beginning of backsliding. …
If God were to remove from us as saints the possibility of disobedience there would be no value in our obedience, it would be a mechanical business. … The possibility of disobedience in a child of God makes his obedience of amazing value. …
If we have received the life of Jesus, it is unconscious blasphemy in God’s sight to stop short of attaining anything He reveals as possible for us. … If once we deliberately stop short and refuse to let God’s life has its way with us, we shall revile the truth because it has not been reached.
From The Philosophy Of Sin
Oswald Chambers is reminding us that there is no standing still for the saint. We cannot say, “That’s good enough, I don’t want any more,” or “It’s so wonderful here, I don’t want to move on.” Either of those attitudes sets us up to begin to slide backward from our relationship with God.
“But,” someone might say, “the next level God is calling me to seems so difficult. Staying where I am seems safer than attempting something where I might fall flat on my face spiritually!” Chambers reminds us that obedience to what God calls us to do is “of amazing value” to Him. Also, a littler later on, Oswald Chambers encourages us with these words: “All God’s commands are enablings.” In other words, what God calls us to do, His Spirit enables us to do.
Don’t stay where you are and risk backsliding away from Him. Press on! Press forward! Keep obeying what God is revealing to you!
8 Quotes From “Today’s Moment Of Truth”
August 24, 2016 — Craig T. Owens
There is so much excellent content to digest in each day’s reading from Today’s Moment Of Truth. Be sure to check out my book review by clicking here. Below are th first set of quotes I’m sharing from this book.
“For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.” —Robert Jastsrow, founding director of NASA’s Goddard Institute For Space Studies
“As astronomers have discovered, our sun and moon are much more exceptional than once thought. Our sun is far from ordinary; it has exactly the right mass and composition and is the ideal distance from the earth to enable life on our planet. If it were much smaller, its luminosity wouldn’t allow the high-efficiency photosynthesis necessary in plants; if it were much closer, the water would boil away from the planet’s surface. Similarly, our moon is just far enough away and just the right size to stabilize the Earth’s tilt. Without the moon’s stabilizing presence, the Earth would experience wild temperature swings, with devastating consequences for life.” —Lee Strobel
“I think people who believe that life emerged naturalistically need to have a great deal more faith than people who reasonably infer that there’s an Intelligent Designer. —Walter Bradley, co-author of The Mystery Of Life’s Origin
“An honest man, armed with all the knowledge available to us now, could only state that in some sense, the origin of life appears at the moment to be almost a miracle, so many are the conditions which would have had to have been satisfied to get it going.” —Francis Crick, Nobel Prize winner
“It is my science that drove me to the conclusion that the world is much more complicated than can be explained by science. It was only through the supernatural that I can understand the mystery of existence.” —Allan Rex Sandage, cosmologist
“The beginning seems to present insuperable difficulties unless we agree to look on it as frankly supernatural.” —Sir Arthur Eddington
“Secular scientists often talk as though life came about through this formula: Matter + Energy + Time = Life. However, when scientists go into their labs and try to produce life, they add another ingredient—one they often don’t think about. The formula they really use is: Matter + Energy + Time + Ideas = Life.
“In other words, they’re not just throwing all of the ingredients into a blender, switching it to the highest setting, and hoping life will pop out at the end. Rather, they’re applying the best of scientific knowledge to selecting the elements necessary for living matter as well as the conditions that will be conducive for life to flourish.
“Putting it another way, they’re trying to replicate what God did. And if they finally succeed, it’ll only serve to reinforce what the Bible says—that God created life.” —Dr. A.E. Wilder-Smith
“When this church service is over, I’m heading to the airport to fly back home. But it’s not enough for me to sit in the terminal and believe that airplanes fly. Just acknowledging the soundness of aviation science will never get me home. I have to go beyond mere belief that airplanes fly to a personal belief in the particular airplane that’s heading to my city—demonstrated by climbing on board. It’s that active trust that will ultimately get me where I want to go. Similarly, we all need to go beyond merely believing that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the Cross for our sins. We must take the next step and trust in Him personally, asking Him to forgive our sins and to lead our lives.” —Mark Mittelberg
If you would like to know when I post more quotes from Today’s Moment Of Truth, you may enter your email address in the form to the right, and you will be notified by email as soon as new content is available.
Also be sure to follow me on Twitter and Tumblr, where I will be sharing quotes from this book, along with lots of other material I’ve been studying.
Rethinking Addiction
August 23, 2016 — Craig T. Owens
This is a fascinating video that may just revolutionize the way you think about addictions and addicts.
Near the 4:45 mark of the video the statement is made about a new way of interacting with others. This, I believe, is what the Christian church should be doing. If we aren’t, I doubt we are living out the good news that Jesus taught. If you want to do an interesting study, check out how many times the phrase “let us” is used in the New Testament. Also note that the word saint never appears in the New Testament in the singular, but it is always saintS. This tells me that we were designed to be together.
“Human beings have a deep need to bond and form connections. It’s how we get our satisfaction. If we can’t connect with each other, we will connect with anything we can find—the whirr of a roulette wheel or the prick of a syringe…. We should stop talking about ‘addiction’ altogether, and instead call it ‘bonding.’ A heroin addict has bonded with heroin because she couldn’t bond as fully with anything else.” —Johann Hari
What do you think? Please share your thoughts in the comment below?
Today’s Moment Of Truth (book review)
August 23, 2016 — Craig T. OwensMost Christians will tell you they love God “with all my heart.” That’s a good start, but according to Jesus, there needs to be more. Jesus told us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. It’s especially these last two areas that concerned Lee Strobel and Mark Mittelberg enough to put together a wonderful book: Today’s Moment Of Truth.
Strobel and Mittelberg were concerned (and rightly so) that Christians were engaging their heart and soul in their Christian witness, but not developing their mind and strength to the same extent. As a result, when someone challenges them to explain why they believe what they believe, many Christians struggle to answer convincingly.
Lee Strobel and Mark Mittelberg are both top-notch Christian apologists. They don’t just present solid evidence for the Christian faith, but they do so in a winsome, inoffensive way. And through 180 different lessons, they train all who read Today’s Moment Of Truth to do the same.
Each day you will read a quote from a notable atheist or Christian skeptic, and then be trained in solid apologetics to refute their claims. You will be given Scripture verses, proofs from all disciplines of science, and some good old fashioned common sense. This book will expend your spiritual muscles and your mental muscles. Each day’s reading will only take a couple of minutes, but you will be well-prepared for any challenges to your faith.
A must-read for all Christians!
I am a Zondervan book reviewer.
No One Is Beyond The Reach Of Prayer
August 22, 2016 — Craig T. Owens
“In praying for His enemies not only did Christ set before us a perfect example of how we should treat those who wrong and hate us, but He also taught us never to regard anyone as beyond the reach of prayer. If Christ prayed for His murderers, then surely we have encouragement to pray now for the very chief of sinners! Never lose hope. Does it seem a waste of time for you to continue praying for that man, that woman, that wayward child of yours? Does their case seem to become more hopeless every day? Does it look as though they had gone beyond the reach of divine mercy? Perhaps that one you have prayed for so long has been ensnared by one of the satanic cults of the day, or he may now be an avowed and blatant atheist, in a word, an open enemy of Christ. Remember then the Cross. Christ prayed for His enemies. Learn then not to look on any as beyond the reach of prayer.” —A.W. Pink
7 Tips For A Better Night’s Sleep
August 22, 2016 — Craig T. Owens
It’s no secret that being tired can lead to a lot of not-so-nice consequences. Everything from automobile crashes, to poor work performance, to foot-in-mouth statements, to giving in to temptations, to health issues are all traced back to not getting enough peaceful sleep.
But did you know that sweet sleep is something God wants to give you?
Psalm 127 says, “God grants sleep to those He loves.” Guess what? God loves you, and wants you to have a peaceful night’s sleep!
Here are some benefits to getting solid sack time:
- Muscles are repaired—the body “turns off” muscles during sleep so they can repair themselves.
- The hormone leptin, that regulates your appetite, is adjusted.
- Your blood pressure is lowered.
- Your heart rate is lowered.
- The energy-producing cells we all need are restocked.
- Your immune system is re-energized.
- Memories are consolidated from short-term memory banks to long-term memories.
- The hormones that allow you to concentrate are replenished.
- Your “database” of decision-making options is re-calibrated.
- Bottom line—you get healthier physically, mentally, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually.
All of this God wants to give to those He loves. “God loves me, so I’m going to sleep peacefully tonight!”
The problem is we often sabotage God’s blessing of sweet sleep by our own poor decisions during the day. So here are seven things you can do to cooperate with God’s blessing of sleep:
- Reduce stress. Stress causes your body to release cortisol, which prepares your body for fight-or-flight. This means when you’re trying to quiet down for the night, your body is still screaming, “Go, go go!” Stress is mainly triggered by worrying over things outside of our control, so check out what Jesus said to us about not worrying—Matthew 6:25-34.
- Reduce late-day caffeine. Caffeine has a half-life of six hours, so if you are pouring it into your body late in the date, you might fall into bed exhausted but the caffeine is keeping your brain buzzing. As a result, you don’t have the normal deep sleep patterns.
- Eliminate emotional caffeine. Arguments with other people release cortisol and adrenaline in your bloodstream. If these disagreements are happening later in the day, your body is fighting against God’s plan for your tranquil sleep. So take care of any disagreements quickly (Ephesians 4:26).
- Exercise. Getting some movement into your daily routine flushes cortisol and adrenaline from your bloodstream.
- Go to bed and get up at the same time. There’s a reason God made the sun to rise and set at predictable times. Your body also functions best on a predictable schedule.
- Reduce “blue lights” close to bed time. The blue light waves of dawn tell our bodies to stop releasing melatonin, the sleepy hormone. The red light waves of dusk tell our bodies to increase melatonin so we can go to sleep. But when we’re staring into the blue light of our phones and tablets, our body is being sent a conflicting signal.
- Pray. Two great passages you can pray before bedtime are Psalm 4:8 and Proverbs 3:24. Claim those promises of sweet sleep!
God loves you. He wants to give you the blessing of peaceful sleep. If you’re going to sleep peacefully tonight, make sure you are not sabotaging what God wants to give you.
If you’ve missed any of the messages in this series, you can access the complete list by clicking here.
Poetry Saturday—More Grace
August 20, 2016 — Craig T. Owens
He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,He sendeth more strength when the labors increase;
To added affliction He addeth His mercies,
To multiplied trials His multiplied peace.
When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.
His love has no limit, His grace has no measure,
His power no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth and giveth and giveth again. —Annie Johnson Flint
His power no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth and giveth and giveth again. —Annie Johnson Flint
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