As a Bible Study Teacher I too have struggled with this hardening issue. Thank you for the research you have included and your sweet prayer which we all should ponder and perhaps even echo. Struggling is good as it opens the door for the Holy Spirit, our Illumninating Teacher to come in and prepare us to receive from God the truth He wants us to know and to understand. Will we totally understand? Probably not until eternity. Today as I was reading an online article which was followed by numerous comments it was apparent that those who were ranting and raving were like the Canaanites whom you describe. Their hearts are hardened and no matter what is said it continues to harden even more like Pharaoh. It is only when we allow that penetrating Spirit to illuminate us that we can come to grips with these truths and begin to understand some of this.
Once again, thanks so much for your time and especially the prayer.
Praise the Lord! Thank you, Chin-Chi, for all your warm heart and willing to help us improve the Chinese NET Bible products. If you join the group, you will get all the instructions here, which will give you the download link and installation instructions.
Thanks again for your help. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
I initiated and led a project to translate "Concise Old Testament Survey" and "Concise New Testament Survey" many years ago. Part of fruit can be found here: http://bible.org/node/18005.
I was transformed by God a lot in the period of my very difficult days. It is God's Word that helps me, comforts me and strengthens me. I'm so sure that God's Word is life.
That's why I'm zeal to know God especially by studying His Word. That’s why I’m zeal to want everybody has an opportunity to know Him. As Bible said, ...for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea(Isa 11:9).
E-book has been a boon for book lovers. You would find all the necessary information, on blogs. Accessing information has become easy thanks to the net. There some good sites which offer you the best information on application, software; whenever I need information on dll files I try out ParetoLogic.
Just as we engage in ministry that old "enemy" comes with his calling card.Glad you did not accept it as this was a wonderful post. I gleaned so much from it...
This afternoon as I was thinking about what I had written, that old devil, the enemy in this morning's prayer, began yakking in my ear, saying things such as, Everyone's going to think that you did such a Huge Pity Party--shame on you!! I think I even thought about erasing it; then, the truth broke through that I did not write that Psalm and put it into scripture; not only that, half the psalms, as a wild guess, say the very same thing. God put them there for a reason. This is a psalm of the sorrows of one's spirit, not of situations, or circumstances (which would be, perhaps, a pity party). But, indeed, the Spirit of Christ (without the sin) Himself cries out in this psalm. Thank-you so much for your encouragement and validation--Ecclesiastes 4:12Althoughan assailantmay overpower oneperson, twocan withstandhim. Moreover, a three-strandedcordis notquicklybroken.
Why is it that we are so dense when it comes to these stories? Sometimes we are like Balaam ourselves. I too struggled with him so was blessed to see that the HS revealed this to you...I won't forget it.
What a drama filled post this is! The way you wove the principles of sin and forgiveness with the chain and the pet into a picture of how men are in relationship with God was most challenging.
Christina...what a marvelous way to pray through this Psalm. Thank you for sharing it! Makes my prayers seem so shallow when I read this. What a wonderful teacher you are with words.
This story always makes the children laugh but I think the truth is what you have noted. The donkey is a humble creature and Balaam was full of 'self''. That was a good point I had not considered, why? I guess so you could write this post and share that nugget!
I am the exec director of bible.org and we are happy to start to build a site for the Chinese community. Welcome and tell us what you need and how we can serve you better
I think your right that God allows us to make more decisions now. Maybe since God has now fulfilled his promise to Abraham, even though Israel seemed to task him at every turn; he now has granted more latitude to all his people. Could it be that Abraham impressed our lord and was granted so large a blessing that generations needed to be chastened in order to fulfill his promise? “I will be there God and they will be my people”. When God said the “they will be my people” part, seems it had a very hard time getting footing. I believe God will fulfill his promises to all of us if only we will let him. I’m sure he is our God and I pray we will always be his people.
"Are we getting to know God or is God getting to know us?"
I think God is revealing his will to us, but like anything, we struggle to understand. The flow of the Bible seems to suggest to me that we will never completely understand the awesome will of God on this side of eternity. Yet, as time progresses, the human race does seem to learn and know more about God's will. There is a definite maturing in thought and understanding of the commandments by the time of the New Testament. Jesus can summarize the books of Leviticus, Deurteronomy, and Numbers, in just two principals: "Love God with all your heart and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself."
Also.. maybe God is getting to know us better or know us in a different way.
As the Bible progresses, God seems to give the human race a more refined set of rules to live by. Just as a parent might give his children a different set of rules to follow as they grow into young adults, so also is God giving the human race a more refined set of rules to live by as we move into New Testament times.
With more maturity comes more respnsibility, more freedoms, and more decisions that we make on our own. Maybe this is what is going on as we progress through the Bible. God guides us, but he also allows us to make more decisions in the working out of his will. Similar to how we raise our own kids, only in a much longer time frame.
Thanks Brandon for your insight and the thrust that we must have to impact the Kingdom. It is truly Kingdom work and we must have that as a focus each time we write for our words are catalogued in this cyberspace and cannot be retracted. I do hope you consider joining us here ..I started to read your blog and will go back to it after I finish my task of the morning.
come and join us in the journey and share from your heart
I think you did a very good job of informing others what blogging is and that it's important to use it in a specific way, helping others by spreadying the good word. I may begin blogging here in the future to help drive a little traffic to my personal blog called Lead The Lost which I use to talk about God, Jesus, The Bible, Faith, Prayer, and being a Christian; and here's why. As you mentioned, Google locates blogs and other sites which talk about certain keywords, well bible.org is just one site, there are nine other top spots on a Google search page. There are other people out there who are using their site to talk down about God and lead others astray, my aim is to take up one more of those spots and knock such a site off the top page. See where I'm going? It's not enough for one site to take the lead, in essence we should all strive to knock these blasphemers out of the listings and stop them from impacting others.. that's my take anyway. Thanks for the creative post!
Thousands of fighting men represented Israel at Jericho. God had made it clear that nobody was to take gold or treasure or spare a life (except for Rahab and her family) in this battle. When I think about it, because we are so imperfect, Gods commandment seems destined to fail. Try as I might, I can not get through a day without sin. A part of my heart goes out to the people that will suffer because Achan keeps some gold, silver and a robe.
Maybe I feel what God intends me to feel. The wrath of our God is not a light thing. He has warned us many times! Yet as we read on to the next battle God allows plunder of the city. As we get to know our God, is he getting to know us?
Thanks Dale for this insightful look into the lives of the 1st century believers and how it translates into today. We all need to be reminded of this...especially as we live our lives before those who castigate our Lord...what do they see in us that might change their opinion? That is key.
The internet is gradually gaining more importance every day. One of the reasons why people go to the internet is to get information. For this reason, different companies are offering the option for authors to have their books, journals and magazines made available online. ePUB is definitely an option to go for because it offers the latest standard format in the conversion industry. There is no restriction regarding software and hardware compatibility. Programas fidelización|Programas fidelización clientes
Love this post. I completely understand what you're trying to say but I can't keep my mind from envisioning a balanced scale. A scale is only balanced when the weight is the same on both of its surfaces. In this case, I'd prefer my life be out of balance as I stand on the side of Christ; living a life juxtaposed to that of the world.
Hi Chao,
I'm so glad to meet you here. I've joined the group and downloaded the files and installed.
How can I help this plan?
Do you have any project plan? What volunteers does this plan need? The more information I can understand, the more volunteers I could invite to join.
Chin-Chi
As a Bible Study Teacher I too have struggled with this hardening issue. Thank you for the research you have included and your sweet prayer which we all should ponder and perhaps even echo. Struggling is good as it opens the door for the Holy Spirit, our Illumninating Teacher to come in and prepare us to receive from God the truth He wants us to know and to understand. Will we totally understand? Probably not until eternity. Today as I was reading an online article which was followed by numerous comments it was apparent that those who were ranting and raving were like the Canaanites whom you describe. Their hearts are hardened and no matter what is said it continues to harden even more like Pharaoh. It is only when we allow that penetrating Spirit to illuminate us that we can come to grips with these truths and begin to understand some of this.
Once again, thanks so much for your time and especially the prayer.
SonShine (a.k.a. GEA)
Praise the Lord! Thank you, Chin-Chi, for all your warm heart and willing to help us improve the Chinese NET Bible products. If you join the group, you will get all the instructions here, which will give you the download link and installation instructions.
Thanks again for your help. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Hello everyone,
This is Chin-Chi Kao, living in Taipei, Taiwan.
I initiated and led a project to translate "Concise Old Testament Survey" and "Concise New Testament Survey" many years ago. Part of fruit can be found here: http://bible.org/node/18005.
I was transformed by God a lot in the period of my very difficult days. It is God's Word that helps me, comforts me and strengthens me. I'm so sure that God's Word is life.
That's why I'm zeal to know God especially by studying His Word. That’s why I’m zeal to want everybody has an opportunity to know Him. As Bible said, ...for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea(Isa 11:9).
I’m glad to help this plan.
Chin-Chi
ps. my facebook: http://www.facebook.com/chinchi.kao
Hermano, un abrazo a la distancia... gracias por tu comentario, espero que tengamos hambre de unidad... de ser todos un verdadero cuerpo de Cristo.
Con amor
E-book has been a boon for book lovers. You would find all the necessary information, on blogs. Accessing information has become easy thanks to the net. There some good sites which offer you the best information on application, software; whenever I need information on dll files I try out ParetoLogic.
Tantos usos para yogur. Algunos de comer, algunos por analogía.
La buena predicación, ahora tengo hambre.
Te quiero, mi hermano
Christiina
Just as we engage in ministry that old "enemy" comes with his calling card.Glad you did not accept it as this was a wonderful post. I gleaned so much from it...
Blessings!
This afternoon as I was thinking about what I had written, that old devil, the enemy in this morning's prayer, began yakking in my ear, saying things such as, Everyone's going to think that you did such a Huge Pity Party--shame on you!! I think I even thought about erasing it; then, the truth broke through that I did not write that Psalm and put it into scripture; not only that, half the psalms, as a wild guess, say the very same thing. God put them there for a reason. This is a psalm of the sorrows of one's spirit, not of situations, or circumstances (which would be, perhaps, a pity party). But, indeed, the Spirit of Christ (without the sin) Himself cries out in this psalm. Thank-you so much for your encouragement and validation--Ecclesiastes 4:12 Although an assailant may overpower one person, two can withstand him. Moreover, a three-stranded cord is not quickly broken.
Love in Christ,
Christina
I pray, "Holy Spirit, show me Your word today." I hope He is doing a new thing in you!
Why is it that we are so dense when it comes to these stories? Sometimes we are like Balaam ourselves. I too struggled with him so was blessed to see that the HS revealed this to you...I won't forget it.
G.
SonShine,
I struggled this morning trying to get past the kids story of a talking donkey and focus on Balaam. I'm glad God showed me what He did!
Thanks for your kindness,
George
John
What a drama filled post this is! The way you wove the principles of sin and forgiveness with the chain and the pet into a picture of how men are in relationship with God was most challenging.
Thank you!
SonShine (a.k.a. GEA )
Christina...what a marvelous way to pray through this Psalm. Thank you for sharing it! Makes my prayers seem so shallow when I read this. What a wonderful teacher you are with words.
G.
This story always makes the children laugh but I think the truth is what you have noted. The donkey is a humble creature and Balaam was full of 'self''. That was a good point I had not considered, why? I guess so you could write this post and share that nugget!
Good analysis!
G.
I am the exec director of bible.org and we are happy to start to build a site for the Chinese community. Welcome and tell us what you need and how we can serve you better
David
ps i dont speak Chinese
I think your right that God allows us to make more decisions now. Maybe since God has now fulfilled his promise to Abraham, even though Israel seemed to task him at every turn; he now has granted more latitude to all his people. Could it be that Abraham impressed our lord and was granted so large a blessing that generations needed to be chastened in order to fulfill his promise? “I will be there God and they will be my people”. When God said the “they will be my people” part, seems it had a very hard time getting footing. I believe God will fulfill his promises to all of us if only we will let him. I’m sure he is our God and I pray we will always be his people.
"Are we getting to know God or is God getting to know us?"
I think God is revealing his will to us, but like anything, we struggle to understand. The flow of the Bible seems to suggest to me that we will never completely understand the awesome will of God on this side of eternity. Yet, as time progresses, the human race does seem to learn and know more about God's will. There is a definite maturing in thought and understanding of the commandments by the time of the New Testament. Jesus can summarize the books of Leviticus, Deurteronomy, and Numbers, in just two principals: "Love God with all your heart and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself."
Also.. maybe God is getting to know us better or know us in a different way.
As the Bible progresses, God seems to give the human race a more refined set of rules to live by. Just as a parent might give his children a different set of rules to follow as they grow into young adults, so also is God giving the human race a more refined set of rules to live by as we move into New Testament times.
With more maturity comes more respnsibility, more freedoms, and more decisions that we make on our own. Maybe this is what is going on as we progress through the Bible. God guides us, but he also allows us to make more decisions in the working out of his will. Similar to how we raise our own kids, only in a much longer time frame.
What do you think?
Thanks Brandon for your insight and the thrust that we must have to impact the Kingdom. It is truly Kingdom work and we must have that as a focus each time we write for our words are catalogued in this cyberspace and cannot be retracted. I do hope you consider joining us here ..I started to read your blog and will go back to it after I finish my task of the morning.
come and join us in the journey and share from your heart
GEA (a.k.a. SonShine)
I think you did a very good job of informing others what blogging is and that it's important to use it in a specific way, helping others by spreadying the good word. I may begin blogging here in the future to help drive a little traffic to my personal blog called Lead The Lost which I use to talk about God, Jesus, The Bible, Faith, Prayer, and being a Christian; and here's why. As you mentioned, Google locates blogs and other sites which talk about certain keywords, well bible.org is just one site, there are nine other top spots on a Google search page. There are other people out there who are using their site to talk down about God and lead others astray, my aim is to take up one more of those spots and knock such a site off the top page. See where I'm going? It's not enough for one site to take the lead, in essence we should all strive to knock these blasphemers out of the listings and stop them from impacting others.. that's my take anyway. Thanks for the creative post!
What a unique thought of "darkness"...thank you for this interesting blog. Thank you too for joining us here John.
Thousands of fighting men represented Israel at Jericho. God had made it clear that nobody was to take gold or treasure or spare a life (except for Rahab and her family) in this battle. When I think about it, because we are so imperfect, Gods commandment seems destined to fail. Try as I might, I can not get through a day without sin. A part of my heart goes out to the people that will suffer because Achan keeps some gold, silver and a robe.
Maybe I feel what God intends me to feel. The wrath of our God is not a light thing. He has warned us many times! Yet as we read on to the next battle God allows plunder of the city. As we get to know our God, is he getting to know us?
Thanks Dale for this insightful look into the lives of the 1st century believers and how it translates into today. We all need to be reminded of this...especially as we live our lives before those who castigate our Lord...what do they see in us that might change their opinion? That is key.
G.
The internet is gradually gaining more importance every day. One of the reasons why people go to the internet is to get information. For this reason, different companies are offering the option for authors to have their books, journals and magazines made available online. ePUB is definitely an option to go for because it offers the latest standard format in the conversion industry. There is no restriction regarding software and hardware compatibility. Programas fidelización|Programas fidelización clientes
Ozzie,
Love this post. I completely understand what you're trying to say but I can't keep my mind from envisioning a balanced scale. A scale is only balanced when the weight is the same on both of its surfaces. In this case, I'd prefer my life be out of balance as I stand on the side of Christ; living a life juxtaposed to that of the world.
Got me thinking! Good job...
George