pure heart

psalm 51:10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,

and renew a right spirit within me.

God's House

I've been spending time in psalm 65 this week. it reminds me of Sunday's message, that Christ invites us to sit near to Him. As i've been going through this passage, i've been struck w/ how amazing it is to live near to God.

Blessed the guest at home in God's place!

Psalm 65 (message version)

^1-2 Silence is praise to you, Zion-dwelling God,

And also obedience.
You hear the prayer in it all.

^2-8 We all arrive at your doorstep sooner
or later, loaded with guilt,
Our sins too much for us—
but you get rid of them once and for all.
Blessed are the chosen! Blessed the guest
at home in your place!
We expect our fill of good things
in your house, your heavenly manse.
All your salvation wonders

¹ Praise awaits ^[a] you, O God, in Zion;
to you our vows will be fulfilled.

² O you who hear prayer,
to you all men will come.

³ When we were overwhelmed by sins,
you forgave ^[b] our transgressions.

⁴ Blessed are those you choose
and bring near to live in your courts!
We are filled with the good things of your house,
of your holy temple.

⁵ You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness,
O God our Savior,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas,

⁶ who formed the mountains by your power,
having armed yourself with strength,

⁷ who stilled the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
and the turmoil of the nations.

⁸ Those living far away fear your wonders;
where morning dawns and evening fades
you call forth songs of joy.

⁹ You care for the land and water it;
you enrich it abundantly.
The streams of God are filled with water
to provide the people with grain,
for so you have ordained it. ^[c]

¹⁰ You drench its furrows
and level its ridges;
you soften it with showers
and bless its crops.

¹¹ You crown the year with your bounty,
and your carts overflow with abundance.

¹² The grasslands of the desert overflow;
the hills are clothed with gladness.

¹³ The meadows are covered with flocks
and the valleys are mantled with grain;
they shout for joy and sing.

Tees

Rum Raisin Apple Pie Recipe

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Rum-Raisin-Apple-Pie-236430 

What does extravagant worship look like for us?

My bag... My life

I carry my bag everywhere with me.

I keep everything i need in it,

And a lot of stuff I don't need

Extra useless things, even trash just accumulate in a purse or bag

With too much stuff in my bag I can't move

I can't find anything
Total chaos

It's the same way with our hearts

As we live in the forgiveness of Christ we have everything that we need

But some how extra trash just creeps in.

And we can't move, can't find anything, can't live the way we're called to live

Sin blocks us from living for God, from living in the Joy of Christ.

We need to continually recognize
those things that block us from
knowing and experiencing God

I can clean out my bag.

But I can't clean out my heart
Only Jesus' sacrifice has ever made the human heart whole and clean




Psalm 51:10 says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.”

May this cry be real to us in every moment of our lives, Christ came to "take out the trash", to welcome us in to a life of love and freedom from the rebellious sin that keeps us from knowing our Father

That's Not My Name

1John 3:1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

You might get called a hundred different things but "that's not your name"

You are called, child of God

Every day i feel like I'm bombarded w/ people telling me who I am.

at work i'm either the hipster w/ the road bike or the intern, to my mother i'm perfect or super flaky, sometimes i'm the marathon runner, sometimes the redneck. To some people I'm only a type of music or one of my majors. Once my friend's roommate called me the coolest person ever (that was generous of her). I get called a vegetarian, an environmentalist, an artist, a horrible driver.

These are just a few names but it's impossible to be all these people at once or to meet everyone's expectation all the time. Sometimes I even like having these labels stuck to me. But that is not the identity God intended for us. We are to know the Father's love and to be called children of God. It is so refreshing to be around God's people because we view each other in light of this truth... Our identity is in Christ!

The Ting Tings really bit the mark! Let's not let meaningless labels define us.

Becasue we love puns and so does God

Who knew the bible used puns so much:

Jeremiah1:11-12

¹¹ The word of the LORD came to me: "What do you see, Jeremiah?" "I see the branch of an almond tree," I replied.

¹² The LORD said to me, "You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled." (TNIV)

This dousn't make sense at all right but the foot note says:

"Just as the almond tree blooms first in the year and there fore "wakes up" early - the Hebrew word for watching means to be wakeful, so the Lord is ever watchful to make sure his word is fulfilled" (TNIV Study Bible)

Ahhh a pun... Props to Eugene Peterson who tied to capture this play on words (when i read it to Fay, she pretended to die from cheese overdose).

^{Jeremiah 1:11-12} God's Message came to me: "What do you see, Jeremiah?" I said, "A walking stick—that's all." And God said, "Good eyes! I'm sticking with you. I'll make every word I give you come true." (the Message)

So apparently puns are really common in the bible and especially in the O.T.

Puns

Most puns in the original languages of Hebrew and Greek do not come across very well into English. However, the examples below translate quite well into English. The Hebrew or Greek words are given in italics both here so that the reader can see how the puns appeared in the original text. Because the original Hebrew language had no vowels, puns are more prevalent in the Old Testament than in the New. Vowels of course, were always present in the oral reading, but that does not detract from the power of the puns. The words still sound alike (if not identical) even with the different vowels. There are more than 300 puns in Isaiah alone!

His thirty sons rode around on thirty burros[´ayirim]and lived in thirty boroughs[´ayarim]in Gilead. Judges10:4

He hoped for justice [mishpat] but there is injustice [mispah] –
for equity [sedaqah] but there is outcry [se'aqah]. Isaiah 5:7

(http://www.manyfacesofbiblicalhumor.com/bible_puns)

So from now on I'll be more sensitive to the word play in the Bible.

Just thought I would share this because it is interesting.

And these are shameless

Q. Who was the greatest female financier in the Bible?
A. Pharaoh's daughter: she went down to the bank of the Nile and picked up a little prophet. (profit)

Q. What kind of man was Boaz before he got married?
A. Ruth-less.

Q. What kind of motor vehicles are in the Bible?
A. Jehovah drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden in a Fury. David's Triumph was heard throughout the land. Hondas... because the Apostles were all in one Accord.

Q. Who was the greatest comedian in the Bible?
A. Samson: he brought the house down.

(http://www.whosoever.org/v5i1/puns.html)