God Gives Strength!

As a reader of almost all of Louis L'Amour's one hundred plus books about the Wild West, I have some expertise on the subject of wild bulls. L'Amour's cowboys spend much of their time drifting cattle to collection points. Before they could get the cattle moving, they often had to head into thickets of tangled brush to locate and drive the cattle out into the open. A full grown bull can weigh in excess of 3,000 pounds. Imagine meeting a cornered bull moving in your direction at full speed! The tales told by L'Amour about frightened bulls, inclined to resist with all the power they could muster, are stirring.

The writer of the 92nd Psalm uses the imagery of a wild bull to dramatically remind us that God is able, and willing to provide us with the strength necessary to meet the challenges we face.

A Prayer begins . . .

Heavenly Father, we honor your name. It is a name above every name. You are the one true God, and we intend to praise you forever. You are the light bursting in on the dark days.

You matter to us!

You matter to God. We love God and choose to love what matters to him. So, we love you! Imagine, if you will, that we are giving you a cyberhug!

You can buy a book! You are in control. Clickle the book cover or the links at the bottom of each quotation.

Two selected book quotations begin . . .

Solitude Is Essential

Henri J.M. Nouwen, Making All Things New, An Invitation to the Spiritual Life, Harper San Francisco, 1981, pp. 69-71.
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"Without solitude it is virtually impossible to live a spiritual life. Solitude begins with a time and a place for God, and him alone. If we really believe not only that God exists but also that he is actively present in our lives--healing, teaching, and guiding--we need to set aside a time and space to give him our undivided attention. Jesus says, 'Go to your private room and, when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in that secret place' (Matthew 6:6 [Jerusalem Bible]).

To bring some solitude into our lives is one of the most necessary but also most difficult disciplines. Even though we may have a deep desire for real solitude, we also experience a certain apprehension as we approach that solitary place and time. As soon as we are alone, without people to talk with, books to read, TV to watch, or phone calls to make, an inner chaos opens up in us. This chaos can be so disturbing and so confusing that we can hardly wait to get busy again. Entering a private room and shutting the door, therefore, does not mean that we immediately shut out all our inner doubts, anxieties, fears, bad memories, unresolved conflicts, angry feelings, and impulsive desires. On the contrary, when we have removed our outer distractions, we often find that our inner distractions manifest themselves to us in full force. We often use the outer distractions to shield ourselves from the interior noises. It is thus not surprising that we have a difficult time being alone."

SoAmazing Review: Making All Things New provides clarity on the meaning and practice of a spiritual life.

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Launder Your Personality

Dallas Willard, Hearing God, Developing a Conversational Relationship with God,, InterVarsity Press, 1984, 1999, pp. 152, 153.   SoAmazing.com

"Just think for a moment about what happens when you wash a dirty shirt: the water and laundry soap move through the fibers of the shirt material and carry out the dirt lodged within those fibers. When we come to God, our minds and hearts are like that dirty shirt, cluttered with false beliefs and attitudes, deadly feelings, past deeds and misguided plans, hopes and fears.

The word of God--primarily the gospel of his kingdom and the life and death of Jesus on our behalf--enters our mind and brings new life through faith. As we open our entire life to this new power and as those sent by God minister the word to us, the word moves into every part of our personality, just like the water and soap move through the shirt's fibers. God's word pushes out and replaces all that is false and opposed to God's purposes in creating us and putting us in our unique place on earth.

We are transformed by the renewing our our minds and thus are able to 'discern what is the will of God--what is good and acceptable and perfect' (Romans 12:2 [NRSV]). Hearing God becomes a reliably clear and practical matter for the mind that is transformed by this washing of the word."

SoAmazing Review: God speaks. We don't listen. Read Hearing God to evaluate Willard's evidence.

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