Perpetual Sift

It is my belief that a lot of what blogging is for me is sifting through thoughts and ideas. I always have wondered why I spend so much time here sifting and to what purpose it profits me or others. I believe it is of benefit though.

I've been sifting again more attempting to sift as of late. Failing completely at finding anything in it. But, Luckily for you the reader if I don't find something buried in the sand, it doesn't get published here it remains a draft in bloggers database.

I was reminded at church this morning that droughts and spiritual valleys we enter in certain seasons of our faith are for our benefit and there is great maturity built in us if we seek or sift in them; even though we find ourself in a desert where we don't think the sand will give way to something ever it does in time. I know this well yet forget it often. It always give way to something absolutely breathtaking.

In Sifting I seek and seeking I will eventually find.

My un-prayerfully informed self thought a lot of what this summer was going to be was one big long quiet time between God and I where he would speak in this great stillness and quiet and I would listen soak it up and be built up for what is to come come fall. Perhaps that was my wishful thinking. It hasn't been like that at all. In fact He's said three things since I have been back.

1.When in the fierce battle say my Name, proclaim Jesus.
2.Be Still and pray my word.
3.Keep Sifting

I know these things.

I wanted him to explain all the things he has begun to teach me these past three quarters because they frustrate me and honestly bother me a great deal, I don't know what to do with them. They need an explanation that God himself alone will have to give.

In such a course of hopefully thinking though I deny all He has taught me about who He is I ignore all the He has begun. He cares more about who I am becoming than what I do and He wants me to lean on Him and out of desperation choose a course of action. He wants to develop my heart till it is in tune with the Will of the Father and can make a symphony with my actions that flow from that very heart. That doesn't come from a relationship of constant conversation it come from a relationship which includes a great deal of silence and saying love in more than words.

So here's to the perpetual shift of golden grains of sand this summer that will most likely yield nothing yet yield everything in God's due time!

To His Glory alone,
JG

A Shameless Promotion

So my mom finally got done publishing her inductive bible study through the book of Isaiah that she has been working on for ten or so years. It is now searchable on Amazon.com . You should all check it out and maybe order a copy (wink wink.)

JG

Our Understanding of Scripture

I’ve heard it said that to fully and truly understand a bit of scripture you have to understand or experience what it actually took to pen that piece of it.

I was standing in church this morning trying to worship in song and I couldn’t. Aside from the side I don’t believe the way we do worship is biblical…I couldn’t get this idea of how we understand scripture and who we make God out to be apart from scripture away from my mind.

Such concepts have a way of truly destroying my focus if they need to be focused upon.

I have been drawn into a position of prayer about this issue.

In all my understanding of scripture in researching reading commentaries finding bits and pieces I believe were translated improperly. I am brought to one conclusion: none of us has any idea what the heck to do with the bible or let alone comprehend the fullness of what dwells inside of it. I guess this is what many mean by a reverence for God’s word.

A lot of things frustrate me about what we as Christians do with the word but frustration does nothing so I will not dwell on it, I have done that a majority of my life.

The way I understand God’s word can destroy a true concept of God and how and who I am in response to that if I do not read it properly.

I have always been a big fan of Tozer mainly due to the fact he looks at each word ,understanding the meaning and the history of every single word, that he would teach on. Because of it he had one of the most profound understandings of who God will forever be because he saw the real God in scripture defined by the words scripture uses not the words in scripture with our personal connotation added.

I we cannot understand the words and the meaning behind the words we will never understand the intent and will not even come close to understanding what that incredible Holy-writ Work says .

Remember to cross reference back to Jesus and the rest of scripture!

To His glory alone,
JG

I love Summer+Coldplay's new album is so bomb you have no idea unless you bought it and then you are like yup you are right John

Hey all,

Sorry I haven't posted in some while. Life has been a little distracting( note distracting is used here with a tone of blessedness): new house, new pup, basement design plans, trying to not make my room look like a giant storage closet etc. But I feel since I haven't blogged in a while I probably should. So here is my summer so far in four easy Points( Piper said to do on his website so I am).

1. The summer has been a blessing so far my parents house is on the edge of the middle of nowhere and literally there is nothing here but endless roads to run on, mountains to stare at for hours on end, sweet stillness, and a vast sea of grass trees and brush to adventure into.
2. The pup is distracting to say the least and makes sure I get nothing done. We have a healthy play time everyday where she, because she is a sheep dog, bites my ankles and tries to herd( hurt) me. I try to distract her but little is done with her constant vie for my attention.How can little dogs have so much energy? I wonder if we could solve the energy crisis with the energy found inside them?Who knows?
3. About my room. Well that'll be a work in progress. Let's just say quilts are not my style.
4. About the other 2000 sf of the house. Well that'll be my work for the summer. Good ol basements! About that I have finally settled on a floor plan I am happy with. Providing the client's stamp of approval My dad and I may get to framing come this weekend . Who knows maybe!
   

To His Glory alone,
JG

The Winds Sleeps Today...

The wind sleeps today
In infinite still,It brings the rest long waited for
Bringing dreams like golden rays of light
Paths edged in foil stalks and leaves

Oh this sweetest time of stillness to bring my heart to you

To swim in the Great Poet’s dream
Phrases coined in ages past ,they are for me
Where some grand things lie in wait
Like chests of treasures to be pulled out of the Sea

Perfect love, you make it to be

Oh this sweetest time of stillness to bring my heart to you

To His Glory alone,
JG

Simple yet profound

Jesus died on "a" cross, not "the" cross

The Path edged in Golden Grass

I went hiking today.

I tend to think of the occasion as my quarterly extra special date/walk alongside the Lord and God of Hosts the one "who threads the heights of the Earth"-Amos 4:13. A journey if you will to commune with God in the hills.

Each season(quarter) brings with it a new path that He puts before me. I never know quite what to expect but a path edged by golden grass i have personally never been disappointed with.

I would say I have been up to these particular hills i hike in about 12 or so times now. There are things still left to discover.

There are things that have long laid unknown and forgotten in those hills.

Today I found a treehouse tucked away and a path to it only revealed by the summer's golden grass. A legit treehouse!

I found myself reading the journal that is up there amazed at the history of a place that laid hidden where students would brave the poision oak and ticks to be still and get away.

I was out to coffee with a wise older brother on Thursday night He said He had no place to just be by himself and be quiet in SLO. It is hard to find in a college town for sure.We found ourselves agreeing with each other that we need more stillness and quiet to truly hear God in this day and age and in our own lives.

And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him
-1 Kings 19:11-13.

I found quiet today: beautiful stillness.

This is the path God is leading me into as I step in the summer season. The treehouse represents this time of stillness I have during the summer. As a wise man of God told me Thursday night I should be fully setting my eyes to the top of the hill where I will reside and be still not deterred by what has not been spoken . Where God is and God will speak.

To His immeasurable Glory alone,
JG

Ironic/Funny Book Authors

So I was in Borders and these books gave me a little chuckle on the inside. Hope it does the same for you.

JG

reminder for the owls

next time you are out at 2am or so make sure and look up into the night sky...

A small piece of joy during dead week

For those of you who don't follow this blog this is the first you tube video I have posted pretty much ever that has nothing to do with anything but pure amusement. As Landon said as we were having lunch the other day I think I am so tired exhausted drained and wiped out from this year culture is affecting me. Oh no! I am looking to Youtube videos for small pieces of Joy.

9 more days!

JG

Revelation Apart from God's word?

I want to pose a question. It's been one I have been wrestling with for quite a while :is their revelation apart from God's word? When people say they hear from God do they really? Is there any measure by which to discern whether these are true or not?

Piper has these words to say:

The great need of our time is for people to experience the living reality of God by hearing his word personally and transformingly in Scripture. Something is incredibly wrong when the words we hear outside Scripture are more powerful and more affecting to us than the inspired word of God. Let us cry with the psalmist, “Incline my heart to your word” (Psalm 119:36). “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18). Grant that the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened to know our hope and our inheritance and the love of Christ that passes knowledge and be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 1:18; 3:19). O God, don’t let us be so deaf to your word and so unaffected with its ineffable, evidential excellency that we celebrate lesser things as more thrilling, and even consider this misplacement of amazement worthy of printing in a national magazine.

I think his words are very wise we should never elevate the extraordinary over the ordinary because God does far surpassing things with ordinary vessels, it gives God more glory that way. May we all be the greatest contradictions to what we should be by the world's standards.

You can check out the rest of the Piper article here

To His Glory alone,
JG

Proverbial Thoughts

So it's been a while since I have actually sat down to write something.

The latest writings have been a little sloppy... my sincerest apologizes for those who have tried to piece together the shattered concepts presented in them. I do appreciate the effort. I really do.

But even I must admit. They were awful as of late.

I want to redefine what I do here a little though and present almost like a proverbial-esk blog entry of some recent revelations in my life. Here they are:

The writings that I do here will never amount to anything because they will never take the place of God's words in the bible written to you. The words He has said through that Book will do more for you than I will ever do through preaching here. The only thing that really matters would be the relationship and friendship I have with you the reader. That is where anything truly worth noting will be found.

So some would ask why blog? I simply put enjoy writing in this form and fashion. I think it helps give glory to God when I review all that God has done in my life and see the transformation of the heart behind the words over the years. But I must remember I should never write if it does not come out of my heart because it profits nothing.

I have realized a lot as of late that real friendship is the active engagement of one another. Without an active seeking out of one another's company friendships fall by the waist-side and do not develop into anything beyond "acquaintance." Most people do not have friendships like this due to schedule. Yet it is because of their unwillingness to sacrifice to satisfy a deeper longing that such things never develop into true meaningful relationships. This is a shame not many have this.

I have also realized that when we say we understand God's word we fool ourselves. We have no idea what it says. We should be humble skeptics always asking "what does this say?" True faith asks questions and let God do the revealing not the intellect.I think it is this revelation that teaches us that God usually speaks only when we quiet ourselves enough to listen. This often happens when we are humbled. But instead of circumstance pushing us to this point why not be an ever present state of prayer to quiet ourselves and hear.

I think that will do...for now.

To His Glory alone,
JG

How Great a Salvation

My community group leader asked a very thought provoking question the other night that I have been wrestling with in my mind “ how great was your salvation?”

We were talking about Colossians 3 and how it calls us to have the flesh crucified and become truly dead.

I am led to ask was mine so great a salvation if there was not death to the flesh completely and absolutely?

I am led to believe as I thumb through the pages of the bible that the Christianity in our day and age is not at all what the apostles experienced in that first century church.

All of them had character and they obeyed and it was a joy to do so.

They were Spirit led in every facet and reached a world because of it.

I read the things Christ calls us all to be in the pages of scripture and I find we are not and all if not all are fully not what Christ intended them to be. Me as well.

This week I have been reading Martin Luther’s writings He likes to ask the question what does this mean?

I like his approach to questioning things.

But I feel much like Luther where I feel the church, in this case the American church has gone a crooked way. We need to get back to the narrow path less tread.

Sam Walter Foss in the following Poem paints that picture very clearly

One day, through the primeval wood,

A calf walked home, as good calves should;
But made a trail all bent askew,

A crooked trail as all calves do.

Since then two hundred years have fled,

And, I infer, the calf is dead.
But still he left behind his trail,

And thereby hangs my moral tale.

The trail was taken up next day

By a lone dog that passed that way;
And then a wise bell-wether sheep

Pursued the trail o'er vale and steep,
And drew the flock behind him, too,

As good bell-wethers always do.
And from that day, o'er hill and glade,

Through those old woods a path was made.

And many men wound in and out,

And dodged, and turned, and bent about;
And uttered words of righteous wrath,

Because 'twas such a crooked path.
But still they followed - do not laugh -

The first migration of that calf.
And through this winding wood-way stalked,

Because he wobbled when he walked.

This forest path became a lane,

That bent, and turned, and turned again.
This crooked lane became a road,

Where many a poor horse with his load,
Toiled on beneath the burning sun,

And traveled some three miles in one.
And thus a century and a half,

They trod the footsteps of that calf.

The years passed on in swiftness fleet,

The road became a village street;
And this, before men were aware,

A city's crowded thoroughfare;
And soon the central street was this,

Of a renowned metropolis;
And men two centuries and a half,

Trod the footsteps of that calf.

Each day a hundred thousand rout,

Followed the zigzag calf about;
And o'er his crooked journey went,

The traffic of a continent.
A hundred thousand men were led,

By one calf near three centuries dead.
They followed still his crooked way,

And lost one hundred years a day;
For thus such reverence is lent,

To well-established precedent.

A moral lesson this might teach,

Were I ordained and called to preach;
For men are prone to go it blind,

Along the calf-paths of the mind;

And work away from sun to sun,

To do what other men have done.
They follow in the beaten track,

And out and in, and forth and back,

And still their devious course pursue,

To keep the path that others do.
But how the wise old wood-gods laugh,

Who saw the first primeval calf !
Ah ! many things this tale might teach - 

But I am not ordained to preach.

I was at a bonfire a few weeks ago and I asked someone who had recently graduated what was the greatest thing he had learned over the course of college. He said it was to not compare himself to others. He learned a truly great lesson. We shouldn't let standards be merely because they are.

We have to go the path God calls us to, not the one bent all askew.

To His Glory alone,
JG

Our problem in Two Questions

Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit have you now been perfected by the flesh?(GAL. 3:3)

I have been dwelling on this verse, it is like a dagger to me. All the good, bad, methodology, practical application etc. I don't listen enough and heed the spirit enough. I have ignored him. I have become what I truly hated. I dream too small for a great and glorious God.

Jesus my Lord
May the Spirit reign ,
to the Father's Glory alone

JG

Dang!

This sermon is well worth your time if you have fifty minutes to listen.



To His Glory Alone,
JG

Who said a Candle Blowing Out is a Bad Thing

11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.

-psalm 139

Fifty

Candlelight why do you cease?

here we are brought to our knees on the eve of fifty 

Where 2000 years of an oracles voice has grown close to cease

Candle light what words will your last be?

Take me back to the day when your light was like the sun? 

radiating ever place where shadow ceased.

But here we are brought to out knees

on the eve of fifty here where the candlelight refuses to be

Although Dim my eyes grow I can see the Spirit brood

May He find a resting in those who see a fainting light to renew

Bring us back to life.

To His Glory Alone,

JG

To love

I have been meditating on the greatest commandment( Luke 10:27) for a week or so. The meditation has led me to many questions. It says to love the Lord your God with all your 1. heart 2. soul 3. strength and 4. mind.

Upon meditation I think we forget to love God with more than our #4(minds) quite often. We base almost everything on intellect.

I want to pose a question with these thoughts in mind is this way of doing things crippling the church from loving God as she ought?

I personally find this meditation to be disturbing in countless ways.

It says in romans 10:10 that when we first believed it was with our hearts. Intellect had no place in that most awesome of occurance.

I have wondered so often what is so truly incredible about the new believer. I think it is this: that they love God with their heart...they are seeking him with their mind...they are willing to be strong....and their soul pants for God.

They have this beautiful balance within them.

I have been wondering what can restore that balance within the older believer? I prose the question because I see that I don't have a proper balance in my own life.

Regarding this I think Jude 19 points out a great truth "these are the men who divide you , who follow more natural instincts and do not live by the Spirit." The truth is I think that living by the spirit is the only way what was divided can be put back together.

I have been struck with what Ezekial 37 says, this idea that God can breathe once again on the dead and seperated bones joining what was torn apart. There is life after so great a death! What a great truth!

As to How to live by the spirit and truly love my only advice is

" the realm of the spirit is closed to the intellect."
-A.W. Tozer

Once we stop staring at this wall that bars us from putting all of these puzzle pieces together and say God " you are the only one who can lead me into this and do this" that is when I have seen great things happen and true Christianity begin .

Remember "they will know we are Christians by our love"

To His Glory alone,
JG

Colony of heaven

Bring me out in the Spirit
Sit me down
Tell me this age old mystery

Lead me to behold
What lies in this place
Can we truly live after such a death?

Breath of God in this age
let them Know You are!
May the earth quake and tare! Awaken what lies trapped behind such death.

You say “where faith believes and questions arise Command the whisper!
Speak to Me, command the four winds.
Let colonies of heaven arise on Earth.
Live and stand!"

To His Glory alone,
JG

Mishandling the word

Every Monday I go out with my best friend to coffee. Him and I take about a three hour break at the beginning of our weeks to talk about God's work in our lives and speak truth into each other. Over the course of this tradition which has now lasted almost two quarters I have grown to see what God does with such a thing and what happens as a result of true "community" between believers.

But even more recently i have realized spending a lot of time in God's word i find myself disagreeing with a large majority of christianity and what we have made it to be especially with the sermons that people preach. Take for instance the focus we have put on certain verses and ignoring the whole of scripture around it or that it sits in. I was struck tonight by what John writes in his gospel(v.8:31-32 ) that abiding in God's word is the mark of a true disciple. We don't teach discipleship that way and thinking about it in context with the great commission and how it is preached by itself: not weighed in meaning by the rest of scripture I honestly urg I can't belief those who bare the name of Jesus are mishandling this very powerful sword( the words Jesus spoke before he ascended)His last words! So much of what we do is unbiblical and most don't even know it.

Another thought I have been dwelling on is I have been thinking about this strict fundamentalism developing in America and sticking to the bible alone(sola scriptura). Thinking that this movement may cause a huge reformation/upset/disruption in the whole of Christianity It is going to be quite something much like in Ezekial 37 when God breaths life into a valley full of dead bones and very disturbing rattling sound begins.

I thank God I have a whopping amount of work to do and to occupy this brain from all this. That God can teach me in this time and not allow impulsive judgments to take place of well heart felt discernment about things.

To His Glory alone,
JG