Unsatisfied By Average

The Musings of a Stubborn Believer

Author: Seán (page 23 of 31)

Don’t Even Think of Failure.

November 12, 2010 / / 3 Comments
This is triumph in three words: 
“exceeding abundantly above” 
(Ephesians 3:20)
Let those words sink in, because this is the Power that makes us strong. 
And there’s nothing higher. 
Think about it. Visualize it. 
If it had been written abundantly high, there could still be a higher. 
Strong could always be outdone by stronger or strongest…
But from above, there’s simply no way to go but down.
We serve a superlative God. 
“But when we give ourselves wholly to God and in our work follow His directions, He makes Himself responsible for its accomplishment. He would not have us conjecture as to the success of our honest endeavors. 
Not once should we even think of failure.”
COL 363

A Light and a Song.

November 11, 2010 / / 1 Comment
A friend’s blogpost just reminded me–
My life is to be “a praise and a glory.” (COL 288.2)
Or as I like to think of it, a light and a song.
I love that word picture… 
But this morning as I was devouring Ephesians, it got even more beautiful. 
1:12 tells me that we who trust in Christ are not to be just any praise and any glory… 
We exist to be the praise of His glory…

So make that: 
My broken little life–
His light. His song…
Now I really love that word picture.

More to Give. Much more…

November 10, 2010 / / 3 Comments
It was a simple little lesson… Brought to me by the most gracious people I have ever met. But it stirs me even now–
He or she who has lost, and yet loved, may indeed have less to lose… 
But also unspeakably more to give. 
I have learned that gentleness, selflessness, real warmth and grace are seldom owned in their depth by those who have not tasted sorrow. 
They are trophies won in the face of pain and loss.  
But they make their possessors the richest, most beautiful people in the world…
So, to my new friends– 
Your love through loss has been the gain of thousands…
Thank you.

Please…

November 2, 2010 / / 4 Comments
I have never heard anyone pray like that… 
He was a stranger to me, a seasoned gentleman of years. But his prayer sent chills up and down my spine. 
And it wasn’t because he chose words of special depth or gravity. A child would have prayed as such. It was the way he said one word: please.
I wish you had been there to hear it, because I hardly know how to make it graphically representative. We were praying together, just he and I and one other in a room full of Doctors all doing the same thing.
But when he asked for the Holy Spirit, he didn’t ask like we normally do.   
He begged as though his heart would break. As though he would die without it… 
“Please– 
Pleeeeeeease…”

I stand not as a judge of the hearts of men, but if I have ever been sure of anything, I am sure of this: If anybody gets the Holy Spirit, he will. 
“If you will find time and voice to pray, God will find time and voice to answer.”

Against All Odds…

October 12, 2010 / / 2 Comments

I have just 4 words–

Faith is the Victory.
And Faith is simply Trust, plus Obedience.


Simple Gospel

August 12, 2010 / / 0 Comments
Here’s the simple gospel according to the saltshaker.


Herein is Love.
Jesus, shake me up, and pour me out…

Almost Home

August 10, 2010 / / 4 Comments

Isaiah 66

Victory! At long last…

A fitting finish for the “Old Testament Gospel.” 
The last page closes on a people that shall remain as long as God’s name does… Because His name is written on their hearts and in their foreheads. There is no more death, no more war, no more anguish… 
“For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream… As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”
______________________________
But before you throw down your sword, let me gently remind you that our final chapter has not yet come. We are almost home, but as yet our work is still war and anguish. Our duty is still the laying down of our lives. 
There can be no victory where there is no fight…
Eternal Weight of Glory, 
                           make us strong.














Happiness

August 9, 2010 / / 0 Comments
Isaiah 65
Once again the click of black dress shoes on the floor breaks the silence in my office just before midnight. 
Once again the bag goes on the floor, the Blackberry on the desk, and the boarding passes folded in my coat pocket go in the wire trash can in the corner. All is well… 
And once again I first drift off to sleep, and then wake up again, exceedingly happy… 
Because I have seen salvation come… 
I have watched cheeks first pale, then glow. 
I have watched empty eyes fill with tears of hope. 
I have watched faces turn to the sun like flowers on a spring morning.
Ahh yes, this is happiness.
And the fact that it is my happiness, is a gift of grace undeserved…
“Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart…” Isaiah 65:14
I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil… [Jn. 17]

None Stronger.

July 28, 2010 / / 1 Comment

Isaiah 47-52
Gone for 5 days, home for fleeting moments, gone for 12 days. 
We’ll see if I have internet this time…
I have a lot to be thankful for. The last 5 days were spent in the Gila wilderness with my family, 10 miles beyond nowhere. I’ll upload more photos sometime… 
Every moment was loaded… But especially memorable were the silent times accented by Isaiah, and Christ’s Object Lessons. If I didn’t have to get some sleep before rolling out of here for my early flight tomorrow, I’d write more… But I just have time for one of my very favorite lines– 

“The Lord hath made bare His holy arm…”

As if to prove to all the world that there is none stronger. 
Like, none. End of discussion.
  

Another little secret

July 21, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Isaiah 45-46
Before the guy even knew God’s name, he had a promise. God was to anoint him, and then go before him knocking down stone walls, breaking iron gates, and setting the kings of the earth on their faces… And this guy was a heathen!
He had a little secret though… God had his right hand, and he had God’s. (45:1)
How much more shall we have power over our enemies when we choose above all to place and leave our hand in God’s… (46:3-4)
Oh, why do we ever do otherwise?

Older posts Newer posts

Archives

Meta

Recent Comments

Search Blog

© 2025 Unsatisfied By Average

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑