Its another lyrics post. But this is just so good and it came to me tonight with refreshing power:

Did we in our own strength confide our striving would be losing
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God's own choosing
Dost ask who that may be? CHRIST JESUS it is He!
Lord Sabaoth His name. 
From age to age the same.
And He must win the battle.

-Martin Luther, 1529

"My world wasn't crashing down. I wasn't at a moral crossroads. I hadn't hit rock bottom and there was no big dramatic shift in my thinking. Rather, this lurking sense that there were levels of faith I knew nothing of yet needed to enter if I was determined to be a Christian at all. It was a feeling- rather a knowing- that I couldn't shake and yet I also felt like I couldn't fully articulate what I needed. I just knew I needed something to change this nagging sense of discontent. "
-Doug Pagitt

I don't usually post deeply emotional things because I don't like to share all that stuff for the whole world to see. But I read this quote today in a book I'm reading called "Building Authentic Community" by Pastor Tim Boal (pastor of Penn Valley Grace Church in good ole Telford, PA) and this is pretty close to what I've been struggling with for the past couple of months. Anyone tracking with me?

As I look to 2007, I'm really asking God to fill in this blank because its definately not something I can work up on my own. I've tried and its not happening. I think the "something" Pagitt is talking about isn't some new idea or phenomenon its just a deeper understanding of Who I already know: JESUS. And its the Jesus that is real- none of this self-built performance-oriented Christianity. I want to start living and thriving in the finished work of Christ instead of my own "muster-the-strength-to-try-again" idea of sanctification. I think this is where the secret of the transformed life begins to unfold.

"Seek and you will find." Luke 11:9

And because Jesus has taken my sins away from me, it becomes that simple. That's an awesome promise. 

Long lay the world, in sin and error pining- til He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices- for yonder breaks a new a glorious morn.

Fall on your knees...

O the deep, deep love love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me!
Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love
Leading onward, leading homeward to Thy glorious rest above!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, spread His praise from shore to shore!
How He loveth, ever loveth, changeth never, nevermore!
How He watcheth o'er His loved ones, died to call them all His own;
How for them He intercedeth, watcheth o'er them from the throne!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, love of every love the best!
'Tis an ocean full of blessing, 'tis a haven giving rest!
O the deep, deep love of Jesus, 'tis a heaven of heavens to me;
And it lifts me up to glory, for it lifts me up to Thee!

 -Samuel T. Francis, 1875

"How wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ." 
Ephesians 3:17-18

10/28/2006
Today's word from Chambers:

I am not save by believing- I simply realize I am saved by believing. And it is not repentance that saves me- repentance is only the sign that I realize what God has done through Christ Jesus. The danger here is putting the emphasis on the effect, instead of on the cause. Is it my obededience, consecration, and dedication that make me right with God? It is never that! I am made right with God because, prior to all of that, Christ died. When I turn to God and by belief accept what God reveals, that miraculous atonement by the Cross of Christ instantly places me into a right relationship with God. And as a result of the supernatural miracle of God's grace I stand justified, not because I am sorry for my sin, or because I have repented, but because of what Jesus has done. The Spirit of God brings justification with a shattering, radiant light, and I know that I am saved, even though I don't know how it was accomplished.

The salvation that comes from God is not based on human logic, but on the sacrificial death of Jesus. We can be born again solely because of the atonment of out Lord. Sinful men and women can be changed into new creations, not through their repentance or their belief, but through the wonderful work of God in Christ Jesus which proceeded all of our experience. The unconquerable safety of justification and sanctification is God Himself. We do not have to accomplish these things ourselves- they have been accomplished through the atonement of the Cross of Christ. The supernatural become natural to us through the miracle of God, and there is the realization of what Jesus Christ has already done- "It is finished!" John 19:30

Things to think about...