Sarah43

I am not sure about percentages, but many are not repentant.

The prevailing morals of my culture are inimical to vital Christian faith and witness. We basically live in a pornographic culture, where almost every type of sexual attitude and behavior is accepted (except pedophilia, as far as I can see). The Bible is very precise about sexuality and family. Loose sexual morals destroy families through divorce and adultery. True intimacy, love, and honor and respect are destroyed. Loose sexual morals are acceptance of and adherence to sin, shut out the Spirit. The pornographic culture is so pervasive that I am quiet, for the most part, about my own convictions. One person told me, who was not Christian, when I did open up about the way I felt about marriage, "We don't live in the 18th century anymore." I had recently come from attending church. I think he may have been influenced in his comment by my ankle length dress.

A local congregation can lose its first love for Jesus by becoming too much of well oiled machine....I recently heard a sermon on the radio about just that, wherein the preacher described a church that ran itself and its programs so efficiently that Jesus could have gotten up and walked out and no one would have noticed....The preacher urged this type of church to stop all its agenda and groups and programs just to see if Jesus is still in the room. The preacher was joking in one sense, but in another, he wasn't. The signs of genuine love for Jesus in worship are humility and gratitude and love for the Lord...in ministry we show a love for Jesus by showing love for each other and for the less fortunate, and in evangelism or spreading the Word. Lack of love shows up in attitude, isolationism, pride, cliques, and shunning. A congregation can regain this love by recognizing that the lack exists, repenting, and praying. A congregation can reach out to others for help. Discipleship is a lifelong process.

Jesus the exalted among the lampstands teaches us that Christ is head of the church, present to guide the church, to love the church, to heal the church in its infirmities. The exalted Jesus among the lampstands show us again how devoted Christ is to our spiritual welfare, exemplifying Christ's position of head of the body (or symbolic bridegroom of the church) See Ephesians 5:29-30 "for no man ever yet hateth his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:for we are members of his body, of his flesh, of his bones." The church (we) is part of Jesus, and He cares for the church (us), eternally present among the lampstands. Thank you Lord for standing among us, even beyond your incarnation as Son of Man. Thank you for loving us enough to call us part of You.

The son of Man who walked the roads of Galilee and Judea was God incarnate, the divine come to earth to teach us of the Father as a rabbi. This man is God's ultimate gift to us. A few months ago I actually wept because I missed Jesus the man, missed ever knowing him, and wondered what it must have been like to hear Him laugh, tell stories, witness his earthly life. He was a fellow sufferer, and we identify with him as an earthly being because we are earthly beings. Christ among the lampstands transcends without diminishing His incarnate self, shows Him again as teacher not subject eternally to what he suffered on earth. The vision of Jesus among the lampstands evokes awe in the reader, showing Jesus as all powerful teacher, an extension of God sans mortal coil, balancing our faith by preventing an over familiar identification we might have with the incarnate Son.

Christians are presently experiencing tribulation and persecution in Asian. Latin American, and Middle Eastern countries. The book of Revelation can be a source of comfort and encouragement to them in that the Words therein show that tribulation and persecution are even to be expected in the world ruled by Satan. Paul states in 2 Corinthians 4:16 -17 that for the glory of God "we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Here is exhorting to measure everything, including persecution, against eternity. In 2 Cor 5:1 he states, in the same spirit, "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." If we think of our mortal life, and consider the enemy, in terms of spiritual warfare, this makes sense. Atrocities big and small reign. The world, the darkness of hearts given over to the sins of the world, from a deceitful tongue to genocide, is evil overwhelming. Every sin is a persecution of Christ. Keep your eye on eternity, Paul encourages in 2 Cor 5:8, "We are confident...and willing ...to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." The book of Revelation is a dream vision of these truths, showing the apocalyptical punishment of those who, given over to sin, refuse the light despite constant invitation into it. See Isaiah 55:7 "let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him;and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." Those who (re)turn to the Lord are blessed even in tribulation and persecution, for they walk, turning to the left nor to the right, into the holy city of God.

Jesus is of the Father,separate but paradoxically not. This is understandable to me mostly through reading John 5:18-47 in which Jesus explains His relationship to his father and to us. Also of the Father, separate but not, is the Holy Spirit. Of this Jesus said, among other things, in John 4:24, to the Samaritan woman at the well in Sychar: God is a Spirit:and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Thank you Lord. for your gifts of Yourself, Your Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Luke 11:13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children:how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? Thank you Lord.

The lesson God is teaching me out of Hagar's experience is that He sees me also, and has a plan for me. As always, the situation that is most difficult to submit to is pain. I have to remember, and God asks me to remember, that pain is necessary for growth as a Christian, and that He will lead me back to the lesson until I learn it, one way or another, even if I seek to avoid it. I am also taught to thank Him for his guidance back to what I seek to avoid. He knows best for me and for all of us.

Hagar names God because God sought her out personally and said "I see you." To Hagar, a person discouraged and losing hope, God's reminder that she was counted, renewed her hope and wonder in the Lord. I can use the Lord's remembrance of Hagar as an example of His love and care for all of us, even when we think we are alone and abandoned.

God's angel asks Hagar who she is and where she is going to find out how accountable Hagar is. The angel sends Hagar back to Sarah so that Hagar can humble herself to God's will, and Sarah can as well. I knew of a man who cheated on his wife and had children with his mistress, only to return to his wife several years later. He abandoned his children borne of his mistress, at his wife's request. I'm not sure how this story ties into that of Hagar's, but somehow it does. I have reacted as Hagar did many times. I think our first impulse to avoid pain is to run for the hills, or for the desert and God's angel. I am learning to stay and wait on the Lord, because the Lord will bring me back to the place I was running from anyway.

Sarah is looking to Abraham to put his house in order, to lead. She is angry that she is barren. She wants a surrogate child as well as unquestioned honor as Abraham's wife. Hagar's pride interferes with the latter. She takes her anger out on Hagar because Hagar escapes her control of the situation. Abraham could have quieted both women by being firm with them as leader of the house. He could have reminded Hagar of her surrogate mother position, which, although an honor, does not give her right to be disrespectful to Sarah. He could have rebuked Sarah for mistreating Hagar, and arranged his house if necessary, so that such mistreatment did not happen. We have had leadership issues in my family as well. We have solved these issues, more or less, by first talking them over, and then seeking wisdom from the Bible and from our pastor.

I think that the relationship between obedience and answered prayer is one of wisdom on our part, and an understanding of prayer and daily Christian living. If we are transformed through humility and grace, we understand that God knows best for us and we submit to His will for us. We pray to be able to do so everyday, rather than pray for things of the world. I don't think we earn God's favor, rather we realize what we are supposed to be doing for God and for God's glory.

Although the literal meaning of lay down your life means to sacrifice your life for others, a blood sacrifice, as Jesus' sacrifice was, I interpret laying down my life to also mean devoting my living breathing hours to other Christians. We can minister to others by spreading the word, spending time, helping others, giving to those in need, and the list goes on. We can get to know others in our congregations by attending church regularly, attending bible study, and involving ourselves in church activities. This is a sacrifice of time, which is what our lives are made of.