Please God...grant me strength and health

We go to Joli-B tomorrow. This is not going to be one of those wise or even theological posts. This is one of those "Please God get me through the next week posts". Joli-B is a bible family camp 9 hours drive away. We are taking our 2 plus 2 neighbour boys who are so close to giving their lives to Christ. I think. It is a whole lotta fun. Here is the problem.

I have had such bad diarrhea lately (I have IBS) that I cannot go farther than 30 seconds from a washroom. I tried to go visit my mom and my brother and I had to turn back. I would go 20 minutes and then need to stop for 20 minutes. It took me 5 hours to go a distance that would usually take 3 hours. It kills me not to have the ability to see my mom and my brother when I want. They are not long for this world and I would wish to be close to them. I cried all the way home. Part of the problem was that I needed to eat and drink to stay awake, but the eating and drinking caused me to need to stay near a washroom for the inevitable emergency. I think for the trip to Joli B I will just take a sleeping pill and not eat. I may make it that way. That means that John will be driving for the whole 9 hours. We were going to leave after dinner tomorrow but I think it would be better for Hubby if we leave after lunch so that he can drive in the day...better for him. We will get there in time to go in the pool and have some supper.

I just need not to be sick...please please God. I want to be there for them all.

Amazing Sermon today about sin nature vs. spirit

Okay, if I was 6 I would probably summarize today's sermon as:

"No really, the devil did make me do it" OR rather "I didn't do it, the devil in me did"

But since I am not 6, I got a whole lot more depth out of it than that. The list of the verses referenced was long but here is what I got.

L. started out the sermon comparing our rebirth to our original birth

• We are innocent in that we haven't sinned yet
• We are completely dependent on parents (in the rebirth Father)
• We are immature
• We have a long way to grow
• We bear the image of our parents
• We are a completely new identity
  

God sees us as perfect. And we are. There are tonnes of verses in the NT about the new creation, new spirit, and in Isaiah a new heart. Now I have a bible teacher that thinks this is THE most important thing to understand and if we understood this, we would be transformed (again). And she is right. God sees us as blameless and holy. This spirit He put in us, is his own, and thus is Godly and righteous and just.

There was much more in the sermon (much more) and L. hit on how we still have to carry around the old sin until we shed these physical bodies. But I want to concentrate on how we are blameless and holy in God's eyes, and different ways this SHOULD revolutionize my life.

1. Okay, this might come off sounding a little vain, but since it is my blog I am going to indulge myself (for the purposes of growth). I have always wondered how there are good people who are not Christians if God is everything that is good in us. In fact I was a good "egg" before I accepted the Lord as my CEO and liege. I gave to charities, most people thought I was wonderful. I was helpful kind and all-around-nice-girl. But the reason I was good was not pure. I felt like if I was mean or selfish or grumpy or anything then I was a failure in DOD (Dear Old Dad's) eyes. And that failure caused great guilt...off the scale guilt. Now I realize two things:
   1. I was not quite all that good. First off, I scared some people silly. Still do at times. I think that I should be personally banned from all computer 1-800 helplines. I am a menace. In fact this is the first thing I will do. No computer helplines. I am quite forceful in my opinions, so I need to be more gentle.
   2. My "goodness" was based on fear/guilt and would have eventually turned bitter. Because the fruit eventually shows what was at the root. And my root was all yucky and dying.
2. It's not me that has to change. Well it is and it isn't (there is dichotomy between the sin nature and the spirit). The sin isn't me, the true me is the spirit of God in me. So instead of forcing change by trying to stick to laws (and we all know how well that works), I am better off by praying for help/guidance/wisdom/hope and GENTLENESS from the Holy Spirit. He can work changes that are impossible for me. And it's good because it seems fairly impossible. Consistent refusing to follow the flesh will make it easier and easier to refuse. But only God can give me the will. And only I have the power to act out the will.
   
3. Rest in God. I am not a rester. Not by choice anyway. I am always trying to improve so that I measure up. Who do I think is measuring??? If God already finds me blameless and holy, who am I trying to impress??? The man. The father figure who never approves of anyone man. That man. So again I need to pray that God makes it clear to me that "the man" is completely irrelevant.
   

I love my husband

I have been puzzling over the Water into Wine miracle in John 2 for a couple of days now. It seems to me all of the parables have a deeper meaning than you can see on the surface. I believe that the water into wine parable is probably the same. So here are the possibilities that I have come up with.

1. Jesus turning the water into wine was symbolic of turning us from water into something more worthwhile wine.
2. Jesus turning water into wine was symbolic of the kick off event of His Journey to Calvary. His blood is the wine and he is getting ready to be sacrificed.
3. It is just a story of the glory of God and how he can change water into wine with just a word.

So I mention the way I am spinning on this and my husband says something along the lines of "Takes quite a bit to make wine" (he used to make his own wine). And part of making wine is removing all the sediment.

AHHHHHH, okay here is my take of how this could be a symbolism. Jesus turned water into wine with just words. Previously, it would take much hard work, much refining to make the wine. What happens if the wine was the process to get to heaven? If before Jesus, there was much work to be done to get to heaven. Following rules. If rules are broken, making amends through slaying animals (which would have cost you a pretty penny if you broke a lot of rules). Now we just (and I say just in only the sense that it is pretty easy to say the words, not so easy to get to the place where you want to say them or feel you can say them) say the words that "I am sorry. Please forgive me. I believe you died on the cross for me." and we are wine...the best wine of the whole night.

God is continually showing me his word in ways that help me to live my life. How does understanding this help me live my life. Well, there was a guest doing a sermon at our church and although I was not there, I understood that he said that all the old testament rules apply to us. I am going to go over to his website and see how he qualifies this because Paul and Peter both say that the Old Testament rules on food are not necessary. And Paul deliberately says that circumcision is a sin, if you do it for the reasons of being Jewish.

Blessings,
Connie

Philippians 4:7 Then God will give you peace, a peace which is too wonderful to understand. That peace will keep your hearts and minds safe as you trust in Christ Jesus.