The Hungry Disciple

This life makes us heavy-headed. Our wonderful gift of intelligence, marred by the knowledge of good and evil, suffers from TMI.  Too much information.  We can't help it. Life happens. Our brains are full of rabbit holes and like Alice we just can't stop ourselves from falling into the wanderland of thoughts-what ifs, how can, I could, I can't, maybe, if only, how come, I'll just, I know, I can't figure it out, I know what's going on here......until our head begins to droop and sag under the weight of all the stuff on our mind. When our head is hanging we can't see correctly. Our view is distorted and the signpost to peace and life in The Spirit is out of sight. All we can see is the intersection of disoriented and bewildered; unclear and perplexed; confused and unsure-we're just plain lost. When our head is weighted down we are in a perfect postition to look right into our heart. A hanging head is a Divine change in perspective!  L...

 When most people think of the Biblical word confession they think of confession of sin to a Priest or to God with regret, remorse and guilt.  In our world confession is admitting to something we've done wrong, like a criminal confessing to a crime. In our world confession leads to punishment, and unfortunately in Christ's Church confession is often linked to punishment, whether it is saying 10 Hail Marys and 10 Our Fathers or being left in the state of having unforgiven sin. It is a rare believer who doesn't worry that unconfessed sin will bring punishment and possibly exclusion from forgiveness by God. Some fear that unconfessed, and therefore unforgiven sin, will doom them to hell itself because I John 1:9 says, " If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness". This verse has been understood and taught in the negative-that we are not cleansed from unrighteousness unless all of our sin...

  Truly it is misunderstanding The Word of God that keeps many people from desiring a relationship with their Creator, and the passage from Matthew 25:31:46 can be most confusing. This passage is used to support the need for an accumulation of good works to get into Heaven.  It's has been preached and taught that way by the same people who teach and preach that we are saved by Grace through Faith so no man can boast. Unbelievers must scratch their heads and think, "How can both be true?" This picture painted by Jesus of Himself separating people into sheep and goats; goats being cast into hell and sheep being ushered into heaven, has been the source of much fear in believers and unbelievers alike, because we don't pay attention to who the sheep and goats are.  The sheep and goats are 'the nations'. That is what Jesus calls them.  Believers who have received salvation by Grace through Faith in Jesus' atoning death are not sheep or goats. The...

I'm The Hungry Disciple, and I've been chewing on Newness! When Jesus began His ministry He did not go down to the local synogogue and choose the top 12 Bar Mitzvah boys. He could have. He had been one of those young men himself, and considered discussing The Scriptures as being about His Father's business. Yet The Holy Spirit did not instruct Him to choose those Bible students, among them Saul of Tarsus, as students of The Kingdom of God. No He was instructed to choose simple fishermen, a tax collector, a political rebel and nobodys to teach His New and Living Way. One of the ways He explained His choice was by saying that it ruins the wine and the wineskin to attempt to put new wine into old wineskins.  We all know that grape juice becoming wine produces a gas and the container must stretch. The Hebrews used animal skins or stomachs to store liquids and they were used over and over and over. Eventually, after being used to hold new wine many times ...

I am The Hungry Disciple and I've been chewing on The Word. Have you ever noticed that The Word of God uses the same word in a negative and positve context? I have been thinking about the word stronghold. The Bible uses the word stronghold both as a decription of God's protection and as a place we are ensared in mental torment, confusion and wrong believing. The picture of both is one of being surrounded by a high an impenetrable place; one a place of safety and the other a prison. The Bible tells us we have wrong thoughts of every kind and that those wrong thoughts and the wrong beliefs they are based on cause us torment and can prevent us from knowing and receiving all the Truth that Jesus Christ is for and in us. This flawed thinking is not something we can change in ourselves. All the self-discipline in the world may control such thinking for at time, but the word stronghold implies that these thoughts are ingrained, like a rut in a muddy road that...

I'm one of those people who eat when they are emotional. I eat anything-things I don't really want. I'll go stand in the kitchen or gaze in the cupboards and refrigerator just thinking about what I can eat next. I haven't had much success overcoming that habit and you know, food is just not helpful. It looks good. It smells good. It tastes good. It offers no warnings. It is silent, never saying , "Ahhh, I'm nutrionally bankrupt", or "I'll put a good five pounds on you if you keep eating me."   Unfortunately, my wrong believing-that food is comforting, or distracting, shows on the outside of me too. Lots of us show the effects of wrong believing on the outside, but even if our wrong believing has no visible effect, wrong believing always has an inner effect. I often wish I had been one of those people who could eat anything and maintain a healthy weight. However, hidden from view, my arteries would be clogging and my liver would be ge...

God I 'm depressed and you aren't changing my feelings, but you are  joy. God I 'm discouraged and you aren't comforting me, but you are love. God I'm disillusioned and you aren't explaining anything, but you are good. God I am furious that you aren't fixing anyone or anything, but you are faithful. God  my heart is hard and cold and I can't feel you, but you are here. God says "let there be light" and  suddenly everything is different