Attention any and all who read this blog:
I'm moving it. I really liked the look, layout, and workability of some of my friends' blogs--a lot more than my own. Since I don't know enough about HTML to do anything very cool with this blog, I'm shifting over to a new server starting now. I've copied over all the posts from this one over, so change your bookmarks to:
http://amandabeattie.wordpress.com
I'll be holding this one open so people know where to go. But all my updates will be on the new site. (I'm still learning how everything works on the new server, so I apologize in advance for any lameness you may discover there.)
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Slippin' and Slidin'...
For anyone reading this who is not in the Kansas City area (all six of you), we were creamed with a killer ice storm last weekend. We got a couple inches of sleet, a little snow mixed in here and there, only to be topped off with a good dose of freezing rain. Nasty stuff.
My house is on a hill. A steep one. Did I mention we had a really bad ice storm recently?
For a while, trying to shuffle up and down the hill wasn't too bad. Sure, it was a little dicey, but all you needed to do to safely get from point A to point B was just go slowly and take little steps. No problem. Yet now, over several days' worth of light melting and immediate refreezing, the sidewalk surface is like an ice skating rink. A downhill ice skating rink.
Needless to say, the hill is not half as easy to navigate now. So far I've slipped twice on the stupid thing. It's somewhat of a miracle that I didn't just keep sliding and wind up abruptly stopping against the side of the neighbor's car. Of course, I had my arms full of stuff each time I fell--I guess it's just not worth falling down if you don't have some good loose items to throw around when you do. Did you know a pen can skitter along a frozen surface for a good thirty feet before it runs out of momentum?
Today, I had to brave the hill again. The ice is still there, and true to form, it is even more treacherous than ever. I stood in my yard--or rather, stood on top of my yard (the grass is still buried an inch or two down)--and looked up at that sidewalk. It stretched before me, glistening, looming, taunting me--a classic case of woman vs. the elements. So far the elements have won twice.
Bring it on.
Reflecting tonight on that walk, this verse came to mind: "If I say, 'My foot slips,' Your mercy, O LORD, will hold me up" (Ps 94:18). As I faithfully, nervously shuffle my way up the narrow way--and though I'm prone to klutziness (physical and spiritual)--His mercy will never fail to bear me up. Even when it's scary, and even when it's painful, He will never leave me nor forsake me. He is so gentle in how He leads us!
And to properly resolve the cliffhanger, I made it up the hill in one piece. I know you were all wringing your hands in suspense. Or maybe not. But let's just hope I won't be back on here tomorrow with an object lesson for Proverbs 24:16... ("...a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again...")
My house is on a hill. A steep one. Did I mention we had a really bad ice storm recently?
For a while, trying to shuffle up and down the hill wasn't too bad. Sure, it was a little dicey, but all you needed to do to safely get from point A to point B was just go slowly and take little steps. No problem. Yet now, over several days' worth of light melting and immediate refreezing, the sidewalk surface is like an ice skating rink. A downhill ice skating rink.
Needless to say, the hill is not half as easy to navigate now. So far I've slipped twice on the stupid thing. It's somewhat of a miracle that I didn't just keep sliding and wind up abruptly stopping against the side of the neighbor's car. Of course, I had my arms full of stuff each time I fell--I guess it's just not worth falling down if you don't have some good loose items to throw around when you do. Did you know a pen can skitter along a frozen surface for a good thirty feet before it runs out of momentum?
Today, I had to brave the hill again. The ice is still there, and true to form, it is even more treacherous than ever. I stood in my yard--or rather, stood on top of my yard (the grass is still buried an inch or two down)--and looked up at that sidewalk. It stretched before me, glistening, looming, taunting me--a classic case of woman vs. the elements. So far the elements have won twice.
Bring it on.
Reflecting tonight on that walk, this verse came to mind: "If I say, 'My foot slips,' Your mercy, O LORD, will hold me up" (Ps 94:18). As I faithfully, nervously shuffle my way up the narrow way--and though I'm prone to klutziness (physical and spiritual)--His mercy will never fail to bear me up. Even when it's scary, and even when it's painful, He will never leave me nor forsake me. He is so gentle in how He leads us!
And to properly resolve the cliffhanger, I made it up the hill in one piece. I know you were all wringing your hands in suspense. Or maybe not. But let's just hope I won't be back on here tomorrow with an object lesson for Proverbs 24:16... ("...a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again...")
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Ministry of the New Covenant
Back in 2 Corinthians. I hit a sweet spot in studying tonight and wanted to share a couple of paragraphs that excited me. The passage is 2 Corinthians 3:7-11. The comments are below.
Ever conscious and grateful for the Old Covenant, Paul draws a contrast between the old and new. He refers to the old covenant as a ministry of death (3:7) and condemnation (3:9), not because it was malicious, but because its express role was to identify sin in the people and their need for salvation (cf. Rom 7:7-10). It had no power in itself to give life, but it clearly identified the sickness that was causing death. It exactly served the purpose for which God created it, and He gave it with His manifest presence. Paul makes no mistake about it: the old covenant was a glorious thing.
However, if the old covenant was so glorious, even with all of its purposeful shortcomings, how much more glorious must this new covenant be? This covenant doesn’t just have the power to convict sin—it has the power to bring about righteousness. The old covenant was passing away, and the new covenant was eternally remaining. Something much more glorious had come upon the scene, and it was this covenant of which Paul and his team were made ministers.Doesn't it just make you excited to be saved?
Scheduling fun...
I'm finding myself these days caught in a tension between a couple of different draws on my energy and time. I'm a full-time student at FSM, as well as a Core Leader/Ministry Assistant for FITN--both are proving to have pretty demanding schedules. At the same time, the Night Watch is in the middle of 90 days of consecration, three months where we're working on setting good habits, focusing in the Prayer Room, and basically doing what we came here to do with excellence.
I'm feeling the pull between things I am required to do (maintenance forms, leading apartment meetings, etc.) and the things I want to do (spending more time in the Prayer Room just for the sake of being there, having time alone at my house to quiet myself before the Lord, etc.). My worship leader encouraged our team tonight to look practically at our lives, and see what changes we can make to help our time on the platform as a team be more fruitful--the goal being to really "tune in" on the platform, to hear the Lord, and to prophesy. How can we prepare? What can we do ahead of time?
It was a great exhortation, and one I'm taking seriously... but yet, staring over the hours of mandatory meetings I had today, I was confronted again with that tug-o-war. What must I keep in my schedule, and what can I cut out in order to "shut it down and pray" (as Corey Russell would say)? How can I live my life in such a way that I am positioning myself to hear the Lord better, even in the midst of a crazy semester?
I can look at several leaders around me--even fellow students--and know that it can be done. If Mike Bickle can have an alive heart with his schedule, then certainly it can work for me. I look at the section leaders and worship leaders around me (some of whom are also full-time students), and am encouraged that if they can pull it off, maybe I can, too. But what does it look like for me? Ahh, there's the question.
Hence the 90-day consecration. And a really good look at my own barrenness.
But God is gracious, and He is so kind and gentle with my heart. I know He likes it that I'm trying, and will help me out in the wisdom department. For now, it's a rocky journey, but if I find Him at the end of it, then everything was worth it.
I'm feeling the pull between things I am required to do (maintenance forms, leading apartment meetings, etc.) and the things I want to do (spending more time in the Prayer Room just for the sake of being there, having time alone at my house to quiet myself before the Lord, etc.). My worship leader encouraged our team tonight to look practically at our lives, and see what changes we can make to help our time on the platform as a team be more fruitful--the goal being to really "tune in" on the platform, to hear the Lord, and to prophesy. How can we prepare? What can we do ahead of time?
It was a great exhortation, and one I'm taking seriously... but yet, staring over the hours of mandatory meetings I had today, I was confronted again with that tug-o-war. What must I keep in my schedule, and what can I cut out in order to "shut it down and pray" (as Corey Russell would say)? How can I live my life in such a way that I am positioning myself to hear the Lord better, even in the midst of a crazy semester?
I can look at several leaders around me--even fellow students--and know that it can be done. If Mike Bickle can have an alive heart with his schedule, then certainly it can work for me. I look at the section leaders and worship leaders around me (some of whom are also full-time students), and am encouraged that if they can pull it off, maybe I can, too. But what does it look like for me? Ahh, there's the question.
Hence the 90-day consecration. And a really good look at my own barrenness.
But God is gracious, and He is so kind and gentle with my heart. I know He likes it that I'm trying, and will help me out in the wisdom department. For now, it's a rocky journey, but if I find Him at the end of it, then everything was worth it.
Monday, January 15, 2007
2 Corinthians Outline
Inspired by seeing Ron Downing's post of the outline of Matthew for his group's practicum class, I decided to unapologetically swipe the idea and do the same for my group's assignment of 2 Corinthians. Here's where we're at:
I. Greeting and prayer (1:1-5)
II. Affliction and comfort (1:6-13a)
- A. Rightly interpreting the affliction (1:6-11)
- B. Boasting in simplicity (1:12-13a)
III. Paul explains his absence (1:13b-2:13)
- A. The intention to come (1:13b-1:18)
- B. The Godhead, the pattern to follow of faithfulness and follow-through (1:19-22)
- C. Sparing the Corinthians more grief (2:1-4)
- D. Parenthesis: Forgiving the one who has caused grief (2:5-11)
- E. Divine appointment preventing Paul’s earlier arrival (2:12-13)
IV. The ministry of the New Covenant/ministry of reconciliation (2:14-6:10)
- A. Praising God for the effectiveness of the ministry (2:14-3:4)
- B. Explaining the ministry (3:5-6:11)
- - 1. The glorious new covenant of the Spirit (3:5-11)
- - 2. Veiled under Moses, unveiled in Christ (3:12-18)
- - 3. Ministers of the New Covenant (4:1-2)
- - - a. Explaining why some are still unable to receive the ministry (4:3-6)
- - - b. Explaining the apostle’s lowly state (4:7-15)
- - - c. Hope in the trial: eternal weight of glory, the resurrection (4:16-5:5)
- - - d. Confidence even in death (5:6-11)
- C. Motive and message of the ministers (5:12-18)
- - 1. Regarding no one by the flesh because of the new creation (5:12-18)
- - 2. Standing as ambassadors of Christ (5:19-6:10)
V. Appealing for purity amongst the believers (6:11-7:3)
VI. The apostle’s comfort in the report of the Corinthians (7:4-7)
- A. Godly sorrow and comfort (7:8-13a)
- B. Titus’ refreshment in the church’s repentance (7:13b-16)
VII. Generous giving (8:1-9:15)
- A. Example of giving: the generosity of the Macedonians (8:1-5)
- B. The Corinthians exhorted to give generously (8:6-9:15)
- - 1. Titus sent to complete the grace in them (8:6-7)
- - 2. Christ the example of extravagant giving (8:8-9)
- - 3. Follow through on your giving (8:10-15)
- - 4. Parenthesis: Commending Titus and his companion [who will collect the gift] (8:16-24)
- - 5. Motivating the Corinthians to give (9:1-15)
VIII. The apostle’s authority (10:1-18)
- A. Speaking in meek authority (10:1-2)
- B. The warfare is not carnal, but spiritual (10:3-6)
- C. Judging the apostle by outward appearances (10:7-11)
- D. The apostles contrasted with false apostles who commend themselves (10:12-18)
IX. Paul resorts to a little foolish boasting for the sake of the Bride of Christ (11:1-4)
- A. Paul challenges the Corinthians to find blame in him (11:5-11)
- B. The deceptive nature of false apostles (11:12-15)
- C. Countering the false apostles with a little boasting of his own (11:16-12:13)
- - 1. Boasting foolishly (11:16-21a)
- - 2. Paul’s pedigree (11:21b-22)
- - 3. Boasting in infirmities (11:23-33)
- - 4. Visions and Revelations of the Lord (12:1-5)
- - 5. The thorn in the flesh (12:6-10)
- - 6. Paul, a genuine apostle (12:11-13)
X. Paul’s upcoming visit (12:14-16)
- A. Refusing to take advantage of the church (12:17-19a)
- B. Examine yourselves (12:19b-13:5)
- C. Praying for the Corinthians to be made complete (13:6-10)
XI. Farewell (13:11-14)
I. Greeting and prayer (1:1-5)
II. Affliction and comfort (1:6-13a)
- A. Rightly interpreting the affliction (1:6-11)
- B. Boasting in simplicity (1:12-13a)
III. Paul explains his absence (1:13b-2:13)
- A. The intention to come (1:13b-1:18)
- B. The Godhead, the pattern to follow of faithfulness and follow-through (1:19-22)
- C. Sparing the Corinthians more grief (2:1-4)
- D. Parenthesis: Forgiving the one who has caused grief (2:5-11)
- E. Divine appointment preventing Paul’s earlier arrival (2:12-13)
IV. The ministry of the New Covenant/ministry of reconciliation (2:14-6:10)
- A. Praising God for the effectiveness of the ministry (2:14-3:4)
- B. Explaining the ministry (3:5-6:11)
- - 1. The glorious new covenant of the Spirit (3:5-11)
- - 2. Veiled under Moses, unveiled in Christ (3:12-18)
- - 3. Ministers of the New Covenant (4:1-2)
- - - a. Explaining why some are still unable to receive the ministry (4:3-6)
- - - b. Explaining the apostle’s lowly state (4:7-15)
- - - c. Hope in the trial: eternal weight of glory, the resurrection (4:16-5:5)
- - - d. Confidence even in death (5:6-11)
- C. Motive and message of the ministers (5:12-18)
- - 1. Regarding no one by the flesh because of the new creation (5:12-18)
- - 2. Standing as ambassadors of Christ (5:19-6:10)
V. Appealing for purity amongst the believers (6:11-7:3)
VI. The apostle’s comfort in the report of the Corinthians (7:4-7)
- A. Godly sorrow and comfort (7:8-13a)
- B. Titus’ refreshment in the church’s repentance (7:13b-16)
VII. Generous giving (8:1-9:15)
- A. Example of giving: the generosity of the Macedonians (8:1-5)
- B. The Corinthians exhorted to give generously (8:6-9:15)
- - 1. Titus sent to complete the grace in them (8:6-7)
- - 2. Christ the example of extravagant giving (8:8-9)
- - 3. Follow through on your giving (8:10-15)
- - 4. Parenthesis: Commending Titus and his companion [who will collect the gift] (8:16-24)
- - 5. Motivating the Corinthians to give (9:1-15)
VIII. The apostle’s authority (10:1-18)
- A. Speaking in meek authority (10:1-2)
- B. The warfare is not carnal, but spiritual (10:3-6)
- C. Judging the apostle by outward appearances (10:7-11)
- D. The apostles contrasted with false apostles who commend themselves (10:12-18)
IX. Paul resorts to a little foolish boasting for the sake of the Bride of Christ (11:1-4)
- A. Paul challenges the Corinthians to find blame in him (11:5-11)
- B. The deceptive nature of false apostles (11:12-15)
- C. Countering the false apostles with a little boasting of his own (11:16-12:13)
- - 1. Boasting foolishly (11:16-21a)
- - 2. Paul’s pedigree (11:21b-22)
- - 3. Boasting in infirmities (11:23-33)
- - 4. Visions and Revelations of the Lord (12:1-5)
- - 5. The thorn in the flesh (12:6-10)
- - 6. Paul, a genuine apostle (12:11-13)
X. Paul’s upcoming visit (12:14-16)
- A. Refusing to take advantage of the church (12:17-19a)
- B. Examine yourselves (12:19b-13:5)
- C. Praying for the Corinthians to be made complete (13:6-10)
XI. Farewell (13:11-14)
Apostolic Prayers and Interns...
Surprisingly, I am not blogging about 2 Corinthians. I actually spent the last solid hour or two of my prayer room time tonight reading up on the historical background of it, and my poor little brain could use a break. I've learned and re-learned a lot of helpful context that will arm me to tackle the rest of the book with the right perspective... tomorrow. Which is technically today, if you're one of those day-schedule types.
However, I do want to write about my fabulous interns and co-core leader, and where we're going in the Word together. I'm assistant core leader to Lacey, who is a great leader (not to mention a good friend--we did FITN track 1 and 2 together). We've got an apartment of 7 ladies who are all awesome. I really like our group.
Every night before the Prayer Room, we have our Burn Team briefings. Basically, we get together in one of the side rooms for fifteen minutes and get focused and geared up to go for another night on the wall.
We're working our way through the Apostolic Prayers in these briefings. It's been good for me to explain to the interns (and remind myself) the value and wisdom of praying these prayers. I get so used to what we say on the microphone night after night, that I forget sometimes how mind-bogglingly awesome these things are.
The past week, we focused on Ephesians 1:17-19, "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power..."
Do we even realize what we pray on the microphone every night? Seriously, this is amazing stuff. We're asking for the knowledge of God--God, infinite, holy, unsearchable--yet He wants to make Himself known. We're asking to know the "exceeding greatness of His power..." That power, we find out in verse 20, is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. We're talking some serious power. And that's the power God has towards us. That's the power the prayer is asking to know.
And somehow, I can hear that being prayed over the microphone and still manage to tune out because "I've heard it before." Looks like I could definitely use some of that wisdom and revelation.
I love discussing these passages with people who aren't over-familiar with them. It always reawakens my heart to how cool the Lord truly is and how amazing His Word is.
However, I do want to write about my fabulous interns and co-core leader, and where we're going in the Word together. I'm assistant core leader to Lacey, who is a great leader (not to mention a good friend--we did FITN track 1 and 2 together). We've got an apartment of 7 ladies who are all awesome. I really like our group.
Every night before the Prayer Room, we have our Burn Team briefings. Basically, we get together in one of the side rooms for fifteen minutes and get focused and geared up to go for another night on the wall.
We're working our way through the Apostolic Prayers in these briefings. It's been good for me to explain to the interns (and remind myself) the value and wisdom of praying these prayers. I get so used to what we say on the microphone night after night, that I forget sometimes how mind-bogglingly awesome these things are.
The past week, we focused on Ephesians 1:17-19, "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power..."
Do we even realize what we pray on the microphone every night? Seriously, this is amazing stuff. We're asking for the knowledge of God--God, infinite, holy, unsearchable--yet He wants to make Himself known. We're asking to know the "exceeding greatness of His power..." That power, we find out in verse 20, is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. We're talking some serious power. And that's the power God has towards us. That's the power the prayer is asking to know.
And somehow, I can hear that being prayed over the microphone and still manage to tune out because "I've heard it before." Looks like I could definitely use some of that wisdom and revelation.
I love discussing these passages with people who aren't over-familiar with them. It always reawakens my heart to how cool the Lord truly is and how amazing His Word is.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Not Yes and No... Yes and Amen
For my upcoming semester at FSM (which--excitingly and frighteningly, is my last one), my class has the practicum assignment to write a commentary on the New Testament. One of the assigned books for my group is 2 Corinthians. I suggested we start with it, mostly because I'm chickening out of trying to outline Luke just yet.
Luke is a very big book.
Anyway, 2 Corinthians is only thirteen chapters long. I must admit I haven't spent too much time in it up until now. But reading through it and trying to structure it into an outline has been very eye-opening for me, and I'm happy that I'm going to be spending the next few weeks commenting on it. You can bet that most, if not all, of my next few blog posts will revolve around it.
What jumped out at me today was the context of 1:20 - "For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God..." I'd always heard this verse as sort of a stand-alone, reminding us how we can completely trust God to follow-through with what He's promised. Of course that's true, and a great application, but reading it in it's context adds a whole new sobering weight to it: that's what's being upheld as a standard for faithfulness.
In this verse, Paul is explaining his absence, defending it by saying that the apostles' promise to the Corinthians was not "Yes and No." Why not? Because "the Son of God, Jesus Christ...was not Yes and No, but in Him was Yes." Jesus is the pattern Paul is following for faithfulness and follow-through. Since He was unwaveringly faithful, that's how Paul and his ministry team determined to conduct themselves.
So there's one more reason to let our "yes" be "yes" and our "no" be "no"...
Luke is a very big book.
Anyway, 2 Corinthians is only thirteen chapters long. I must admit I haven't spent too much time in it up until now. But reading through it and trying to structure it into an outline has been very eye-opening for me, and I'm happy that I'm going to be spending the next few weeks commenting on it. You can bet that most, if not all, of my next few blog posts will revolve around it.
What jumped out at me today was the context of 1:20 - "For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God..." I'd always heard this verse as sort of a stand-alone, reminding us how we can completely trust God to follow-through with what He's promised. Of course that's true, and a great application, but reading it in it's context adds a whole new sobering weight to it: that's what's being upheld as a standard for faithfulness.
In this verse, Paul is explaining his absence, defending it by saying that the apostles' promise to the Corinthians was not "Yes and No." Why not? Because "the Son of God, Jesus Christ...was not Yes and No, but in Him was Yes." Jesus is the pattern Paul is following for faithfulness and follow-through. Since He was unwaveringly faithful, that's how Paul and his ministry team determined to conduct themselves.
So there's one more reason to let our "yes" be "yes" and our "no" be "no"...
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