"Jesus did not say to make converts to your way of thinking, but He said to look after His sheep, to see that they get nourished in the knowledge of Him. We consider what we do in the way of Christian work as service, yet Jesus Christ calls service to be what we are to Him, not what we do for Him. Discipleship is based solely on devotion to Jesus Christ, not on following after a particular belief or doctrine. "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate . . . , he cannot be My disciple" ( Luke 14:26 ). In this verse, there is no argument and no pressure from Jesus to follow Him; He is simply saying, in effect, "If you want to be My disciple, you must be devoted solely to Me." A person touched by the Spirit of God suddenly says, "Now I see who Jesus is!"— that is the source of devotion.
Today we have substituted doctrinal belief for personal belief, and that is why so many people are devoted to causes and so few are devoted to Jesus Christ. People do not really want to be devoted to Jesus, but only to the cause He started. Jesus Christ is deeply offensive to the educated minds of today, to those who only want Him to be their Friend, and who are unwilling to accept Him in any other way. Our Lord’s primary obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of people— the saving of people was the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father. If I am devoted solely to the cause of humanity, I will soon be exhausted and come to the point where my love will waver and stumble. But if I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity, even though people may treat me like a "doormat." The secret of a disciple’s life is devotion to Jesus Christ, and the characteristic of that life is its seeming insignificance and its meekness. Yet it is like a grain of wheat that "falls into the ground and dies"— it will spring up and change the entire landscape ( John 12:24 )." My Utmost for His Highest

All of that was too good to cut.

I'm struggling today, Lord. With what the right course of action is. I have the landscape issue that is yet unsolved, and frustrating. But more on the forefront of my mind is the response I got from a person about my comments to his argument for intergrated family worship. I realized as I read that I was getting defensive about the male-female submission issue, but that was quickly dissipated when I realized that I had, in effect (though not blatantly), dissed him. And as a woman, talking to a man and pastor, I probably overstepped my bounds. It's so easy on the computer to forget who I'm talking to and what is appropriate. Aside from that, though, he didn't address my concerns with his reasoning and I hold to my belief that family integrated worship is not the BEST way to worship. Sure it may be exactly what he and his church is being called to do, but this is so clearly a case of personal conviction that I think it's harmful and divisive to take sides. Now to the issue of baptising children and whatever the "covenant child" thing is (that I have yet to hear clearly defined), this may be a case of bad doctrine. But as of right now, I can't say one way or the other. Which is it, Lord? And do I stand up, or back down? Can You show me the way? Can You shut doors in my face or open them up? Cause I really want to address this right now, but I definitely don't have a certainty about how to proceed. I want to go forth with Your words, not mine.

It seems You have been hammering home the concept of works versus faith lately, Lord. I'm so glad to be schooled again. Thank You so much for this summer bible study, for my mother-in-law who is an excellent wearer of many hats. Thank You for Beth Moore and what a blessing she's been to my walk with You. Thank You for our new house which is PERFECT (made for You to dwell in through us!). Thank You for my husband that I have renewed passion, appreciation, and affection for. Thank You for whatever You desire to do in my relationship with my father-in-law. I want You to give me an opportunity to show him respect by asking him for advice for something. I really want to improve our status, but I'm at a loss as to how! Don't let me miss Your guidance! I want to ask for specific and timely intervention for our house situation in Mishawaka. Buyers to come, our friends to keep up with mowing and checking it, our realty company to be able to sell it, and then the big task of packing up and moving our belongings. Michael thinks we're going to have to do it ourselves. So I don't know what You have in mind here, but we're heavily leaning on You to show us a solution and then having a good attitude about it! I honestly have not even really thought me packing us has ever been a REAL option. But the more time goes on, the more likely it becomes. I don't even want to list out the ways You could intervene here, but I know that miracles are PROBABLE with You, Lord! Not just wishful thinking, but because I KNOW YOU, and You are so much bigger than I ever give You credit for! Please help us, Father!

I love You so much. Thinking about Your amazingly wonderful qualities, how much You must love me even though I doubt sometimes that You do. How perfectly You do everything. The sweet blessings I've recieved. The way You work in and through others around me. The beauty of this world and Your called ones. The systems You've designed both for this world and for the one to come. Sometimes You seem so beyond me, so distant, so much higher than me.

The Trees of the Field
By Steffi Geiser Rubin & Stuart Dauermann
You shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace
The mountains and the hills will break forth before you
There'll be shouts of joy, and all the trees of the field
will clap, will clap their hands

And all the trees of the field will clap their hands
The trees of the field will clap their hands
The trees of the field will clap their hands
While you go out with joy

Going out with joy for You, Lord!