Reflecting on Revelation

We've reached the halfway point in our revelation study, and I wanted to take some time to look back over what we've seen so far. I've actually seen some repeating themes, and I think those are important to note, and I can't wait to see how they play out in the remaining 3 letters.

With that in mind, let's look back on the churches we've studied so far.

1. The church in Ephesus was recognized for their faithfulness to Christ and His teachings, but condemned for their lack of love.
   
2. Smyrna was faithful to the point of death. They had love, and they were praised for their perseverance.
   
3. The Christians in Pergamum had love and perseverance, but they were lacking in truth. They remained faithful to Christ, but not His teachings.
   
4. And finally, the church in Thyatira was praised for it's love, faith, service, and patient endurance, yet they lacked truth. They tolerated false teachings.

Over and over again, Jesus has commented on their love, faith, perseverance, and whether or not they hold to the truth of the gospel or allow false teachings.

Love, faith, perseverance, and truth. Those are the highlights of the first four letters.

Which brings me to my reflection.

Do we see those things in our own lives? 

Do we keep Christ as our first love? ...or do we tend to drift away?

Is our faith in Christ (and Christ alone) enough to sustain us? Do we remain faithful to Him and believe He is in control of all?

Will we persevere when hardships come our way? ...or will we cave under pressure?

Will we stand up for the truth of God's Word, even if it means sacrificing our standing within our church, community or family?

Those are hard questions, but they are the ones I am reflecting on this week.

A less prominent repeating theme I saw in the first four churches, is works. Jesus said He knew the works of the first three churches, and the church in Thyatira was praised for their service. One of the ladies in my Bible study reminded us this week that faith without works is dead (James 2:20). That's something to remember as well.

Jesus knows your works. What does He know about you?

Do your works stem from love? Prompted by faith? Do they hold to the truth? Do they persevere under hardship? Do they exist at all...

We'd love to have you join us for the second half of this study. Find out more at: http://www.paulandheatherhart.com/intro-to-revelation/

This post was originally posted on my website at:
http://www.paulandheatherhart.com/reflecting-on-revelation-pt-1/

Forgive me... please?

Okay, it's time for some honesty. I have been BUSY!

I've been writing Bible studies for my church, writing books, and blogging for multiple websites.

In fact, on Tuesday this week, I shared an excerpt from the first book in my new Bible study series (read that post here). So far it's the only one that is available on Amazon, but all of the studies I've written are available for free...

Which is where I can only ask your forgiveness.

I realized on Tuesday that I neglected to tell my following here about my new website -- I actually share it with Mr. Amazing which is totally awesome.

All of the Bible studies I've been writing are available there.

You can even sign up to get the current series I'm writing via e-mail or follow along on my blog over there -- right now we are working our way through the letters Jesus wrote the the 7 churches in Revelation.

I really hope you check them out.

Hunger and Thirst

“Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”

~ Matthew 5:6

I have quite the sweet tooth. My friends all got a kick out of it the day I posted a Facebook status that said, “Help! I'm craving chocolate and have lost my M&Ms!” I scoured the whole house up and down to find my giant bag of M&Ms that I keep hidden from my children (I do share on occasion—really, I do).

I’m sure you’ll be relieved to hear I found them and my craving was fulfilled, but what’s even better is the way God has used that craving to draw me close to Him. It all started with a question, “When was the last time I craved God enough to search Him out?”

We crave a lot of things: chocolate, steak, a good book. But how often do we crave God or His Word? That’s what the words Jesus spoke in Matthew 5:6 make me wonder. Do I really hunger and thirst for righteousness? What would that even look (or feel) like?

And those questions led me to the apostle Paul. I think Paul really understood this. He wrote to the Philippians, “I long to know Christ and the power which is in His resurrection, and to share in His sufferings and die even as He died; in the hope that I may attain to the resurrection from among the dead” (3:10-11 WNT).

Paul craved the righteousness by hungering for more of Christ. Earlier in that paragraph he said he counted everything else as a loss. He knew he didn’t have any righteousness of his own, but only what he received by faith in Christ (vs. 7-9).

The knowledge of Christ is there for the taking. His life, death, and resurrection are all recorded in the Bible, all we have to do is open it with the intention of learning more about Him. We can’t deepen our knowledge of Christ when we open God’s Word thinking we already know everything it has to say. We have to be open for God to communicate with us. We have to want to know Him more—to crave Him.

I loved the way one of the women in my Bible study worded this. She said, “God is a gentleman. He waits for us to come to Him.” A.W. Tozer said it this way, “God waits to be wanted.” He doesn’t demand that we sit and eat. He doesn’t stand over us and tell us we can’t start our day until we have spent at least half an hour reading His Word and drinking in His Spirit. He waits patiently until we crave Him, and then He fills us to the full.

When we draw close to God, He fills us with peace, hope, love, joy, and so much more. Paul wrote in the book of Romans that he wanted God to fill them with joy and peace so they could overflow with hope (15:13). When we crave God, He does just that. He blesses us with more of Him so we can live life to the fullest (John 10:10).

“It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’” 

~ Matthew 4:4 (WEB)

The above is an excerpt from my book, "Blessings from Above: A Deeper Look at the Beatitudes"

Things I've Learned in the Past 30 Years

I had a birthday yesterday, and today, I'm going to tell you how old I am. I know women are suppose to hide that sort of thing, but I'm not going to. Why? Because the first thing I've learned during the past 30 years is is that age doesn't matter. Not really.  I don't care how old or young you are, it's who you are that really matters. In fact, over the past several years if you would have asked me how old I was, you probably would have got a puzzled expression. It's not something that's important to me, so I have to stop and do the math. I'll probably remember my age this year, though. It's a good round number. (If you haven't already figured it out, I just turned 30.)

Without further ado, here's 30 things I've learned in the past 30 years:

1. Age doesn't matter - see 1 Timothy 4:12
2. God is in control - even when you can't see His plan - see Romans 8:28
3. Jesus died for my sins (and yours) and I'm so thankful that I He did - see John 3:16-18
4. Everyone has feelings - no matter how hard they try to hide them.
5. No dreams are unrealistic if they are what you really want and you're dedicated to making them come true.
6. Water is good for you - but that doesn't mean I have to like it.
7. Green smoothies make you pee.
8. There is no greater feeling than being loved.
9. Success comes and goes, but accomplishments last forever.
10. I'm not a pet person.
11. It's better to give than to receive.
12. The golden rule really is golden.
13. Blessings come in all shapes and sizes, we'll never be able to recognize them all - see #2
14. People are far more important than things.
15. Whiplash causes migraines - and they HURT! - see #2
16. The best way to fight depression is through praise and thanksgiving.
17. Everyone has an opinion, but that doesn't mean they are right. It's best to listen and pray - see #2
18. Imperfection is okay - see #3
19. Nobody is perfect - see above.
20. Words hurt, hearts heal, the love of God can carry you through anything - see #2
21. Things aren't always as they seem.
22. Forgiveness is a choice - see #3
23. You can't please everyone at the same time. It's best to what you need to do, and let God deal with the rest - see Galatians 1:10
24. True beauty is on the inside.
25. People will fail you, they are about as close to perfect as you are - see #19.
26. Having cute kids is both a blessing and a curse. 
27. Spending time with like-minded people is essential - see Hebrews 10:25
28. It's easier to overthink things and worry than it is to trust God, especially when you should be sleeping - see #2
29. Not all good things are fun.
30. Life goes on.