Chazown: September 2009

Overnighter continued

more pix from stupid games and random madness

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overnighter pix

more pix from the overnighter

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Overnighter pix!

High school overnighter…couch wars

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Craziest youth game....taking pictures all over town with a couch

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The real Dennis the mennis

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Untitled

This photo taken while pondering the complex integration of the sacred and the secular in my life. Oh, and Alex made me a hat!

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Chi Rho tattoo

Finally got my newest tattoo fixed up yesterday, here is what it looks like...

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my Chloe

this is a pic i ran across from our washington trip that was too cute
not to share.

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Crossing our eyes at Denny's

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Abi got sleepy during lunch

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The Indwelling Nature of Christ...some random thoughts

The indwelling nature of Christ

Some of you may have heard the word before in church. Indwelling. What does that mean? It really refers to the scriptures that refer to Christ living in us as we are given salvation. Christ, living in our hearts. This is where the mystery really begins. Does he really dwell in our hearts? Or is it figurative? Can this mysterious union actually exist? And how do we feel it or how do we know that it is there?

My feeling is that yes, He really dwells in your heart through his spirit, the Holy Spirit. It’s amazing to think that the God of the universe would dwell in your heart? Why? The truth is that it is because he loves you that much. To not just follow you wherever you go, but to be in you as you go, to become a part of you.

How do we know he is in us? Simply by believing his promise. The end of the great commission in Matthew 28 tells us simply, “…and behold, I AM WITH YOU always…”

Jesus promised he would be with us through his Spirit. That’s enough for me.

What do we do with this Spirit? Simply we live in the spirit. As He lives in us, we are to live in him. Again, a mystery, but possible. I don’t know exactly how my cell phone works, but I know it works. The same is true here. We don’t exactly understand these mysteries, but if we trust them enough to use them, they work! The scripture demands us to live in the spirit and not in the flesh. By our very nature we will always live in the flesh, unless something happens to us. That is when Christ dwells in us. It is only possible to live in the spirit if the spirit is living in us! So then, the only way to start that process is to trust that it works, to trust that, like he said, he is with us. It’s that simple. Believe. Believe in the process just like you believe in your cell phone’s capability to call your mom.

Well, what if I don’t feel like the spirit is living in me...it goes back to the last idea of the circle. The spirit dwells in us when we dwell in the spirit and likewise. Yes, the spirit of God is dwelling in you if you believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and that he has granted you salvation. If you do not feel like he is there with you it is because you are not holding up your end of the bargain! Dwell in Christ. Abide in Him and he will ABIDE in you. (John 15) then you will produce fruit the scripture says. The fruit is only yielded during that mutual union with Christ.

You have not yet accessed the power of Christ because you forget and fail to believe that he is already abiding in you!

What happens when we abide or dwell or live in the spirit? Picture your life. What did you do today? Would you have done some things if you knew the presence of the Holy God was beating in your heart? Would you have passed up on some opportunities if you truly believed that you were not alone? The problem of sin persists when we fail to really believe that the presence of Christ is within our hearts.

So what do we do with this? We practice. Practice the presence of Christ. We constantly remind ourselves and ask that we be reminded of the indwelling presence of Christ. Then we can feel Him all the better, hear his voice all the better, hear his calling in day to day situations, and see where he is moving in our hearts as well as around us. For the Spirit is not just in us but around and through and from and to us! God is everywhere, but if you don’t believe that your cell phone works, you probably won’t even give it a try.

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