Willing Captive

2009-08-14T19:51:00.000-07:00

My wife and I recently were privileged to get a DVD by Louie Giglio that is an awesome exposition about an awesome God. It is also available on youtube.

willingcaptive.com is no more - for now

2009-08-14T19:41:00.000-07:00

As evidenced by the frequency (or lack thereof) of the posts in this blog, time is a valuable and slippery commodity. In evaluating my time investments, I have decided to let www.willingcaptive.com go away for a time. I simply was not devoting time to it due to other commitments that took precedence.

An awesome privilege!

2007-07-14T08:43:00.000-07:00

When you think about it, worship is definitely more than a “warm-up act” for the message. The Westminster Catechism says this:

Q) What is man’s primary purpose?
A) Man’s primary purpose is to glorify God (1 Cor 10:31; Rom 11:36), and enjoy Him forever (Psalm 73:25-28).

Or like the song states, “All of life comes down to just one thing, that's to know You, oh Jesus, and to make You known”.

Worship is sure an awesome privilege! We get to join in the activity of the angels! And God chooses to inhabit our praises.

On fire

2007-05-09T17:53:00.000-07:00

The March 12 post quoted Hebrews 12. In Deuteronomy 4:24 we find the same words echoed.

"For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God."

It may seem odd to think of God as being jealous. We often think of jealousy as a negative quality. But understanding God's exclusive claim on our heart, it is far from a negative thing. God has established a relationship with us that is marked by the same kind of commitment as a husband for his wife. Just as a husband would have righteous jealousy over his wife flirting with another man, God has a righteous jealousy toward us.

God, keep my heart undivided, fully given to you!

A word of encouragement

2007-05-02T19:49:00.000-07:00

I was chatting today with a friend. God showed me a word of encouragement for them. I hope it encourages you too!

These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. 8 I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. 9 I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars--I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. 10 Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth.
REV 3:11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. 12 Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name. 13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Consumed

2007-03-12T17:47:00.000-07:00

What consumes us? That's an important question. Think about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. They were not consumed by the flames of the fire. Why? Because they had already been consumed by their love of God!

Hebrews 12:28-29 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
28Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29for our "God is a consuming fire."

Let's be "on fire" for God!

Responding to revelation

2007-02-10T14:41:00.000-08:00

How do we respond when God gives us a greater revelation of Himself? If we are like Jeremiah, Isaiah, Peter, and John, the response may first be a recognition of our un-holiness in the face of God's holiness. They fell to their faces, acknowledging the greatness of God and being filled with a sense of their own unworthiness. It is God who lifted them to their feet again.

What an awesome thing it is that the Holy God of the universe invites and even seeks our worship when we worship Him in the Spirit and in truth!

www.willingcaptive.com move completed

2007-01-21T14:54:00.000-08:00

The move is complete. www.willingcaptive.com has been relocated to the new host. Now I need to get to work recording more of the songs, etc. I'll keep you posted as I do.

Amazing Grace - looks like it will be a great one

2007-01-20T06:25:00.000-08:00

I'm not much of a movie goer, but this showed up in an email from worshiptogether.com. It looks like an awesome movie, dealing with the abolition of slavery in England.

http://www.theamazingchange.com/ is a site that will help open your eyes to the modern issue of slavery.

Revamping and relocating web site

2007-01-13T12:20:00.000-08:00

The willingcaptive.com web site is undergoing changes. The old site can still be viewed at http://www.willingcaptive.com. You can get a sneak preview of the new site at http://willingcaptive.witnesstoday.org. It is still in the very early stages of development, but you can get an idea of what it will be like.

On the songs page, I've linked to mp3s of some of the pro-life songs that I have written. I hope that they are a blessing to you.

On January 22, 2007 we will mark 34 years of legalized abortion in this land. Let's pray that the hearts of the American people would be turned.

MAL 4:1 "Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire," says the LORD Almighty. "Not a root or a branch will be left to them. 2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall. 3 Then you will trample down the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things," says the LORD Almighty.
MAL 4:4
"Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb
for all Israel. MAL 4:5 "See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse."

2006-12-29T15:32:00.000-08:00

When we were visiting in Michigan, Dennis pointed out the nativity set to me. “Notice what’s missing?” As I looked, I saw the regular characters: three kings, shepherds, Mary, Joseph, and a lamb, cow, camel, and donkey. Even an angel. And, of course, there was the stable and the manger. But looking more closely, I saw that the manger was empty. We had a similar incident this year at our house. The soft cloth nativity that we have was also missing Jesus. Oh, we did find Him again after some searching, fallen back into a box with some other Christmas decorations.

I began to think about the missing Jesus at Christmas time. It is easy for all of us to have gathered around us all the “trimmings” of Christmas: the tree, the gifts, the lights, the food, and even family and friends, and yet Jesus can be missing from the middle of it. Jesus is central to Christmas. The Bible never mentions a donkey in connection with Christmas. The Bible never mentions a camel in connection with Christmas. But it clearly tells of the Son of God, come into our world, born to die in our place, paying the penalty for our sins.

The missing Jesus: He may not just be missing from the nativity sets, but from our hearts and lives also. The apostle John said it in these words:

JN 1:10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed
in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

The world missed Him. The world continues to miss Him. How can we find the missing Jesus in our lives? We need to receive Him into the manger of our hearts.

Why "Willing Captive"?

2006-12-29T15:24:00.000-08:00

Willing Captive is a reference to Exodus 21.

Ex 21:5 "But if the servant declares, `I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,' 6 then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life."

It is our desire that our worship of God be expressive of a bondservant relationship with Jesus. Our worship seeks to be a pouring out of love to our God with an un-divided heart. In worship, we are living out what it means to belong to God. Using the scriptural picture of the bondservant, we have come to the doorpost and laid down our rights in unconditional surrender. We are unrestrained in our love for God. We have come to the place of abandonment and commitment to Him. The “doorpost” is a place marked by blood. The blood of being “earmarked” as a bondservant mirrors the other blood that marks the doorpost – the blood of the Lamb that was sacrificed and whose blood purchased us from slavery and has set us on this journey. We follow now, looking to God’s presence like Israel followed the pillar of cloud and fire.