Roger Thrower » Heart Thots

Faith For Dinner

Roger — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 13:36:54 +0000

Let’s say you accept a dinner invitation from Jesus and you find yourself dining with Noah, Abraham, David, and Jeremiah. Jesus wants you to hear each of these family members of the faith so that you can grow. During the salad you are listening to Noah talk about what it was like to hear God tell him to build an ark when the earth was only watered by dew and that rain did not fall until he had finished building the ark and gathered the animals. He talks about the ridicule and mocking of the people putting down his efforts for the oversized boat. You realize his perseverance in faith was the key to his success before God. His obedience affected the entire world, you included. You wonder to yourself, “Am I persevering through what God called me to do?”

The entrée is served and Abraham begins talking about how God called him to leave his country, family, and familiar way of life and strike out to a land that God would show him when he got there. Again the faith to face the unknown hits you. God made him a blessing to be a blessing. He shares how even after Sarah and He were incapable of having children, he still believed the promise God had made him about being the father of many nations. You wonder to yourself, “Do I still believe in the promises God gave me?”

David commenting on how nice the meal was thanks Abraham and Noah for there contribution to the evening. He reminisces about the times he ask the Lord for direction in times of battle and the Lord would tell him exactly what to do; and then how it inspired him to write a psalm to help others trust in the Lord. Jesus winks at him. You think to yourself, “Do I have a relationship with the Lord like that where he would tell me what to do in a life threatening situation?”

Jesus serves desert and Jeremiah talks about this time he was complaining to the Lord about wicked people prospering. He recalls how the Lord said that “If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, Then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, In which you trusted, they wearied you, Then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan?” He then explains that when God calls us He empowers us to do what we cannot do without his help.

Forgetting dessert you start chewing on what Jeremiah said. You think, “Am I relying on God to do in and through me what He expects of me?”

Finding God’s Love Within the Pages

Roger — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:59:25 +0000

In the midst of leading worship with the presence of God so sweetly and powerfully flowing in and around us, I suddenly saw a picture in my mind’s eye. I saw a gathering up of the fragments of the broken pieces of fish and each broken fragment being put into a basket. I thought to myself, “What does this picture have to do with anything we are doing right now?” But I know the way of the Holy Spirit with me. I told the congregation that I had a picture in my mind of the Lord gathering up the broken fragments of fish into baskets. Immediately the understanding came, and the next part flowed out: “So I the Lord am gathering up the broken pieces of your life–everything that has been broken, yes, every fragment where you have felt torn apart. I am gathering them up, because nothing you have gone through will be wasted. To the contrary, the broken places in your life will be used to nourish others.” Tears fell from some eyes, hope filled the atmosphere in the room, and once again God in His sovereign love and power encouraged His people.

God is doing what only He can do, restoring our deepest pains in life and then declaring that what God has restored in our lives will be used to bring restoration to someone else’s life. Nothing is wasted when God redeems us. In fact, God is glorified when we reveal where He has restored us. The Holy Spirit bears witness to others’ hearts that God indeed did this and that He can help them as well.

As we “read” about Jesus as He is revealed within the pages of God’s Word, we can also ”enter” into this reality of His grace freely given to us. The same God who declares that He will give beauty for ashes in Isaiah 61:3 reaches to heal the burned out places in your soul. Somehow He does it. He takes a burned out you and makes a grace-filled work of art that is beautiful to behold. I know. I see Him do it in those who come desiring for Him to work in their lives. In an atmosphere of love and confidentiality, people will brave opening up their vulnerable places to God.

As you read His word, enter His presence. Open to Jesus who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His love is best when resting deep within you.

Listening to God’s Voice Within the Pages

Roger — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:44:03 +0000

Have you ever read several books by one author? Say Jane Austin or Earnest Hemingway? Or say maybe the writings of C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien? What I am thinking about here is this: when you read the works of certain authors you pick up their way of communicating, their writing style, their thought processes, and their approach: their voice. You get to know their heart, so to speak. If you read many of the books one auther like many have read the works of C.S. Lewis, you are in a way mentored by the mature thinking presented in the concepts, themes, and stories. It is a way of growing mentally.

The Bible is a spiritual book that was inspired by the Holy Spirit as He moved on the hearts of men of God to write in God’s behalf. When you read the Bible with a heart seeking to hear what God would say to you, His voice comes through the words to your spirit. God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. If you ask for wisdom He will give it. In fact the whole book of Proverbs is dedicated to helping the serious disciple gain a heart of wisdom.

What happens when you read the Bible daily? What happens when you desire to know God through the Word of God? What happens when you seek God for council and you have a plan to read and listen to Him so you can obey His voice? This is what happens: you gain a heart affinity with God. You become close. You rely on Him and you know that He knows you and what you need in life. You have a real relationship with God that matters to both of you. The history of God’s people becomes your history because you are grafted in to the olive tree of God’s redemptive history. You are adopted into the family of God like Ruth or Rahab. You didn’t belong and now you do; and as you mature spiritually you become a contributor to this big family by becoming like Jesus Himself.

How? By listening for His voice within the pages and obeying Him when He speaks, you will be mentored by the Lord through the thoughts, stories, history, poetry, passion, mistakes, principles, truths, and examples of those who have gone before you.

God’s Plan for Salvation

Roger — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:46:30 +0000

First the best news: What God has done for us.
● John 3:16-17 - For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
● Romans 5:6 - when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
● John 1:12 – But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:

Second, the bad news: Our condition without Him.
● Romans 5:12 - just as through one man (Adam) sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—
● Romans 3:23 – for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
● Romans 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Third, the good news: What we can do to receive Him.
● Romans 10:8-10 – But what does it say? (“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
● Ephesians 2:8-9 – For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
● Matthew 10:32 – “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.
● 1 John 5:11-13 – And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

A prayer to receive Him and give your life to Him would be like this:
“Father God, in Jesus name I come to You. Thank You for sending Jesus to die in my place for all my wrongdoings and sins. And Lord Jesus, because You rose again unto eternal life, I believe in my heart and confess with my mouth that You are my Lord. I receive Your love for me and Your gift of eternal life. Thank You for forgiving me of all my faults and failures and sins. I give my life to You and I open to the assurance of the Holy Spirit that I am now Your child. I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.”

Passionate for God

Roger — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:01:09 +0000

People are passionate about many different things in life. In the Bible we find some people that were passionate about their relationship with God. Notice the words and actions of these men of God.
“As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for you, Oh, God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God,” sang David in a song he’d written to express his personal passion for the God of Israel.
“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me,“ declares Paul concerning his passionate pursuit of Jesus Christ.
“Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of the disciples, whom Jesus loved,” states John, the Beloved, as he paints a word portrait of the Last Supper to reveal his personal passion for the person of Jesus Christ.
“Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” asked Jesus of the discouraged Peter who had failed in his commitment to Jesus. “Yes, Lord, You know that I love You,” replied Peter, who with these very words began the re-ignition of his passion for Jesus.

When we by God’s grace exit the kingdom of darkness and begin to overcome bad habits and thought patterns, we must continually connect with Jesus who gave Himself for us. We can’t just set our hearts on leaving the trouble of our sinful ways without cleaving to the person of Jesus who supplies us His pure life by His Holy Spirit dwelling within us.

David, Paul, John, and Peter believed a personal, passionate pursuit of God’s purifying presence prevents trespasses and propels us into our powerful purpose in Christ. God’s all-consuming love is our fuel for living a blessed life.

May our hearts catch the passion for the person of Jesus just like those who have gone before us!
Going for Jesus, Roger

The Way of Fathering

admin — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 01:07:45 +0000

First of all, Happy Father’s Day to you dads who have taken your role of being a father seriously! It takes guts and sacrifice to be a good dad. In fact, fatherhood is something that is passed down from father to son, or it is imparted by the Lord Himself to the man who seeks the Lord and desires to walk in His ways as a father. It can even be imparted by another man who walks in a fathering role.

Let me share a few thoughts about fatherhood. As a healthy mother awakens the heart of the child to nurture, so a healthy father calls the child into destiny. I find it very interesting that in the Bible a larger percent of men were called into their destiny not by their biological father but by a man who stepped into the role of being a spiritual father. Elisha received the mantle of Elijah, which released him into his destiny as a prophet of God. 2 Kings 2:11-13 tells the story of the closing moments of Elijah’s life saying,

Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried out, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” So he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces. He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan.

Elisha called Elijah, “My father.” Moses was a spiritual father to Joshua. David was anointed and called into his destiny by Samuel the prophet instead of Jesse his dad. James and John were called into their destiny by Jesus instead of Zebedee their father. Paul was a spiritual father to Timothy and to Titus. My own destiny in Christ was released through Jack Hayford instead of my dad.

Part of the reason for this is that when God calls someone, He needs to impart His Spirit upon them through a mature man of God. The son in the faith needs the Spirit of God imparted to him through a man of God or father in the faith that carries the Spirit of the Lord and who lives a life consecrated to God.

It’s God’s way, and it works. It’s God’s way of fathering.

A blessed son,

Roger