Every Thought Captive

2 Corinthians 10

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.



What does it mean to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ? Jesus once prayed "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." (Matthew 26:39) Jesus had taken every though captive. He was able to follow God so closely that his will and the Father's will were indistinguishable. He had disciplined himself to be the perfect example of obedience to God, and he is the model that we all aspire to.

The next time you feel the impulse to jump and act, take a minute to stop and think first... "Is this an act of determined obedience, or is this an act of human nature?" You can do a great deal of practical work that is good work for good reasons, "but true determination and zeal are found in obeying God, not in the inclination to serve Him that arises from our own undisciplined human nature. (Oswald Chambers)"

Take every thought captive!

Written by Frederick A Hanna

The Power of Images

I've got a joke for you! Listen...




Some people look at these images and find them to be little more than a harmless joke... an effort to get one's point across... a kind of political satire. Others look at these images and see hate... tasteless morbid humor and racism at its best.

Who's right?

The Jerry Dome

As a life long Cowboys fan, I have 2 comments about last night's game 1) "Boo for Tony Romo," terrible game; and 2) "Bigger Boo for Jerry Jones," what a waste of money that stadium is. It epitomizes America's lust for luxury and dismissal of thrift. "For a list of 20 major traded commodities, it (U.S.) takes the greatest share of 11 of them: corn, coffee, copper, lead, zinc, tin, aluminum, rubber, oil seeds, oil and natural gas. For many more it is the largest per-capita consumer." The next time you complain about an athlete's salary, think about how much we "invest" in our teams (tickets, jerseys, time, etc.). Too bad we don't invest as much in our communities, or better yet our teachers... monetarily and educationally. We worship our pets, our teams, our homes, & our cars... You should have renovated the old stadium and built 10 schools and 500 affordable homes Jerry, but that would be too unAmerican for the owner of America's team.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/21/sports/football/21giants.html?th&emc=th

Written by Frederick A Hanna

You need THE Paraclete? - When people aren't enough, you need a "Go-To-God."

Sometimes people fail you...

...They let you down.
...They aren't in place when you need them.
...They're not up to the task.
...They're flakes.
...They fall asleep on the job.
...They're not accountable.

If you think I'm being a pessimist, then you either haven't lived long enough or you don't like dealing with reality. Human beings are fallible, and even the best of us make mistakes and fall short. That's why you need the Paraclete!

Who's always on the job! Never sleeps or slumbers? Has your back, front, undersides, oversides, and insides? None BUT God!

Paraclete, translated as comforter is the word most often used to depict the Holy Spirit, but its also a word that Jesus used to refer to Himself.

The Holy Spirit is like a garment that God has given us to prepare us as we suit up to do battle with the forces of the world: racism, poverty, oppression, grief... Since we are wrestling with powers that are greater than our humanity, we need an Advocate who is greater than our humanity and greater than our adversaries. Jesus promised us that we would never be left alone in this battle.

"Our greatest asset is invisible and intangible. The Paraclete goes out into life's conflicts with us and protects not only our backs, but also our sides, our fronts, and our insides, the whole being!" L Sweet

The Paraclete imbues us with Confidence, Humility, and Courage:

Confidence... The confidence of the Paraclete means that your confidence is not in yourself, but in a hope that arises from a deep faith in the providence and protection of the Paraclete.

Humility... The humility of the Paraclete means that you have a monstrous modesty. "The disciple of Jesus stoops to conquer" (L Sweet). In the Bible, the path to exaltation is paved with humility.

Courage...To face the world with confidence and humility, you will need courage. The Paraclete gives you the courage to live your life to the fullest, to stand toe-to-toe with your fears, to push through circumstances and situations that appear to be meant for your destruction, to be more than a conqueror!

John 14:26 (NKJV)
26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

You need the Paraclete.

Written by Frederick A Hanna

Where is Your Place? - You need your own little Jerusalem (City of Peace).

Everyone needs a PLACE in life. Not necessarily a physical place, but a place where you feel grounded and secure, a place where you feel emotionally, mentally, spiritually at peace.

1. You need to FIND your place...
Is there a place that you long to return to? A place where you feel whole? A place where you feel completely at ease?

OR

Are you like many, "hopelessly searching for spiritual roots without earth to plant in?"

2. You need to live in your place...
Once your find you place, you've got to situate yourself in it. You've got to get accustomed to it and committed to it. You've got to understand its narratives, its traditions, its landscape, how it functions and how you function in it.

3. You need to speak the language of your place...
"When you speak, can people hear the personality of your place? Do you speak with an accent? Does your 'speech betray you,' as it did Peter with the servant girls?" (L. Sweet)

Never betray your heritage and lose your accent! Your accent isn't just in the twang in your tongue, or the local meanings of certain words and phrases, BUT in the spirit of where you come from. You speak with the accent of your heritage.

Martin Luther King made famous the words, "Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we're free at last," but those weren't his words. They come from a song called "I Shall Get Home Some Day" by Charles A Tindley, BUT when King spoke them with the accent of the black church... the pain, the struggle, the tension, the freedom, the power... The magnificence of the tradition of the black church that colored King's accent made these words immortal. What's your accent?

We all need to have a PLACE in the world. A place where we find the peace of God and the purpose of God for our lives.

Written by Frederick A Hanna

ABD (All But Dissertation) Baby!

I offer this not as a means of bragging or of pride, but as inspiration to my peers... This is the email I received from the Dean for Academic Affairs today. I had written somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 pages for this exam back in the March-April time frame, and was asked to revise 1 question. I am VERY happy, and hoping that my wife will treat me to a new bow tie as a congratulations!

Dear Reverend Hanna,

Congratulations! The ETPA department has informed me that you have passed satisfactorily the Qualifying Exam for the degree of Doctor of Education.

Please contact your advisor for further guidance. I would like to take this opportunity to offer my best wishes for continued success in your doctoral studies.

Sincerely,
Dr. William Firestone
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

Almost there!!!

But I Will Trust in God…

Have you ever gotten down on yourself because you felt that your TRUST IN GOD was challenged? Did you think that you were alone in that place? That what you were experiencing was something unlike what other Christians experience?

Well, I read in Psalm 13 where King David said,

1 How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?

2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart daily?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

This was King David! The great king David... the mighty warrior, King David... God's chosen, King David...

A lot of churches today will tell you that if you’re feeling the way that David felt in Psalm 13, then you are a spiritual failure… your faith is weak… BUT the fact of the matter is that most of us can identify with David’s cries… Most of us have struggled with the fact that life isn’t always easy, and life isn’t always fair, and blessings don’t always look the way we think they should look… Have you ever heard that saying,

“that was a blessing in disguise?”

Well I don't know about you, but I don’t want all my blessings to be in disguise all the time! Sometimes I need a blessing that I can see coming! A blessing that I can Recognize… A blessing THAT LOOKS just like I prayed it would look…

I want you to know something today, I want you to know if that’s you… if that’s you… crying out like David… struggling with God… I want you to know that kind of cry does not indicate an absence of faith. In Fact it may very well be the most sincere expression of faith because it shows that you are involved in a process... A process that takes you on a path of moving forward in life… a process that takes you on a path of growing with God… …of learning to trust God… of learning to

“trust in the Lord, and to lean not on thine own understanding…”

Learning to TRUST in God can be a process, but the destination is sweet... "the peace that passes all understanding…"

An excerpt from a sermon preached on September 6, 2009 at Cedar Park Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, PA

Written by Frederick A Hanna