Musings of a Snickerdoodle

(On Ephesians 1:15) There is also gratefulness expressed in his prayer to God for their love expressed 'to all the saints'.  This gratefulness is not just for 'love' being shown and demonstrated, but that it is non-discriminatory among the 'saints' - there is not preferring one above another (Just as a parent is heartened to see their children loving each other equally and not neglecting some)  Knowing what we already know (of what God has done on our behalf) and the uniting us together into one purpose as family (and as a 'team', our understanding of this will draw us toward each other as fellow beneficiaries of God's grace, called to a special purpose together. It is not our distinctions that unite us,but our common likeness (in Christ) and our unified calling - we have the same purpose and so find our love for one another understandable. - Don Lambert From his  Ephesians sermon series:   http://www.dansvillebaptist.org/ephesians.html See mor...

This book is the first of a trilogy of the American Revolution.   I am reading it aloud with my sister, we haven't finished it yet (are halfway through), but I want to write a review now as I know the book is just being released and I want to recommend it.   We are really enjoying it.     The book takes you chapter by chapter through the war, each usually focusing on a different place either in America or other countries (Canada and Britain).   The book takes you, in a detailed way, through the war.   Focusing on various battles, moving you around the scope of the war so that you can observe the various conflicts, battles and political discussions and decisions in various places and on both sides of the conflict. The author introduces you to various people involved, Including Franklin, Washington, Adams, and men on the other side, like King George III, Generals Gage, Howe, Carleton and Burgoyne. And you don't just get acquainted with the fam...

This book, Church, by A. W.Tozer is a collection of his insights on the topic. He deals with, The Organization of the church, the character of the church, communion of the church, witness of the church…etc.  There isn't a lot of, how shall I put it? Detailed information.    It may have interest for some people, but I didn't find it very intriguing.   I guess it just seemed like more of a devotional type of work.   It didn't seem particularly expository in any given part. And I had trouble with several things, He made statements that kind of confused me, like: "…would you reach out your hand by faith and pull the Holy Spirit in unto you?   It would make a great and wonderful difference in your life. I've seen it happen and there's no reason why it can't happen for you if you fully obey." So…faith is not a gift from God/The Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit waits for me to produce faith and good works and then just enters into my life ...

I first heard of William K. Harrison Jr. on the radio some time ago.  He was being used as an example of someone who made sure he read the word of God every day, even when things got really busy; and things were really busy in his life, as it was noted that this man was a general in World War II.   Not a lot of information was given, but that piqued my interest. But I was sort of afraid he'd be some sort of nominal Christian guy who just read his Bible for just for the sake of 'morality', rather than being the real deal. I tried to find more information about him, and discovered some articles that he had written One was " Professional Excellence for the Christian Officer " And the other one is "May A Christian Serve in the Military ".   I'll give an excerpt from that one here:   From the section in that article,   " The Real Cause of War". "From a Biblical standpoint the answer is simple. The world is dea...

" Far from our personalities being like eye color (something you are born with and can't do anything about), our personalities are something that God gave us so that we would have something to put on the alter and offer to Him…We are naturally full of instincts and desires that are contrary to what God wants us doing.   That means that those things are something to obey with, not something to obey around." Rachel Jankovic From her book:  You Who:  Why You Matter and How to Deal With It. See more quotes on my quote collection blog:  https://snickerdoodlesquotes.blogspot.com/

I think it was the cover of this book that really caught my attention.  It shows a girl with her face scribbled out. Sick of Me: From Transparency to Transformation by Whitney Capps attacks the current fad, in American Christianity, of presenting ourselves to each other in all our weakness. Of course, Capps doesn't think that admitting our faults is a bad thing, the problem is that we don't want to change. We are happy in staying in our unchanged, broken state, and ironically, using it as a springboard for glorying in ourselves rather than in Jesus Christ.  As the author states, "The Christian life is never meant to make people think more or better of me.   The goal is for me to look more like Christ, and, should people happen to notice me in the process, for them to think more of Jesus.   " But that of course, is not biblical and it is not godly.   This book addresses that quite well.   If we are truly convicted about something, we won't feel com...

"We don't want to be like Jesus because we like plain old us better.  We value what we see as our uniqueness apart from Him.  On some level, we are all tempted to believe that we ourselves, even in our sin, are more interesting than we would be in Christ……On one hand, this is what reveals our darkest bit of idolatry- our desire to cling to Me, no matter what.  Rather me in in sin than Him in me.  This is ultimately hell; being left to ourselves and our desires, and being given free reign."    Rachel Jankovic From her book:  You Who:  Why You Matter and How to Deal With It. See more quotes on my quote collection blog:  https://snickerdoodlesquotes.blogspot.com/