for thought and meditation

[Markopolo]

cloudy SE rainforest day...

The Concentration of Personal Sin
By Oswald Chambers

Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips… —Isaiah 6:5

When I come into the very presence of God, I do not realize that I am a sinner in an indefinite sense, but I suddenly realize and the focus of my attention is directed toward the concentration of sin in a particular area of my life. A person will easily say, “Oh yes, I know I am a sinner,” but when he comes into the presence of God he cannot get away with such a broad and indefinite statement. Our conviction is focused on our specific sin, and we realize, as Isaiah did, what we really are. This is always the sign that a person is in the presence of God. There is never any vague sense of sin, but a focusing on the concentration of sin in some specific, personal area of life. God begins by convicting us of the very thing to which His Spirit has directed our mind’s attention. If we will surrender, submitting to His conviction of that particular sin, He will lead us down to where He can reveal the vast underlying nature of sin. That is the way God always deals with us when we are consciously aware of His presence.

This experience of our attention being directed to our concentration of personal sin is true in everyone’s life, from the greatest of saints to the worst of sinners. When a person first begins climbing the ladder of experience, he might say, “I don’t know where I’ve gone wrong,” but the Spirit of God will point out some definite and specific thing to him. The effect of Isaiah’s vision of the holiness of the Lord was the directing of his attention to the fact that he was “a man of unclean lips.” “He touched my mouth with it, and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged’ ” (Isaiah 6:7). The cleansing fire had to be applied where the sin had been concentrated.

have a rainy day!!!!

[Pine Baron]

Thanks Marko. Hot and humid, typical July day at the Jersey shore.

“I don’t know where I’ve gone wrong,” but the Spirit of God will point out some definite and specific thing to him.
and when you recognize that "one" thing, sure as shootin' you'll find more.
Thank God for His mercy and grace.

[Blackwater]

Self-evaluation will always be our hardest task to perform. Our perceptions and thoughts are so often so clouded by imagining we're what we WANT to be, instead of what we really are. But accurate and sometimes brutal evaluation of our selves is necessary to become what we WANT to be like, and how we live and conduct ourselves. God, give us the simple honesty and clear eyes to see where we need to change and improve ourselves. Give us the sincere desire to follow you as YOU have directed us, and not as we wish to conduct ourselves. You are our master, savior, redeemer and best friend ever. Help us to realize that, and let it show in our lives, and our dealing with those around us. Thank you for hearing our prayer. Amen.

[Boaz]

I agreed completely with the message today...and it is true . Many times I have been brought to remember events of the past that I instigated or participated in and thought at that time I had been 'right' , But discover much later I was not . Experience can be a hard teacher . Admission of past sin is one of the amazing points of our Lord's love and mercy . We are absolved of sin for the admission , asking forgiveness and effort not to repeat it .