our concept of God

“Christianity at any given time is strong or weak depending upon her concept of God…. A local church will only be as great as its conception of God. An individual Christian will be a success or failure depending upon what he or she thinks of God. It is critically important that we have a knowledge of the Holy One, that we truly know what God is like.” – AW Tozer, The Attributes of God, volume 1

Strength and Honor.

Glory to God!

Jason

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Too much to do. Too much going on. Blogging is going to take a back seat over the next few months. I’m in my last semester of grad school and am working toward my comps. Give me a call, we’ll catch up… ha!

martin luther king jr. and me

“Either we will learn to live together as brothers and sisters, or we will perish together as fools.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Unity, courage, passion, social-justice, faith….

Some men are born for greatness, others have greatness thrust upon them – and in very rare moments, the two collide.

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Happy birthday to me.  Tiersa and the kids are out of school today.  I’m taking the day off.  (After sleeping in) I awoke to coffee and waffles and my sweet wife and kids singing happy birthday.  Looking forward to a fantastic day!

Glory to God!

Jason

morning ministry

The morning is when most of ministry takes place for me.  No necessarily ministering to others.  There’s no time frame on that.  Ministry is simply life…. 

But rather, I enjoy morning most because it is the time in which I minister to myself.  And really, the time when God ministers to me.  I generally spend the first hour or more of the day intentionally praying, reading: both my daily Bible readings (this year I’m reading through The Grace for the Moment Bible, NCV and a year-long devotional book from Tozer), and then spending the rest of the time reading whatever book I’m working through (right now it’s Knowing Christ Today, by Dallas Willard.  Tiersa got me it and The Great Omission for Christmas.  I read through The Great Omission in about 4 days – ha!).  I am learning too that spending time in silence, really communing with God and listening to God, is such a good way to bring things together at the end of this morning ministry (of course none of this takes place without a cup of coffee in my hand.  This morning, French Vanilla Latte, mmmm…).  This time fills my soul and opens my eyes to God at work in humanity and at work in me. 

And so this is my request: that you would spend time each day ministering to yourself and truly, fully allowing God to minister to you as well. 

And then, get up and go hit the button on a second cup of coffee….

Strength and Honor!

Glory to God.

Jason

goals for 2010

Goals for 2010:

1) Reform myself

2) Reform the church

3) Reform the world

Strength and Honor.

Glory to God!

Jason

in need of His grace

Listen to (or read rather) Dallas Willard’s indictment of many who claim to be Christian but whose sectarianism is anything but….

“Christian pluralism here means pluralism derived from the understanding of God brought to earth by Jesus Christ, that is, a pluralism based upon the generosity and justice of the God revealed in Christ. Such a pluralism seems impossible to many. If Christians and Christian teachers have knowledge of essential points about God, Jesus Christ, and His spiritual life, that can only mean that those who disagree with them on those points must be mistaken. That seems unavoidable, a mere matter of logic. But by an unwarranted transition that has become customary today, that is taken to mean that Christians think they are better human beings than those who disagree with them and, conversely, that those who disagree with them are inferior, not as good, not equal.” – Knowing Christ Today, Dallas Willard – p.169.

The reality is – none of us are good….

We are all terribly in need of His grace. 

When we begin to grasp our deep need for God and His mercy, and see ourselves and others through the eyes of God, it is then that we will begin to be those He calls us to be in Christ.

Strength and Honor.

Glory to God!

Jason

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This will be my last post until the New Year.  I hope and pray our Father’s richest blessing upon you in the days to come….

spiritually bankrupt

The Lord is kind and shows mercy. He does not become angry quickly but is full of love. – Psalm 145:8

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith… it is the gift of God…. – Ephesians 2:8

“God does not save us because of what we have done. Only a puny god could be bought with tithes. Only an egotistical god would be impressed with our pain. Only a temperamental god could be satisfied by our sacrifices. Only a heartless god would sell salvation to the highest of bidders.

And only a great God does for His children what they cannot do for themselves. God’s delight is received upon surrender, not awarded upon conquest. The first step to joy is a plea for help, an acknowledgement of moral destitution, an admission of inward deficiency.

Those who taste God’s presence have declared spiritual bankruptcy and are consciously aware of spiritual crisis. Their pockets are empty. Their options are gone. They have long since stopped demanding justice; they are pleading for mercy.” – adapted from The Applause of Heaven

Strength and Honor.

Glory to God!

Jason

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I’ve not put as much effort into this blog as I’d like lately.  I read 2, year-long devotionals each day, one from Tozer and the other from Lucado.  Both are encouraging and thought-provoking.  The past couple of postings have been from the one from Lucado.  I hope to get back to more consistent posting soon.

The Holidays are next week.  I am looking forward to spending some time with family.  Tiersa and I are going to do some shopping tonight….

hard to accept

The followers had believed in Jesus because of God’s grace. – Acts 18:27

“We take our free gift of salvation and try to earn it or diagnose it or pay for it instead of simply saying ‘thank you’ and accepting it.

Ironic as it may appear, one of the hardest things to do is to be saved by grace. There’s something in us that reacts to God’s free gift. We have some weird compulsion to create laws, systems, and regulations that will make us ‘worthy’ of our gift.

Why do we do that? The only reason I can figure is pride. To accept grace also means that one realizes his despair, and most aren’t too keen on doing that either.” – taken from No Wonder They Call Him Savior, by Max Lucado

Why is God’s gift so difficult for us to accept for what it is?  Grace.

For it is in our own unworthiness and undeservedness that God’s love and glory shine brightest in our hearts. 

Strength and Honor.

Glory to God!

Jason

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We have a bit of a dilemma at the moment in the Reeves’ household. Hamilton is missing. Or as he is more affectionately known, Hammy, the boys’ dwarf hamster. The door on his cage was miraculously left open all night and he’s nowhere to be found as of yet. I’ll keep you posted….

Update: After aprox. 12 hours of freedom Hammy has been found safe and sound under Bowen’s bed and is back in his cage.

resurrection power

I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection.… – Philippians 3:10

Christ’s resurrection graphically demonstrates the extent of God’s power.  The resurrection power of Christ deals with sin at our salvation.  We take part in and experience His resurrection at salvation. 

But to defeat sin daily, we need His resurrection power to be our constant resource.  We need His strength to serve Him faithfully, to conquer our temptation, to overcome our trials, and to courageously bear witness to Him in our lives.  In His resurrection we experience our own.  Only as we build our relationship with Christ and tap into His resurrection power will we have victory over sin in this life.

And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you. – Romans 8:11

Strength and Honor.

Glory to God.

Jason

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We had a great week for Thanksgiving.  It’s been back to the grindstone for us this week.  The kids were slow moving heading back to school.  Tiersa and I are dragging a bit as well.  Looking forward to the weekend.  Tiersa’s got the tree up and all her Christmas things out in the living room, now it’s up to me to get the lights up outside.  I’ll get the kids involved Saturday and make it a family affair….

I finished my graduate class on Acts yesterday and have my Hebrew final on Monday.  Wish me luck!

my Love

When I begin to contemplate the history and story that is us, I picture your beautiful face and I smile.  I am so very blessed to have been present at the beginning.  That moment when an immature 16 year old boy who didn’t have a clue, said “hi” for the first time to the most beautiful girl in school.

What if in that moment we could look forward to today?  And yet somehow we both could, even if words could not depict the longings of our hearts.  Even today when I look into your eyes, I can see forever so very clearly.

I thank God that I am yours and you are mine.

You make my heart smile. 

Happy 17th Anniversary, my Love.

We went to Bernard’s in Tyler last night, our favorite Mediterranean restaurant.  The food and atmosphere was great as always.  Our three youngest kiddos are still in Mesquite with my parents, so Mason went with us to celebrate.  It was pretty cool to have him with us.  We had a great time!

what makes a Christian a Christian

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. – 2 Corinthians 5:21

It wasn’t the Roman guards that nailed Christ to the cross. It was our sin.

It wasn’t the Roman spikes that held Him there. It was His love for us.

He who was sinless bore the weight of our sinfulness. The wrath of God incurred not on creation, but Creator.

And in the moment that we come to grips with this reality and are compelled to respond, it is then that the Gospel begins to take hold.

No matter how far we’ve fallen….

My sin – oh, the bliss of this glorious thought – my sin not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul….

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; He took it away, nailing it to the cross. – Colossians 2:13-14

What makes a Christian a Christian is this profound reality.

Strength and Honor.

Glory to God!

Jason

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Looking forward to a good week. Lauren Grace spent the weekend with us.  She and the kids have had a great time!  Lacy is coming tonight to spend a couple of days too.  I’ve got no school work this week and am trying to get everything wrapped up early for next Sunday.  We’ll spend Wednesday and Thursday in Mesquite for Thanksgiving.  I’m looking forard to spending time with our family.  Kacey and I are running the Turkey Trot in Dallas Thursday morning.  That’ll be fun.  We’ll head back Thursday evening.  Mason has to be at work at 4:30am on Black Friday.  I’ll be sleeping in….