Memo From the Mann

Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears. ~ Hosea 6:4

Have you, in your life time, found love to be fickle? 

As a young man I certainly experienced my share of heartbreak ... and yes, I probably dished up a bit of my own, but it seems that love has always blown hot and cold. There one day, and gone the next.

I’ve known, and or seen, friends and family that have had life altering events awaken them to God. I’ve seen them realize Jesus in their life ...only to see them time and again, wander away over a period of time. Day by day just being pulled slowly, almost impercievably away.

In Hosea 6:4, God laments that the Israelites love disappears like the morning mist and dew. The Old Testament reads like a Lifetime movie of love gone astray. Like many things in our life, what you put in, is what you get out, and love seems the perfect example. The more time you spend nurturing your love, the stronger and long lasting are the results.

Under appreciating love is a regrettable mistake. It will weaken and eventually fade away. Now in God’s case, it’s not God that’s fading away, it’s our focusing on earthly, worldly loves, that divide our time, and inevitably our relationship with him.

Remember him today, visit him today, talk with him today, love on him today ...and return tomorrow, and everyday thereafter. 

Remember.

Pray on...

(‘I will go back to my husband as at first,)

Have you ever found yourself regretting a change. Maybe you thought switching your job would bring you more money and happiness. Maybe you bought a new car or home looking for a better life. Maybe you moved on from a relationship and were sorry afterwards. Have you heard yourself say, “well, that wasn’t good.”

In Hosea 2:7 we read where Hosea’s wife, Gomer, an adulteress (who represents Israel in this passage), realizes that she was better off with her husband (God).

She (Israel) wants worldly things, material goods, prosperity, the multiplication of her population—in short, she wants the good life. In this way, Israel mirrors those in our day who turn to religion to gain success or wealth, political office or social approval.

God, in Hosea’s time as in ours, desires a people who love him, as a faithful wife loves her husband, or as an obedient son loves and admires and adores his father. God wants communion with us ...heartfelt, trusting, unwavering communion with people who love one another to the deepest depths.

Turn from your disruptive and dishonoring thinking, and return to the wanting embrace of your loving Father in heaven, who wants and provides for all of your needs ...out of a never weakening posture of a love.

Turn to all that is good and perfect!

Pray on...

“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. ~ Mark 16:7

The angel’s message is still comforting today. When Jesus doesn’t appear to be around you, when he doesn’t appear to be close, when he doesn’t appear to be in your midst ...he is.

He’s never behind trying to catch up with our lives. He’s never too busy to know what we’re living through. He’s never deaf to our calling, our crying, or our prayer.

We’re told that he has gone ahead of us ...our way has already been prepared, our freedom has been lovingly won, and our purpose has been fully laid out.

I was blessed to have two earthly parents that prepared a way for me in this kingdom. It was because of their love for me that a path was designed for me to succeed. Now granted I had to make many decisions, as I still am today, and they surely weren’t always the right ones ...but loving parents provided for me.

Likewise our Father in heaven has done the same, but on a much higher level. He has purposed a life that is designed for good. Joy is there to be had, strength is there to be had, and yes an abundant never-ending supply of love is to be had.

So the angel’s message is still comforting today. When Jesus doesn’t appear to be around you, when he doesn’t appear to be close, when he doesn’t appear to be  in your midst ...don’t be alarmed, he is!

Pray on...

Scripture:Mark 16:7

Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him. ~ Mark 15:32

Have you ever witnessed a small child get set in their ways. They perceive a situation through their very young eyes and mind and you can’t persuade them any different. They normally have to act out with some form of intolerance. They cry out, they stamp their feet, ...holding their breath, that’s a good one ... they usually do this until they tire out and then either fall asleep or forget why is was they were so upset.

At the crucifixion in (Mark 15) there was a group of people that also perceived a situation and had their minds set. Pilate attempted to reason with them, but they weren’t gonna hear any of  it. Their eyes and mind were set on a decided conclusion.

Petulant behavior isn’t just a youngster’s condition. There are plenty of adults that haven’t figured out how to negotiate not getting their own way. It’s the reason why we witness road rage, unprovoked violence, and a world that’s so impatient.

The way we perceive a situation will determine how we react to it. In Romans 12:2 we read, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

At the gathering before Pilate we learned of a group of people who had become conformed to the world they were living in, and as for the young child, they may very well need to be taught of God’s way before they can mature in their faith, but as for our present world, the unconforming begins with ...a transforming and renewing of the minds, and a discerning of God’s will,  would certainly be a welcome change, and a start to recognizing what is good and acceptable, and perfect.

Pray on...

Scripture: Mark 15:32; Romans 12:2

Song: I'm Willing to Do Your Will (Album: Worship)

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” ~ Mark 14:38

I admit right here, and right now that I am weak, that I have moments where I lose control, that I have a dark secret, that I have an addiction ...to dark chocolate. Yes, I also have other food addictions, but not withstanding them, I continue.

My spiritual life has been in good condition these past number of years. It’s been a steady deepening of understanding, and a closer relationship with God, but saying that, I have to be clear that my flesh has not been in lock step. It has, and continues to be a deterrent to my lifestyle, it is a biblical thorn for sure.

Jesus says in Mark 14:38 that the spirit is willing to avoid temptation, but the body is vulnerable, that it’s weak ...and so it is as late in the evening I hear the dark chocolate calling, and it tempts me to no end, until weakened, I make my quiet, slow, guilty walk, to my downfall.

Now some perspective would be good here. Dark chocolate is not what some of you would think to be a serious breach of temptation, but it is because it’s part of a human condition that we have to be aware of, and one that we prayerfully must deal with.

As I wrote in my song “I’m a prayer whisperer in need of a Gethsemane Wink.

Pray on...

Scripture: Mark 14:38

Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. 

~ Mark 13:33

Our demise here on this earth is a guarantee, it’s a definite, you can bet your life on it. (Sorry for that little play on words there).

Knowing that, we find ourselves in a place where we don’t have any idea when and or where that day will happen. We don’t have a single clue!

Now in context, this verse (Mark 13:33) is speaking Biblically of the end times, but when are days come to an end, that in itself is our personal end times.

And yes, we should be on guard, and we certainly should be alert to the chance that it could happen at any moment, but that doesn’t mean we should be living in a state of fear. But it does behoove us to be living in a state of awareness.

Are our hearts right? Are we experiencing each day to its fullness? Are we walking in the footsteps of Jesus? Are we acting on the opportunities that are presented before us?

Through our faith are we eagerly awaiting, and anticipating our arrival before God?

Pray on...

Scripture: Mark 13:33

but she, out of her poverty, put in everything ~ Mark 12:44

I often foolishly offer that my happiness is in opposite proportion to my lack of debt. That is to say that I carry no debt, and believe that I live a happier, more content, and stress free life because of it.

Now the premise is that I don’t have money problems which relieves the weight, and stress, that accompanies them. My wife and I make our purchases in cash. We have learned to wait until we can afford an item before we bring it home.

Then again, we were brought up in a time when our parents paid over time and after the last payment brought home a brand new sparkling product. Today we bring home the product and by the time we pay it off, it’s old and needs to be replaced. Backwards huh?

But it hit me today that I’ve got a bit of it wrong. Yes, I have no worldly debt, and I love that, but I DO have a world of spiritual debt.

Everything I have is by grace. Just for clarity’s sake, the monies we save for the things we need are eyeballed to us by God’s grace, It’s really just borrowed from God, I don’t own it ...it could very easily be taken away by God at any moment ...in reality, I’m actually nothing but in debt to him.

Truly I tell you, this poor soul owes absolutely everything to his gracious father in heaven ... and so do you!

Pray on...

Scripture: Mark 12:44

Have you seen the money people are spending on collectibles lately? An amazing amount of money has been, and is, being spent on all sorts of things that have been in the possession of the famous (often worth more when they’re no longer with us). I don’t personally adhere to this behavior, but then again I’ve never been an autograph hound either.

So I’m reading in Mark 11 about the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem, and something jumps out at me. Something that screams ‘Ebay!’

Listen to this and see if you know where I’m going...

Mark 11:1–3 (NIV): As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’ ”

Did you hear it?  Did you notice it? The colt, the unridden colt, the unridden, prophetic colt (or donkey as it’s sometimes referred)! Are you gonna tell me that the colt wouldn’t be a collectors item in today’s world, that it wouldn’t be worth way too much money, that it wouldn’t garner a hefty profit for someone on Ebay?

Now what does that tell us about the world we live in? There has to be a message loud and clear in that revelation.

See, I understand the value of the colt. It served the Son of God. It transported him ...and no one else had ever ridden it (a virgin of sorts). But there’s a difference between valuing something and using it for a prophet. It seems to me that our world has blurred the line between the two.

Then again we live in a world that is so far removed from that Palm Sunday event so many years ago. But I can’t help but wonder about such things ...and that recognizing the world’s values, the careless loss of innocence ... and the basic disrespect for human life aren’t signs of how we’re treading down a dark path.

Lord, help us to regain our vision, our voice, and our love for the life that was won for us.

Pray on...

Song: It's Cold War (Album: Trio)

As the new year begins, and we welcome an unknown future of events, this seemed like a beneficial piece of scripture to begin with this week.

Each new day is unlike any we’ve experienced before, and to negotiate our way through it successfully we need some guidance, and that is what God reveals today in Isaiah 58:11. Not only does he say he’ll guide us, but he says he’ll always guide us.

Pray on,

~ E.M.

Song: Lead Me Down the Road (Album: Re:Prize)