http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x15drw_
This is a beautiful song that speaks more than words. For Jesus to be the only one I need, to be my song, to be my melody, to be the only one I adore... this is my prayer.
You mean more to me than any words could say
You illuminate my path and lead the way
like a star you shine so bright that i can see your love for me
I never want to live a day without your touch
In your secret place is where i want to be
In your presence is everything that i need
You are my life, my love
You are the only one i need
You are the only God for me
I cannot move, cannot breathe
Unless You exhale in me
It is so sweet to know that you have drawn so close
And in return i lay my life down at your feet
Your desire is the song i want to know
You are my song, my melody
You are my shelter, my comfort and peace
Your words I rely on Jesus, reveal your truth in me
You're my strong tower, Your refuge I seek
Bright and morning Star, I want to be where you are
Lord,I adore you, I adore you Lord,
I adore you and I bless your name
Lord I adore you, I adore you
by Antonio Neil
Monday, January 26, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Confessions and Conversions
The Confessions of St. Augustine Review The Confessions of St. Augustine was an amazing book that showed a life truly changed by the Power of Christ. Augustine writes about his struggle with faith of the unseen/invisible things of God, the carnal things of his time, his sinful nature and desires, the ideas of conceiving God in and outside of physical space, Jesus Christ as Mediator, and the literal aspect of the Word becoming flesh.
St. Augustine goes into detail about how he came to a sense of knowledge of God existing in the physical realm of space. He begins by discussing how he prefers to believe God to now be an unchangeable God. He then went on by bringing about an argument pertaining to whether God is infused into the world or may it be that he is defused throughout the entire universe on an infinite scale. St. Augustine could not see how something that was outside of reality of physical space could be real. He believed then, that if something was taken from a void and then the void being made material-less would then be made nothing, an absolute nothing. Although he says this at this time, he only pertains to this by questioning his own beliefs. This shows his lack of faith, which he also states by saying “My faith was no larger than what my eyes could see.” (Augustine) Augustine explains how in the past he had tried to conceive an image of God’s mass taking up the entirety of space and beyond by reaching the heavens and then so, making everything bound in God but without God being bound in anything or anyone. This book pertains to St. Augustine’s conversion, thus creating a point of realization and revelation. By saying this, St. Augustine then proclaims that he was wrong in his guess that God fills all things. He makes a proclamation that if this were to be true that smaller things would contain less of God thus making bigger things containing more of God. Augustine realizes that it is only God that allows or enables us to see truth. Only through the eyes of our soul and not the eyes of our mind does God allow us to come to this point. He tells the audience that God gave him enlightenment to see that He is in everything small and big, having a numerous presence in numerous things all over the world. He called this revelation by God the “Light Unchangeable.”
“But this Light did stand above my soul, because the Light made me; I stood below the Light, because I was made by it.
He that knows the truth knows what the Light is.
And he that knows truth knows eternity.
And he that knows love knows truth.
O truth who is Eternity!
O Love who is Truth!
O Eternity who is Love!
You are my God. To you do I sigh night and day.” (Augustine)
This Light represents God, who he is saying is above him because He made him, and he is standing below the Light (God), because he was made by the Light (God). This is a representation of the Godhead in St. Augustine’s life. He discussed how God enabled him to better see and how he cast out the darkness in his life with His living illuminate light. He is also saying that whoever knows that the Light is God knows Truth, which is to know Eternity and Love, which all are God. He then questioned God about truth being nothing if it exists in an empty space. Augustine says the Lord answered him “Yes, truly I am, who I am.” (Augustine2005) With his revelation given to him by God, of who God is, Truth, he sees that only one thing exists unchangeably, Truth, which is God.
Augustine shows a sense of humility through his confessions of struggling with carnality. He shares with the audience “I was simply not yet prepared to cling to you.” (Augustine) Although he wasn’t ready to cling, he always had a remembrance of God in him. He was saying that God was calling him to Him, but his own sinful habits encamped around him and held him downward. Once able to pull away from these habits he was then freed to make a judgment over the temporal things verses the unchangeable things. He came to a sense of reasoning that made him understand that unchangeable things are preferred by individuals over temporal things. Augustine expresses that the mind doesn’t stop searching through the temporal things because these changeable things don’t satisfy. He then was thrown into the abyss of wanting more, but not quite clinging onto Truth. Again, he fell into his old sinful ways while still trying to continue to remain in God. He failed at this, until Jesus called him. He cited 1 Timothy 2:5, which says that Jesus is the Mediator between God and humans. Even though Augustine came to know that Jesus Christ was the Mediator, he still did not fully devote himself to conversion at this time. He still fell into his hungry earthly desires.
Augustine examines how The Word became flesh. He realized the physical state of Jesus being human. How He lived in a humanistic world along fleshly desires and temptations, but then he went on to discuss The Word in a fleshly sense. He describes in detail how the flesh belongs to the spirit. The flesh belongs to the soul, as well as the mind. We are able to control the flesh because it is of the world he says. Augustine discusses how scripture states “that the Word became flesh.” (Augustine 2005) He believed that the soul and mind were together, but the flesh was alongside them. He ends with talking about the saving faith of the Word becoming flesh, and how Christ was not just the Word but he was flesh, a complete man, as well as a perfect wisdom.
My Personal Thoughts
I could relate to this book because of the turmoil shown within oneself during the process of salvation. This can be seen in St. Augustine’s coming to a complete personal conversion with the revelation of Christ. Some would assume that conversions take place over a short period of time, but this isn’t necessarily the case with every person. I found it interesting how St. Augustine’s conversion experience related to my own personal experience. Although not entirely the same, there are many similarities within his coming to the knowledge of Truth as well as with my own revelation of Truth, Christ. This book made me see just how much Christ can turn us from sinners into His Saints. Certainly if he turned St. Augustine from the sinner he was into His righteous saint, then I can imagine that he will change and perfect me more so into his likeness.
As I was reading about St. Augustine’s faith and how he stated “My faith was no larger than what my eyes could see.” I began to think about my own faith and the things that I can’t see. I have to honestly admit that I have always just had blind faith when it comes to the unseen or unknown things of God. I’m not sure if this is good or bad, maybe I should look for facts or evidence to support my faith in the invisible things of God, but I’ve just always trusted the sense of peace that I feel so deep within my soul. When Augustine questions God being in everything, but smaller amounts of Him being in smaller things and more amounts of Him being in bigger things, I understood what he was questioning but I don’t necessarily agree with his reasoning. Although, this was before his actual conversion, and his views did change once the Holy Spirit led him to understanding, I still would like to state my view on his before-conversion ideas and questions. When thinking about this I reflect on a human heart. You can have a woman who has such a disease, as to cripple and shrink her body almost to nothing, but her heart is full of so much love for Christ and then you can have a big muscular man, who is in excellent health and who is a tri-athlete, who also has a heart full of love for God. Is this to say that the bigger, healthier, more muscular, athletic man has more love in his heart for God than the sickly woman or that he has more of a heart for God than the woman? No I don’t believe this to be the case at all. In fact, I don’t believe that love can be measured with any physical size or physical state. With this said, I don’t believe that God can be measured by any size, state, or matter. God is beyond all this because He created all of this (size, matter, physical states). Who is to say that we can measure God? Who is to say that we can measure love? It’s actually quite profound that love and God can be compared, but I believe they can be. For the Word says that “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:8 I believe that we can’t put love on a scale, just as we can’t put God in a measuring cup.
Even upon reflecting on the names of some of the chapter, seems quite interesting. One specific chapter is “The Way of Perfection.” What is the way of perfection? How do we come to try and perfect ourselves in every aspect of life? It’s through revelation of Christ and only through this revelation of Him, can we be made in his perfect image. This is where St. Augustine’s conversion took over, when he realized just who Jesus Christ truly was. It’s only here at this point of finding Christ, that he is able to start to begin to turn away from the carnal things of the world, although he still falls a few times, it’s Christ strength that allows him to break free. I felt as if I was reading part of my own testimony when reading this chapter. Augustine said that Jesus was the one who called him to come forward. It was as if the world couldn’t subdue Augustine’s hunger with its carnal food, but the Lord Jesus gave him a food that he couldn’t receive by the human flesh. When reading this, I felt overwhelmed, for this was how I felt when first coming to know the real fullness of Christ. He also quoted 1 Timothy 2:6 “Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” There is no other way that he could’ve latched on to God without the power and strength of Jesus. It’s only through Jesus’ strength that we’re able to conquer our sin and desires of this world, for it’s through Him that He feeds us eternal food that is unchanging. I found it to be true that we as humans can keep longing and longing for more of the world and never be satisfied. Why is this? As Augustine talks about, the things of the world are always changing. The only thing that isn’t changing is God. The only thing that will satisfy our longing to be more, to have more, to do more, to want more, is God. It is in our human instinct to want more, more, more, and then some. It is in the way of Christ’ perfecting us for Him through Him, that He becomes our more factor, the replacement of the changing and never ending void. We no longer want the changeable things of the world, but only want more and more of the unchangeable thing, which is Christ. He is the only unchangeable factor in our life that will fill our void of wanting. I found it very interesting and true how our mind is never satisfied with changing things. It makes me think of shopping and finding the perfect pair of shoes. We find the perfect pair of shoes, but they get worn out, or a heal breaks, or they get scuffs, but eventually one day we look at them and they don’t look so hot anymore. But we still want a perfect pair of shoes, because what we thought were the perfect pair eventually turned out not to be that perfect pair. Or was it? Was it the perfect pair at the right time? In our minds during that time it might have been the perfect pair, but times change and so do shoes. That was the past, and this is now, now we need a new perfect pair of shoes. We have a void that we need filled. We know that the shoes won’t last, they’re not unchangeable shoes just as our mind also knows that the time won’t last, it’s not an unchangeable time. Shoes change with time. When will our perfect pair of shoes be complete? Shoes can be compared with everything in this world, they all change (die, fade away, wear down, etc.) but there is only one thing that doesn’t change and that is God.
This book was quite the amazing book. I loved the honesty, humbleness, and sincerity of St. Augustine. It felt like I was reading a love story, in all actuality it was one between him and the Lord. I felt like I could completely relate to some of his personal experiences. The most interesting aspect of the chapter for me was the conclusion, which was actually the title. I found it very interesting, how our minds long for unchangeable things over changeable things in our life, most of the time without even consciously realizing it. It’s so amazing to think that we can have something unchangeable in our lives, which enables us to change from living changeably to living in the way of perfection.
Augustine, St., the Confessions of St. Augustine
Grand Rapids, MI:
Baker Book House, 2005
St. Augustine goes into detail about how he came to a sense of knowledge of God existing in the physical realm of space. He begins by discussing how he prefers to believe God to now be an unchangeable God. He then went on by bringing about an argument pertaining to whether God is infused into the world or may it be that he is defused throughout the entire universe on an infinite scale. St. Augustine could not see how something that was outside of reality of physical space could be real. He believed then, that if something was taken from a void and then the void being made material-less would then be made nothing, an absolute nothing. Although he says this at this time, he only pertains to this by questioning his own beliefs. This shows his lack of faith, which he also states by saying “My faith was no larger than what my eyes could see.” (Augustine) Augustine explains how in the past he had tried to conceive an image of God’s mass taking up the entirety of space and beyond by reaching the heavens and then so, making everything bound in God but without God being bound in anything or anyone. This book pertains to St. Augustine’s conversion, thus creating a point of realization and revelation. By saying this, St. Augustine then proclaims that he was wrong in his guess that God fills all things. He makes a proclamation that if this were to be true that smaller things would contain less of God thus making bigger things containing more of God. Augustine realizes that it is only God that allows or enables us to see truth. Only through the eyes of our soul and not the eyes of our mind does God allow us to come to this point. He tells the audience that God gave him enlightenment to see that He is in everything small and big, having a numerous presence in numerous things all over the world. He called this revelation by God the “Light Unchangeable.”
“But this Light did stand above my soul, because the Light made me; I stood below the Light, because I was made by it.
He that knows the truth knows what the Light is.
And he that knows truth knows eternity.
And he that knows love knows truth.
O truth who is Eternity!
O Love who is Truth!
O Eternity who is Love!
You are my God. To you do I sigh night and day.” (Augustine)
This Light represents God, who he is saying is above him because He made him, and he is standing below the Light (God), because he was made by the Light (God). This is a representation of the Godhead in St. Augustine’s life. He discussed how God enabled him to better see and how he cast out the darkness in his life with His living illuminate light. He is also saying that whoever knows that the Light is God knows Truth, which is to know Eternity and Love, which all are God. He then questioned God about truth being nothing if it exists in an empty space. Augustine says the Lord answered him “Yes, truly I am, who I am.” (Augustine2005) With his revelation given to him by God, of who God is, Truth, he sees that only one thing exists unchangeably, Truth, which is God.
Augustine shows a sense of humility through his confessions of struggling with carnality. He shares with the audience “I was simply not yet prepared to cling to you.” (Augustine) Although he wasn’t ready to cling, he always had a remembrance of God in him. He was saying that God was calling him to Him, but his own sinful habits encamped around him and held him downward. Once able to pull away from these habits he was then freed to make a judgment over the temporal things verses the unchangeable things. He came to a sense of reasoning that made him understand that unchangeable things are preferred by individuals over temporal things. Augustine expresses that the mind doesn’t stop searching through the temporal things because these changeable things don’t satisfy. He then was thrown into the abyss of wanting more, but not quite clinging onto Truth. Again, he fell into his old sinful ways while still trying to continue to remain in God. He failed at this, until Jesus called him. He cited 1 Timothy 2:5, which says that Jesus is the Mediator between God and humans. Even though Augustine came to know that Jesus Christ was the Mediator, he still did not fully devote himself to conversion at this time. He still fell into his hungry earthly desires.
Augustine examines how The Word became flesh. He realized the physical state of Jesus being human. How He lived in a humanistic world along fleshly desires and temptations, but then he went on to discuss The Word in a fleshly sense. He describes in detail how the flesh belongs to the spirit. The flesh belongs to the soul, as well as the mind. We are able to control the flesh because it is of the world he says. Augustine discusses how scripture states “that the Word became flesh.” (Augustine 2005) He believed that the soul and mind were together, but the flesh was alongside them. He ends with talking about the saving faith of the Word becoming flesh, and how Christ was not just the Word but he was flesh, a complete man, as well as a perfect wisdom.
My Personal Thoughts
I could relate to this book because of the turmoil shown within oneself during the process of salvation. This can be seen in St. Augustine’s coming to a complete personal conversion with the revelation of Christ. Some would assume that conversions take place over a short period of time, but this isn’t necessarily the case with every person. I found it interesting how St. Augustine’s conversion experience related to my own personal experience. Although not entirely the same, there are many similarities within his coming to the knowledge of Truth as well as with my own revelation of Truth, Christ. This book made me see just how much Christ can turn us from sinners into His Saints. Certainly if he turned St. Augustine from the sinner he was into His righteous saint, then I can imagine that he will change and perfect me more so into his likeness.
As I was reading about St. Augustine’s faith and how he stated “My faith was no larger than what my eyes could see.” I began to think about my own faith and the things that I can’t see. I have to honestly admit that I have always just had blind faith when it comes to the unseen or unknown things of God. I’m not sure if this is good or bad, maybe I should look for facts or evidence to support my faith in the invisible things of God, but I’ve just always trusted the sense of peace that I feel so deep within my soul. When Augustine questions God being in everything, but smaller amounts of Him being in smaller things and more amounts of Him being in bigger things, I understood what he was questioning but I don’t necessarily agree with his reasoning. Although, this was before his actual conversion, and his views did change once the Holy Spirit led him to understanding, I still would like to state my view on his before-conversion ideas and questions. When thinking about this I reflect on a human heart. You can have a woman who has such a disease, as to cripple and shrink her body almost to nothing, but her heart is full of so much love for Christ and then you can have a big muscular man, who is in excellent health and who is a tri-athlete, who also has a heart full of love for God. Is this to say that the bigger, healthier, more muscular, athletic man has more love in his heart for God than the sickly woman or that he has more of a heart for God than the woman? No I don’t believe this to be the case at all. In fact, I don’t believe that love can be measured with any physical size or physical state. With this said, I don’t believe that God can be measured by any size, state, or matter. God is beyond all this because He created all of this (size, matter, physical states). Who is to say that we can measure God? Who is to say that we can measure love? It’s actually quite profound that love and God can be compared, but I believe they can be. For the Word says that “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:8 I believe that we can’t put love on a scale, just as we can’t put God in a measuring cup.
Even upon reflecting on the names of some of the chapter, seems quite interesting. One specific chapter is “The Way of Perfection.” What is the way of perfection? How do we come to try and perfect ourselves in every aspect of life? It’s through revelation of Christ and only through this revelation of Him, can we be made in his perfect image. This is where St. Augustine’s conversion took over, when he realized just who Jesus Christ truly was. It’s only here at this point of finding Christ, that he is able to start to begin to turn away from the carnal things of the world, although he still falls a few times, it’s Christ strength that allows him to break free. I felt as if I was reading part of my own testimony when reading this chapter. Augustine said that Jesus was the one who called him to come forward. It was as if the world couldn’t subdue Augustine’s hunger with its carnal food, but the Lord Jesus gave him a food that he couldn’t receive by the human flesh. When reading this, I felt overwhelmed, for this was how I felt when first coming to know the real fullness of Christ. He also quoted 1 Timothy 2:6 “Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” There is no other way that he could’ve latched on to God without the power and strength of Jesus. It’s only through Jesus’ strength that we’re able to conquer our sin and desires of this world, for it’s through Him that He feeds us eternal food that is unchanging. I found it to be true that we as humans can keep longing and longing for more of the world and never be satisfied. Why is this? As Augustine talks about, the things of the world are always changing. The only thing that isn’t changing is God. The only thing that will satisfy our longing to be more, to have more, to do more, to want more, is God. It is in our human instinct to want more, more, more, and then some. It is in the way of Christ’ perfecting us for Him through Him, that He becomes our more factor, the replacement of the changing and never ending void. We no longer want the changeable things of the world, but only want more and more of the unchangeable thing, which is Christ. He is the only unchangeable factor in our life that will fill our void of wanting. I found it very interesting and true how our mind is never satisfied with changing things. It makes me think of shopping and finding the perfect pair of shoes. We find the perfect pair of shoes, but they get worn out, or a heal breaks, or they get scuffs, but eventually one day we look at them and they don’t look so hot anymore. But we still want a perfect pair of shoes, because what we thought were the perfect pair eventually turned out not to be that perfect pair. Or was it? Was it the perfect pair at the right time? In our minds during that time it might have been the perfect pair, but times change and so do shoes. That was the past, and this is now, now we need a new perfect pair of shoes. We have a void that we need filled. We know that the shoes won’t last, they’re not unchangeable shoes just as our mind also knows that the time won’t last, it’s not an unchangeable time. Shoes change with time. When will our perfect pair of shoes be complete? Shoes can be compared with everything in this world, they all change (die, fade away, wear down, etc.) but there is only one thing that doesn’t change and that is God.
This book was quite the amazing book. I loved the honesty, humbleness, and sincerity of St. Augustine. It felt like I was reading a love story, in all actuality it was one between him and the Lord. I felt like I could completely relate to some of his personal experiences. The most interesting aspect of the chapter for me was the conclusion, which was actually the title. I found it very interesting, how our minds long for unchangeable things over changeable things in our life, most of the time without even consciously realizing it. It’s so amazing to think that we can have something unchangeable in our lives, which enables us to change from living changeably to living in the way of perfection.
Augustine, St., the Confessions of St. Augustine
Grand Rapids, MI:
Baker Book House, 2005
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Song of Praise
I will praise you for you have comforted me
You are my salvation
I will trust you and not be afraid
For you are my strength
You are my song
You are my salvation
Lord I will praise you
Lord I will trust you
In joy I draw water from the wells of your salvation
In joy I draw water~ in joy I draw water from you
I will call upon your name Lord
To give thanks for all you have done
I will make known to the nations your greatness
I will make known what you have done
Father I will draw water joyfully
Father I will call to you thankfully
May the nations hear the song you have become
May you be exalted~ exalted to the nations
May you be exalted~ exalted to the nations
May the world hear the song of your greatness
I will sing to you O Lord
For you alone have done glorious things
May the world hear of your greatness
I will shout aloud and sing joyfully
For you alone are the Holy One of Israel
O Holy One you are great amongst us
Father I will shout aloud at your holy hill
Father I will sing joyfully to the world
Isaiah 12
You are my salvation
I will trust you and not be afraid
For you are my strength
You are my song
You are my salvation
Lord I will praise you
Lord I will trust you
In joy I draw water from the wells of your salvation
In joy I draw water~ in joy I draw water from you
I will call upon your name Lord
To give thanks for all you have done
I will make known to the nations your greatness
I will make known what you have done
Father I will draw water joyfully
Father I will call to you thankfully
May the nations hear the song you have become
May you be exalted~ exalted to the nations
May you be exalted~ exalted to the nations
May the world hear the song of your greatness
I will sing to you O Lord
For you alone have done glorious things
May the world hear of your greatness
I will shout aloud and sing joyfully
For you alone are the Holy One of Israel
O Holy One you are great amongst us
Father I will shout aloud at your holy hill
Father I will sing joyfully to the world
Isaiah 12
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)