Rivendell Fellowship

By Kirby Harris The Spirit really spoke to me today. Thought I would share it with you. We try and kill sin and the flesh by controlling and modifying our behavior, when that doesn't kill it. Our heart desires feed the flesh and our sin.  We need to let the Spirit change our heart, our desires by focusing on what Christ did for us and how we are only holy because of what he did, not what we do. Colossians 2:20-23: Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indul...

Everything we do comes from our hearts.  One of the most succinct ways the Bible states this truth is found in Proverbs 4:23. The idea can be stated so succinctly because it contains two metaphors. The first metaphor is pretty familiar to us - your heart.  In the mind of the author of Proverbs and his original hearers, the heart is the center of a person. The heart is comprised of the thoughts, volition, conscience and more.  The second metaphor isn’t terribly difficult to understand either. It combines two words in the original language of Hebrew. The first word communicates the idea of the place things begin:  their source, starting point, or the place from where things outpour. The second word communicates life. So the metaphor is like a river of life or the place from where all life flows.  Combine the two images and you get a picture of all life flowing out of the starting place of the heart.  According to this verse, ou...

What is God after? What does he want from us? Is he after a song on Sunday or a really good prayer at night? I think we all know the answer is no. God is after our hearts.  One of the clearest moments in the Bible where we learn this truth is in Isaiah. God is describing through his prophet a siege that is coming upon Jerusalem.  However, no matter how much the people hear of Isaiah’s words and God’s revelation, they will not really listen. They will be like a person who is given a book but cannot open it and like one who is given a book but cannot read (29:11-12).  So why this coming punishment? And why can’t the people understand the visions and warnings from God?  Here is where we get our clear picture of what God is after. Here is the reason.  “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me” (29:13).  God is punishing and blinding his people because they are putting on a show o...