Tracy's Blog

The title has two connotations. First, this is the last blog entry regarding double-mindedness. (Some of you may be cheering!) Second, and more significant, the whole point of this series on double-mindedness is to be done with it. To stop being double-minded, to purify our hearts and be totalled devoted to God. To encourage us towards this end, we are going to consider the show down at Mount Carmel between Elijah, the prophet of the LORD, and 450 prophets of Baal. The whole story can be found in 1 Kings 18 . Elijah, the prophet of the LORD, tells Ahab, the king of Israel who is a worshipper of Baal that there will be no dew or rain for 3 years. He then took off and hid. (see 1 Kings 17 ). Now it's the third year and Elijah comes to confront Ahab and proposes the meeting of all Israel and the 450 prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel ( 1 Kings 18:17-19 ) When they had gathered, "Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? (Double-mi...

I love the honesty of Scripture. When we find ourselves in disputes within the church today, we can be comforted (? is that the right word?) that struggles have been going on in the church since the early days. This gives me confidence that we can attempt to work things out as we seek the wisdom and direction of God through His Word, Spirit, and people in addressing our concerns. One passage that is very applicable to working things out in the Body of Christ is Romans 14. It also gives us some help in dealing with our own double-mindedness. It was Anna's comment to the August 29th blog that helped me formulate this blog. Romans 14:1-8 This passage talks about some of the areas of controversy in the early church: dietary restrictions (or not) and observing special days (or not). Paul's encouragement is to accept each other (vs 1) and to not judge God's servant (vs 4). In the next part, Paul tells the Romans that " Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. ...

I just had a frustrating experience with our dog, Pepsi, due to his battling desires. Picture this: I'm walking in the backyard and Pepsi comes up to me with a dog toy in his mouth. He eagerly nudges the toy towards my hand because he wants me to play fetch with him. So I reach out to grab the toy but he won't let go of it because he loves having it so much. I tell him to drop it. He won't. I start to walk away but there is his at my side pushing the toy towards my hand. After a few more attempts to get him to drop the toy, I give up and walk back to the house irritated with my double-minded dog (and my lack of skill in training him)! But all is not lost as it gave me the motivation to sit down and re-write this week's blog! Now, in James 4 we come across some serious battling of desires.... between people and within people. James 4:1 asks the question: "What causes fights and quarrels among you?" and answers with a rhetorical question: "Don't they co...

Yes, we are still talking about double-mindedness..... for a least a couple more weeks. But this week's blog is going to be a bit delayed due to the fact that I accidently deleted the post I'd written. So, while you wait, I'll give you a heads up.... we are going back to James 4 . Talk to you soon! Tracy

Okay, so I'm realizing that the topic of "resolving internal conflict" is a big one. There are many different reasons for our double-mindedness. Today we will start with a major one for all Christians: the war between the flesh and the Spirit. I was a young adult when I first learned what it means to "walk in the Spirit". I had been a Christian for 10 years of so at that point but was often living a very frustrated existence of double-mindedness. It was similar to Paul's description in Romans 7:19: "For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing." I really had good intentions but would find myself slipping into thoughts and behaviours that were selfish and destructive. I hated this! Thankfully, some saint shared the Bible passage Galatians 5:16-18 with me. "So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is c...