Church WithOut Walls International-Europe
  • Home
    • Privacy Verklaring
  • DE
    • Weekly Thoughts (D) Wöchentliche Gedanken >
      • Weekly Thoughts (D) Wöchentliche Gedanken - PDF
  • EN
    • Weekly Thoughts >
      • WEEKLY THOUGHTS >
        • John's Monthly Newsletter
      • Weekly Thoughts serie in PDF format
    • About John Fenn
    • About Wil & Ank Kleinmeulman
    • Books written by Ank Kleinmeulman >
      • About Ank - author
  • ES
    • PENSAMIENTOS SEMANALES (Weekly Thoughts) John Fenn >
      • PENSAMIENTOS SEMANALES (PDF)
  • FR
    • Pensées Hebdomadaires
    • PDF à lire et/ou imprimer
    • A propos de John Fenn
    • A propos de Wil & Ank Kleinmeulman
    • Vidéo en anglais
    • Nous contacter
  • FI
    • Viikottaisia ajatuksia >
      • WEEKLY THOUGHTS / Viikottaisia ajatuksia
      • Weekly Thoughts / Viikottaisia ajatuksia - PDF
    • John Fennistä
    • TV7
  • L
    • LV
    • LT >
      • Weekly Thoughts (LT) Savaitės Mintys >
        • E-Book
      • Straipsniai >
        • Kaip mes suprantame, koks turi būti surinkimas
        • Krikštai
        • Kaip veikia 5 tarnavimo dovanos namų surinkimuose?
        • Grįžimas prie paprasto tikėjimo
        • Garbinimas
        • Namų surinkimai Naujajame Testamente
        • Išgelbėjimas
        • Tikėjimo išpažinimas
        • Kaip prasidėjo CWOWI?
        • Dažnai pasitaikantys klausimai
      • Video LT
  • NL
    • Weekly Thoughts - nederlands >
      • WEEKLY THOUGHTS (NL) Wekelijkse Gedachten >
        • Weekly Thoughts NL pdf
    • Over / bio van John Fenn
    • Over / bio Wil & Ank
    • Wat wij geloven
    • Onderwijs - MP3
    • Boeken van Ank Kleinmeulman
    • Doneren / gift overmaken?
    • Conferentie >
      • Conferentie LT - 2025
    • Artikelen >
      • Hoe “Church Without Walls International” is ontstaan
      • Hoe een samenkomst van een CWOW huisgemeente eruit ziet
      • Waarom samenkomen in een huis?
      • Wat is een huiskerk en een huiskerk netwerk?
      • HuisKerken: Waarom – Wat – en Hoe?
      • Ank deelt over Wat & Hoe van Huiskerken (VIDEO'S)
  • PL
  • PT
    • "O pensamento da semana em Português"
    • PT-pdf
  • RO
    • Gânduri săptămânale >
      • Gânduri săptămânale - PDF
  • RU
    • Джон Фенн
    • Сид Рот «Это сверхъестественно»
  • Donate
  • Events
    • Lithuania - 2025
  • TV
  • Contact
  • New Page

Relationships #4, The Sparkles on the Casserole incident

10/14/2017

0 Comments

 
Hi all,
When our 3 boys were young they always seemed to be as hungry as bears coming out of their dens at the end of a long winter. "How long to dinner?" was a daily question, and Barb always did a masterful job of making our few dollars stretch so that no one went hungry, and more than that, that we were always filled to the full. 
 
One of the favorite meals was home made macaroni & cheese with bits of ham throughout, all baked into a 9" by 13" (23cm by 33cm) glass casserole dish. Side dishes were always a green vegetable like green beans or broccoli, and always with applesauce. It was one of those meals Barb could prepare ahead of time in the glass baking dish, cover with clear plastic wrap that clings so well, and set it in the refrigerator until ready to heat up. 
 
One such evening as we sat around the table like a pack of wolves surrounding our prey of macaroni & cheese, the light caught the top of the food in a way that seemed to make it sparkle - I thought I must be really hungry to be seeing macaroni & cheese with sparkles! But then Barb saw it too from her end of the table. She immediately called out "STOP", extending her hands to stop one of the boys first fork full of food. "Did I take the plastic wrap off the dish before I put it in the oven? Oh no! I don't think I did."
 
Like forensic scientists examining the evidence, we leaned closely over the casserole to examine the sparkles. What appeared to be shards of glass littered the top of the macaroni & cheese, but were soft and flexible, much to Barb's horror and embarrassment. She being one to see the world cut and dried immediately went to worst case scenario - thinking she was about to poison her family, that she has never done anything like this before, numerous and profuse apologies, thinking out loud about having to throw the whole thing out and what to feed us all...
 
I stepped in, being a more 'big picture' type of person and pulled her and dinner back from the brink. Whatever had been clinging to the top of the casserole was now melted away, and we could remove the top layer of food and eat the rest. That is what we did, and the Sparkles on the Casserole Incident became the stuff of family legend. 
 
Always smooth sailing?
The dinner was delicious of course, but we had to make our way through the 'poison' on the top layer to get to the meal. Our walk with the Lord is like that in many ways - we expect answered prayer to mean everything works out smoothly, calmly, like a yummy spiritual macaroni & cheese meal; What a banquet the Father made for us. But usually there are potentially hazardous things that accompany the answered prayer which are up to us to avoid.
 
The gospel culture most of us were raised in presents the smooth sailing version of faith. But that doesn't line up with scripture nor our experiences, and that often leaves us confused as to whether God is really in what we are doing. We think if it is God why aren't things going better? That reveals we have been taught incorrectly. 
 
Jesus is of course our example, and though we marvel at Him feeding a multitude or raising the dead, the path to our salvation required Him to go to the cross. In John 21:15-19 immediately after Jesus asks Peter to 'Feed my sheep' He also tells Peter the means by which he would die a martyr's death. When Jesus appeared to Saul of Tarsus outside Damascus and called him to preach to the Gentiles, the Lord also told him the things he would suffer* if he chose to accept the call on his life. *Acts 9:16
 
On a smaller scale which is to say for you and me, we turn to II Peter 1:3-4 which says "...Through which are given to us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these you might become a partaker of the divine nature..."
 
The gospel we have been taught has been only the first part of this verse - exceeding great and precious promises have been given to us - and if we focus on that alone it leads to the erroneous sort of faith that turns God into the One who fixes our mistakes and if we have enough faith everything in life will just smooth out one day. 
 
The second half of that verse however says 'that you might be a partaker of the divine nature'. In other words, we look at promises as God keeping His Word to us, but He looks at the promises He gives us as a means for us to become more like Him. Jesus learned obedience through the things He suffered. Peter was told when he was old others would take him where he didn't want to go. Paul was told what he would suffer IF he chose Jesus. (Hebrews 5:8; John 21:18, Acts 9:16)
 
We see the promise as an answer, He sees the promise as a means to grow us. The delicious macaroni & cheese IS there, but first you have to get through the jagged things on top that if not handled correctly, could hurt you. 
 
That is why the observation was made that it is through 'faith and patience* we inherit the promises'- there is no microwave action available to rush the answer; if you want the answer you need to grow in Christ. You need to think as the Father and Lord do, to use the promise as a means to be more Christ-like. *Hebrews 6:12
 
Angels?
In the early 1980's some friends of ours named Dennis and Jeanne were about to leave the USA with their 4 children to become missionaries in the nation of Panama, eventually to live among the Choco Indians of the Darien' jungle. 
 
As friends gathered around to lay hands on them to send them forth into ministry, several prophecies came forth, including one that mentioned angels would be active in their ministry. While everyone was excited like little school children about the word that angels would be active, a friend noticed Dennis was not excited at all, but was just sitting there quietly. He asked if he was excited that angels would be active. Dennis replied, "No. Because that means we're going to be in situations that need them." 
 
Everyone there saw the promise and went ooh and aah over the idea of having angels involved with them. But Dennis saw the rest of the word and therefore received deeper revelation about why there would be angels. Great and precious promises, yes. That we might be partakes of His divine nature. Yes - both work together if we allow. I
 
Examine your heart
Grace is always conditional. You give a 16 year old the car keys, that's grace. You want the kid and car back by 11, that's the condition of grace. You have people in to your home for house church, that's grace. Stay out of rooms where the door is closed and remember you are a guest in someone's house, that is the requirement. You get hired over 10 others for a job, that's grace. You showing up and working hard and doing what is required, that's the condition. Salvation offered is grace. If you want it you must come through Jesus Christ.  Whatever God promises to us (grace), He has an expectation we will use that promise as a means to partake in His nature. 
 
Many people go round and round over the same lesson because they refuse to do the 2nd half of that verse. Examine yourself, your life, your life experience - do you see patterns repeating themselves? Examine (now) how you can grow in Christ. Look at the fruit of the spirit of Galatians 5 and judge yourself if you are living those while you wait for the fulfillment of the promise. You will find if you are filled with and focus with being Christ like in the midst of 'faith and patience', instead of being fearful and doubting, you'll find peace and assurance saturating your soul. Being a believer in Jesus is easy. Being a disciple of Jesus will cost you your life as you knew it. 
 
Another incident from the lives of John & Barb next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn
cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

      John Fenn

      If you want to subscribe

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012

    RSS Feed

Church WithOut Walls International.eu (C) 2025
to donate
Photo from widakso