“When Jesus finished telling these parables, he left that place and went back to his hometown. He taught in the synagogue, and those who heard him were amazed. "Where did he get such wisdom?" they asked. "And what about his miracles? Isn't he the carpenter's son? Isn't Mary his mother, and aren't James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas his brothers? Aren't all his sisters living here? Where did he get all this?" And so they rejected him. Jesus said to them, "A prophet is respected everywhere except in his hometown and by his own family." Because they did not have faith, he did not perform many miracles there.” (Matthew 13:53-58 GNB)
A brother in arms…… one of the warriors out in the world who is fighting in the hand-to-hand dirtiness as we continue towards that moment in time when Christ lights up the sky and reclaims what is His by righteousness and original craftsmanship……replied to my blog about moving into that unrealistic, unforeseen realm of God’s possibilities and reminded me of a few things that I had forgotten and reassured me to follow God in where He calls, provides and entices.
“It seems to me that God is definitely leading you in a direction that the world may never understand……………no-one can know the will of God for his life like the man himself, who is truly seeking after God. You are doing that my friend, and I stand beside you in battle supporting you and praying for you. If you feel you are where God wants you to be, then press on my brother. God will show you the way - every step of the way! I am reminded of the journey Abraham took when God first called him……………….. Be faithful to your calling. Let me know if I can pray for you specifically in any way. And may God richly bless you (as it appears is already happening) as you continue to follow in Christ's footsteps.”
When I mentioned the struggle against the ‘fellowship’ of believers regarding the call to a few teammates of mine, they quipped “You should be on TV, there’s a lot like you out there on TV.” I think they meant well, but it was another example, to me, of the unbelieving responses I have been getting for the last four and a half years since that moment at Willow Creek. I’m not seminary trained, not endorsed by a church body and don’t have the financial ease in which to pursue such a wild vision. My life isn’t neatly wrapped up under the illusionary umbrella of ‘spiritual awakening and renewal’ and the story I have to tell makes others quake and quiver………
And, in the westernized culturized Christian movement, such things are the ‘approval’ markings that are too often looked for as a ‘god-approved’ adventure. No consideration is given to the story of the declarer, to vett out the human-response of ‘agenda’ and see the visionary and unrealistic (in the world’s eyes) goals of God’s in the calling. We, in this culture, like our pastoral leaders trained under the same apologetic, denominational or emergent veins…….having connectable points to the larger picture. When the rogue comes and disrupts that preference, we get upset. When God doesn’t send us someone who doesn’t fit into our preconception of what ‘annointed’ of God should look like, we move away from God’s story and become self-serving in our own stories.
As my friend reminded me, Abram must’ve been a bit fearful and nervous about the calling to depart from his family, his friends and his countrymen and go where…no specific location given….the Lord would lead him. Yet, he packed up and went. God isn’t in the business of comfort and easy living….to have such an existence in this world would mean that you are so aligned, so covered in the world that the illusionary things that you feel are comfortable, easy and unstressful appear real to you……until God provides the impus to show you that such things built upon the world’s standards are anything but long-lasting and eternal. They are as fragile as dreams and as deadly as temporary fixes. And, if I’ve learned nothing more about God than this; when He purposes you, He calls you into the biggest of your fears, discomforts and weakest ‘struggles.’
I think that’s not because God has a desire to break you down into your most simplistic of molecules but rather that it is because that is where the enemy has concentrated most of his energy because he knows how powerful and effective you would be with your life, calling and faith aligned with God’s larger story. How much more quickly his time would end because of the multitude of the faithful spread out all over the globe who were aligned with God and working with Him in the pursuit of the kingdom plans. With intimate knowledge of what your purpose is, why wouldn’t he build the protection against you ever fulfilling it? Fear, doubt and even intimidation are merely his tools.
Henry Blackaby and Claude King, in their study Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God, say that when you receive an invitation to join God’s work in the world around you, there is a crisis of belief….that point where you focus on yourself…in the selfish human manner that we all recognize as the genesis of sin…instead of God. As they write, “God wants to intercept those lives. Suppose He wants to do it through you. He comes to you and talks to you. But you are so self-centered, you respond, ‘I don’t think I am trained. I don’t think I am able to do it. And I…..’…..the focus is on self. The moment you sense God is moving in your life, you give Him a whole list of reasons why He has got the wrong person or why the time is not right.” Like Moses, "I am nobody. How can I go to the king and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" Exodus 3:11 GNB) and "But suppose the Israelites do not believe me and will not listen to what I say. What shall I do if they say that you did not appear to me?" (Exodus 4:1 GNB).
Moses, in the story of God, was not the ‘right’ man for the job when he was the son of the daughter of Pharaoh….with all the degrees and pedigrees that would’ve made a easy road to change from within the empire…..and where the power and movement of God would have been harder to see and easier to disown. But, in the desert as a simple shepherd, Moses had no degrees to fall upon, no elegance of mouth, nor the ‘pedigree’ of the empire to rely upon to open the doors where he needed to go. And, once God made it clearly apparent to him that he was the one to go….he had no choice but to either answer in the affirmative or deny God.
God has shown me that He can answer the three biggest fears I have that would be unavoidable if I became a missionary….to Australia or anywhere else….
Relationships, Confrontations and Provisions.
If I became a foreign missionary, I would need to be in relationship with the church leadership in the area I serve as well as the community…no missionary can be sustained without it. Confrontation? To go to a country where the topic of religion just isn’t that important would be a breeding ground for ‘confrontation.’ And provisions? I wouldn’t, as a foreign national, be able to do a ‘tent-making’ ministry like Paul but would have to rely on home support, and the support of the community which I serve.
Which makes this both repelling and enticing.
The new song out on the Christian airwaves just has captured my attention in this place of where I am;
Closer to Love by Mat Kearney
She got the call today, One out of the gray. And when the smoke cleared, It took her breath away. She said she didn't believe, It could happen to me
I guess we're all one phone call from our knees
We're gonna get there soon
If every building falls, And all the stars fade. We'll still be singing this song, The one they can't take away. I'm gonna get there soon, She's gonna be there too
Cryin' in her room, Prayin' oh, Lord come through
We're gonna get there soon
Oh, it's your light, Oh, it's your way. Pull me out of the dark, Just to shoulder the weight. Cryin' out now, From so far away. You pull me closer to love....Closer to love
Meet me once again, Down off Lake Michigan. Where we could feel the storm blowin', Down with the wind. And don't apologize, For all the tears you've cried. You've been way too strong now for all your life
I'm gonna get there soon, You're gonna be there too. Cryin' in your room, Prayin' Lord come through. We're gonna get there soon.
Oh, it's your light, Oh, it's your way. Pull me out of the dark, Just to shoulder the weight. Cryin' out now, From so far away. You pull me closer to love....Closer to love
Cause you are all that I've waited for all of my life. (We're gonna get there) You are all that I've waited all of my life
You pull me closer to love.......Closer to love. Pull me closer to love (You are all that I've waited for)
You pull me closer to love.......Closer to love. Closer to love (Cause you are all that I've waited for)
Closer to love…….Pull me closer to love
Pull me out of the dark, Mat sings, just to shoulder the weight……..we’re gonna get there soon….. these are the things that hit me out of the silence….God’s work pulls me closer to His love and brings me out of the comfort of my misery to the uncomfortableness that exists in walking with Him in relationship…burdened by the weight of the mission and kingdom building to be wounded and persecuted…to be peaceful in unpeaceful places and comfortable in uncomfortableness……for the sake of the Lord and the fulfillment of His plan as experienced in His story.
Then Carolyn Baker, of AllAboutGod.com, sends this as her devotional for today:
“He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be His God and he will be My son.” Revelation 21:7
“Lord, I soar on eagles wings this morning recognizing the great privilege You have given me of being called by You - for Your purposes. I soar above all the fears and doubts, and claim for myself and all who pray this prayer, a new freedom that comes from recognizing a new day is dawning.” Carolyn writes in her prayer, “ I am so grateful Lord that You allowed me to take a good, hard look at my own fears so I would recognize the counterfeit strategies Satan was using to cause me harm. The greatest message ever preached is going to be heard around the world. No matter what happens in the physical realm of our lives, all Christians were created to move in this great purpose. We all serve differently but not one of us is immune from the cry of the Savior’s heart.”
Carolyn concludes in her reflection part of the devotional some powerful, and all-too-familiar (to me in this enticement), statements from our Father:
“We all have a high and holy calling on our lives. Complacency, comfort, fear of man – all of these counterfeits need to be surrendered at the foot of the Cross. Your life is of so much value that Christ gave His own life for you. Do not waste the opportunities you are given. Every day in your path there is something to be done for His kingdom needs. If you are not recognizing this truth in your life, you are not seeing with the eyes of the Holy Spirit. Ask Him now to free you so you can see with His eyes, hear with His ears and think His thoughts with your mind. That is true freedom. When you walk in this truth God will use you – in spite of yourself to accomplish His purposes in and through you. You need the Holy Spirit to accomplish this goal. Pray to Him – submit to His ways – then be prepared for a manifestation of Christ’s glory to shine through you.”
God has shown me a glimpse of what He wants to do, and has shown me the provisional strength He has to make it happen. Now is the time I face, as all those who are called in specific and unique ways, to make my declaration:
To Join Him in the work He is doing completely or to decline and thereby show the depth of my faith and belief……..
My faith is too strong, even if it is the size of a mustard seed, to deny and my belief has been fortified by faith and experiencing God in the other immediate areas of my life…..
I must accept the challenge to join Him where He is at and draw closer to love………
Showing posts with label Claude V. King. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Claude V. King. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 24
Monday, June 22
Automatic Christianity
“Some people soon brought to him a crippled man lying on a mat. When Jesus saw how much faith they had, he said to the crippled man, "My friend, don't worry! Your sins are forgiven." Some teachers of the Law of Moses said to themselves, "Jesus must think he is God!" But Jesus knew what was in their minds, and he said, "Why are you thinking such evil things? Is it easier for me to tell this crippled man that his sins are forgiven or to tell him to get up and walk? But I will show you that the Son of Man has the right to forgive sins here on earth." So Jesus said to the man, "Get up! Pick up your mat and go on home." The man got up and went home. When the crowds saw this, they were afraid and praised God for giving such authority to people.” (Matthew 9:2-8 CEV)
I met with my campus pastor this Sunday past before the commencement of services for the congregation. It was the only time that he had, what with the upcoming move into the building and the host of other circumstances and responsibilities that befall a pastor of a growing congregation. With the work that God is doing within my life as He molds me to be an effective instrument in the call to His service and entices me to join Him in the abundant work of the harvest of which He has planted, nurtured and is preparing to harvest, I felt the need despite the other ‘negative’ responses from the church family to sit down with the pastor and speak what God had burden me to bring to his attention. Pastor Cliff is a dynamic and energetic man, with a passion that burdens his heart and has brought him into the position to which he serves the membership of the church. His brothers are also pastors, of the mega-church Northridge. His story would be interesting to hear, for the formation of the man lies within the story of himself. And I have come to know that there is no one upon the face of this earth that has not been wounded in a way or has been affected by the story of their past. It is either realized or not, redeemed or not, in the context of the larger story of God.
Maybe I shouldn’t have said that I disagree with the apparent ‘building over people’ pursuit of the church in regards to the purchase and acquision of the property; Christ could’ve very well have demanded His disciples provide Him with shelter, food and other amenities that would make Him comfortable, yet He forewent such for the people…it was always about relationship with Christ, and still is today. And as Christ Himself said, ‘I can only do what I’ve seen My Father do.” So, if Christ was relational, then so must be His Father…and when a church limits itself to make the finances look good for capital building, when a body focuses more on the funds to furnish and remodel the ‘worship center’ of the new building, postponing a valuable outreach to pregnant teens in the local community…..well, I wonder if it is just another example of temple building and not a vision of God that has been suborned to man’s timing.
As I told my pastor, I am not in the leadership of the church and do not know all that is there in the process of this ‘vision’ and I am fully trusting in God that if, indeed, this is against His timing, plan or vision that He can redeem it and bring His full disagreement into undeniable focus. It is not for me to decide, though I will speak what I feel God leading me to do.
That said, I tried to give the pastor a bit of background to my story, for truly we cannot walk into a relationship with our brethren if we do not know their story and so it is vital, at least in my opinion, to know something at least of our brothers and sisters stories so that we can ask the questions that God would have us ask; What is He doing in this person’s life? How do I help this person grow closer with Him in this? I came to the pastor to speak a need and to see what he, as the leader of the church I attend, would say…what actions he would take….and simply to fulfill what I felt God leading me to do; speak out my need to the brethren and leadership of which I’ve submitted myself under. And, please don’t read into this, but the pastor offered more than what I thought he would and still gave me what I have come to expect within the body…..an automatic response.
If you have read any of my previous offerings to you, you know of the journey that I find myself on; one of rediscovering the beloved son that was murdered at the hands of his own earthly father so long ago so that I can become the father, the elder and the man that God has designed and purposed me to be. You will also remember the situation that brought me to the village of Holly and within the congregational body of the church I have taken membership with for the season that God has presented me with in this small ‘hamlet’ of Michigan. The hope and prayer was that God would provide the method and the position in Flint, so that I would be closer to my new home that He had provisioned for.
With the self-destruction and government intervention of GM and Chrysler, such hope is long beyond the hope of being resurrected, at least for the time being, and so I spend an hour driving to work and another hour and a half traveling home each day. With the loss of my friend’s above and beyond offer to help with the babysitting of my son, things have been hard. The children’s mother, with the loss of her father a few months past, has been pursuing work herself, so the typical summer stay with her has become problematical to say the least. The situation seems untenable, and so I went to the pastor with the need in hopes that he might know of a family or a couple that might be able to move into this need and provide some assistance.
And I genuinely feel that the pastor heard my need and gave some consideration to the capability of the body to fulfill, at least in the short term, it. He offered to bring it to a few people to see if there was a ‘grandmother’ type of member that would and could be willing to step into this for the time. All I would need to do is provide for the funding that their care would require. As for the longer term, the bigger picture, he gave the statement, “Though I am not in the habit of recommending that someone move out of a church, it would seem with God not opening the door here in Holly (i.e. job) that you should move closer to your job and/or a situation where it can become tenable.”
In other words, I should move back down south near family, friends or into a situation where my work hours and school hours are closely matched. It was, in his mind, the only solution and indicated direction that God had given for the situation.
But, even in the study that I'm doing with Henry T. Blackaby and Claude V. King Experiencing God: Knowing And Doing The Will Of God, such statements seem like an automatic and impersonal response to the personal trials and struggles that I face. Indeed, it is not only the pastor who has said it, but some of the brothers I am in ministry with. But even then, it doesn't seem to sit with what God seems to be doing in and around my life in the little village of Holly in the state of Michigan. Far from it, to me and in relation to my story, the opposite seems to be desirable of God's focus: the body moving into relationship with me rather than me seeking relationship elsewhere among another body. As one friend said, it seems almost as if by recommending movement away from the church I call home, it would create the ability to ignore the missed opportunity rather than dealing with the messiness of being in a relationship with a human being on a personal, real level.
As I've quoted from Blackaby and King's book, George Mueller (who built four orphanages that cared for 2,000 children at a time and over 10,000 through them distributed over eight million dollars provided through prayer and died with a net worth of 800 dollars) said of his method of knowing God's will:
"I never remember…a period….that I ever sincerely and patiently sought to know the will of God by the teaching of the Holy Ghost (Spirit), through the instrumentality of the Word of God, but I have been always directed rightly. But if honesty of heart and uprightness before God were lacking, or if I did not patiently wait upon God for instruction, or if I preferred the counsel of my fellow men to the declarations of the Word of the living God, I made great mistakes."
Unfortunately, we seem today to require that God provide a clear and concise 'door' for us to move into rather than sitting patiently upon His revelation of what we are to move into. And God doesn't promise that the situation, position or job that we are led to is going to be easy or unsupported by others….He calls us to trust in His provisions and move in spite of fear.
I find myself not looking at the 'requirement' that God has provided in His silence as a need to move away from the church or the community in which I live, but am burdened by the sense of wonderment that God isn't looking to provide an 'open door' because He has already done so…..the door remains obscured because the people or group or church that He has appointed the task to is largely silent and automatically looking in the opposite direction.
Not through some vain attempt to ignore what is painfully obvious but because they automatically are looking at what hasn't been provided instead of looking into the situation, circumstance and seeing what God has provisioned for already.
Whether such a honest and God-seeking look would provide another response, well I think it is obvious what I think, but until such is done, can we really say that God has closed the door in Holly for the reason so automatically given?
Honestly, I think we can't.
The body met in the temple and each other's houses, fellowshipping and eating together….selling what they owned to give according to each need…without question, without hesitation….it is only when the humanity of the early church was brought into the spirituality of the early church that the corruption that we see in too many of God's fellowships today started. Circumcision debates threatened the harmony that once flowed like honey…and it set Paul and Peter into conflict that was resolved by one man's refusal to move into the 'automatic' response by aligning himself with the 'elder' apostle in his sinful error.
As the verse above hit me in the devotional time I spent today before hauling my children down to their birth mother's house on my way to the job……Christ asks, "Is it easier to say….or do the act…." And it is by the authority to do the more visible (albeit from a human perspective, the more difficult) of the two that He proves His authority to do the less evident of the two, but the more important. He didn't do the 'automatic', though I am sure that there were those around this event that knew He had done it before…….He moved into the non-standard expectation before He fulfilled the obvious.
And this isn't the first time Christ does it and isn't the last. So why are we, as His people, so bent on automatic responses to the brokenness of the world? And how much more effective, healing and a living testimony would we be if we moved in non-traditional, more personal responses when it came to the lives of those brothers and sisters in our immediate church family and the lives of the broken to which we are called to minister?
God is working around me…..am I the only one who is noticing? Or does my personal story affect my vision slightly to where I am missing the point of God's work? All I know is that as I grow closer to God, the more I realize He isn't an 'automatic' God…..but a living, breathing and involved God who calls His people to be non-standard in a world in chaos, to go into the darkness to save souls rather than run from it, and to be willing to die in order to live.
Sounds like a pretty none standard response to me………
I met with my campus pastor this Sunday past before the commencement of services for the congregation. It was the only time that he had, what with the upcoming move into the building and the host of other circumstances and responsibilities that befall a pastor of a growing congregation. With the work that God is doing within my life as He molds me to be an effective instrument in the call to His service and entices me to join Him in the abundant work of the harvest of which He has planted, nurtured and is preparing to harvest, I felt the need despite the other ‘negative’ responses from the church family to sit down with the pastor and speak what God had burden me to bring to his attention. Pastor Cliff is a dynamic and energetic man, with a passion that burdens his heart and has brought him into the position to which he serves the membership of the church. His brothers are also pastors, of the mega-church Northridge. His story would be interesting to hear, for the formation of the man lies within the story of himself. And I have come to know that there is no one upon the face of this earth that has not been wounded in a way or has been affected by the story of their past. It is either realized or not, redeemed or not, in the context of the larger story of God.
Maybe I shouldn’t have said that I disagree with the apparent ‘building over people’ pursuit of the church in regards to the purchase and acquision of the property; Christ could’ve very well have demanded His disciples provide Him with shelter, food and other amenities that would make Him comfortable, yet He forewent such for the people…it was always about relationship with Christ, and still is today. And as Christ Himself said, ‘I can only do what I’ve seen My Father do.” So, if Christ was relational, then so must be His Father…and when a church limits itself to make the finances look good for capital building, when a body focuses more on the funds to furnish and remodel the ‘worship center’ of the new building, postponing a valuable outreach to pregnant teens in the local community…..well, I wonder if it is just another example of temple building and not a vision of God that has been suborned to man’s timing.
As I told my pastor, I am not in the leadership of the church and do not know all that is there in the process of this ‘vision’ and I am fully trusting in God that if, indeed, this is against His timing, plan or vision that He can redeem it and bring His full disagreement into undeniable focus. It is not for me to decide, though I will speak what I feel God leading me to do.
That said, I tried to give the pastor a bit of background to my story, for truly we cannot walk into a relationship with our brethren if we do not know their story and so it is vital, at least in my opinion, to know something at least of our brothers and sisters stories so that we can ask the questions that God would have us ask; What is He doing in this person’s life? How do I help this person grow closer with Him in this? I came to the pastor to speak a need and to see what he, as the leader of the church I attend, would say…what actions he would take….and simply to fulfill what I felt God leading me to do; speak out my need to the brethren and leadership of which I’ve submitted myself under. And, please don’t read into this, but the pastor offered more than what I thought he would and still gave me what I have come to expect within the body…..an automatic response.
If you have read any of my previous offerings to you, you know of the journey that I find myself on; one of rediscovering the beloved son that was murdered at the hands of his own earthly father so long ago so that I can become the father, the elder and the man that God has designed and purposed me to be. You will also remember the situation that brought me to the village of Holly and within the congregational body of the church I have taken membership with for the season that God has presented me with in this small ‘hamlet’ of Michigan. The hope and prayer was that God would provide the method and the position in Flint, so that I would be closer to my new home that He had provisioned for.
With the self-destruction and government intervention of GM and Chrysler, such hope is long beyond the hope of being resurrected, at least for the time being, and so I spend an hour driving to work and another hour and a half traveling home each day. With the loss of my friend’s above and beyond offer to help with the babysitting of my son, things have been hard. The children’s mother, with the loss of her father a few months past, has been pursuing work herself, so the typical summer stay with her has become problematical to say the least. The situation seems untenable, and so I went to the pastor with the need in hopes that he might know of a family or a couple that might be able to move into this need and provide some assistance.
And I genuinely feel that the pastor heard my need and gave some consideration to the capability of the body to fulfill, at least in the short term, it. He offered to bring it to a few people to see if there was a ‘grandmother’ type of member that would and could be willing to step into this for the time. All I would need to do is provide for the funding that their care would require. As for the longer term, the bigger picture, he gave the statement, “Though I am not in the habit of recommending that someone move out of a church, it would seem with God not opening the door here in Holly (i.e. job) that you should move closer to your job and/or a situation where it can become tenable.”
In other words, I should move back down south near family, friends or into a situation where my work hours and school hours are closely matched. It was, in his mind, the only solution and indicated direction that God had given for the situation.
But, even in the study that I'm doing with Henry T. Blackaby and Claude V. King Experiencing God: Knowing And Doing The Will Of God, such statements seem like an automatic and impersonal response to the personal trials and struggles that I face. Indeed, it is not only the pastor who has said it, but some of the brothers I am in ministry with. But even then, it doesn't seem to sit with what God seems to be doing in and around my life in the little village of Holly in the state of Michigan. Far from it, to me and in relation to my story, the opposite seems to be desirable of God's focus: the body moving into relationship with me rather than me seeking relationship elsewhere among another body. As one friend said, it seems almost as if by recommending movement away from the church I call home, it would create the ability to ignore the missed opportunity rather than dealing with the messiness of being in a relationship with a human being on a personal, real level.
As I've quoted from Blackaby and King's book, George Mueller (who built four orphanages that cared for 2,000 children at a time and over 10,000 through them distributed over eight million dollars provided through prayer and died with a net worth of 800 dollars) said of his method of knowing God's will:
"I never remember…a period….that I ever sincerely and patiently sought to know the will of God by the teaching of the Holy Ghost (Spirit), through the instrumentality of the Word of God, but I have been always directed rightly. But if honesty of heart and uprightness before God were lacking, or if I did not patiently wait upon God for instruction, or if I preferred the counsel of my fellow men to the declarations of the Word of the living God, I made great mistakes."
Unfortunately, we seem today to require that God provide a clear and concise 'door' for us to move into rather than sitting patiently upon His revelation of what we are to move into. And God doesn't promise that the situation, position or job that we are led to is going to be easy or unsupported by others….He calls us to trust in His provisions and move in spite of fear.
I find myself not looking at the 'requirement' that God has provided in His silence as a need to move away from the church or the community in which I live, but am burdened by the sense of wonderment that God isn't looking to provide an 'open door' because He has already done so…..the door remains obscured because the people or group or church that He has appointed the task to is largely silent and automatically looking in the opposite direction.
Not through some vain attempt to ignore what is painfully obvious but because they automatically are looking at what hasn't been provided instead of looking into the situation, circumstance and seeing what God has provisioned for already.
Whether such a honest and God-seeking look would provide another response, well I think it is obvious what I think, but until such is done, can we really say that God has closed the door in Holly for the reason so automatically given?
Honestly, I think we can't.
The body met in the temple and each other's houses, fellowshipping and eating together….selling what they owned to give according to each need…without question, without hesitation….it is only when the humanity of the early church was brought into the spirituality of the early church that the corruption that we see in too many of God's fellowships today started. Circumcision debates threatened the harmony that once flowed like honey…and it set Paul and Peter into conflict that was resolved by one man's refusal to move into the 'automatic' response by aligning himself with the 'elder' apostle in his sinful error.
As the verse above hit me in the devotional time I spent today before hauling my children down to their birth mother's house on my way to the job……Christ asks, "Is it easier to say….or do the act…." And it is by the authority to do the more visible (albeit from a human perspective, the more difficult) of the two that He proves His authority to do the less evident of the two, but the more important. He didn't do the 'automatic', though I am sure that there were those around this event that knew He had done it before…….He moved into the non-standard expectation before He fulfilled the obvious.
And this isn't the first time Christ does it and isn't the last. So why are we, as His people, so bent on automatic responses to the brokenness of the world? And how much more effective, healing and a living testimony would we be if we moved in non-traditional, more personal responses when it came to the lives of those brothers and sisters in our immediate church family and the lives of the broken to which we are called to minister?
God is working around me…..am I the only one who is noticing? Or does my personal story affect my vision slightly to where I am missing the point of God's work? All I know is that as I grow closer to God, the more I realize He isn't an 'automatic' God…..but a living, breathing and involved God who calls His people to be non-standard in a world in chaos, to go into the darkness to save souls rather than run from it, and to be willing to die in order to live.
Sounds like a pretty none standard response to me………
Thursday, May 28
God's Will....not dependent on ours....
"I am the vine, you are the branches. The one who abides in me while I abide in him produces much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5 ISV)
I've rejoined the Men's group that I had originally quit to answer the need in the Awana's program (children's ministry at The River). They are studying the book by Henry T. Blackaby and Claude V. King called "Experiencing God: Knowing and doing the Will of God." This study was previously done by the women's group that my friend Cherie attended and in which I saw steady, definable growth by her in her walk. She asked me what I hoped to discover taking such a 'basic' course, a compliment to my spiritual knowledge I guess. I told her, this is the only way to establish relationships that will enable me to create my own bible study group, at least by church philosophy. I finally received the study book and started on it to 'catch up' to the group.
We equate spiritual strength and vitality with wisdom. The wisdom that is reflected in a 'spiritual' walk...i.e. church attendance, social repentance and the shadowy land of 'good fruit'. If you struggle, well it must be because you're not repentant, not being spiritual or -horror of all horrors, unsaved. God is good, and promises the world for us...prosperity, victory and happiness. Therefore, you're not taking ahold of God's promises if you're none of those things. The poor of this world must not be following God, the defeated of the world must not know God's grace and those who aren't happy must not be realizing the joy of the LORD. If we pray for God's will in our lives, and are met with silence…then we must either not be willing to listen or praying the 'right' prayer. We must have a 12-step, an action plan or the vision of a grand campus in which all the ministries we are enticed by can be gathered into one location….or we must not be in God's will for our lives. As I've been told in my quest to answer the call God's placed upon me…one that I thought was simply to function as a 'mouthpiece' for Him….but is so much more (and nothing like I would believe it would/should be); God will provide, if you are indeed anointed to His calling.
Blackaby/King's book is an opportunity for me to slack the sails and let the ship slow down a bit…so that God, walking with me in the midst of this journey, can get a few paces ahead so that I can see the fullness of what He has given me of Himself so far. The authors hit you right in the eyes in the first few pages: "What is God's will for my life? -- is not the right question. I think the right question is, What is God's will?" Dr. Gaines S. Dobbins, a seminary professor the author learned under, is quoted. "If you ask the wrong question, you are going to get the wrong answer." If we want to know God's will, we cannot conform it to the narrow view of our life but must look at God's will and bring ourselves into conformance with it so we can experience God.
Most Christians want instant solutions to the problems they present to their congregational friends, pastor and fellow believers. A child's death should be experienced in the context of the unknown, rather than sitting in the sorrow and grief. A financial burden, well…financial stewardship must be implemented or else assistance won't be forthcoming. The recurrence of sin; you must not be accountable enough or must not be truly repentant. Few stand reflective of the example set by Jesus and what one of my mentors, Scott Engelman, calls a "wise elder". A Christian with passionate convictions about God, His people and this life that come from biblical revelation who moves in wise, powerful and sensitive ways into other people's lives with a godly vision of spiritual maturity with implications of possible continuing struggles with the problems experienced in those lives. The focus is always on God, not our lives or the life problems of others, but what God is doing and how experiences, circumstances and spiritual maturity will look are being used for God's purpose and plan. "What is God doing?" Scott would say. As Blackaby/King ask, are we as the body of Christ, ready to go forward without a clear idea of what God's will ultimately will look like? Or do we require a step-by-step description of what going forward in God's will ultimately will look like? One way relies on God's eyesight, the other our own.
God calls us to an intimate and personal relationship with Him, not for our own gratification or prosperity, but solely for the purposes to which we were created, purposed and are designed for by His own hand. Through the experience of being in the Word, living a life absent of agenda (i.e. this is what I need to be comfortable now) and pursuing God, we find ourselves confronted with our selfishness and protective old nature..coaxed into demanding recognition by the enemy who's only avenue left for our disillusionment is to demand God give us His promises in the context of our own reality. The children never die, finances are always on track and God sends us only where we want to go with a itinerary of what is going to be accomplished.
We want to live our lives under God's protection in the ways we can look without effort for His hand in it. We subject our will to His, as long as it is convenient and we know what He will do with it.
Leonardo da Vinci, who is known as an excellent painter, sculptor, poet, architect, engineer, city planner, scientist, inventor, anatomist, military genius, and philosopher said:
"Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer, since to remain constantly at work will cause you to lose power of judgment…Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller, and more of it can be taken in at a glance, and lack of harmony or proportion more readily seen."
Sometimes in that pursuit of knowing God, we have to stop and take stock of what we've learned….in essence, allow God to get a bit ahead of us (not out of sight, but where we can see the fullness of what He's shown us so far). The corrupted old nature still sways and pulls us, redeemed sinners, into paths and degrees of error that can only be realized when we stop and check for a course correction. Granted, if we only kept our eyes on the compass….i.e. God….we wouldn't have to fear such deviations….but we don't, even the 'most' spiritual of us and only a few degrees of error, over time, can lead to disastrous course variations in our journey towards home and the pursuit of God.
It is when we are still in the water, the sails limp upon the masthead and the waves rocking the deck beneath our feet (whether gently or violently) is when we approach our understanding of God, and that intimate relationship, the closest. And we realize that some of the tasks, the assignments and even directions that God beckoned us to join Him in don't seem logical or even worthwhile when He first spoke but in the fullness of the journey, we can see the wisdom of His plan. Too many times, though, we refuse to go without a logical explanation detailing the design and wisdom of God. We speak our dogma with such requirement, we seek out our teachers who can espouse it in our language and 'correct' our scriptural understanding to fit God's word into our demandedness.
Abraham, having the fulfilled promise God made him in Isaac, was told by God to take him to "a mountain" in the Moriah region so he could be a burnt offering. God didn't even tell Abraham which mountain, only that it would be 'one….I will tell you about." (Genesis 22:2) Abraham didn't have the guarantee that things would end the way they did….God didn't provide such information to him. Obedience without cost is easy and empty, for there is no faith engaged in such obedience that doesn't require us to believe in the illogical. So much of the 'basics' are easily understood, but when we get into the depth and width of God….the logic is hidden from us, just over the horizon.
It is when God calls us to join Him in the impossible, the incalculable and the unknowable that obedience becomes a walk of faith….a willingness to walk into the furnace that kills even the tenders….to journey the desert for forty years following a cloud by day and pillar of fire by night…or even to journey into the darkness and sorrow of our past to give witness and voice to that which we would deny and are certain means death. Obedience born of faith that seems illogical, that carries impossibly heavy cost (even the cost of a promise God has given) or is so beyond what we consider to be our 'calling' is were God walks closest to us because we live through that faith….a faith that believes God can kill all our dreams, remove all our promises and blessings but that He also has the power to resurrect them, restore them and fulfill them.
We have to face that which is our most deepest fear, journey back into the timeless pain of a chaotic and troubling childhood to face those giants that stand in the way of God's victorious mercy. Why doesn't God just heal us without that accounting? Without reliance upon God to face those giants, we will equip ourselves with the armor of our choosing and find ourselves ill-fitted to journey alongside our brethren in their struggles. We become counterproductive to the cause of the Kingdom and ineffective in the Potter's hands.
Paul tells us that we should 'rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us." (Romans 5:3-5) In the times to come, whether facing the giants of our past, dealing with the human tendency of self in our dealings inside and outside the family of God or even growing closer to God in the intimate relationship of His will and our lives; we will need faith tested that has persevered to the point of unshakeable and undeniable hope. For in the end of all things, hope is all we have left.
God calls us to bring our garbage to Him for disposal. To be burned in the righteousness of His forgiveness, cleansed by His grace and redeemed by His mercy. Not so that we can live a life prosperous by the standards of the world; wealth, health and glory but so that we can more clearly see a God who defies all understanding and is more powerful that the most complex of our problems. So that we can reflect to a darkened world a light that is unworldly, simplistic and clear by living a life that is illogical in the face of our wounds, our situations and our circumstances.
In a kingdom long ago, there was a murder committed in the light of day. A King killed his beloved son, the literal image-bearer of his face to whom he found displeasure for the apparent handicaps of his wisdom, knowledge and vitality. No justification could or has been given for this murdering, no accounting has been given for its commission. One of the perpetrators of this dastardly deed has walked into the ultimate judgment and another still wanders the worldly hallways of dark freedom….yet the crime must be attributed and assignment of guilt given. God mourns the loss of that beloved son and wants to bring resurrection, restoration and purposed joy to the corpse of that son that still wanders the world….
An illogical trip into the darkness of my childhood is where God whispers to me to go; to journey into the void created and to find that beloved son, without a promise of victory and a proclamation of healing…..but I have faith that God can take me into that place and that He can resurrect that lost child for the promotion of His glory.
I've rejoined the Men's group that I had originally quit to answer the need in the Awana's program (children's ministry at The River). They are studying the book by Henry T. Blackaby and Claude V. King called "Experiencing God: Knowing and doing the Will of God." This study was previously done by the women's group that my friend Cherie attended and in which I saw steady, definable growth by her in her walk. She asked me what I hoped to discover taking such a 'basic' course, a compliment to my spiritual knowledge I guess. I told her, this is the only way to establish relationships that will enable me to create my own bible study group, at least by church philosophy. I finally received the study book and started on it to 'catch up' to the group.
We equate spiritual strength and vitality with wisdom. The wisdom that is reflected in a 'spiritual' walk...i.e. church attendance, social repentance and the shadowy land of 'good fruit'. If you struggle, well it must be because you're not repentant, not being spiritual or -horror of all horrors, unsaved. God is good, and promises the world for us...prosperity, victory and happiness. Therefore, you're not taking ahold of God's promises if you're none of those things. The poor of this world must not be following God, the defeated of the world must not know God's grace and those who aren't happy must not be realizing the joy of the LORD. If we pray for God's will in our lives, and are met with silence…then we must either not be willing to listen or praying the 'right' prayer. We must have a 12-step, an action plan or the vision of a grand campus in which all the ministries we are enticed by can be gathered into one location….or we must not be in God's will for our lives. As I've been told in my quest to answer the call God's placed upon me…one that I thought was simply to function as a 'mouthpiece' for Him….but is so much more (and nothing like I would believe it would/should be); God will provide, if you are indeed anointed to His calling.
Blackaby/King's book is an opportunity for me to slack the sails and let the ship slow down a bit…so that God, walking with me in the midst of this journey, can get a few paces ahead so that I can see the fullness of what He has given me of Himself so far. The authors hit you right in the eyes in the first few pages: "What is God's will for my life? -- is not the right question. I think the right question is, What is God's will?" Dr. Gaines S. Dobbins, a seminary professor the author learned under, is quoted. "If you ask the wrong question, you are going to get the wrong answer." If we want to know God's will, we cannot conform it to the narrow view of our life but must look at God's will and bring ourselves into conformance with it so we can experience God.
Most Christians want instant solutions to the problems they present to their congregational friends, pastor and fellow believers. A child's death should be experienced in the context of the unknown, rather than sitting in the sorrow and grief. A financial burden, well…financial stewardship must be implemented or else assistance won't be forthcoming. The recurrence of sin; you must not be accountable enough or must not be truly repentant. Few stand reflective of the example set by Jesus and what one of my mentors, Scott Engelman, calls a "wise elder". A Christian with passionate convictions about God, His people and this life that come from biblical revelation who moves in wise, powerful and sensitive ways into other people's lives with a godly vision of spiritual maturity with implications of possible continuing struggles with the problems experienced in those lives. The focus is always on God, not our lives or the life problems of others, but what God is doing and how experiences, circumstances and spiritual maturity will look are being used for God's purpose and plan. "What is God doing?" Scott would say. As Blackaby/King ask, are we as the body of Christ, ready to go forward without a clear idea of what God's will ultimately will look like? Or do we require a step-by-step description of what going forward in God's will ultimately will look like? One way relies on God's eyesight, the other our own.
God calls us to an intimate and personal relationship with Him, not for our own gratification or prosperity, but solely for the purposes to which we were created, purposed and are designed for by His own hand. Through the experience of being in the Word, living a life absent of agenda (i.e. this is what I need to be comfortable now) and pursuing God, we find ourselves confronted with our selfishness and protective old nature..coaxed into demanding recognition by the enemy who's only avenue left for our disillusionment is to demand God give us His promises in the context of our own reality. The children never die, finances are always on track and God sends us only where we want to go with a itinerary of what is going to be accomplished.
We want to live our lives under God's protection in the ways we can look without effort for His hand in it. We subject our will to His, as long as it is convenient and we know what He will do with it.
Leonardo da Vinci, who is known as an excellent painter, sculptor, poet, architect, engineer, city planner, scientist, inventor, anatomist, military genius, and philosopher said:
"Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer, since to remain constantly at work will cause you to lose power of judgment…Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller, and more of it can be taken in at a glance, and lack of harmony or proportion more readily seen."
Sometimes in that pursuit of knowing God, we have to stop and take stock of what we've learned….in essence, allow God to get a bit ahead of us (not out of sight, but where we can see the fullness of what He's shown us so far). The corrupted old nature still sways and pulls us, redeemed sinners, into paths and degrees of error that can only be realized when we stop and check for a course correction. Granted, if we only kept our eyes on the compass….i.e. God….we wouldn't have to fear such deviations….but we don't, even the 'most' spiritual of us and only a few degrees of error, over time, can lead to disastrous course variations in our journey towards home and the pursuit of God.
It is when we are still in the water, the sails limp upon the masthead and the waves rocking the deck beneath our feet (whether gently or violently) is when we approach our understanding of God, and that intimate relationship, the closest. And we realize that some of the tasks, the assignments and even directions that God beckoned us to join Him in don't seem logical or even worthwhile when He first spoke but in the fullness of the journey, we can see the wisdom of His plan. Too many times, though, we refuse to go without a logical explanation detailing the design and wisdom of God. We speak our dogma with such requirement, we seek out our teachers who can espouse it in our language and 'correct' our scriptural understanding to fit God's word into our demandedness.
Abraham, having the fulfilled promise God made him in Isaac, was told by God to take him to "a mountain" in the Moriah region so he could be a burnt offering. God didn't even tell Abraham which mountain, only that it would be 'one….I will tell you about." (Genesis 22:2) Abraham didn't have the guarantee that things would end the way they did….God didn't provide such information to him. Obedience without cost is easy and empty, for there is no faith engaged in such obedience that doesn't require us to believe in the illogical. So much of the 'basics' are easily understood, but when we get into the depth and width of God….the logic is hidden from us, just over the horizon.
It is when God calls us to join Him in the impossible, the incalculable and the unknowable that obedience becomes a walk of faith….a willingness to walk into the furnace that kills even the tenders….to journey the desert for forty years following a cloud by day and pillar of fire by night…or even to journey into the darkness and sorrow of our past to give witness and voice to that which we would deny and are certain means death. Obedience born of faith that seems illogical, that carries impossibly heavy cost (even the cost of a promise God has given) or is so beyond what we consider to be our 'calling' is were God walks closest to us because we live through that faith….a faith that believes God can kill all our dreams, remove all our promises and blessings but that He also has the power to resurrect them, restore them and fulfill them.
We have to face that which is our most deepest fear, journey back into the timeless pain of a chaotic and troubling childhood to face those giants that stand in the way of God's victorious mercy. Why doesn't God just heal us without that accounting? Without reliance upon God to face those giants, we will equip ourselves with the armor of our choosing and find ourselves ill-fitted to journey alongside our brethren in their struggles. We become counterproductive to the cause of the Kingdom and ineffective in the Potter's hands.
Paul tells us that we should 'rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us." (Romans 5:3-5) In the times to come, whether facing the giants of our past, dealing with the human tendency of self in our dealings inside and outside the family of God or even growing closer to God in the intimate relationship of His will and our lives; we will need faith tested that has persevered to the point of unshakeable and undeniable hope. For in the end of all things, hope is all we have left.
God calls us to bring our garbage to Him for disposal. To be burned in the righteousness of His forgiveness, cleansed by His grace and redeemed by His mercy. Not so that we can live a life prosperous by the standards of the world; wealth, health and glory but so that we can more clearly see a God who defies all understanding and is more powerful that the most complex of our problems. So that we can reflect to a darkened world a light that is unworldly, simplistic and clear by living a life that is illogical in the face of our wounds, our situations and our circumstances.
In a kingdom long ago, there was a murder committed in the light of day. A King killed his beloved son, the literal image-bearer of his face to whom he found displeasure for the apparent handicaps of his wisdom, knowledge and vitality. No justification could or has been given for this murdering, no accounting has been given for its commission. One of the perpetrators of this dastardly deed has walked into the ultimate judgment and another still wanders the worldly hallways of dark freedom….yet the crime must be attributed and assignment of guilt given. God mourns the loss of that beloved son and wants to bring resurrection, restoration and purposed joy to the corpse of that son that still wanders the world….
An illogical trip into the darkness of my childhood is where God whispers to me to go; to journey into the void created and to find that beloved son, without a promise of victory and a proclamation of healing…..but I have faith that God can take me into that place and that He can resurrect that lost child for the promotion of His glory.
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