"And when they were on the way, a certain man said to him, I will come after you wherever you go. And Jesus said to him, Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have resting-places, but the Son of man has nowhere to put his head. And he said to another, Come after me. But he said, Lord, let me first go and give the last honours to my father. But he said to him, Let the dead take care of their dead; it is for you to go and give news of the kingdom of God. And another man said, I will come with you, Lord, but first let me say a last good-day to those who are at my house. But Jesus said, No man, having put his hand to the plough and looking back, is good enough for the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:57-62 BBE)
God's commission doesn't sit well in the modern westernized Church model...which seems so far from the model of the Church that Christ left in the hands of His disciples some 2,000 years ago. More and more churches are more concerned about fancy temples, big projects (called capital building projects) that do little within the communities in which they rest. Evangelism becomes a 'big sign' and 'full parking lot' rather than one-on-one relationships. Pastors become favorites rather than the word that is preached. Outreaches become single-minded and sharply focused upon one group, one bracket or one direction.
The numbers look good, the finances attract investors who 'loan money to visionaries' and the Word (never to return void) goes slowly silent as the faithful are guided into the postmodern 'self' message of love, love and love.....the lies and philosophies of man become hazy and semi-biblical in their utterance but totally void of their fruitfulness, until it becomes the 'Word', leaving more and more of the mega-churched empty and abandoned to fall prey to the growing malaise that paralyzes a people into 'voting' for a immoral change, speaking less against a culture in chaotic destructive mentality and a rejection of those who would speak the Truth in its unadulterated, non-respecting purity.
Go out to all the nations of the world and tell them the Gospel, making disciples becomes an inward focus on keeping what you have and calling the community that lies stagnant a focal point of God's blessings, the Word proclaimed and the lesser 'dirtiness' of life is conveniently swept under the table that sits on the stage.
Disciples lose their zeal for the passion of Christ and opt instead for the relative comforts of Sunday school and cookie-cutter programming for the ministries. Challenges once issued to the leadership under the passionate convictions of a man or woman of God, even if in opposition to the leader's chosen direction, fall upon the ears of the discontent as they have been silenced into submission by the congregational love feast with their pastoral leadership. No one really questions anymore, for questions are not welcomed within the halls of the faithful and the glittered temples of mega. It is better to fade into the quietness of contemplative silence and forego the desires God stokes within the flame of our faith.
Most churches preach a doctrine of peaceful contentment, relative bliss and relational complacency that one has to dull their hearts in such condition so that the mudanity of their lives serve as a balm for the discontentment that boils beneath the surface. This is why I believe the mega-, emergent- and postmodern churches are the most popular today.....it soothes the discontentment that a life seeking Christ, knowing God and being counseled by the Spirit causes, the disruption and the fearful reliance upon a faith that is never stagnate, never satisfied and constantly challenged.
As John Eldridge says in The Sacred Romance, "While our hearts grow in its capacity for pleasure, it grows in its capacity to know pain." The Church, in trying to answer the painful experiences that its congregations are facing actually helps to silence the growth of its members....calling them to a mundane numbness that nullifies the growing sense of painful disconnection to a world that moves further and further from the precepts of its Designer and Creator.
"As the Lord gives you truth, acknowledge it and allow HIM to guide you through it. Don’t try to do anything on your own. Our walk with the Lord is a continual realization of how we need to grow in the image of the Son." Paul Ferree, American missionary and writer of the blog "How To Become A Missionary", writes as he and his family travel the United States where the Father leads, "We simply recognize our errors and repent, or trade our ways for the Father’s ways. Turn from the way we do things and do things the way our Father in heaven instructs us to do them."
As I sense with growing wonder and competing fear the grand work of the Lord within and around me, and the evidence that shows a preparation to the impossibility of the direction that......my preconceived perceptions of what my service to the Call would shape out to be. These are shattered upon the rocks of disillusioned fantasies, exposing the utter foolishness of a future built upon their fragile and simple frames. The assured, peaceful disruption of following the 'walk of sorrow' that characterizes the journey of Christ from rejection to condemnation to the crucifixion promises a grander context, greater works and stronger persecution in ways that I immediately want to reject as foolishness and point out their improbability.
It no longer seems ironic to me that as I look into the chaos of my disrupted life and all of its trials, tribulations and stresses that I find more and more Word being delivered upon the platter of my supplication for God to speak. From a multitude of sources; devotions from separate ministries, words from others (and not just necessarily 'faithful' ones) and an inter-relationalish to events in my life.
Today, from the Ransomed Hearts ministry of John Eldridge, author of Wild at Heart, as well as other fantastic books, comes a devotion that referenced Psalm 119:25. I've quoted part of Eldridge's comments from his book, The Sacred Romance, already...but God chose to expand upon Eldridge's offering with the verses from 25 through 38.
"I am at the point of death. Let your teachings breathe new life into me. When I told you my troubles, you answered my prayers. Now teach me your laws. Help me to understand your teachings, and I will think about your marvelous deeds. I am overcome with sorrow. Encourage me, as you have promised to do. Keep me from being deceitful, and be kind enough to teach me your Law. I am determined to be faithful and to respect your laws. I follow your rules, LORD. Don't let me be ashamed. I am eager to learn all that you want me to do; help me to understand more and more. Point out your rules to me, and I won't disobey even one of them. Help me to understand your Law; I promise to obey it with all my heart. Direct me by your commands! I love to do what you say. Make me want to obey you, rather than to be rich. Take away my foolish desires, and let me find life by walking with you. I am your servant! Do for me what you promised to those who worship you." (Psalms 119:25-38 CEV)
My heart wants to cling to the 'comforts' of this life that has taken so much effort and suffering to achieve, even at this level. It wants peace, grace, mercy, love and above all, hope in such degree that its undeniable. It wants evidence of healing, restoration and an visible 'outward' sign to point to as evidence of my spiritual growth in His purpose. Yet, by clinging to that desire and the resultant chains that it creates, I become bound by the declarations of others.....more beholding to their perceived and unknowledged agendas. God doesn't move where we chain ourselves willingly but calls us to break those chains and live 'on the edge' of His cresting wave of life-giving water......straining in those places where our worst fears lie, unprepared and uncomfortable....God has already prepared us for those things, just as He has already restored our corrupted bodies, yet the journey is realizing that in truth in its entirity, something we will never fully achieve until we reach the point of Christ's return or ours to our Heavenly home
God doesn't ask us to 'fit Him into our life' but to surrender our life over to Him so that we can fit into His story, His life.
"But more than anything else put God's work first and do what he wants. Then the other things will be yours as well." (Matthew 6:33 CEV)
Even in the fluidity of my current situation; finances, location and family struggles.....my time has been less focused on what God is doing in my world, in the life around me, and more focused on the miserable attempt to 'maintain' this lifestyle's 'status quo' at least, with the hope to improve it beyond the difficult position of being fully dependent on God's timing, provision and direction. My devotional time, as reflected in my blog postings, has been stagnant and full of silence.
But, in the last few months, in ever increasing ways….God has brought undeniable proof of His provisions and of His conditioning for the Calling He's given. Not in the hallowed halls of the Church, nor the venerable cafeterias of the aging saints. By becoming vulnerable to God, I am realizing the folly of my limitations…..as if God is big, but not big enough for my situation and problems. He is working in my life in ways I didn't realize, amid the painfulness of letting go of the old…..and it is the strength He has added to my faith that makes it still cling to Him despite no assurance of anything.
Oh, I'm not fully free, if I ever will be, but God is still pointing the way and whispering words of preparation for a world that He's opened for me to journey in with His Truth, His Mercy and for His Glory. The dream, though personal and unique to my perspective, is expanding beyond my wildest imaginations.
Paul Ferre's website is www.paulferree.com that is his 'tent making' conjunction to his ministry. His blog, how to become a missionary is at www.howtobecomeamissionary.com . John Eldridge's devotionals are sent from the website of his Ransomed Heart ministry that you can sign up for at www.ransomedheart.com.
Showing posts with label M3. Show all posts
Showing posts with label M3. Show all posts
Thursday, June 18
Sunday, February 8
Simply following....
“Until I get there, concentrate on reading Scripture in worship, giving encouraging messages, and teaching people. Don't neglect the gift which you received through prophecy when the spiritual leaders placed their hands on you to ordain you. Practice these things. Devote your life to them so that everyone can see your progress. Focus on your life and your teaching. Continue to do what I've told you. If you do this, you will save yourself and those who hear you.” (1 Timothy 4:13-16 GW)
One of my favorite songs is a relatively new one by the band Newsboys called “Stay strong”. It speaks of the journey I embarked upon that day back in May of 2008 when I left my ex, who’s journey was going in the opposite direction from mine. Since that time, I’ve faced eviction, alienation, condemnation, and my God on a level that I’d aspired to but feared none the less. Darkness cannot hide in the light of the One and neither can the sinful nature of man. It seems, the closer I get to God in relationship, the more disruptive and catastrophic my life has become. At times, I’ve wondered about my ability to be a child of God, of changing the sinful broken nature I have in my old self. I have been brought to the places where I’ve realized the truthfulness of that; I cannot change who I am….I can only grow in the realization of what was given that day in February 2004; a new man.
“You’re in the moment now when all you’ve been blessed with is not enough. Here’s where the ground gets loose. Here’s where the devils call your bluff.” There have been times in the last eight months that I’ve been so abundantly blessed both by friends known and other in the brethren of Christ who I have not had the honor of knowing as well. Two cars, financial support to move into a place, hands and feet searching in prayer for the blessings of the Lord to come upon me and the assurance that the Body ‘has my back’. Unquestioningly and with powerful effect.
But the crisis’s kept coming, kept falling into my life as if there was a vendetta against me; as if the devil, knowing he’s lost another, would rob the purpose to which God has called me and the effects of such purpose.
Pastor Jim Combs, of The River of Faith church, told us of a story. One John Eglin, a Methodist Elder, walked through sixteen feet (more or less) of snow one wintery Sunday to his church, predicting that there wouldn’t be many of the congregation there. True to his prediction, only twelve parishioners showed up…not even the Pastor came that day. In addition to the regulars was one thirteen year old visitor.
Eglin gave the sermon, speaking of everything that he knew of God and His grace….speaking for all of about ten minutes.
Charles Spurgeon said that it was at that service that he realized the love of Christ and accepted the offer of salvation. Spurgeon, one of the greatest theologians of the 19th century, started his journey one wintery Sunday because an Elder judged it important enough to trudge six miles to church for service.
I have found that pursuing God’s purpose for my life; spoken in the massive worship hall at Willow Creek Community Church so many years ago, is nothing more than the melting of faith, hope, love, joy, compassion, and redemption together by the fire of God’s Holy Spirit and cannot be recognized upon the achievements and accolades of man, but rather is given up as a burnt offering to God far from the light of day…secretly and in confidence.
As the Newsboys’ song goes, “Get up, there’s further to go. Get up, there’s more to be done. Get up, the witness is sure. Get up, this race can be won.”
We can be what we are redeemed to be. But, thhere is the wisdom of the devil, who knows well my faults and my weaknesses and how to draw my eyes away from the prize, that eternal hope manifested in a life lived for purpose, lived for God’s glory and nothing more.
We will never be fully what we were intended to be here, redeemed and restored, until Jesus comes again. Our lot is to keep going forward, keep growing closer to God in this life; for the eternal future we're promised.
I heard a pastor once say that we can make ourselves unfit for service to God; unsuitable for our purpose to which God set His hand to far before we were born. In those cases, this pastor said, God has a backup….someone else to send in your stead.
I wonder if that is true. God surely intended the pastor of that Methodist church to preach the word as he had every Sunday for however long he was there. Or did He?
Would Spurgeon have listened and understood the love of the Father in the hour long sermon the pastor probably would’ve given?
In the past few months, God has brought me to the razor edge of the cliff as if beckoning me to surrender to fate and jump, into the waiting darkness that waited at the bottom of that impossibly high mountain top. I’ve come to experience the sensation of being at that pivot point, between the safety of being able to pull back and the inevitable surrender to gravity. It has been that frightening, that troubling to my faith.
Each time that pivot point seemed to stretch longer and longer into impossible eternity…..and each time, I surrendered to what I believed was ‘fate’, the pull of gravity into the headlong fall into oblivion. I never hit the ground, but felt the grasping and sure hands of the Father saying, “Trust.”
Blake Crawford, a BIC from Naples Florida, who belongs to a group “Men Mentoring Men” on Facebook, posted a topic, Thinking Theologically, and quotes from Finding God by Dr. Larry Crabb:
"Theology becomes rich only when it survives the onslaught of pain. And sound theology leads us through our pain to the fuller experience of Christ, and therefore of hope and love and joy. The gripping message of the Bible will never be fully heard in a library. “Dr. Crabb states, “In order to catch the pulse of Scripture and hear the heartbeat of God, we must be actively grappling with the overwhelming reality of what life is like outside the Garden of Eden. If we numb our souls to the ongoing struggles with sin and disappointment that fallen people living in a fallen world experience, then our time in the Bible will yield puffy knowledge rather than liberating truth."
In the fiery heat of the trials I’ve faced; with my finances, with my children, and with my ex….there has been a steady, if not jerky, advancement in God’s designed purpose for me. Theologically, my faith is stronger and more refined. In the tempest of the storm, I have found realized reliance upon God…not for my purpose, but for His.
It is why I don’t believe that God puts a ‘pinch hitter’ in the place of the one He’s purposed to the call, nor that we can (if we truly cry out, ‘Lord, send me!’) thwart His plan. He is a patient God, loving and vengeful at both times, and knows His children to a degree more than the enemy can ever realize. He will wait, and He will poke us into fulfilling our commitment.
It may take years, or a matter of months, but He will prevail.
As I progress from the relatively easy forgiveness and redemption with my ex-wife into the more harrowing journey with my brother, I find it easier to look at to where God is leading me to go than worrying about my own involvement over its accomplishment.
The complex has become simple, the simple has become common. And I am far from being the scholar like Spurgeon, Crabb, or a host of others. I have a long way to go yet, but I feel the pressing tick of the clock against those who have yet to realize the love of the Father and the Son.
Though I fear, I walk with an eagerness that would’ve immobilized me less than a year ago. Though I worry about the outcome, I know that I will jump…..and trust my God all the way to the bottom, if need be.
For that too would serve God's purpose...
Focused on my life and my purpose, I struggle to bring it into mirrorship of God's Son.
Brought into the harsh light of redeeming grace.
One of my favorite songs is a relatively new one by the band Newsboys called “Stay strong”. It speaks of the journey I embarked upon that day back in May of 2008 when I left my ex, who’s journey was going in the opposite direction from mine. Since that time, I’ve faced eviction, alienation, condemnation, and my God on a level that I’d aspired to but feared none the less. Darkness cannot hide in the light of the One and neither can the sinful nature of man. It seems, the closer I get to God in relationship, the more disruptive and catastrophic my life has become. At times, I’ve wondered about my ability to be a child of God, of changing the sinful broken nature I have in my old self. I have been brought to the places where I’ve realized the truthfulness of that; I cannot change who I am….I can only grow in the realization of what was given that day in February 2004; a new man.
“You’re in the moment now when all you’ve been blessed with is not enough. Here’s where the ground gets loose. Here’s where the devils call your bluff.” There have been times in the last eight months that I’ve been so abundantly blessed both by friends known and other in the brethren of Christ who I have not had the honor of knowing as well. Two cars, financial support to move into a place, hands and feet searching in prayer for the blessings of the Lord to come upon me and the assurance that the Body ‘has my back’. Unquestioningly and with powerful effect.
But the crisis’s kept coming, kept falling into my life as if there was a vendetta against me; as if the devil, knowing he’s lost another, would rob the purpose to which God has called me and the effects of such purpose.
Pastor Jim Combs, of The River of Faith church, told us of a story. One John Eglin, a Methodist Elder, walked through sixteen feet (more or less) of snow one wintery Sunday to his church, predicting that there wouldn’t be many of the congregation there. True to his prediction, only twelve parishioners showed up…not even the Pastor came that day. In addition to the regulars was one thirteen year old visitor.
Eglin gave the sermon, speaking of everything that he knew of God and His grace….speaking for all of about ten minutes.
Charles Spurgeon said that it was at that service that he realized the love of Christ and accepted the offer of salvation. Spurgeon, one of the greatest theologians of the 19th century, started his journey one wintery Sunday because an Elder judged it important enough to trudge six miles to church for service.
I have found that pursuing God’s purpose for my life; spoken in the massive worship hall at Willow Creek Community Church so many years ago, is nothing more than the melting of faith, hope, love, joy, compassion, and redemption together by the fire of God’s Holy Spirit and cannot be recognized upon the achievements and accolades of man, but rather is given up as a burnt offering to God far from the light of day…secretly and in confidence.
As the Newsboys’ song goes, “Get up, there’s further to go. Get up, there’s more to be done. Get up, the witness is sure. Get up, this race can be won.”
We can be what we are redeemed to be. But, thhere is the wisdom of the devil, who knows well my faults and my weaknesses and how to draw my eyes away from the prize, that eternal hope manifested in a life lived for purpose, lived for God’s glory and nothing more.
We will never be fully what we were intended to be here, redeemed and restored, until Jesus comes again. Our lot is to keep going forward, keep growing closer to God in this life; for the eternal future we're promised.
I heard a pastor once say that we can make ourselves unfit for service to God; unsuitable for our purpose to which God set His hand to far before we were born. In those cases, this pastor said, God has a backup….someone else to send in your stead.
I wonder if that is true. God surely intended the pastor of that Methodist church to preach the word as he had every Sunday for however long he was there. Or did He?
Would Spurgeon have listened and understood the love of the Father in the hour long sermon the pastor probably would’ve given?
In the past few months, God has brought me to the razor edge of the cliff as if beckoning me to surrender to fate and jump, into the waiting darkness that waited at the bottom of that impossibly high mountain top. I’ve come to experience the sensation of being at that pivot point, between the safety of being able to pull back and the inevitable surrender to gravity. It has been that frightening, that troubling to my faith.
Each time that pivot point seemed to stretch longer and longer into impossible eternity…..and each time, I surrendered to what I believed was ‘fate’, the pull of gravity into the headlong fall into oblivion. I never hit the ground, but felt the grasping and sure hands of the Father saying, “Trust.”
Blake Crawford, a BIC from Naples Florida, who belongs to a group “Men Mentoring Men” on Facebook, posted a topic, Thinking Theologically, and quotes from Finding God by Dr. Larry Crabb:
"Theology becomes rich only when it survives the onslaught of pain. And sound theology leads us through our pain to the fuller experience of Christ, and therefore of hope and love and joy. The gripping message of the Bible will never be fully heard in a library. “Dr. Crabb states, “In order to catch the pulse of Scripture and hear the heartbeat of God, we must be actively grappling with the overwhelming reality of what life is like outside the Garden of Eden. If we numb our souls to the ongoing struggles with sin and disappointment that fallen people living in a fallen world experience, then our time in the Bible will yield puffy knowledge rather than liberating truth."
In the fiery heat of the trials I’ve faced; with my finances, with my children, and with my ex….there has been a steady, if not jerky, advancement in God’s designed purpose for me. Theologically, my faith is stronger and more refined. In the tempest of the storm, I have found realized reliance upon God…not for my purpose, but for His.
It is why I don’t believe that God puts a ‘pinch hitter’ in the place of the one He’s purposed to the call, nor that we can (if we truly cry out, ‘Lord, send me!’) thwart His plan. He is a patient God, loving and vengeful at both times, and knows His children to a degree more than the enemy can ever realize. He will wait, and He will poke us into fulfilling our commitment.
It may take years, or a matter of months, but He will prevail.
As I progress from the relatively easy forgiveness and redemption with my ex-wife into the more harrowing journey with my brother, I find it easier to look at to where God is leading me to go than worrying about my own involvement over its accomplishment.
The complex has become simple, the simple has become common. And I am far from being the scholar like Spurgeon, Crabb, or a host of others. I have a long way to go yet, but I feel the pressing tick of the clock against those who have yet to realize the love of the Father and the Son.
Though I fear, I walk with an eagerness that would’ve immobilized me less than a year ago. Though I worry about the outcome, I know that I will jump…..and trust my God all the way to the bottom, if need be.
For that too would serve God's purpose...
Focused on my life and my purpose, I struggle to bring it into mirrorship of God's Son.
Brought into the harsh light of redeeming grace.
Tuesday, January 27
A story within a story....the acceptance of fear....
"My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Colossians 2:2–3
The death that I seek, that of this 'nice guy' that I have been talking about lately who has haunted me throughout the years and hindered my growth as a child of God and a man seeking after His own heart, requires the one thing I fear, the one thing that I feel would not only be the death of the 'nice guy' in me but everything else that is me also. It has been the one word, discussing with my Savior this journey, that is the sum of it all:
Fear.
I still live with that basic fear that has formed itself in the childhood of my life; that moment in time when, disgusted with my failure (again), my father spoke the words that would shape and define my life's mission. "You won't amount to anything." Now, you may say that such a thing was too vicious and damaging to say to a child and you yourself would never do so.
Better to set up events, decisions and what not to affirm and create the successful boy that you want your son to be. My father wasn't intentionally trying to 'damage' me, but operating from the wounding of his own life....he figured that a 'little shake-up' would fire the passion that would enable me to overcome and succeed. The crushing of that heart was the result though, and I began to live a 'short-term' style of life; in relationships, in business, and in what religiousity I had.
Short-term gain, forget about the long-term risk.
I wouldn't be around long enough to pay for the crimes. You can't punish a dead man, and you definately can't get 'blood' from him.... Behold, the birth of the 'nice guy'. Now, I've realized, through the years the nice guy has refined and adapted himself to the realization that such a lofty dream, short-term living, wasn't being adopted by the world around him and (unbeknownst to him) God wasn't buying. Time and time again through this journey, I can pinpoint moments where I was living the short-term in hope of 'heavy penalties' and each time it was like an unseen benefactor would foot the bill and leave me there wondering where that Mack Truck that was supposedly coming on a direct collision course disappeared to. Disappointed, I'd move on to the next 'great failure'.
Driving into work today, with the 'light' dusting of snow leaving sheets of ice upon the roadway, I was struck at how...even with the empowerment of men that have no gain from edification or enclusion of this broken sham of a male member of this species, I live in a state of short-term....
And remain disappointed that the penalties aren't being assessed.
For that makes me responsible for the mess that my life is, has been, and makes it awfully hard to continue to place the blame for who I am living as now upon the moment in time of the wounding of my father. I have been given grace, through the powerful and effective power of a Risen King and Merciful Lord, and I believe in all my heart that I have faced the specter of forgiving my earthly father, gone so many years now only to find that I'm not living under that realization of grace nor the release of the wounding of my father. I have to face the ugly reality that I enjoy living in this place....no risk, no dealing...for after all, I'm just waiting for the Mack Truck incident......about the only thing is, I hope it won't hurt...too much.
I am coming to realize that it is there, trying to justify the fact that I feel inadequate to move forward and be what God calls me to be, that I have become complacent and quite happy to sit in this mired darkness, for it doesn't cost me a dime and doesn't cause me to have to begin to work my way out of the muck.
Convinced by the skill of denial that I am progressed enough to move forward, instead of being willing to mourn, grieve, and then bury the remains of my childhood in the grave of time, I have stopped moving and stopped growing because I've enough on my plate, thank you very much, to deal with. I want some peace, even if that peace is illusionary and more harmful than good. What was lost, either through the wounding of my father, the brutality of myself upon the remaining vestige of that ghostly image of a boy, and the decay of corruption that was the natural byproduct of such sinful and unrealized masculinity cannot be regained...in this world...for fallen state of man is linear as man himself and one cannot 'go back' to a way that was never realized.
That is where I have been fooled.
That is where I lost the responsibility I found on that Story Weekend and corrupted it with my own mired wounds. And that is where the 'nice guy' resides and is quite happy to call the shots. Not always, but enough to convince me that this wound hasn't been properly treated and healed and must once again be lanced to allow the poison to be released, and dug out, so that I can be the true man I was designed to be.
Instead of denying such a 'nice guy' façade exists, I realize the need to recognize him within my story…that story that is a small, small part of the larger story that God has told since the dawn of the first day and progressed through the life, teaching, death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. To realize my tendency to keep the 'new model' that I've received in the transformation of my soul into the 'new creature' to keep it 'new'.
Rather than lamenting the fact that I am going to tarnish, through the painful and sinful nature of the old, that new body…at least as I progress towards the final model in which Christ wants to present us, Paul says, as to His Father on that final day…..and that I'm going to dent and bash the sleek lines of its garments…
Realizing that God's warranty plan is good enough to cover the damages I cause.
As with my trip into work today, going through the patches of ice where it was clearly evident to me (though apparently not to those who flew by) that I was operating more by inertia than willful steering, trusting the ability of the laws of nature, and the dynamics of the car to carry me safely to the other side of the patch…..
I need to realize that much of my life, and the adventure back into the darkness of my childhood and my soul, is going to be like that sensation…..of being an unwillful participant in the science of inertia and gravity and willing to risk the damage of collision to get to the other side. God will know when the moment comes for solidity underfoot and when that sensation returns of friction, I need to be ready to 'give it some gas'.
Watching for that next patch of ice and trusting God to be Big ENOUGH to do what He plans in that moment.
Not to kill the 'nice guy', but to immobilize him with the fear he's used to keep me in the muck and accept him as a part of my story. But no longer a defining part of the larger story of God's plan.
It's time to end this chapter and risk the collision of my own making.
By taking the larger risk for the long-term gains.
Not by living a short-term life.
This is my story, not written for the personal gain of making you feel obligated to pray and stand in my stead but to speak to you and draw you out,
Into the Larger story of God's plan…..
"Here, little kitty, tsk tsk tsk….."
The death that I seek, that of this 'nice guy' that I have been talking about lately who has haunted me throughout the years and hindered my growth as a child of God and a man seeking after His own heart, requires the one thing I fear, the one thing that I feel would not only be the death of the 'nice guy' in me but everything else that is me also. It has been the one word, discussing with my Savior this journey, that is the sum of it all:
Fear.
I still live with that basic fear that has formed itself in the childhood of my life; that moment in time when, disgusted with my failure (again), my father spoke the words that would shape and define my life's mission. "You won't amount to anything." Now, you may say that such a thing was too vicious and damaging to say to a child and you yourself would never do so.
Better to set up events, decisions and what not to affirm and create the successful boy that you want your son to be. My father wasn't intentionally trying to 'damage' me, but operating from the wounding of his own life....he figured that a 'little shake-up' would fire the passion that would enable me to overcome and succeed. The crushing of that heart was the result though, and I began to live a 'short-term' style of life; in relationships, in business, and in what religiousity I had.
Short-term gain, forget about the long-term risk.
I wouldn't be around long enough to pay for the crimes. You can't punish a dead man, and you definately can't get 'blood' from him.... Behold, the birth of the 'nice guy'. Now, I've realized, through the years the nice guy has refined and adapted himself to the realization that such a lofty dream, short-term living, wasn't being adopted by the world around him and (unbeknownst to him) God wasn't buying. Time and time again through this journey, I can pinpoint moments where I was living the short-term in hope of 'heavy penalties' and each time it was like an unseen benefactor would foot the bill and leave me there wondering where that Mack Truck that was supposedly coming on a direct collision course disappeared to. Disappointed, I'd move on to the next 'great failure'.
Driving into work today, with the 'light' dusting of snow leaving sheets of ice upon the roadway, I was struck at how...even with the empowerment of men that have no gain from edification or enclusion of this broken sham of a male member of this species, I live in a state of short-term....
And remain disappointed that the penalties aren't being assessed.
For that makes me responsible for the mess that my life is, has been, and makes it awfully hard to continue to place the blame for who I am living as now upon the moment in time of the wounding of my father. I have been given grace, through the powerful and effective power of a Risen King and Merciful Lord, and I believe in all my heart that I have faced the specter of forgiving my earthly father, gone so many years now only to find that I'm not living under that realization of grace nor the release of the wounding of my father. I have to face the ugly reality that I enjoy living in this place....no risk, no dealing...for after all, I'm just waiting for the Mack Truck incident......about the only thing is, I hope it won't hurt...too much.
I am coming to realize that it is there, trying to justify the fact that I feel inadequate to move forward and be what God calls me to be, that I have become complacent and quite happy to sit in this mired darkness, for it doesn't cost me a dime and doesn't cause me to have to begin to work my way out of the muck.
Convinced by the skill of denial that I am progressed enough to move forward, instead of being willing to mourn, grieve, and then bury the remains of my childhood in the grave of time, I have stopped moving and stopped growing because I've enough on my plate, thank you very much, to deal with. I want some peace, even if that peace is illusionary and more harmful than good. What was lost, either through the wounding of my father, the brutality of myself upon the remaining vestige of that ghostly image of a boy, and the decay of corruption that was the natural byproduct of such sinful and unrealized masculinity cannot be regained...in this world...for fallen state of man is linear as man himself and one cannot 'go back' to a way that was never realized.
That is where I have been fooled.
That is where I lost the responsibility I found on that Story Weekend and corrupted it with my own mired wounds. And that is where the 'nice guy' resides and is quite happy to call the shots. Not always, but enough to convince me that this wound hasn't been properly treated and healed and must once again be lanced to allow the poison to be released, and dug out, so that I can be the true man I was designed to be.
Instead of denying such a 'nice guy' façade exists, I realize the need to recognize him within my story…that story that is a small, small part of the larger story that God has told since the dawn of the first day and progressed through the life, teaching, death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. To realize my tendency to keep the 'new model' that I've received in the transformation of my soul into the 'new creature' to keep it 'new'.
Rather than lamenting the fact that I am going to tarnish, through the painful and sinful nature of the old, that new body…at least as I progress towards the final model in which Christ wants to present us, Paul says, as to His Father on that final day…..and that I'm going to dent and bash the sleek lines of its garments…
Realizing that God's warranty plan is good enough to cover the damages I cause.
As with my trip into work today, going through the patches of ice where it was clearly evident to me (though apparently not to those who flew by) that I was operating more by inertia than willful steering, trusting the ability of the laws of nature, and the dynamics of the car to carry me safely to the other side of the patch…..
I need to realize that much of my life, and the adventure back into the darkness of my childhood and my soul, is going to be like that sensation…..of being an unwillful participant in the science of inertia and gravity and willing to risk the damage of collision to get to the other side. God will know when the moment comes for solidity underfoot and when that sensation returns of friction, I need to be ready to 'give it some gas'.
Watching for that next patch of ice and trusting God to be Big ENOUGH to do what He plans in that moment.
Not to kill the 'nice guy', but to immobilize him with the fear he's used to keep me in the muck and accept him as a part of my story. But no longer a defining part of the larger story of God's plan.
It's time to end this chapter and risk the collision of my own making.
By taking the larger risk for the long-term gains.
Not by living a short-term life.
This is my story, not written for the personal gain of making you feel obligated to pray and stand in my stead but to speak to you and draw you out,
Into the Larger story of God's plan…..
"Here, little kitty, tsk tsk tsk….."
Monday, January 19
The moment of man's surrender....................
“When the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, was attractive to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God moving about in the orchard at the breezy time of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the orchard. But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" The man replied, "I heard you moving about in the orchard, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid." And the LORD God said, "Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" The man said, "The woman whom you gave me, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it."” (Genesis 3:6-12 NET.)
It is interesting to note, in the study of how and why the biblical formation of masculinity and femininity has gone so wrong as to produce a society today that is nothing like the original intent; where men are feminized and women are left with less than they originally sought in the fight for ‘equality’ among the sexes, that the axioms that dot the societal landscape can be found in the biblical text of our first parents; Adam and Eve.
Scott Engelmann, of the Awakened Hearts Ministries, opened the proverbial Pandora’s box wide open this last Saturday as he began to discuss “What men do that frustrates women: Understanding why we do the things we do.” You can go to www.m3mministries.org and find the topic notes that I’ll be discussing from.
As in any discussion regarding a problem, one must go back to the beginning and chart the progression of the problem now noted in awakening eyes; i.e. the economy’s ills aren’t a problem President Bush created, it started during the Clinton administration and is just now coming to age.
Our generational problems with the youth aren’t something that started at their birth but something that started long ago and has compounded into today’s generation lost.
Engelmann calls this day, “The day that forever changed your manhood.” And it wasn’t God, much like the economy is being blamed on President Bush, who caused manhood to be forever altered in the generations to follow Adam; it was Adam himself who cursed the landscape of relational beings called mankind and it is the result of his action (or rather inaction) that caused the whole of mankind to be cursed, gender-specifically, in those generations following.
The problem that exists today; feminized men, gender-confusion, broken homes, marriages of fragile and immoral structures, and the continued disassociation of generations of youth come from one moment in history; when the first man failed to live according to his biblical purpose and bless the woman he had been given for relationship.
Much like a disaster-recreation specialist will do with an airplane crash, a devasting fire, or a natural disaster; Engelmann takes us through the one disaster that has plagued mankind throughout the ages. He does this, not in a effort to bring conviction and disconnection to men today but to call them back to the purpose to which they have been built and to show them how to do it.
Where John Eldredge speaks of what a man is designed to be; wild and untamed; Robert Lewis speaks of the nobility of man; strong and true; and Dr. Larry Crabb speaks of the failures of man; Scott Engelmann starts more at a more logical point; where and why man has gone wrong and takes us on a journey to recreate the disaster that has echoed throughout the generations of humanity since.
Adam, simply put, was a ‘nice guy’. When the snake, representative in Ancient Near East culture of chaos and darkness, entered into the garden Adam wasn’t off in the back forty tending the sheep, frolicking with the buffalo, or gazing upon the wonders that God had created. He was standing next to his co-warrior and partner in this grand adventure that God had made them for……and was silent.
He didn’t correct Eve, telling her that God didn’t say that a simple touch would cause the punishment of death to be occurred and that such an action as eating a prohibited item was against the very nature of the God they conversed with, walked with, in the beauty of creation’s garden and therefore a sin. No, Adam allowed the conversation to go on and allowed Eve to embellish what she didn’t know about God’s prohibition.
The snake convinced Eve that her feelings that God was indeed holding out the wealth of His power from her and her husband were true. And Adam remained silent, though he had first hand knowledge of the wealth and scope of God’s power and the blessings received; the woman standing beside him was proof of such glanderous giving.
Yeah, yeah, heard that story many times in the cushy chair of the church you attend? You know that its all Adam’s fault, that he didn’t stop what would become mankind’s downfall with a simple “No” or by casting the serpent out of the garden proper? On the surface, such things are indeed what happened and are evidence of Adam’s failure. But what brings such weight and disastrous consequences to such a simplistic and momentary spot in the wrinkles of time?
We can jump back two chapters in the creation account, to the beginning of the beginning……God made.
In Genesis 1:1, we read the first words of creation….”God made the heaven and the earth.” Neither was made in full form that we know today, the earth was ‘waste and formless’ and ‘darkness upon the deep’ ruled. Simply put, out of darkness and chaos, God created beauty and light. This is where life began, far beyond some primordial pool of ectoplasm and scrape materials. The Spirit of God moved upon the deep and spoke creation into existence. God brought out of darkness light and chaos order.
And God created man.
There is a host of authors who have identified what man was created as; an image-bearer of God. The animals weren’t created in God’s image and therefore were inadequate to be a companion to man. God was too superior. Woman was created to be a co-inheritor and warrior of relationship; thus being a suitable companion to Adam (see Engelmann’s discussion “What a woman wants”). As woman was the warrior to combat Adam’s loneliness, so Adam was the warrior to sustain a life-inviting environment (the garden) for his wife and all of creation.
The serpent (aka the snake) came into the Garden, darkness and chaos, and entices the woman….the warrior of relationship….to embrace it. Adam, who’s purpose was to combat such remains silent. The image-bearer of God’s nature; bringing life into the world of darkness and chaos, remains silent and allows darkness and chaos to gain a foothold. Adam didn’t speak or move against the chaos. A mistake, surely, and the first step into the headlong journey that mankind has taken empty of God’s purpose.
But, even then, even in the midst of such a mistake----a lack of movement----mankind could’ve been saved. As with any life-changing event, it is the compounding of errors made that increases the scope of the problem…..much like a rock gaining speed as it rolls downhill.
Adam compounds the problem. As Engelmann says, “He chooses to not trust God with a now growing problem. He forgets God and seeks to solve the problem of chaos on his own.” Adam disconnects from the relationship with God and from the benefit of His grace. And mankind has been compounding the problem ever since.
And he throws the one who was built to combat his greatest fear; loneliness, when confronted with his own complacency. When God seeks them out after this disaster, Adam points to the woman and says, “She made me do it.” An excuse that men have used throughout the ages since. Eve may have taken the first bite out of the forbidden fruit, but Adam was the source of sin’s introduction to the world.
“For this reason, as through one man sin came into the world, and death because of sin, and so death came to all men, because all have done evil.” Romans 5:12 (NET)
So, what does this have to do with masculinity today?
We have developed through the generations men who have lived in a world that is set against them, and promote such things that seek to offset the feelings of incompetence, inadequate capabilities, and impotence so that we, as men, will not face the fear that if we are exposed the world will realize that we are not enough of a ‘man’. We promote our fear that God is not good enough to handle such fears and so as men we seek to protect, keep, and care for ourselves in a world that is opposed to us.
We, as Adam did in the Garden event, don’t move into darkness and chaos to create life-inviting environments. We don't invite our co-warriors to bring their image of God they bear into such an environment.
We bear the curse of Adam; seeking the same thing he did…the protection of ourselves in a world that hasn’t changed from the moment in time when Adam was called upon the bear the image of his creator and sacrificially step into the chaos to bring life-giving relationship to a wounded warrior…his wife, Eve. He sought to take matters into his own hand, distrusting the mercy and abilities of God to redeem the situation, and compounded the problem through his inaction.
Men continue to do that today; look at the feminist movement, look at the TV shows, and look at the generation which is coming into power through the ‘change’ platform of Barack Obama, rather than face the change that needs to be made at the beginning of the problem; men not living as men and women not living as women.
Simply put, Engelmann makes the statement that resonates in the hearts of today’s men…..”I feel weak and afraid to powerfully enter into and to shape my world as a man so I will work hard to avoid and compensate for my inadequacies.”
So, is there any hope?
Yes, and it lies within the realization that, like Adam, we need God’s mercy and grace. In facing the fact we are inadequate to the task of being the totality of our purpose; image-bearers of God who use the power of Him to move in a world set against us.
As the life verse that I was given during the story weekend I attended so long ago…..”And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you. For my power is perfected in weakness.’” It is in that moment, when we as men are fully vulnerable, fully inadequate to the task that we find ourselves in the unprotected position of exposure, that we become the reflection of God’s love and power as we were built to be.
We love sacrificially, as Paul tells us to “love your wives as Christ loved the Church”, and move into the chaos once more to dispel the darkness so that our co-inheritors can bring life-enhancing relationship as valued, desired, and beautiful reflections of God’s hatred of loneliness.
It is when we realize that we cannot affect change ourselves, that our power is too weak due to its corruption, that we desperately cling to God’s ability to protect our hearts. And we experience the freedom that can only be sustained by a relationship with the image we bear to love as He loves us.
“Because masculinity was designed to reflect the life-giving power of God in this world, we cannot be men when we live lives distant and disconnected from God.” Engelmann concludes, “A man’s masculinity can no more reflect the power of a God he is distant from than the moon reflect the light of the sun it is distant from.”
Who's image do you reflect?
The discussion today is based on Awakened Hearts Ministries' Scott Engelmann and his notes regarding "What men do that frustrates women" and in part earlier discussions presented through the M3 Ministry. www.ahmministries.org and www.m3mministries.org are the websites of this ministry.
Neither AHM, the parent ministry of M3 or Scott Engelmann have endorsed this writing. This is representative of my own personal views on the information presented.
Men Mentoring Men (M3) is a sub-ministry of Awakened Heart Ministries. Awakened Heart Ministries is a non-profit organization founded in 2008. We offer a variety of ministries all committed to the restoration, healing and growth of the core relationships of life: relationship with God, spouse and family. AHM was founded with the enthusiastic support of individuals and couples whose lives and relationships have been richly changed by the love and grace of Jesus Christ.
For more information about AHM or any of our sub-ministries, please email us at:
info@ahmministries.org, or call 248-508-0992.
AHM also partners with Grace Counseling Center, Dr. Tim Hogan, Director, 313-343-9000.
Awakened Heart Ministries
P.O. Box 4941
Troy, MI 48099
It is interesting to note, in the study of how and why the biblical formation of masculinity and femininity has gone so wrong as to produce a society today that is nothing like the original intent; where men are feminized and women are left with less than they originally sought in the fight for ‘equality’ among the sexes, that the axioms that dot the societal landscape can be found in the biblical text of our first parents; Adam and Eve.
Scott Engelmann, of the Awakened Hearts Ministries, opened the proverbial Pandora’s box wide open this last Saturday as he began to discuss “What men do that frustrates women: Understanding why we do the things we do.” You can go to www.m3mministries.org and find the topic notes that I’ll be discussing from.
As in any discussion regarding a problem, one must go back to the beginning and chart the progression of the problem now noted in awakening eyes; i.e. the economy’s ills aren’t a problem President Bush created, it started during the Clinton administration and is just now coming to age.
Our generational problems with the youth aren’t something that started at their birth but something that started long ago and has compounded into today’s generation lost.
Engelmann calls this day, “The day that forever changed your manhood.” And it wasn’t God, much like the economy is being blamed on President Bush, who caused manhood to be forever altered in the generations to follow Adam; it was Adam himself who cursed the landscape of relational beings called mankind and it is the result of his action (or rather inaction) that caused the whole of mankind to be cursed, gender-specifically, in those generations following.
The problem that exists today; feminized men, gender-confusion, broken homes, marriages of fragile and immoral structures, and the continued disassociation of generations of youth come from one moment in history; when the first man failed to live according to his biblical purpose and bless the woman he had been given for relationship.
Much like a disaster-recreation specialist will do with an airplane crash, a devasting fire, or a natural disaster; Engelmann takes us through the one disaster that has plagued mankind throughout the ages. He does this, not in a effort to bring conviction and disconnection to men today but to call them back to the purpose to which they have been built and to show them how to do it.
Where John Eldredge speaks of what a man is designed to be; wild and untamed; Robert Lewis speaks of the nobility of man; strong and true; and Dr. Larry Crabb speaks of the failures of man; Scott Engelmann starts more at a more logical point; where and why man has gone wrong and takes us on a journey to recreate the disaster that has echoed throughout the generations of humanity since.
Adam, simply put, was a ‘nice guy’. When the snake, representative in Ancient Near East culture of chaos and darkness, entered into the garden Adam wasn’t off in the back forty tending the sheep, frolicking with the buffalo, or gazing upon the wonders that God had created. He was standing next to his co-warrior and partner in this grand adventure that God had made them for……and was silent.
He didn’t correct Eve, telling her that God didn’t say that a simple touch would cause the punishment of death to be occurred and that such an action as eating a prohibited item was against the very nature of the God they conversed with, walked with, in the beauty of creation’s garden and therefore a sin. No, Adam allowed the conversation to go on and allowed Eve to embellish what she didn’t know about God’s prohibition.
The snake convinced Eve that her feelings that God was indeed holding out the wealth of His power from her and her husband were true. And Adam remained silent, though he had first hand knowledge of the wealth and scope of God’s power and the blessings received; the woman standing beside him was proof of such glanderous giving.
Yeah, yeah, heard that story many times in the cushy chair of the church you attend? You know that its all Adam’s fault, that he didn’t stop what would become mankind’s downfall with a simple “No” or by casting the serpent out of the garden proper? On the surface, such things are indeed what happened and are evidence of Adam’s failure. But what brings such weight and disastrous consequences to such a simplistic and momentary spot in the wrinkles of time?
We can jump back two chapters in the creation account, to the beginning of the beginning……God made.
In Genesis 1:1, we read the first words of creation….”God made the heaven and the earth.” Neither was made in full form that we know today, the earth was ‘waste and formless’ and ‘darkness upon the deep’ ruled. Simply put, out of darkness and chaos, God created beauty and light. This is where life began, far beyond some primordial pool of ectoplasm and scrape materials. The Spirit of God moved upon the deep and spoke creation into existence. God brought out of darkness light and chaos order.
And God created man.
There is a host of authors who have identified what man was created as; an image-bearer of God. The animals weren’t created in God’s image and therefore were inadequate to be a companion to man. God was too superior. Woman was created to be a co-inheritor and warrior of relationship; thus being a suitable companion to Adam (see Engelmann’s discussion “What a woman wants”). As woman was the warrior to combat Adam’s loneliness, so Adam was the warrior to sustain a life-inviting environment (the garden) for his wife and all of creation.
The serpent (aka the snake) came into the Garden, darkness and chaos, and entices the woman….the warrior of relationship….to embrace it. Adam, who’s purpose was to combat such remains silent. The image-bearer of God’s nature; bringing life into the world of darkness and chaos, remains silent and allows darkness and chaos to gain a foothold. Adam didn’t speak or move against the chaos. A mistake, surely, and the first step into the headlong journey that mankind has taken empty of God’s purpose.
But, even then, even in the midst of such a mistake----a lack of movement----mankind could’ve been saved. As with any life-changing event, it is the compounding of errors made that increases the scope of the problem…..much like a rock gaining speed as it rolls downhill.
Adam compounds the problem. As Engelmann says, “He chooses to not trust God with a now growing problem. He forgets God and seeks to solve the problem of chaos on his own.” Adam disconnects from the relationship with God and from the benefit of His grace. And mankind has been compounding the problem ever since.
And he throws the one who was built to combat his greatest fear; loneliness, when confronted with his own complacency. When God seeks them out after this disaster, Adam points to the woman and says, “She made me do it.” An excuse that men have used throughout the ages since. Eve may have taken the first bite out of the forbidden fruit, but Adam was the source of sin’s introduction to the world.
“For this reason, as through one man sin came into the world, and death because of sin, and so death came to all men, because all have done evil.” Romans 5:12 (NET)
So, what does this have to do with masculinity today?
We have developed through the generations men who have lived in a world that is set against them, and promote such things that seek to offset the feelings of incompetence, inadequate capabilities, and impotence so that we, as men, will not face the fear that if we are exposed the world will realize that we are not enough of a ‘man’. We promote our fear that God is not good enough to handle such fears and so as men we seek to protect, keep, and care for ourselves in a world that is opposed to us.
We, as Adam did in the Garden event, don’t move into darkness and chaos to create life-inviting environments. We don't invite our co-warriors to bring their image of God they bear into such an environment.
We bear the curse of Adam; seeking the same thing he did…the protection of ourselves in a world that hasn’t changed from the moment in time when Adam was called upon the bear the image of his creator and sacrificially step into the chaos to bring life-giving relationship to a wounded warrior…his wife, Eve. He sought to take matters into his own hand, distrusting the mercy and abilities of God to redeem the situation, and compounded the problem through his inaction.
Men continue to do that today; look at the feminist movement, look at the TV shows, and look at the generation which is coming into power through the ‘change’ platform of Barack Obama, rather than face the change that needs to be made at the beginning of the problem; men not living as men and women not living as women.
Simply put, Engelmann makes the statement that resonates in the hearts of today’s men…..”I feel weak and afraid to powerfully enter into and to shape my world as a man so I will work hard to avoid and compensate for my inadequacies.”
So, is there any hope?
Yes, and it lies within the realization that, like Adam, we need God’s mercy and grace. In facing the fact we are inadequate to the task of being the totality of our purpose; image-bearers of God who use the power of Him to move in a world set against us.
As the life verse that I was given during the story weekend I attended so long ago…..”And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you. For my power is perfected in weakness.’” It is in that moment, when we as men are fully vulnerable, fully inadequate to the task that we find ourselves in the unprotected position of exposure, that we become the reflection of God’s love and power as we were built to be.
We love sacrificially, as Paul tells us to “love your wives as Christ loved the Church”, and move into the chaos once more to dispel the darkness so that our co-inheritors can bring life-enhancing relationship as valued, desired, and beautiful reflections of God’s hatred of loneliness.
It is when we realize that we cannot affect change ourselves, that our power is too weak due to its corruption, that we desperately cling to God’s ability to protect our hearts. And we experience the freedom that can only be sustained by a relationship with the image we bear to love as He loves us.
“Because masculinity was designed to reflect the life-giving power of God in this world, we cannot be men when we live lives distant and disconnected from God.” Engelmann concludes, “A man’s masculinity can no more reflect the power of a God he is distant from than the moon reflect the light of the sun it is distant from.”
Who's image do you reflect?
The discussion today is based on Awakened Hearts Ministries' Scott Engelmann and his notes regarding "What men do that frustrates women" and in part earlier discussions presented through the M3 Ministry. www.ahmministries.org and www.m3mministries.org are the websites of this ministry.
Neither AHM, the parent ministry of M3 or Scott Engelmann have endorsed this writing. This is representative of my own personal views on the information presented.
Men Mentoring Men (M3) is a sub-ministry of Awakened Heart Ministries. Awakened Heart Ministries is a non-profit organization founded in 2008. We offer a variety of ministries all committed to the restoration, healing and growth of the core relationships of life: relationship with God, spouse and family. AHM was founded with the enthusiastic support of individuals and couples whose lives and relationships have been richly changed by the love and grace of Jesus Christ.
For more information about AHM or any of our sub-ministries, please email us at:
info@ahmministries.org, or call 248-508-0992.
AHM also partners with Grace Counseling Center, Dr. Tim Hogan, Director, 313-343-9000.
Awakened Heart Ministries
P.O. Box 4941
Troy, MI 48099
Friday, January 16
Big enough
"How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young - a place near your altar, O Lord Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you. Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also covered it with pools. They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion." Psalm 84:1-9
This was the verse in yesterday's AllAboutGod.com, a very good devotional set in prayer format by Carolyn Baker. She spoke of being led to these verses because God whispered 'Sparrow' to her and this was where the search for sparrow led to. I felt compelled for different reasons.
I've tried to write about our destination; here it is called lovely, a place that is yearned for and cried out about in the hearts of the believer. A place near the altar of God. But, that didn't 'flesh' out….so the attraction, the pull, wasn't about the eternal destination.
I've tried to write about being blessed…..those who dwell in God's house, those who find strength in Him……but it isn't about blessings, something that I have been well versed in for the last six months, of being one of God's own.
The phrases that keep me coming back are:
"Who have set their heart on pilgrimage" and "go from strength to strength".
The journey…..a pilgrimage…….With a destination firmly known in the mind of the journeyer……
And something else……..
They....
You see, don't you, that we were never meant to journey alone. As I've said before, we were built for relationship; with God, with Creation, and with each other. When Eve was tempted, she stood alone…even though Adam was right beside her physically, he was silent and left her to fend off the devil alone. She failed, and so do we when we face the manipulation of the evil one..
God's enemy, and the usurper of this world, is intimately aware of us, for the distractions and dangers that lie on the roadside of this pilgrimage home are tailor-made for each of us...flesh-specific to each of us, even though the titles, types, and results are common. We often sit in judgment, thinking in our mind how could this person or that person fall prey to the obvious, secure in our piety that we would never do such a thing.
We look at the homosexual and point to the verses, and try to coax them into the light as they stand in the darkness…..instead of going into the darkness and helping them into that light. We look to the alcoholic and tell them to enter the recovery program before we start standing beside them with midnight phone calls and daily visits….for God has shown excessive drinking to be a sin. We decide that if a Christian smokes, they aren't worthy of grace and mercy…and we shun them.
Obviously, 'they', those sinners, 'chose' to sin, defiling the temple that their body is….all the while, we eat unhealthy. We distract ourselves from our sinful natures, still there after our salvation, because we don't want to face the fact that we are not all we can be within the brethren.
We fear relationships, because in the harsh and clear light of our faith, we are left still broken, still sinful, and are left to be judged by those near. The devil knows this; it is that protection and benefit of relationship that helps keep us upon the firmer ground, or pulls us back to safety when we wander off the road into the quicksand of sin's attraction. It is that relationship with brethren, that 'judging', that if done with love, compassion, and hope can break the bond of sin, even in the lives of other Christians.
The devil knows me very well, for we once were dearest buddies, it could be said......anything that opposed the church and its 'alleged' god….that was what I did. I've often said I have had the sinful life of Saul with the exception of not being directly responsible for the death of another.....thought there are no assurances, unfortunately, that I wasn't indirectly responsible for another's choices that led down that path. I pray that God provided protection for those that I interacted with during those dark days of my life.
Drinking in excess. A bit of drug flavoring to boot. Heavy self-injury……I would put myself in situations where the outcome was not favorable for continued living. I wanted to die before I was 30 and lived accordingly. I am not proud of what I did, and I am still working on the wounds both caused by others and self-inflicted. The devil has his file cabinet full of the methods of how to get through to me.
As he does with each of us.
He knows that he only has a limited time before he loses, so he has a two-fold purpose; to disrupt the children of God from enjoying the peace in this world that God gives and to prevent them from doing God's work; and to draw those he can so close to him that they are unable to hear God's children speak the truth.
We were not meant to travel alone, and we weren't meant to deal with the personalized sins and the attacks of the devil by ourselves.
It is foolhardy and the stuff of sheer folly to think that we can make it on our own, by our own methods, and be saved. Yet, religions that cater to that 'self' are gaining popularity, because there are no rules, no one can be hurt, and you can be isolated from others. It is better, this world says, to appear to be 'tolerant' than to disagree with someone and yet still love on em……
We live in fear, chastising ourselves because we shouldn't. We fear relationships, financial stresses, personal trials, and exposure to others. The devil has our number, creating in us the fear of being fearful; of God, of others, and of ourselves. Because in those things; fearing God, others, and ourselves; we find the greatest freedom and find the greatest source of peace and joy within the destructive nature of this fallen world.
We are to be, as a people in love with Christ, servants. To God, to others, and ultimately (when we do those two things) we serve ourselves, to become the people we are empowered to be through the Spirit. And it is that type of friend, to others, that we are supposed to be.
"And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will." 2 Timothy 2:24-26 (NKJV)
As a friend, as a Christian, it is not our job to convince someone of the truth, rather to stand firmly in "contention for the faith" and allow the Spirit to convince them. If we keep each other in this state of grace, accepting the person to whom God created and is desirous of relationship with, we can be those 'they' that have a heart set for pilgrimage and who leap from strength to strength in this journey to the shores of our ultimate home.
And we will make oasis out of this desert of sinful desires and self-protecting tendencies only if we walk with our hearts on our sleeves, taking our bruises and our cuts and bleeding for the sake of others without gain or agenda. It is those types of friends that will walk the distance with you, taking undeserved blows from and for you, and look at you with love and kindness because you are their friend and they will not stop that relationship.
I guess I'm rambling again. I've spent most of the week pondering these two verses, wondering what God is teaching me in this moment, in this time. With the trials recently endured and over, I wait with an unexpected eagerness for the next to begin; either personal or corporate or nationally. For the trials, I know, will come regardless of my faith or my proper stewardship.
It is my friends on this journey, my loved ones, and my God that will help me through…….
And that is why this last phrase from Carolyn Baker, AllAboutGod.com, hits home………..
'Stop telling God how big your storm is. Instead , tell the storm how big your God is!'
With the economic stresses, I face an uncertain future at the job. I remarked that God will as God wills and a friend said, "A car is one thing. Losing your job is something totally different." I replied, with a strength found of the recent trials,
"My God is big enough."
Is He that big for you?
This was the verse in yesterday's AllAboutGod.com, a very good devotional set in prayer format by Carolyn Baker. She spoke of being led to these verses because God whispered 'Sparrow' to her and this was where the search for sparrow led to. I felt compelled for different reasons.
I've tried to write about our destination; here it is called lovely, a place that is yearned for and cried out about in the hearts of the believer. A place near the altar of God. But, that didn't 'flesh' out….so the attraction, the pull, wasn't about the eternal destination.
I've tried to write about being blessed…..those who dwell in God's house, those who find strength in Him……but it isn't about blessings, something that I have been well versed in for the last six months, of being one of God's own.
The phrases that keep me coming back are:
"Who have set their heart on pilgrimage" and "go from strength to strength".
The journey…..a pilgrimage…….With a destination firmly known in the mind of the journeyer……
And something else……..
They....
You see, don't you, that we were never meant to journey alone. As I've said before, we were built for relationship; with God, with Creation, and with each other. When Eve was tempted, she stood alone…even though Adam was right beside her physically, he was silent and left her to fend off the devil alone. She failed, and so do we when we face the manipulation of the evil one..
God's enemy, and the usurper of this world, is intimately aware of us, for the distractions and dangers that lie on the roadside of this pilgrimage home are tailor-made for each of us...flesh-specific to each of us, even though the titles, types, and results are common. We often sit in judgment, thinking in our mind how could this person or that person fall prey to the obvious, secure in our piety that we would never do such a thing.
We look at the homosexual and point to the verses, and try to coax them into the light as they stand in the darkness…..instead of going into the darkness and helping them into that light. We look to the alcoholic and tell them to enter the recovery program before we start standing beside them with midnight phone calls and daily visits….for God has shown excessive drinking to be a sin. We decide that if a Christian smokes, they aren't worthy of grace and mercy…and we shun them.
Obviously, 'they', those sinners, 'chose' to sin, defiling the temple that their body is….all the while, we eat unhealthy. We distract ourselves from our sinful natures, still there after our salvation, because we don't want to face the fact that we are not all we can be within the brethren.
We fear relationships, because in the harsh and clear light of our faith, we are left still broken, still sinful, and are left to be judged by those near. The devil knows this; it is that protection and benefit of relationship that helps keep us upon the firmer ground, or pulls us back to safety when we wander off the road into the quicksand of sin's attraction. It is that relationship with brethren, that 'judging', that if done with love, compassion, and hope can break the bond of sin, even in the lives of other Christians.
The devil knows me very well, for we once were dearest buddies, it could be said......anything that opposed the church and its 'alleged' god….that was what I did. I've often said I have had the sinful life of Saul with the exception of not being directly responsible for the death of another.....thought there are no assurances, unfortunately, that I wasn't indirectly responsible for another's choices that led down that path. I pray that God provided protection for those that I interacted with during those dark days of my life.
Drinking in excess. A bit of drug flavoring to boot. Heavy self-injury……I would put myself in situations where the outcome was not favorable for continued living. I wanted to die before I was 30 and lived accordingly. I am not proud of what I did, and I am still working on the wounds both caused by others and self-inflicted. The devil has his file cabinet full of the methods of how to get through to me.
As he does with each of us.
He knows that he only has a limited time before he loses, so he has a two-fold purpose; to disrupt the children of God from enjoying the peace in this world that God gives and to prevent them from doing God's work; and to draw those he can so close to him that they are unable to hear God's children speak the truth.
We were not meant to travel alone, and we weren't meant to deal with the personalized sins and the attacks of the devil by ourselves.
It is foolhardy and the stuff of sheer folly to think that we can make it on our own, by our own methods, and be saved. Yet, religions that cater to that 'self' are gaining popularity, because there are no rules, no one can be hurt, and you can be isolated from others. It is better, this world says, to appear to be 'tolerant' than to disagree with someone and yet still love on em……
We live in fear, chastising ourselves because we shouldn't. We fear relationships, financial stresses, personal trials, and exposure to others. The devil has our number, creating in us the fear of being fearful; of God, of others, and of ourselves. Because in those things; fearing God, others, and ourselves; we find the greatest freedom and find the greatest source of peace and joy within the destructive nature of this fallen world.
We are to be, as a people in love with Christ, servants. To God, to others, and ultimately (when we do those two things) we serve ourselves, to become the people we are empowered to be through the Spirit. And it is that type of friend, to others, that we are supposed to be.
"And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will." 2 Timothy 2:24-26 (NKJV)
As a friend, as a Christian, it is not our job to convince someone of the truth, rather to stand firmly in "contention for the faith" and allow the Spirit to convince them. If we keep each other in this state of grace, accepting the person to whom God created and is desirous of relationship with, we can be those 'they' that have a heart set for pilgrimage and who leap from strength to strength in this journey to the shores of our ultimate home.
And we will make oasis out of this desert of sinful desires and self-protecting tendencies only if we walk with our hearts on our sleeves, taking our bruises and our cuts and bleeding for the sake of others without gain or agenda. It is those types of friends that will walk the distance with you, taking undeserved blows from and for you, and look at you with love and kindness because you are their friend and they will not stop that relationship.
I guess I'm rambling again. I've spent most of the week pondering these two verses, wondering what God is teaching me in this moment, in this time. With the trials recently endured and over, I wait with an unexpected eagerness for the next to begin; either personal or corporate or nationally. For the trials, I know, will come regardless of my faith or my proper stewardship.
It is my friends on this journey, my loved ones, and my God that will help me through…….
And that is why this last phrase from Carolyn Baker, AllAboutGod.com, hits home………..
'Stop telling God how big your storm is. Instead , tell the storm how big your God is!'
With the economic stresses, I face an uncertain future at the job. I remarked that God will as God wills and a friend said, "A car is one thing. Losing your job is something totally different." I replied, with a strength found of the recent trials,
"My God is big enough."
Is He that big for you?
Tuesday, November 18
How can we be compassionate in a broken world?
Can we be a people who form compassionate convictions about God, people and life which gives us categories to listen/direct people to places other than relief when they talk to us about 'undeserved' suffering? Is there something we can believe in very deeply that allows us to freely move in the direction God is moving in as we listen to the disappointments and tragedies of another man's story? In the midst of real hurt, is it possible to really get excited about something bigger that God is doing?
Job was a moral and blessed man, but full of human-born fear. He was blameless, without consistent sin in his life, practicing good deeds, and shunned evil. He had good relationships, possessions in abundance, and was afflicted with no real pain; either health-wise or spiritual.
Yet he feared for his children, sacrificing for them on a daily basis and operated under the assumption that God’s kindness coupled with his moral carefulness would not cause him to lose his blessings.
God has a development plan for His children, one borne of suffering beyond our human endurance, to cause us to question our very faith, which relies upon the assumption of the unverifiable, the illogical, and the absence of provable reliance.
Satan’s agenda, challenging our belief that God’s promise that He loves us, is used by God to bring us into stronger belief in those things; in essence God uses the evilness of the fallen one to bring about His desire for us to know Him.
This is where the prosperity, emergent, and work doctrines fall into the false assumptions, placing human understanding and characteristics upon a God that is beyond our feeble and corrupt human comprehension and will in fact perform the opposite of the desired effect; such doctrines deny us the ability to grow in the furnace of suffering to greater understanding of who God is and what purpose to which His agenda is served in such brutality.
It is not wrong for us to want to end suffering, to bring about peace and joy within the corruption of the world, until it becomes our mission; to reduce suffering by bringing about blessings through servicing the needs abundant around us.
In the absence of blessings, we too often turn away from God’s agenda for humanity and ourselves individually. Life is unpredictable, simply because we try and control it as far as we humanly can and it refuses to cooperate, being under the temporary authority of the fallen one.
It is when we reach the vision of how God sees us that we can walk into the world of suffering and tribulation with joy and loving mercy, and the outer influences of the broken world cannot reclaim our hearts. Thus, the agenda of Satan is thwarted and the furtherance of the Kingdom is promoted.
“…for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.” (Philippians 2:30 ESV)
Epaphroditus, who had fallen deathly sick during his time with Paul, was grieved when his brethren learned of it. Not because it seemed that he was weak, rather because of service for Christ, Epaphroditus had recklessly hazard his life for that service….not caring for his own welfare but placing the welfare of another above his own.
Such early Christians were known as ‘parabolani’, or reckless people.
It is in such service, as parabolani, that Christians can find such compassionate convictions regarding God, people and life that causes them to reflect upon the larger agenda of God within ‘undeserved’ suffering. It is within the ‘sphere of mystery’, as discussed by Dr. Larry Crabb, that we truly find movement towards that agenda despite unpredictable and unharnessable order because we rely solely upon God to guide us into the midst of the storm, trusting that if the ship sinks that it is because of God’s best plan for us even as we disappear beneath the waves.
We lash ourselves to the solidness of God’s promises and laugh in the face of the unpredictable chaos of an unforgiving world.
In such recklessness, we cease trying to explain undeserved and indescribable pain that haunts our journey as we walk closer to God. We stop trying to ‘grasp’ control to never be hurt again, by people or circumstances, and become uncaring of the ‘damage’ that happens to our hearts as we are buffeted by the harsh waves of a world increasingly violent.
And, in the movement into unexplainable and undeserved suffering, we truly realize God’s promised rest; the rest gained in salvation for the journey in this life, and the eternal rest that awaits us in the heavenly realm of our home.
As Parabolani, we rejoice in suffering –albeit a weaker suffering than Christ was visited upon by the rejection of this world. Christ suffered….to the point of death, not so He could fulfill His own agenda but rather that He would fulfill the agenda of His Father, to be a perfect sacrifice therefore eliminating the penalty for sin that condemned all of mankind.
Through our ‘eager’ suffering, however it manifests itself in this world, we promote the welfare of another and become the means by which the Holy Spirit can affect true repentance and salvation for the lost, which we once were and for which Christ died upon a Cross of wood and iron.
Adam Clarke reflects in his works that “The humiliation and exaltation of Christ are subjects which we cannot contemplate too frequently, and in which we cannot be too deeply instructed.
Our faith is about humility, and humility is ‘the effect of the action of God, circumstances, other people, ourselves, or of any and all of these on our lives.” It is freedom from pride, and is despicable in the world of control, management, and self-service. In the humility of our faith, we find ourselves reliant upon God’s favor, not our own understanding.
Christ’s humility and passion were a vital component of His sacrifice upon the Cross, otherwise it would not have been necessary and another way would have been affected in the plan of God’s redemption of His children.
Without our own process of humility, by which we cast ourselves upon the righteousness of our sinful condemnation, punishable by death, we oppose God’s agenda and rely upon ourselves for freedom from that justified punishment; pride and self-confidence which are the cornerstone of humanistic religion. God destroys such notions with the requirement of the opposite extremes; humility and self-denial.
As Christians, called to bring understanding of God’s hidden agenda to those who truly seek it, we must understand this theology of suffering that Christ exposed us to in His ministry upon this earth.
If we consider that Christ’s suffering and death were sufficient in the eyes of God as payment in full for the punishment of man’s failure to trust and rest in God’s purpose, we can contemplate the unlimited power, glory, and authority of Christ and God in the undeserved and undesired suffering to which we are called to experience in true joy and expectation.
Through this realization of ‘joyful suffering’, we develop the inner spiritual eyes to see ourselves as God sees us; redeemed and restored.
Then sin has no lasting claim upon our human flesh.
We realize that by the authority of God, we are cleansed and made perfect, and walk within a manner that Christ walked as He spoke to a world that did not hear Him.
Then we no longer give voice to the human desire for the reduction of such suffering and an increase in blessings as we define them.
We become true lights in a world darkened by man’s desire for such things and give not an answer to suffering deserved and undeserved, but give release that is eternal, because the suffering one is experiencing becomes something both unexplained and yet understood.
It is then that we become a walking testimony, for we lack the prideful boast of our own wisdom and prudence and shun such labels as ‘wise’ or ‘esteemed’ men. We face reproach and persecution with the eagerness of fulfilling God’s agenda for such causes and embrace such labels as ‘fool’ and “unworthy’ because we are called such for the sake of Christ.
“We are made to seem foolish for Christ, but you are wise in Christ; we are feeble, but you are strong; you have glory, but we have shame. Even to this hour we are without food, drink, and clothing, we are given blows and have no certain resting-place; And with our hands we do the hardest work: when they give us curses we give blessings, when we undergo punishment we take it quietly; When evil things are said about us we give gentle answers: we are made as the unclean things of the world, as that for which no one has any use, even till now.” (1 Corinthians 4:10-13 BBE)
We stop looking at our brethren and those still lost within the Body, or outside the body, that may suffer less (though not in their own estimations) than we do. We stop trying to control through our actions and words the agendas of others that come within our sphere of life; seeking only to show constancy and patience that confounds and entices others to seek out what we have found.
We rejoice in the ‘poverty’ of our possessions, finances, or persons and understand with proper prospective the contempt of others for what our faith is. We stop promoting our own agenda, that of relief of suffering and the promotion of blessings either for ourselves or others, and rest upon the understanding of God’s authority and wisdom for those we once held so close.
And in the midst of suffering, in our own eyes, at the level of Job; where we would be blameless, upright, abhorrent of sin, and fearful of God; we find God revelation of Himself to us.
A God who is much larger than we can humanly realize, who is more powerful than we can ever emulate, and who has no reason or responsibility to explain Himself to us.
It is then, as Christians leaders, that we realize the fullness of God through the denial of ourselves in service to others, despite the agendas to which we are exposed.
We can then answer the question that should haunt the minds of the elders as they hear the stories of others;
“What is God up to in this person’s life that led God to allow this painful cruelty to happen with or without His intervention?”
We no longer offer theological excuses for the undeserved or understood suffering of those we face with compassionate relationship, but offer instead the promotion of understanding God’s ulterior motive.
We seek not our own agendas or become entrapped in the agenda of another as we hear the pain in the story told. We become excited by the opportunity presented to guide our fellow brethren into the deeper understanding of God through the representation of Christ’s ministry.
We seek in those circumstances not to be as The Corinthians were presenting themselves….wise, strong, and giants amongst men but rather seek the glory of foolishness, weakness, and shame for the sake of Christ.
To suffer those things to which we are allotted in our journey for the greater benefit of representing Christ to a fallen and broken world of lost souls.
Job was a moral and blessed man, but full of human-born fear. He was blameless, without consistent sin in his life, practicing good deeds, and shunned evil. He had good relationships, possessions in abundance, and was afflicted with no real pain; either health-wise or spiritual.
Yet he feared for his children, sacrificing for them on a daily basis and operated under the assumption that God’s kindness coupled with his moral carefulness would not cause him to lose his blessings.
God has a development plan for His children, one borne of suffering beyond our human endurance, to cause us to question our very faith, which relies upon the assumption of the unverifiable, the illogical, and the absence of provable reliance.
Satan’s agenda, challenging our belief that God’s promise that He loves us, is used by God to bring us into stronger belief in those things; in essence God uses the evilness of the fallen one to bring about His desire for us to know Him.
This is where the prosperity, emergent, and work doctrines fall into the false assumptions, placing human understanding and characteristics upon a God that is beyond our feeble and corrupt human comprehension and will in fact perform the opposite of the desired effect; such doctrines deny us the ability to grow in the furnace of suffering to greater understanding of who God is and what purpose to which His agenda is served in such brutality.
It is not wrong for us to want to end suffering, to bring about peace and joy within the corruption of the world, until it becomes our mission; to reduce suffering by bringing about blessings through servicing the needs abundant around us.
In the absence of blessings, we too often turn away from God’s agenda for humanity and ourselves individually. Life is unpredictable, simply because we try and control it as far as we humanly can and it refuses to cooperate, being under the temporary authority of the fallen one.
It is when we reach the vision of how God sees us that we can walk into the world of suffering and tribulation with joy and loving mercy, and the outer influences of the broken world cannot reclaim our hearts. Thus, the agenda of Satan is thwarted and the furtherance of the Kingdom is promoted.
“…for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.” (Philippians 2:30 ESV)
Epaphroditus, who had fallen deathly sick during his time with Paul, was grieved when his brethren learned of it. Not because it seemed that he was weak, rather because of service for Christ, Epaphroditus had recklessly hazard his life for that service….not caring for his own welfare but placing the welfare of another above his own.
Such early Christians were known as ‘parabolani’, or reckless people.
It is in such service, as parabolani, that Christians can find such compassionate convictions regarding God, people and life that causes them to reflect upon the larger agenda of God within ‘undeserved’ suffering. It is within the ‘sphere of mystery’, as discussed by Dr. Larry Crabb, that we truly find movement towards that agenda despite unpredictable and unharnessable order because we rely solely upon God to guide us into the midst of the storm, trusting that if the ship sinks that it is because of God’s best plan for us even as we disappear beneath the waves.
We lash ourselves to the solidness of God’s promises and laugh in the face of the unpredictable chaos of an unforgiving world.
In such recklessness, we cease trying to explain undeserved and indescribable pain that haunts our journey as we walk closer to God. We stop trying to ‘grasp’ control to never be hurt again, by people or circumstances, and become uncaring of the ‘damage’ that happens to our hearts as we are buffeted by the harsh waves of a world increasingly violent.
And, in the movement into unexplainable and undeserved suffering, we truly realize God’s promised rest; the rest gained in salvation for the journey in this life, and the eternal rest that awaits us in the heavenly realm of our home.
As Parabolani, we rejoice in suffering –albeit a weaker suffering than Christ was visited upon by the rejection of this world. Christ suffered….to the point of death, not so He could fulfill His own agenda but rather that He would fulfill the agenda of His Father, to be a perfect sacrifice therefore eliminating the penalty for sin that condemned all of mankind.
Through our ‘eager’ suffering, however it manifests itself in this world, we promote the welfare of another and become the means by which the Holy Spirit can affect true repentance and salvation for the lost, which we once were and for which Christ died upon a Cross of wood and iron.
Adam Clarke reflects in his works that “The humiliation and exaltation of Christ are subjects which we cannot contemplate too frequently, and in which we cannot be too deeply instructed.
Our faith is about humility, and humility is ‘the effect of the action of God, circumstances, other people, ourselves, or of any and all of these on our lives.” It is freedom from pride, and is despicable in the world of control, management, and self-service. In the humility of our faith, we find ourselves reliant upon God’s favor, not our own understanding.
Christ’s humility and passion were a vital component of His sacrifice upon the Cross, otherwise it would not have been necessary and another way would have been affected in the plan of God’s redemption of His children.
Without our own process of humility, by which we cast ourselves upon the righteousness of our sinful condemnation, punishable by death, we oppose God’s agenda and rely upon ourselves for freedom from that justified punishment; pride and self-confidence which are the cornerstone of humanistic religion. God destroys such notions with the requirement of the opposite extremes; humility and self-denial.
As Christians, called to bring understanding of God’s hidden agenda to those who truly seek it, we must understand this theology of suffering that Christ exposed us to in His ministry upon this earth.
If we consider that Christ’s suffering and death were sufficient in the eyes of God as payment in full for the punishment of man’s failure to trust and rest in God’s purpose, we can contemplate the unlimited power, glory, and authority of Christ and God in the undeserved and undesired suffering to which we are called to experience in true joy and expectation.
Through this realization of ‘joyful suffering’, we develop the inner spiritual eyes to see ourselves as God sees us; redeemed and restored.
Then sin has no lasting claim upon our human flesh.
We realize that by the authority of God, we are cleansed and made perfect, and walk within a manner that Christ walked as He spoke to a world that did not hear Him.
Then we no longer give voice to the human desire for the reduction of such suffering and an increase in blessings as we define them.
We become true lights in a world darkened by man’s desire for such things and give not an answer to suffering deserved and undeserved, but give release that is eternal, because the suffering one is experiencing becomes something both unexplained and yet understood.
It is then that we become a walking testimony, for we lack the prideful boast of our own wisdom and prudence and shun such labels as ‘wise’ or ‘esteemed’ men. We face reproach and persecution with the eagerness of fulfilling God’s agenda for such causes and embrace such labels as ‘fool’ and “unworthy’ because we are called such for the sake of Christ.
“We are made to seem foolish for Christ, but you are wise in Christ; we are feeble, but you are strong; you have glory, but we have shame. Even to this hour we are without food, drink, and clothing, we are given blows and have no certain resting-place; And with our hands we do the hardest work: when they give us curses we give blessings, when we undergo punishment we take it quietly; When evil things are said about us we give gentle answers: we are made as the unclean things of the world, as that for which no one has any use, even till now.” (1 Corinthians 4:10-13 BBE)
We stop looking at our brethren and those still lost within the Body, or outside the body, that may suffer less (though not in their own estimations) than we do. We stop trying to control through our actions and words the agendas of others that come within our sphere of life; seeking only to show constancy and patience that confounds and entices others to seek out what we have found.
We rejoice in the ‘poverty’ of our possessions, finances, or persons and understand with proper prospective the contempt of others for what our faith is. We stop promoting our own agenda, that of relief of suffering and the promotion of blessings either for ourselves or others, and rest upon the understanding of God’s authority and wisdom for those we once held so close.
And in the midst of suffering, in our own eyes, at the level of Job; where we would be blameless, upright, abhorrent of sin, and fearful of God; we find God revelation of Himself to us.
A God who is much larger than we can humanly realize, who is more powerful than we can ever emulate, and who has no reason or responsibility to explain Himself to us.
It is then, as Christians leaders, that we realize the fullness of God through the denial of ourselves in service to others, despite the agendas to which we are exposed.
We can then answer the question that should haunt the minds of the elders as they hear the stories of others;
“What is God up to in this person’s life that led God to allow this painful cruelty to happen with or without His intervention?”
We no longer offer theological excuses for the undeserved or understood suffering of those we face with compassionate relationship, but offer instead the promotion of understanding God’s ulterior motive.
We seek not our own agendas or become entrapped in the agenda of another as we hear the pain in the story told. We become excited by the opportunity presented to guide our fellow brethren into the deeper understanding of God through the representation of Christ’s ministry.
We seek in those circumstances not to be as The Corinthians were presenting themselves….wise, strong, and giants amongst men but rather seek the glory of foolishness, weakness, and shame for the sake of Christ.
To suffer those things to which we are allotted in our journey for the greater benefit of representing Christ to a fallen and broken world of lost souls.
Wednesday, October 29
A little piece of Heaven here on earth......
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all his angels are with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. The people of every nation will be gathered in front of him. He will separate them as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right but the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, my Father has blessed you! Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you took me into your home. I needed clothes, and you gave me something to wear. I was sick, and you took care of me. I was in prison, and you visited me.' Then the people who have God's approval will reply to him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or see you thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you as a stranger and take you into our homes or see you in need of clothes and give you something to wear? When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' The king will answer them, 'I can guarantee this truth: Whatever you did for one of my brothers or sisters, no matter how unimportant [they seemed], you did for me.'" Matthew 25:31-40 (GWT)
My eyes are still not dry from the ride into work, an hour trip on way that I often do on autopilot. Since I 'splurged' the five dollars for a cheap attachment so that I can plug my nieces' gift of an used MP3 player into my 1995 'classic' radio system, I can listen to my favorite tunes on the way....connecting with God in a way that life doesn't seem to allow outside of the worship services of my new church, The River. I'm probably a sight, driving down Dixie Highway, Telegraph, M-10, and the Southfield Freeway.....arms popping up to the sky and belting out the song louder than the radio itself!
It wasn't the events; so many within the last few months that have my eyes in tears, raising my hands and voice in praise to our Lord and Savior...though one would understand surely if that was indeed the reasoning and approve of it.....
One song, listened to over and over and over.....hit me as God wrapped His warm and loving arms around me this morning and for the first time in a while.....I drove along in silence, playing the same song over and over again.............for the hour's drive......
"I can only imagine what it'll be like when I walk by Your side. I can only imagine what my eyes will see when Your face is before me. I can only imagine. Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel? Will I dance for You Jesus or in awe of You be still? Will I stand in Your presence or to my knees will I fall? Will I sing Hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all?" I Can Only Imagine MercyMe The Worship Project.
I've often felt that wonder, that wonder of what the awesome and powerful impact of having my Savior standing before me and speaking to me person-to-person in a physical, relational way....far beyond the times His Father has spoken verbally to me or the Spirit has impassioned me......that day I long for, strive for, and know in my heart will eventually come; in His time and not my own. It is why I hang on by that fingertip on the ledge of this broken world....it is why I struggle against the flesh. For that moment in time, that place in the Heavens. Something my heart longs for, yet has never yet known.......
Or has it?
There is that saying, "A little piece of Heaven here on Earth." It has been used as a slogan for a destination vacation spot or some fancy new treatment at the local spa, inferring that the blissfulness and joy of Heaven has been 'recreated' at that spot or with that treatment.....
God told me this morning, as I listened to MercyMe......"A piece of Heaven here on Earth for you, My Beloved son."
And I knew how I will act when Jesus stands before me, face-to-face. I will fall to my knees, eyes in tears of joy, and be unable to speak..........
A month or two ago, a brother of mine in the ministry M3 sent me an email asking about how things were going. I mentioned that I was okay, not buying up Lincolns to drive and huge homes to dwell in; but 'struggling well' as one of our mentors says. Things were tight, but not disastrous........I mentioned needs that were unfulfilled but being worked towards............
He said that he had some clothes his kids had outgrown for my son, who seems to have experienced a major spurt in his growth.........we made plans to meet to exchange them as the months progressed, emails of clothing sizes and such flying back and forth in the air of the Internet age.
We met up last night as my son practiced flag football with his team on the field of The River's eventual home a short jog away on the highway. Recently my thoughts, as I am sure the thoughts of parents everywhere have, turned towards the looming holidays and how they were going to be so different from the holidays in the past recent years.....as I remarked, somewhat bitterly to a friend, "This Christmas is going to rely on the charity of strangers."
Don't get me wrong....it isn't that such isn't appreciated, far from it. I'd rather focus my attention on giving to others than having to ask for gifts for my children, for that is the only reason I'd ask for it in the first place.
It was a blessing in disguise....a brother in Christ I haven't seen since the Story Weekend we both went on a year ago, Vito, was there as I arrived. A brother who's story touches my own and who's heart is reflective of God's powerful light. It was great to reconnect with my brother-in-arms, and to be reminded that lives touched are lives changed.
The gentleman, Tim, who's house we met at said a comment that describes best the connection that, untapped for a year, still exists between a burly, Italian powerful man of God and I; "You can always tell the guys who have shared a story weekend."
As I travelled back to the practice field to watch the remainder of practice, I peeked in the bags that my brother had helped load into my car. It struck me as odd that there were tags sticking out of the bags......and the clothes, supposedly used, had that 'new clothes fold' to them. I arrived at the field and parked. I noticed one smaller bag within one of them, so I pulled it out.
Inside were some gloves and a head band thingy from Isotones....you know, keeps the ears warm....as it was colder, I grabbed the head band thingy....I had to remove the tags though......
Practice ended early, the coach citing the cold and the falling darkness (the field is unlit). My son, as my dear child is oft to do, was excited about the practice just completed....and the adventure awaiting ahead trying on what he assumed were used clothes from another family who's son had outgrown them. He was excited, after the introduction of the head band thingy.......which he was quick to inform me was his favorite, since it kept his ears warm.
Long story short....the clothes were new, with the store tags still attached. My BIC said that his friend that was giving the clothes didn't have any used, so went out and bought new. It was a soothing balm to this Dad's soul to watch his son's excited and delighted face as he tried them on and made plans for what he would wear for his next month's worth of schooling.......and his comment of 'can I make a card to thank your friend?'
A little piece of heaven here on earth.................
When I called my friend about how the 'used' clothes were new, my friend told me that a brother wanted to bless me and had arranged with my landlord to take care of my December obligation.
A little piece of heaven here on earth.................
The biting cold of another Michigan winter is whispering at the doors of the season and yet I am warm inside. Because a few of my brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ followed the example of the Groom Himself, and displayed the light of His love, the power of His touch, and the compassion within His heart in a darkness of a broken world.
Proclaiming the Gospel without uttering a word, without a handshake in appreciation.
Showing the love of Christ in a simple way, maybe, but in a way that is undeniably God's. It isn't the clothes in and of itself.
It is a group of people who moved where God told them to go; without question and without qualm.
I don't have to wonder what I would do when I come face to face with the Savior, His hands and feet bearing the nail marks and the wound in His side. I don't have to think about whether I would sing His praises or be in utter awe to the point of silence.
I am seeing Christ reflected from the actions and words of silent beacons in the darkness of the world, I feel the whisper of the robe of the One who walks beside me in the words of those who interact with me during meetings and discussions.
Maybe it is just that being at the bottom, I can hear my God more clearly because I have no where to look but up. It may be, as I see how I can't do this life alone, that I rely on God's mercies each day.
It may be, but I don't think so.
The deeds of loving kindness, true benevolence, and agape love are what we, as church, called to in service to our King. They can be done in many different ways by all types of people, regardless of financial status or inclination.
As Chrysostom said, "He said not I was sick and ye healed me; or in prison and ye set me free; but ye visited me and came unto me." Personal and real service, involving some sacrifice of ease, time, or even property.
We aren't to do such things, such acts of unparalleled beauty and mercy, because they entitle us to eternal happiness but rather for the sake of God as a mark of our holiness as believers under the effects of grace.
A light upon the hilltop, shining into the darkness.
Exposing a piece of heaven here on earth............
"Thus life and death, good and evil, the blessing and the curse, are set before us, that we may choose our way, and as our way so shall our end be." Matthew Henry.
A taste, real and savory, of the Kingdom yet to come..............
Some people try to hide their failures, sinful nature, or mistakes made. Not me, I want people to know 'why' I look this way. I've travelled a long, long way and some of the roads weren't paved. The joy isn't in the road travelled, but the blessedness of those met upon the journey home.
In this life, regardless of your 'lot', make sure that you direct your light in a manner befitting the King you serve. Do something that is honoring to your God and King. A smile over the handing out of a warm, home-cooked meal to those displaced from a home, a blessed word to the 'grumpy' co-worker who is worried about their job, or a contribution of funds to a shelter, food bank, or clothing store for the poor.........something that stretches you in a way that makes you reach beyond what you can do so God can show you how to do it.............
In the darkest recess of a broken, fallen world is where the smallest light can shine the brightest .......
Bring a little piece of heaven to those you know here on Earth.
And find out how you will act when you meet Jesus face-to-face!
My eyes are still not dry from the ride into work, an hour trip on way that I often do on autopilot. Since I 'splurged' the five dollars for a cheap attachment so that I can plug my nieces' gift of an used MP3 player into my 1995 'classic' radio system, I can listen to my favorite tunes on the way....connecting with God in a way that life doesn't seem to allow outside of the worship services of my new church, The River. I'm probably a sight, driving down Dixie Highway, Telegraph, M-10, and the Southfield Freeway.....arms popping up to the sky and belting out the song louder than the radio itself!
It wasn't the events; so many within the last few months that have my eyes in tears, raising my hands and voice in praise to our Lord and Savior...though one would understand surely if that was indeed the reasoning and approve of it.....
One song, listened to over and over and over.....hit me as God wrapped His warm and loving arms around me this morning and for the first time in a while.....I drove along in silence, playing the same song over and over again.............for the hour's drive......
"I can only imagine what it'll be like when I walk by Your side. I can only imagine what my eyes will see when Your face is before me. I can only imagine. Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel? Will I dance for You Jesus or in awe of You be still? Will I stand in Your presence or to my knees will I fall? Will I sing Hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all?" I Can Only Imagine MercyMe The Worship Project.
I've often felt that wonder, that wonder of what the awesome and powerful impact of having my Savior standing before me and speaking to me person-to-person in a physical, relational way....far beyond the times His Father has spoken verbally to me or the Spirit has impassioned me......that day I long for, strive for, and know in my heart will eventually come; in His time and not my own. It is why I hang on by that fingertip on the ledge of this broken world....it is why I struggle against the flesh. For that moment in time, that place in the Heavens. Something my heart longs for, yet has never yet known.......
Or has it?
There is that saying, "A little piece of Heaven here on Earth." It has been used as a slogan for a destination vacation spot or some fancy new treatment at the local spa, inferring that the blissfulness and joy of Heaven has been 'recreated' at that spot or with that treatment.....
God told me this morning, as I listened to MercyMe......"A piece of Heaven here on Earth for you, My Beloved son."
And I knew how I will act when Jesus stands before me, face-to-face. I will fall to my knees, eyes in tears of joy, and be unable to speak..........
A month or two ago, a brother of mine in the ministry M3 sent me an email asking about how things were going. I mentioned that I was okay, not buying up Lincolns to drive and huge homes to dwell in; but 'struggling well' as one of our mentors says. Things were tight, but not disastrous........I mentioned needs that were unfulfilled but being worked towards............
He said that he had some clothes his kids had outgrown for my son, who seems to have experienced a major spurt in his growth.........we made plans to meet to exchange them as the months progressed, emails of clothing sizes and such flying back and forth in the air of the Internet age.
We met up last night as my son practiced flag football with his team on the field of The River's eventual home a short jog away on the highway. Recently my thoughts, as I am sure the thoughts of parents everywhere have, turned towards the looming holidays and how they were going to be so different from the holidays in the past recent years.....as I remarked, somewhat bitterly to a friend, "This Christmas is going to rely on the charity of strangers."
Don't get me wrong....it isn't that such isn't appreciated, far from it. I'd rather focus my attention on giving to others than having to ask for gifts for my children, for that is the only reason I'd ask for it in the first place.
It was a blessing in disguise....a brother in Christ I haven't seen since the Story Weekend we both went on a year ago, Vito, was there as I arrived. A brother who's story touches my own and who's heart is reflective of God's powerful light. It was great to reconnect with my brother-in-arms, and to be reminded that lives touched are lives changed.
The gentleman, Tim, who's house we met at said a comment that describes best the connection that, untapped for a year, still exists between a burly, Italian powerful man of God and I; "You can always tell the guys who have shared a story weekend."
As I travelled back to the practice field to watch the remainder of practice, I peeked in the bags that my brother had helped load into my car. It struck me as odd that there were tags sticking out of the bags......and the clothes, supposedly used, had that 'new clothes fold' to them. I arrived at the field and parked. I noticed one smaller bag within one of them, so I pulled it out.
Inside were some gloves and a head band thingy from Isotones....you know, keeps the ears warm....as it was colder, I grabbed the head band thingy....I had to remove the tags though......
Practice ended early, the coach citing the cold and the falling darkness (the field is unlit). My son, as my dear child is oft to do, was excited about the practice just completed....and the adventure awaiting ahead trying on what he assumed were used clothes from another family who's son had outgrown them. He was excited, after the introduction of the head band thingy.......which he was quick to inform me was his favorite, since it kept his ears warm.
Long story short....the clothes were new, with the store tags still attached. My BIC said that his friend that was giving the clothes didn't have any used, so went out and bought new. It was a soothing balm to this Dad's soul to watch his son's excited and delighted face as he tried them on and made plans for what he would wear for his next month's worth of schooling.......and his comment of 'can I make a card to thank your friend?'
A little piece of heaven here on earth.................
When I called my friend about how the 'used' clothes were new, my friend told me that a brother wanted to bless me and had arranged with my landlord to take care of my December obligation.
A little piece of heaven here on earth.................
The biting cold of another Michigan winter is whispering at the doors of the season and yet I am warm inside. Because a few of my brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ followed the example of the Groom Himself, and displayed the light of His love, the power of His touch, and the compassion within His heart in a darkness of a broken world.
Proclaiming the Gospel without uttering a word, without a handshake in appreciation.
Showing the love of Christ in a simple way, maybe, but in a way that is undeniably God's. It isn't the clothes in and of itself.
It is a group of people who moved where God told them to go; without question and without qualm.
I don't have to wonder what I would do when I come face to face with the Savior, His hands and feet bearing the nail marks and the wound in His side. I don't have to think about whether I would sing His praises or be in utter awe to the point of silence.
I am seeing Christ reflected from the actions and words of silent beacons in the darkness of the world, I feel the whisper of the robe of the One who walks beside me in the words of those who interact with me during meetings and discussions.
Maybe it is just that being at the bottom, I can hear my God more clearly because I have no where to look but up. It may be, as I see how I can't do this life alone, that I rely on God's mercies each day.
It may be, but I don't think so.
The deeds of loving kindness, true benevolence, and agape love are what we, as church, called to in service to our King. They can be done in many different ways by all types of people, regardless of financial status or inclination.
As Chrysostom said, "He said not I was sick and ye healed me; or in prison and ye set me free; but ye visited me and came unto me." Personal and real service, involving some sacrifice of ease, time, or even property.
We aren't to do such things, such acts of unparalleled beauty and mercy, because they entitle us to eternal happiness but rather for the sake of God as a mark of our holiness as believers under the effects of grace.
A light upon the hilltop, shining into the darkness.
Exposing a piece of heaven here on earth............
"Thus life and death, good and evil, the blessing and the curse, are set before us, that we may choose our way, and as our way so shall our end be." Matthew Henry.
A taste, real and savory, of the Kingdom yet to come..............
Some people try to hide their failures, sinful nature, or mistakes made. Not me, I want people to know 'why' I look this way. I've travelled a long, long way and some of the roads weren't paved. The joy isn't in the road travelled, but the blessedness of those met upon the journey home.
In this life, regardless of your 'lot', make sure that you direct your light in a manner befitting the King you serve. Do something that is honoring to your God and King. A smile over the handing out of a warm, home-cooked meal to those displaced from a home, a blessed word to the 'grumpy' co-worker who is worried about their job, or a contribution of funds to a shelter, food bank, or clothing store for the poor.........something that stretches you in a way that makes you reach beyond what you can do so God can show you how to do it.............
In the darkest recess of a broken, fallen world is where the smallest light can shine the brightest .......
Bring a little piece of heaven to those you know here on Earth.
And find out how you will act when you meet Jesus face-to-face!
Monday, October 27
A fellow warrior......designed and equipped by God.
"One cannot disregard the role of Holy Scriptures, Tradition, Culture, and a male God. From birth onwards, they define the role of the female as secondary and inferior, they define the role of the woman as secondary and as supportive of that of her husband or men in general." Renate Volpe, leadership coach, facilitator, author and CEO of the HIRS Women's development consultancy; "What do women want and need?" Business Report article 8/5/2008
Apparently Ms Volpe reads a different Bible than I do, because I don't see where it says in the "Holy Scriptures" influenced by a male God that the female gender is inferior or secondary to the male. Of course, according to Ms. Volpe, boys are allowed to run roughshod and empowered to 'be all they are', while women are taught their role is to take care of the rest of the world......and ".....it is therefore not surprising that, when you ask a woman what she wants, she often has no clue," Volpe concludes.
It is a question that men, being the 'brutes' they are, grunt and mutter under their breath about for the generations that have followed Adam. Even the 'greatest' mind in psychology, Sigmund Freud, threw in the towel. "The great question that has never been answered, and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is 'What exactly does a woman want?'"
The Feminist movement failed to define the 'needs' of its believer's and caused more damage than it was originally intended to. While triumphing 'equality of the sexes', such a movement further muddied the waters of physical and mental inferiorities and concentrated on a concerted attack upon professional and ethical demands. By maligning boys and their older selves, men, such feminists devalued themselves and the God-ordained strengths. "I am woman, hear me ROAR!" became the battle cry and the superwoman; mother, wife, career woman, and activist; was born. And women began to die.
What does a woman want? is one of those questions that bring perplexed looks to anyone, of either sex, that it is asked to. No one knows what a woman wants, even though the answer is given in the very 'holy scriptures' that Volpe mistakes as a source of inferiority. Such biblical quotes as scripture stating women should not speak up in church, should not hold leadership roles in the biblical community, and should 'submit' to their husbands lead such angry women as Volpe to such claims. They are far from the truth and further away from what God spoke through the writers of the Scriptures. True; culture has created the 'war of the sexes' and with that distortion of biblical creative design of each is giving way to homosexuals, lesbian, gender-confused, and trans-gendered distortions of Godly creation. It has created the 'feminized man' and the 'manly woman'. Gone are the traditional thoughts behind the raising of male and female children to a morph of gender ambiguity. Both sexes are far from the traditional and biblically designed roles they had. And the world is hurting because of it. "Behind every man is a p*****-off woman," as the saying goes. Unfortunately, that is the only thing that society and the feminists got right.
Most pastors won't even go deeper with this topic; simply shrugging their hands in surrender as they try and equate 'helper' as an 'equal and important' partnership. Several have excellent oration of this; women, in no way inferior in the eyes of God, are to willingly submit themselves under another's authority....an equal serving another by allowing them to lead. Some point out that men are to be servant-leaders in the role of Spiritual head of the family; serving the needs of their wives, their children, and their communities first before themselves. Each is a step in the process of reclaiming biblical gender design for both sexes, but neither fully gives to me an adequate answer to the age-old cry of both men and women.................
What do women WANT??!??!!!!!
If we can discover that, we can rebalance the structure of the family from falling over the cliff into universal disaster. If we can find that reasoning, that answers that ancient cry within the bones of all mankind, we can find restoration of marriage...far beyond an 'equal, universal' societal definition. It goes far beyond men reclaiming masculinity and women defining feminity. It lies in rediscovering the God-designed definition of what is a man...and what is a woman.
There the answer lies dormant and in clear view.
I have often said that men were designed to move in chaos and darkness, protecting the beauty and order which is woman. It is the baseline reaction of any man, except those distorted by evil, to react to the 'damsel in distress.' We want to fix, fight for, and gain the victory 'kiss' of the princess in the ivory tower to which we are owed for fighting the evil dragons and overcoming the traps and snares waded through along the way. We make the woman the prize of the fight. We lose the battle as we turn to this woman and receive a right roundhouse to the jaw.
Women, I have said, are the beauty and order of the balanced equation that God designed into His more troublesome creation. They bring nourishment and nurturing to all things and are the source of support, edification, and adulation that all successful and balanced men yearn for. This is represented in the marriages that are successful through the years; no matter the trouble, no matter the trials. It is why Noah sits beside the bedside of his love, ravaged by Altimer's, and gently falls into death's sweet embrace with her as their journey on this life ends (The Notebook).
The brokenness of the balance that God designed into the makeup of man and woman is, as is all sin and corruption that feeds this fallen world, a result of the Fall. But, understanding what that balance is requires that we go back to and examine the reasons why God told Adam, "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life" and why He told Eve, "Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you."
I have stated, if you have followed this blog in the journey I've undertaken, that Adam was created outside the Garden of Eden.....in the chaos and darkness of the creation world. As John Eldredge accurately describes, "Men were born to be wild..." He was created from the dust of the earth, shaped and molded into the human image of God Himself. The Garden was created for Adam's purpose, for him to tend and work to keep the chaos and darkness away. God declared everything 'good' up until Adam. And then God recognized that an imbalance had occurred...which was bad. The first time in the creation account that God says something is other than 'good'.
Women, far from being secondary or inferior, are far more. In the creation of Eve, Scott Engelmann; Spiritual Director of Awakened Hearts Ministries points out that "according to God something more was necessary if a man was going to fulfill all that God had planned for him as God's representative here on the earth." Paul points out what is necessary in 1 Corinthians 11:11-12 "But in relationships among the Lord's people, women are not independent of men, and men are not independent of women. For although the first woman came from man, all men have been born from women ever since, and everything comes from God." As in the beginning, as Engelmann points out, "Eve was created for Adam, as Adam was designed to meet Eve's needs." God created an interdependent balance in the creation of mankind, each equipped to fulfill the needs of the other and both with distinct and intertwined identities that desire such balance. Distinctly separate, made to complement and balance each other.
"And the Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. And the man said, 'This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.'" And, since the Fall, both sexes have desired that balance and tension that was created in our design. This is why same-sex relationships of a sexual and physical nature never seem to work, because the 'like me, but different' tension created into our beings is never accurately portrayed in such unions. "It is the woman's 'similar-yet-different nature," Engelmann says, "that makes her the 'suitable helper' or 'companion' for the man."
And it is understanding what a woman was designed to be, beyond the cultural and societal mutterings of human declarations, that will enable even women themselves to understand what they want and need, far beyond the scope of a distorted and crippled feminist movement of equality. It is beyond the realm, in my mind, that women were created as equal partners; although physical and mental capabilities lie distinctly different between both sexes. The differences do not equate to secondary or subservience through domination but rather enhance and delight each balanced marriage as God intended.
Far beyond the distortion and misunderstanding given to Peter's declaration of this unique balance is the truth of his insight. "Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers." (1 Peter 3:7 NIV) As most theologians point out, this 'weakness' does not refer to moral stamina, strength of character, or even mental capacity but most likely to the medically proven physical strength. But, even that human truth excites and inflames the passionate rejection of feminists of a Godly design.
It is this misunderstanding and ignorance of this 'feminine design' that hasn't been "taken into consideration and [seriously] honored as [men] daily relate to the women in our lives" that have hampered our relationship with God, because we have amputated part of a balanced Godly design. Women have had to step into the gap created and serve against the purposed design; longing for the balance their souls crave.
In the quest to discover the answer to the question, we have to seriously look at how men relate in an considerate and honoring way to women; especially their wives and how the designed role of women have been distorted by the inactivity of men, the forced role of women to live the man's role, and the mess created because of it.
Why, if women demand equality with the sexes do they spend their time with their friends lamenting the lost 'manly man'?
A warrior should not fight the battle for the world against the fallen and broken design of the Enemy alone, and they aren't equipped to.......women are warriors too and uniquely designed to struggle in the fight with men, not against.
As Engelmann points out, far beyond the point of man being created from the dust of the earth, women were made.......... in God's image, also.
"So God created people in His own image; In the image of God He created them; male and female He created them. God blessed them and told them, 'Multiple and fill the earth and subdue it. Be Masters over the fish and the birds and all the animals."' (Genesis 1:27-28)
Both man and woman were created as image-bearers of God; one the warrior of 'creating life in chaos' and the other the warrior of 'relationship', i.e. enhancing life. It is far beyond a biological mandate, being a foundational balance of the empowerment of the creational mandate. Both man and woman are necessary for the subduing and ruling of creation, interrelationally, and yet designed to represent and play an unique role in its equal fulfillment. Both were made to represent God and, as many marriage counselors, programs, and studies show.......it is the godly design of marriage that shows us the balanced image of our God.
Engelmann points out that the word 'helper' isn't what it has been distorted to mean in today's society, that of a 'subjugation of one to another'. Ezar, the Hebrew word for 'helper' is used only six times in the Hebrew Old Testament, referring to God as a 'Mighty Warrior' except in the verse found in Genesis 2:18. God, in those other verses, comes to His people's aid in times of trouble and desperation in a warrior fashion, triumphing their needs.
Even in Ancient Middle Eastern culture, 'helper' didn't mean inferiority but exalted. It referred to a warrior, mighty and powerful, who came to the aid of the desperate with the ability to deliver them from the troubles they faced.
In that context, the woman being a 'helper' to Adam takes on a larger, deeper meaning; a fellow warrior who is uniquely designed and gifted to give "deep and engaging relationship" to Adam, who's greatest enemy was the loneliness that he experienced in the inferiority of animals (who weren't created bearing God's image) and the great superiority of God Himself.
Eve becomes, as Engelmann states, "a suitable relationship with an equal" that Adam desires in his loneliness. "A woman reflects God's heart for relationship," Engelmann continues, "and His hatred for loneliness."
And it is the human distortion of God that is created by the 'male superiority' and 'female inferiority' definition of worth that plagues society today as a generation raised on such sinful distortion comes of age and wonders who they are.....................
It is in this understanding that the complaints of Volpe and others about the scientific and medical differences between the sexes becomes understandable and even logical. A balanced design of a complexity that no human can recreate and only a human can fully enjoy.
What does a woman want?
Far beyond being part of the story of a man, or being treasured as a prize won….. A woman wants to live her heart; "invite and unite others in relationship ---and to enjoy meaning in life through connection with others."
Esteemed by a fellow warrior, a man, who acknowledges the beauty of the equality of their creation and honors the complexity of her feminine design; distinct and uniquely different….but necessary to the balance of life.
This is my take on a study given by Scott Engelmann, Spiritual Director of Awakened Hearts ministries, at the last M3 meeting on October 25th, 2008. The topic was "Understanding Women" and was given at the National City Bank in Troy, Michigan. You can obtain a copy of the talk thru the www.M3ministries.org or www.ahmministries.org.
Apparently Ms Volpe reads a different Bible than I do, because I don't see where it says in the "Holy Scriptures" influenced by a male God that the female gender is inferior or secondary to the male. Of course, according to Ms. Volpe, boys are allowed to run roughshod and empowered to 'be all they are', while women are taught their role is to take care of the rest of the world......and ".....it is therefore not surprising that, when you ask a woman what she wants, she often has no clue," Volpe concludes.
It is a question that men, being the 'brutes' they are, grunt and mutter under their breath about for the generations that have followed Adam. Even the 'greatest' mind in psychology, Sigmund Freud, threw in the towel. "The great question that has never been answered, and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is 'What exactly does a woman want?'"
The Feminist movement failed to define the 'needs' of its believer's and caused more damage than it was originally intended to. While triumphing 'equality of the sexes', such a movement further muddied the waters of physical and mental inferiorities and concentrated on a concerted attack upon professional and ethical demands. By maligning boys and their older selves, men, such feminists devalued themselves and the God-ordained strengths. "I am woman, hear me ROAR!" became the battle cry and the superwoman; mother, wife, career woman, and activist; was born. And women began to die.
What does a woman want? is one of those questions that bring perplexed looks to anyone, of either sex, that it is asked to. No one knows what a woman wants, even though the answer is given in the very 'holy scriptures' that Volpe mistakes as a source of inferiority. Such biblical quotes as scripture stating women should not speak up in church, should not hold leadership roles in the biblical community, and should 'submit' to their husbands lead such angry women as Volpe to such claims. They are far from the truth and further away from what God spoke through the writers of the Scriptures. True; culture has created the 'war of the sexes' and with that distortion of biblical creative design of each is giving way to homosexuals, lesbian, gender-confused, and trans-gendered distortions of Godly creation. It has created the 'feminized man' and the 'manly woman'. Gone are the traditional thoughts behind the raising of male and female children to a morph of gender ambiguity. Both sexes are far from the traditional and biblically designed roles they had. And the world is hurting because of it. "Behind every man is a p*****-off woman," as the saying goes. Unfortunately, that is the only thing that society and the feminists got right.
Most pastors won't even go deeper with this topic; simply shrugging their hands in surrender as they try and equate 'helper' as an 'equal and important' partnership. Several have excellent oration of this; women, in no way inferior in the eyes of God, are to willingly submit themselves under another's authority....an equal serving another by allowing them to lead. Some point out that men are to be servant-leaders in the role of Spiritual head of the family; serving the needs of their wives, their children, and their communities first before themselves. Each is a step in the process of reclaiming biblical gender design for both sexes, but neither fully gives to me an adequate answer to the age-old cry of both men and women.................
What do women WANT??!??!!!!!
If we can discover that, we can rebalance the structure of the family from falling over the cliff into universal disaster. If we can find that reasoning, that answers that ancient cry within the bones of all mankind, we can find restoration of marriage...far beyond an 'equal, universal' societal definition. It goes far beyond men reclaiming masculinity and women defining feminity. It lies in rediscovering the God-designed definition of what is a man...and what is a woman.
There the answer lies dormant and in clear view.
I have often said that men were designed to move in chaos and darkness, protecting the beauty and order which is woman. It is the baseline reaction of any man, except those distorted by evil, to react to the 'damsel in distress.' We want to fix, fight for, and gain the victory 'kiss' of the princess in the ivory tower to which we are owed for fighting the evil dragons and overcoming the traps and snares waded through along the way. We make the woman the prize of the fight. We lose the battle as we turn to this woman and receive a right roundhouse to the jaw.
Women, I have said, are the beauty and order of the balanced equation that God designed into His more troublesome creation. They bring nourishment and nurturing to all things and are the source of support, edification, and adulation that all successful and balanced men yearn for. This is represented in the marriages that are successful through the years; no matter the trouble, no matter the trials. It is why Noah sits beside the bedside of his love, ravaged by Altimer's, and gently falls into death's sweet embrace with her as their journey on this life ends (The Notebook).
The brokenness of the balance that God designed into the makeup of man and woman is, as is all sin and corruption that feeds this fallen world, a result of the Fall. But, understanding what that balance is requires that we go back to and examine the reasons why God told Adam, "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life" and why He told Eve, "Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you."
I have stated, if you have followed this blog in the journey I've undertaken, that Adam was created outside the Garden of Eden.....in the chaos and darkness of the creation world. As John Eldredge accurately describes, "Men were born to be wild..." He was created from the dust of the earth, shaped and molded into the human image of God Himself. The Garden was created for Adam's purpose, for him to tend and work to keep the chaos and darkness away. God declared everything 'good' up until Adam. And then God recognized that an imbalance had occurred...which was bad. The first time in the creation account that God says something is other than 'good'.
Women, far from being secondary or inferior, are far more. In the creation of Eve, Scott Engelmann; Spiritual Director of Awakened Hearts Ministries points out that "according to God something more was necessary if a man was going to fulfill all that God had planned for him as God's representative here on the earth." Paul points out what is necessary in 1 Corinthians 11:11-12 "But in relationships among the Lord's people, women are not independent of men, and men are not independent of women. For although the first woman came from man, all men have been born from women ever since, and everything comes from God." As in the beginning, as Engelmann points out, "Eve was created for Adam, as Adam was designed to meet Eve's needs." God created an interdependent balance in the creation of mankind, each equipped to fulfill the needs of the other and both with distinct and intertwined identities that desire such balance. Distinctly separate, made to complement and balance each other.
"And the Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. And the man said, 'This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.'" And, since the Fall, both sexes have desired that balance and tension that was created in our design. This is why same-sex relationships of a sexual and physical nature never seem to work, because the 'like me, but different' tension created into our beings is never accurately portrayed in such unions. "It is the woman's 'similar-yet-different nature," Engelmann says, "that makes her the 'suitable helper' or 'companion' for the man."
And it is understanding what a woman was designed to be, beyond the cultural and societal mutterings of human declarations, that will enable even women themselves to understand what they want and need, far beyond the scope of a distorted and crippled feminist movement of equality. It is beyond the realm, in my mind, that women were created as equal partners; although physical and mental capabilities lie distinctly different between both sexes. The differences do not equate to secondary or subservience through domination but rather enhance and delight each balanced marriage as God intended.
Far beyond the distortion and misunderstanding given to Peter's declaration of this unique balance is the truth of his insight. "Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers." (1 Peter 3:7 NIV) As most theologians point out, this 'weakness' does not refer to moral stamina, strength of character, or even mental capacity but most likely to the medically proven physical strength. But, even that human truth excites and inflames the passionate rejection of feminists of a Godly design.
It is this misunderstanding and ignorance of this 'feminine design' that hasn't been "taken into consideration and [seriously] honored as [men] daily relate to the women in our lives" that have hampered our relationship with God, because we have amputated part of a balanced Godly design. Women have had to step into the gap created and serve against the purposed design; longing for the balance their souls crave.
In the quest to discover the answer to the question, we have to seriously look at how men relate in an considerate and honoring way to women; especially their wives and how the designed role of women have been distorted by the inactivity of men, the forced role of women to live the man's role, and the mess created because of it.
Why, if women demand equality with the sexes do they spend their time with their friends lamenting the lost 'manly man'?
A warrior should not fight the battle for the world against the fallen and broken design of the Enemy alone, and they aren't equipped to.......women are warriors too and uniquely designed to struggle in the fight with men, not against.
As Engelmann points out, far beyond the point of man being created from the dust of the earth, women were made.......... in God's image, also.
"So God created people in His own image; In the image of God He created them; male and female He created them. God blessed them and told them, 'Multiple and fill the earth and subdue it. Be Masters over the fish and the birds and all the animals."' (Genesis 1:27-28)
Both man and woman were created as image-bearers of God; one the warrior of 'creating life in chaos' and the other the warrior of 'relationship', i.e. enhancing life. It is far beyond a biological mandate, being a foundational balance of the empowerment of the creational mandate. Both man and woman are necessary for the subduing and ruling of creation, interrelationally, and yet designed to represent and play an unique role in its equal fulfillment. Both were made to represent God and, as many marriage counselors, programs, and studies show.......it is the godly design of marriage that shows us the balanced image of our God.
Engelmann points out that the word 'helper' isn't what it has been distorted to mean in today's society, that of a 'subjugation of one to another'. Ezar, the Hebrew word for 'helper' is used only six times in the Hebrew Old Testament, referring to God as a 'Mighty Warrior' except in the verse found in Genesis 2:18. God, in those other verses, comes to His people's aid in times of trouble and desperation in a warrior fashion, triumphing their needs.
Even in Ancient Middle Eastern culture, 'helper' didn't mean inferiority but exalted. It referred to a warrior, mighty and powerful, who came to the aid of the desperate with the ability to deliver them from the troubles they faced.
In that context, the woman being a 'helper' to Adam takes on a larger, deeper meaning; a fellow warrior who is uniquely designed and gifted to give "deep and engaging relationship" to Adam, who's greatest enemy was the loneliness that he experienced in the inferiority of animals (who weren't created bearing God's image) and the great superiority of God Himself.
Eve becomes, as Engelmann states, "a suitable relationship with an equal" that Adam desires in his loneliness. "A woman reflects God's heart for relationship," Engelmann continues, "and His hatred for loneliness."
And it is the human distortion of God that is created by the 'male superiority' and 'female inferiority' definition of worth that plagues society today as a generation raised on such sinful distortion comes of age and wonders who they are.....................
It is in this understanding that the complaints of Volpe and others about the scientific and medical differences between the sexes becomes understandable and even logical. A balanced design of a complexity that no human can recreate and only a human can fully enjoy.
What does a woman want?
Far beyond being part of the story of a man, or being treasured as a prize won….. A woman wants to live her heart; "invite and unite others in relationship ---and to enjoy meaning in life through connection with others."
Esteemed by a fellow warrior, a man, who acknowledges the beauty of the equality of their creation and honors the complexity of her feminine design; distinct and uniquely different….but necessary to the balance of life.
This is my take on a study given by Scott Engelmann, Spiritual Director of Awakened Hearts ministries, at the last M3 meeting on October 25th, 2008. The topic was "Understanding Women" and was given at the National City Bank in Troy, Michigan. You can obtain a copy of the talk thru the www.M3ministries.org or www.ahmministries.org.
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