BUT DO YOU LOVE ME......
Ephesians 5:25-33 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife [see] that she reverence [her] husband.
We stood as the judge walked into the room and was seated. He was given honour by calling him that name. It was my first experience in that room that so many of the broken pieces of our world pass through. I was impressed with the way his Honour was treated.
What I didn't find out until later, as I grew to know the court system, was that almost everyone on that particular stage hated that particular judge. I would have never guessed it by the way everyone acted. It seemed he was deeply respected by all. He was accorded honour on the principle that made our society work a hundred years ago. His tribute was a relic from an age gone by when people honoured offices and consequently people.
Yesterday I phoned a professional nursing office to find out about housing for a widow I was helping. The lady answered the phone and placed me with a counsellor. The lady answered and informed me that I was speaking to "Brenda Jacobs". For a moment I struggled inside of myself. I then asked if I should call her Brenda or Jacobs..... She is a part of a revolution which has changed everything in our world. She will not be known or honoured for her position in marriage.
I am a pastor. I live and work in between the world of the judge and Brenda. I have worked in churches that honoured the role of the pastor highly. I have served in traditions where the pastor had to ask the choir director what his sermon topic should be in order to fit it in with the hymns. In both I have found a mysterious relationship between love, acts of loving and marriage. Almost incidentally I found a wonderful truth about the growth of churches.
Love is like many words which have no physical model to which we can point. We are all sure we know what we mean by it. When we talk to one another we are sure that we are communicating what we mean but often we aren't. Love is this kind of a concept. We often miss what it really is in favour of other concepts like honour or intimacy. Love is neither honour nor intimacy though it cannot truly be in a person's heart without displaying both.
The marriage vow speaks of the honour of keeping a commitment to love until death. It speaks best to that part of the world who still feel a vow is sacred and to be kept in spite of all that occurs to darken the emotions that brought the couple to the day of covenant.
"I didn't love her anymore....." This tragic view of love has crossed my path many times. It sees love through Brenda's eyes. Not a commitment but a feeling.
To her world covenant relationships are not reflective of "reality". Love is either there or not. If it is not then the outward forms have no meaning.
Love in the modern era is intimacy without commitment. It requires real emotions in the heart but when they leave or are not found it does not demand effort to bring them to life again.
How many marriages do I know that have come weekly to my church and stay together through the years because they honour their word.
Countless numbers of people that still stand for the judge though, they hate him, still honour marriage and the lifetime commitment to it. It is here that our brave new world has lost its virtue. It is here that we find the source of almost all marital breakdown.
Marriages are failing externally today because of a lack of honour of promises made. If you do not believe this simply ask a person that recently divorced their spouse (i.e. the one that left) how they feel about the fact that they broke their vow to stay with this person and love them until they died.
If they are like most people that I counsel they will look at you with great amazement.... or anger. They will most likely point out the worthlessness of keeping vows that you no longer "feel". They belong to Brenda's world. They took their vows in the world of the judge but when love as an emotion left they "faced the facts" and decided that his world wasn't real. They lost intimacy and so the relationship was over.
On the other side of this I must say that I hurt deeply for those who just "keep their word". Wives’ faces fill my mind that have literally died from anger they quietly sat on for years in order to save face and "do what is right".
I think of men who in their despair have confessed to me that they were living in a nightmare of external conformity while their hearts had become like bitter poison. The poison was held by the bottle of external keeping of promises made but their power was killing the one in the bottle....themselves. They are the victims of a doctrine that teaches it is enough only to act like you love.
I remember a little church I pastored. It was in the early years of my ministry. I was still an idealist. Almost the first thing they did was put my name up on their sign.
It is funny but at the time I thought it quite odd that one of the board members proudly marched me out to that sign the first week I was there.
In my idealism I thought all churches changed their signs immediately He beamed as he said, "We got your name painted on there as soon as we knew you were coming".
That church grew under my ministry rapidly. They gave me precious memories of what it is like to be loved by a congregation. I preached better for them...I prayed more for them...I visited them with joy and they grew.
A few years later the autumn winds blew the leaves across the yard as I left the house of a parishoner named Bill and his new wife. My new church honoured the pastor highly.
The couple called me pastor Terry all night in spite of my request to drop the formality. I thought about how he had showed me so many pictures of his former wife who was now dead. I could not help but notice the emotions that both displayed. He spoke with deep affection for his former spouse. She became quiet.
I could not put my finger on the emotion I was experiencing until I got to church. As I pulled past the church sign I saw it was still there on the sign....the former pastor's name.
I had come in the early summer yet he was still with me. In fact his name was still on the sign when I left. they never. Oh he had vacated the parsonage. My parishoner's wife had died. They were both still here though. And I felt silence.
As I prayed that God would take the hurt out of my heart I remembered that unusual board member at my former church who took me out to show me my name on the church sign.
I then knew what was wrong in my parishoner's new marriage. He couldn't see it. He loved his wife who died and that could not be wrong. He honoured marriage. He would be faithful to his new wife, provide for her and in action love her as long as they both would live. I understood that young bride's silence though. I felt it keenly in my new ministry. We were honoured but they were loved.
Inside of my heart that night I came to a clearer understanding of the difference between a good and bad marriage for those who honour that sacred commitment.
Almost in passing I found more evidence of the secret of a church that grows and one that just continues to exist.
It was expressed best through the lips of one who long ago recognized the difference between honour, intimacy and love. One of his disciples had both of the former. He had followed Him all over Galilee. He expressed the commitment he held for him when at His last supper with his beloved friend he proclaimed, "though all forsake you yet will I not".
He had honoured that vow when he bravely fought when his enemies came to take his teacher away.
But before a rooster let out his morning cry he had refused to bear the name of Jesus.
Some weeks later as Jesus sat on that ancient shore where he had first called Peter, he asked him a question which put his life back together. It was the question that finished his attempts to "keep his word" while having a heart far from Him. Jesus would not fill an office. He would not allow a lesser character quality to fill the place where relationships hold together.
It is true that Brenda's world will not support love in the fuller meaning of the word. Love takes commitment. It takes vows that are honoured. We must recover this if marriage is to succeed. But we must not stop there. We must not assume that every marriage must simply reduce to silence in the attempt to "keep the show going".
We must let the penetrating light of truth bring us to our senses. We must not cover the reality of loveless hearts with feigned acts no matter how noble that may seem. Still, we must let the firm resolve to keep our vows force us into action. We must let nothing stand in the way of us answering the master's question to his best friend in truth for the one whom we share the most intimate of all human relationships with.
"Do you love me?", "Yes, you know that I love you".
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Condescend
Romans 12:15-16 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. 16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
The word condescend has fallen on rough times. Far from what it meant when the translators of the King James Bible put in it their translation.
Today it is seen as an attitude of superiority. "Don't speak in such a condescending tone to me!" "He was so condescending to me!" are ways that we see this word. But the original Greek and even the original English has a whole different meaning.
συναπάγω sün-äp-ä'-gō
means
1) to lead away with or together
2) metaph. to be carried away with
a) of a thing, i.e. by a thing, so as to experience with others the force of that which carries away
b) to yield or submit one's self to lowly things, conditions, employments: not to evade their power
So when we look at the Greek we see that Paul is counseling us to "be carried away" with those whose lives are not based on pride. We are to be led by their example of living a life without the marks of superiority. He tells us to live a life that is willing to be a common person in submitting to the things that everyone else faces in life. In short we are not to place ourselves above others.
It is just the opposite of what we think of today when we think of condescending.
As I have been hearing this verse over and over in my heart in the last few days I have come to more fully appreciate at least one aspect of what it is trying to say.
Superiority is a great way to insure there is no intimacy with others.
Have you ever met someone who always has to be above you. As a teacher, I must admit that many of us who teach have a hard time moving out of the role once we are out of the classroom.
It is impossible to be connected emotionally to someone who always has to be your superior.
In marriage it is absolute death to intimacy of any kind.
Deep emotional connectedness requires vulnerability. Those who always place themselves in a superior position do so to keep themselves from being vulnerable. That is why their relationships do not move beyond a surface level.
But Paul is trying to tell us that the way we are going to touch the world we inhabit is not through a superior position. It will be by joining the world as an equal and not a superior.
The first place we see this is in our estimation of our relationship with God.
Luke 18:10-14 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. 13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
When we stand in the place of the Pharisee..... and I have stood there...... we can not fully embrace the Truth, Mercy or Grace of God. The truth would bring us to our senses that we are in desperate need of a saviour. Admitting that we need mercy places us on the same level as everyone else that we think we are better than. And finally coming to see that we are given grace even in the gift of the air we breathe is death to our self-sufficiency.
When we come to understand the great heart of our God and that all of life is a gift from Him we no longer need to be better than anyone. We can join all of humanity in eternal gratefulness that God cares for all of us.
The second thing that superiority inhibits is our relationship with others. If we view ourselves as somehow superior to others we will eat the fruit of pride. Not only that, but we will never be able to get alongside a person walking through the grief of recognition of their heart's reality before God and weep with them. I can imagine the heart of the man who stood far off and was coming to grips with who he really was. I wonder what brought him to that place?
Did his world fall apart through a broken marriage that he knew was really his fault?
Did he commit some horrendous crime that he was unable to push down the guilt and now it came rushing out?
Did the hopes of a once cherished relationship with God fall to the ground and now after years he recgnized what he had lost in his prodigal journey?
Or was he keenly aware that he had looked down on others so long that it had broken any fellowship with any other living being including and especially God.
We do not know. What we do know is he needed someone come alongside of him knew the road he was travelling.
That's exactly what Jesus does.
And that is what it means to condescend to men of low estate.
The last issue I was thinking about is superiority leaves us eternally insecure with ourselves.
I know that there are lots of ways people try to deal with the issue of salvation. Some are the frozen chosen who never think a moment about their relationship with God outside of being convinced that they were chosen and who cares about the rest of the world.
This is the very essence of the heart of the Pharisee. Me and God and who cares about anyone else - especially this sinner standing next to me. I'm right with God and that's all that matters. But I believe that the root of superiority is a need to convince ourselves that we are secure when we are not. Only living in the truth, mercy and grace of God brings us internal security.
God's Truth says that we have all sinned..... ALL.... and have come short of God's Glory. That settles the issue of being good enough to merit anything but hell from God.
God's Mercy says that while were were yet sinners Jesus died for us. Jesus was God's eternal gift to us. It tells of a love that we can rest in. It tells us of a heart that is filled with desire to be reconciled to us. It says that when our best efforts were not enough God Himself made a way for us to come to Him.
Finally God's Grace tells us that He is able to empower us to live the life of humility in which we do not need to compete with anyone for value. A life of condescention actually lifts us up. Whoever exalts himself will be brought low. Whoever brings himself low will be exalted.
I have learned a very practical way to bring this reality into my life. Jesus said it in a simple commandement that is often overlooked or overspirituallized.
Luke 14:7-11 And He began speaking a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them, 8 "When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, 9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you, 'Give your place to this man,' and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place. 10 "But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher'; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you. 11 "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
I find that looking for the place that Jesus would take and filling it is where I find His life.
I first understood this principle when I was in my last year of high school. I was a fairly popular guy. I was liked by many people. I was a Christian.
For several weeks I had noticed a person at my school that it seemed that everyone despised. I began to pray for him. I once had known the pain of being the school punching bag. That had been years before in another school. No one was punching this person but the pain of rejection was clear in every step he took. When he would go sit a table with people at it they would all get up and leave.
As I prayed for this person I felt God say to me, "I would sit with him regardless of the cost." I knew just what he meant. And I loved Jesus for doing it. I was once in the same place and Jesus had sat with me. So I walked across the lunchroom and sat with him. I immediately lost most of my popularity. But soon I had made the connection with my new friend and was finding that I had far more to gain from the friendship from him than he did from me. I was no longer a noble person stooping to help some poor individual whose station in life was far below me. I found a real friend and a real relationship.
But the next thing that happened was even more wonderful. Soon the table was filled with all the rejected and despised ones of the school. And one by one they found Jesus. Before long the school was swept up in revival.
The Spirit of God moved on students in the most unusual ways. People would be praying for each other in hallways, at football games, in class. The Christian teachers became mentors to all these young people that were just learning about what it meant to follow Jesus. One of the local churches began holding meeting for the students.
Eventually the church I attended ended up renting the school on Sunday to hold services there.
The fire of God moved far beyond the school and the churches as we went into parks and on the streets on the weekends to share the message with others. It was the first revival I witnessed. The primary mark of it is one that I have learned from history has been the primary mark of all revivals - humility.
When the people of God begin to undertand their blessing as being a gift of God's grace and not something they merit they begin to do what Jesus did..... condescend. To humble themselves for His sake and others' sake. They come out of the high towers of their self righteousness, they come out of the walls of their safe places of worship and to walk across rooms to sit at the last seat..... with those who are despised and rejected..... just like He was and just like He did.
The word condescend has fallen on rough times. Far from what it meant when the translators of the King James Bible put in it their translation.
Today it is seen as an attitude of superiority. "Don't speak in such a condescending tone to me!" "He was so condescending to me!" are ways that we see this word. But the original Greek and even the original English has a whole different meaning.
συναπάγω sün-äp-ä'-gō
means
1) to lead away with or together
2) metaph. to be carried away with
a) of a thing, i.e. by a thing, so as to experience with others the force of that which carries away
b) to yield or submit one's self to lowly things, conditions, employments: not to evade their power
So when we look at the Greek we see that Paul is counseling us to "be carried away" with those whose lives are not based on pride. We are to be led by their example of living a life without the marks of superiority. He tells us to live a life that is willing to be a common person in submitting to the things that everyone else faces in life. In short we are not to place ourselves above others.
It is just the opposite of what we think of today when we think of condescending.
As I have been hearing this verse over and over in my heart in the last few days I have come to more fully appreciate at least one aspect of what it is trying to say.
Superiority is a great way to insure there is no intimacy with others.
Have you ever met someone who always has to be above you. As a teacher, I must admit that many of us who teach have a hard time moving out of the role once we are out of the classroom.
It is impossible to be connected emotionally to someone who always has to be your superior.
In marriage it is absolute death to intimacy of any kind.
Deep emotional connectedness requires vulnerability. Those who always place themselves in a superior position do so to keep themselves from being vulnerable. That is why their relationships do not move beyond a surface level.
But Paul is trying to tell us that the way we are going to touch the world we inhabit is not through a superior position. It will be by joining the world as an equal and not a superior.
The first place we see this is in our estimation of our relationship with God.
Luke 18:10-14 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. 13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
When we stand in the place of the Pharisee..... and I have stood there...... we can not fully embrace the Truth, Mercy or Grace of God. The truth would bring us to our senses that we are in desperate need of a saviour. Admitting that we need mercy places us on the same level as everyone else that we think we are better than. And finally coming to see that we are given grace even in the gift of the air we breathe is death to our self-sufficiency.
When we come to understand the great heart of our God and that all of life is a gift from Him we no longer need to be better than anyone. We can join all of humanity in eternal gratefulness that God cares for all of us.
The second thing that superiority inhibits is our relationship with others. If we view ourselves as somehow superior to others we will eat the fruit of pride. Not only that, but we will never be able to get alongside a person walking through the grief of recognition of their heart's reality before God and weep with them. I can imagine the heart of the man who stood far off and was coming to grips with who he really was. I wonder what brought him to that place?
Did his world fall apart through a broken marriage that he knew was really his fault?
Did he commit some horrendous crime that he was unable to push down the guilt and now it came rushing out?
Did the hopes of a once cherished relationship with God fall to the ground and now after years he recgnized what he had lost in his prodigal journey?
Or was he keenly aware that he had looked down on others so long that it had broken any fellowship with any other living being including and especially God.
We do not know. What we do know is he needed someone come alongside of him knew the road he was travelling.
That's exactly what Jesus does.
And that is what it means to condescend to men of low estate.
The last issue I was thinking about is superiority leaves us eternally insecure with ourselves.
I know that there are lots of ways people try to deal with the issue of salvation. Some are the frozen chosen who never think a moment about their relationship with God outside of being convinced that they were chosen and who cares about the rest of the world.
This is the very essence of the heart of the Pharisee. Me and God and who cares about anyone else - especially this sinner standing next to me. I'm right with God and that's all that matters. But I believe that the root of superiority is a need to convince ourselves that we are secure when we are not. Only living in the truth, mercy and grace of God brings us internal security.
God's Truth says that we have all sinned..... ALL.... and have come short of God's Glory. That settles the issue of being good enough to merit anything but hell from God.
God's Mercy says that while were were yet sinners Jesus died for us. Jesus was God's eternal gift to us. It tells of a love that we can rest in. It tells us of a heart that is filled with desire to be reconciled to us. It says that when our best efforts were not enough God Himself made a way for us to come to Him.
Finally God's Grace tells us that He is able to empower us to live the life of humility in which we do not need to compete with anyone for value. A life of condescention actually lifts us up. Whoever exalts himself will be brought low. Whoever brings himself low will be exalted.
I have learned a very practical way to bring this reality into my life. Jesus said it in a simple commandement that is often overlooked or overspirituallized.
Luke 14:7-11 And He began speaking a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them, 8 "When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, 9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you, 'Give your place to this man,' and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place. 10 "But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher'; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you. 11 "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
I find that looking for the place that Jesus would take and filling it is where I find His life.
I first understood this principle when I was in my last year of high school. I was a fairly popular guy. I was liked by many people. I was a Christian.
For several weeks I had noticed a person at my school that it seemed that everyone despised. I began to pray for him. I once had known the pain of being the school punching bag. That had been years before in another school. No one was punching this person but the pain of rejection was clear in every step he took. When he would go sit a table with people at it they would all get up and leave.
As I prayed for this person I felt God say to me, "I would sit with him regardless of the cost." I knew just what he meant. And I loved Jesus for doing it. I was once in the same place and Jesus had sat with me. So I walked across the lunchroom and sat with him. I immediately lost most of my popularity. But soon I had made the connection with my new friend and was finding that I had far more to gain from the friendship from him than he did from me. I was no longer a noble person stooping to help some poor individual whose station in life was far below me. I found a real friend and a real relationship.
But the next thing that happened was even more wonderful. Soon the table was filled with all the rejected and despised ones of the school. And one by one they found Jesus. Before long the school was swept up in revival.
The Spirit of God moved on students in the most unusual ways. People would be praying for each other in hallways, at football games, in class. The Christian teachers became mentors to all these young people that were just learning about what it meant to follow Jesus. One of the local churches began holding meeting for the students.
Eventually the church I attended ended up renting the school on Sunday to hold services there.
The fire of God moved far beyond the school and the churches as we went into parks and on the streets on the weekends to share the message with others. It was the first revival I witnessed. The primary mark of it is one that I have learned from history has been the primary mark of all revivals - humility.
When the people of God begin to undertand their blessing as being a gift of God's grace and not something they merit they begin to do what Jesus did..... condescend. To humble themselves for His sake and others' sake. They come out of the high towers of their self righteousness, they come out of the walls of their safe places of worship and to walk across rooms to sit at the last seat..... with those who are despised and rejected..... just like He was and just like He did.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
But Is it the Holy Spirit? - a different approach to unusual manifestations
1 Corinthians 12:6-8 There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. 7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
Recently someone asked me about the unusual manifestations that sometimes occur in revival meetings. They specifically were quite concerned about the strange things that happened in certain revival meetings that are not seen in the Bible.
I live about two hours from a place where people began to manifest actions that were extremely different from anything I had every seen. I had many friends who went there and I myself went a few times. In another place where the same kind of manifestations I had wonderful friends for several years being discipled in their School of Missions.
It was very hard for me at first to understand the wonderful changes I saw in so many that were "touched" in the meetings and the rather unusual "manifestations" that were going on.
I prayed a lot about this and felt that I did get an answer.
This is what I have come to believe about these manifestations.
I have seven children. They are all very different but they share (with their father) a common love for chocolate chip cookies!
Now to say that they love the cookies does not say they all respond the same to a plate of them set before them.
In fact their responses vary as greatly as you could imagine.
Now from time to time I pickup a bag of what we call "President's Choice Decadent Chocolate chip cookies and bring them out on a plate after supper.
They all react to the cookies. One starts begging to serve them to everyone....... One has to be threatened with mutilation to keep his hands off them....... One is very cool and acts like she could care less...... as long as she knows that dad will give them out...... One starts shrieking with joy....... one comes over and gives me a big kiss ...... knowing full well that she most likely will get the first one for doing so..... One counts the cookies to find out how many he will get...... one sneaks as many as he can under the table to be retrieved as everyone else is distracted by enjoying themselves.
The point of this little story is that the common influence of all these behaviours is the cookies.
The behaviour is not to be equated to the cookies. It is rather the response of the person who is being influenced by the cookies.
The unusual manifestations occuring at certain revival meetings are responses to something.
It may be the Holy Spirit is what they are responding to. However I have come to believe that we cannot always say the Holy Spirit caused us to do what we do, especially when it is not a biblical response seen throughout scripture. Any that do not fit into that criteria may simply be a responces to the Holy Spirit filtered through our humanity. This means that we do not claim our non-biblical actions are a direct action of the Holy Spirit but rather my response to the Holy Spirit.
It alos means that we cannot always discern just by the outweard manifestation what is happening inside the person.
I find nowhere in scripture that the Holy Spirit made people "drunk", bark, chirp, bleat or roar like animals.
The only time people fell down in convulsions was under the influence of a demonic spirit.
I agree, and so would many of the leaders of these meetings that sometimes the influence is satan.
Sometimes the responses are the need to be a part...... kind of a group mentality which does not just occur in pentecostally oriented groups. Peer pressure is just as strong in any group and the need to conform is one of the strongest forces of imitating each other or rejecting God in any church setting.
But some responses are the humanity of the person..... sometimes even the flesh reacting to the Holy Spirit.
However some people may be genuinely responding to the Holy Spirit in this way.
It may be from God or it may be from the evil one.
I believe the true discernment comes not from the outward manifestation but the presence or absence of godly character.
If you need some scriptural basis for this take a look at the life of Saul the King of Israel.
He first went among the prophets, fell under God's power and ended up prophesying in a strange but godly manner.
1 Samuel 10:10-11 When they arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him; the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he joined in their prophesying. 11 When all those who had formerly known him saw him prophesying with the prophets, they asked each other, "What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?"
Only a few years later he ended up in the same group and again fell under God's power...... his character had taken some wrong turns however and this time instead of prophesying in an appropriate way he stripped off his clothes and lay down naked.
1 Samuel 19:19-24 Word came to Saul: "David is in Naioth at Ramah"; 20 so he sent men to capture him. But when they saw a group of prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing there as their leader, the Spirit of God came upon Saul's men and they also prophesied. 21 Saul was told about it, and he sent more men, and they prophesied too. Saul sent men a third time, and they also prophesied. 22 Finally, he himself left for Ramah and went to the great cistern at Secu. And he asked, "Where are Samuel and David?" "Over in Naioth at Ramah," they said. 23 So Saul went to Naioth at Ramah. But the Spirit of God came even upon him, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth. 24 He stripped off his robes and also prophesied in Samuel's presence. He lay that way all that day and night. This is why people say, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"
This is not what you would expect from a move of God's Spirit in a man's life. That is just the point. Just like the cookies provoke a response in my children that reveals something of their character so the move of God exposes our character.
You could not deny that Saul was under the influence of the Holy Spirit because the text makes it clear that he was so.
Nor could you deny that the Holy Spirit would not lead a man to act in the manner that Saul did in his second encounter since it goes against God's ways clearly stated in other places. What is happening?
Saul's soul and body responded to the influence of the Spirit of God. In the first encounter it was a godly response because he was right with God. In the second encounter it was a wrong response because his heart was not right.
I found this explanation to be very helpful to me in being able to accept that some will respond in ways that I would not respond and yet still be responding appropriately to God, It also tells me sometimes people respond in ways God would never approve yet still be responding to a genuine move of God's Spirit.
It also underscores the importance that we be living in a way that is pleasing to God. If we are doing so Godly character is the key to having godly manifestations.
Recently someone asked me about the unusual manifestations that sometimes occur in revival meetings. They specifically were quite concerned about the strange things that happened in certain revival meetings that are not seen in the Bible.
I live about two hours from a place where people began to manifest actions that were extremely different from anything I had every seen. I had many friends who went there and I myself went a few times. In another place where the same kind of manifestations I had wonderful friends for several years being discipled in their School of Missions.
It was very hard for me at first to understand the wonderful changes I saw in so many that were "touched" in the meetings and the rather unusual "manifestations" that were going on.
I prayed a lot about this and felt that I did get an answer.
This is what I have come to believe about these manifestations.
I have seven children. They are all very different but they share (with their father) a common love for chocolate chip cookies!
Now to say that they love the cookies does not say they all respond the same to a plate of them set before them.
In fact their responses vary as greatly as you could imagine.
Now from time to time I pickup a bag of what we call "President's Choice Decadent Chocolate chip cookies and bring them out on a plate after supper.
They all react to the cookies. One starts begging to serve them to everyone....... One has to be threatened with mutilation to keep his hands off them....... One is very cool and acts like she could care less...... as long as she knows that dad will give them out...... One starts shrieking with joy....... one comes over and gives me a big kiss ...... knowing full well that she most likely will get the first one for doing so..... One counts the cookies to find out how many he will get...... one sneaks as many as he can under the table to be retrieved as everyone else is distracted by enjoying themselves.
The point of this little story is that the common influence of all these behaviours is the cookies.
The behaviour is not to be equated to the cookies. It is rather the response of the person who is being influenced by the cookies.
The unusual manifestations occuring at certain revival meetings are responses to something.
It may be the Holy Spirit is what they are responding to. However I have come to believe that we cannot always say the Holy Spirit caused us to do what we do, especially when it is not a biblical response seen throughout scripture. Any that do not fit into that criteria may simply be a responces to the Holy Spirit filtered through our humanity. This means that we do not claim our non-biblical actions are a direct action of the Holy Spirit but rather my response to the Holy Spirit.
It alos means that we cannot always discern just by the outweard manifestation what is happening inside the person.
I find nowhere in scripture that the Holy Spirit made people "drunk", bark, chirp, bleat or roar like animals.
The only time people fell down in convulsions was under the influence of a demonic spirit.
I agree, and so would many of the leaders of these meetings that sometimes the influence is satan.
Sometimes the responses are the need to be a part...... kind of a group mentality which does not just occur in pentecostally oriented groups. Peer pressure is just as strong in any group and the need to conform is one of the strongest forces of imitating each other or rejecting God in any church setting.
But some responses are the humanity of the person..... sometimes even the flesh reacting to the Holy Spirit.
However some people may be genuinely responding to the Holy Spirit in this way.
It may be from God or it may be from the evil one.
I believe the true discernment comes not from the outward manifestation but the presence or absence of godly character.
If you need some scriptural basis for this take a look at the life of Saul the King of Israel.
He first went among the prophets, fell under God's power and ended up prophesying in a strange but godly manner.
1 Samuel 10:10-11 When they arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him; the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he joined in their prophesying. 11 When all those who had formerly known him saw him prophesying with the prophets, they asked each other, "What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?"
Only a few years later he ended up in the same group and again fell under God's power...... his character had taken some wrong turns however and this time instead of prophesying in an appropriate way he stripped off his clothes and lay down naked.
1 Samuel 19:19-24 Word came to Saul: "David is in Naioth at Ramah"; 20 so he sent men to capture him. But when they saw a group of prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing there as their leader, the Spirit of God came upon Saul's men and they also prophesied. 21 Saul was told about it, and he sent more men, and they prophesied too. Saul sent men a third time, and they also prophesied. 22 Finally, he himself left for Ramah and went to the great cistern at Secu. And he asked, "Where are Samuel and David?" "Over in Naioth at Ramah," they said. 23 So Saul went to Naioth at Ramah. But the Spirit of God came even upon him, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth. 24 He stripped off his robes and also prophesied in Samuel's presence. He lay that way all that day and night. This is why people say, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"
This is not what you would expect from a move of God's Spirit in a man's life. That is just the point. Just like the cookies provoke a response in my children that reveals something of their character so the move of God exposes our character.
You could not deny that Saul was under the influence of the Holy Spirit because the text makes it clear that he was so.
Nor could you deny that the Holy Spirit would not lead a man to act in the manner that Saul did in his second encounter since it goes against God's ways clearly stated in other places. What is happening?
Saul's soul and body responded to the influence of the Spirit of God. In the first encounter it was a godly response because he was right with God. In the second encounter it was a wrong response because his heart was not right.
I found this explanation to be very helpful to me in being able to accept that some will respond in ways that I would not respond and yet still be responding appropriately to God, It also tells me sometimes people respond in ways God would never approve yet still be responding to a genuine move of God's Spirit.
It also underscores the importance that we be living in a way that is pleasing to God. If we are doing so Godly character is the key to having godly manifestations.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
These Priceless Gifts
John 4:9-14 Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." 11 She said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? 12 "You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?" 13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."
This morning I was meditating on gifts.
A gift is a wonderful thing. But a gift is never as straightforward as it seems. Gift giving is to build relationships.
Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman about the gift God wanted her to have. That gift would meet the deepest needs of her life. And it would spring up within her to provide for the needs of others.
But notice he said to her "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."
Surrounded gifts of God in creation, living in the gift of God of her own body and confronted with the ultimate gift God would give to the world - his son Jesus, she did not know the gift of God.
Jesus says that if she did know the gift of God and who he was she would ask......
James 4:2 You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.
We often seek to gain things through wrong means that God has already desired to give us. But we don't ask becouase we do not recognize His generosity.
How true is this?
Think about what I just said....
When we consider our lives, everything is a gift from God. EVERYTHING.
All that we have, everyone who cares for us, every internal blessing, our bodies, minds and spirit, even the very air we breathe all are gifts from God.
Surrounded by the continual evidence of God's wonderful heart of giving we are to become intimately aquainted (know) with the Gift of God.
I see that when we really comprehend the generosity of God we are confident to ask Him for the things we desire from Him and most of all we live lives of gratitude for eveything He does give us...... everything.
And like Jesus told the woman at the well that gratitude springs up as a well of living water bringing us personal refreshing but alos bring others as well.
When I am in the presence of a grateful person everything about them blesses me. When I am in the presence of a person, who through their lack of understanding of the precious gifts we are given, is full of unthankfulness I feel extremely sad.
The difference is not what we are given. The difference is our attitude about it.
Entitlement produces dissatisfaction which in turns breeds poverty. Gratitude for everything produces a positive heart no matter what happens. And that positive heart is rich towards God and is always provided for.
This morning I was meditating on gifts.
A gift is a wonderful thing. But a gift is never as straightforward as it seems. Gift giving is to build relationships.
Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman about the gift God wanted her to have. That gift would meet the deepest needs of her life. And it would spring up within her to provide for the needs of others.
But notice he said to her "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."
Surrounded gifts of God in creation, living in the gift of God of her own body and confronted with the ultimate gift God would give to the world - his son Jesus, she did not know the gift of God.
Jesus says that if she did know the gift of God and who he was she would ask......
James 4:2 You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.
We often seek to gain things through wrong means that God has already desired to give us. But we don't ask becouase we do not recognize His generosity.
How true is this?
Think about what I just said....
When we consider our lives, everything is a gift from God. EVERYTHING.
All that we have, everyone who cares for us, every internal blessing, our bodies, minds and spirit, even the very air we breathe all are gifts from God.
Surrounded by the continual evidence of God's wonderful heart of giving we are to become intimately aquainted (know) with the Gift of God.
I see that when we really comprehend the generosity of God we are confident to ask Him for the things we desire from Him and most of all we live lives of gratitude for eveything He does give us...... everything.
And like Jesus told the woman at the well that gratitude springs up as a well of living water bringing us personal refreshing but alos bring others as well.
When I am in the presence of a grateful person everything about them blesses me. When I am in the presence of a person, who through their lack of understanding of the precious gifts we are given, is full of unthankfulness I feel extremely sad.
The difference is not what we are given. The difference is our attitude about it.
Entitlement produces dissatisfaction which in turns breeds poverty. Gratitude for everything produces a positive heart no matter what happens. And that positive heart is rich towards God and is always provided for.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Every Place the Sole of Your Foot Trods
Joshua 1:1-9 Now it came about after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, that the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' servant, saying, 2 "Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel. 3 "Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses. 4 "From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory. 5 "No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. 6 "Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 "Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. 8 "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. 9 "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."
Today as I was meditating on the wonderful promise God made Joshua I asked the Lord to tell me the secret to the promise.
Today we speak to people as if none of the promises God makes are conditional. I find that we set people up for a devastating impact with reality when we do this.
The promises of God are sometimes unconditional but most of them bear a "IF / THEN" clause.
I say this as often as I can without being irritating - with all the "IF / THEN" promises, if we do our part God will do His part. If we do not do our part God cannot do His part since He cannot lie.
So I was asking this morning what was the secret that Joshua discovered to have such a wonderful promise given to him?
You see I want to see the world transformed. I want God to give me and everyone who belongs to Him every place the soles of our feet trod. That is such an amazing promise. I know that it is God's will.
He has us pray it every day:
Matthew 6:9-13 "Pray, then, in this way:
'Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 'Your kingdom come
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Someone might tell me I cannot say God asks us to pray this every day..... and technically that is true - if you are not eating! Jesus continues:
11 'Give us this day our daily bread.
12 'And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 'And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.'
The passion of every believer's heart is to be for the Kingdom of God to come on Earth. That is not just a prayer for the return of Jesus. It is a prayer that the will of God will be done on Earth today through our taking the rightful dominion of the Earth for God through the demonstration of His Will through us.
This was what was being told to Joshua. He was establishing a theocratic nation led, provided for, protected by and having the presence of the God who created the universe.
Joshua was establishing the Kingdom of God in Israel.
The promise was not just made to Joshua but to the nation as a whole:
Deuteronomy 11:22-25 "For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and hold fast to Him, 23 then the LORD will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you. 24 "Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours; your border will be from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as the western sea. 25 "No man will be able to stand before you; the LORD your God will lay the dread of you and the fear of you on all the land on which you set foot, as He has spoken to you.
I believe the demonstration of earthly Kingdom principles in the Old Testament is to give us insight into Heavenly Kingdom principles.
Like Joshua, we are establishing the Kingdom of God on Earth.
We are to be taking ground where ever we are. It is to be a never ceasing recapturing of the Earth for God wherever our feet go.
So how do we do it?
Of course we can't do it alone and that is the wonderful truth that Joshua was privileged to know.
He knew that God was the one that was taking the ground. All he did was walk around!
But to say that as if everyone who claims God in their lives has the reality of the promise being fulfilled in their lives is false.
Some of us have given ground away that we should have inhabited.
Some of us have given ground to the world.
Some of us have even given ground to the devil.
So what did Joshua do to see the ground God intended for him to take be taken?
As the Father was sharing His heart with me this morning I heard the simple secret:
"Joshua stayed with me so I could stay with him."
Exodus 33:11 Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.
Joshua knew the secret of continually abiding in the presence of God. As he stayed with God, God stayed with Him. And when God stays with us all that He does is with us as well.
John 15:4-5 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
Today as I was meditating on the wonderful promise God made Joshua I asked the Lord to tell me the secret to the promise.
Today we speak to people as if none of the promises God makes are conditional. I find that we set people up for a devastating impact with reality when we do this.
The promises of God are sometimes unconditional but most of them bear a "IF / THEN" clause.
I say this as often as I can without being irritating - with all the "IF / THEN" promises, if we do our part God will do His part. If we do not do our part God cannot do His part since He cannot lie.
So I was asking this morning what was the secret that Joshua discovered to have such a wonderful promise given to him?
You see I want to see the world transformed. I want God to give me and everyone who belongs to Him every place the soles of our feet trod. That is such an amazing promise. I know that it is God's will.
He has us pray it every day:
Matthew 6:9-13 "Pray, then, in this way:
'Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 'Your kingdom come
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Someone might tell me I cannot say God asks us to pray this every day..... and technically that is true - if you are not eating! Jesus continues:
11 'Give us this day our daily bread.
12 'And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 'And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.'
The passion of every believer's heart is to be for the Kingdom of God to come on Earth. That is not just a prayer for the return of Jesus. It is a prayer that the will of God will be done on Earth today through our taking the rightful dominion of the Earth for God through the demonstration of His Will through us.
This was what was being told to Joshua. He was establishing a theocratic nation led, provided for, protected by and having the presence of the God who created the universe.
Joshua was establishing the Kingdom of God in Israel.
The promise was not just made to Joshua but to the nation as a whole:
Deuteronomy 11:22-25 "For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and hold fast to Him, 23 then the LORD will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you. 24 "Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours; your border will be from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as the western sea. 25 "No man will be able to stand before you; the LORD your God will lay the dread of you and the fear of you on all the land on which you set foot, as He has spoken to you.
I believe the demonstration of earthly Kingdom principles in the Old Testament is to give us insight into Heavenly Kingdom principles.
Like Joshua, we are establishing the Kingdom of God on Earth.
We are to be taking ground where ever we are. It is to be a never ceasing recapturing of the Earth for God wherever our feet go.
So how do we do it?
Of course we can't do it alone and that is the wonderful truth that Joshua was privileged to know.
He knew that God was the one that was taking the ground. All he did was walk around!
But to say that as if everyone who claims God in their lives has the reality of the promise being fulfilled in their lives is false.
Some of us have given ground away that we should have inhabited.
Some of us have given ground to the world.
Some of us have even given ground to the devil.
So what did Joshua do to see the ground God intended for him to take be taken?
As the Father was sharing His heart with me this morning I heard the simple secret:
"Joshua stayed with me so I could stay with him."
Exodus 33:11 Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.
Joshua knew the secret of continually abiding in the presence of God. As he stayed with God, God stayed with Him. And when God stays with us all that He does is with us as well.
John 15:4-5 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Be Faithful
2 Timothy 2:1 You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
This morning I felt such a passion filling my heart to walk in a faithful way with the Lord.
I have been so very busy since Carie went to Holland for three weeks. It is so easy for life to be reduced to do this.... do that..... must get that done....
As I was pondering my heart's desire to please my heavenly Father the thought echoed through my mind, "You are not to be faithful to a task you are to be faithful to me."
To be faithful is more than to do what we say. Keeping our promises is a part of faithfulness but not the whole thing by far.
Faithfulness involves a heart of commitment to the one we are faithful to.
In marriage faithfulness is never only having one person we share intimacy with. I doubt if it is possible to be faithful in our hearts if we only understand it to be that.
Again, faithfulness includes being intimate with only one but it is far more than that. Like the thoughts spoken to my heart today, faithfulness is to a person not an activity.
This is why we see that some "type A" people who can be extremely task oriented and can carry out projects to their completion are not always faithful. They see it as something they do rather than someone they are. I know this well having thought that way myself.
This means they can also see a relationship as expendable if it stands in the way of the goal of the project they are called to be faithful to.
What I am going to say next may sound heretical but hear the heart.
Some activities need to be done in a partial way if doing them fully harms a relationship.
I have found this out the hard way.
In the first years of our marriage, as a young pastor, I believed faithfulness to God was something I did. I pastored a church. I "knew" this was my primary call. I thought I was to do whatever it took to be "faithful" to this call. I equated it with my faithfulness to God.
I was a disaster waiting to happen. Armed with all the scriptures on faithfulness, I could counter anyone who felt my commitment to the "church" was harming my family, my friends and most of all me.
I did not know the difference between faithfulness to a task and faithfulness to a person.
Faithfulness to a person means our activites are always conditional to the needs of the relationship. When an activity begins to steal away the life of our relationships - especially with God - the activity needs to be put aside in favor of the relationship.
I remember well the day when my beloved, who I love more than life itself, told me that she was no longer able to bear the life we lived. There was a lot about that communication that I did not have a clue she was feeling even though she had told me in countless ways. She never told me she would leave me but she did say that she had lost all the joy in our relationship that she had once known. She told me that her heart was not wanting to feel the way she did but that I had so left her for my "call" that she felt like she was little more than someone to do all that a wife does.
It was like I had been hit by a truck. I must admit that I felt a great deal of self-pity about the whole issue. I was trying so hard to meet all the expectations of being faithful to God, my wife, my children, my friends and my church. But the problem was I was being faithful to a task not a person. Like Martha I got it wrong.....
I told my wife I would do whatever it took to get our lives back on a right path. I told her I was quiting pastoral ministry and would never go back without her fully being in support and my being accountable to her in it.
We spent a wonderful year with my moving out of anything that separated us. That year's lesson on faithfulness saved our marriage. God completely restored our relationship better than ever and now we walk together in all that we do for God, listening to each other as far as the boundaries and limits, finding them together in God.
I learned that we can be as unfaithful to our spouse with a job, a hobby, our own family, our friends.... and for parents especially, our children. (Years later we walked through a similar situation as I was in with my work with her and our children.....) as you can be with a lover.
You can be the same with God.
We can even (perhaps especially) be unfaithful to God with our ministry......
Faithfulness is to a relationship not a task. Marriage is a relationship not a task. Following Jesus is a relationship not a task.
So today when I talk about faithfulness to God it is hardly ever in the context of doing. The doing part is spending time together. It is delighting in God's presence. So this morning when I was meditating on being faithful to Him my passion was not based in a list of things to do for Him. It was to continue to find delight in our relationship. To never lose the precious place where I hear Him speak to me the thoughts of His heart.
I want to be faithful to God not just the work He has for me to do.
Luke 10:39-43 She (Martha) had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord's feet, listening to His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me." 41 But the Lord answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; 42 but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her."
This morning I felt such a passion filling my heart to walk in a faithful way with the Lord.
I have been so very busy since Carie went to Holland for three weeks. It is so easy for life to be reduced to do this.... do that..... must get that done....
As I was pondering my heart's desire to please my heavenly Father the thought echoed through my mind, "You are not to be faithful to a task you are to be faithful to me."
To be faithful is more than to do what we say. Keeping our promises is a part of faithfulness but not the whole thing by far.
Faithfulness involves a heart of commitment to the one we are faithful to.
In marriage faithfulness is never only having one person we share intimacy with. I doubt if it is possible to be faithful in our hearts if we only understand it to be that.
Again, faithfulness includes being intimate with only one but it is far more than that. Like the thoughts spoken to my heart today, faithfulness is to a person not an activity.
This is why we see that some "type A" people who can be extremely task oriented and can carry out projects to their completion are not always faithful. They see it as something they do rather than someone they are. I know this well having thought that way myself.
This means they can also see a relationship as expendable if it stands in the way of the goal of the project they are called to be faithful to.
What I am going to say next may sound heretical but hear the heart.
Some activities need to be done in a partial way if doing them fully harms a relationship.
I have found this out the hard way.
In the first years of our marriage, as a young pastor, I believed faithfulness to God was something I did. I pastored a church. I "knew" this was my primary call. I thought I was to do whatever it took to be "faithful" to this call. I equated it with my faithfulness to God.
I was a disaster waiting to happen. Armed with all the scriptures on faithfulness, I could counter anyone who felt my commitment to the "church" was harming my family, my friends and most of all me.
I did not know the difference between faithfulness to a task and faithfulness to a person.
Faithfulness to a person means our activites are always conditional to the needs of the relationship. When an activity begins to steal away the life of our relationships - especially with God - the activity needs to be put aside in favor of the relationship.
I remember well the day when my beloved, who I love more than life itself, told me that she was no longer able to bear the life we lived. There was a lot about that communication that I did not have a clue she was feeling even though she had told me in countless ways. She never told me she would leave me but she did say that she had lost all the joy in our relationship that she had once known. She told me that her heart was not wanting to feel the way she did but that I had so left her for my "call" that she felt like she was little more than someone to do all that a wife does.
It was like I had been hit by a truck. I must admit that I felt a great deal of self-pity about the whole issue. I was trying so hard to meet all the expectations of being faithful to God, my wife, my children, my friends and my church. But the problem was I was being faithful to a task not a person. Like Martha I got it wrong.....
I told my wife I would do whatever it took to get our lives back on a right path. I told her I was quiting pastoral ministry and would never go back without her fully being in support and my being accountable to her in it.
We spent a wonderful year with my moving out of anything that separated us. That year's lesson on faithfulness saved our marriage. God completely restored our relationship better than ever and now we walk together in all that we do for God, listening to each other as far as the boundaries and limits, finding them together in God.
I learned that we can be as unfaithful to our spouse with a job, a hobby, our own family, our friends.... and for parents especially, our children. (Years later we walked through a similar situation as I was in with my work with her and our children.....) as you can be with a lover.
You can be the same with God.
We can even (perhaps especially) be unfaithful to God with our ministry......
Faithfulness is to a relationship not a task. Marriage is a relationship not a task. Following Jesus is a relationship not a task.
So today when I talk about faithfulness to God it is hardly ever in the context of doing. The doing part is spending time together. It is delighting in God's presence. So this morning when I was meditating on being faithful to Him my passion was not based in a list of things to do for Him. It was to continue to find delight in our relationship. To never lose the precious place where I hear Him speak to me the thoughts of His heart.
I want to be faithful to God not just the work He has for me to do.
Luke 10:39-43 She (Martha) had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord's feet, listening to His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me." 41 But the Lord answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; 42 but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her."
Thursday, May 13, 2010
A link to a fuller teaching on Entering into God's Rest
If you want a fuller Biblical understanding of entering into God's rest you can go to my teaching website here:
I publish longer teachings there as I try to keep this site for shorter devotional posts.
Blessings,
Leonard
Natural Miracles
Isaiah 38:9-21 9 A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery: 10 said,
"In the middle of my life
I am to enter the gates of Sheol;
I am to be deprived of the rest of my years."
11 I said, "I will not see the LORD,
The LORD in the land of the living;
I will look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.
12 "Like a shepherd's tent my dwelling is pulled up and removed from me;
As a weaver I rolled up my life
He cuts me off from the loom;
From day until night You make an end of me.
13 "I composed my soul until morning.
Like a lion--so He breaks all my bones,
From day until night You make an end of me.
14"Like a swallow, like a crane, so I twitter;
I moan like a dove;
My eyes look wistfully to the heights;
O Lord, I am oppressed, be my security.
15 "What shall I say?
For He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it;
I will wander about all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.
16 "O Lord, by these things men live,
And in all these is the life of my spirit;
O restore me to health and let me live!
17 "Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness;
It is You who has kept my soul from the pit of nothingness,
For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.
18 "For Sheol cannot thank You,
Death cannot praise You;
Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.
19 "It is the living who give thanks to You, as I do today;
A father tells his sons about Your faithfulness.
20 "The LORD will surely save me;
So we will play my songs on stringed instruments
All the days of our life at the house of the LORD."
21 Now Isaiah had said, "Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover."
I have seen supernatural miracles that have come from my seeking God. My sweetheart is alive today as a result of a supernatural miracle God did for her by giving me a word about her having a tubal pregnancy. I have been close with those who have witnessed a consistent pattern of miracles in their lives. I believe in the supernatural work of God. One of my best friends prayed for a girl who was born blind and she saw perfectly.
I knew many people who were healed when Oral Roberts laid hands on them.
I was in several services where God used Kathryn Kulman to heal many including me.
What I am saying here does not downplay the reality of God's supernatural work.
I have also seen that placing an emphasis on the supernatural can diminish the wonder of God working through natural means.
I have seen people die as a result of coming to believe that the only way God works is supernaturally.
A pastoral couple we knew were preaching this and as a result their congregation abandoned any kind of medical care. They let one woman hemorrhage to death in child birth. They kept her dead body hidden for three days believe God would raise her from the dead. They were eventually charged and convicted for a felony offense. Others in their congregation allowed for their children to suffer with all kinds of problems that could have been avoided. This was not the only group that we have seen that have followed this thought that God's only work is in the supernatural realm.
The story of Hezekiah gives a wonderful example of the interplay of the supernatural and natural workings of God. Hezekiah was one of the most faithful kings to God in the Bible. He got very sick with some kind of a skin lesion. He summoned Isaiah the prophet for help. Isaiah told him he would die.
Hezekiah cried out to God and God told Isaiah to go back and tell him he was going to live after all. Hezekiah asked for a sign that he would live. He requested that the sun's shadow would go backward on a set of stairs that seemed to have acted like a sun clock. God did this supernatural miracle for him. Then we see that the actual healing involved Isaiah making a medicinal substance and placing it on the boil which brought about his healing.
That was very much what happened for me with Carie. God told me she had a tubal pregnancy when she first got sick with what she thought was the flu. We did not even know she was pregnant at the time. He told me it again when she passed out in our home four days later He said it again after the doctor did an ultra sound and determined, so he thought, that she was pregnant and the baby was in the proper place.
When they could not stabilize her and she was near death I again heard Jesus say, "She has a tubal pregnancy." I again told the doctor and because I did he did another kind of test with a machine that gave a better picture.
Four hours later he came out of the operating room with the wonderful news that she was going to live and that she had bled internally for four days losing over half her blood from a tubal pregnancy.
The word was supernatural. The operation to save her life was natural. Both worked together to save her life.
We need to understand that however God chooses to work we are to be thankful and thrilled that He helps us.
We do not need to limit God in any way. That is the essence of the third temptation of Jesus - Testing God.
Matthew 4:5-7 Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, 'HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU'; and 'ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.'" 7 Jesus said to him, "On the other hand, it is written, 'YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.'"
We know Jesus could supernaturally provide food for us as he did with the feeding of the five thousand with a few loaves and fish.
We know Jesus could turn water into wine like he did at the wedding by the sea of Galilee.
But in most cases he uses the natural means to provide these things.
THEY ARE NO LESS FROM GOD THAN IF HE HAD MADE THEM APPEAR BEFORE US SUPERNATURALLY.
This is the most important point. God is fully in every natural provision. It is His gift as much as the supernatural.
A few months ago the men at our men's meeting prayed for me about my sleep. I have spent most of my life sleep deprived. It has made for wonderful quiet times over the years. I have not complained about it but it has been hard at times to fulfill all that I need to when I was so tired.
A few days after they prayed I had a compression fracture of my spine that had no apparent cause. I was running and ended up in severe pain. I had fallen off my roof many years ago and broke my back then as well. Because I was younger they did not think to do a bone density test. This time they did and found that I have severe osteoporosis. The doctor commented that I had the bones of a seventy year old man. She put me on a high dose of vitamin D and calcium.
Because I had severe allergies and asthma as a child, I spent most of my time indoors since when I went out and played in the grass or walked in the forest I got very ill. I grew to dislike even being outside. As a result my exposure to the sun has been very limited. I have been vitamin D deprived for most of my life, thus my problem with osteoporosis.
But the thing that I could most give thanks to God for my spinal fracture was after three or four days of taking the vitamin D I started to sleep through the whole night. I now live in a state of feeling rested all the time. Vitamin D deficiency is a cause of sleep deprivation.
I know that God answered my and my friend's prayers for a restoration of my sleep. He did it through very natural means but I know it was His gift to me.
How important that we pray. How important we believe. How important that we look for the answers to come - not only supernaturally - but in the natural realm.
George Washington Carver is one of my greatest heroes. He was a slave freed at the end of the civil war. He was enthralled with agriculture. His story is amazing and I can't share it all here. What I was thinking of today as I was meditating on the this I am putting down here is that God used him to feed the freed slaves in one of the darkest periods of their history.
He spent his days in what he called "God's Little Workshop" asking for God to show him how to help his fellow former slaves to be able to grow enough food on their substandard, small plots of land.
God did just that. He gave him wonderful insights which he often said came as impressions he knew were from God. But he also gained many from observation and trial and error. He was a scientist in every way but one who believed God spoke through the creation and supernaturally.
As a result of his work all agricultural science benefitted. Those who followed his principles prospered. Every time you eat peanut butter you are partaking of the wisdom God gave him since he was the one how found that this little plant that no one used was highly nutritious especially when made into a paste.
God has given us the natural world as a gift of His love. Every aspect of it is meant to be taken as such. We need to be looking constantly for Him to show us His natural miracles.
"In the middle of my life
I am to enter the gates of Sheol;
I am to be deprived of the rest of my years."
11 I said, "I will not see the LORD,
The LORD in the land of the living;
I will look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.
12 "Like a shepherd's tent my dwelling is pulled up and removed from me;
As a weaver I rolled up my life
He cuts me off from the loom;
From day until night You make an end of me.
13 "I composed my soul until morning.
Like a lion--so He breaks all my bones,
From day until night You make an end of me.
14"Like a swallow, like a crane, so I twitter;
I moan like a dove;
My eyes look wistfully to the heights;
O Lord, I am oppressed, be my security.
15 "What shall I say?
For He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it;
I will wander about all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.
16 "O Lord, by these things men live,
And in all these is the life of my spirit;
O restore me to health and let me live!
17 "Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness;
It is You who has kept my soul from the pit of nothingness,
For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.
18 "For Sheol cannot thank You,
Death cannot praise You;
Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.
19 "It is the living who give thanks to You, as I do today;
A father tells his sons about Your faithfulness.
20 "The LORD will surely save me;
So we will play my songs on stringed instruments
All the days of our life at the house of the LORD."
21 Now Isaiah had said, "Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover."
I have seen supernatural miracles that have come from my seeking God. My sweetheart is alive today as a result of a supernatural miracle God did for her by giving me a word about her having a tubal pregnancy. I have been close with those who have witnessed a consistent pattern of miracles in their lives. I believe in the supernatural work of God. One of my best friends prayed for a girl who was born blind and she saw perfectly.
I knew many people who were healed when Oral Roberts laid hands on them.
I was in several services where God used Kathryn Kulman to heal many including me.
What I am saying here does not downplay the reality of God's supernatural work.
I have also seen that placing an emphasis on the supernatural can diminish the wonder of God working through natural means.
I have seen people die as a result of coming to believe that the only way God works is supernaturally.
A pastoral couple we knew were preaching this and as a result their congregation abandoned any kind of medical care. They let one woman hemorrhage to death in child birth. They kept her dead body hidden for three days believe God would raise her from the dead. They were eventually charged and convicted for a felony offense. Others in their congregation allowed for their children to suffer with all kinds of problems that could have been avoided. This was not the only group that we have seen that have followed this thought that God's only work is in the supernatural realm.
The story of Hezekiah gives a wonderful example of the interplay of the supernatural and natural workings of God. Hezekiah was one of the most faithful kings to God in the Bible. He got very sick with some kind of a skin lesion. He summoned Isaiah the prophet for help. Isaiah told him he would die.
Hezekiah cried out to God and God told Isaiah to go back and tell him he was going to live after all. Hezekiah asked for a sign that he would live. He requested that the sun's shadow would go backward on a set of stairs that seemed to have acted like a sun clock. God did this supernatural miracle for him. Then we see that the actual healing involved Isaiah making a medicinal substance and placing it on the boil which brought about his healing.
That was very much what happened for me with Carie. God told me she had a tubal pregnancy when she first got sick with what she thought was the flu. We did not even know she was pregnant at the time. He told me it again when she passed out in our home four days later He said it again after the doctor did an ultra sound and determined, so he thought, that she was pregnant and the baby was in the proper place.
When they could not stabilize her and she was near death I again heard Jesus say, "She has a tubal pregnancy." I again told the doctor and because I did he did another kind of test with a machine that gave a better picture.
Four hours later he came out of the operating room with the wonderful news that she was going to live and that she had bled internally for four days losing over half her blood from a tubal pregnancy.
The word was supernatural. The operation to save her life was natural. Both worked together to save her life.
We need to understand that however God chooses to work we are to be thankful and thrilled that He helps us.
We do not need to limit God in any way. That is the essence of the third temptation of Jesus - Testing God.
Matthew 4:5-7 Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, 'HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU'; and 'ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.'" 7 Jesus said to him, "On the other hand, it is written, 'YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.'"
We know Jesus could supernaturally provide food for us as he did with the feeding of the five thousand with a few loaves and fish.
We know Jesus could turn water into wine like he did at the wedding by the sea of Galilee.
But in most cases he uses the natural means to provide these things.
THEY ARE NO LESS FROM GOD THAN IF HE HAD MADE THEM APPEAR BEFORE US SUPERNATURALLY.
This is the most important point. God is fully in every natural provision. It is His gift as much as the supernatural.
A few months ago the men at our men's meeting prayed for me about my sleep. I have spent most of my life sleep deprived. It has made for wonderful quiet times over the years. I have not complained about it but it has been hard at times to fulfill all that I need to when I was so tired.
A few days after they prayed I had a compression fracture of my spine that had no apparent cause. I was running and ended up in severe pain. I had fallen off my roof many years ago and broke my back then as well. Because I was younger they did not think to do a bone density test. This time they did and found that I have severe osteoporosis. The doctor commented that I had the bones of a seventy year old man. She put me on a high dose of vitamin D and calcium.
Because I had severe allergies and asthma as a child, I spent most of my time indoors since when I went out and played in the grass or walked in the forest I got very ill. I grew to dislike even being outside. As a result my exposure to the sun has been very limited. I have been vitamin D deprived for most of my life, thus my problem with osteoporosis.
But the thing that I could most give thanks to God for my spinal fracture was after three or four days of taking the vitamin D I started to sleep through the whole night. I now live in a state of feeling rested all the time. Vitamin D deficiency is a cause of sleep deprivation.
I know that God answered my and my friend's prayers for a restoration of my sleep. He did it through very natural means but I know it was His gift to me.
How important that we pray. How important we believe. How important that we look for the answers to come - not only supernaturally - but in the natural realm.
George Washington Carver is one of my greatest heroes. He was a slave freed at the end of the civil war. He was enthralled with agriculture. His story is amazing and I can't share it all here. What I was thinking of today as I was meditating on the this I am putting down here is that God used him to feed the freed slaves in one of the darkest periods of their history.
He spent his days in what he called "God's Little Workshop" asking for God to show him how to help his fellow former slaves to be able to grow enough food on their substandard, small plots of land.
God did just that. He gave him wonderful insights which he often said came as impressions he knew were from God. But he also gained many from observation and trial and error. He was a scientist in every way but one who believed God spoke through the creation and supernaturally.
As a result of his work all agricultural science benefitted. Those who followed his principles prospered. Every time you eat peanut butter you are partaking of the wisdom God gave him since he was the one how found that this little plant that no one used was highly nutritious especially when made into a paste.
God has given us the natural world as a gift of His love. Every aspect of it is meant to be taken as such. We need to be looking constantly for Him to show us His natural miracles.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
I will give you rest
Matthew 11:28 "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.
This morning Jesus said, "I will give you rest." We had a wonderful conversation about what that actually means.
The first thing I see is that he gives rest to those who need it. "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. The two elements of indication that we are in need of rest are being weary and heavy-laden.
Weariness is being in a state of exhustion. The Hebrew word for weary is yagea and means exhaustion from unending labor, gasping for breath or fainting. The Greek word used in Matthew is kopiao and means the same as the Hebrew word but includes being in pain from hard labor. It is applied both physically, emotionally and spiritually.
When we are in a state of exhaustion we are very vulnerable. It is the time our enemy will seek to harm us.
Deuteronomy 25:17-19 "Remember what Amalek did to you along the way when you came out from Egypt, 18 how he met you along the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were faint and weary; and he did not fear God.
I find that when I am in a state of exhaustion I have the greatest temptation to discouragement. The whole world can seem to be a place of unending demands for more. I tend to be especially prone to not knowing when to stop.
I have often told others that I learned well to work until I fell over. It was what was required in my late childhood and early teens. We lived in absolute poverty. After my father left mom worked at two jobs. I took care of my little brother and as soon as I could I was working as well. There was no social safety net and if you did not work you did not eat. In many cases if you did not work you did not live. There was not much place for rest.
As a result I understand a little of what it means to be weary physically from work. But I find that physical weariness to be relatively easy to bear in comparison to emotional or spiritual weariness. At the end of an exhausting day of work I find there can be a sweet sense of accomplishment. The wearisome days clouded by continual discouragement and defeat are the ones that wear on the soul to the place of raw pain.
No matter what kind of weariness plaugues our life Jesus uses it to draw us to himself. He is the source of refreshing! "Come unto me and I will give you rest," he says. And he never fails.
When I consciously come into his presence by simply remembering he is there, calling out to him instead of sighing, or getting on my knees and seeking him I always find a calming of my soul and a renewal of my strength. He is the source of rest. He himself is the rest.
I find it interesting that he does not take away labor. Instead he takes it up. "Take my yoke up you" Imagine when you are completely unable to bear a single minute more of labor someone telling you to put a yoke on! What sense would that make? But that is exactly how we find rest.
Hebrews 4:9-11 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest,
I believe we find in this passage the secret. The one who has found rest has ceased from "his own works."
Jesus says that we are to work alongside of him. A yoke joins two animals to work together. Who benefits when we are in a team with the most powerful being in the universe? Who gains resources when you are working intimately with the one who created everything?
I have my little ones help me fix my cars. I did it with my grandson about two weeks ago. I had him hold the socket wrench when we were taking off a bolt. I told him he had to be very strong to get it off. I said it was so tight that we needed to work together to remove it. So I held the socket wrench with him. I let him put a lot of effort into the work so that he would feel that sense of accomplishment when the bolt came off. But I made sure it came off by adding my strength to what would have been an impossible task for him. The delight on his face when the bolt came off was wonderful. I told him how very strong he was. He beamed with the confidence that he was. One day he will take off bolts by himself. One day he will fix his own cars perhaps even after I am no longer around to cheer him on. But he will have learned to love doing so by holding the wrench together with his papa.
That is as simple as it really is with us and Jesus. We get into the yoke with Him. We do our part and he does his - and we find rest.
This morning Jesus said, "I will give you rest." We had a wonderful conversation about what that actually means.
The first thing I see is that he gives rest to those who need it. "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. The two elements of indication that we are in need of rest are being weary and heavy-laden.
Weariness is being in a state of exhustion. The Hebrew word for weary is yagea and means exhaustion from unending labor, gasping for breath or fainting. The Greek word used in Matthew is kopiao and means the same as the Hebrew word but includes being in pain from hard labor. It is applied both physically, emotionally and spiritually.
When we are in a state of exhaustion we are very vulnerable. It is the time our enemy will seek to harm us.
Deuteronomy 25:17-19 "Remember what Amalek did to you along the way when you came out from Egypt, 18 how he met you along the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were faint and weary; and he did not fear God.
I find that when I am in a state of exhaustion I have the greatest temptation to discouragement. The whole world can seem to be a place of unending demands for more. I tend to be especially prone to not knowing when to stop.
I have often told others that I learned well to work until I fell over. It was what was required in my late childhood and early teens. We lived in absolute poverty. After my father left mom worked at two jobs. I took care of my little brother and as soon as I could I was working as well. There was no social safety net and if you did not work you did not eat. In many cases if you did not work you did not live. There was not much place for rest.
As a result I understand a little of what it means to be weary physically from work. But I find that physical weariness to be relatively easy to bear in comparison to emotional or spiritual weariness. At the end of an exhausting day of work I find there can be a sweet sense of accomplishment. The wearisome days clouded by continual discouragement and defeat are the ones that wear on the soul to the place of raw pain.
No matter what kind of weariness plaugues our life Jesus uses it to draw us to himself. He is the source of refreshing! "Come unto me and I will give you rest," he says. And he never fails.
When I consciously come into his presence by simply remembering he is there, calling out to him instead of sighing, or getting on my knees and seeking him I always find a calming of my soul and a renewal of my strength. He is the source of rest. He himself is the rest.
I find it interesting that he does not take away labor. Instead he takes it up. "Take my yoke up you" Imagine when you are completely unable to bear a single minute more of labor someone telling you to put a yoke on! What sense would that make? But that is exactly how we find rest.
Hebrews 4:9-11 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest,
I believe we find in this passage the secret. The one who has found rest has ceased from "his own works."
Jesus says that we are to work alongside of him. A yoke joins two animals to work together. Who benefits when we are in a team with the most powerful being in the universe? Who gains resources when you are working intimately with the one who created everything?
I have my little ones help me fix my cars. I did it with my grandson about two weeks ago. I had him hold the socket wrench when we were taking off a bolt. I told him he had to be very strong to get it off. I said it was so tight that we needed to work together to remove it. So I held the socket wrench with him. I let him put a lot of effort into the work so that he would feel that sense of accomplishment when the bolt came off. But I made sure it came off by adding my strength to what would have been an impossible task for him. The delight on his face when the bolt came off was wonderful. I told him how very strong he was. He beamed with the confidence that he was. One day he will take off bolts by himself. One day he will fix his own cars perhaps even after I am no longer around to cheer him on. But he will have learned to love doing so by holding the wrench together with his papa.
That is as simple as it really is with us and Jesus. We get into the yoke with Him. We do our part and he does his - and we find rest.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
I will never leave you, I will never forsake you.
Hebrews 13:5Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,"
This morning as I was listening for Jesus to speak I heard him say something he has said many times. I will never leave you, I will never forsake you.
This is one of the most preciou promises to me personally that he has made.
Before I came to know the reality of the Lord's care I was overtaken by a deep loneliness. I now understand it was what I now called the God shaped hole in my being. But then it felt like I was disconnected from everything in the universe. Rejection was not far from my reality at all times and, like so many of us do, I fought rejection with rejection.
Then Jesus came and revealed himself to me. That was when I was seventeen years old. While I have needed much assurance of his continuing presence in my life, accounting for why he has to tell me so often that he will never leave or forsake me, I found in him the connection to everyone else.
Until we know we are secure in the love of God we are restless. The ancient Anglican prayer "Oh Lord, our hearts are restless till we find our rest in Thee" is accurate beyond description. While many, like I did, put on a face of confidence, I have not found a person yet who does not struggle with belonging at some point in their lives. To find that place of belonging many are willing to sacrifice their very identity. But it can only be found in God.
When it is found in God it is like a spring of fresh water flowing from our innermost being. It washes away the daily poison of rejection that we face from others but mostly from ourselves. It gives us a place where we can simply be. A place where we have no need to impress, fear, or perform for value.
His promise to stay is a place of serene rest.
I often say that only one can walk with us across the final valley of our lives. When our bodies no longer support our life here no one we love here can take that last journey with us.But if we have let him take his desired place in our hearts, Jesus will be there to take our hand and walk us accross the valley of the shaddow of death.
If that is true of that day how much more true is it of today. As we entered into the day we can know that we have one who walks with us without fail. He will never leave our side. He will never reject us. He will stay at every moment. We have nothing to fear, nothing to prove and nothing to perform to gain his attention.
He is with us forever.
This morning as I was listening for Jesus to speak I heard him say something he has said many times. I will never leave you, I will never forsake you.
This is one of the most preciou promises to me personally that he has made.
Before I came to know the reality of the Lord's care I was overtaken by a deep loneliness. I now understand it was what I now called the God shaped hole in my being. But then it felt like I was disconnected from everything in the universe. Rejection was not far from my reality at all times and, like so many of us do, I fought rejection with rejection.
Then Jesus came and revealed himself to me. That was when I was seventeen years old. While I have needed much assurance of his continuing presence in my life, accounting for why he has to tell me so often that he will never leave or forsake me, I found in him the connection to everyone else.
Until we know we are secure in the love of God we are restless. The ancient Anglican prayer "Oh Lord, our hearts are restless till we find our rest in Thee" is accurate beyond description. While many, like I did, put on a face of confidence, I have not found a person yet who does not struggle with belonging at some point in their lives. To find that place of belonging many are willing to sacrifice their very identity. But it can only be found in God.
When it is found in God it is like a spring of fresh water flowing from our innermost being. It washes away the daily poison of rejection that we face from others but mostly from ourselves. It gives us a place where we can simply be. A place where we have no need to impress, fear, or perform for value.
His promise to stay is a place of serene rest.
I often say that only one can walk with us across the final valley of our lives. When our bodies no longer support our life here no one we love here can take that last journey with us.But if we have let him take his desired place in our hearts, Jesus will be there to take our hand and walk us accross the valley of the shaddow of death.
If that is true of that day how much more true is it of today. As we entered into the day we can know that we have one who walks with us without fail. He will never leave our side. He will never reject us. He will stay at every moment. We have nothing to fear, nothing to prove and nothing to perform to gain his attention.
He is with us forever.
Monday, May 10, 2010
It was good it was in your heart....
1 Kings 8:17 "Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. 18 "But the LORD said to my father David, 'Because it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well that it was in your heart. 19 'Nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who will be born to you, he will build the house for My name.'
This morning the Father breathed into my consciousness the words "It was good it was in your heart."
I have been struggling with many issues in which it seems I can do nothing to change. This is a place I am not used to. I have always felt that we can do something - especially since God is here to help.
David was a man of action as well. The words I heard this morning come from what God said to him when he wanted to give the Lord a place of honor. He looked around at the prosperity he had come to and was so thankful that he wanted to build God a house of worship. God said no. But he also told him that it was a good thing that he had the desire to do it.
There is an old saying that I heard often when I was a child. "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." It left a lasting impression on me. While it is true that intentions are not always enough, it is also true that God looks out our hearts before our actions.
When I was young and thought it was a simple thing to see the world transformed I believed "actions spoke louder than words." But as I have come to understand that not everything can be solved, resolved, fixed or even altered by my actions I have also come to understand that sometimes my heart's desire is enough for God. And sometimes words of love, assurance, comfort and care for someone going through something they nor I can change are all I have to share my heart.
The Ancient Serenity Prayer used by Alcoholics Anonymous contains this balance of wisdom.
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.
The temptation to bitterness when we find ourselves unable to change our, or others circumstances is enormous.
We can be overtaken with discouragement so deep that we may feel we cannot bear life.
In our powerlessness we can even grow to hate ourselves for our perceived inadequacy.
I believe this is why the prayer is so central to the recovery process in the Twelve Step programs. Bitterness and depression are major triggers for substance abuse.
We can be overtaken with discouragement so deep that we may feel we cannot bear life.
In our powerlessness we can even grow to hate ourselves for our perceived inadequacy.
I believe this is why the prayer is so central to the recovery process in the Twelve Step programs. Bitterness and depression are major triggers for substance abuse.
Unless we can admit our powerlessness in the face of unchangeable circumstances we will never be able to walk through the healing process of grief.
Unless we understand that even our best efforts to help others may result in only a partial change we may be decide that no action to help is the best course.
And when nothing can be done we need to know that having the heart of the saviour is enough for God.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Mother’s Day 2010
Now the man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.
Genesis 3:20
I attended my two sets of friends son and daughter's wedding yesterday. It was a beautiful event. In the middle of it I had a memory from my past that set me on an emotional journey. It was wonderful.
All day I kept seeing the plan of God in creating a woman.
Adam, in his own thinking, probably thought he fully knew why she ws created when he first laid eyes on her.
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."
Genesis 2:23
But it was later that he more fully understood what I was meditating on yesterday.
As much as the wedding yesterday was about the couple I could not help but see that it was more about the giving of life.
The mother of the Bride was radiant as she always is. The father of the bride was the sweet wonderful man who could barely contain his tears as he walked his firstborn down the aisle. But both were marking a passage of time that would be forever fixed. Their baby was now ready to have her own babies. We make marriage so much about the couple and it is for sure. But it is mostly about the secret Adam found out a while after he first thought the woman who woke him up from his dreams was all for him.
Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, "I have gotten a manchild with the help of the LORD."
Genesis 4:1
A young woman I know well asked me why do people get married? I find people ask me that often today. It is interesting that before birth control became a science people did not ask that question much. It really has never been so much about sex as it has been about babies. You see God created the beauty of sexual intimacy, as He does with most things he creates, with a greater purpose in mind:
Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring.
Malachi 2:15a
The reason God allows us the precious gift of physical intimacy is that He desires the world to go on. He gives us the covenant of marriage to build a place of protection, provision and belonging for the children that until this generation would naturally come as a result of that intimacy.
In our narcissistic world this is easy to forget.
It is also easy to forget that God planted in Eve's body and in most of her daughters since the amazing gift of life giving. I know the man has a part but it is the body that God gave Eve that was able to bring forth life and to nourish that life even after it came forth from the womb.
Adam called his bride "woman" the day he first met her. But he called her an new name after she gave birth.
Adam called his bride "woman" the day he first met her. But he called her an new name after she gave birth.
Now the man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.
Genesis 3:20
He called her "Life." Chava in Hebrew means life. God created her to give life. He created every woman to do so even if she cannot do so physically.
I did a meditation on communion this last week to share with our Men's group. As I was preparing I thought about the experience of the cross and who really stayed with Jesus to the end..... even when there was nothing left for them to gain by doing so. I thought about who cared for his body when it was broken beyond recognition.
Perhaps it is because I am older and watching my own precious mother fail. Perhaps it is because I stand in amazement of the woman my children call mother. But I don't think I have ever seen so clearly that it was Jesus mother who went through the whole experience of the cross with her beloved son. The prphetic word to her when she was just a young mom so full of dreams of what her boy would be was too true.
. . . and a sword will pierce even your own soul
Luke 2:35
Except for John, all those who he had invested so much of his life into deserted him. Only his mother and a few women stayed close during his awful agony.
At the wedding I noticed two women and their daughters.
I work with several severely physically and mentally challenged students in my school. It is not my teaching assignment but a personal commitment outside of my professional responsibility. I primarily teach a JK/SK class. But I visit the developmental class in our school almost daily during my lunch time to spend time with our special needs children. I have come to know a few of their mom's. What always amazes me is the commitment most of these women have towards their children.
I saw that again yesterday as a mom brought her daughter who could not be outside of her mother's touch due to her challenges. The young woman constantly held her mother's hand. The mother, quite unconsciously now i am sure, was continually aware of her daughter's need for assurance in this new environment and giving it to her by her words and touch. What a picture of devotion. I stand in awe of such love.
I stand in awe of His image set forth in the love of a mother who gives up so much of herself to care for a child through his or her formative years and, as for this mother, for the rest of their lives . It reminded me that God uniquely manifests His love through men and women.
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Genesis 1:27
My observation of the second mom and daughter was the one that took me back to my own childhood. The daughter I would guess is about eight or nine years old. Her mother is a wonderful person who has invested into my own daughter's life as a mentor. She is a very outgoing person who expresses care for everyone she meets. She was being herself at the reception and going from table to table chatting and spreading her own unique gift of joy.
That part I have known for years. What caught my attention was the young girl that followed her from table to table. Her little shadow never left her side. She was not a part of the conversation. nor was she demanding her mother's attention. I imagine that mom did not even really know she was there most of the time. But there she was touching her mother's hair and redoing it.... holding tightly to her hand... listening intently to her mom speak..... never taking her eyes off her mom.... laughing when her mom laughed..... She was the picture of adoration of her mom.
Her mother could have never demanded what her daughter so willingly gave. I don't know how it happens but I remember when I felt that way about my mom too. And it all came back like a flood yesterday as I saw this adoring daughter express her devotion simply by delighting to be in her mom's presence. It was sweet beyond words. Such a picture of what God wants us to share with Him.
I remember on mother's day I would save my pennies for weeks so I could buy mom a box of chocolate cherries. She confessed to me many years later that she never liked them but loved my heart in giving them. I remember the deep love I felt for her as a young child. She was the centre of my world then.
The darkness of a broken home, abandonment and broken promises brought that blissful world to an end so suddenly that for years I was unable to get past my own pain to see hers. In that I lost a treasure. That is why God hates divorce. Not because he wants to inflict misery on couples who hate each other. Not because He wants to give a standard so those who have great marriages can reject those who don't but because he loves children and wants them to live in the protection, provision and presence of two parents who have moved beyond themselves to build a life for their children that is stable and loving.
I am sure that the young woman who I saw such adoration of her mom in yesterday will never face the world that tore that same adoration from my heart from me. And I am so glad she won't. Sadly I know that more and more every day may never even have a chance to develop it. The chaos in our relationships is like planting little seedlings and uprooting them a thousand times. I see the devastation effects of it every day in the students I teach.
But I also see the devotion of the same one who stayed close to her son as his life drained out of him on the cross - even when they have been left by the one who made them a mother.
What would I have done without my mom when dad left?
So today I once again feel what I did as a young boy. I am so grateful for my mom.
In keeping with the theme, one of my good friends told me yesterday how her young grandson called her up and said. "Nana I want to take my mom out for dinner to a nice restaurant." Nana said, "It is very expensive to take someone out to a nice restaurant." He said, "That's why I am calling you!" The rest of the story you can fill in for this grandmother was a wonderful mom before she was a grandmother and she has learned what is important to fund and what is not. The envelope with the money for dinner was transferred in secret and the arrangements to work of the debt were wisely arranged and God was manifested on earth again in the love of a little boy, his grandmother and an adored mom.
Such are gifts of life among us give to us daily.... the daughters of the first life giver- Eve.
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