Why you should not decide the will of God via circumstances

1. The impossible is possible for God. In fact He is not embarrassed to ask us to join Him in the impossible.
2. He calls followers to sacrifice and pain.
3. He requires that we love Him more than family or friends.
4. All time is His time.
5. Success is not the goal – obedience is.
6. Christlikeness is the icon – nothing else – nothing more
7. Giving it all is required
8. Miracles require a need for a miracle
9. “Not good for you” is normal Kingdom living.
10. It takes faith to please God.


Now here is my follow up thoughts.
1. God calls us to need Him. By design He leads us into the impossible.
2. If anyone would follow Him they must deny themselves and pick up their cross.
3. If we love Mother or Father more than Him we are unworthy of Him.
4. So we can never be too busy to do what He wants us to do.
5. We want to look good, God wants us to be good.
6. The image we are to seek to be like is Christ. Granted it may be Christ in a business suit or behind a camera, or working at the desk or mill; but it is still Christ.
7. Love the Lord your God with all….
8. Just because it is impossible doesn’t mean you’re not suppose to try.
9. Humble yourself, not realy, humble yourself
10. God loves me enough to invite me to bring pleasure to Him. This does not depend so much on what I achieve as what I am. Do I have enough faith to follow Him or do I demand that I lead?

I live among the holy ones

There are so many great ones on the earth
Whose hearts are made of wider berth
Who with devotion deny themselves
And in tender humility
Live it out

A thousand daily prayers they meet
Undaunted by the task
In whom love and devotions seed did grew
And in these lives, new life also

Yet seldom a whisper of the self
Unless in frailty to confess
A noble deed left un-done
An attitude of unrest

To live my life among such saints
To enjoy their love
To feel their grace
To have their noble hand in mine
To find God’s heart in them refined

In the wisdom of humility
God has given such to you and me
Of whom the world does not deserve
Hearts that love and unnoticed serve

Broken, humble, loving saints
Who lack the praise of men
Yet in their daily life obscured
Heaven does observed

Define Us

Seeking to line to advance myself
My days go by
Unreached realities drive me
As do sorrow and joy
Self hope, man hope, God hope

To the listening ear
To the open heart
A word comes
Communication from the uncreated
This whisper would rule
It I yield to it

So far reaching this uncreated word
That if one yields
All of life
Internal, external
Is altered

Three keys to unlock each word
Loving, obeying, believing
Ancients said
Faith – hope – love

2 Kings 23

Loving God in 10 minutes

If you can come to love God in 10 minutes of time, you will find that you will spend more time with God. But if the 10 minutes are not fulfilling, then you will most likely do what you can when you can. So there are two pressures that we must deal with in this busy life so that we can love God for more than a moment a day. The first is our responsibility to seek God. The second is the simple complexity of a relationship with an all powerful, all knowing being.
To deal with the first I think the main issue is pain and suffering. If your life has pain and suffering in it, then you have distractions that labor to keep you from enjoying God. And let’s say that you do find one day that you deeply and passionately encountered God, all Satan needs to do is to turn up the pain dial and you will soon forget any blessing you might have received. It is the cares and worries of life, growing into real burdens and pressures, which choke out love for God.
So where should you start? Start by waiting. Simply take the 10 minutes and wait on God. You need not try to pray or communicate with God, He knows what you are doing. Just give that time to God and patiently, if you can, relax and wait. If your mind wonders you may take note of what thoughts have come to mind, but then gently turn back to the process of waiting on God to come to you.
I encourage you, if you have been a Christian for some time, not to use Scripture or a devotional. You only have 10 minutes and it will be better if you can be the offering and not try to find some wisdom, knowledge, principal or teaching. All those things are good, but what good will they truly be to you if you do not rightly and justly love the Lord. Do you think the Master does not know all those who replace Him with Scripture or some religious thoughts? Do you think God wants a relationship with you directly to through some book? Books are good yes, but direct connect is better.
This interacts with the second issue. God is more patient that we think. While we desire to go out and prove that we are good enough, God knows what we are and longs for us. We tend to think my love for God is revealed in the works that I do for God. We act like He will not see my cold heart of emotions if I give up something, if I sacrifice. Our labor and performance for the Lord matter and He does have works for us to do, but our first calling is the love the Lord God will all that is in us. ALL that is in us. Take 10 minutes and sacrifice them as you wait on God.

Covering

Covering

If you hang around Christian leadership long enough you will hear the term “covering”. I myself did not come to grips with this term until well past my biblical language and systematic theology classes. This is not to imply that the term is to be marginalized, but maybe it is to be more openly discussed.

It tends to come up in the context of leadership and control. So its use and misuse often are found in the arena of making decisions, ruling and controlling. We have numerous churches in our city with a variety of pastors and leadership. Each one of them is a “covering” for those who follow them (those who they lead). Yet in Pastor dominated church life, we seldom give authority to the teacher, the evangelist, the prophet or the Apostle. By saying the above, I am not in any way trying to promote title authority. What I desire to reveal is how little respect we have for others in ministry and how we neglect the priesthood of all believers to the point of “pragmatic disbelief” in that doctrine.

I believe in the Priesthood of all believers and that the function of the Eph. 4 gifts is not to do or dominate ministry but to equip the servant of the Lord for ministry. So for me it is more than “a person” that requires covering. In fact I would say a person cannot be someone’s covering any more than one person can be the body of Christ. I don’t think we should take what is meant to be “us” and make it a “me”.

Genesis 8:13 Now it came about in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the water was dried up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried up.

This is a verse that helps start to unfold covering – right. (You may not think so, but I think so. ) Covering was over the ark (the protective housing that carried the life over the death of destruction). The covering is not the ark. The covering is removed to release the life to go forth. The covering was needed for a time. The covering was a servant to the whole and the whole did not serve the covering.

Rod – ology If you want to be someone’s covering (or a part of that covering) you will need to conceal them during the storms of life, providing shelter and safety. Not just words of advice but they will need to use your wealth, strength, provision, wisdom and whatever else you have for their well being. The one who covers is a slave to the one they are giving their life for. Then in time, at some point of maturity and will of God, the one covering is peeled away and removed so that life may come out from the one covered into the world. Go get em “lifers”!

If I am unwilling to give all I am and all I have for you I am not your covering. I may be in authority over you or I may be responsible for your life. I may be called to rule and I may be required to sustain, but I am not covering. I may be pretending to cover though. I have pretended to do this. I thought it made me look good. In the end it just made me look selfish and stupid.

So Rod, why are you saying all this? The real covering you have is most likely coming from someone who is very close to you and never demands or seldom even ask that you are aware of their service and love. Like a Mom and Dad, they are giving their life and strength for you and you do not even need to notice it. It is nice when you do, but it is not required for in their decision to “parent” or “cover” you they accepted the good and bad, honored and un-honored, loved and unloved. They chose to cover you and it was without condition of response or approval. Like the Father above, they just cover you to cover you. Free are you to choose and live because of this unconditional service.

Part 1

Send Help

At times I get a little upset!

But being upset is no big deal.
People all around the world are upset. Even God gets upset at times.
But do you know what is weird. I get upset about doing the very thing I am suppose to do and the very think I have asked God to help me do. I get upset when I love people to the point of pain or self-denial. Yet I asked God to help me do this. I want to do it. It is the right thing for me to do. So why do I get upset?
I also get upset about helping people. I love to help people when I feel loved, special. I want to help people who need help, but get upset when I do at times. My son has told me he has never hear me tell someone “NO” when it comes to helping. I don’t think he has heard the inside, only the outside.
So I guess the big deal about being upset is that I am upset with me. Why do I dribble out love as if it is rare? Why do I half love? If confession is good for the soul, maybe this will be good for me and for those who I want to help in the days to come.

Is that true?

He will not allow you foot to slip –Ps 121:3

The Lord will protect you from all evil – Ps. 121:7

If you have lived the Christian life very long and then you read passages like those above, you wonder. You wonder if they are true in the literal sense or if they are speaking of the Spiritual realm? You wonder if you are an authentic follower of God because it seems that “evil” and “slipping” are an everyday occurrence.

Even when we have a “child like” faith, it is hard to reconcile troubles with an all powerful, all loving God. I believe God is aware of this issue. I also believe that we can come to resolve that results in great faith, not unanswered questions.

I as pondered these two statements in Ps. 121 for the first time I head in my spirit ….

There is a difference between slipping and tripping. I felt like God was instructing me that when we truly are following Him, He is able and willing to keep us from slipping, but He allows tripping. And….

Being kept from evil does not mean being taken out of circulation. If we have a dollar bill and keep it, we would hide it away; we would take it out of circulation and keep it safe. But when we do this, that piece of paper is worthless. As long as the dollar bill is not in circulation it is worth only what a piece of paper that size is worth. The value of a dollar bill is dependent upon its use. If the dollar is never used, but only “kept” than it was of no use, it is useless. God keeps us while we are in circulation, but being in circulation requires a lot of handling by the world. As Romans 8:44-36 informs us, we are circulated to overcome, not to be ripped apart. The motive of God is victory over the world and He both keeps us and places us at risk in this endeavor.

From the normal human perspective the safety and security of life far outweigh the safety and security of eternity. But the reality of God and the reality that He is placing in the hearts of His followers is, “now and forever are merged”. Momentary light afflictions are but a small thing, possible not even a slip, when experienced through life eternal.

Today you are going to live your life. Stuff is going to happen. You should not try to escape by living in the past or imagining that you are not going through what you are going through. We must live in and through what is happening to us, not denying it and not trying to avoid it. We can only truly overcome by going through these things with the help of God and in His will. God has set many things ahead of you for you to be mindful of. The greatest of which is unending fellowship with Himself. But as you mind is set on Him you still need to live in the moments He has given to you on earth. You need to stay in circulations so that the value that He has placed in you can be used in the world and overcome the work of the evil one.

And, if by chance you find yourself flat on your face you may be need to avoid self condemnations, as in “why did I slip”. You may need to seek the Lord about how to avoid being tripped up.

Abandonment

When you ponder you life in Christ, do you see it through the lens of fulfilling your purpose? Do you look at your life in God and consider what God is telling you to do based on what you feel your calling is? If you do, isn’t that wrong?

What if you felt like you were to be a great leader of people, would you live content in a prison or in a servants position? What if you felt like you were to father numerous sons, would you be content in God with just one, maybe two? What if you were the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, would you allow people to crucify you if you could easily stop them?

When we abandon ourselves to God, it is not with the one reservation that we fulfill our calling. Our personal purpose in life is not a trump card to guarantee some deep sense of self. Even self on this level must be give to the Lord. Abandonment as I use it here is “lack of inhibition or self-restraint”. I am asking if you and I have no self-restraint toward the Lord, that we have give all.

If you whole relationship with God is based on your purpose and calling, than this is very difficult for you. But you ought to ask if you are the Lord’s or if you are using the Lord for your personal goals? We also need to be aware of when our relationship with God is based on us because we then tend to view others based on our objectives. We fail to see all that God is doing because we do not want to see all of it. We want to focus on “us”, our part, our purpose. Now while we can find a thousand reasons to do so, they all well prove to be weak if we first look as the instruction of scripture and the reality that God is not a respecter of persons. Everyone matters or else You do not matter.

It is not a matter of being able to trust God for your life or even for the lives of those around you It is a matter of totally trusting God no matter what you see or perceive. People passionate about Jesus beat up on other followers of Jesus all the time because “what they see” is not of fellowship with God. But the reality is they are trapped in the small world of their own vision, unable to abandon themselves to the King, they Judge and the Rule of all humanity. But this is not about them, it is about me, you.

Why do we need to see the world and God through our eyes?
Is there only a limited about of wisdom and revelation (vision) in God?
Is the renewal of our mind so that we can be a better self or is it for Christ like transformation?
Is there more joy and peace living abandoned to God than in living for God as a person enslaved by my own calling and purpose.

I know some will argue that you cannot escape functioning out of your own calling and purpose, that we are made that way, but I believe all those arguments are based on natural logic. Jesus, our example was ever mindful and obedient to the Father. His view was of doing the will of the Father and in that vision He lived and accomplished His purpose. We too have this ability because of the one who indwells in us. We can be God focused and not miss any of our purpose, even when we may be unaware of our fulfillment of it. Greater is He who is in us that he who is in my own mind.

Who are you?

Have you ever taken the time and stop and deeply and thoughtfully investigated who you are? By this I mean going much deeper than that “this is what I do” and “this is how I act so others like me” inquiry.

Each one of us is a living being with a past (both good and bad). Each one of us longs for identity and purpose. Even those who are of such a personality that they “do not worry about it” let all of us around them know how much they “worry about it” when we interfere with “it”.

If you took half an hour and with God waited, listened and listed all that is in your life. If you were aware of your fears, your desires, your lusts, your joys and all the stuff that makes you – you; what would you have on that list? Most of us might never make the list because in the reality of that type of honesty, we might not life who we are. But pretending we are not that person makes it all right – right?

I like God. He often shows me who I am and in doing so invites me deeper into the possibility of being changed. When I stand in life with all my stuff, all my issues, I get depressed. When I agree with God about the real condition of my life, I feel hope. Hope that I can be made into more than I am.

If you list “who you are” would you get depressed? Why not take some time and give it a try. And as you end that time of making your list, turn with your heart and soul to Father God. Like Adam and Eve who tried to hide from God when they knew their condition, let us stop trying to hide and seek the one who can make us whole.

The secret to power

The secret to Christian power is the unveiling of Christ, the all powerful one within us. We need to only truly humble ourselves to be vessels of glory and honor. To live so that Christ may live through us - and trust us not to steal His glory, love or fame.

Many a person has said with their life "I would do much more for Christ Jesus, but I get so little credit for it".

Note from the past 11-8-1996

Here is a note from one of my past journals.


There is a wonderful and precious deeper life that I have seen. I am not walking in it, but I have seen it.

When all that I am can die and Christ can be raised fully in me, I will have it. Much of my growth toward Christ is for me, not for Christ.

There is a very crafty struggle within. A blocked self says to “seek Christ and become a man of God”. This is weak and faulty because my inner heart knows that “the man” is the focus of the attention.

Yet there is another heart, a heart of holy reflection that says, “seek God and obey”. This heart is willing to be the fool, the simple, the trusting. This heart is a heart that is dead to self but alive to Christ Jesus.

Today I see more clearly than ever before that to gain Christ and keep the blocked heart (the self) will end in “godlessness”. It may produce, what appears to be, a real spiritual man, but in truth it will only produce a spiritual shell.

I need not seek to become great in Christ, but seek only to be in Christ Jesus my Lord. In a wonderful, terrible leap of faith I must give everything to Christ, especially my godliness. I have grown in Christ to a place where I can do the most harm for Christ. I am at a place where I could do great treason. To let the man live another moment enhances the probability that the blocked heart will live, live to hurt, kill and destroy.

Yet even my dying is in the hands of Christ. He must bring to me all that I need to cut away and destroy this old heart of mine. He alone can truly put me to death. If I plan my own death it would included a glorious resurrection, ascension and praise. If I kill myself it would result in the praise of others for doing so and possibly some grand song within, filling me with self-praise.

History Lesson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUMuUWpgokQ&NR=1

Almost Honest

Who made the world where cheerleaders rule
Where enthusiasm trumps substance
Where glamor is enough
Why do we praise words
avoid deeds
And cover our emotions with
self-righteous disguise

I seem to see great things in the most broken
Yet see little more than self-love in the most popular
It is the spirit of self-love that draws others

How i long for a conversation with a man
instead of the actor playing the man.

Thank you Lord for those in my life who are real
who bear all things
endure all things
love with courage in the absence of praise

Thank you for examples of life

Living on God’s Rumors

Have you ever taken a word that God spoke to someone in scripture and claimed that for your own? I was pondering that (contemplating really) and I felt as if that was wrong. I felt that if a man stood up and told people publically that He loved Shirley, his wife, it would be wrong for other women to say, “he loves me too”. I know it is more than popular to do that with scripture, but is it right?
As I consider this I felt assured by God that He is more than able to talk to each one of us. And YES He does use scripture to do that. But have you notice how we do it with the positive words, what we call the “good stuff”.

When we do this we live on the rumors of God. We are trying to live by what God has said to another. You don’t need to do that. God has plenty to say to you. You don’t need to live in the leftovers of another person’s relationship with God.
I have heard many people proclaim “We are the head and not the tail”. Yet seldom (actually I am the only one I know of, and I did it more in a spirit of grumbling than in a spirit of revelation) do people proclaim “I am the tail”. Do you recall Paul proclaiming his apostleship (1 Cor. 4:9)? Maybe modern man is better off than this old worn out Apostle.
Now don’t throw out your Bibles just because you can’t get a word from them whenever YOU wish. There is more than enough narrative relenting the unchangeable nature of God. Even among all the personal words not intended for you – are lines and lines of the character and nature of God just waiting for you to grasp and delight in.
God does often use the very words He spoke to one to speak to us too. When we hear Him, even though He is addressing another, His word to us becomes alive and fresh. It has His conviction and not just our presumption. In these cases we do not choose the word but the word has chosen us. We are not laying claim on the word as much as the word is laying claim on us.
Let’s all make the choice not to live my rumors or the words that God has spoken to others. Let’s step out each day with the active hope of a living relationship with the living word. It is His nature to communicate to me, to us.
Even if the Lord of heaven has recorded His love for another in Scripture, you need not envy or steal that proclamation. And don’t panic if you are not the “head”, I have it from a good source that the first are going to finish a little lower than the last one day.

A Vision of Ants

Ants
So I am down at the Prayer Center minding my own business and praying with a couple other guys with I have this internal vision about ants and unity. By internal I saw it with my “inner eyes” and not outside of me like at TV or video projector.

There on the ground were ants. It was like there were numerous little colonies, with their leaders. Each “leader ant” was doing what they thought was needed to please the Lord and earn a little reward. They were very busy, working very hard. Off to the side of what was the main thing they were doing was a little pile or work called “obedience to God”. The leader ants would work on this little pile as often as they could, but they kept being compelled to work on the bigger pile. It seemed like the ants were under a great burden to keep building a bigger work that had a great or substantial appearance, even if they knew the little work of obedience to God was more important.

As I looked I started to see other worker ants piling up stuff too. I saw that they were seeking to pile up their significance by gathering criticism and complaint against what others were doing. There were numerous (sorry to say) little rebellious colonies, out or relationship with others, assuming responsibility to correct others and direct them.

I felt a little hopeless. I went from the joy of praying for unity to feeling pity, mainly for myself for wanting more than “being trapped” in such a community. I didn’t ask which pile I was working on because I didn’t want to know.

They I felt the Lord rush upon my understanding. Having played college football I have this feeling of when the other team did something great against you. I played offence so at times I stood on the sideline and watched as the other team ran this fantastic play and scored against you. On the sideline you can do nothing but watch and at times it seems like that great play would never end. But there are times when the umpire throws a flag and the whole thing is for nothing. I felt that! I felt that “you killed us with that but it doesn’t count” type of feeling.

I saw again as the Lord reached down and grab all of us and put us in an Ant Farm. As He did that I sensed Him saying, “This is a small thing to correct”. By simply putting us all into a space that confined us, we were required to get along and interact with one another. God removed “my space” and “his space” and made it all His place. But I wondered if just being together would make such a great difference.

With that thought I saw that the ant farm was being observed by the Lord. He saw all our works and labors easily, and we knew that He knew. Each tunnel, pile or stack was seen by Him and there was no place to hide. But it felt better than hiding. It felt liberating to be seen. It was like we all were free to do what He desires us to do when we all know that He was watching.

So here is the part I don’t know
• Does God have some plan that involves involuntary confinement?
• Should we start to seek the Lord to know more of what He sees on a day to day basis?
• Is this a prophetic teaching that has not “real life” events but should provide some wisdom?

Dropping Out

I am amazed (in a sad way) about the number of people that have great experiences with God, who feel called to service, who at one point in time are full of passion and dedication, and then drop out. From non-scientific observations I think most of this occurs because of lack of real friendship (the type that encourages) and lack of something significant to do. Although living by faith is much harder than one might think. Being surrounded by things that do not look like they are working out is not the romantic picture that some think it is.

But what to do about those who are slipping away. Do we, or do I, own than any support or help? Is this life of God in Christ Jesus a solo act? Am I in any way obligated to those I don't even know?

I have a plan. It may again be one of those times when I fail at something rather than succeed at nothing!

More to come.

Alone

It is a most strange thing to be a human being. When we face some sudden or deep suffering, we mostly feel alone. Even in the midst of friends and family, comfort and edification, a part of our insides feels isolated and alone. It may be death or illness of a patent or child, it may be our own condition of anguish, or it may be the helplessness of helping one of our children through a very difficult place in life. We stand alone.

In no way am I denying the reality of the never ending presence of God, but even with His presence, we are alone. No other person feels our pain, has our thoughts and truly understands what it is that we are facing in those moments. Sure we can lean on one another as far as common experience goes. But it is not bad to be alone. We are made as individuals and as such there are some necessary times to be that, individual.

I suppose that some of us feel much less of this aloneness than others. People who are "people persons" tend to be more easily distracted from them selves, not completely, just seemingly more. Others who have some divine gifts of burden bearing, prophetic insight or compassion seem to feel much more of this "aloneness", yet have come to peace with it.

There is both pain and healing in this isolation. Pain in the reality that I must endure and go through this as a person. The call to go through this season as a person, as one who is just that, one. Healing in the same way. It is like the heart is called to become resolved through hidden isolation. Sure the health can be postponed or rejected all together by blaming, rejecting or denying the right and duty of being a person. I can look for a way to lives that seeks to avoid my person hood. None will.

I, for one, am sure there are many who feel mostly alone in life. Not is a sad or needful way. Just alone. When my parents suffer, friends, family, children all undergo hardships, even my ability as an intercessor does not resolve the isolation of the heart. It doesn't need to.

For if we can embrace it and not be overcome by standing alone, we will find greater clarity and peace. Even when the outer man or situation is in pain and suffering, there is an inner place alone, calm, un-distracted. In that place of great awareness the world, or sin or some natural or un-natural thing calls to us to get us to do something "not to be alone". Don't do that.

God comes walking into humanity, softly calling. Those who are not distracted will hear the sound. In that moment you will be in a position that I think few in our day find. The position of encountering God without distractions, but alone.

I have a friend who is not bothered by me.
He is not impatient for me to change
He has not assumptions that I will
He has given me the gift of humanity
And at times in that gift
I must be alone

How to become a better intercessor

Often when we pray for others the main thought life is seeking to find the right scripture or truth to apply to the situation. Often, this union of scriptures and circumstances are the result of our own personal experiences. What we want is to become people who can apply the heart of God to the heart of man. Avoiding our own judgments, no matter how good, is a desirable goal.
Now to this emptying ourselves so that Christ can be magnified comes the reality that most people of prayer are called to represent a certain stream of God. People are called to mainly see justice, mercy, healing or discipleship. This is not a complete list. But God in His wisdom created us to need one another and while we are to feel insecure in being “a part” we should feel insecure when we feel like we are sufficient ourselves.
This brings us to a foundational level of being in Christ that we need to develop.
Jesus said, "Are you still lacking in understanding also? "Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated? "But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. "These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man."
(Matthew 15:16-20) emphasis added

When we pray for people we want to see what God sees and feel what God feels so that we speak what God would speak. This means we need to be delivered from the uncleanness of our own judgments and traditions. We do not want to accuse people of anger, lust, laziness or anything out of our natural perceptions. We do not want to be an accuser of the brethren.
The first step in overcoming this inward darkness is to admit that it is there and turn away for our own strength to the Lord. By increasing our humility and dependence upon God we build on the foundation that well last. In time, as our nature is transformed, we will find the burden of turning to the Lord is a great delight for us. We will love the very thing we thought was an added discipline.
Much more needs to be said about the inner life of people of prayer, but we can go a long way on building our house of prayer on His will and not our perceptions and judgments.

Others

One of the things I have experienced again and again in my life is the love of other people. It is almost daily that someone is kind, generous or just thoughtful toward me. This is somewhat upsetting because I feel humbled by such love. Even in the tiniest of events I feel unworthy. This, for me, is a just feeling. How great is the love of God to be shown through the gifts, sacrifices and blessings of others.

Over the last 20 years I have gone from the land of "needing no one" to the land of self-helplessness. Physically I use to be able to work 10-12 hours a day. I obtained a lot of self worth by my ability to help others build homes, repair cars, do landscape, move buildings, farm and a long list of other physical activities. Much of that is gone for me unless I experience more grace.

Yet my inability to do good for others has not lessened the good He does to me through a great many other people. Thank You! I am glad to be a part of the lives of so many who are willing to deal with my issues and bless me with theirs.

What is the one most important thing about ministry and service to others?

The single most important thing besides Christ Himself, is love. In Romans 9:3 we read that Paul was willing to lose his life, both in the natural and for eternity, so that his people would no longer be separated from Christ.
I have often heard a great number of leaders and servants tell about their devotion to Christ Jesus. I have head of their stories of great works and success. Yet most of these have never lost their lives, they have only gained a greater reputation, more wealth, bigger fan club, TV, radio and internet following.
At the same time there are those who become as “one with no reputation” and fulfill every desire of God for them. The second serve out of obedience motivated by love. The first do out of trying to earn righteousness based on works. They are in danger of not even entering eternity themselves. (This is not intended to be self-righteous judgments as if I have the right plan. It is intended to be a call of compassion to the body of Christ for the body of Christ. Some need to decrease so that others can increase. All of God’s children need a place in the body).
The point is not how successful you are, but how loving you are. God is the one who both gifts and calls. If you do great things that you were never called to do, you have robbed another member of the body of Christ, disobeyed God by not doing what He called you to do and sought to establish a righteousness greater than grace. While in America self success is rewarded, it will not be in the Kingdom of God. It is God’s plan that we follow Him together. He is the head. And while we love leaders and those with divine authority just as much as we love the homeless, the socially challenged, the poor, the uneducated and our enemies; we do not serve success. We serve the Lord.
So what is the motivation of your heart? Do you want to write a book, lead worship, fast and pray so that you increase in your significance? Do you want to defeat the world by self promotion of your godliness? That won’t work. The only place to stand is in God’s calling of you (Rom. 9:11). You cannot make your own way, for He is already the way.
Please note that this does not mean that we do not strive, labor, work, study, increase in wisdom and education. But we do the natural things of improvement because we love, not because we are seeking to be lovable or significant. We work hard at our calling and work hard at joyfully staying within its limits.
Take it from a guy that has sought for years to be something. The more you run away from the simplicity of devotion to Christ Jesus, the more you run into frustration, trouble, critical spirits, being judgmental and false righteousness. Enter the rest of the Lord and give up the rat race.

Why has there been so much emphasis on loving God and God loving us?

The short answer is that we are going to need it. God in His wisdom stirs the hearts of men and women to prepare for His coming and what is yet to come. It is one of the results of the Holy Spirit leading us.
In what is yet to come, followers of God will need to know (experientially) the love of God. Those who desire to remain true to Christ Jesus will need to have a love of the truth in them that comprehends the circumstances of daily life. Man tends to look at God with a judgment from man’s perspective. It is a part of our present condition to play the judge. It even seems strange to act in such a way as to not be the judge, decider or evaluator of life and events.
Without a real ongoing experience in the inner man of the love of God, we are led down the pathway of false judgments. Our passion can be turned to anger, our desires to lust, and our dreams to depression.
At some level, a truthful relationship with God will result in knowing the love of God for you. In the reality of “who God is”, you will encounter a love, faithfulness, reliability of God for you. God does not place you at the center of all He does, but the reality of His nature being love, results in actions and words that reflect that nature. The result is that you are loved – always.
Yet it would be incorrect to stop there. His love for us leads us to discipline, harmony with His will, and agreement with His nature by the transformation of our nature and a willingness to lose our life in His service. This is the reflection of “if anyone would come after me let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me daily”.
The intimacy movement of the last decade has been divine preparation for people called to go through what is yet to come. We are being prepared to have His nature and Spirit in all we do, even when it is not easy. Most of the world has been doing this for quite some time now. But our turn is at the door.

Spiritual Warfare

Spiritual Warfare

One of the things I am amazed at is how deep the ways of God are intended to go. You know how you make a peanut butter sandwich by taking the peanut butter and spreading it on the bread. When God makes us new, His intent is to make us fully infiltrated with the nutty butter. The character of God and the humanity of man are to be one new thing.

This took on an unworldly reality to me as I discovered that Jesus did not revile against Satan in the wilderness temptations. Jesus dealt directly and truthfully with Satan, but he also did not belittle, mock, ridicule or scream at him. Jesus did rebuke the good old Godly boys of His day, but He treated everyone, even fallen angles, with God like character.

I have been trying to love my enemies. Now I get to mature until I love even God's enemies. I choose to love them, not because they are deserving of that love but because God's nature is to love and I want to be like Him.

So now is the harder part. If I am to love all that God has created and my fear of fallen angles is to be turned to faith, hope and love; then what about politicians, governmental leaders, those in earthly authority and those who are leading in a direction that I don't want to go. In the "ways of God" humility and compassion far outreach the outburst of anger that we have tended to use.

Why is God so extreme? Why do some of those who claim to be doing His will act so extreme?

Extreme can mean “going to the highest degree or pressure” and “going beyond what is reasonable, moderate or normal”. So if we take some time and consider it, we do not want an “un-extreme” God. We do not want a God who acts like us, is leisure or lacks the ability to deal with dangerous or life-threatening events. We are dying in our sin. I need an extreme Savior.
Most of us are uncomfortable with both the kindness of God and the violence of God. We love that God calls us to love, but shiver when that same love is disciplining us. “How can God love me if He is also punishing me”?
The ideas of suffering, punishment, judgment and total obedience are notions that we avoid in our present American culture. We have so many unhealed wounds and scars from parents, teachers, leaders and government that we train one another to “rebel a little” so that our independence is not lost.
God is extreme in that He alone is Lord and He leads, instructs and acts in ways that require our submission to Him. The fact that we struggle even talking about total submission is evidence that we are more interested in our own rights than in the divine right of God.

Why did God die on a cross? (I guess if we have a high value of our self we are worth is)

Why was the Lord God Almighty in the still small voice? (Why the paradox)

Why did He appear to Moses in the burning bush that did not burn up? (Why not just burn, why un-burning. Is He showing off)

Why was God overly dramatic in the Red Sea crossing and army destroying, waiting until the last second? (was it really necessary for such a spectacle)

Why did Jesus use the already hurting man with the withered hand to pick a fight with the Pharisees? (stand on your own Jesus, don’t drag some hurt guy into it)

Why is God a “My way or NO WAY!” God? (that sound a lot like my “bad dad”. Is God a mean, angry, hurtful “bad dad”?)

The hard answer that we all must deal with is that we do not get to choose what God is like. We get to choose to follow God or not. But any idea of making God in our image is going to result in not having the God of Heaven. We will have the God of our mind.
I can tell you that I have come to love the God who is extreme. I will also say it is not easy. I hurt when His love seems extremely unloving to me. Yet I have dome to trust Him. My relationship with God has proven to me He is good, even when it seems embarrassing, belittling, hostel, full of neglect, painful, resentful and just un-necessary.

Why should we expect God to do anything new in our life?

It is not uncommon for people to live today and expect there to be improvements, changes and advances in almost every area of life. If you talk to people about what a computer might do in 5 years, what the car will be fueled by or what a cell phone will be able to do; you will hear a number of creative answers.
Yet when it comes to the church many people live as if next year will be the same as this one. I will admit that the people of God have been bombarded with “things are going to change” and yet they set in what seems to be the same meetings year in and year out. With the exception of music and the projector, many churches are exactly as there were 50 years ago.
Talks of revival and unity sweeping the nation have not materialized. The raising up of Apostles and prophets who can heal the sick and foretell the future looks more like a new wave of organizers have added “Apostle” to their business card and prophecy is about telling one another that God loves us.
The reason I want to address this issue is because things are going to change. We, modern American Believers, tend to think in very short terms. If we do not see something materialize in a few weeks, even days at times, we move on. Could it be that our love to move on to the next short term good and exciting thing is the very thing that hinders lasting change? I think it is!
Spiritual change is often the result of someone being faithful in an area and then another person coming along who can build on what the other guy has done. Having few who desire to build on the foundation of another we tend to tear down the other guys work and start our own. So we end up with as much rubble as “creative advances”.
We all will see lasting change as we honor those who have gone before us and love others as we love ourselves. Once we defeat the need to be special because of my “special” and “unique” calling, we will be able to have deeper relationships that support and help each other. Some will build great things on the foundation someone else labored all their life to establish.
You can become a part of the new by honoring what others have done and joining with them as God leads. You can be one who breaks the cycle of “starting again”, by being one who honors, loves and values others as much as you do yourself..

Is there a Spiritual force at work that wants to appear to be “God” but is truly against God?

Yes. We are told that the Spirit of Anti-Christ is already at work in the world. This spiritual force seeks to replace Jesus Christ. If we can be deceived into being influenced by the Spirit that is against Jesus, Satan has turned those who seek to be followers of God into enemies of God.
While it seems this would be evident to all and easily avoided, our studies of history should reveal otherwise. Adam and Eve were no fools, in that Adam named all the animals and they walked with God. Yet even these who lived in paradise were subject to the deception of the evil one.
Satan still comes and offers to us the “good” if we will only do things his way. Like the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness we too must face the evil one and resist any pathways that are not of God. In a culture that is so driven to succeed, promoting ambition and honoring of independence; we should take note.
The way to defeat the spirit of anti-Christ is not self-promotion or success, it is the way of the cross. Jesus shows us the way in that He did not choose a different path, but the path of humility, death and sacrifice. Jesus was obedient and not driven.
In every area of our lives that we do not embrace humility, sacrifice, honoring others more than ourselves, we also hold open a door to deception. Yet as is the case with deception, we do not know we are being deceived. So the very one who lives to themselves is also avoiding the power of the cross through others. This power in others is the very think that could redeem them.
While it is not a pleasant thing to think of Satan’s power to replace Jesus Christ as our Lord, we must be aware of this scheme. The remedy is humility, brotherhood and love. Those who desire to find their life loose it and those willing to lose their life – find life eternal.

How do I deal with the reality that I can never love God enough?

On this point let me be blunt. You just get over it!
Having issues about never loving God enough is just pride in your life trying to find a way to stay alive and be “religious”. It is humbling that we can never be worthy of the love of God and embracing that reality should only make us love God more.
To live with the ongoing condemnation of not loving God enough is nurturing a desire to be “good enough” or “worthy”. It isn’t going to happen – well not in the way we think.
There is a point of authentic maturity that comes into rest. As you grow up in Christ you can find the place of mutual contentment with God. He is pleased with you and you are living in the place of total devotion to Him. You have matured beyond “how much” and not just live in Him and for Him.
This is my side note on this. All those who I have known come into this place never mention it. If you ask them they will tell you but they just never need to analyze how well they are doing in Christ Jesus. They live daily willing to be evaluated by God and take no burden to tell themselves how they are doing.
On the other hand I know of some who talk about being in God’s “perfect will” and “totally surrendered” and “fully devoted”. Yet those who need to tell you they are, are seldom telling the truth. But you and I don’t need to judge them, the judge is already here.
It appears that the one who rejoices in their humble situation is different than the one who boast in their goodness. Better a humble lover of God than an righteous man accounting his assets and works.
My final comment to the one who really, really, really, really wants to be worthy of loving God enough – You have all eternity to work it out!

If I asked you to explain the “idea of loving God” what would you say?

This is a much harder question than it may appear. For in describing to you what the “idea” of loving God is, I would be telling you my idea. As much as I have matured and grown in the truth of God my idea should be right. But in every area where I am weak, so is my idea.
It is our “idea” of loving God that gets us into some trouble. The more serious we are, the more this seems to be true. Like the Pharisees in the New Testament who studied and lived for the coming Messiah, they missed Him because He did not come in a form or “idea” that they thought He would.
This same problem of “God not doing something in a way we think He will” affects our expectant or rejection of revival, healing, spiritual gifts and loving Him.
Because God made you, not just randomly but specifically, you are actually made to have a unique relationship with God. As you hear the patterns, boundaries and principles through the Word of God you give them flesh as you and God develop an authentic relationship.
So in loving God we do start with some idea, but as we mature that idea is transformed in us by God who is making us into the ones He loves to love.

Is loving God something that you do on your own, or do you do it with others?

Loving God is both something we do on our own and with others also. We first start out with a desire to love God and that grows within us.
As the desire grows, God allows the cares and issues of life to compete with our desire for Him, and this gives us the opportunity to choose Him over our own desires.
In time, as you go along, these external cares and issues of life will be people. In loving these people and staying true to the Lord, you will find pace with God. Yet some of these you will love will be your enemy.
To love your enemy, truly love them, you will need to encounter more of the love of God. So the external can either drive deeper the quest for the love of God or it can destroy it all together. While good people can help you too, it is actually the “not so good” that will end up blessing your life as they are the refiners fire to you.

A Great World

With so many people telling us "what is wrong with the world" how are we suppose to be able to focus on what is right. I recall my old football days. We did not focus on how to do things wrong, but right. You only need to be aware of the bad if you have no idea of what is good. But when you know what is good, the whole idea of bad looses it's importance. What I am trying to say is that we should not seek to live lives based on "What we did wrong". If we do, we end up having a "good day" only when we feel like we have only a few "wrongs".

The truth is that even on the worst of days, things are very good. We should rejoice and be glad most of the time. We have lives filled with love, grace, bueaty and wonder. It would be a mojor effort for us to try and live one day with only a few good things surrounding us. Think of all the goodness we take for granted.

Homes, cars, food, clothing, friends, drivers who stay on their own side of the road, birds that sing, trees that bloom, air to breath, water to drink......

Just think of how wonderful all of creation is and how you get to be a part of it. We just celebrated the 40th anniversity of landing on the moon. What that event taught us was more about the wonder of earth than the discovery of the moon. Here you and I are spinning around and around, floating in space, interacting with the Sun, planents and other space stuff. When you truly think of the earth you might rightly consider that we are the speck on the clover. Just travel a few billion miles in space and you will strugle to notice earth at all.

If you ever feel all negative just pretend to stand on the moon and watch little planet earth rise above the horizon. Give out a yell, "It is good". It is.

Imagination

The same God given ability to name all the animals can work against us since the fall. I have noticed in my personal life and in the life of others, we are not very quick to deal with our thoughts. Since these are some of our most personal expressions, we tend to live like those things that happen in the confidence of my mind are not making an effect on others.
But if we are to live lives full of the Holy Spirit and in unending fellowship with God, we must also deal with our thought life and our imaginations. To get to the point quickly, there simply are some things we cannot entertain in our imagination. Of there are sexual acts not in conformity to the will of God, acts of violence or revenge, acts or passions and activities not in harmony with the will of God and acts of personal freedom apart from Christ Jesus.
If you know of the power of the inner man to dream you also should be aware, on some level, the fruit of that ability. God has given us much freedom and that freedom is not to be used to fulfill the desires of the flesh. But used rightly there is numerous inventions, art, music, literature and aspects of science yet to be unleashed.
Try shutting the TV off and making your own entertainment in the beauty of God and in the wonder of all creation. Go to http://www.neave.com/ and see what you and God can come up with.

The Stuff of Life

In the last few weeks I have been overwhelmed with the love of God and the love of others. Since I know, all to well, that I do not deserve any good thing, all the great stuff I am given on a daily basis is very pleasing. In this fast paste world of needing more and more each day, it is easy to not see all the ways I are loved. While I can stand for hours singing that the Lord is the air I breath, I can also breath all day long and each breath seems to be filled with stress, anxiety, fear, worry and busyness.

But the practice of living each moment aware of God is a life infilling discipline. It is wonderful how practicing the presence of the Lord is more than an idea. In all the days ahead I long to abandon the life of living on my own and freely receive the never ending love of God for me. To do this we each must humble the daily rush of life and moment by moment allow our heart to behold the one who loves us.

Yesterday was a hard day in the Kingdom of God. Brothers and sisters in Christ all around the world suffered harm and death. Many who had very little in this world, had the little that they did have removed from them. Yet in the darkness a great light shines. On the earth today are great saints, simple human beings who have been transformed from the bondage's of this world into burning examples of light, life and glory. Covered with gas and burned, shot in the head, beaten in prison, tortured for Christ, and those who live in the most prosperous cities in the world yet do not bow their knee to greed, materilism or sinful pleasures: all these live to enjoy God. Thanks God for such a family!

Being New

So you want into your “prayer space” and want to come out totally new. How can you do that?
Being something we are not is an issue that every person has. Even those who very, very, very much like who they are, still have areas where they want to be changed or different. It is not uncommon to desire to be two seemly opposite things at the same time. You may want to be more creative and spontaneous while also desiring to be more ordered and thoughtful before responding. That is a part of the trouble of desiring to be something new. It truly is an endless choice.
So last night I went into the place of prayer and wanted to make a difference in the world and in my personal life. I wanted to be a better man coming out than I was before. So what happens? In the typical mode (each of us has a typical way God deals with us) here is what I experience.
1. I start to have the opposite of what I desire. If I want to be creative I seem to shut down. If I want to love, I seem to be cold hearted and dry. This is actually a gift from God so that we can work through the circumstances and gain what we seek. Having the desire often opens the door to working on the transformation. Yes, God does have supernatural transformation, but most of the time it is through discipline.
2. The stronghold of my flesh can arise. By this I mean that anger, pride, jealously or fear; whatever is my main fleshy stronghold tries to take over. This is because this monster of the self does not want to give us it’s place. It is a normal situation in the flesh and in the spirit. Don’t be upset because of the battle, thank God that the will to change has exposed the stronghold. Use the sword of the Spirit, the word of God to attack the enemy of your soul. Have you mindset on what God says and over rule the thoughts of the enemy or self.
3. God pulls a 180 0n me by showing me that the thing I desire is truly rooted in self and I am just seeking a way to be a “better me”. Better in that I am becoming more of a self and not truly seeking to be more as in the sence of bringing glory to God. God usually does this “U” turn to me by using my pride, ambition or creative pride to fall flat. It’s the humiliation that could have been avoided by simple humility.
4. I encounter grace. In the Spirit I enter a place where I am free to become, to change, to risk and to find the reward of seeking. It may not always be great on the outside, but I am changing from the inside out. It is like the desire goes from a thought to internal activity. “I am doing it”. It just may not be mature in the doing.

Helpers

Spiritual Warfare

Over the past years I have often heard spiritual leaders talk about being attacked by Satan. They often talk in words and images that what they are going through is worse than what "other people" go through. This has always seemed a little strange to me. Since I have left the "pastorate" this seems even stranger.

While some may believe that "position" or title is the cause of spiritual attacks, I do not. If you say it is not the "position" but the responsibility that is the cause of more attacks, I might agree. But also ask. "What is more contrary to the devils plans than doing the will of God?" Isn't everyone who is "not conforming" to the plans of Satan his enemy?

Now I hear in my mind the voices of pastors and shepherds informing me that they are responsible for the care and feeding of the flock, thus Satan is more intentional about them. I could share with you the inability of evil to be intentional because rebellion, fear, anxiety, jealously, bitterness and rage all exist in the organization of the evil one, but you probably already know that. So let me just say, that Satan tends not to attack the strong, but the week.

Jesus did encounter temptations with the devil in the wilderness, but this was not a spiritual attack, it was temptations. We should not get into the habit of calling ongoing trials and temptations spiritual attacks.

Well the point I want to get is this. If we truly believe in the priesthood of all believers than we all face the same kinds of spiritual attacks. The business owner, the plumber, the banker and the janitor all face the same level of attacks by the enemy because each person is vital to the will of God on earth. While we often talk about the Eph. 4 ministry gifts to the church, which are for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, we don't truly practice it. The "gifts" tend to keep the focus on themselves and have not yet learned to love others as themselves. I could be totally wrong about all this.

My final life observation is that broken people often face the biggest giants and spiritual attacks. Evil, being evil seems to feed on the helpless, the weak and the isolated. They do not stop just to go and attack some healthy pastor or leader. Evil calculates by destruction and the sick gratification destroying brings. In my observations, seldom is the good person every undergone the torment that the person already wounded by evil endures. If you want to see the "voices in my head, cutting my body, raging out of control, oppressed to the point of killing myself kind of spiritual warfare; find someone who is bitter, angry, unforgiving, selfish and sit with them as the drink, smoke, pop, entertain themselves on very sick humor, mock the good, love the evil, curse, despise and yield to the thousand voices screaming at them.

You may come away thinking that God is my shield and strength, His is my ever present protector and I truly an sheltered under His mighty wing

Just Make it Stop

Lately I have been driven to the point in pain where I cry out (inside anyway) "Just make it stop". This is a very bad place. When our lives get consumed with any one thing (other than living life with God, who is three in one, so you never ever really have only one thing with God) stuff happens.

The stuff that I am thinking about is what we do when we are fully self focused. I think most of us know how we live when we are about 75% self focused. For Americans this is our everyday style of living. But when we start to top out, say around the low 90's, we enter in the "meet my needs now" world. Everyone is different. Some turn to drugs, to TV, to food (food is good),exercise, isolation, talking, controlling things; we all seek to become distracted from the pain. What is your favorite treatment?

I would like to tell you how to become united with God so that you do not feel your pain, but it doesn't work like that. In a weird way (one that you will not understand unless you are a very close friend of God) your pain in an invitation to life in Christ Jesus. It is like Jesus in the garden before the crucifixion. The turmoil and pain that He was to go through was going to be His life. He had to set His face on making it through. To do that He focused on Himself? No, he focused on the will of the Father.

You can tell "how dead" someone is by what they do when someone else messes with their rights. When you have given up your right to life, to a life without pain and suffering, you have given up your life on a whole deeper level. Let me tell you that if you have issues with someone rejecting you, all you need is sever pain in your back, legs, nerves, feet and hips for several days and you will not even be focusing on what others think. Unless of course you have a great storehouse of pride and think that the whole world is about YOU!

If you think what I am telling you is just wrong, you can contact our brothers and sisters around the world and ask them. Contact the men and women who had their hands cuff off for being Christian, the family who has waited 15 years for daddy to get out of prison, The teen girl that was raped by the solider and then required to confront him with forgiveness. All around us, everyday are people who suffer, but with a heart full of worship. They are not unaware of their suffering. The are not delivered from it. They are over comers in the midst of it. These people are saints, my hero's, my prayer partners, my friends.

If you can't give it all up now - give what you can.

Creation

The last few days I have been working on a DVD project. I have been collecting pictures, organizing data and now finishing up on editing and production. It takes a number of things to create.

Time
Ideas
Tools
Skill
Raw material worth working with

But do you ever wonder about the God of creation, creating through us. I have been used by God a few times to heal the sick. I could feel the power flow through me. It was neat. At other moments of divine healing I must confess I didn't feel a thing. I have also wrote some stuff. At times I have felt the pleasure of God in the writing. At others I felt nothing.

Why doesn't God make it easier on us to feel anointed, filled, empowered? Why are we still like Moses, needing to enter into some dwelling place of God in order to get filled up and re-aligned? Is it because that is the best way for us?

Many of us today are seeking to be the people of God who live daily lives in which God creates in our world through us. We are longing to partner with God, we want to be used of God in the daily grind. This is God creating. It is what we were created for.

So as we live and create projects, write, pray for the sick, raise the dead; let's all keep the amazement alive. Let's not seek an easy way, but rather let us all love paying the full price for God's creative power on the earth. Like Mary let us have a surrendered heart, even if we cannot fully comprehend the cost.

Thy Kingdom God, Thy will be done

Intention

Intention

Two lads had the task of sweeping the floor. The first lad set out to do so that it would glorify God. It was his intention that all that He did, in regard to sweeping the floor, was to God's glory. And so He swept.

The second lad had no intention of sweeping the floor to the glory of God and went about His business in a most excellent way. In fact it was near perfect, as one who is fallen in nature yet skilled at sweeping, can sweep. So in the end we have one very clean floor done in the human spirit of excellence and one no so clean floor done to the glory of God.

Now which one glorifies God?

Do not both floors glorify God. The second glory God in that God gave to man the gift or ability to do things well. So the one who, not seeking to glorify God, did glorify God by doing his task well. So God is glorified as the one who makes man able to do things well, even excellent (to a degree).

The second also glorified God because of the intent. For the one seeking to live and labor in such a way as to glorify God in all that they do, does glorify God. God smiles at the intent of the heart, not the cleanness of the floor, and is delighted and glorified.

And maybe you are such a person that the gift given to you, the thing you are called to do, you can do with great skill and excellence. So adding to this excellence you determine to intend to do all to the glory of God, and so you can do so, glorify God, on all levels.

So no beggar is denied glorifying God and no person of excellence allowed to do so without putting forth the natural effort required. Both can fail, by lacking intent or skill, and both can succeed.

And so two men went up to the temple to pray. One a rather great person of prayer and the others no quite so.....

Grow more than UP

When the seed that was planted
Became the very thing that was sown
I was greatly troubled
Was there nothing more than “natural living”
But finding a tee – one of life
I found that each seed
Good or bad
That is planted under this tree
Becomes something all together different from what is sown.
It is as if the seed can grow, not up
But heavenly
Such a seed my heart desired to be

Prodigal Son

I have found that I have very much been the prodigal son for quite some time now. The pain on my suffering body has been used to drive me away from the true love of my Father in Heaven and invited me down a great number of wayward roads. Each of these paths has it's own beauty, but that is just it. The beauty they offer is themselves and not at all like the beauty of the one who is everything, sacrificed, surrendered, redeemed and restored.

How often we quote the passage of scripture that "His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts", only to live as though He is and they are. For me the time I have lost is the result of trying to live. I have spent a great deal of time, money and energy in trying to live. But now, years later, I am no better.

How I long for the days when one prompting of my heart resulted in generous love toward God. The times when I died to my self and lived for the gain of Christ Jesus. This gain was not in great exploits but in hidden surrender. It was in the delight to love, the joy of sacrifice, the thrill of bringing a pleasure of joy to another - namely God himself.

All this I can do in any state in which I exist. I need no better marriage, no better body, no better status of wealth to give all that I have to Him. When and why did I loose this "first love"? I started to loose it when I sought to be something, leaving behind the significance of being in Christ and seeking to be more. More what?

The first principle of growth in God is obedience, not in part but the whole. Without total obedience all growth is only an illusion. I know this better now but grieve that I had to lean it so deeply. Regardless of Bible study and reading, regardless of prayer, small group attendance, learning and yes, even regardless of worship, without obedience a person is not growing in the riches of Christ Jesus. Do not spend years of your life trying to improve. We do not need to find the right method. We need to do His will.

In the instruction on how to pray..."Thy kingdom come, thy will be done..." Is about how we live, and not just about the type of request me make. Never again should we separate living from Christianity. How sad it is if we have all the right information and not once ounce of the King or His Kingdom.

Honor Mom

Loving and honoring Mom and Dad is one of the most natural things we should do, if we think about it. Not many of us, so far, can say we came to exist without a Mom. We had a person who gave up a part of their life so that we could have a life. What should be natural than loving that person?

I think we actually need to be trained to dis-honor our Moms. We need others to tell us that we are not loved, not cared for, not connected. Yes I know there are some cases where this is true. But for most of us we are loved, cared for and connected. It is one of the most natural things to do, love you Mom. Surely Mom's are like God, for they too first loved us.

I don't get to see my Mom much. But in my heart I long to have her deeply know that I love her. She is more than a mother to me, she is the source of my life on the earth. I mean I can account for all the biological requirements needed to have life, but Mom was the person who bore me, who carried and cared for me. This was not just biologically, it was also emotionally and spiritually.

So to all of us who have Moms. You gotta love em, literally, you gotta love them!!!!

How to boil a potato?

Having prayed for years now at the Peoria Prayer Center, I have come to understand the verity of ways the Lord has. It is not just a verity of ways He has to communicate or for intercession. The Lord is just truly creative and freely uses many and various ways to do most everything He does.

Have you ever wondered what the difference is between a Christian boiling a potato for dinner and a non-Christian? This would be the difference between a Christian cook and a non-christian cook. But if they follow the same methods, follow the same recipe, show the same interest and care in the product; what is the difference?

What makes a person a Christian? Is it how they cook? Is it how moral they are? Is it how religious, what type of meeting and events they attend? A Christan is a person who has been transformed from being just a human being into a person who is a temple of the Holy Spirit. It is the indwelling Spirit of God that transforms us from "natural" to "born again".

Let me share how a Christian cooks by sharing how they act.

The actor can play a great evil person, not by becoming that person but by the Spirit. Through the help of the Spirit of God the actor can be empowered to amaze people by playing an "evil person". Even more the actor can do so in such a way that those watching are "taken" by the person who is playing the 'evil person" and how they can play that part greatly out of the goodness that is in them. For in the creativity of God a truly good person can play an evil person and by the Spirit all who watch be captivated by the evil, the great job of acting and the wonder of how such goodness can communicate so well.

It is the same with cooking the potato.

The reality of living without God has born the fruit in people(in this case actors) needing to, in some way, "become the part". But in the deeper wonder of the Creator, dramatizing communication is done on the highest level, if it done with the Spirit. It is not a matter of "looking Christian" (as in crosses, lions, fish and such). It is actually being Christian - something I would strongly suggest of all who are trying to follow the way of Jesus.

So Rod, what about the potato? Are you fasting too?

The Christian cook and the non-christian are not just cooking in some different way. They are two different types of beings. One is natural and the other is spiritual. While this is not about human elitism, for that is of the real of the natural man, it is what is required to be of God. Being Christian must come from the spiritual transformation of the inside or it has not happened. If you were or are not changed on that level, you are a natural man trying to act christian (a condition all to familiar in our time).

So do you know how to live by the spirit?

Practice Plege Stoppage

Saturday as I head about the swine flue and it's potential danger (according to the media) I thought this would be a good focus for my fasting and prayer Monday and Tuesday. I thought I could practice stopping an epidemic before I was faces with the real fears and dangers of one being at my door.

I have started by Contemplating Rev. 18:4 and the calling of the people of God out of Babylon so that we do not share in the plagues they do. The people of God are to be separate from the world. But what is this separation for?

To answer that question rightly you need to know exactly what God will is for you in this moment. We have few real bond servants of God who live in such a way that they are free to ask God His will and are not paralyzed by their own presumption or indecision. To know both the love of God and the will of God in this situation is vital. If His will is separated from His love you will have judgment without mercy or mercy without truth.

At this point it is easy to see how we "run to the cross" more than live "at the cross". We are quick to turn to God in a situation but lack the ongoing devotion to live so close that we need not "move to Him" but only "listen". So far I have only found a few people who have so died to self that Christ can actually ask them to agree with Him, even when they are not seeing the whole picture and lack any ability to control.

Gap fillers are quite rare while people with agendas and aspiration quite high.

Creator dad, who dwells on high
Your grander beyond my mind
Maker of all things that be
Unlike human kind

Taking flesh to show us how
Holiness is too our call
Bringing into time
The union, life divine

Getting Smarter

If you want to get smarter, to learn more, this is what you do. You find areas of your life that are uncertain and confusing and work through them. If you find banking, investing, gardening, sports, art or anything else a little beyond what you know, jump in. To paraphrase Leonardo da Vinci, the most creative insight emerge from such states of uncertainty and confusion.

Boy O boy is America on the fast track of education.

Demonstrations

Have you noticed that modern man needs a lot of explanations. Maybe this is why art is not a "big thing" in our culture. If you look at a picture seldom is there someone there to tell you what it means. Art requires you to observe and understand by your personal interaction with the drawing, painting, play or even photograph.

I tried to deduce what God is by the demonstration of Him in the church world. By observing people going to and at church, you would have demonstrated that a great many people love church until it is time to listen to teaching or help others. Church seems to have a lot of visible energy when it comes to community, music or fellowship. We would assume that church life is fun when it is in community but not so much so when it is working or learning together. Maybe God has a "fun time" and a "not fun time".

The picture of God through the messages are usually that "God is love in spite of how hard you life is" and "you should be doing more, but we understand why your not". These messages seem quite different from the actual teaching of Jesus, which are more about how to live than who God is. I guess Jesus assumed that the people could look at Him and see who God is. Maybe Jesus was a demonstration of the Father.

The point is...I think, that we should be demonstrating God more than explaining Him. God is big on freedom. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So if we show people God more, they enjoy the beauty of discovering God. Even the Jesus Video that is used in world missions is more about showing a picture of God rather than teaching them what God has done. The picture tells the story in a personal interacting way.

SO.....
All you art types get busy and get the picture out! We are behind the times in showing Jesus to our culture and the world. Show them who God is and allow the freedom and God and the power of the Spirit to work their part in transforming humanity.

I guess if each of us lives right we become a vi sable image of the invisible God. But lets not wait for that, someone get to drawing.

Inside Out

Have you ever wondered why our insides are inside and not out? I mean I can think of what it would be like not to have skin. To be living beings in which our insides were seen all the time. It might make it quite easy for some operations. But think how ugly, how disgusting things would be. Seeing someones intestines, kidney or lungs we might just turn and go away, not befriending them at all.

But if our inside was outside, what would happen to our ideas of beauty? You know we look at the outside of a person and call them beautiful. Why? When I give a gift to someone, most of the time, the greatness of the gift is not in the wrapping. (I chose the word "greatness" to make myself look better) I usually do not spend any time at all on the outside of a gift. Nor do I pay much attention to the outside of a tackle box, tool chest or computer case. But to my dismay I have spent some time considering some bodily wrappings. Why don't we see skin as gut containers? We would have a whole new idea attached to "he's looking at me".

When you think about it, or when I think about it, the outside is just a blessing to cover the inside. I think God made us that way. We are protected from the inside by the outside. This is also true of our emotions, thoughts and judgments.

God allows us to have an inside place, out of the sight of others to process things. We can take the "stuff we are chewing on" and spend some time with it out of the sight of others. This allows us to go through a process and deal with things in a more beautiful manner, more loving. Some people condemn themselves for going through this process. They think they should be such that they have no need to work through things. I wonder if God has an inside?

If He does we must be in there, getting worked out. Maybe that is what is meant by being "in Christ". We are in the place of getting digested or working our way through the body of the Lord. I don't what to think of what the end result is.

Mind Your Own Business

"Mind your own business" is the advise given to us from the early Church Fathers and mystics who enjoyed the peace and presence of God. Those of us who are filled with facebook, unending news coverage, cell phones and prayer list that can literally be 7 typed pages long, should take note.

If you want to have, let alone enjoy, the presence and peace of God, you will need to limit the number of distractions in your life. One of the most powerful is "getting involved in the business of others. Here are some ways we get entangled.

1) We want to know what others are thinking about us. We spend a lot of time with our minds and emotions trying to justify ourselves or to prove we are right. Hours that could have been spent enjoying God and His peace are lost to unless mental and emotional agreements that accomplish nothing. Is it any of your business what someone else thinks?
2) You can take on problems or issues of others and loose your peace with God. Getting involved where you do not belong results in stress removing peace. While we are not called to separate ourselves "out of" the world, we do not live "in" the world in a natural way. We live un-natural even super-naturally. Just because you know about an issue doesn't make it your business. How much pride do you have to think your can solve everyone's problems? How many of your problems have you overcome. This is not to be condemnation or lazy living. But we need to affirm that every person needs to call on God themselves, to be responsible themselves to live rightly in obedience to God. We cannot fix everyone's wrong living by our intervention.
3) Judging the style, method or ways of others can cost you the peace and presence of God. Because we have so little skill at enjoying others who are different that we are, we have so little unity. We have even come to the place of only liking the ways of God which fit into our personal limited word view. We find ourselves in a church age that is divided into numerous sections of "this is what my God is like" Christianity. The age of reason is past and we have numerous un-reasonable leaders who judge, condemn, ridicule and publicly renounce people who do not serve the God of their own persuasion. You can even go to "Unity Gatherings" that are the same thing over and over and over again. It is like a "gathering for those who already like we are" unity meetings.
4) Working together on a project, from packing for a trip to building a business, can open the doors to getting entangled in the affairs of others. When we delegate or work with other people we need to allow them the grace to be who they are and not just who we want them to be. In numerous marriages one mates lives without the peace and presence of God simply because of the never ending frustration of trying to fix their mate. Hours are spent trying to figure our a way to communicate, direct or manipulate the other person to do something the way I would do it. Allowing others to be who they are frees us from trying to fix everyone and allows us grace to enjoy God in more places.

One pitfall in the quest for detachment is uncaring. We are called to care, to care deeply. But like the teaching that requires us to loose our lives in order to gain them, we too must become detached in order to care in the deepest ways.