Unclean Spirits

In the world we live in we deal with all kinds of stuff.  I was reading through the book of “Mark” and found that Jesus dealt with “unclean spirits” about 20 times.  This got me to thinking.  Maybe I can blame my problems on a unclean spirit.  Maybe I do have an unclean spirit and like it.  Maybe I have no idea what an unclean spirit is.

So I started doing research.  I found a book that lists all the names and ranks of both demons and angles.  It looked like a great book, but I want to know how to deal with them, not get to know them personally.  Someone might need to know all their names, height and “demon style” but I figured that if Jesus just called them “unclean spirit” I would give that a try.  I can’t remember all the names of the people at church, how am i…. (is that an unclean spirit?)

Well, here is the part I wanted to say.  After my research of both the modern ideas and the historic ways of dealing with stuff of the spirit, we (I)  need to….

• Take action when we come to realize a thought, behavior or emotion is not in agreement with Father God.
• Here is a little blessing.  We do not need to constantly seek to fix ourselves, but can trust more in God to convict us of our sins and unclean spirits.  Rather than living in fear of being wrong we get to live in faith, trusting in God’s intervention.
• Once I know something is out of step with God (actually I think this part works at the same time but it is hard to type an outline that has “same time” in it) we take PERSONAL RESPONSBILITY.
• No matter what I got, what I have, who I am or who has me, I am responsible.  This is great grace.  For if I am responsible then I can do something about it.  I can turn to God for all the help I need.
• Get what you need.  What we tend to need in this unclean spirit stuff is ..
• An encounter with God that transforms me.  This transformation may be fast or slow, but I know He is working in and on me for His glory.
• Isolation and hopelessness is broken, even if the battle goes for years, I still live in the reality of God’s love for me that looks like the ongoing improvement of my thoughts, will and emotions.

God is an all consuming fire.  Even if there is bad stuff in my life, God is burning it off, if I allow Him to.  In the love that God has for me, I am being set free from all evil.  It is just like Jesus is still here today.  Only now He is living on the inside.

Peace on Earth (and in me)

Peace

I have written some wonderful, insightful aspects of peace here. J But in the event that you live in a busy world or just have 2 minutes to invest in reading my stuff, let me put what I think is the most important first. Here is the illustration.

I love coffee. I did not always love coffee, but on some bitterly cold hunting trip back in SD coffee was the only thing available. So I turned to coffee for a personal need. I did not like it, but it served my need. Over the course of other hunting trips I used coffee over and over again to give me what I wanted, warmth. Then one day I found myself a Duncan Donuts. There, nest to the donut that I love was the coffee that I used. But for some reason I choose that which I had used to now be my friend. It was as though I was going to reward coffee for being good to me by choosing it when I did not need to. A relationship had developed.

Now years and decade later, I freely choose coffee. There could be tea, hot chocolate, water; but I tend to choose coffee. But at any time in my life I am free to not choose coffee. Picking coffee is a decision I make. Even if that decision is not a auto-response, it is still a choice. The same thing is true with peace. You must choose peace over all the other options in the moment. Peace most likely will not even cry out to you, “choose me”. You may start choosing peace just because it serves you, but still you chose to.

The most important thing is that you are free to choose. (It might be worth stopping right here)

An authentic encounter with the Master can bring a peace beyond earthly provision. Strangely- even when this encounter with God involves conviction of sin or judgment for wrong attitudes, God’s peace is still present. It is as though even the greatest conviction of sin is tainted with peace, the most profound rebuke still overflows with love. The greater the manifest presence of the Lord, the greater reaction we will have to His presence. Yet The Lord gives to us His peace so that we can endure His presence in a meaningful way.

If the peace you experience is only on the level of knowing, if your mind is at peace yet your emotions and will are not at rest, there is still more for you. It is good to know in your mind that the Master has peace for you. It is good to quote the scriptures and focus on the hope. However what you truly desire is to enter the peace of God. You want the reality, not just the idea. The peace of God transcends our understanding. His peace can be upon us even if our minds are still very busy. In some way we have this settledness, this confidence that arises within.

When you are paying your bills and you do not have enough money, His peace can come upon you. When you are listening to a sermon and are being convicted of sin His peace can help that conviction go deeper and accomplish a great work in you. Trusting in the Lord with all your heart will invite more and more of His power and presence into you.

Be honest about having only partial peace. Having only some peace tends to stem from partial surrender. To the degree of our full surrender is God’s peace released. To every kingdom of your heart un-yielded, un-surrendered, there you will find a lack of peace. Do not be offended at God’s justice as though he is requiring more of you than you can give. He is not. You can give God your all. His withholding of peace is His loving invitation to you to offer more of yourself to Him. To help you find those hidden un-yielded areas of your life, look for arguments. Usually at the doorway of these strongholds you will find “arguments justifying lack of peace” or “reasons, even scripture quoting peace” but behind the bold proclamation is darkness. The authentic peace of heaven will not be there.

In the event that this is true for you, do not think much about it. Rather, simply turn away from yourself and to the Lord. The only way to change your condition is to become freer from your self-rule and enter into greater dependency upon Him. Pondering why you are the way you are will not help that much. Turning to the Lord is greater surrender will be of more reward.

God calls us to whole hearted love. Thus every kingdom within us is to be surrendered. This call for whole hearted love is not a suggestion, but a deserving requirement. Fullness of devotion obtains fullness of indwelling. This is not earned – but the fruit of obedient love. Loving God with all your heart is a lifelong process and at different stages of your life you will need to offer new domains. As a youth your “zeal” will be one of your offerings, as an aging saint it will be your “knowledge”, as an mature believer it will be your “wisdom”. This never ending surrender is the fresh oil of eternal love. As long as we live we have something new to offer our Master.

Sweet is the peace of God. It is like a deep slumber, a hot bath, a refreshing breeze and the most rewarding praise all in one. It brings a great stability and contentment. It changes your vision and mindset so that hope, love, kindness are quite natural. Where once you needed to guard your mind against negative thoughts – now only positive ones can be found. It is not as though you are laboring to be something; you are not working to be righteous. You are filled with something; you are filled with His righteousness. His peace is indwelling you. This wonder of His presence lifts once His peace lifts. If does not actually leave you, but you re-enter you busy life and are not longer aware of His great work in you. Since now your vision of Him has changed, so too do your thoughts and mindsets. Seek to delight yourself in these moments, do not try to control God’s presence.

Seeking to maintain this state will only cause it to leave more quickly. Instead continue to honor the Master in your emotions and mind. Enjoying His peace helps it linger. Love Him for being near and enjoy all the blessings His nearness brings. Living in the moment of His presence and not seeking to control the events or maintain this situation will allow you to drink more deeply of these experiences. Some people find it best just to rest in the Lord, others are best served to journal or write poetry, still others sing in their hearts and with their mouths. Try not to manage what God is doing, try to enter into it. God is coming to you for communion; He does not desire your control.

When the deep reality of His peace has passed, seeking that state again is counterproductive. It is like trying to go back in time to some romantic or special event. All you have is the memory. Beware of making the memory an idol. Instead, have the courage to trust God for all your need in this moment and the next. Allow the past to give you a heart of gratitude, but do not linger there. The Lord is Lord of the past, but He is not there for you to meet. He is present. Allow the favors God has given you in the past to create in you a longing for more of Him. Even if you have never had an encounter with God, use that lack to cry out for Him to come.

Emmanuel, God with man is not an idea. God desires to walk with us. I believe that the word “walk” is used to refer to our everyday, common life. God does not just want to “work” with us or “minister” with us. God wants to walk with us.

What is the right way to seek the Master? Feel free to ask God for specific favors or be free not to. So you may seek God and trust Him to give to you what He sees fit, but you can also seek manifestations of His peace, love, visions and dreams. In time the issue of seeking the Lord in the “right way” will be consumed by His never ending direction of the Holy Spirit. The greater freedom the Holy Spirit has in you, the greater fellowship you are aware of. Even when you are unaware of His presence He is there. But to know God’s presence one must surrender to Him. This surrender is not setting down in a chair and striving to focus. Meditation and contemplation are valuable. I believe that the goal of all that is done in secret is rewarded in the public arena. The lessons learned in the prayer room teach you how to practice His presence all day long. The cultivation of hearing His voice enables you to walk with Him and talk with Him in every situation of life.

Growing in this relationship is not magic, it is not something that you obtain and no longer need to work on. It is a relationship. Relationships are constantly changing, responding, maturing. With that in mind, it is always a thousand times more beneficial to respond to the Holy Spirit than to investigate any reasons for dryness or distance in your relationship with God. We often seek to know the reasons behind God’s work so that we can manage our spiritual life with less dependence upon God. We do this while God is seeking for us to fully trust Him, even with our faults and rebellion. Obedience is better than sacrifice. Walking with the Holy Spirit is better than laboring to fix the relationship through human effort. God often honors our effort, but He loves our obedience. It seems strange to say that we must “trust God more than we trust ourselves”. Being aware of the pitfall where we judge God rather than God judging us, helps us to avoid it.

The deep peace of God is often accompanied by great creativity. This occurs as the inhibition and fears of failure we tend to live under are overcome by the presence of the Lord. Do not expect to have this level of creativity in the natural expression of life. Enjoy and respond to it when it is present, but be prepared to look at these creative ideas differently once God’s peace has lifted. This is often discovered in reading scripture. Passages that seemed to team with life, insight, power; seem somewhat drab once the peace lifts. What is giddy euphoria with God tends to be disciplined living when His nearness is not so powerfully present. Don’t pout – just value what you have when you have it.

If God Cares

I was reading Ps 72 and ponding the reality of God caring.  So I took a few seconds and jotted down all the things God does because He cares for us.  If you can think of some, add them to the list.

1. Makes intercession for us
2. Rules history with justice and righteousness (fairday is coming)
3. Gives gifts to people (leaders, servants, friends)
4. Answers prayer
5. Convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment (I thought I had to do this but I don’t)
6. Speaks through Scripture
7. Calls us to love – care- share one with another
8. Calls us to disciple the nations (change the whole earth)
9. Gives us focus for life (eternity, Jesus, things above)
10. Provides hope and encouragement
11. Cleanses our conscience ( I think the idea of conscience from Greek culture is “a remembrance of your past”.  I love that my recall gets cleaned up.
12. He supernaturally intervenes
13. God renews our minds
14. The Holy Spirit guides us, directs us
15. The Holy Spirit comforts us
16. Jesus provides a way to escape being controlled by sin and evil (freedom)
17. God gives revelation (insight, understanding)
18. God gives wisdom (when and how to do the right thing)
19. We have the Holy Spirit, God’s very spirit in us, with us
20. Jesus came and did all that God would do.  Jesus – the very image of God reveal to us who God is so that we can have a relationship with God – not just with our idea of God.

Well, that’s my quick list.

Jesus is coming to town

Jesus is coming to town.  I know that He has already come.  I understand that He is coming again to the earth, to make it the most wonderful creation that He planned.  But He is coming in a few days as we enter into the celebration of His life.

We can join God in His “outside of time” side as we live in time with a sense of His story (History).  We get to have a fresh revelation in our hearts as we celebrate Jesus coming to earth to light this place up.  I want this year for me to be a new beginning.  I want to start this year with Jesus as the one I must care for as He is the most valuable treasure the earth has known, yet packaged as a helpless child.  What a revelation of humility is that!

God came to get me is the reason for this season.  Not just the random personal identity of Jesus.  I mean not just the notion of another holiday, birthday or event.  I am longing to learn and learn again the wonder of life it's self.  I am seeking to know what it means to have a world filled with light.  Darkness (both the inside kinds and the outside kind) are fleeing as the one who is the light of the world came, comes and is coming again.

Do the nations of the world even know that life on earth is about everyone finding completeness in life as we live in harmony with the ruler of the world earth? Do I know that?  Come Lord Jesus and teach me to live!

Do you feel the excitement of a new year?  Not a new year on the calendar but a new year of life in Christ Jesus?  We get to experience again all that His heart desires for us.  The one who came to set me free is coming again today, right now to help me climb out of this pit I made.  Even now I can see those baby hands reaching to me.  They look weak, but are deceptively powerful as they hold all things together.

I think this year, instead of celebrating Christmas, I will celebrate Jesus.(presence included)

Push Back The Darkness

 

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.
(Ephesians 6:10-13)

The problems and troubles of your life are not all your fault.  Sure we all have made choices that result in negative results.  And yes, we do reap what we sow.  But we should not think (ponder, consider, wonder, worry) that our life is not what it should be because of us.  If all we needed was “us” we would have no need for God. 

We need God because He is the only one and only way to overcome sin.  Sin is the trap of Satan, seeking for us to live in any other way than one in which honors our creator and redeemer.   Sin in darkness creeping into you.  Sin is loosing the battle of living your life in a way that gives and receives love.

We need to push back against Satan, evil and sin.  We need to resist the Devil after we have submitted to God.  We need to see and understand that believing in God is not enough.  Even the demons believe in God.  We need to act in harmony with God.  We need to do His will and push back the darkness.  We are in a fight.

Today when you are tempted to sin, tempted to act out in a fleshy way or to play in your mind judgments or critical thought of others, don’t.  Don’t let Satan have control of you.  Keep your freedom and promote the light.  Choose eternal life over the momentary pleasures of this world.  And come on, really, does the joy of anger, judgment, power, self-glory and self-promotion truly bring to you a better life?  Do you think just because people fear you or are intimidated by you that you are special? 

Satan wants us to think he has the best plan for our lives.  Evil seeks to trick us into joining in evil’s work under the pretense of having fun and being free.  But God is the only one who sets free, sin and evil trap us in bondage.  Just look at the reality.  Every follower of God is free to choose a path away from God.  Every follower of Satan or sin is trapped, they need to be set free before they can choose to walk in the light. 

 

The only way to not fear the dark is to be the light

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Everyone Counts

Everyday people live their lives.  Everyday they matter.  I know that there are a lot of teachers and motivators who want to make you believe that you only matter if you do great stuff, but that is not true.

The person who helps others is just as vital as the one who has reached the highest levels of status in life.  Christ Jesus taught us that 12 friends are enough to change the world.  In fact 11 friends and a few enemies are enough. 

I often tell people that Christianity will be a success when each one of us touches 12 others throughout the course of our lives.  These touches are most often through love, kindness and hope.  Many do much more, some do less.

Today, tomorrow, as you live your life, do your job, go to school; don’t listen to the accusations of Satan and the priorities of the world.  Don’t spend your life pondering and re-pondering your worth.  Allow the Holy Spirit to convict you of any short comings and don’t try to play God.

 

 

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The Most Radical Christians on Earth

The desire to be more like God often leads us in unexpected places. Over the past few decades I have read numerous stories about the people of God. Some of these saints are well known and others are hidden from the public. In a few cases it seemed like the individuals knew their destiny in Christ Jesus, but for the most, they found their life as they lived it with the Lord. It was this adventure and life fulfillment, mixed together, that was the most common path.

I have recently talked with people in the greater Peoria area about their life. We shared stories about the road we hoped for and the rode we are on. We expressed our opinions on the radical extreme passion of youth and the loving tenacity of faithfulness. In all, we started to see in others both the longing of their heart to be all God desired of them, and the reality that they mostly thought of themselves as “not making the mark”. It is a hard life when the one you love the most is also the one whom you feel is most displeased with you.

I cannot speak to many people, but let me share with those of you who are mostly loving and kind, daily live with some unfulfilled aspect of your life and mostly wondering, “God what am I doing”?

In a land far away and in a time forgotten, the God of heaven had a plan to transform all who sought after Him. In this plan of divine wisdom and grace, everyone mattered and success was determined more in terms of decade than days. People were called upon to spend their whole lives living out the wisdom and instruction of God. No world changing events were required. No simplicity of devotion, to small. It was enough, maybe even more than enough, that you touch your family and a dozen others with full passion and forgiveness for the Master.

So take a moment and add to your life a historical reflection. Do you love God and desire to love Him more, through obedience to His will? Do you forgive your family and openly love them as best you can, not pretending to be better than you are and not pretending to be worse? Do you have friendships over the course of your life in which you have played a part in another person’s love and obedience to God? Can you name them? Can you name 12 people whom you have helped in life?

Today you live in a world where followers of Jesus Christ have mostly told others how to live when we were to show them how to live. That showing mostly involved the simple wonders of everyday life. Faithfulness at work, love toward enemies and abusers, humility in the face of praise, devotion to God in the pressure to love this world; these are the truths of great saints.

The most radical people for Christ I have ever met never told anyone they were radical for Christ. But I watched as they loved those we neglect, give when they had no wealth, share when they longed to horde to themselves and share the story of God when it cost them jobs, friendships and family. Our Theology says we are to be like Jesus, but our desires are to have a bigger ministry, reputation and impact than He did. Allow your desire to be like God to lead you to a simple and powerful life.

Loving the living word

Princes persecute me without cause, But my heart stands in awe of Your words. I rejoice at Your word, As one who finds great spoil. I hate and despise falsehood, But I love Your law. Seven times a day I praise You, Because of Your righteous ordinances. Those who love Your law have great peace, And nothing causes them to stumble. I hope for Your salvation, O LORD, And do Your commandments. My soul keeps Your testimonies, And I love them exceedingly. I keep Your precepts and Your testimonies, For all my ways are before You.
(Psalms 119:161-168)

I do love the Bible, but wonder why at times it stands between me and Jesus. This great book of revelation and divine inspiration often is the closest I get to abiding in Christ Jesus. I want to be in fellowship with God and not just His written word.
In reading this passage I saw that I do not love Jesus as much as this author loved the law of God. It seems hard for me to see how anyone can love the law. I still see obedience more as a requirement than a blessing to my life. By this I mean obedience to things I do not what to do. Of course I love to do the things I love to do, but that is more selfishness than loving obedience in my life at this time.
That phrase “my soul keeps your testimonies” is a challenge too. I live in a time when most people think they cannot live a holy life let alone believe God can be testified in their thought life, emotions and will. How did this Old Testament Guy get so converted, so transformed? Do we need a little more legalism to smack us around some?
I think the answer of inner and outward transformation is all about living in a culture. The more we live in the culture of heaven, the more we live in the way our Father lives, the more we are transformed. In the Old Testament there was a city, a region and a nation that sought to live out the culture of heaven. Sure it failed often, yet is did exist. The world we live in has little authentic Christian culture. The best we have seems to be a culture of a church or community. These are great as far as they go, but they tend not to go into the world where we go the most.
I need friends, family and others to live the life Christ desire of me. I cannot do it alone. Sure I am responsible to live for God no matter what, but I forfeit the glory of God in my life to the degree that I walk out my life outside of His culture, His family. We stand in a world full of evil and darkness, yet we daily choose to partake of the tree of life. We are those who are living in this age of evil and yet turn our hearts to the good one, to the only good one.
If you want to build a transformed life, you need to build others and not just yourself. Sure I do think you can make it on your own, but why would you even try! Maybe there is a reason that the second command is to love your neighbor as yourself.

If I only lived better for God, my life would not have so many problems!

Have you ever though that way? Why? Why would it be in our mindset to connect living a Godly life and having an easy life? Do we assume or desire that Godliness is next to easiness?

I ask this and write this in a time of personal great pain. Right now it appears that much of the life I wanted, a life of activity and outdoors, of freedom of movement and the ability to build and create is over. Depression desire to rule my life and make me live as though God has abandoned me, has love wicked and evil people more than me. It is a time in my life when selfishness is at its most crafty ploy and self-love empowered by pain.

God desires for me, and everyone in the world, to live the best life possible.
God made us free, so that each one of us can choose to hurt ourselves, others and our offspring.

God gave us power and authority to sow and reap, to invest and harvest what was invested.

God empowers us to break the chains of sin and evil and release in the individual and the culture, new hope and new beginnings.

Today, like millions of people around the world, I am looking for the coming of the Christ. I need His activity in my life and the testimony of Him that I have, creates a tension of hope and reality that brings conflict on the deepest internal levels. I know that He heals, but will He heal me. I know that I have a part to play in His plan, but am I up to it. Will I fail on my part?

As we search the Bible and History we find a mixed bag of results. Great people like Moses, Paul, Job and Jeremiah lived for God and had rough lives. Others like Daniel and Ester lived in evil cultures and were blessed by the Lord. Then in Hebrews 11 we see the testimony of great saints of faith, some appear to have an easy life, others suffer and still others choose suffering as a better way. And there lies the key.

Those who suffer so that others have a better way, so that others have an opportunity to receive the promise, choose a path that so conflicts with the world system that it hurts. From the child who is murdered for Christ Jesus to the business man who loses He business because he would not deceive, from the women divorced because she would not join in immorality to the teen beaten because they would not join a gang, all these can be those who chose to identify with Christ at the cost of being beaten by the world.

But still the question remains, why would you choose that? Why would you wound your family so that other families could possibly be healed? Why would you give your life up to that level?

Writing somewhere around the 1900 a missionary, now seasoned by years of service, realized that the very people he went to help, did not want his help. These people did not want to receive the light and knowledge of God, they loved their ways and darkness more than the light. Having been driven by the need of this people group this man now questioned why God sent him. He struggled through the issue of being sent because of their need, for in themselves they had no need for God, they did not want Him. But it was God who had the need. It was for God, for the will of the Father that this man was sent. It was not a human need that compelled, but the heart God of the Father Himself. So all the sacrifice, all the cost, all the suffering, all the rejection; was not for the people, it was for the Father.

Don’t waste your suffering. Allow the ancient words of “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” to speak to you. Even if your lot in life is a life of fighting against mental illness, poverty, sexual abuse, hatred or sickness; do so not for humanity but for God. Let nothing separate you from Him. Do not be overly burdened by apparent success in the world, yet look daily for the affirmation of heaven. In your weakness reveal divine strength. In your poverty, demonstrate the riches of the resources of heaven. This involves a mental attitude, but transcends it. You do not want just the desire or thoughts, but the expressions and impressions.

Souls are being ready for harvest, so too are the saints. People of God are maturing and coming to the place of living fully for God. This growth and maturity involves people of God living in the world, but now of it. It involves being “light” and “salt” while releasing kingdom power and authority, even in their suffering.

Honoring Others

As we prepare for the trip to MI we are asking others to join us in intercession and giving even if they cannot go. I know there are literally thousands of Godly investments you can make. All these investments of time, money and prayer do make a difference. We are working together to build His kingdom and advance His will on the earth.
If you are directed please give and pray. It is great to feel Gods impressions. It is better (although much harder) to do them.
Prayer Points from Romans 12
• Believers in the area will worship God through living daily life well (12:1)
• Renewal of minds so that God’s will is know and done. (12:2)
• For many members of Christ body to come together and express Him. (12:3-5)
• For Faith, faith to work, pray, give, teach, feed, help and love (12:6-8)
• For all the “line items” in verses 9-20 resulting in the overcoming of evil with good.
Doing good in a Godly way is a weapon that overcomes evil! We are not victims of evil, if anything we are victims of the lack of good being lived out in our world. Living for ourselves has not produced in us or around us Godliness. Let’s try to live for Christ and others and see what the fruit of that looks like.

The only place to hide is in Christ Jesus, but He is in the world so you find yourself hiding in Christ in the world.

Ode (Old) to Love

Here is a verse for Shirley Drury, my best friend these many years.

Old to be loved
Just as desired
A women of nobility
Not by birth, but adoption
5 am I, in decades count
Still a child in heart and love
Steadfast these many years in faithfulness
Opposing all the world’s selfishness
By divine grace strength was given
To match wounds with resolve
Love in purity and devotion
Expressed to others
Unlimited
My hand trembles more
My heart less
Some burdens cast off
Others endured
Am I the women I ought to be
Mercy and grace applied
I am
Most wonderfully loved

Doing the Right Thing

God desires that we do the right thing. But what is the right thing. How can the human mind be so wise as to know and consider all the external and internal events? How can we know that an action, an expression is what should be done at any given moment?
In His wisdom God made man with the ability to have His Spirit indwell us. We are not alone and we are made to live in fellowship with God. Just as the Father walked with Adam and Eve in the garden, so now He desires to walk and have fellowship with us in our inner man.
The fruit of self-control that comes from the Spirit of God is a growing factor in our life that is the direct result of fellowship with God. This must be actual fellowship and not an elaborate trusting in our self made religion. Deep within us, at the level of our heart and soul we enter into communion with God and allow Him to speak direction, justice and instruction to our lives. And that is what He does naturally as He speaks. He awakes our whole being to His will.
While it is so old, it is also so foundational to the Christian walk, this truth “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done”. The believer who walks in fellowship with God is using the scripture to lead them into a deep personal fellowship with God. We are not just seeking to read and understand the scriptures to make for ourselves a religious order we can live out. We are allowing the truth of scripture to direct our steps to the Father, who in turn indwells us. The difference is as different as in making a meal and eating a meal. One is full of order and discipline, but no life. The other is full of life. We are called to partake, to eat of the Bread of Heaven.
So while right knowledge, good manners, humility and patience are working in and through my character; they are not enough. A believer is more than a good person, they are not even a very good person. What we are is persons filled with the Spirit of God. This Spirit governs our actions and teaches us what right things we should do. We are – followers. Even when we are bad followers, we still are of Christ, if we agree in our heart, ‘not my will but Thin be done”.

CALLED TO DO THE IMPOSSIBLE

Then Moses said, "What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say? For they may say, 'The LORD has not appeared to you.'" The LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" And he said, "A staff." Then He said, "Throw it on the ground." So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. But the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand and grasp it by its tail"--so he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand-- "that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you." The LORD furthermore said to him, "Now put your hand into your bosom." So he put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. Then He said, "Put your hand into your bosom again." So he put his hand into his bosom again, and when he took it out of his bosom, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. "If they will not believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe the witness of the last sign. "But if they will not believe even these two signs or heed what you say, then you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground; and the water which you take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground." Then Moses said to the LORD, "Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue." The LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? "Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say." But he said, "Please, Lord, now send the message by whomever You will." Then the anger of the LORD burned against Moses, and He said, "Is there not your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he speaks fluently. And moreover, behold, he is coming out to meet you; when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. "You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I, even I, will be with your mouth and his mouth, and I will teach you what you are to do. "Moreover, he shall speak for you to the people; and he will be as a mouth for you and you will be as God to him. "You shall take in your hand this staff, with which you shall perform the signs."
(Exodus 4:1-17)


Moses had faith or grew in belief because He had an encounter with God that was life changing. Do we want to take the time for a life changing encounter with God or do we want to go out and make a difference in the world? Fulfilling our purpose and making a Godly impact in the world is a good thing. It just cannot be done in the flesh, by human genius or by sheer determination. We must “work while it is day” but often the work we are seeking to accomplish is our agenda and not the Lord’s. We are trying to perform the impossible with our skills and ability. We need God’s supernatural help or it is impossible for us to do what He is calling us to do.

Does this mean that we all should wait until something on the same scale as Moses takes place? No – we should wait until our call is matured into a commissioning or sending. Like Moses the world is full of people who feel a call in their heart and then they try to fulfill that calling. Like Moses this tends to result in our “killing people”. Moses felt the call to be a deliverer and deal with the injustice of his people. Yet Moses was not ready to do the impossible – but that day would come. Many passionate believers have been released into the public work of the ministry based on passion and not maturity, need and not inner conformity to Christ. The result is usually wounding and insecurity covered by the projections of “I am called by God”, “I am working hard, very hard” and “things would go better for me except for _______________”. Maturity is taking all the bad things on yourself and making life better for others. Moses became like this, like the Christ who was to come.

A prayer room can be a real blessing in your life as it provides a place to come and seek the Lord. Every believer should have a place of prayer so that they commune with God and in relationship pray.

A pitfall of the prayer room is when it becomes a hiding place and not a resting place. If people come to the prayer room to avoid obeying the Lord, then the very thing meant to be a blessing is a cure to them. This is not just a pitfall of the prayer room but of all the “places” we have in Christ. The worker who avoids prayer by work and the prayer who avoids work by prayer are both missing the will of God for their lives. In the same way the leader who uses the call of leadership to neglect humble service to others and the one who hides in acts of humble service to avoid the pressure and burden of leadership are again missing the will of God. All this is illustrated here in this passage about Moses.

Come to the place of prayer to enter into a relationship with God that compels you to live the life He has for you. Come to Christ Jesus to know and do His will. Come to be reassured, revived and renewed in your mind, heart and soul. Come to the Lord as you eat, walk, work and go through life’s daily grind.

So how often should a person enter the place of prayer? Do we receive from the Lord a onetime encounter and then use that single encounter as the source of our encouragement for the rest of our lives? Yes –and no!

We should do a much better job than we do or remembering all the words the Lord has spoken to us, both through His Scripture and through promptings. Most of us tend to need a new word from the Lord because the last word was not hidden in our heart. We tend to love the encouragement of a fresh word more than the obedience that word was to produce. It is a desire for a “new seed” to be planted rather than for the “old seed” to grow into maturity. But this desire is normal. Tending a garden is hard work with daily duties.

While we tend to make lists and have written goals and plans for things we seek to accomplish, turning your relationship with God into a list of “to do’s “ is not a good idea. While your mate may enjoy the diligence of your actions of love from a “to do” list, at some time they want a personal relationship more than a “this is what I do for you” list. God is the same way. Don’t try to replace a relationship with a plan. Instead let the plan keep flowing from the relationship.

The fruit of this relation to action living is ever increasing faith. Since without faith it is impossible to please God, having faith is a nice thing. You will increase your truth, believing, faith; as you live a life out of common union with God. You will see supernatural things happen in your life as a result of God intervention.

Just recently I planned a “wilderness retreat”. I felt this was in God’s heart to offer this event to people. At that time we had no money in any of our accounts. I wrote a 30 page manual and then rewrote it into a 43 page booklet. In other words I invested time into this time, yet I wondered how in the world where we going to pay for food, gas and camping. My mortgage was due and there was no money. If money came in should I take that for the event or provide for my family. I set the price for the event as low as possible so that people could freely come. Now I was dealing with the issue of even affording the printing of the booklet I labored to write. My wife criticized me for not increasing the price enough to cover some of the unseen cost. These cost were coming out of the family money, which was almost zero at the time. They she would feel compelled to help, give or go and cause an even greater demand for resources that were not there.

Now during this time prior to the event some situations arose that required common daily faith. We had about a quarter tank of gas in each vehicle. Then we found ourselves in a situation where people needed rides, helping others out required extra trips, running errands for the event and family needs seemed to expand. Even as we responded to these needs God sent someone to give us gas. Each day there was enough. Over and over again God gave us the very thing we needed for that day. It was never so much that we could bank it, but God was again showing us that He is faithful and that we could bank on Him.

Over and over again in planning for this time and during this time God prompted us to do something and when we did, things worked out. Promptings to buy extra food, bring a certain camping item, leave behind a normally essential item all fell into place for a blessing in the daily flow of life.

As we gave God kept giving to us. Money came in from friends. People who know us but have never sent us money gave us gifts, others who do support us did so again. It is a mini example of God confirming His will for our lives, not with a rod and leprosy, but with gas, food and fun (if you call the wilderness adventure fun).
And so here I am again, starting a new week. Just like you I desire that my life this week makes a difference. Last week and those Godly interventions are gone. They increased my faith so that I can trust and serve Him this week. I grew in walking by faith and thus in pleasing the Lord. Just like you, I take my situation, my life and connect it to the Father. We together cry out for His supply and direction so that our lives perfectly reflect His will. Let’s take all that the Lord has done for us, hold it in our hands and never doubt. Desiring to grow in wisdom and revelation, we grow in obedience and love. God has called us to live the impossible, so we might as well get on with it.

Bread of heaven

In this life daily bread plays a great role. At the temptation of Jesus, it was one thing that the Christ could do which would bring a great many followers to Him. These followers He could have; simply by feeding them what they need each day. Yet this very thing was a temptation to be defeated.

Come to me and I will give you life.

God gave gifts, just like He gave His son, to the people of the earth. What have we done with the making of bead of heaven? Have we equipped, encouraged and discipled the people into freedom? Have we become the Masters of this world by being the source of bread, the bread of heaven? Who among us is free to eat at the Lord ’s Table without the permission and approval of the ruling spirits?

Rejection, will all it’s fears and realities is the cost we must pay to set others free. Rejection of our teaching, our understanding, our revelation, and our gifts are but the first fruits of whole hearted devotion. Is this not the very way of the Great Master? Are we not called to be made in His image, to follow His example in all we do? Should we who are His fellow servants of the bread of heaven use what was freely given to us as a tool for self-rule and control?

The simple act of keeping people coming to us for bread is the manifestation of failing to defeat Satan in the wilderness. This we should have done long before entering the ministry. But if not then, why not now! We too must not think this temptation is only for leaders in high places. To all who serve the Lord, from the small group leader to the mega-church director, the testing comes. Yet the foundation for gathering together is now the bread of life. We motivate people to come based on our ability to teach them, feed them, shepherd them, oversee them. And what does their Master in heaven do?

What I have shared above is a rewording of what was written in the early 1800. I will be glad to share the resources with you. But you’re going to need to feed yourself!

Take your place or be given one

Deuteronomy 31:14 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Behold, the time for you to die is near; call Joshua, and present yourselves at the tent of meeting, that I may commission him." So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the tent of meeting.

If you feel the Lord calling you to a job or place of service you might feel tempted to go and prepare yourself. That would be good. But what if you started down a part of seeking the way to “get ahead”? In almost every field you can find help with the process of getting ahead, but ahead of what?
What you usually want to get ahead of is others. I was told over and over again in training for ministry that “unless you’re the lead dog, the scene never changes”. This became to me a graphic image of how far we have diverted from being a “body” and how much ministry is not a race for the lead. But you can also go into a time of redneck contemplation and consider the truthfulness of this statement. Here are some thoughts to consider.
• Is there only someone ahead of me isn’t there someone beside me?
• Is life only a race, what about the scenery, the views of daily life?
• Even if you are the last dog, is life all pulling? What about all the other things we do beside work?
• Do people born in North Korea, India and other places spend their life trying to figure out how to get to America so things can be easier, less confining and with less social restraints?
• Why would we bring one man’s motto into the realm of God? Why not learn from God what life should be like?

In the above passage Joshua is like David, years later. They both were chosen and called before the time for them to take their place. The time or ceremony of setting in place can be called a commissioning. It was the Lord’s good please for them to “be the guy” while living under the guy there were going to replace. Joshua was about to become the leader of the nation of Israel. He was about to be given the Law to live out and the Promise Land to conquer. Generations would be effected by his life.

Do you want to do something great with your life? Do you want to be important, to make an impact? Do you feel like you are in computation with others? Do you feel like other people are the ones that can make or break your life? If you are living under and in the world system, then that is the way it is. But in the Kingdom of God, the rules are different. So different that the world cannot understand how the last dog in the pack, the one overlooked and despised, the one serving and helping all the others – is the lead dog.

Matthew 20:26-28
"It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you (lead dog) shall be your servant (involuntary helpers or all others), and whoever wishes to be first(the best) among you shall be your slave(involuntary servant); just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

Let Us make man in Our image

Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." (27) God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Genesis 1:26-27

It was agreed in heaven that we would be created in the image and likeness of God. It was heavens plan that we would be a people of God, men and women of God. Yet living our lives on the earth with this identity is one of the hardest things we do. There is barely a moment when we are not being tried to leave behind our identity and be conformed to the identity of this world.

God is content within Himself. One way we live out our identity in God is this contentment too. It is enough to be like Him and all the things we do, all the striving to be something, is the influence of the world seeking to remake us into another image. Even the most devout believer is hourly tempted to add to their identity the ways of the world. If you are in business, you face the pressure to add to your calling the acceptance and ways of the world. You will be pressured to conform to what the world thinks a business person ought to be and to deny the simple devotion of first being a believer and having all things follow that. So too the Mom will not be left alone to be a loving Mother but pressured to live up to the worlds standard of mothering. She will be tempted to go beyond devotion to Christ and perform in such a way that the never satisfied world will be happy with her.

So what specifically may the world be seeking to remove us from? What is the spirit of this age and the rulers of this world seeking to break off of our lives? One thing is fellowship and communion with God. God said, “Let us”. In His nature God is communion and fellowship. Humanity was created like no other creature, with heightened capacity to have fellowship and communion. We not only gather in herds (cities and towns) but we build family units of love, protection, devotion, support and training.

The anti-Christ spirit wants you to build your life on the identity of being alone. It desires that you feel you must be independent, self- sufficient and thus, disconnected from the Creator. God on the other hand, desires that you and I live in the reality He made for us, the reality of unbroken fellowship. At any moment in time we have access to God. God is always with us. We are made to live our entire lives in fellowship, community and felt companionship. Even when God hides himself from us, it is for deeper and more intimate communion.

Have you ever been tempted to quit the faith because you did not feel like God is real, you wondered if He was there? Maybe you judged what God was doing by a lack of His felt presence. Somewhere deep within us we are aware of this reality of “if God is real we should feel Him, encounter Him”. This is one of the battle grounds. The whole fallen world is against you. The whole system of fallen humanity desires that you do not live in community with God.

To take a step toward fellowship with God turn away from the images of this world. Turn away from striving to earn or receive status and value from the people of this world. Embrace the realty of your createdness, the reality that you were made for fellowship with God. You can live each moment of your life in communion with Him. Even when you mind fails to recognize it, your spirit will abide in union. It is not good for you to be alone. The more you silence the voices of this world which seek to make you into their image, the more you will be able to hear His voice resounding in your life. It is not easy, but few eternal things are.

One thing and more.

If joy was easy it would be less joyful.
My best friend is unfriendly in his devotion to me.
Revelation is better held than observed
When you need to shout – whisper
Freedom results in a life of service to others while bondage has only self.


It seems like mankind keeps trying to make God into a very small image, one that is easy to grasp. This may come from our desire to move Him where we will and control Him. I believe the reality of God is that most of His beauty is hidden in extremes. It is like God takes two extremes and offers them to us as a snap shot of who He is. He does this, not like a coin having two sides, but as two very different things being the same thing. It is like the God of three who is one.
Could it be that God loves that? Does He love the busy worshipper, the simple proclaiming of profound truths, the humility of greatness and the devotion of the distracted lover? Man would tend to say, “let me be glorified by my achievement”, but God says, “enjoy living”. One is the pursuit of an idea so that we can arrive, the other is daily enjoying the gift of life we have been given. While we may think that the focused pursuit will have the best results, we miss that reality that we are made for relationships.

To practice the presence of the Lord is to surrender your focus, to a partnership with God. And then, since you are walking with God, others will be freely entering and exiting your daily life because he invited them in. So now the life of focus is filled with God invited distractions. Your ability to stay on trask and achieve is interrupted by divine desire to have your life full, but full of what? Living!
There are numerous Christians seeking to grow into maturity in Christ Jesus by cutting off the things of life so that they can focus on God and mature. This may be good for a season but it only leads to immaturity. We are called to be light in the dark. We need to be more humble and seek not to protect our self and our ideas as much as live out fully the life God has called us to, a life of living in the extremes with Him.

Over the past few years I have heard messages about the “one thing”. I have listed below some of the text from those messages. Please note that the “one thing” was different for each person. This is God’s way of extremism. He could have easily of given us an outline of devotion. But instead He gave us Himself in a relationship that is expressive, simple, complex …. We are called to know the unknowable. What could be more exciting than that? Oh, by the way. Some of us will have one “one thing” and others of us a few more.

(Psalms 27:4) One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD And to meditate in His temple.

(Ecclesiastes 7:18) It is good that you grasp one thing and also not let go of the other; for the one who fears God comes forth with both of them.

(Mark 10:21, Luke 18:22) Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, "One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."

(Luke 10:42) but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her."

(Philippians 3:13) Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,

Loving God and Others

Relationships matter. God calls us to relationships with Him and one another. Yet we are daily tempted to live “on our own” and interact with others according to what we need or desire. This “me” focused pressure manifest in a person’s prayer life when they mainly pray to get answered prayers. Praying to get answers to prayers is not bad, it just isn’t as fulfilling as having a relationship with God that transcends personal needs. God is the source and center for all we need, but according to the teachings of Jesus, “Jesus is not all we need”. We need one another too.

So how do we relate in the prayer room? Even if we are not talking to one another or praying for each other, is there a building up of one another in relationships?
• Just as you go to a movie with friends and mostly do not interact with each other, so too being in the prayer room increases our relationships one to another. Doing it together matters. This is true in hunting, fishing, sporting events, movies and numerous activities we do together but do not focus on one another.
• If you are called to a life of prayer or just called to give an hour or two a week to intercession, having a place brings accountability and wars against isolation. Sure you can pray alone at home. But you can also be encouraged by others seeking the Lord. It’s like “birds of a feather flocking together”.
• We are physical beings and we are spiritual beings. Why our bodies may not be connecting in the prayer room, our spirits can be entering into fellowship and unity. It is a spirit of unity that we seek for our city and region, yet we can be distracted from seeing this spiritual endeavor as we look for physical manifestations. These two, the physical and spiritual, are not in competition but complementary.
• We are instructed to know people “not after the flesh”. In our world of seeing, we can be deceived that appearance is everything. Being with others in a mainly spiritual atmosphere helps us to know one another in an entirely different way.

Every family that has family devotions knows that while they seek God together, God can strengthen personal relationships. Even when the focus is not on the family, the family can be bound together in love and devotion for one another.

In my isolation
You did not touch me
Yet your presence
Healed by soul
Love unbounded
Reached out to me
Speaking brother
“You are not alone"

False teachers, prophets, apostles….false everything

In the wisdom of God, He allows both the wheat and the tares to grow together until it is time to bunch up the tares. These tares are not false teachers or prophets, they represent “false everything”. They represent all the stuff that is sown into God’s field so that the real is chocked out or at least diminished in growth. So you may be thinking in the natural and wonder, why doesn’t God believe in weeding His garden? God does gather the weeds, but only after they have served His purpose for His people.

Matthew 24:5
"For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will mislead many.

Just as we pray “in the name of Jesus”, people are going to come in that same spirit, “in the name of Jesus” and tell us that Jesus is the Christ. That is good, that is as it should be. Yet even some of these are going to mislead many. Are these false prophets, shepherds or teachers? Probable not.
In this passage in Matthew Jesus gets to false prophets in verse 11, but this section is a warning of all the stuff in life (what is to come) that can get us off track. Good people with bad direction, wars, international conflict, famine and earthquakes are all going to be stuff you need to go through and stay on course. God is giving us this “heads up” so we are in the know and not focused on this stuff, but Him.
A false prophet, teacher or Christian is not an immature one. A false is one who tries to take the place of the real. When someone who is not called to be a worship leader tries to be one, that would be a false worship leader. The same goes for pastor or teacher. When we go beyond the will of God for our lives, even if we think it is best for us (especially if we think it is best for us) we enter into a self-centered or man-pleasing motivation and choose ourselves over God. That can, for a time, be immaturity. But if we do not grow up we can mature into rebellious self living as we live our lives in the church. Do you know of any people who have loved God for decades and yet are still in bondage to themselves? Are they false Christians or broken Christians? God does know but we may not.
Presently in America I think we face the biggest challenge of being mislead through our longing for an easy life. We have strong desires to be a blessed people and our desire to be a blessing to others is fading. We are presently challenged to give according to our desires rather than the will of God. Sacrifice can mean, “Sharing the extra I have left over” and dedication can become “what I do after all my personal and family needs are met”.
God instructs us to discern according to fruit – not gifts. But we might be in some muddy waters if our vision of fruit is “man’s idea” and not God’s. (Isn’t there anything we can do on our own?) I encourage everyone to look carefully at and for the fruitfulness of others, just as soon as you get that thing out of your vision that is irritating you. When you can look on others with love and not fear or anger, you can see well.

Best Ways to Control

Here is my meditation on the best ways to control others
1. Pretend not to hear what they are saying. You can give this technique even more power by saying some mocking word in reply – like “excuse me”.

2. Quickly get mad about most anything you don’t like. It won’t take long and people just won’t trouble you with stuff you don’t like. All good for you.

3. If you are not all that skillful yet at #2, you can follow up by going to others who know the two of you and say “I don’t know what is wrong with _______________”. You can also say “I just don’t know what they were thinking” as long as you really mean “I don’t know what is wrong with”.

4. Moan or groan when you are talking to people and they say things you disagree with. Turing you head is disgust or rolling you eyes helps people with hearing problems “get it” faster.

5. If you are in a discussion you can say about anything as long as you start with “I agree, but I think if we were wise…” Don’t say this to fast. Take a long pause after “agree” and say the word “wise” and thoughtfully as possible.

6. Don’t say “we have never done that before”, that just keys in those who know how to control the controlling person. You want to ask, “has that worked in the past” and since they never did it in the past it has not worked, so if it didn’t work in the past, why try it now.

7. Don’t be in a hurry to try and stop things you want to control, just slow them down and the busyness of life will take over. Instead of going forward suggest “slowing down for a little more insight”. Taking time to get everyone on board is a great way to control too. When was the last time everyone was on board (don’t mention that)?

8. If you find that you want to control people who are going to spend money in an area or way that you don’t want – just remind them that they promised to do ______________________ before they made any others investments. If you have been with this group long you should have several things they were suppose to do but you got them to not do them because that is not what you wanted them to do. Make sure you remember the things they were to do but failed to do, you can always use these later.

9. Threaten to quit. Don’t threaten to quit yourself, but rather say someone else will quit if this goes ahead. This other person should be someone who doesn’t like the direction and someone who is honest. Even if they are willing to yield you can gain control by threatening the group with this other persons leaving, someone who they probably like more than you.

10. If all else fails and you think your efforts to control are lost, go all out in the opposite direction. Go to the store and ask for those “cheerleader” vitamins and promote, encourage and sell others on this new direction. Hopefully others are so sick of you by now that they will go completely in the opposite direction just to avoid agreeing with you.

A Great Harvest

If a great harvest is coming to Peoria and Central IL, we presently need to have many more troubles!
As I have prayer for a million souls from Central IL, I realize that if God answers that prayer, we will need every church in the region to take part in their discipleship and fellowship. And if the present trend continues some will go one place for worship, another for fellowship, a third for recreation and activities and possibly another for prayer. The church in Central IL could end up sharing people. It could be like one church with numerous ministries, personalities and emphasis. But have I been trained enough by God to let this happen?
Do I have enough humility and enough love to allow others to be vital in the work of the Kingdom? Do I feel a desire to correct the leadership of others? Do I want to avoid certain leaders who are Godly people, but just not enough like me to be trusted?
If we had more troubles then we presently do we could learn (even faster) how to act, and not react to those who are different than we are. We could learn how to suffer with Christ and in Christ and not be wounded or feel rejected when God moves through someone other than us. We could learn how to relate and talk with one another so that problems are solved and not just overlooked. Wow! If we had more troubles we would be gaining authority in the Spirit to minister to others, we would forgo our blessing to be a blessing to others.
So in my mystical redneck way – God bring on the darkness that I may learn that light invades the dark. Help me Father to be more faithful (full of faith) than secure, more redemptive than comfortable and more joyful in tribulation. Now what is it that tribulation does again? Rom. 5:3

Why would God desire to build a house of prayer when every church should be a house of prayer?

Insights and observations from a Redneck Mystic


In our modern view of the world we tend to think more of the Church in terms of organizations and buildings. It is quite natural for us to drive around town and judge a church according to a building, grounds or even location in the city. Based on physical observations we make spiritual assessments. As you journey across Peoria you may be amazed by the 250 plus churches that already exist and wonder why do we need one more?
But if you looked at the Church as the body of Christ and wondered what God was doing with us, we might come to some different types of conclusions, if not revelation. All across our area the people of God are joining together for evangelism, food pantries, worship celebrations and teaching conferences. Numerous church bodies have community special events, special times of united focused intercession, and neighborhood ministries of mercy or discipleship. Even among the numerous local churches, God is collecting and connecting people together beyond their local expression and mission.
Turing to the House of Prayer question, we need to ask if God is calling people in this region to work together in a House of Prayer. Sure each body or church should have a healthy and expanding life of prayer. But can any one organization be and do all that God is doing in the city or region? Was the local church supposed to be a self-sufficient organization or was each organization to be a vital part of God in the city?

Well here is by expanded bullet list of what I think God is doing.
• God is establishing specialized prayer centers so that people can be discipled at a quicker pace. Whenever we specialize in an area in the body or church it is to assist others more rapidly. This has happened in the past with the roles of teaching, worship, children’s ministry, youth ministry. When God calls people to give their lives to an area it is not just for a “personal calling” but for a building up of the body.
• Unity, in all the walks of life, is a manifestation of the regional body seeking the Lord together. The people who gather together for intercession need a place to work through their differing views and expressions. Personal desires need to be lovingly separated from the will of God. The reality of seeking the Lord together is verified by our actual love toward one another in everyday life. Much of what happens in a regional house of prayer is the Cross being applied to a person’s life who is actively seeking God.
• God can use a local community House of Prayer or Prayer Room to validate prayer in a region. Just as church buildings, Christian recreation centers, hospitals, food pantries and shelter all witness to the city that the people of God care, so too can a public place of prayer proclaim God’s heart for the region to be prayed for and for the city to know it. Just as the 40 days of Prayer witnessed to our city that calling on God is a viable solution. So too an ongoing house a prayer can be a witness and solution for those with sickness, disease, unemployment and all the pains of life. Just as a food pantry can help minister to the region, so can the community prayer room.
• A house of prayer in the city also serves to remind us that we are made up of different parts. This is not a pride in the part we are but humility that we are only a part of what God is doing. We all should love and be devoted to our part as well as prefer and honor the other parts as better than ourselves. I believe that out of the context of a corporate prayer room a people of God will emerge that love others as much as they love themselves. I mean that the people of prayer will pray for, cover, bless and intercede for those in the market place, in the arts and media, in teaching and education, in government and church leadership just as intimately and passionately as they pray for themselves. This intercession will be for saved and unsaved, our nation and the enemies of our nation; love will abound as real intimacy and unity develop in the place of prayer.
• I also believe God is being tricky, or wise. A part of the regional house of prayer is offering to a community an alternative on how to spend our time. Sports, recreation, entertainment all have a community that supports those often “individual” efforts. A person of prayer or praying has often been an isolated endeavor. Even if you go to a prayer room and pray in private, doing that in the midst of others is encouraging. Isolation and loneliness can be confronted by community.
• My final point here is this. The house or dwelling of the Lord that God desires to be called a house of prayer for all people, is people. We, the people of God are His dwelling place. Deeper than all the organizational and institutional efforts, our Father is seeking a resting place within each of us that results in a transformed life living out His ways on the earth. Even if we have all the stuff we want, the right building, sound system, musical equipment, media links…all that stuff is only as effective as the people who serve in the place of prayer. We, the people of God, must become desirous of an identity that includes prayer. This identity is not at the expense of any of God’s callings, but rather to the blessing of them all. This identity is not so that we are esteemed by the world, but so that the whole world is esteemed through us.

Endurance

It is hard to finish hard matters. Sports have a season. Life however has no off season and being hated or mistreated can last a life time. God, a loving Father, calls us to prepare our hearts to deal with a life time of hate. I got this from considering the Matt. 10:22 passage. Why did Jesus give such a hard word to such good followers?

Matthew 10:22
Everyone will hate you because of me. But if you remain faithful until the end, you will be saved.

“Everyone”, really everyone! Why not just be hated by a few messed up people. Why prepare our hearts for total rejection? But if I consider the original hearers of this message, I can understand better. These guys (people) in the text are betraying their ancient religion, they are deserting their family traditions, and through their actions they are boasting that Jesus is the right way. These actions imply that the old way is not longer right, somebody is wrong. So they broke with culture, business, family and faith. They were hated men.

Have you ever given in, compromised on some issue that God has called you to stand for? Have you ever given in on a purchase, or yielded to a choice that you knew was wrong? Yet enduring in “easy stuff”, stuff that should be easy to do because in the big picture it is not all that important, is still hard. Sure there are seasons of wisdom from God where we yield in love and restoration. Sure there are many times when we don’t make an issue of everything. But do we still have an enduring faith? Are we willing to be hated?

The hatred of our time is very crafty. It belittles in small crowds, mocks through “innocent humor”, shames through self-promotion and worships success. Hatred in our day neglects the needs of others, avoids the awkward and fails to listen to the broken and wounded. Hatred in our time does not want to totally cast you out, but rather keep us just close enough to keep hurting you. Even if, by the world’s standards you are a great person, criticism, judgments and ridicule will be ever present in your life. Gird yourself up.

There are two places (maybe three) where words are said that help us endure long. The most important place where words of endurance are spoken is in the garden of our inner man. In this place the Lord meets with us and prepares our life for living. In the inner place, eternal words and thoughts begin to reach the heart and a person advances from contemplation to transformation. What happens in this secret place is foundational to what we do or say. Abiding with God is critical for our personal endurance.

Secondly there is the place of family – both biological and spiritual. Family is the secret place in our society and culture. It is a garden dwelling where truth and accountability knock on our heart of behavior and mindsets. True the family is often a battle ground or rejection and hatred, but God’s heart is to restore family, not avoid it. Building a good family, both spiritual and biological, is like building a garden dwelling that will have years of fruitfulness.

Prepare your life to deal with hatred and rejection. Not by building a fortress to hide away in, but a garden to delight in. One is a prison of protection, the other a public display of eternal beauty.

Following Jesus – Changing directions

Following Jesus – Changing directions
The direction of our life can also be called our “order”. When we get up each day and know what we ought to do and how we ought to do that, we feel order and feel like we have direction. Yet in life, many times we are called by God to change the direction we are going. This change in direction is not a diversion from following Him. In fact it is one way He works in the world so that we continue to follow Him rather than just trust in our own understanding.

Yet changing the order of our daily life often brings with it insecurity and thus an aversion to change. We enjoy the confidence of doing what we have been doing. Even if we know we are not getting enough done or if we are avoiding some important aspects of our life, just having the internal comfort is often is enough to keep us from doing different things.

So now in my life is a call of God to go a different direction. This new order will require that I work through the security of where I am and the insecurity of what I will be going. This in itself is growth and an increasing in my faith in God. What makes this difficult is that I am on the same path but now walking on the path in a different way. As the “what I am doing” of daily life changes, it is tempting to evaluate by what I was called to do in the past. I must prepare myself to love those who will want to relate to the Rod of the past and try to get me “back there” so that they know how to relate to me and how I integrate into their life and calling. This pressure of relationship often brings depression as we who have not figured everything out ourselves feel pressure to explain it to others. We get confused.

The pressure, the relationships, the insecurity are all a part of God’s plan for us. We are growing, breaking into new things, advancing. Have you ever had someone tell you that they were going to the next level but nothing changed? That is because while we may be called to go to the next level actually going there is not so much about what is around us, but about our internal transformation.

The path of life is not an interstate; it is a narrow way across a great wilderness.

How to be loved by God

John 14:21
"He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him."

While all people of the earth, in fact all things created, are loved by God; there is additional love for those who love God. This favoritism is about relationship and not about elitism. If you and I want to encounter the love of God to the fullest measure, we are required to have a relationship with God. God is not a power source that can be contacted through meditation alone. Even the most insightful meditation will leave a person lacking in real encounter if that person is not doing the will of the Father. You can see this most any Sunday as people who did not love God so much as to obey Him throughout the week seek to encounter Him in a meeting.
Human emotions may run high, they may even boast about the presence of the Lord being there, but little, if anything of the supernatural occurs. There tends to be a lot of talk (positive meditation) with little manifestation. This is not to bring an accusation against these churches; my desire is to speak in such a way as to not have us sell out. We should not call human emotion the presence of the Lord. If we want the fullness of the Lord then we must not be satisfied with lesser things, even if the journey takes years and not minutes.
The real point I wish to proclaim is that any person, in any place, who is living out the ways of God for them, should be encountering the love of God. The business person who is in the meeting and does not intentionally lie or mislead may be filling the guilt and wrath of the business, but they should also be feeling the love of God for them. The man who treats women with respect and not lust should not only feel the rejection of other lustful people, he should feel the love of God for him. We have too long trained ourselves in knowing the rejection of the world and we have failed to mature in knowing the love of God for us. We must come to know this love in the heat of the battle. It is a blessing to be inwardly cherished by God even in the midst of outward rejection and condemnation.
God, who desires people from all people groups, desire business people, musicians, actors, teachers and politicians to stand in this world and proclaim, “I have no fear for the Lord loves me”. God desires the earth to be filled with His glory as in this dark day people are not consumed by the darkness that is seeking to overcome them. In contrast they live in darkness but radiate His light. These are light and salt of the earth. These are living stones, faithful witnesses of Jesus Christ. These are the ones God pours out His love to in the place where they stand and say “yes” to God and “no” to the world.
So why don’t they feel the love of God?
1. We are trained to see the dark, the evil, more than the light. Turn your thought more on things above and you will take a step in encountering the love of God for you when you are under fire.
2. The presence of God with you is not always euphoria. The most common manifestation of His love is peace.
3. You are living under tremendous projected spiritual conditions. Every time you seek to dwell under the shelter of His wing in the public world, you mind will be attacked through any doorway open to the enemy. Holiness is not an option of Christian maturity, it is practical living that allows us to stand and know the love of God in our day.
4. We love the approval of the world more than the approval of God. We love to have people honor us, respect us and we have pushed the approval of God back in our emotions to private places.
5. Compromise has so filled out lives that we fail to do the will of God In such a way as that it is real. We have mixed living for God with the ways of the world and even when we think we are living a holy life, we are still very far from it. I am not talking about immaturity. God has much grace for immaturity. I am talking about compromise.
The solution
Wake up tomorrow and start a new day. Do this every day. Use the gifts of God of new mercies every day. Forget the failures of the past, except to become wise from them, and press on to the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus. Start each day with thoughts of things above, chiefly on God himself, and seek to practice His presence all through the day. I could give you a thousand things to do but if you turn to the spirit of truth indwelling you, it would be better for you (if you have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you).
One closing note. The ways of the Lord for us is usually easy to understand but impossible for us to do without Him. It tends to focus on the one area we tend to keep away from God, be it our sexuality, money, personality, and intellect, whatever. Even a 2% increase of obedience in that area tends to yield fruit 10 fold in encountering the love of God.