October 11, 2011 Observations

October 11, 2011

Observations

 (Philippians 4:11) 

Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.

I have noticed that focusing on the Spirit within, the ability to focus on the self is greatly diminished.  Gazing to follow the Spirit brings a security not lived out in “serving to do right” from a human performance method.  In just this short time I notice that I have more peace when I seek simply to obey the Lord , as opposed to managing my behavior.  I will probably need some outside verification that I have not fallen into a “more selfish” pit, but I think my outward actions are more in line with Christ also. 

One surprise that I have found is in listening.  When I am not is self-manage mode, I have time to listen to others.  I do not feel the compulsion to respond or defend my position or actions.  It is more like I feel more sorrow for past mistakes, and a longing not to dwell on them or allow them to rule over me.  So I think I am open to the Spirit and others more, I grant them a more true entrance into my emotions and thoughts.  It seems like the Spirit highlights failure so that we move forward into Christ likeness.  The Spirit choosing to have us dwell on our faults and failures only when we are not “getting “the lessons we need.

The first hours of this adventure I could feel a ripping of the souls’ delight away from my thoughts of pleasure.  How can being holy be pleasurable?  I feel a ripping, pulling, tearing away from my security of future fun.  To trust the Master for fun, what faith is needed for this?

In reading the Desert Fathers I have considered their thoughts.  To desire Christ Jesus you must have seen him.  This seeing is not a vision but an unfolding of Christ into our hearts.  Some who write on this describe it as seeing the Lord in a mirror.  The clearer the vision of the Lord the more a person desires to behold Him more.  When the vision is in a broken mirror, containing reflections of other things and distorted views, so also is the desire to see the Lord continually fragmented.  Pride would have us seek to “self fix” the mirror.  Humility would have us be a good steward of what we have received.  Pride calls out, “I can do better”, humility whispers, “Lord Jesus have mercy on me”.   I am aware of the two men who stood before the alter to pray.

What gain is Christ to the soulish man

In every way it seems

For un-separated from self he lives

And Christ heals everything

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

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

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.

Life

Jesus is the life giver. God is the one who breathed into us and gave us life. But what is it that we really want? Do we want a ministry, a career, a certain identity? Maybe we want to be a sports, film or religious star. Maybe we want to be something special and unique.

The best thing we can have is life. It is life, in all it's "lifeness" that makes us live, be filled with emotions, enjoy, suffer and well....live. We do not need to be fooled by the powers of influence that we need more than life. Living well is the most important function of the life we have been given. All to many people waist their lives by the endless seeking to be something more. There is nothing more than being alive, both now and forever. Anything that is added, if we use that language, is a part of life, it is not more than life.

God is the life giver and we need to live our lives well, to the fullest and with great zeal. The acquiring of titles, positions, status or events does not mean we are living life well. We can be well traveled, well educated, secure in job and family and still not be living well. The very idea of life transcends all the stuff of life and calls to us of "other worldly" adventure.

The next time you wonder why you are alive, take a slow deep breath. Consider the wonder of breathing in the first place. Get distracted by the amazement of your ability to breath. Consider how in the world it came to be that you breath, live. Let the life you have connect you to the source of living - God. The more this is done, the more you will have a great life.

In Him we live. Apart from Him we can do nothing.

The Last Day - rejoice

Today is the last day before a new year. I thought I would make a list of things I rejoice over. These are not in order, just a random come to mind as they did mode. I will rejoice and be glad.
1. Peace of God in my mind
2. Shirley and a good marriage
3. People who love me and people who pretend to
4. For the health that I do have and ability to work
5. Provision to live on and to share
6. Hope for the future in Christ Jesus
7. Eternity, more yet to come
8. God’s creativity
9. Miracles, signs and wonders
10. Testimony of the Saints
11. Witness of the Martyrs
12. Sincerity of the Youth
13. Always something new to learn
14. Humility as a pathway to freedom
15. Coffee
16. My children knowing God
17. I have a Bible and reading glasses
18. My home is full of peace (especially if I am not home)
19. I have a purpose in daily life
20. I am clothed and well fed
21. I have power to help others
22. I hear God’s voice (others too)
23. I enjoy seeking God, music and prophecy
24. My soul is content
25. God often tells me what is wrong with me so that I don’t need to worry about that part much.

Thanks + Giving

Had a great time with some of the family this past weekend. Right now I am doing the Global Bridegroom Fast. It is very, very hard to go from feasting to fasting. I love to feast. Fasting is not so enjoyable.

I had to go through some of the scripture on fasting this morning to get my motivation up. I had a little, "why should I go without" attitude and needed to be challenged to make a difference in the world and not just live. It is easy to fall into the "what does it matter" way of thinking. This is especially true for those of us who have been fasting and praying for years. At times you can wonder what difference it is making. Who would know or care if we gave in a little?

It is in moments like these that I need to be reminded that I don't do it for YOU (humanity), I do it for HIM. God will know each sacrifice and broken fast. He will know the cost I have paid in prayer, in service and in loving others. It is enough for HIM to know because HE is the one I am seeking to serve. It is HIS will I am seeking to see actualized on the earth in the first place.

The greatest Mystics taught that what you do matters. They taught that if you pull away from this world, that if you abandon your life to Christ alone, you will find true life. Living beyond the Vail of self-service doesn't mean we do not serve. We serve and labor for HIS will, not our own. Those who are abandoned to Christ are not care-less with life. Those who are abandoned to Christ are the most care-ful with life, and actions, and duty.

God creates so that HE can share HIMSELF.

What can you do to change the world? What is God’s calling to His people in this hour?

In Acts 17 we find the story of Iconium, a city that the spreading of the gospel was “not that easy”. Notice that the great and anointed Paul and Barnabus had a few hard places too. You are not the only one that is called to fight against the evil. In this situation racial and religious strife combined with leadership and rulers who were entangled in the conflict between God and anti-god. Men who were the serving the enemy of God stirred up their minds and embittered their spirits to that God’s word, sings and wonders. It was one of those times when the move of God brought as much division as union. People were choosing sides. Emotions were running high.
As you read this passage of Scripture you will observe that this is one of those times when the miracles did not produce a happy ending, not for many years. Barnabus and Paul wanted to make a difference now, but they were willing to pay the price for a life of ministry. In this passage they fled, Paul was stoned and left for dead, and then they later returned and ministered to the disciples that were there. Through years of conflict and turmoil the gospel of the kingdom was presented with power and patience. If we were living in that region at that time we might have called it revival. But we might of also have called it political unrest, religions controversy, false teaching, manipulation and anarchy.
We live in such a time and are in such a conflict. We may long for an immediate solution, nevertheless we should prepare ourselves to pay the full price of a life of ministry. World history and the Bible both teach us that the gospel of the kingdom cannot be stopped as long as the disciples do a few things.
1. Authentic Christian Discipleship. Culture and society is invaded with the gospel of the kingdom when the people of God live authentic Christian lives. By living rightly then effect and influence every area of culture and business. Through community and relationships people witness the power and presence of God in the lives of disciples around them. When the disciples call themselves “Christian” but life just like the world, the power of testimony is lost. When the disciples seek to live in such a way that requires God to be present and visible in their lives, God is faithful to be near then.
2. Dependence on God should increase with maturity not decrease. Just the opposite of being able to handle situations on our own should occur. While from the outside observer it may seem like the mature disciple make more choices bases on personal opinion or responsibility, the reality is that the mature disciple lives a life of ongoing simple devotion to Christ. Their heat is constantly being turned to God, they are seeking direction and guidance moment by moment and have fewer needs to take time out to find God because they live daily life as a seeker.
3. When a group of disciples seek both the power and presence of God, over time they affect culture. The power of God is often described as His outward glory, the signs, wonders and miracles that are fruit of God backing up His disciples. The presence is the power of God working in the inner man, transforming wounded, broken and sinful man into holiness, purity and righteous.
4. Disciples have the privilege to yield every kingdom of their life to the Master. While this smacks against our view of independence, self-reliance and it is also the doorway to never ending fellowship with God. God desires to be with us always. So we can enjoy recreation, entertainment and employment in an atmosphere of fellowship with God. The more we keep kingdoms for ourselves the more we live divided and confused lives. The more we live to glorify God in all we do and think, the more we find peace and power in every area of life.
In our day we can join with God by following a few ideals.
• One Way
• Humble the Heart
• Renewed Mind
• Peaceful Soul
• Industrious Servant
• Obedient Child
• Learning Disciple
• Wounded Healer
• Loving Authority
• Infused Humanity

Living with an OUCH

Be gracious to me, O Lord
for I am in distress
My eye is wasted away from grief
my soul and body also
For my life is spent with sorrow
and my years with sighing
My strength has failed because of my iniquity
and my body has wasted away
(PS 31)
Satan seeks to take my life
All my enemies side with him
They plan ways to bring me down
lies are released to set the snare
My body staggers under the attack
stress and anxiety wear me down
except for the Lord, I would have no hope
I am weary with the thought of living another day
false friends come and preach ease
religious ones say. "be comforted" but no power is in their words
The house of the Spirit cracks
It shivers in pain
life has slipped from living to enduring

Now
In the moment of greater darkness
the smaller light outshines
to be so close to hell and yet to look at God
the thoughts and lessons of Job rush upon
though He slay me, I will love Him
I belong to Him
Un-modern faith must now take the helm
reason is de-throned, illumination must rule
though He slay me, yet I will Praise Him
the resolve beyond reflection

Never Ending Rain and Pain

There are times in life when it seems like the “bad” will never end. This perception in its self is the cause of a great deal of discouragement. How many of us turn to drugs, alcohol, food, entertainment, recreation or whatever, just to get a break from the perception of unending “badness”?
It is hard to turn to the Lord in times of “badness”. This is not my opinion but the testimony of the whole of Scripture. In time you will be better off if you admit how hard it is to turn to the Lord when you are hurting or bailing the flood waters out of your basement. If you pretend that it is not, you are training yourself in deception. No matter how hard the turning to the Lord is, we must also come to see and understand the treasure of that moment. It is when life is the hardest for us that we can offer to God the sacrifice of turning to Him, away from our self love and self life, and into His Lordship (Master).
The simple reality of turning away from our never ending problems and pain to the Lord is acts of intercession as each of us transcends the moments of suffering and with our hearts, cry out for things eternal. This is not a theory for me, it is a practiced reality. It may be an under practiced reality, but one that I have used, none the less. As I write this I am hoping to beat the Devil over the head with my difficulties by using them to glorify God. (Do Devils have heads?) I want to take the very things that would cause me to run from the Lord and use them to draw closer to God.
In the realm of the Spirit there is a veil. This veil is often, if not always, emotional. If you can go through your emotions, the driving emotions of the moment, you can enter the place of the Lord’s rest. Once there you will find that almost immediately your emotions change. The struggle is the love we have for our own emotions, the love we have to be hurt, to be angry, and to be stressed. On the hurting side of life these emotions seem so much more comforting that the thought of losing them and becoming at peace. The un-transformed human nature loves darkness more than light. But we can be transformed by the continuation of beholding Him and drawing near to God. It is not so much about our ability to perform self righteousness as it is about His power as Author and Finisher of the FAITH.
In just a little while, maybe a few more decades, all evil will end.

In High Demand

I am in one of those seasons of “high demand”. I am right now in the Prayer Room (not praying) but using my blog to sort through several of the voices I hear in my mind. These are not “God speaking to me” voices, but “me speaking to me” voices. If you don’t have these don’t worry, you’re not missing much.
But I have been stressed by all the things that I “could do”, “should do”, “must do”, “ought to do” and “might possible do”. It feels a lot like driving in Chicago traffic, talking on the cell, eating a subway sandwich, listening to Reed’s DVD, praying in the spirit and daydreaming all at the same time. Don’t ask me how I know it feels like that. But it does.
I want to please the Lord in all regards. I want to make my life count, not for something, but for God. I want to stand before the eternal one and have Him smile and give me the redeeming hug of brotherhood. To hear Him say, “Well done, you mystic redneck, you did just want I wanted”! I don’t want others to look at my life and say it was a success, I want my Dad in heaven to approve. So how do I/we do that.
I spent a lot of time trying to sort through the truths of the Scripture and find a list to help me manage my life. Then in the prayer room (while I was praying) I felt the Lord toll me “not to manage my life”. I felt the Lord saying to me that He would manage my life. That my part was to love others and listen to Him closely as to what I was to do or not do. I know that “God wants me to….” Has been misused in the past. But just because it has been abused doesn’t mean it is not the way of life.
We don’t need God to tell us to get out of bed or stop eating ice cream after the second bowl. We have a responsibility to manage life on some level. But the level is always, always subject to the will of God who is in heaven. It is a delightful burden to live in such a way as to bring about on earth as it is in heaven. So the next time you find yourself life me… Trying to help 3 National Prayer Movements and 4 local church prayer events, 4 city wide prayer efforts, help the neighbors roof, 5 lawns to mow, a church to remodel, a home to build for a “dropped” Katarina victim, a son who wants to go fishing and play catch, friends who need help moving, a bathroom that need to be cleaned and a book that calls out to be read; just listen.
My Dad in heaven deals with much more than this on a daily basis and His “never in a panic” way of doing things enables me to do my part – love others. I think I’m gonna pray the prayer of THANKSGIVING FOR AWAILE.

Healed or not healed

I am setting right now in a healing school in Iowa. Last week I was in Lakeland FL at the Florida outpouring. It is a wonderful and awful thing to chase the Lord and His healing power. I have not been healed but have had numerous encounters with the presence and love of God. It is not a simple thing to reconcile outside of our personal relationship with God.

I come to believe that no matter what we "believe in our theology" we live from the reality of our life in God. The more we truly have a daily relationship with God the more we are stable in all the things that life brings to us and through us. Our pain and longing are all filtered through that relationship with God. This is what allows us to pray for others while we ourselves are in a place of need. This is what allows us to suffer while living in hope and love, we can have a need for money to pay our bills and yet be giving to others because we have a security that is not in this world, it is in our heart and in our relationship with God.

My pain sought to be me
Yet I found life coming to me
Not in my situation
But beyond it
The love I needed
Was freely supplied
Not through my labor
But through graces desire
It was not my work to be free that set me free
Even my desire to be like God failed
All that comes from man fails
To bring life eternal, power unfailing
All that we need
Only in Him, from Him, with Him
Grace and love are freely given to me
Through the Son who love through Calvary
Free eternal because His first and always loves me

Un-American God

Isa 57:15 For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, "I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.

God appears in this passage to be very un-american. He is the living holy one who dwells (lives, abides and stays) with broken down ones. He is not the God who visits the nursing home, who walks through the depressed neighborhoods, who calls the totally whacked to see how they are doing. He goes and lives with them so that they can be revived or come to life.

If God dwells on high and in holy places, yet he lives with the contrite and lowly, does that mean that they(the broken and depressed) are on height with Him? Are the broken down with God in the elevated dwelling place? Are they dwelling in Him and possessing the Holy Mountain?

What type of God hangs out with and lives with the broken people of the world? Are we not all taught in the American church to be "something special" so that we are blessed, rewarded and valued? Do we not all sing songs of triumph which have us winning the battle, overcoming the enemy and defeating the foe through our faith? Are we only partly educated and equipped?

"Revive" here means to "live". God is a God of life. If you already have a life, if your daily existence is full of stuff, activity, recreation, family, friends, lunches, dinners, sporting events, concerts, theater, biking, eating, singing; then you have no room for God, no room for life. But if you find yourself on the edge of emptiness, if you feel a lack in your heart, a desire for something more, then there is hope.

According to Isaiah 57:15 here is what you do to pull yourself out of the situation and brokenness you are in. First of all you "be". Second you look for the God who said He would be there as you "be". Thirdly you spiritually allow God to descend into your brokenness and lift you to His height and holy places. You can say "no" to both the indwelling presence of God and the revival of your life. Your pain will try to make you say no. Fear and hopelessness will not always yield easily, but God is long suffering and persistent.

Here is my "Crashed, smashed and broken prayer".

HERE I AM, COME AND GET ME!!!!

Even if you are suffering pain, it is actually quite hard to be down cast if you are truly interacting with the presence of God. You can be in so much pain that your mind is numb to everything else. That is another situation with another method of revival. But for those trapped in brokenness there is an method of elevation, and it comes in the form of the dwelling of God.

The Lord is our Shepherd

Because God is very good we should not waist our past, especially our past failures. The things that we face this today, and tomorrow, are placed into our lives so that we live beyond and above them. To do this God has lead us through our past to our present, so that we might live as Kingdom people.

Make a list of all the miraculous things that have happened in your life. This list comes at the crossroads of desperation and conflict. The things that occurred in these moments are some of our most critical training. But we tend to blow it off and relegate it to "bad experiences" or "miraculous events". They are more. They are a big part of the training of God.

If you have been healed, as I have, then you have been trained in God's power to intervene in our bodies. If you have been given gifts of provision, as I have, you have been trained in God's school of supply. If you have been liberated in your mind, as I have, from negative condemning controlling thoughts then you have been trained by God in the renewing of the mind and the reforming of inner life.

So it is not a matter of just getting through a season of life or of having God get us out of a pickle. We are being trained in the ways of the Lord so that we can deal with the storms and issues of life. Let's not go to school for years and then live as though we have no education, no training.

Take your list and open your heart and mind to the equipping of the Lord. He lead you through these things so that you would not just "know about" the possibility of God's ways but so that you would "experience them". You are a living testimony of God and His ways. Now don't waist them. Boldly live daily life in such a way as to allow the training you have received from God to touch the lives of others. Sure no all people will be touch in the same way God touch you. Sure you can not guarantee the outcome. But you can be just like Jesus and make intercession for others to encounter God in His miracle working manner.

I'm Better because I'm Better

Most every day I get up I try to earn some favor from God that will allow my life to be a little easier or "more blessed". At the end of most of these days I just have depression and disappointment. It is very hard work to try and get God to love you more!

With the help of an unyielding heart, I set out anew most every day. Oh now I pretend that I have my act together, I pretend to walk in grace and to live care fee under the provision of the Lord. What I truly do is act out my desired reality while inside, I live with the real me. I'm waiting for the real me to go away and the me I want to be to live.

Fear plays a major role in my life. Fear of rejection, fear of hurt, fear of failure; all work on me like a roller pin working in yeast. More than that, like a overweight half drunker sailor who is serving time in the galley by getting the bread ready. Driven by anger and filled with bitterness this sailor slaps and punches the bread, using verbal insult to get his job done. At times I feel like my inner life just knocks me around. I feel abused for a purpose. Molded into a small container and heated until I am ready to be eaten by man.

How can I live in grace and favor. I know what this cost. I know who I am. I know what I am in the very deep places of my thoughts, attitudes, emotions. Sure I have some level of the gift of self-control, that is what makes me the least bit socially acceptable. I am gifted at pretending to me a better me. Grace and favor are just to costly a gift to embrace, doing so results in humility, deep unending humility.

One of the places of greatest pain and suffering is the place that I can never earn love from God. My "manness" is empty, broken. I fail at all attempts of earning love. This is a haunting truth. For the immature it is a "so what". "Let's party and fill our lives with selfishness." "Come listen to me, I am favored by the Lord, blessed, loved, and it cost me nothing!" Why do I call them immature? Do I want them to be unhappy with me?

Where is the truth, the truths about right living with God? Where do obedience and grace meet? How can a righteous man live in righteous ways and not feast at the table of irresponsibility? There must be "a way".


Silently now I hear His voice
My unborn brother takes the lead
Like a beam of light
He over shadows me
So on the other side of me is the only dark place
Where will I cast my gaze
What will I choose for focus
The unborn One
Me
The Shadow created

I choose to see them all
To be one
To live for another
To be united in my division
To live in the space between failure and grace
The space I call "me"

Like my brother
Bread for men
That them might eat
And live

Favored By God

Eph 2:18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.

Access
Access to God is the favor of God to draw near to Him. How many people do you think desire to serve and know God, yet they never utilize the privilege of fellowship with God?

The might and power of God enters into the life of a person so that they can draw upon that power to walk with God. It is not a "walking after" God as much as it is "walking with" God. Walking with the Holy Spirit results in a life of continual overcoming of sin, evil, sickness and disease. Walking with God brings one into living contact with knowledge, information, understanding and emotions beyond this world. Walking with God is the way that we live in both heaven and earth at the same time.

How many people have had Satan come to them and steal the very words of God. Men and women who have been attacked through plain reason and logic to except the non-existence of God. People who were convinced that there is a God, but He does not dwell in man. People who started out loving God but who have been reduced to "meeting attenders" and "giving units" as the wonder of living a life of "God in them" has been attacked, ridiculed and ma lined.

Today, each one of us who has entered into life with Christ Jesus can yield to the strength of God's might and enter into fellowship with God and His will. The power, ability, miracles, authority of God is in us as we live a life in fellowship with God. So marvelous is this loving grace of God that we are allowed full access until we are filled with the fullness of God. Unbelievable!

Increasing your rejection potential

I am about to step out into a whole new area in my life. It is a area that I have shared with Shirley for years, but now that I am almost grow up we think I am able to move to a whole new level. So I am going to increase my rejection potential.

In a few years I need to talk to Reed about his love for baseball, pitching in particular. I want Reed to love the sport but I need him to know that only the fans of the teems he is on will cheer for him. All the other people are going to cheer against him. The farther he goes in baseball the more he will be increasing his rejection potential.

Now someone reading this article may think that I am negative, but that is not true. A negative person would tell you that people are going to reject you. I am only telling you that your potential for rejection is increasing. But it might be best to lie to people and tell them that everyone will love them and desire for them to win. Do you think people watch the last out in the world series and hope the pitcher throws his best pitches to strike out their teams batter? Or do you think they hope the pitcher blows it?

I think Jesus was a nice fellow. I have not meet him personally but everything I read about Him leads me to believe He should be liked. I mean he healed sick people, helper the poor, help the wise get wiser. Yet all along He increased His rejection potential. I bet people all around Jerusalem who heard that Jesus had rose from the dead and was now holding a little prayer gathering in the upper room were secretly locked in their homes by the Herod Home Security Force. Even after He defeated death Jesus was not excepted by others. He only had a 120 in the upper room. Shirley's family down home have more than that show up for a good fish fry.

So the next time to feel lead to step out and do something for God, family or job, just settle it that some will cheer for you and some against you. Once that is settled, go for it. If the Son of God wasn't slowed down by all the naysayers, neither should we be.

Get out there and get rejected!

Troubles come a knocking

A window of hope
That experiencing God now, in the moment
Is worth more than all pain
What faith calls forth such great hope
The reality of His love being enough
I am so needy, needy of stupid things
Can holiness cover stupidity, weakness

New man, not of earth
What will feed you and your kin
Who will shelter you, love you
Are you able to care for such devotion
Do you truly call for it

I would love to love my son
Even in his weakness I would love him
Yet in weakness I do not
God has no such weakness
God is love, He is not loving
No shadow exist in Him, no lack

Responding now and always to my need is He
Opening doors, windows and ways
By virtue and obedience, I live a prayer
By humility I an set in His place
Pain and sorrow the doors to greater virtue
No shameless suffering
Just transformation