How to boil a potato?

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

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

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

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

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

It is the same with cooking the potato.

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

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

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

So do you know how to live by the spirit?

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.

Mind Your Own Business

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

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

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

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

You can't get who you are from somebody else

Do you ever expect people to like you, love everything you say, joyfully tolerate all you petty differences? Do you think people love you? I am not asking if people should behave that way. I am asking do your expect them to?

OR
Are people like you and me. People who have issues of judgment, hurt feelings, likes and dislikes, fears and rejection. In the real world that is not yet taken over by the Kingdom of God, we have people treating people badly. This is OK!! It is even good (in a heaven forever and redemption under way sort of way).

As long as people treat us poorly, and you can decide what poorly means to you. I'm not worried, someone, many people, are going to treat you poorly no matter how you define it. Even if you define it in such a way as to allow for every kind of evil, someone is going to treat you nice and make a mess of your plans and thought life. So in this life we are going to be ill treated.

At this point we are blessed (read Beatitudes for description). It is great to have the help of all humanity in our quest of loving God first and foremost. In this world you cannot get from others what you can only get from God. The great redeemer has give us broken humanity to assist us in loving and needing love from Him. Sure we need to love one another and ought to. But no one should ever pressure others to love them in a defining way. Only God gets to wrap His fingers around us and make us and mold us.

I am loved by God. No sticks of stones can change that. Just read VOM and you will see that is true! I was made by God to be loved by Him. If a few people love me while I am here on the earth, that is frosting on the cake or Moosetracks in the bowl.

PS: Trying to be loving to others while you are not yourself filled with the love of God results in pretending in the worst sorta way. But feel free to start with kindness and work your way up.

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.

A Grand View

I have been privileged to see a great many great sights. I have captured the wonders of mountains high and the vastness of the ocean. I have enjoyed the thrill of conflict and the harmony of silence. My heart has been broken by both the pain and suffering of others and the kindness of life lived well. Yet what I observed last night in the prayer room was very near the top of the list for me.

As those who gathered prepared for ministry to the Lord it was as if I could feel His anticipation. There was a delight emanating from the Spirit of God that caught my attention. I am a person very much addicted to enjoyment and the enjoyment of enjoying God as He loves those who come to minister to Him and for Him is extraordinary. The ordinary love of God is good, very good. The extraordinary love of God captures the wholeness of man, it fills sensual places that you did not know exist. The mind, reason and logic seem to be filled with childlike excitement, wonder and fun on the most enjoyable level. All this while at the same time encountering the fear, wonder and awe that encountering another dimension in God brings.

In addition to encountering God in this way, it seems like a doorway is open to you. Once you find Him, or He finds you, in this way; you can enter into His depths over and over again in many and various ways. It is like finding God only to find that He is always near, ever willing to reveal Himself for who He truly is.

I am thankful that I get to run the race with people like this Friday Night Group. I am full with satisfaction of being part of a part of Him.

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