Day Off

What if what we really needed to restore our soul was a day off?  Not a day off for our selves, but a day off from ourselves.  A day away from our worries and fears.  A day away from our anxiety, negative judgments and self-condemning inner voices.

If you want to be restored and refreshed – enter into the rest of the Lord (I am not just throwing religious words at you).  Enter into Christ and find a place to rest.  Sure, like any journey there will be some issues that need to be addressed before you arrive. Know that the rest of the Lord is not only possible – it is waiting.

If you are one of those who’s mind has now ran off and is considering how your can get this done, how you can make it happen; you are off on the wrong path.  Entering Christ does not come by human effort but by invitation.  A heart responds to the cry of the Lord.  A heart hears the Lord calling and calls back longing for an indwelling presence.  Then we lovingly wait. When was the last time you disengaged from “self management mode” and enter into “responsive lover mode”.

It is counter cultural to wait on the Lord to feel good.  Even most of the church promotes “doing more” as the way to feel good. (read, pray, missions, evangelism, serve)  But look at those who cast those seeds.  Are they patient, kind, longsuffering, gentle, without boasting, preferring and honoring one another?  This discernment is not to judge others, but to be aware of the true spiritual food you are partaking of.  Someone who never rests and seldom manifests peace in their life probably cannot help you find it.

But possible that is not what you want to become.  Maybe you want to be powerful, impressive, honored, controlling, persuasive and important.  Maybe the real goal of your heart is not to be like Christ, but to use God for your personal success.  Even if that is you, God will not leave you or forsake you.  God is not just there for those with the best of motives.  He is bigger than that.

There is a place in God, a room, where it is easy to loose sight of yourself because we are so aware of Him.  City wide transformation is about getting this inner reality outward, through an awareness of the nearness of the Lord. Thus we probably will not get the city there until the called of God are there.   Every trial, temptation and pain cries out for us to learn how to enter into this room quickly.  Bible study, memorization and meditation all have great value and purpose, but we are transformed by beholding Him.  (for lessons on beholding just give me a call)

Right now, on a scale of 1-10 how much effort do you put out to feel significant in each of these areas.

• How I perform at work
• How much financial security I have
• How many others need or value me (what they think)
• How I do things the right way or not at all
• How I wait and listen to God, having joy in silence and surrender to Him.

Take a day off from yourself and go on a date with God.  Just let Him drive.

Reconciled to Christ Jesus–no really!

If you are a busy person, stop right now and say, “thanks Lord”!  Thank the Lord for your ability to do stuff.  You can work, reason, raise a family or live as a single.  You can eat, cook, do laundry, clean the house and even sleep when you fall into bed exhausted.  WOW, you can do a lot.

Now I am not trying to be tricky – but real.  The amazing thing is that all of you who have been reconciled to Christ Jesus can do this and give an endless supplies of love.  You are more than human.  You are empowered to love in the midst of all the cares and worries of life.  You are simple and amazing at the same time.

Sure I know that most of you hear some voice in your head crying out for “more”.  You can do more, work harder and smarter, give until it hurts, beat yourself into some unworthy life form than is humble because of brokenness, not because of grace.

But you can also embrace the humility of a life lived in loving obedience to God.  Through loving others as your life your life, you will do a great many miracles, signs and wonders.  We do want both God’s face and strength because we do not just want a part of God but all of Him.  To have “the all” focus on abiding in Him and letting His love flow freely out of you.  Do not focus on the results.  The results will follow as fruit come forth from the tree.  Be a healthy tree.

A healthy tree lives well where is it planted.  It may be in the desert, in the rain forest, all alone or surrounded by a thousand others, but it lives will.  No matter what your life situation, live well.  Embrace the love of God for you in your situation and rejoice through excepting God love without thoughts of being better or doing more.  You do a lot.

Now here is a little spiritual exercise.

Write down on a piece of paper all your goals and dreams.  List them out.

Now make a mark by each one that you know God has specifically spoken to you about.  You can say with 100% confidence that God has called you to do these things.

Now, when you start to be depressed or feel like a failure, go back to this list.  Review it so that you know what are God’s directives and what are your desires.  Ask God to work His grace in your life so that you are not discouraged by unmet desires.  Unmet desires are not the same as abandoning God, they are not failings, just unmet desires.

You want desires, longing and dreams to be a part of your life.  God made you to long and desire.  You just want these desires to be in the rightful place.  You do not want to live with a broken heart because some desires are not meet.  You want to live in confidence as you seek to do all the things God has asked of you.  Know the difference between desires and calling. 

Some people waist their life because they feel like their unmet desire are the result of a life not rightly reconciled to the Lord.  They look at what has not happened in their life and say, “God must not love me”, or “I am not pleasing to the Lord”.  Take personal responsibility and do not let desires raise to the place of obedience to the will of God.  Do the will of God.  Keep praying and crying out for unmet desires, but don’t let them rule your relationship with God.

Does life suck?

The New Year is in full throttle. For me it is like this year (which I started with the beginning of Advent this year) is one big unexpected savor! My life is a paradox of hopes and dreams of the past failing to materialize and my life being filled with unexpected love, kindness and help. It is like my life is a layered sucker; you know the ones where a new layer of taste is just waiting for you to lick off the one you are presently on. In this case the next layer is not just a surprise, but a shock. This shock is both an extreme of good and not good. It is like my life has become like the world; drought, flood, riches, and devastation. It is like a get a great “bailout” and “calamity” at the same time.

Just prior to my trip to AZ, something I will talk about later, we had an episode with the water heater and the carbon dioxide, the dishwasher went out (the machine not Shirley), our office and home computer failed and Shirley continues to battle a health issue. And at the same time we received blessings of money, food, furniture, friendship and gifts of food, fun and fellowship. WoW!

In AZ I recall laying in bed shaking with a fever at by brothers house on a Sunday night. I was feeling so bad but at the same time the presence of the Lord was so near that I could not stop praying. I recall thinking that “this is crazy”. But it was not crazy, more like wonderful. It was like by body was rotten, no good, miserable but I was keenly aware of the Lord. I felt so loved and so sick at the same time.

What I hope happens from writing this note is that someone will come up to me and say, “hey Rod my life is just like that”. “My life is full of troubles and full of God, it’s beyond sorting out”. I am looking for this confirmation so that misery can love company or so that I can rejoice with those who rejoice. But regardless of my motivation I do truly wonder how many great saints are living faithful lives in dark times.

I never wanted to be a Job, Jeremiah, Isaiah or even Paul during the prison years. I always wanted to be the guy that lived and great life for God on “easy street”. If enduring and going through stuff empowers us to love and serve others, what have I gained authority to say? Maybe the message that I have for the nations (small groups of people who do not know one another) is “keep sucking”. That sounds like a good redneck message.

Keep sucking and allow your deep spirit to love God no matter what taste is in your mouth. Enjoy the sweet but not so much as to distract you from His work yet to be done on the earth. Endure the bitter, but with no malice or self pity. God treats His friends in a rather mature way and going through pain and suffering is nothing more than an opportunity to validate your intimacy with God or enter into a deeper chamber of His love.

It was just after 5 in the morning. I just got out of the emergency room and into my room, waiting for surgery. The doctor came into my room, both a kind and direct man. He wakes me up and said that he did not have an opportunity to review the paperwork until now and that we have a problem. I did not have insurance. Do you know what it feels like to be sick, needing surgery and be told by your surgeon that “I don’t operate on people without insurance”. But then, as if an Angle of grace came into the room this doctor patted me on the leg and said, “but I will take care of you”. “But I will take care of you”, is the sound of a helpless sick man being given hope and healing. It is the sound of one layer of that sucker being licked off into the next. It is like this constant mingling of “worst news” “best news” lifestyle.

My life lesson – keep sucking!

He who endures to the end will be saved.

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.