Eureka!

Maybe a better title for this post would be Ah ha! Eureka literally means "I have found it" or figuratively "I figured it out" which is not true in this case since as we all know all too well, I am just not that smart. As you know from the last post, I have been out of sync for awhile--at least I thought I was. The way out of that feeling is a good lesson for me and maybe a good lesson for you as well. I am still processing, but I know that period is almost over. I can still use a vacation for sure, but now I know I can wait at least until after the first of the year. Christmas is not my favorite holiday, (I love Easter) but having the family around for a few days is one of my favorite things. I am looking forward to that.

I made a serious error when I realized I was out of sync. Yes, it happens to the best of us. I guess it does. Perhaps some of the best of you can confirm that for me? Anyway, I lost my focus for a few weeks. I was focusing on being out of sync. You know that because I wrote about it. I was hoping that by processing what was happening I could get out of it. That was a serious error. I know better. There is only one place for our focus to be and it is not on the circumstances. The author of Hebrews encourages us saying, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith..." (NIV) For those of you old enough to remember Keith Green, he penned a line in a song that said, "It's so hard to see when my eyes are on me."

If you read the previous post you remember me saying that experience leads me to believe getting out of sync is nearly always a spiritual attack. I am chuckling here as I think about having written that without understanding it was the solution in my situation. In fact, as I evaluate what the Holy Spirit revealed to me this morning I realize it might have been a spiritual attack, but I let it get a little out of control. I realized I was out of sync so I focused on being out of sync rather than on Jesus.

I woke up too early today and was not sure I even wanted to go to church. I showered and dressed and sat down to watch a sermon on television. I did not make it quite all the way through the sermon before I fell asleep. I regained consciousness in time to get to the church up on the corner just as they were starting. In truth I probably could have made it to the church I usually attend, but I decided to visit a different one. I am not even sure what the pastor said that sparked the thought--maybe nothing--but I know I heard the word "plateau" in my spirit. So as I listened to the pastor exhort the congregation about the things we need to do to make the Christmas season even more of a blessing in our corporate lives, I was also hearing this post in my spirit.

Sometimes we hit a plateau in the spiritual life. We feel we are not making any progress. You who read this blog are a cut above in the spiritual life or you would not continue reading so I am going to be plain here. Plateaus are very important, but can also be very dangerous places. Sometimes we need a rest. As human beings clothed in corruptible flesh, we can only maintain momentum for a certain period of time. Of course that period varies from person to person, but we all need to rest from time to time. That is the good part. The bad part comes in when we enjoy the rest on the plateau so much we decide to stay there. When we struggle to a plateau the rest and refreshing can be so comfortable we lose a bit of the vision we were working on as we climbed the hill. We forget what we were doing right that enabled us to reach that place of rest. Do not let that be your problem if you find yourself in a place of rest. Enjoy the rest, but listen for the time to move.

Plateaus are the places to rest and refresh. The irony here is that we often bring additional stress upon ourselves by becoming impatient that nothing seems to be happening. I was there. Everything was going so well in my life, I could not think of a thing to complain about. Oh sure, there are always things that I would have changed were I able, but even those things did not seem important. Then I realized I did not even know I had hit a plateau. I just thought nothing was going on. I started wondering if anyone were actually reading the blog. Two of my mighty men got wounded, one critically. (Maybe I can explain that another time.) I just had no idea what was going on. It seemed as thought there was always more to do than I could possibly get done. I was simply out of sync. I am back now. That is not to say anything is likely to change dramatically right away. I am guessing it will be after the first of the year before the Lord calls us to make a push. I am thinking there may be another few things to address before that time. Stay tuned.

Out of Sync

Some of you might remember watching films in school. If I am not mistaken they were 16mm films that were projected on a screen by a complicated piece of machinery that usually made way to much noise. That is not my point. Sometimes the loop of the film was formed incorrectly by the projector operator and the people on the film would be moving their lips slightly faster or slower than the sound was coming from them. I used to have to turn my face away from the screen when that happened. It made me nuts. You possibly have that situation to thank for me being the way I am today. That situation is referred to as the picture and the sound being "out of sync". They were not working together as they should have. That is not a good thing. Some of you may also remember that was sort of what caused Milli Vanilli to have their grammy revoked. You can google that if you want. Actually, they were too much in sync.

I have been out of sync for a few weeks now. You may have noticed. I was coming along just fine with the painting and I got the new blinds hung and suddenly it was the afternoon before Thanksgiving. Everything was put on hold. Yes, I pretty much mean everything. I have barely gotten anything done other than going to work for a full week. That, of course, means the carpet will be laid before the baseboards are finished. That, in turn, means more masking and taping to protect the new carpet.

Sometimes life just gets out of sync. I suppose there are other examples we could use, but as I have to constantly remind my guys at the mission, do not get bogged down in the illustration. When life does get out of sync, we often try in vain, using all our own abilities and resources, to get back where we should be. Sometimes this works better than others, but it never really solves the problem.

Of course this is purely anecdotal evidence, but my experience leads me to believe that getting out of sync is nearly always a spiritual attack. Normally I do not leave fill in spaces between the lines, but I did in the previous paragraph. Did you notice the phrase "our own abilities and resources"? Did you read that as operating in the soul? Spiritual battles can never be won in the power of the soul.

Scripture tell us, "...whatever is not from faith is sin." (Romans 14:23) This means any time we start in the soul we are going to be wrong. There is no way to redeem an incorrect start in this area. We have to go back to the beginning and start all over again.

I am really not sure why I am telling you all this. Well, maybe I do know. Sometimes when I write or say something seemingly at random, I end up hearing something I needed to know. So far I am just out of sync. I am not at all sure what it is going to take to change that, but I do know there is something I am supposed to ask all of you to do.

Today I was in church and you would have thought I had the plague. I was in the third row. In fact I was the only one in the first three rows in that section. Another couple did come and sit in the row behind me. I am not going to give you too much information, but sometimes it is good to be in the presence of God, alone, even in the presence of other people, if you know what I mean. Somewhere along the line I had a random thought which is now obviously not so random at all. The thought was, "Tell the people to pray." It came bubbling up from my spirit and I knew it was time to really begin softening up the spiritual atmosphere. So will you pray, please? If you get a chance let us know what it is you are led to pray? As I said, I am a little out of sync.