Step Up

We keep trying to write about getting to the business of defeating the religious spirit, which is, after all, the overriding purpose of this blog. Somehow it just does not seem to be the right time. That kind of leaves us in a state of wondering what to do now. I do not really have a problem with patience--except when things take a long time to develop. (Yes folks, it's a joke.) Seriously though, it seems as though we are in a holding pattern, a time of rest, the calm before the storm. We could go with all that, but it seems as though no one understands what the real problem is. That is frustrating. It is as if no one recognizes the spiritual strongholds that exist in this valley. They think that by doing the right things, everything will work out. Hello? We do not even have a good concept of how much of the building we are doing is on sand. (Matthew 7:24-27) Wow, that is very interesting. Most of the Santa Maria valley is sand. I am sensing a spiritual lesson there somewhere.


Okay, so if we dissect those verses in Matthew, we know Jesus is talking about building our lives on Him rather than on our concept of what is right. That is a no-brainer. All people who plant churches build on Jesus--do they not? I keep remembering the adage from the church of the 1970s that "Healthy sheep reproduce." Assuming for a moment that is true, there are a lot of churches around that do not have healthy sheep because they have stagnated. What happened? The religious spirit happened. That is what happened. We have no idea how long the religious spirit has been entrenched in this valley. We do know Paul Cain, whom some consider a prophet, believed that this valley was significant in the spiritual realm in the 1940s. As far as we know, he has never made mention of a religious spirit here.


Rather than making assumptions, let us go with what we do know. There has been very little, palpable, spiritual progress made in this valley in the twenty plus years we have been back. To be sure, some new churches have been planted, pastors have come and gone, and small churches have grown. How would one quantify spiritual progress?

When John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask if Jesus were the Messiah, they were told to tell John, "The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those that have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor." (Matthew 11:5) Are those things happening here? They are! Not often, not regularly, but they are. It has been awhile since we have seen any of those things happen, well, maybe with the exception of the good news being preached to the poor, but those other things have happened in the not so distant past. God is working. He breaks through now and again, but seldom enough that some people think it is just accidental or maybe coincidental when it happens. One of the things I have learned from my pastor is that we have more results when we are intentional about what we are doing. I would be hard pressed to believe God is any less than intentional in what He does.

God is at work in the Santa Maria Valley. Make no mistake about that. The principle we sometimes miss is that, in this dispensation, this time period in history, God works through people. He works through His Church which has been bought by the blood of Jesus. That said, He works through ordinary Christians. Some consider it a liability to have a Bible College or Seminary education. We understand that concept. The Bible tells us that, "...Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." (1 Corinthians 8:1 NIV) I had a lot of classes in Bible College and Seminary, but none of them were on love. I received a lot of knowledge from a lot of great men and women, but only the love of Jesus enables us to love. (1 John 4:19 NIV)

Being then enabled to love by His love, all we have to do is put that ability into practice. When I was much younger than I am now, I used to watch the Saturday afternoon baseball games on television. The commentators in those days were Dizzy Dean and Pee Wee Reese, both All-Star players and now members of Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame. One particular Saturday afternoon they were talking about some up and coming young baseball player. Pee Wee said he had a lot of potential. Dizzy said potential is the worst thing a player can have. That did not sound right to me. For some reason that exchange came to mind many years later and I understood what Ol' Diz meant by that. If a person has potential he or she is not yet at peak performance. They can improve. They are underachieving. Hit a lot of you with that one did I not. You know I am not going to take the credit for that. I did not know you needed to hear it. I am not that smart. That was the Holy Spirit who just smacked you, uhhhh, us, in the face.

It is time to step up our game. We have been underachieving for entirely too long. Let me pass along a word of caution here that God gave to Samuel when he was called to anoint the second King of Israel. "...The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7) There is a lot of wasted motion going on in churches throughout this valley. Much of it looks good to man, but God does not have the same opinion. I know I am waxing prophetic here and there is every chance someone will be looking to hand me my head over it, but that has happened to better men than I in the past and will undoubtedly happen again.

We just got back from lunch with a dear couple after church. Not surprisingly this blog came up in conversation along with the whole concept of the religious spirit. It was very comforting to know there are other people who see what is going on in the valley. I was beginning to wonder. God is even now bringing people together from different places geographically and theologically because He wants to see a difference in this valley.

What we must understand is that God has set His hand to do a work here and He will do it. We can either be a part of that or leave it to the next generation, should Jesus tarry, as the previous generation left it to us. (That is an assumption based on the time frame we know. We will update that when/if we get further information.) Wherever God sets Himself to do a work, the devil is right there trying to keep it from happening. This is true whether it be in our individual lives or in our homes, churches, and community organizations. The good news is that, "...When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the Lord will raise up a standard against him." (Isaiah 59:19) As you are probably aware, the original Old Testament manuscripts are written in upper case letters without punctuation. According to some Biblical scholars that verse likely says, "When the enemy comes in, like a flood The Spirit..." Oh folks, the Holy Spirit is wanting to come in like a flood and cover this valley with His presence and power. He is waiting for us. Are you up for a swim?