A few weeks ago, someone mentioned she was hoping for more teaching in these pages rather than an online journal. Okay, when she says she wants more teaching, maybe it is not such a bad idea. (Guess who "she" might be.) We do have to do one thing before we start this.
WARNING: If you pastor a church you probably do not want to read any further.
God made just one challenge in the Bible to test Him. It is recorded in the last book of the Old Testament. The prophet Malachi, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, spoke God's word to us. "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. And try me now in this says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes..." (Malachi 3:9-10) If you have not heard a message, or at least an admonition, from this verse, you probably just have not been around churches or other religious organizations very long. Hold on! You probably have never heard what you are about to read. Due to limited space, there is not a lot of detail here. We are working on recording the full message.
First, take a look at the italicized words in the verses quoted above. The quotation, as is our custom, is taken from the New King James Version of the Bible. The translators of the NKJV did something that is very helpful to us in understanding what God is really trying to tell us here. They took their lead from the translators of the original King James Version in that wherever they added words to the text to make it more understandable in English, they italicized the words.
When we read verse 10 from about the middle of the verse, we see only, "...pour out for you blessing that not enough...") God has already given us an if, then. That is the sign of His covenant with us. In this case it is the covenant that shows how God will meet our needs. If we will bring our tithes into the storehouse, then He will open the windows of heaven and pour out for us blessing. God is not wishy washy on this. If we, then He. But wait, you get more.
Most teachings on this subject are limited to verses 9 and 10 quoted above. That is not the end of the thought. For whatever reason, most people preaching or teaching on the subject of bringing tithes, stop before they get to verse 11 and as a result never get to the really good part. Having the windows of heaven open above us is a great thing. God pouring down blessings through those open windows ratchets that up at least a notch. However, to understand the whole of what He is saying here we have read at least the opening words of verse 11. "And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes..." It would not be a complete promise from God if He opened those windows and poured out those blessings only to have the devourer eat them. In God's economy, you can have your blessings and enjoy them too!
We are running out of room here so we have to hurry. I have no idea at this point how the following quotation relates to this post, but I heard it yesterday and I know it does. Without further comment, here it is. "People have been making choices between a lie and a lie." (Shari Norvell, 1/28/11)
There are just two more things we need to cover. The first one is really a reminder. In order for you to have open windows above you, blessings pouring down on you, and the devourer rebuked out of your life, you must tithe. The second thing will get me into trouble with pastors everywhere. Hopefully, they heeded the warning and stopped reading awhile ago. You need to know this.
The storehouse is not what you have been told it is. Here is one example to verify that statement. If you have ever heard a sermon on these verses, tithing, and/or the storehouse, you have most likely heard the storehouse is the local church. That is where your tithe should be taken. The word "storehouse" appears in the Bible eight times. The most telling occurrence is in Nehemiah 13:13 which talks about the men who were entrusted with the tithes the people brought. The final words of the verse are, "...and their task was to distribute to their brethren." We obviously cannot speak for everyone, but if memory serves, there have been fewer than a half dozen times in a half century of church attendance that anyone has distributed to us out of the storehouse.
Should you need an apology for what I am about to do, you have it. But I am done for now. Selah (And get back to me if you like.)
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Walking on Water
Although he claimed the motivational gift of exhortation (Romans 12:8) the late Don Pickerill was one of the best Bible teachers I have ever had the privilege of hearing. I suppose "Bible" is not really the best word to use there because although he did teach the Bible, being a exhorter, he taught more practical Theology and left the studies of the original languages and the parsing of the verbs mostly to the teachers.
One evening in a college classroom, Pastor Don taught about the ability of the Christian to walk on the water as Peter had the night Jesus invited him to get out of the boat, in the middle of the night, in the midst of a storm. (Matthew 14:22-33) I had no idea what he was talking about. When he jumped up and down on the concrete floor to show how great it was to be able to walk on water, I was pretty sure he had lost his mind all together. As a Bible college freshman, it did not occur to me that he was moving in a spiritual realm I had barely peeked into. He was talking about life in the Spirit, about walking in the miraculous. I sort of knew about the Holy Spirit and I had heard of miracles. Pastor Don's brother, Dr. Donald McGregor, once said, "L.I.F.E. Bible College must be the greatest depository of spiritual knowledge in the universe. The freshmen come in knowing so much and the graduates leave knowing so little." I was an exception to that rule. I arrived knowing virtually nothing and graduated having learned a little more.
Something has been going on around me that has made me understand what Pastor Don was talking about that night 38 years ago. If you have been reading these pages since the beginning of this year, you have most of the information and some insight into what is happening. If I read the numbers correctly, this is the tenth post this month. That means lots is going on. You probably think I have suddenly become a very prolific writer. I am wondering why I cannot get a break. Oh, wait, this is probably what the whole termination from work was about. I have always preferred Jesus' yoke to any that have been put upon me by others or those I have taken upon myself. He said His yoke is easy and His load is light. (Matthew 11:27-28) Let me be his witness. That is a totally true statement.
We mentioned in a previous post that people have been gathering around me for the past year or so. When I began to understand that was happening, I also realized something else. Their confidence, encouragement, and prayers have begun to lift me up. God's mercy and grace has met us in the process. While my feet seem to be on solid ground, it is unlike any ground I have walked before. In fact if feels a little spongy, like water might. I am not at all sure about that. I have never walked on water before.
I can tell you this. If Jesus were to beckon me from the boat today to join Him in a walk on the water, there would be no hesitation on my part. (I hope I am not giving myself too much credit here.) When Jesus reaches out his hand to me, I fully expect to be reaching my hand out toward him.
This is a short post, and maybe it is not for everyone. To those of you who believe in me, that I am following the Master's call, and doing the right thing; to those of you who are lifting me up, by whatever means, please accept my most sincere thank you. We may not be quite sure where we are going yet, but we are on the right course. We are marching together, following Jesus. God bless!
One evening in a college classroom, Pastor Don taught about the ability of the Christian to walk on the water as Peter had the night Jesus invited him to get out of the boat, in the middle of the night, in the midst of a storm. (Matthew 14:22-33) I had no idea what he was talking about. When he jumped up and down on the concrete floor to show how great it was to be able to walk on water, I was pretty sure he had lost his mind all together. As a Bible college freshman, it did not occur to me that he was moving in a spiritual realm I had barely peeked into. He was talking about life in the Spirit, about walking in the miraculous. I sort of knew about the Holy Spirit and I had heard of miracles. Pastor Don's brother, Dr. Donald McGregor, once said, "L.I.F.E. Bible College must be the greatest depository of spiritual knowledge in the universe. The freshmen come in knowing so much and the graduates leave knowing so little." I was an exception to that rule. I arrived knowing virtually nothing and graduated having learned a little more.
Something has been going on around me that has made me understand what Pastor Don was talking about that night 38 years ago. If you have been reading these pages since the beginning of this year, you have most of the information and some insight into what is happening. If I read the numbers correctly, this is the tenth post this month. That means lots is going on. You probably think I have suddenly become a very prolific writer. I am wondering why I cannot get a break. Oh, wait, this is probably what the whole termination from work was about. I have always preferred Jesus' yoke to any that have been put upon me by others or those I have taken upon myself. He said His yoke is easy and His load is light. (Matthew 11:27-28) Let me be his witness. That is a totally true statement.
We mentioned in a previous post that people have been gathering around me for the past year or so. When I began to understand that was happening, I also realized something else. Their confidence, encouragement, and prayers have begun to lift me up. God's mercy and grace has met us in the process. While my feet seem to be on solid ground, it is unlike any ground I have walked before. In fact if feels a little spongy, like water might. I am not at all sure about that. I have never walked on water before.
I can tell you this. If Jesus were to beckon me from the boat today to join Him in a walk on the water, there would be no hesitation on my part. (I hope I am not giving myself too much credit here.) When Jesus reaches out his hand to me, I fully expect to be reaching my hand out toward him.
This is a short post, and maybe it is not for everyone. To those of you who believe in me, that I am following the Master's call, and doing the right thing; to those of you who are lifting me up, by whatever means, please accept my most sincere thank you. We may not be quite sure where we are going yet, but we are on the right course. We are marching together, following Jesus. God bless!
Casting Stones
Casting stones is something we all do from time to time, try as we might to not do it. There seems to be a link to the DNA of fallen man that keeps us from minding our own business. When we find some juicy tidbit of information that will damage someone else, we cannot wait to throw that stone at him or her. Recently, let us say the past five years or so, yours truly seems to have been more the target of stones than the thrower. Maybe some of that is proving the truth of God's universal law of sowing and reaping.
I used to have a very good arm. It is a little know fact that my name used to be on the records board at the high school I attended for the second-longest softball throw in school history. I admit, I was having a good day when I tossed that ball 267 feet. I was only off the record by 22 feet. That was my senior year so I have no idea how long the record stood. That was also about two years before I landed on my elbow playing tackle football in the park and dislocated my shoulder. I still managed to play outfield in college baseball, but the arm has never been the same. (heavy sigh.)
I am telling you that because, for many years, I could cast stones with the best of them--and I was accurate. I could embarrass almost anyone with a piece of information that I had acquired about him or her. As I write that, I wonder what I was thinking. I suppose I was not.
Fast forward to the present day. I think there is a post somewhere in this blog about reputation. (I am too lazy to look it up for you right now.) I do not have much of one. A few people have seen to that over the past several years. I might have helped them along a little and given them some stones to cast. I really have no idea where they got the ones that damaged me the most, the ones that seem to have manifested out of thin air. (If you are not following the poetry here, the last ones fall into the category of bold-faced lies.) People have believed them anyway, and repeated them.
Nothing is all bad in God's economy. A friend reminded me today, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28) I would not even have recognized the religious spirit over this valley had someone not lied about me and had that lie not then been repeated. Through that sequence of events, the Holy Spirit revealed at least a part of my destiny. I have a part in helping pull down that demonic stronghold.
King Solomon, in his natural wisdom tells us there is, "A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones..." (Ecclesiastes 3:5) Take this as a prophetic word if you like. Now is the time to cast away the stones you have been gathering to use against your brothers and sisters, and gather some you can use to build the Kingdom of God. The end.
I used to have a very good arm. It is a little know fact that my name used to be on the records board at the high school I attended for the second-longest softball throw in school history. I admit, I was having a good day when I tossed that ball 267 feet. I was only off the record by 22 feet. That was my senior year so I have no idea how long the record stood. That was also about two years before I landed on my elbow playing tackle football in the park and dislocated my shoulder. I still managed to play outfield in college baseball, but the arm has never been the same. (heavy sigh.)
I am telling you that because, for many years, I could cast stones with the best of them--and I was accurate. I could embarrass almost anyone with a piece of information that I had acquired about him or her. As I write that, I wonder what I was thinking. I suppose I was not.
Fast forward to the present day. I think there is a post somewhere in this blog about reputation. (I am too lazy to look it up for you right now.) I do not have much of one. A few people have seen to that over the past several years. I might have helped them along a little and given them some stones to cast. I really have no idea where they got the ones that damaged me the most, the ones that seem to have manifested out of thin air. (If you are not following the poetry here, the last ones fall into the category of bold-faced lies.) People have believed them anyway, and repeated them.
Nothing is all bad in God's economy. A friend reminded me today, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28) I would not even have recognized the religious spirit over this valley had someone not lied about me and had that lie not then been repeated. Through that sequence of events, the Holy Spirit revealed at least a part of my destiny. I have a part in helping pull down that demonic stronghold.
King Solomon, in his natural wisdom tells us there is, "A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones..." (Ecclesiastes 3:5) Take this as a prophetic word if you like. Now is the time to cast away the stones you have been gathering to use against your brothers and sisters, and gather some you can use to build the Kingdom of God. The end.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
The Change Has Begun
"The winds of change are blowing. More on this later." I posted that on my Facebook wall just a week ago. This is the "more on that" to which it was referring. If you are on Facebook and you read this blog that probably makes a little more sense.
The first, highly anticipated change, happened yesterday by the clock. Sunrise will be in about two hours, more or less. The mission director and the personnel director walked into my office and sat down. After exchanging the customary pleasantries, one of them said words to the affect of, "This is probably not what you were expecting in this meeting." Soon after, the personnel director told me that would be my last day of employment. Whereupon I replied, "This is exactly what I was expecting from this meeting."
Yesterday was my last day at the Central Coast Rescue Mission by their choice. I had so many people telling me that was going to happen soon, I almost felt like Elisha in the hours before Elijah turned the main, prophetic responsibility in Israel over to him. (2 Kings 2) Only there was not an Elijah turning anything over to me, at least not that I know of.
Thankfully, the Lord has been gathering people around me for the past year or so. I was not even aware that was happening until very recently. It simply seemed like the natural course of events, the ebb and flow of relationships. It is very obvious now that it is much more than that. It is a God-ordained gathering of people with like minds and similar visions for what The Church In Santa Maria, CA can and should look like. Let us add "will" look like, by faith right now. We know God has already done what He is going to do--it just has not been manifested in our time yet.
Now we come to the previous post. If you are starting from the top of the page on your computer screen, and are behind at all, you may want to read "Ecclesiaticisms" first. The first comment was written by a person I know, and I know the church to which he is referring. However, let me hasten to add that when I stopped writing that post, I had no idea he would respond to it. The meeting he refers to had not even happened at that point. There may be a factual error or even two in the comment, but it has been our custom to print all comments in their entirely rather than to selectively edit them. I do not know who wrote the second comment. Again, we have always published all the comments, even when the person writing them preferred to remain "Anonymous" for whatever reason. This blog was started in direct response to a call of God to expose the religious spirit that controls churches and deceives people in the Santa Maria Valley. It is beginning to look as though more action will be required than simply writing a blog. (Somehow I knew I was not going to get off that easily.)
The change has begun. It began on Monday of this week when my employment was terminated. Let me don my prophetic hat and tell you, I know what is coming next. I am not at liberty to share that in these pages at this time. I will write about it in this space after it happens, just as I did with this one. I believe I can tell you, there are people, inspired by the religious spirit, who do not want me to have any more influence in the Kingdom of God than I have. Too bad for them the Holy Spirit set me free from my day job to give me more time to ratchet up the work I am doing. Along with my termination, I lost virtually all my public, teaching ministry. That is only temporary. The truth is, the people who have been gathering around me have already made it clear they will not let that happen.
The change in my employment situation was handled on relatively congenial terms even though the company could have accomplished their goal of terminating my employment without getting personal as they did. The next one could get ugly. Let me assure you, I will be there, but will not be a party to the ugliness. Ugliness, wherever it rears it's ugly head is not the way things ought to be done where love rules. Read about the works of the flesh in Galatians 5:19-21. Those have to be three of the ugliest verses in the Bible. I usually feel as though I need to wash my hands, or brush my teeth, or something, after reading them.
Creflo Dollar talked about "agape tests" in a message I heard a few years ago. Those are times God orchestrates the circumstances of our lives in such a way that we can either follow His way of love or our way of selfishness. When we love, we pass. When we let selfishness be the practice of the day, we have to try again at a later time. That puts everything on hold. We are not ready to serve the Master until we can love. I, we, have an agape test coming. According to Dalton Austin and Anonymous, commentators on the previous post, they had, or are currently having an agape test. Still not telling everything I know, I am taking the same agape test they are. My aim, my goal is to pass this test (and the next one) by God's grace so I am deemed worthy of taking whatever the step after that is.
Now that I reread the previous paragraph and think about it, perhaps my termination meeting was an agape test. Maybe the way I ultimately handle the termination is an agape test. Maybe writing this post and not telling everything I know is an agape test. I do know this: I want to be a person God can use however, whenever, and wherever He chooses. You see, it's not all about me at all.
The first, highly anticipated change, happened yesterday by the clock. Sunrise will be in about two hours, more or less. The mission director and the personnel director walked into my office and sat down. After exchanging the customary pleasantries, one of them said words to the affect of, "This is probably not what you were expecting in this meeting." Soon after, the personnel director told me that would be my last day of employment. Whereupon I replied, "This is exactly what I was expecting from this meeting."
Yesterday was my last day at the Central Coast Rescue Mission by their choice. I had so many people telling me that was going to happen soon, I almost felt like Elisha in the hours before Elijah turned the main, prophetic responsibility in Israel over to him. (2 Kings 2) Only there was not an Elijah turning anything over to me, at least not that I know of.
Thankfully, the Lord has been gathering people around me for the past year or so. I was not even aware that was happening until very recently. It simply seemed like the natural course of events, the ebb and flow of relationships. It is very obvious now that it is much more than that. It is a God-ordained gathering of people with like minds and similar visions for what The Church In Santa Maria, CA can and should look like. Let us add "will" look like, by faith right now. We know God has already done what He is going to do--it just has not been manifested in our time yet.
Now we come to the previous post. If you are starting from the top of the page on your computer screen, and are behind at all, you may want to read "Ecclesiaticisms" first. The first comment was written by a person I know, and I know the church to which he is referring. However, let me hasten to add that when I stopped writing that post, I had no idea he would respond to it. The meeting he refers to had not even happened at that point. There may be a factual error or even two in the comment, but it has been our custom to print all comments in their entirely rather than to selectively edit them. I do not know who wrote the second comment. Again, we have always published all the comments, even when the person writing them preferred to remain "Anonymous" for whatever reason. This blog was started in direct response to a call of God to expose the religious spirit that controls churches and deceives people in the Santa Maria Valley. It is beginning to look as though more action will be required than simply writing a blog. (Somehow I knew I was not going to get off that easily.)
The change has begun. It began on Monday of this week when my employment was terminated. Let me don my prophetic hat and tell you, I know what is coming next. I am not at liberty to share that in these pages at this time. I will write about it in this space after it happens, just as I did with this one. I believe I can tell you, there are people, inspired by the religious spirit, who do not want me to have any more influence in the Kingdom of God than I have. Too bad for them the Holy Spirit set me free from my day job to give me more time to ratchet up the work I am doing. Along with my termination, I lost virtually all my public, teaching ministry. That is only temporary. The truth is, the people who have been gathering around me have already made it clear they will not let that happen.
The change in my employment situation was handled on relatively congenial terms even though the company could have accomplished their goal of terminating my employment without getting personal as they did. The next one could get ugly. Let me assure you, I will be there, but will not be a party to the ugliness. Ugliness, wherever it rears it's ugly head is not the way things ought to be done where love rules. Read about the works of the flesh in Galatians 5:19-21. Those have to be three of the ugliest verses in the Bible. I usually feel as though I need to wash my hands, or brush my teeth, or something, after reading them.
Creflo Dollar talked about "agape tests" in a message I heard a few years ago. Those are times God orchestrates the circumstances of our lives in such a way that we can either follow His way of love or our way of selfishness. When we love, we pass. When we let selfishness be the practice of the day, we have to try again at a later time. That puts everything on hold. We are not ready to serve the Master until we can love. I, we, have an agape test coming. According to Dalton Austin and Anonymous, commentators on the previous post, they had, or are currently having an agape test. Still not telling everything I know, I am taking the same agape test they are. My aim, my goal is to pass this test (and the next one) by God's grace so I am deemed worthy of taking whatever the step after that is.
Now that I reread the previous paragraph and think about it, perhaps my termination meeting was an agape test. Maybe the way I ultimately handle the termination is an agape test. Maybe writing this post and not telling everything I know is an agape test. I do know this: I want to be a person God can use however, whenever, and wherever He chooses. You see, it's not all about me at all.
Ecclesiasticisms
The title of this post may be something that just happens in the middle of the night when the change has begun. (Come to think of it those last three words might have been a better title. Oh well, maybe that is the next post?) Still, I would stake whatever reputation I have on the fact the Holy Spirit actually spoke that word into my spirit.
I am a bit conflicted at the moment. I determined that I was not going to write or say anything about a couple different things until I knew exactly what it is the Holy Spirit is saying. Now, here I am typing and I am not sure what He is saying, only that He is saying something. In fact the only thing I am sure He is saying is, "Ecclesiasticisms." Please allow me to save you a little effort by telling you, I already looked it up on dictionary.com and it is not there. However, if you look up "ism" you can get something of an idea of what the word might mean. That is assuming you know that ecclesiastic anything applies to The Church. An ism in this context is something to which one is devoted. So ecclesiasticism would mean devotion to The Church. (Assuming it were a real word.) Except for one thing. Ecclesiasticism would be devotion to the church; not necessarily The Church. Maybe that is the point the Holy Spirit is trying to make? You see, to be devoted to Jesus is to be devoted to The Church whereas ecclesiastism is devotion to the church, or my church, or your church, or any particular church.
I am devoted to the concept of church. Were it not for church, Christian people would have to come to me to have fellowship because I would not go to them. That is just the way I am. My wife, on the other hand, will go about anywhere to meet anyone for any and every good reason. In fact, she often does not even need a reason. She just wants to be around people. When I go anywhere, I am on some kind of a mission. My mission may be to find something like a piece of hardware, a article of clothing, or a flame-broiled whopper, but I am on a mission. Sometimes she just wants to go. So we compromise and we both go. (Get it?)
I have to quit writing now. I am not sure why, but I think it is because if I keep writing I will get myself into trouble. Hopefully someone out there will finish this post. There should be enough here to elicit at least a comment or two about people who love church, but only attend for the purpose of...
I am a bit conflicted at the moment. I determined that I was not going to write or say anything about a couple different things until I knew exactly what it is the Holy Spirit is saying. Now, here I am typing and I am not sure what He is saying, only that He is saying something. In fact the only thing I am sure He is saying is, "Ecclesiasticisms." Please allow me to save you a little effort by telling you, I already looked it up on dictionary.com and it is not there. However, if you look up "ism" you can get something of an idea of what the word might mean. That is assuming you know that ecclesiastic anything applies to The Church. An ism in this context is something to which one is devoted. So ecclesiasticism would mean devotion to The Church. (Assuming it were a real word.) Except for one thing. Ecclesiasticism would be devotion to the church; not necessarily The Church. Maybe that is the point the Holy Spirit is trying to make? You see, to be devoted to Jesus is to be devoted to The Church whereas ecclesiastism is devotion to the church, or my church, or your church, or any particular church.
I am devoted to the concept of church. Were it not for church, Christian people would have to come to me to have fellowship because I would not go to them. That is just the way I am. My wife, on the other hand, will go about anywhere to meet anyone for any and every good reason. In fact, she often does not even need a reason. She just wants to be around people. When I go anywhere, I am on some kind of a mission. My mission may be to find something like a piece of hardware, a article of clothing, or a flame-broiled whopper, but I am on a mission. Sometimes she just wants to go. So we compromise and we both go. (Get it?)
I have to quit writing now. I am not sure why, but I think it is because if I keep writing I will get myself into trouble. Hopefully someone out there will finish this post. There should be enough here to elicit at least a comment or two about people who love church, but only attend for the purpose of...
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Fingerprints
It must be something psychological, but I am pretty much worthless on Friday evenings. For some reason, about the time the sun goes down on Friday, my week is over. I rarely have trouble going to sleep, but Fridays I never do. Sometimes I do have trouble staying asleep, but not usually on Friday nights. This morning is a exception to that rule. Usually when I awaken and cannot go back to sleep, it is because my mind has kicked into high gear. This morning, the Holy Spirit would not let my mind get a word in edgewise. I got so excited I almost woke my wife. I knew she would not appreciate it so here I am, writing in the dark. (Hopefully only literally.)
For the past little while now, something spiritual has been happening around me that is unique in my experience. I can see the picture in my mind's eye, but I do not even know how to describe it. People are coming to join me and it is lifting me up so I am doing something that seems like walking on water. I know God is putting something together, but I am not exactly sure what it is.
All my life--all my adult life anyway--I have tried to make things happen. My fingerprints are all over the place. I will not bore you with the details. They are not really relevant here. With just a couple exceptions, every place my fingerprints are, things did not work out as well as the might have. (Yes, I am being generous with myself. Some of them were disasters.) This time I can say with the Psalmist, "This was the Lord's doing: it is marvelous in our eyes." (Psalm 118:23) I do not know exactly what He is doing, but I will soon, maybe before I finish the batch of posts He is speaking to me about right now.
I ran cross-country and track in high school. I qualified for varsity and should have won at least one letter in each sport, but that is another story. I was by no means the fastest, but also not the slowest. I think I have a reasonable intellect. I was telling a group recently that of the now 11 people in my immediate family circle, my IQ probably ranks in the lower half. (I added in the two grandsons who are now 3 and almost 1 to lift me in the rankings.) Praise God, I found a verse of scripture that shows me I still qualify to do what God has called me to do. I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong... (Ecclesiastes 9:11)
I have learned from several experiences that when my fingerprints are on something it is always lacking. I am making a conscious effort to keep my hands off whatever this is that God is putting together right now. It is going to be great. Of that I have no doubt. In fact, it will answer a lot of questions we have had about our life to this point.
In one of his weekly broadcasts recently, Kenneth Copeland was relating how God began working in his life before he had any idea who God is. He explained that he had said or done things he thought were momentary and fleeting. Now, looking back, he could see God had impressed him to do those things. Just one example is that, while he was still a young boy, God had given him the vision to be an airplane pilot. He recalled a time he had told his father he was going to be an airplane pilot when he grew up. I suppose most of us do that. It seems to be a child-like thing to do. When we understand the spiritual power of our words, we know He calls us to speak what He wants us to do so He can set it into motion at the proper time. My wife has been speaking about a place of refuge and rest for weary Christian warriors for years. That is now on the verge of being manifested. More on that later. That is one of the things the Holy Spirit spoke to me about an hour ago.
We are entering into something new, something miraculous, something God is putting together. We are praying for a half million dollar house. We do not have a half million dollars. God does. I wonder, if you think about it, would you join us in that prayer? I do not know where we go from here, but that does not matter. God is doing it and I am enjoying walking on the water.
For the past little while now, something spiritual has been happening around me that is unique in my experience. I can see the picture in my mind's eye, but I do not even know how to describe it. People are coming to join me and it is lifting me up so I am doing something that seems like walking on water. I know God is putting something together, but I am not exactly sure what it is.
Michael Belzman, Ph.D., is the founder and president of the Association of Christian Alcohol and Drug Counselors. He thinks he is something of a regular guy. In fact, he is one of the most awesome men I have ever met. He is one of those rare men who is highly intellectual, but does not let that get in the way of his spirituality. In a recent telephone conversation, we were discussing the role of intellect (soul) in whatever work God has called us to do. I was trying vainly to make the point that we all have minds to use in that work. He said words to the affect of, "David, whenever we think we bring anything to the table, we are fooling ourselves." Ouch!
All my life--all my adult life anyway--I have tried to make things happen. My fingerprints are all over the place. I will not bore you with the details. They are not really relevant here. With just a couple exceptions, every place my fingerprints are, things did not work out as well as the might have. (Yes, I am being generous with myself. Some of them were disasters.) This time I can say with the Psalmist, "This was the Lord's doing: it is marvelous in our eyes." (Psalm 118:23) I do not know exactly what He is doing, but I will soon, maybe before I finish the batch of posts He is speaking to me about right now.
I ran cross-country and track in high school. I qualified for varsity and should have won at least one letter in each sport, but that is another story. I was by no means the fastest, but also not the slowest. I think I have a reasonable intellect. I was telling a group recently that of the now 11 people in my immediate family circle, my IQ probably ranks in the lower half. (I added in the two grandsons who are now 3 and almost 1 to lift me in the rankings.) Praise God, I found a verse of scripture that shows me I still qualify to do what God has called me to do. I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong... (Ecclesiastes 9:11)
I have learned from several experiences that when my fingerprints are on something it is always lacking. I am making a conscious effort to keep my hands off whatever this is that God is putting together right now. It is going to be great. Of that I have no doubt. In fact, it will answer a lot of questions we have had about our life to this point.
In one of his weekly broadcasts recently, Kenneth Copeland was relating how God began working in his life before he had any idea who God is. He explained that he had said or done things he thought were momentary and fleeting. Now, looking back, he could see God had impressed him to do those things. Just one example is that, while he was still a young boy, God had given him the vision to be an airplane pilot. He recalled a time he had told his father he was going to be an airplane pilot when he grew up. I suppose most of us do that. It seems to be a child-like thing to do. When we understand the spiritual power of our words, we know He calls us to speak what He wants us to do so He can set it into motion at the proper time. My wife has been speaking about a place of refuge and rest for weary Christian warriors for years. That is now on the verge of being manifested. More on that later. That is one of the things the Holy Spirit spoke to me about an hour ago.
We are entering into something new, something miraculous, something God is putting together. We are praying for a half million dollar house. We do not have a half million dollars. God does. I wonder, if you think about it, would you join us in that prayer? I do not know where we go from here, but that does not matter. God is doing it and I am enjoying walking on the water.
A New Paradigm for The Church In Santa Maria, CA
A few months ago, when I was doing some continuing education for my drug and alcohol certification, I came across a module about the concept of Therapeutic Community. The term stuck in my mind. As I meditated on that over time, it seemed like a better and better idea. I even think there might be a place to establish one locally. The property is for sale quietly because the current occupants are not quite ready to move and it would take some extensive remodeling to make it work, but it seems like a very good place to do that. As an added bonus, it just, coincidentally, happens to be a piece of property the Holy Spirit spoke to me about in 1988. (Or was it '87?)
For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about when I say, "Therapeutic Community" let me explain briefly, but with enough detail so you hopefully understand. The concept is that anyone who feels the need to have a safe place to live and grow can join a community of believers who are on the same path. It is a place where, men, women, and families can live and learn Christian principles from those who are further along in the faith then they are. Funding is provided by those who can work going out to work while those who cannot, for whatever reason, stay at the community and do the daily chores. Obviously there would need to be an appropriate balance so all the needs of the community are met. Additionally, there are people, foundations, etc. outside the community who would graciously give to the community because they believe in the concept and want to help those who need the help. There would also be opportunity for the community itself to generate income through any number of home-based businesses. Let us not forget it is God who has promised to provide all our needs. Money should not be an issue.
When one reads the closing verses of Acts 2, the concept of community is readily evident. The very first Christians lived that way out of choice. We are detached from those people by 2,000 years, but the concept is still viable, and desirable, for many people today.
It is interesting that when a Therapeutic Community is established, it would most certainly be considered to be a para-Church ministry, i.e., it would not be considered to be a part of The Church at all, but rather, a ministry that comes alongside The Church to do something The Church is not doing. That does not even sound as ridiculous as it really is when I read it back to myself. We must ask ourselves at this point, what constitutes The Church and why are some ministries relegated to second-class, para-Church status? Would the Therapeutic Community have to be attached to a church to actually be part of The Church? I does make one pause to wonder does it not? Although, it is probably much better to be thought of as para-Church than a cult. That would probably be the alternative. I wonder if Jesus likes what He sees when He looks at a church that does not look very much like The Church He died for? I did not mean to get quite that heavy. (Do you believe that? If you are not sure, look up the word "facetious" in any dictionary.)
The Celebrate Recovery program rightly understands that it is not only drug addicts and alcoholics who need to recover, or take hold, for the first time, the abundant life Jesus promised us. (John 10:10) We all have hurts, habits, and hang-ups that we need to deal with. For those whose problems, whatever they may be, keep them from functioning independently in life, the Therapeutic Community may be exactly what they need to get them where they want to be. The community would not have time frames for participation. People would enter when they want to and leave when they feel they are ready.
The psychological construct for a Therapeutic Community envisions anywhere from 25 to 150 members. Those numbers are too large for me to wrap my mind around at this point. Perhaps we will have the opportunity to attempt something on a smaller scale and see how it works. I am thinking maybe that is what the Holy Spirit is saying we need and that is what He is putting together. Stay tuned.
For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about when I say, "Therapeutic Community" let me explain briefly, but with enough detail so you hopefully understand. The concept is that anyone who feels the need to have a safe place to live and grow can join a community of believers who are on the same path. It is a place where, men, women, and families can live and learn Christian principles from those who are further along in the faith then they are. Funding is provided by those who can work going out to work while those who cannot, for whatever reason, stay at the community and do the daily chores. Obviously there would need to be an appropriate balance so all the needs of the community are met. Additionally, there are people, foundations, etc. outside the community who would graciously give to the community because they believe in the concept and want to help those who need the help. There would also be opportunity for the community itself to generate income through any number of home-based businesses. Let us not forget it is God who has promised to provide all our needs. Money should not be an issue.
When one reads the closing verses of Acts 2, the concept of community is readily evident. The very first Christians lived that way out of choice. We are detached from those people by 2,000 years, but the concept is still viable, and desirable, for many people today.
It is interesting that when a Therapeutic Community is established, it would most certainly be considered to be a para-Church ministry, i.e., it would not be considered to be a part of The Church at all, but rather, a ministry that comes alongside The Church to do something The Church is not doing. That does not even sound as ridiculous as it really is when I read it back to myself. We must ask ourselves at this point, what constitutes The Church and why are some ministries relegated to second-class, para-Church status? Would the Therapeutic Community have to be attached to a church to actually be part of The Church? I does make one pause to wonder does it not? Although, it is probably much better to be thought of as para-Church than a cult. That would probably be the alternative. I wonder if Jesus likes what He sees when He looks at a church that does not look very much like The Church He died for? I did not mean to get quite that heavy. (Do you believe that? If you are not sure, look up the word "facetious" in any dictionary.)
The Celebrate Recovery program rightly understands that it is not only drug addicts and alcoholics who need to recover, or take hold, for the first time, the abundant life Jesus promised us. (John 10:10) We all have hurts, habits, and hang-ups that we need to deal with. For those whose problems, whatever they may be, keep them from functioning independently in life, the Therapeutic Community may be exactly what they need to get them where they want to be. The community would not have time frames for participation. People would enter when they want to and leave when they feel they are ready.
The psychological construct for a Therapeutic Community envisions anywhere from 25 to 150 members. Those numbers are too large for me to wrap my mind around at this point. Perhaps we will have the opportunity to attempt something on a smaller scale and see how it works. I am thinking maybe that is what the Holy Spirit is saying we need and that is what He is putting together. Stay tuned.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Think Bigger
It has been said a few times in these pages that we do not often write without some inspiration, which we hope has come from the Holy Spirit. However, this post is more than that. If I may be so bold as to say it, this is more than just inspiration. This is a word, perhaps in the category of the charismata, a word of knowledge. This is the first time I have felt one of these posts had something specific to say to a person or some people about what should be being done. I could only guess who that might be, or what it is they should be doing but I have the strongest suspicion that I also will be moved to action by the time this post is complete. (When I originally wrote that, I had no idea it would be months before I would actually complete the post.)
We always think smaller than God does. For those of you who think the word always should never be used because it is too inclusive, I have scripture on that. Of course, those same people should object to the use of never for the same reason, but they rarely do.
The Bible tells us, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." (1 Corinthians 2:9) That verse seems to be a pretty definite statement that we always think smaller than God does. Put another way, God always has bigger, hopes, dreams, desires, and aspirations for us than we have for ourselves. He knows how much there is for us and when He follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, rather than our own way, all that is opened up and made possible for us. You see, the things we want simply enter into our minds. The things He wants enter into our renewed minds via our spirit from the Holy Spirit.
Some of you may remember the story of Chuck Smith and the founding of the original Calvary Chapel. They had bought property in one of California's high rent districts. As I recall the story from hearing him tell it over thirty years ago, they negotiated a purchase price for the property. It was a larger piece of property than they felt they really needed, but it was all available so they bought the whole parcel. The problem in Chuck's mind was that they were about a quarter million dollars short of the full purchase price. Of course, that was in the early 1970s and a quarter million dollars was a lot of money. He prayed and told God he thought paying interest was not an efficient of use of their money, but since they considered it all God's money, He would have to deal with it. Shortly thereafter, a call came in from a major oil company offering them a quarter million dollars for a corner of the property. They arranged the sale and paid off their debt. This is one, simple example that I am aware of. Would that qualify as a miracle, something unexpected, even more than they could hope for? I am sure it was more than Chuck expected.
Chuck Smith's dream, or vision if you will, came about on the heels of a failure. By his own admission he killed more than one church before he realized that he was called to do something new and different. When he answered the call of God to reinvent himself, so to speak, and teach through the Bible in a small, Bible study group, the group rapidly outgrew several places they tried to meet. Calvary Chapel churches, by whatever name, have now encircled the globe. I know people who knew Chuck Smith as a child and a teenager. They tell me he was "just an ordinary boy". My guess is that history will record something different.
I have to wonder how many others of us are called to some form of greatness. Most Bible College and Seminary curricula include studies of the great, historical revivals. In those studies, the people who someone thought responsible for those moves of God are recorded. Perhaps they are the ones responsible, but perhaps not. When we say they are responsible, it should be obvious that what we mean is they are the human instrument the Holy Spirit used to get the work done on earth.
I will admit this is new territory for me. Mentally I know God wants more for me, but He has already blessed us so much. We have a lot more than a lot of people do. By American standards we are maybe middle class. By the world's standards, we are wealthy. Oh sure there are a lot of other things we would like to have and things we would like to do if resources were available. There is a lot more out there for us. That is for sure.
I was in an individual counseling session recently, asking a client what his plans were for the rest of his life. He was not sure. Then he asked me when I was going to move forward with something I had mentioned I thought was in my future. I told him the money was not here yet so I was going to content myself with what I am doing now. He said the money is never the problem. I really hate it when the guys I teach this stuff to bring it up at inopportune times. He is right of course. The money we see is never all the money there is at our disposal. All we have to do is get the money out of the spiritual realm into the physical. Simple huh? Most things in the kingdom of God are simple. We are the ones who complicate them. As long as I am quoting the program men, another one said, during a discussion about the best way to do something, "it was our best thinking that got us into this program." That was a reference to the fact that he an several other of the men were ordered to be there by a judge. At least I am one step removed, what with being on staff and getting paid to be there and all.
We always think smaller than God does. For those of you who think the word always should never be used because it is too inclusive, I have scripture on that. Of course, those same people should object to the use of never for the same reason, but they rarely do.
The Bible tells us, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." (1 Corinthians 2:9) That verse seems to be a pretty definite statement that we always think smaller than God does. Put another way, God always has bigger, hopes, dreams, desires, and aspirations for us than we have for ourselves. He knows how much there is for us and when He follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, rather than our own way, all that is opened up and made possible for us. You see, the things we want simply enter into our minds. The things He wants enter into our renewed minds via our spirit from the Holy Spirit.
Some of you may remember the story of Chuck Smith and the founding of the original Calvary Chapel. They had bought property in one of California's high rent districts. As I recall the story from hearing him tell it over thirty years ago, they negotiated a purchase price for the property. It was a larger piece of property than they felt they really needed, but it was all available so they bought the whole parcel. The problem in Chuck's mind was that they were about a quarter million dollars short of the full purchase price. Of course, that was in the early 1970s and a quarter million dollars was a lot of money. He prayed and told God he thought paying interest was not an efficient of use of their money, but since they considered it all God's money, He would have to deal with it. Shortly thereafter, a call came in from a major oil company offering them a quarter million dollars for a corner of the property. They arranged the sale and paid off their debt. This is one, simple example that I am aware of. Would that qualify as a miracle, something unexpected, even more than they could hope for? I am sure it was more than Chuck expected.
Chuck Smith's dream, or vision if you will, came about on the heels of a failure. By his own admission he killed more than one church before he realized that he was called to do something new and different. When he answered the call of God to reinvent himself, so to speak, and teach through the Bible in a small, Bible study group, the group rapidly outgrew several places they tried to meet. Calvary Chapel churches, by whatever name, have now encircled the globe. I know people who knew Chuck Smith as a child and a teenager. They tell me he was "just an ordinary boy". My guess is that history will record something different.
I have to wonder how many others of us are called to some form of greatness. Most Bible College and Seminary curricula include studies of the great, historical revivals. In those studies, the people who someone thought responsible for those moves of God are recorded. Perhaps they are the ones responsible, but perhaps not. When we say they are responsible, it should be obvious that what we mean is they are the human instrument the Holy Spirit used to get the work done on earth.
I will admit this is new territory for me. Mentally I know God wants more for me, but He has already blessed us so much. We have a lot more than a lot of people do. By American standards we are maybe middle class. By the world's standards, we are wealthy. Oh sure there are a lot of other things we would like to have and things we would like to do if resources were available. There is a lot more out there for us. That is for sure.
I was in an individual counseling session recently, asking a client what his plans were for the rest of his life. He was not sure. Then he asked me when I was going to move forward with something I had mentioned I thought was in my future. I told him the money was not here yet so I was going to content myself with what I am doing now. He said the money is never the problem. I really hate it when the guys I teach this stuff to bring it up at inopportune times. He is right of course. The money we see is never all the money there is at our disposal. All we have to do is get the money out of the spiritual realm into the physical. Simple huh? Most things in the kingdom of God are simple. We are the ones who complicate them. As long as I am quoting the program men, another one said, during a discussion about the best way to do something, "it was our best thinking that got us into this program." That was a reference to the fact that he an several other of the men were ordered to be there by a judge. At least I am one step removed, what with being on staff and getting paid to be there and all.
My posts are now out of order a bit. For some reason, I have not been able to finish this post until now. As the author and publisher I always have the right to redo anything the even actually gets published. I am going to change the date on this one so it ends up being closer to the date it is published than the date I started it. I think this one is now done--except to encourage you to think BIGGER!
Sunday, January 16, 2011
I Relapsed
As most readers of these pages know, I work at the local rescue mission, with men in recovery from substance abuse issues. I have been there just shy of 3 1/2 years. From time to time things happen that cause us to have to modify how we are doing what we were doing. The first such modification came when our parent organization opened a thrift store in town. Because our men are required to provide some of the staffing at the store, we had to reconfigure our class schedule to accommodate the different scheduling demands. It meant the whole group is only together as a group for morning devotions, five days a week. Although we took a little bit of a hit in camaraderie, the net affect of the store was positive as it gave us the additional aspects of work therapy and vocational training to add to the recovery program. I do not have numbers, but it also added some additional revenue to the ministry.
We are now in the midst of what could be called the next, great transition. Last August there was a change of leadership above me. Changes of leadership always result in changes of vision, process and procedure, at least in my experience. However, this is not about that. As we say in our process groups when it is our turn to talk, "It's all about me right now."
There are a couple aspects of the transition that are not sitting well with me right now. Longtime readers of these pages will have a better idea of what that means than others, but that is not really the point anyway. I am getting there.
I have a friend, a former client. I am not sure he would appreciate his name being mentioned here so just think of him as my friend, son in the faith, and brother in Christ. Somewhere, I do not think it was from me, he was presented the concept that worry is sin. He reminds me of that occasionally. I am not quite ready to say I have been worrying about the situation at the mission, (especially if worry is sin) but I have definitely had some stress and anxiety over it.
It is just past 4:00 AM as I type these words. Just over an hour ago, I relapsed. You see, my lifelong default has been to worry when faced with any sort of uncertainty. Most people do not know this about me, but I used to be a very good worrier. I was actually an excellent worrier. I could worry about almost anything at the drop of a hat, and do it well. I do not worry anymore. Worry is sin.
So, shortly before 3:00 AM this morning, I relapsed. I defaulted to what I have often done when circumstances pressure me. I had some stress and anxiety. I cannot even say it was a conscious thought, but I began to pray in the spirit. (Yes, I was praying in tongues, although very quietly so as not to wake my wife.) In my spirit I heard something like, "You seem to be anxious and stressed." I was convicted. I confessed that I was a little anxious and stressed and I began to repent.
I had no more than started that when the Holy Spirit asked me if I would get up and pray. How could I respond? I got up, got my robe and slippers and my prayer shawl from Israel and sat in the big recliner in the family room. I began to pray. The stress and anxiety kept trying to creep in. My soul was trying to take authority over my spirit. I understood this battle was not about anything going on in my life. I was fighting a spirit that wanted to rob me of my, "...peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." (Romans 14:17) My stress and anxiety were all about things that do no matter in the kingdom of God. This is personal, between God and me. He is trying to be sure I am ready for what He is leading me into. He already sees the battle--and the victory.
I relapsed. I confessed. I repented. I prayed. I won! Now I am writing to anyone who cares to read about it and needs to hear it. Perhaps this will be my last relapse into stress and anxiety. Perhaps it will not. Albert Einstein was wrong about the universal constant. It is not light. It is the creator of the light. He will be there if I relapse again. Perhaps that will be the last time.
We are now in the midst of what could be called the next, great transition. Last August there was a change of leadership above me. Changes of leadership always result in changes of vision, process and procedure, at least in my experience. However, this is not about that. As we say in our process groups when it is our turn to talk, "It's all about me right now."
There are a couple aspects of the transition that are not sitting well with me right now. Longtime readers of these pages will have a better idea of what that means than others, but that is not really the point anyway. I am getting there.
I have a friend, a former client. I am not sure he would appreciate his name being mentioned here so just think of him as my friend, son in the faith, and brother in Christ. Somewhere, I do not think it was from me, he was presented the concept that worry is sin. He reminds me of that occasionally. I am not quite ready to say I have been worrying about the situation at the mission, (especially if worry is sin) but I have definitely had some stress and anxiety over it.
It is just past 4:00 AM as I type these words. Just over an hour ago, I relapsed. You see, my lifelong default has been to worry when faced with any sort of uncertainty. Most people do not know this about me, but I used to be a very good worrier. I was actually an excellent worrier. I could worry about almost anything at the drop of a hat, and do it well. I do not worry anymore. Worry is sin.
So, shortly before 3:00 AM this morning, I relapsed. I defaulted to what I have often done when circumstances pressure me. I had some stress and anxiety. I cannot even say it was a conscious thought, but I began to pray in the spirit. (Yes, I was praying in tongues, although very quietly so as not to wake my wife.) In my spirit I heard something like, "You seem to be anxious and stressed." I was convicted. I confessed that I was a little anxious and stressed and I began to repent.
I had no more than started that when the Holy Spirit asked me if I would get up and pray. How could I respond? I got up, got my robe and slippers and my prayer shawl from Israel and sat in the big recliner in the family room. I began to pray. The stress and anxiety kept trying to creep in. My soul was trying to take authority over my spirit. I understood this battle was not about anything going on in my life. I was fighting a spirit that wanted to rob me of my, "...peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." (Romans 14:17) My stress and anxiety were all about things that do no matter in the kingdom of God. This is personal, between God and me. He is trying to be sure I am ready for what He is leading me into. He already sees the battle--and the victory.
I relapsed. I confessed. I repented. I prayed. I won! Now I am writing to anyone who cares to read about it and needs to hear it. Perhaps this will be my last relapse into stress and anxiety. Perhaps it will not. Albert Einstein was wrong about the universal constant. It is not light. It is the creator of the light. He will be there if I relapse again. Perhaps that will be the last time.
Style vs. Substance
Early in 1985 we attended a conference of pastors of a certain denomination, in Los Angeles, CA. The keynote speaker that year was the late John Wimber. At that time, John was pastoring the original, Vineyard church in Anaheim, CA., teaching at Fuller Seminary, and writing about what he called, "Power Evangelism." His idea was that if The Church could somehow reconnect with the power of the Holy Spirit as the first disciples had, the world would understand the reality of God. Those were the reasons he was invited to speak at that august gathering of ministers from around the world. However, the reason he is the subject of his post is that he had arrived for his keynote address without his belt. Before I explain that, let me tell you what happened in the meeting.
John's message was all about power evangelism and physical healing. He shared a few stories of people receiving healing as well as his personal experiences. He did mention during the message, on more than one occasion, that he had to continually hitch up his pants because he had forgotten his belt. When he finished speaking, he invited anyone who wanted to pray for the sick to join him on the platform. When he made that invitation, I knew that was why I was in the meeting that night. Starting from the balcony, I was within the first half dozen or so people to reach the platform. (I was much younger and faster at that time.)
After speaking just a few words to those of us who had moved to the platform, John invited anyone who needed a physical healing to join us on the platform. I could not guess the number, but there were a lot of people who came forward. A lot of detail is probably not necessary here, but I did have the blessing of praying for a woman with some kind of back problem and watching her as she was able to straighten up for the first time in years.
The next night, the final night of the conference, one of that denomination's, well-respected, ministers brought the closing message. I still sometimes wonder, with all the things the Lord did the night before, why the only thing this minister seemed to hear was that John Wimber had forgotten his belt. His assertion was that the mentions of the belt were mere style and served no purpose. He thought John would have been better off and the assembled ministers would have been better served had John simply bought another belt before he ascended the steps to the platform the previous night. Point taken, but I honestly cannot remember anything else he said that night. I suppose that is really the point here.
People will criticize us for any reason or no reason. We will be criticized for what we do and what we do not do. We will even be criticized for what we think and what others think we think. We have to think people who do those things have never read, or at least never really understood, James chapter 3. I suppose the key verse in this context would be verse 10, "Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so." Without further explanation, James is writing to The Church.
I was listening to a relatively famous, female minister recently who said the best way to deal with our critics is to live our lives with such integrity that whatever they may say bad about us is a lie. I cannot say I am quite there yet, but it does seem like a worthwhile goal. That will not stop the criticism, but it will diminish it's quality and effectiveness.
If you read this blog regularly and have not yet figured it out, the winds of change are blowing around us. As far as I know, none of us really knows exactly what the change will bring. If anyone does know, please let me in on it. What we do know, is there is still some spiritual interference to fight through. Along with that will come accusations, recriminations, and criticisms. (Shoot, that sounds too close to prophetic to me.) Not to worry, whatever it is, God is doing it. I can tell you with complete confidence that it will be good. Everything God does is good! Praise His Holy Name!
John's message was all about power evangelism and physical healing. He shared a few stories of people receiving healing as well as his personal experiences. He did mention during the message, on more than one occasion, that he had to continually hitch up his pants because he had forgotten his belt. When he finished speaking, he invited anyone who wanted to pray for the sick to join him on the platform. When he made that invitation, I knew that was why I was in the meeting that night. Starting from the balcony, I was within the first half dozen or so people to reach the platform. (I was much younger and faster at that time.)
After speaking just a few words to those of us who had moved to the platform, John invited anyone who needed a physical healing to join us on the platform. I could not guess the number, but there were a lot of people who came forward. A lot of detail is probably not necessary here, but I did have the blessing of praying for a woman with some kind of back problem and watching her as she was able to straighten up for the first time in years.
The next night, the final night of the conference, one of that denomination's, well-respected, ministers brought the closing message. I still sometimes wonder, with all the things the Lord did the night before, why the only thing this minister seemed to hear was that John Wimber had forgotten his belt. His assertion was that the mentions of the belt were mere style and served no purpose. He thought John would have been better off and the assembled ministers would have been better served had John simply bought another belt before he ascended the steps to the platform the previous night. Point taken, but I honestly cannot remember anything else he said that night. I suppose that is really the point here.
People will criticize us for any reason or no reason. We will be criticized for what we do and what we do not do. We will even be criticized for what we think and what others think we think. We have to think people who do those things have never read, or at least never really understood, James chapter 3. I suppose the key verse in this context would be verse 10, "Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so." Without further explanation, James is writing to The Church.
I was listening to a relatively famous, female minister recently who said the best way to deal with our critics is to live our lives with such integrity that whatever they may say bad about us is a lie. I cannot say I am quite there yet, but it does seem like a worthwhile goal. That will not stop the criticism, but it will diminish it's quality and effectiveness.
If you read this blog regularly and have not yet figured it out, the winds of change are blowing around us. As far as I know, none of us really knows exactly what the change will bring. If anyone does know, please let me in on it. What we do know, is there is still some spiritual interference to fight through. Along with that will come accusations, recriminations, and criticisms. (Shoot, that sounds too close to prophetic to me.) Not to worry, whatever it is, God is doing it. I can tell you with complete confidence that it will be good. Everything God does is good! Praise His Holy Name!
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
The Holy Spirit is off the Reservation
When I was younger, I used to watch a lot of western movies on television. It seems to me there were a lot more of them on in those days. They would probably be rated G if there had been ratings, but I digress.
In those western movies, there would often be some kind of conflict between the cowboys and the indians...uhhh native Americans. As you may recall from your study of American history, as the white men moved west, they relegated the indians to reservations. The indians where told where they were allowed to live. They had to stay on the reservation. Sometimes, in those old westerns, a restless, indian brave would take off in search of adventure, a better life, or sometimes just to hunt for food. When that happened, the brave was said to be "off the reservation" meaning that he was not in the place he had been relegated to by the powers that be.
Most of you can already see where we are going with this. The rest of you can just keep reading and I will try to explain the point as clearly and as briefly as possible. For those of you who read these pages regularly, you are probably hoping it will be brief and not expecting too much in the way of clarity. (My own little joke...I hope!)
In churches today we have generally relegated the Holy Spirit to some place where He is not supposed to make too much noise because we have our reservations (pun intended) about what "church" should look like. Church should be done "decently and in order." We even have scripture on that. (1 Corinthians 14:40) The only rub there is we have our ideas about what is decent and in order and the Holy Spirit seems to have other ideas. The rest of 1 Corinthians 14 contains instructions on how to keep order in church services when the Holy Spirit is doing too much. I have a pretty good idea that my church experience is fairly common. I cannot think of the last time I saw the Holy Spirit doing too much in a church service. That makes me wonder if the Holy Spirit would ever be allowed do too much in most churches today. Hmmm....
I do know of a place where the Holy Spirit seems to be trying to get off the reservation. It is not a place really, but I have been receiving calls, texts messages, and emails several times a week from people who are seeing changes in their world as a result of believing and doing more than they could have even imagined not very long ago. I even get to work on a daily basis with a group of men who have what I call "a creeping awareness" the Holy Spirit is beginning to do amazing things in their lives and the lives of their families and friends. Those kinds of things do not happen when the Holy Spirit politely stays on the reservation.
Let me close with a story that I think somehow illustrates the point. It must have been about 20 years ago, a church in Santa Maria built a badly needed new church building. They had been in temporary quarters for a year during construction. We were at the first service in the new building. The worship seemed to be a little more spiritual than usual in the shiny, new building than it had been in the gymnasium. Some of us had the sense true worship was about to break-out as the people were filled with some measure of wonder at what God had done for them. Just then, the pastor stepped to the microphone and said words to the affect of, "Let's not get carried away now. We do not do that here." The pronouncement was not followed by a hush, but some people commented later it felt as though the air had been taken out of the congregation.
I believe the Holy Spirit had been grieved. The church is surviving and some say thriving these twenty years later. The valley is literally strewn with wounded people and staff members from that church--some of whom have told me personally they intend to never darken the doors of a church again. There are also at least two, newer churches made up of people who left that church over the past few years.
If you have reservations about allowing the Holy Spirit to have free reign in your life, you will never truly see the power of God at work in and around you. Yes, we are speaking personally now. God wants to change you into His image. We usually settle for being changed into the image we think (soul) or feel (soul) He wants. Those ideas usually come from someone else (parent, teacher, pastor, etc.) telling us how we should act, what we should do, how we should feel, or what we should think. (Can you say religious spirit?) Find out what God wants for you. Commune with God. Let the Holy Spirit off the reservation and get ready for a wild ride. What could be more fun than that?
In those western movies, there would often be some kind of conflict between the cowboys and the indians...uhhh native Americans. As you may recall from your study of American history, as the white men moved west, they relegated the indians to reservations. The indians where told where they were allowed to live. They had to stay on the reservation. Sometimes, in those old westerns, a restless, indian brave would take off in search of adventure, a better life, or sometimes just to hunt for food. When that happened, the brave was said to be "off the reservation" meaning that he was not in the place he had been relegated to by the powers that be.
Most of you can already see where we are going with this. The rest of you can just keep reading and I will try to explain the point as clearly and as briefly as possible. For those of you who read these pages regularly, you are probably hoping it will be brief and not expecting too much in the way of clarity. (My own little joke...I hope!)
In churches today we have generally relegated the Holy Spirit to some place where He is not supposed to make too much noise because we have our reservations (pun intended) about what "church" should look like. Church should be done "decently and in order." We even have scripture on that. (1 Corinthians 14:40) The only rub there is we have our ideas about what is decent and in order and the Holy Spirit seems to have other ideas. The rest of 1 Corinthians 14 contains instructions on how to keep order in church services when the Holy Spirit is doing too much. I have a pretty good idea that my church experience is fairly common. I cannot think of the last time I saw the Holy Spirit doing too much in a church service. That makes me wonder if the Holy Spirit would ever be allowed do too much in most churches today. Hmmm....
I do know of a place where the Holy Spirit seems to be trying to get off the reservation. It is not a place really, but I have been receiving calls, texts messages, and emails several times a week from people who are seeing changes in their world as a result of believing and doing more than they could have even imagined not very long ago. I even get to work on a daily basis with a group of men who have what I call "a creeping awareness" the Holy Spirit is beginning to do amazing things in their lives and the lives of their families and friends. Those kinds of things do not happen when the Holy Spirit politely stays on the reservation.
Let me close with a story that I think somehow illustrates the point. It must have been about 20 years ago, a church in Santa Maria built a badly needed new church building. They had been in temporary quarters for a year during construction. We were at the first service in the new building. The worship seemed to be a little more spiritual than usual in the shiny, new building than it had been in the gymnasium. Some of us had the sense true worship was about to break-out as the people were filled with some measure of wonder at what God had done for them. Just then, the pastor stepped to the microphone and said words to the affect of, "Let's not get carried away now. We do not do that here." The pronouncement was not followed by a hush, but some people commented later it felt as though the air had been taken out of the congregation.
I believe the Holy Spirit had been grieved. The church is surviving and some say thriving these twenty years later. The valley is literally strewn with wounded people and staff members from that church--some of whom have told me personally they intend to never darken the doors of a church again. There are also at least two, newer churches made up of people who left that church over the past few years.
If you have reservations about allowing the Holy Spirit to have free reign in your life, you will never truly see the power of God at work in and around you. Yes, we are speaking personally now. God wants to change you into His image. We usually settle for being changed into the image we think (soul) or feel (soul) He wants. Those ideas usually come from someone else (parent, teacher, pastor, etc.) telling us how we should act, what we should do, how we should feel, or what we should think. (Can you say religious spirit?) Find out what God wants for you. Commune with God. Let the Holy Spirit off the reservation and get ready for a wild ride. What could be more fun than that?
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Lead, Follow, or Get Out of The Way
We have often said, though not in these pages, that if you think you are a leader, look around. If no one is following, you are just out for a walk. We have taken a lot of walks over the course of the years. We have even taken some of those walks while we were supposed to be leading. I am not sure how it relates exactly, but have you ever wondered why God entrusts first children to new parents?
There was a time when our children and a couple other children were preteens. They were gathered around the table. They were eating lunch or playing a game or whatever and became involved in a spirited disagreement over something. The father of the other children said, "If at least one of you does not become a lawyer, it will be a great waste of natural talent." (None of them did, but one of them married an attorney.) We all tend to do that. We disagree with one another in a spirited or loud manner, usually over things that will soon be forgotten anyway.
I do not have to look far to understand where my children might have come up with the idea they need to present and defend their opinions. Their mother... (just kidding). Some positions are worth defending and some simply are not. (I am having a "Do I really want to go there" moment. I am not sure, but here goes anyway.) I recently heard a pastor say it is good to have a lot of different churches because people are all different. The second part of the statement is true, but I have to question the first part. I know I tend to be something of an idealist, but are not all those different people in those different churches there to worship the same Jesus? Are not all the pastors supposed to be leading their congregations into a better understanding of God?
I have become convinced that I can teach anyone who is willing to learn and I can learn from anyone who is able to teach--and even from some people who do not do it very well. Electronic media is great. Undoubtedly, many have come to faith in Jesus Christ through the spoken and written Word of God conveyed by electronic means. It has it's place, but it is not the same as being with other believers, worshipping in spirit and in truth (John 4:23). I have signed up for pod casts from several different, Godly men who have taught me a lot about different facets of the Kingdom of God that are not often taught in this valley. At least I do not know they are taught. How could I? Most of those teachings are done within the walls of different churches than the one I attend. The point is that in dividing ourselves we have also limited ourselves, to our common loss.
There was a time when our children and a couple other children were preteens. They were gathered around the table. They were eating lunch or playing a game or whatever and became involved in a spirited disagreement over something. The father of the other children said, "If at least one of you does not become a lawyer, it will be a great waste of natural talent." (None of them did, but one of them married an attorney.) We all tend to do that. We disagree with one another in a spirited or loud manner, usually over things that will soon be forgotten anyway.
I do not have to look far to understand where my children might have come up with the idea they need to present and defend their opinions. Their mother... (just kidding). Some positions are worth defending and some simply are not. (I am having a "Do I really want to go there" moment. I am not sure, but here goes anyway.) I recently heard a pastor say it is good to have a lot of different churches because people are all different. The second part of the statement is true, but I have to question the first part. I know I tend to be something of an idealist, but are not all those different people in those different churches there to worship the same Jesus? Are not all the pastors supposed to be leading their congregations into a better understanding of God?
I have become convinced that I can teach anyone who is willing to learn and I can learn from anyone who is able to teach--and even from some people who do not do it very well. Electronic media is great. Undoubtedly, many have come to faith in Jesus Christ through the spoken and written Word of God conveyed by electronic means. It has it's place, but it is not the same as being with other believers, worshipping in spirit and in truth (John 4:23). I have signed up for pod casts from several different, Godly men who have taught me a lot about different facets of the Kingdom of God that are not often taught in this valley. At least I do not know they are taught. How could I? Most of those teachings are done within the walls of different churches than the one I attend. The point is that in dividing ourselves we have also limited ourselves, to our common loss.
As mentioned above, from time to time, I have been called to lead. Another of those times seems to be developing right now. For the past 3 1/2 years I have been leading a group of men who are trying to apply Biblical principles to their struggle against addictions of various stripes. Lately, we have seen some very good progress. I could give at least a couple reasons for that, but it does not seem necessary at this point. However, to validate another point mentioned above, unless you have been in the groups and classes at the rescue mission where I teach, you have no idea what I have been teaching. The families and friends of the men I teach see the effects of that teaching on their loved ones, but they do not know exactly what the teaching is. It is very gratifying to hear that some of them want to learn the same things. I even had a man enter the program within the past month who came specifically because of the change he had seen in his brother. It is too early to tell, but the two of them might, just possibly, be part of something the Holy Spirit spoke to me over 25 years ago.
Right now I am more following than leading, but there are also people following me. My challenge is to maintain both positions with integrity and the utmost excellency I am able to achieve. I know the devil does not like me. I know everyone who claims to be a Christian will not always act like one, me included. That does not mean I stop trying. This is sounding like a ramble to me. When that happens, I just stop. As I do that, let me say, if you are not currently called to lead, follow diligently. If you cannot do that, just get out of the way until you are able to catch up.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)