Longtime readers of this blog, and those who actively seek to "be being filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18) know that sometimes the Holy Spirit will speak something that seems disconnected from any other events of life currently in process. Of course I mention that because the title of this post came just like that, randomly, and seemingly unattached to anything else that was going on. Being a substance abuse counselor by profession, I might have thought it had something to do with that, and I am sure it does. However, I believe there is something more to it, something that we can all learn about the forces of nature and nurture.
My siblings and I had a wonderful mother. In fact, if you ask our father, she was not a woman at all, but rather a goddess who walked among mortals. (We would then remind him we never noticed that level of adulation from him while she was alive.) Nonetheless, Mom did have one great failing that ended her life prematurely. She had a nicotine addiction all her adult life. In the end, it resulted in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and multiple myeloma. My wife remarked recently how much Mom would have enjoyed seeing her grandchildren get married and the great-grandchildren that have come from those unions. She had the genes to live well into her 80s judging from her ancestors. Nature would have worked for her, but nurture was just too hard to overcome. We cannot lay the entire rap at her parent's feet. Smoking was something absolutely everyone did at the time she started. That is nurture too after all.
If, as some people think, addictions are hereditary, I, for one, would be at risk by nature and by nurture. One of the things I love about psychologists (check for the placement of my tongue) is that when they have no evidence, a causal link, for something, they make one up. Such is the case with addictions, homosexuality, and just plain contrariness (is that a word?) among other things. Of course there is a causal link in each of those things, sin.
Sin compells us to do things contrary to the nature of God. Each and every one of us has sinned. (Romans 3:23) Sin has been passed down through the human race since the first pair of humans decided God could not possibly mean what He said when He withheld the fruit of one tree from them. News flash, He did! That should settle the argument about nature. Oh, I know it does not really, but it should. It does for me anyway. God did not make you an addict or a homosexual or a dog or a horse. No one has an hereditary disease of alcoholism that compels them to drink. If a person never drinks alcohol, he or she will never become an alcoholic. However, it is not sheer desire or willpower that will deliver anyone from addictions. It takes a new nature. New natures come from new births. New births come only from God through Jesus. (See John 3).
That pretty much leaves us with the issue of nurture. We do know from scientific studies that people who smoke or drink or do drugs are much more likely to have parents who did those things. Obviously, those things were not only tolerated, but demonstrated in the homes where those people grew up. It did not work that way for me, but we do have blood relatives for whom it did. Those problems often have spiritual roots as well, but if I get going on that, most of you will think I have lost my mind. I know this because I recently spilled it all to a group of men and they thought that. Either that, or I just confirmed for them that I sometimes have a very loose grip on reality. My son tells me it is a lot of fun to be easily amused, but I figure why put my mind on hold when I can just let to go to places other people do not. Sorry, back to reality here.
People who study human behavior have sometimes make a big deal of the fact that babies are born grasping with closed fists. They say this indicates a clutching or holding onto things, a self centeredness if you will. Guess what? A baby in the womb is self centered. It does not know anything consciously, but itself for most of those nine months. If it did, gestation would probably be much shorter. I know people who get claustrophobic on enclosed thrill rides. Those are wide open spaces compared to the inside of a uterus. Still, babies are self centered. Some never grow out of it. It is sad to see 40 and 50 somethings who only do what feels good to them. At some point a member of the legal system often tells them that is not the way adults behave and sends them to jail or to a program. Unfortunately, many of them have wasted well over half their lives living a futile existence. Those are the people who get out of their addictions and actually live to tell about it.
Fortunately, overcoming the forces of nurture is not that difficult. You just stop doing what it is you are doing that you don't like. I could end there, but that would leave a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths. Most folks think they just cannot quit doing those things. Let me assure you, you can. Oh, I know some people think they do not want to overcome an addiction. Do not even go there with me. Remember what I do for a living? Not wanting to quit does not mean there is no deception going on. However, If you really cannot, it is time to look for deeper, spiritual problems than simple addictions. Maybe it is working out your own salvation with fear and trembling remembering it is God who works in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13)
I still have not figured out why this post is written at this time. Perhaps someone out there knows and can tell me. It does not even sound that inspiring as I read it over, but I think that I have written all I am supposed to.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
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?
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?
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Denial Cuts Both Ways
My current occupation is program coordinator of a residential, substance abuse, treatment program for men. As you might imagine, I am confronted with some form of denial at least a few times a week. The most common of those, of course, is that the addict is not addicted. They are not addicted to street drugs, prescription drugs, or alcohol. I am currently working with one man who unabashadely tells me the only addiction he has is to women. Of course he uses a different term. Our larger organization inplemented a tobacco free policy for all our facilities and program participants effective January 1, 2010. When that policy was announced around December 1, 2009, there were very few complaints. Maybe it is the addictive mentality, I do not know, but not a one of our smokers seemed to even consider quitting before January 1. Then a few of them hurried to find nicotine substitutes to help them quit or just went underground, so to speak, with their addictions. Yes, that word is carefully chosen. The primary way one can tell if he or she is addicted is to turn away from the addiction and see what happens. In an addiction, the addictive substance will be constantly in the forefront of the mind.
We do not talk too much about addiction in our program. It is our belief that the only way to really overcome an addiction is to have our minds renewed toward addictions. It is not really an oversimplification to say God can take away any addictions we have. We generally have no problem identifying some addictions as bad. The aforementioned drugs and alcohol are considered to be bad things to do. Of course, we have just lumped illegal substances together with one which the law considers legal until it is abused and/or causes the person using it to perform illegal acts, such as driving a car while intoxicated.
There is, however, a totally different sort of denial we can fall victim too. Again, we are choosing our words carefully here. A person who becomes addicted to any substance is not a victim. He or she is a willing participant in the addiction, at least in the beginning. We do have a propensity as human beings, to inadvertently fall into the other sort of denial. This one occurs when the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is watered down or diluted. One of my former pastors, Jack Hayford, wrote, "A diluted gospel, produces deluded Christians." A deluded Christian is one who is in denial about how the Christian life is to be lived. (I think I just heard a few people get smacked in the forehead with that one.)
There is absolutely no way to justify being unloving toward anyone. Period. My current pastor, Rob Litzinger, often says, "We have to move from the idea that it is all about me to the idea that it is not about me at all." Is there anything more selfish than spending God's resources on substances to abuse? We are simply trying to broad-brush stroke the idea that we are permitted to do anything we think we would like to do. That concept does not apply if we have made Jesus Lord of our lives. Lordship means He is the boss and we do what He says.
I have mentioned the opposite of love is selfishness (or self-centeredness if you like) have I not? It is still amazing to me how many Christians do not understand that concept. When asked what the opposite of love is, the almost universal answer is "hate". That would be true if love were an emotion. (Incidentally we once heard the pastor of a large, local church say exactly that.) Hate is an emotion. Love is a fruit of the spirit. They cannot be opposites. To be sure, there are forms of love that are emotional. Is it any wonder that we are in denial about being able to walk in love when we do not even know what love is? Wait! What did I just say? We are in denial about being able to walk in love. You may remember that one of the symptoms of a religious spirit is that people have a form of godliness, but deny its power. (2 Timothy 3:5)
I know people who are in denial about being able to walk in freedom from addictive substances. Frequently I see hope start to grow in some of them, as in, I hope I never go back to abusing (fill in the blank). We all have to start somewhere. Any spark of hope will help us at least see the right direction to go. The way to start loving is to act lovingly. The door to acting lovingly is to quit acting selfishly. That is probably enough of that for now.
We do not talk too much about addiction in our program. It is our belief that the only way to really overcome an addiction is to have our minds renewed toward addictions. It is not really an oversimplification to say God can take away any addictions we have. We generally have no problem identifying some addictions as bad. The aforementioned drugs and alcohol are considered to be bad things to do. Of course, we have just lumped illegal substances together with one which the law considers legal until it is abused and/or causes the person using it to perform illegal acts, such as driving a car while intoxicated.
There is, however, a totally different sort of denial we can fall victim too. Again, we are choosing our words carefully here. A person who becomes addicted to any substance is not a victim. He or she is a willing participant in the addiction, at least in the beginning. We do have a propensity as human beings, to inadvertently fall into the other sort of denial. This one occurs when the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is watered down or diluted. One of my former pastors, Jack Hayford, wrote, "A diluted gospel, produces deluded Christians." A deluded Christian is one who is in denial about how the Christian life is to be lived. (I think I just heard a few people get smacked in the forehead with that one.)
There is absolutely no way to justify being unloving toward anyone. Period. My current pastor, Rob Litzinger, often says, "We have to move from the idea that it is all about me to the idea that it is not about me at all." Is there anything more selfish than spending God's resources on substances to abuse? We are simply trying to broad-brush stroke the idea that we are permitted to do anything we think we would like to do. That concept does not apply if we have made Jesus Lord of our lives. Lordship means He is the boss and we do what He says.
I have mentioned the opposite of love is selfishness (or self-centeredness if you like) have I not? It is still amazing to me how many Christians do not understand that concept. When asked what the opposite of love is, the almost universal answer is "hate". That would be true if love were an emotion. (Incidentally we once heard the pastor of a large, local church say exactly that.) Hate is an emotion. Love is a fruit of the spirit. They cannot be opposites. To be sure, there are forms of love that are emotional. Is it any wonder that we are in denial about being able to walk in love when we do not even know what love is? Wait! What did I just say? We are in denial about being able to walk in love. You may remember that one of the symptoms of a religious spirit is that people have a form of godliness, but deny its power. (2 Timothy 3:5)
I cannot is simply not acceptable, but it is a place to start because it is true. At least we are being honest. We cannot. God can. Is it not amazing how those two, two word sentences clear away the fog? Knowing we cannot is the place to start to leave that denial behind.
I know people who are in denial about being able to walk in freedom from addictive substances. Frequently I see hope start to grow in some of them, as in, I hope I never go back to abusing (fill in the blank). We all have to start somewhere. Any spark of hope will help us at least see the right direction to go. The way to start loving is to act lovingly. The door to acting lovingly is to quit acting selfishly. That is probably enough of that for now.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
The Workings of a Religious Spirit, Part 7
So I was making the bed a couple days ago (yes, Judi was out of town) and the Holy Spirit spoke into my spirit, "It is time to get back on task." There was obviously nothing I could say to that except, "Ok." I had no more than said that when I was aware that something I had been turning over and over in my mind for months (call it meditation if you like) is a working of a religious spirit we had not previously discussed here. The reason we have not is this is something we are inclined to take for granted.
You may remember me saying there was a period in my life when I could offend people simply by walking into a room. I never did understand how that happened. I had even asked a older, wiser brother in the faith about that once. His explanation was that I exuded an air of confidence most people did not have. I never really understood that either. Shortly after we returned to Santa Maria, we had the opportunity to do some ministry in a local church. We discovered that in simply reporting facts of experiences we had with God, people twisted and distorted our reports into some kind of braggadocio about what amazing people we are. To set the record straight for those of you who do not know us very well, we are not extraordinary people. There really is nothing remarkable about us. The prophet Micah asks, "He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8) I am not sure we have ever tried to do much other than that. Sometimes it feels as though we have not accomplished much at all to this point in life. However, God is true to His promises and He has given us some favor with men recently.
I am not sure exactly where that last paragraph came from, but it serves to introduce the fact that a vast portion of The Church does not understand the power given by Jesus as he ascended back into heaven. You may remember the term is "all power". Do not be misled by those who would say that applies only to Jesus because He said "all power has been given to me." The next words are, "therefore go." You can look that up in Matthew 28 if you are not willing to take my word for it. The power given to Him is our authority to go. God is a trinity. We cannot understand exactly how that works. What we do know is that it means God grants the power to Jesus who operated through the power of the Holy Spirit just as we are to operate. The "all power" definitely does apply to us.
This problem in the The Church can actually be answered with a principle from psychology. I know some people are going to object to me even saying that, but bear with me. If you still think I have it wrong after your careful consideration, make a comment. I post them all. The psychological term is "self-actualized". If one were to look at a self-actualized person from the perspective of Biblical knowledge, that person would look very much like someone who lives Romans 12:1-2. Specifically, that person would be seen to have had his mind transformed by the Holy Spirit so that he understands his calling in life is to prove the good and acceptable and perfect will of God in his life. A truly self-actualized person does that on a daily basis. He or she knows where their strength and ability lies--in God. Unfortunately, often all it takes to get into a leadership position in any kind of ministry organization is one's ability to impress or please someone a little farther up the food chain. We see today, many insecure leaders perpetuating insecure leadership by disallowing anyone who is more self-actualized than themselves to be in leadership.
I do not often quote my father in these pages, mostly because he is not a Christian and so he lives, works, and thinks from a different perspective. However, despite a lack of formal education, he became one of the elite managers in our little corner of the aerospace industry, often advising Air Force Generals on how to organize and facilitate projects. One thing he told me about his management style is that he never wanted people on his team who were not smarter and better at their jobs than he was. He said he would assemble the best people he could find, organize them into a team, and give them the tools they needed to accomplish their task. When he left them alone to do that, he was perceived as a brilliant manager because his team produced the desired results.
A religious spirit has to keep the cream from rising to the top. It depends on poor to mediocre leadership to keep a lid on those who are passionate about seeing the Kingdom of God come in all its power and glory. The leaders in place have to be less dangerous to the enemy than the rank and file members.
I told the men at the mission during devotions a few days ago, they were led into substance abuse because it was one way the devil had of neutralizing them and keeping them from becoming the men they should be. It was a new concept to many of them. If I can encourage you to do any one thing here, please seek the Lord about what is keeping you from doing great things in and for the Kingdom of God. Then change that. Be one of those people who are not held back by anyone or anything. "...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." (Philippians 2:12-13)
By the way, if you feel there is any value in being more self-actualized than you are, you might enjoy a trip to http://www.selfcounseling.com/help/personalsuccess/selfactualization.html
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Big Footprints
Every so often we see someone who comes seemingly out of nowhere and vaults onto a large stage. This person was heretofore unknown or known in a very limited realm or area. Suddenly, he or she becomes a celebrity (in the most general sense of the term) and becomes a household name practically overnight. We say that person "made a splash". This has happened, by my count, at least three times in American politics over the past couple years. You might guess whom I am talking about, but no names please, because any one, or all of them might become more than a splash. Any one of them may leave big footprints, for better or for worse. Time will tell. Am I being to cryptic? Here is a hint. The most recent one was this week. The newly elected, junior senator from Massachusetts made a very big splash onto the national scene. If you insist, the others I was thinking of are a former senator from Illinois, the previous Governor of Alaska, and perhaps even a former Governor of Arkansas who, in spite of being impeached by the United States Congress, just will not seem to go away. (Kind of gave my political views away there I guess.)
Sometimes people splash and no one even notices until the ripples get so far away that the person who started them can scarcely be remembered. For instance, I embrace and practice the teachings that came out of the Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles in 1906. I just found out last weekend who started that. William J. Seymour was a black man in Los Angeles when that was not very popular. It is reported there were churches that would not let him into their services for that reason. Nevertheless, he persevered and became known as the father of that revival. He left some pretty big footprints in my life and the lives of many others.
I wear a size 9, narrow width shoe. I am probably not ever going to leave very big footprints. What I am going to do is combine those size 9 feet with a lot of other people's feet. God made a promise to Moses which He reaffirmed and transferred to Joshua. Remember, Moses was not allowed to enter the promised land because of his disobedience. That is a whole teaching in itself. The promise was that they would possess every place the soles of their feet would tread. (Deuteronomy 11:24; Joshua 1:3) It is interesting that this is one of the first things God told Joshua when he assumed the leadership of Israel from Moses.
By and large, The Church today does not have a very good concept of possessing our inheritance. We do not have time or space to do the complete teaching on that inheritance or who is entitled to it. May it suffice to say it belongs to everyone who has made Jesus Lord of his or her life. In so doing we become the children of God and the seed of Abraham who was the first man to put his faith in the one, true, almighty God. "And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3:29) You may recall that when Abraham originally entered the promised land, God had him walk the entire length and breadth of the land and build altars at strategic places. In doing that, Abraham was putting God's mark on His land. We have the same authority. (Do not give up yet. Read the next paragraph.)
In the Old Testament we see physical representations of the spiritual truths in the New Testament. When Abraham and Joshua walked the physical ground of the promised land their literal feet were possessing the literal land. When we walk by faith now, we are dispossessing the spiritual forces that cover the land. In Santa Maria, those spiritual forces have blanketed the area with their diabolical schemes and have convinced most of The Church that this is as good as it gets. Oh please. The best estimate is that about 8% of the population in the Santa Maria Valley attends church, any church, on any given Sunday. That is as good as it gets? I think not. I think there is something keeping a lid on The Church in Santa Maria. That has to be obvious to anyone who has had his or her eyes opened to the real situation. It is time to do something about that. This is the time. We are the people. This stinking, religious spirit has had his way around here for much too long.
We have mentioned the Pentecost Walk ministry in these pages before. As far as we know, they are still planning to walk in the Santa Maria valley sometime this year. We plan to be there with them. We may even be doing something additional either before or after that event. We are waiting on the Lord for direction. In the meantime you will not want to miss the next couple posts.
Sometimes people splash and no one even notices until the ripples get so far away that the person who started them can scarcely be remembered. For instance, I embrace and practice the teachings that came out of the Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles in 1906. I just found out last weekend who started that. William J. Seymour was a black man in Los Angeles when that was not very popular. It is reported there were churches that would not let him into their services for that reason. Nevertheless, he persevered and became known as the father of that revival. He left some pretty big footprints in my life and the lives of many others.
I wear a size 9, narrow width shoe. I am probably not ever going to leave very big footprints. What I am going to do is combine those size 9 feet with a lot of other people's feet. God made a promise to Moses which He reaffirmed and transferred to Joshua. Remember, Moses was not allowed to enter the promised land because of his disobedience. That is a whole teaching in itself. The promise was that they would possess every place the soles of their feet would tread. (Deuteronomy 11:24; Joshua 1:3) It is interesting that this is one of the first things God told Joshua when he assumed the leadership of Israel from Moses.
By and large, The Church today does not have a very good concept of possessing our inheritance. We do not have time or space to do the complete teaching on that inheritance or who is entitled to it. May it suffice to say it belongs to everyone who has made Jesus Lord of his or her life. In so doing we become the children of God and the seed of Abraham who was the first man to put his faith in the one, true, almighty God. "And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3:29) You may recall that when Abraham originally entered the promised land, God had him walk the entire length and breadth of the land and build altars at strategic places. In doing that, Abraham was putting God's mark on His land. We have the same authority. (Do not give up yet. Read the next paragraph.)
In the Old Testament we see physical representations of the spiritual truths in the New Testament. When Abraham and Joshua walked the physical ground of the promised land their literal feet were possessing the literal land. When we walk by faith now, we are dispossessing the spiritual forces that cover the land. In Santa Maria, those spiritual forces have blanketed the area with their diabolical schemes and have convinced most of The Church that this is as good as it gets. Oh please. The best estimate is that about 8% of the population in the Santa Maria Valley attends church, any church, on any given Sunday. That is as good as it gets? I think not. I think there is something keeping a lid on The Church in Santa Maria. That has to be obvious to anyone who has had his or her eyes opened to the real situation. It is time to do something about that. This is the time. We are the people. This stinking, religious spirit has had his way around here for much too long.
We have mentioned the Pentecost Walk ministry in these pages before. As far as we know, they are still planning to walk in the Santa Maria valley sometime this year. We plan to be there with them. We may even be doing something additional either before or after that event. We are waiting on the Lord for direction. In the meantime you will not want to miss the next couple posts.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Flashes of Brilliance in a Wasted Life
I really have no idea at this point why I am writing this post. It almost seems to me to be less useful than other things that could be written in this space. However, I do know when the Holy Spirit speaks something into my spirit and He definitely did this time.
I received a little distressing news today. You may remember Jon. He is one of the mighty men. (Sometimes Things Do Change, October 22, 2009). In fact, I used to print out the new posts after I had published them and Jon would proofread them. There were a lot of errors you never saw because he was very good at that. He was also a living testimony of how a person can change when confronted by Jesus. Jon is back in jail. I am not really sure of all the facts, but from what I have heard, he earned his way back. In fact, the word is that he is probably going back to state prison for some number of years. Jon originally came to the mission to avoid making what now seems like an inevitable trip to prison in the first place. He had already been there three times before, if I remember correctly. He had some flashes of brilliance while he was at the mission. He likely took more notes than anyone who has ever been in the program. He is a very intelligent man, probably more intelligent than this writer. He knows the right answers. So what happened?
I hammer and hammer and hammer the teaching about the tripartite nature of man into the men in my classes. It is of seminal importance we recognize how we gather and process information. We receive information from the world through our five senses, from God through our spirit, and from the devil directly into our minds. Then we have to process all that information and decide what to do with it.
The information we hear from the world is, by and large, what we want to hear. Seeing is not really believing either. We see what we want to see. I cannot remember who said, "Believe nothing you hear and only half of what you see." It seems to be true. The devil is very good at telling us exactly what we want to hear. In Jon's case, I am imagining it was something like, "You certainly have a lot of stress in your life. You just need a good fix to take care of all that." Of course he would say it in the first person so we would think it was our own idea.
Jon had possibly the longest flash of brilliance in his life heretofore while he was in the program. His closest friends commented on the substantive changes in his lifestyle and way of thinking. He was doing the things he needed to do until he was not doing them anymore.
The thing about Jon is that he does have a good heart. To be sure, that good heart does lead him astray at times. He knows better. Then again, if we all did what we knew to do, the world would be a much better place. When you think about it, pray for Jon. He will inevitably have another chance to get it right. It is my considered opinion the devil targets the people who have the potential to do the greatest things for God. The end of Jon's story has not been written yet. The Holy Spirit suggested this title, but we have the opportunity to pray there will not be many more wasted years in Jon's life and the flashes of brilliance will come one after the other.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
The Winter of My Discontent
Some people think God only speaks in scripture. In fact, if pressed, they may even admit they believe He only speaks in the words of the Authorized Version (King James Version). After all, it is authorized and none of the others are. In case you are confused about that, the King James Version of the Holy Bible was authorized by, you guessed it, King James of England in the wee, morning hours of the 17th century.
Interestingly, the title of this post comes from the same historical period. It is, of course, a take off from the opening line of Shakesphere's Play, "Richard The Third." When the line came up in my spirit the other morning I thought I was going to write about having a bad month starting around Thanksgiving. Judi asked me last night if it were true I had not written a post in a month. It is. I was even surprised it had been quite that long. I thought when Richard spoke this line he was talking about a winter of discontent. Now you know how well Shakesphere and I are aquainted. Of course that is only half the line. The remainder of the line is, "Made glorious summer..."
I did have something of a winter of discontent. Thankfully it only lasted about a month. For those of you who do not know, I am not really a fan of winter. No offense to those of you who are. I simply prefer the sunshine and warm days. I would rather wear shorts and flip flops than parkas and boots. Anyway, I am proclaiming today that my winter of discontent is now past and my glorious summer has begun. What does that mean? Let me try to explain.
Sometime around January 1 of this year, I felt I needed to fulfill another part of my anointing and, "...proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" (Luke 4:19 NIV) I am only about two weeks behind on that. Two weeks behind really is not that bad lately. I had a fever about three degrees above normal on New Year's Day. It only lasted about fifteen hours. My last fever was two years ago and lasted over a week. Things have changed. Things have improved. This is the beginning of OUR glorious summer. It is the year of the Lord's favor. As with everything else in the Kingdom of God, we have a part to play in that as surely as someone had to bring Shakesphere's words to life by playing the part of Richard and speaking those lines.
Last Sunday I listened to my pastor give his "State of the Church Address" to the assembled body. One of the things that caught my attention is that he said God wants to do great things in the church. How he said that also struck me. He said God not only wanted to do great things at Church for Life, but also in "the church in Santa Maria." That phrase kind of sounded familiar to me.
Indeed, God does want to do great things in the church in Santa Maria in 2010. It is to be our glorious summer. It will be the year of the Lord's favor on all who believe and work to make it happen. Have we talked about the works of God? I will have to go back and look. I barely remember last December. I have no idea what all this blog contains without looking. Let me at least give you a teaser, "God works". That is from Romans 8:28 in the NIV. But wait, you get more. God works and we work. See Philippians 2:12-13. Oh great, now we have to discuss what salvation really includes. My guys at the mission do this to me too. Just as I am making a cogent point or trying to wrap up a class someone asks a question that requires a more detailed explanation than I have time to give. If we do not get back to that sometime soon, remind me. (Ok, I looked and we did already discuss salvation. Check out the post from 9/6/09. Those last couple sentences were just too good to delete so I am just adding a little to the end here.)
Interestingly, the title of this post comes from the same historical period. It is, of course, a take off from the opening line of Shakesphere's Play, "Richard The Third." When the line came up in my spirit the other morning I thought I was going to write about having a bad month starting around Thanksgiving. Judi asked me last night if it were true I had not written a post in a month. It is. I was even surprised it had been quite that long. I thought when Richard spoke this line he was talking about a winter of discontent. Now you know how well Shakesphere and I are aquainted. Of course that is only half the line. The remainder of the line is, "Made glorious summer..."
I did have something of a winter of discontent. Thankfully it only lasted about a month. For those of you who do not know, I am not really a fan of winter. No offense to those of you who are. I simply prefer the sunshine and warm days. I would rather wear shorts and flip flops than parkas and boots. Anyway, I am proclaiming today that my winter of discontent is now past and my glorious summer has begun. What does that mean? Let me try to explain.
Sometime around January 1 of this year, I felt I needed to fulfill another part of my anointing and, "...proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" (Luke 4:19 NIV) I am only about two weeks behind on that. Two weeks behind really is not that bad lately. I had a fever about three degrees above normal on New Year's Day. It only lasted about fifteen hours. My last fever was two years ago and lasted over a week. Things have changed. Things have improved. This is the beginning of OUR glorious summer. It is the year of the Lord's favor. As with everything else in the Kingdom of God, we have a part to play in that as surely as someone had to bring Shakesphere's words to life by playing the part of Richard and speaking those lines.
Last Sunday I listened to my pastor give his "State of the Church Address" to the assembled body. One of the things that caught my attention is that he said God wants to do great things in the church. How he said that also struck me. He said God not only wanted to do great things at Church for Life, but also in "the church in Santa Maria." That phrase kind of sounded familiar to me.
Indeed, God does want to do great things in the church in Santa Maria in 2010. It is to be our glorious summer. It will be the year of the Lord's favor on all who believe and work to make it happen. Have we talked about the works of God? I will have to go back and look. I barely remember last December. I have no idea what all this blog contains without looking. Let me at least give you a teaser, "God works". That is from Romans 8:28 in the NIV. But wait, you get more. God works and we work. See Philippians 2:12-13. Oh great, now we have to discuss what salvation really includes. My guys at the mission do this to me too. Just as I am making a cogent point or trying to wrap up a class someone asks a question that requires a more detailed explanation than I have time to give. If we do not get back to that sometime soon, remind me. (Ok, I looked and we did already discuss salvation. Check out the post from 9/6/09. Those last couple sentences were just too good to delete so I am just adding a little to the end here.)
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