Led by the Spirit?

“Led by the Spirit.” This concept can be abused, as in using, “I’m not led,” to avoid basic obedience and calls common to all Christians. On the other hand, the concept of being led by the Holy Spirit can also be avoided because people are afraid of the Holy Spirit, are afraid they’ll lose control of their lives, afraid they won’t hear the Holy Spirit, get uncomfortable living by faith and moment by moment, or because someone generally thinks Holy Spirit stuff is for weird churches.

But, being led by the Holy Spirit is an essential part of the Christian’s walk. Acts 16 gives a powerful example of this when Paul, in simple obedience to the Word of God, seeks to go into two different regions and is forbidden by the Spirit, and then led to Macedonia by a vision from God. To me this is the perfect example—knowledge of God’s heart and nature through His Word, and leading by His Spirit to fulfill that Word in the unique way God has prepared each of us for in each moment.

It is so easy to make absolutes from the Bible. Doing so avoids needing to live dependent on God’s moment by moment leading (I’m not talking about truths the Bible states, and I’m not saying there aren’t some moral commands that are absolute and non varying). Here’s a couple of examples, though, of areas we might make “absolute” that I believe God needs to leads in, instead.

Lying: God hates a liar. Yet . . . Exodus 1 tells us that God dealt well with the midwives who lied to Pharaoh to protect the Hebrew babies. And Rahab lied to protect the spies, and in Hebrews 11's “Hall of Fame” of faith she is praised for that. And you have to believe God blessed people who lied to hide Jews from the Nazis, and who deceive to smuggle Bibles into persecuted countries.

Surrendering Our Rights: Christ modeled that before man. He did not hold on to His rights as God, but gave them up to come and die for us to bring us to Him—and we are told in Philippians, in this context, to have that mind in us which was in Christ. Jesus washed the disciples feet when He had every right to have them wash His—and He told us a servant is not greater than His master and to do likewise. Our culture says, “You earned it, you deserve it, you are right, everyone else gets to do it,” and yet David, by holding on to his rights and what felt he was “entitled to” from Nabal almost committed grievous sin (1 Samuel 25). When we hold on to our rights and to what we are owed we model ourselves and not Christ. Christ says, “I am right, and I deserve it, and I earned it . . . but I don’t assert that, and I don’t force it, and in love I lay it down that you might know the Father and live.” And yet . . . before we make this a blanket rule, this idea of submitting and of surrendering our rights can be, and has been, taken to extremes in some marriages and cults and even some churches. It is used as a club to abuse others and break them into nothing, to wound, and even to cause people to violate God’s laws. I believe there are times when God will tell us not to submit, not to compromise, to stop and stand—but it is the Holy Spirit that must lead us in and through those times. We can’t make a blanket rule. In some cases God has rescued people from death, and in other cases He’s led them to share in His sufferings and die a martyr’s death.

I am finding tremendously this need for the Holy Spirit’s leading in my personal life in the area of abortion (actually, in every area, but this is one at the forefront right now in my heart). There are so many “formulas” for what is right out there, and so many people who feel their formula is the “right” way to fight this, to the point of bitter infighting and accusing toward one another within the ranks of people who sincerely believe abortion is wrong.

There is no denying that abortion is murder of Holocaust proportions that our nation has legally, and wrongfully, condoned. But what is each of our roles in it? I have friends that I deeply admire and love who are very active in street ministry, standing at the last moment of hope outside clinics. I can’t express the honor I hold them in, nor how God has used them to teach and grow and challenge me. I ask the question of myself, am I supposed to be there with them? From reading some posts and web sites (I've not felt this from my friends) I’d come away feeling that I was a failure, a hypocrite and even an evil pastor if I am not there on the curb. Some generalized posts and places on the web lead you to think that every pastor (or church) in the nation that is not on the curb is some evil person (or “religious” group of Pharisees) leading people into apathy and blindness. But what about pastors and leaders and others who are faithfully, and led by God, pouring into the people God has given them influence with, raising up disciples, multiplying the fruit?

In the military I was in a rapid deployment, front-line combat-ready unit. I was a recon (Scout) platoon leader, operating ahead of the front lines. But we’d have been of no effect were it not for all the unseen and unnamed people making our weapons, keeping our radios working, getting us fuel and food, etc. Any victory on our end was equally theirs. In football terms, since the Superbowl is approaching, whatever team wins will have the players all up there cheering and holding a trophy, but what about all the managers, trainers, scouts, financiers, etc.? That victory is theirs as well.

In the past in our youth group there were some girls who had babies out of wedlock. I am saddened at their choices to not remain pure until marriage . . . but then I think, “But they kept the baby!” Did Mary Ann and I have a role in that? How many people have we taught who maybe were a voice for the unborn around a dinner table, or in a workplace? How many people have we taught who maybe chose abstinence until marriage and never were put in the place of an abortion? How many babies were spared because someone never went to a clinic, or needed to? And how far has that fruit reached? People we taught who maybe taught others? We don’t know. How many babies were spared by the dollars our fellowship gave to help a local crisis pregnancy center buy an ultrasound? We don't know. We have people in our fellowship who have never stood on a curb but have poured themselves into the younger generations’s lives, loved and led them into a place of knowing God, and deeply affected the course of those youth’s lives. How many abortions were never even needed because of the impact they had? Are not those babies saved, too?

What is each of our roles in this issue? I believe God must lead us, and I believe we must be careful to not judge others in it. Is the person on the curb more valuable than the person faithfully teaching as God calls them—whose instruction maybe avoided people even going to a clinic? I don’t believe they are. Is the person faithfully teaching adults, or youth, or a neighbor or family member more valuable than the person on the curb? I don’t believe they are. I believe the questions for each of us (in this issue and any other) are:

1. What is Holy Spirit leading us to do in this moment?
2. Are we doing it unto God, for His glory, poured out with all we have?

As I’ve wrestled with this issue Mary Ann has reminded me, “If it is coming with guilt, then it probably isn’t from God. If it is coming with conviction, then it very well could be.” For me, in each moment, I need to ask, “Am I following God’s leading, or avoiding what I know He is leading me to do and be?” In the end that is what matters for me, and what I will be accountable for.

I do believe that many of us, myself included, abdicate (or aren’t even willing to hear) God’s call to them to do something (be it abortion, evangelism, helping the outcast, teaching others, speaking up, whatever). Often what God calls us to is uncomfortable and we might “buy” a clean conscience by just donating some money, or justify something away by saying “God hasn’t called me” because we are, truthfully, only willing to hear an audible voice combined with a written letter delivered personally by Gabriel (I have been guilty of this and my relationship with my friends has helped me see this).

I do believe that, as a whole, the church (the body of professing believers) in America is apathetic and asleep and neglectful regarding many matters near and dear to God's heart, and will have a lot to answer to God for. But here’s the thing, and it will really only matter to us if we truly want what God wants more than what we want. The thing is, if God is calling me to be on the curb any given day and I’m not, then I am wrong. But if He’s calling me to teach, and I’m on the curb for any reason than His leading, I’m not where I’m supposed to be either. This is really the crux of the truth in any issue we face. What is God leading and asking of us, and are we doing unto His glory, with all that we have, poured out? We are all a part of His army, and we all have different roles. And we only operate fully as a body when each member is doing his or her given part. I recognize that this will be used by some as a way to simply avoid uncomfortable places (and I will probably be guilty of this in the future as well), but they are not fooling God and that is something they will have to work out with God. I believe if they truly want to know what God wants He’ll convict and lead them. And if they don’t really want to know what God wants then the issue is far bigger than where are they supposed to be that day.

What If God Didn't Show?

I know all the theology, so you don't need to correct it. I know God is with believers, etc., but the question the title asks is a challenge none-the-less. Let me explain . . .

I remember hearing a question once that asked, "How many ministries [in a given church] would continue to operate without a hitch if the Holy Spirit departed?" This question comes back to me now and then as a challenge. How much of my life? How many of our ministries at True Life Christian Fellowship? How much of what we do and try? How much depends on the Holy Spirit . . . and how much is simply our good intentions and our resources and would continue without a hitch if God simply didn't show up? How much is just "church" . . . and how much is actually the living God, poured out Spirit, at work in and through us?

How much of my life, and how much of our fellowship, operate dependent on God? I know ultimately we are, of course, but the point being made is one to ponder for each of us, and for each fellowship of believers. I think it is very easy to simply do things because we've always done them, or to convince ourselves it isn't God talking to us when the thought comes to do something radical or that stretches us. How much of what we are doing, saying, etc., requires God to bring it to completion?

For example, ultimately salvation is something that must happen between a believer and God. But I wonder how many people have been pressured or emotionally hyped into saying some "magic" prayer. I know, as a fire department chaplain, that many, many times when I've asked about someone's faith who has died, the answer from loved ones has been something like, "Well, they prayed a prayer when they were eight" . . . and now in their middle ages there has not been any fruit of any true interaction between them and God. (I know it isn't our place to judge the salvation of someone, but we are given discernment, and I do believe it fair to comment on what I've observed, not drawing any ultimate conclusions about a person.)

I know when I am in a place where I am really following Jesus—submitted, allowing myself to be the sail that rather than tacking against the wind of the Holy Spirit is running with it steering me at full strength—it is actually unusual for Him to not lead me into very uncomfortable places or discussions or attempts at something . . . things that take me way out of my comfort zone and absolutely require Him to bring them to completion. I also know that when I am struggling, or in a rut, or hurt and withdrawing, I find it too easy to "turn off" the dial to His still, quiet whisper and to remain in my "safe" shell.

One of the first acts of Jesus recorded in Mark 1:21–28 is His casting out of a demon in a synagogue. I have a penciled in note next to that account that causes me to pause each time I read it. It says, basically, "The demon was comfortable in church until Jesus showed up!" Wow. May my life, and my fellowship, never be so devoid of the Spirit's anointing and power that a demon is quite OK around me. May I never quench the Holy Spirit.

A passage that is a strong warning to me is in Acts 19:11–20. Paul is casting out demons, healing the sick, etc. Then the seven sons of Sceva try the same thing, using Jesus' name like some magic word, and they get jumped on and beaten up and driven out of the house naked by one demonized man. What a strong reminder that Jesus isn't just some magic "open sesame"—He is the living God and when I am submitted to His authority I then walk in the authority He has delegated to me. Demons aren't afraid of me . . . they obey the authority and name of Jesus when Jesus has given it to me to use, and I am under His authority.

May my life, and the fellowship I pastor, live in a place where we are operating completely dependent on the Holy Spirit's anointing. If we aren't, if we only stay in the realm of what we are comfortable doing on our own (comfortable, because we know WE can do it so we don't have to live in a place of faith, knowing that if He doesn't finish it then it won't happen), then we will not experience the edge of what He is doing. Of course "church" will be really comfortable then . . . but is that what any of us really want?

I know for me, I have to repeatedly ask about different ministries, events, youth group activities, etc., if God still wants us doing something. It is very comfortable to do something you've done over and over, and if we aren't careful we can assume God wants us to do something just because He has in the past. I don't think it is a mistake, however, that the Old Testament records God delivering His people in almost every instance in a different way—each time they had to hear from Him His plan for that specific moment. In the New Testament we see Jesus healing people, and in instance after instance He does it one way one time, then another way another time.

If we get to that place where we just kind of do what we've always done, we stop listening for the whisper that says, "This time, spit in the mud and wipe it in the eyes . . ." This doesn't mean He won't guide us to do something the same way we have before, but how affirming and faith building to have heard His fresh voice on that and to know we are living/acting in the freshness of His life and power and leading, and not simply in some comfortable religious tradition. He is life, He is breath, He is living water. The Holy Spirit is living water, fire, a wind. These are words of life, of movement, of dynamic relationship. And asking and living in dependence keeps us in relationship and not just in some religious "mode."

It is not comfortable to live in complete dependence on God, but the alternative . . . to live so comfortable in doing it like you've always done it, because you've always done it, runs the risk of living within your self and your means . . . and I don't ever want to do it. I do it too many times. It is safe . . . but I don't want safe—not really—I want to see miracles, I want to see His power poured out, I want to see addictions broken, marriages restored, fathers and prodigals returned, bodies healed, depression crushed, demons fleeing in terror, the lost saved . . . and I can't do any of those things. Only He can.

I am the Lord

In my current reading through the Bible I am in Leviticus 22, and this morning I made a note in the margin about how many times God ends a command, statement of His Holiness, etc., with the words, "I am the Lord." Then, I looked across the page to the facing page and saw where I had made an almost identical comment my last time through Leviticus, probably two years ago.

I am struck by the utter simplicity of it. He speaks. He commands (usually something related to being separate, holy, set apart, etc.) and He simply ends with, "I am the Lord." And, really, what more needs to be said?

So many of those commands are things which a violation of results in death, being cut off, etc. They are serious. God is holy—separate, set apart. Holy. Lord. Have those words lost anything to us? Only four letters each, but they define man's condition and eternity.

God is holy. By the very definition of it He is separate from us. It is in His holiness that we find the very reason we are cut off, separated from God, by our sin. He is holy. A consuming fire. A star breather. The One who holds and decides all of eternity. God.

God. There's a three letter word. The shortest of all and yet the most powerful. God. How often do we use these words so casually: God, holy, Lord?

Sometimes I'll simply slowly repeat the word "God" multiple times softly out loud to myself. And each time it grows in power until the word I can so flippantly throw out in conversation and advice starts to have a reverence and awe return around it. God. Holy. Lord.

"Be still and know that I am God." He says that in His Psalms. Slow down. Know I am GOD! That word is supposed to mean everything, just like, "I am the Lord" is supposed to. Everything! And, what more is needed?

And the most stunning thing of all? As born again Christians we are holy unto God. Set apart by God. His own special people and nation (not America, but the Kingdom of God). That is how complete Christ's work on our behalf is. That God could take us—sinful, self-centered, lustful, faithless, proud people—and do something to or for us that is so complete that He can bring us into His holiness! That the HOLY Spirit could in fact live in us!

But . . . saved, forgiven, reconciled to God, united with God, indwelt by God, eternally alive to God . . . does the word "Lord" really mean to me what it should? "I am the Lord." That is all. And it should be enough. Because if it isn't enough for me to give Him my everything (from obedience, to resources, to love and to trust), what more, possibly, could I be waiting for?

Us and Him

The other day on the way into town Mary Ann was reading from one of our homeschool books to our girls. She shared a story out of Egypt some years back where a Muslim Egyptian postal employee, seeing that a large bag of mail was from the "rich" U.S.A., took the bag to his desk and went through it. He found a thicker package, stuck it in his coat pocket, and took it home. That night he opened it, envisioning money, only to find a New Testament that was being sent to a teacher. Thinking something to the effect of, "So this is the holy book of those Christians" he started to read. By the time he got through the gospels he knew Jesus was real and by the time he got to the question cried out in Acts, "What must I do to be saved?" he eagerly read the answer and believed on the name Jesus Christ. He bought a new Bible to replace the one he'd stolen and now his name is protected as he distributes all the Bibles he can get from America to people and places in his homeland.

To contrast, I once, before being a Christian, worked with a kind man who was, simply, brilliant. He may have had one of the highest SAT scores ever. He studied New Testament studies at a university because he was deeply interested in it. He poured over Biblical archeology magazines. He could quote and talk about the Bible and archeology and word origins and original manuscripts "better" (in an intellectual sense) than I ever can hope to and yet . . . to him the Bible was a good story, had some historical relevance, but was certainly not the revelation of God coming to earth. He was involved in a lifestyle contrary to the Bible, and seemed to feel that while it was intellectually fascinating, the Bible (and the God it reveals) had no bearing on his life.

As I reflected on the man I knew, and the man Mary Ann read about, I thought, "What an amazing difference in responses!" One man spent years in the New Testament and it has meant nothing to his life. The other read four books of it and by the fifth knew Jesus was real and God and gave the rest of his life to Him at great risk to himself. What it reminds me is:

1. The true work of conversion will be a transaction between an individual and the Holy Spirit, and we never know when it may happen. We are called to be God's witnesses, not His attorneys. We aren't going to "win the case" for Him. We share what we know, as God leads us, and realize the results are up to Him and between Him and the person involved.

2. Be ready in season and out of season. I shared some time back the story of Daniel (you can click here to read it), a man I met on the street in Los Angeles while I was walking to get a toilet part, who approached me and who, within 10–15 minutes I was leading to Christ. On the other hand I have shared Christ, and defended Christ, and argued Christ, for sometimes years with other people and seen no conversion. We never know when it is "the moment" that God has prepared and when the person will make their decision.

There is great freedom and responsibility in these realizations or reminders. Freedom—it is not our job to convert someone. We just are faithful to share as we are led. Responsibility—we need to be available to be led and position ourselves to be receptive to God's nudges. With Daniel, a simple decision to walk on the other side of the road and the contact wouldn't have happened. With Paul, resisting the Holy Spirit would have sent him to a region the Holy Spirit didn't want Him (even though he would have been doing "God's work"). We never know the time or season or moment, nor what seeds we are planting even when something seems futile. We must let the Spirit guide us—let Christ in us live through us—and then trust Him with the rest.

I close with a similar example. One of my earliest youth camps almost caused me to quit youth work. I had taught on multiple different evidences for our faith, including the evidence in Creation. I felt like no one had heard a thing. Mary Ann and I were so discouraged and went to a pastor's home, ready to quit. He asked one question, "Did you do what God asked you to do?" That question has changed my life. As I realized I had he said, "Then that's all He's asked you to do. Trust the results to Him." About a month later God gave me a glimpse of the fruit of that time I thought had done nothing (we don't always get those glimpses, and that is why we must trust!). One of our high school girls in the youth group came up to me and told me that in science class that day the teacher had told the class that if they didn't believe they'd come from fish to get out of the class . . . and she had gotten up, in front of the whole class, and walked to the door. The stunned teacher asked what she was doing and she replied, "I don't believe I came from fish. I believe God made me." The teacher sputtered and told her to stay in, just not to say anything.

We never know. We simply do what He asks, and trust. All we are responsible for is what He asks of us. By the way . . . the parents of that girl gave us a homemade plaque that still hangs in the center of our living room which ways, "I know I'm somebody, 'cause God don't make no junk."

Quiet Nudges from a Big God

As you set out this week on your journey with Jesus, I’d like to encourage you to make yourself available to the Spirit’s quiet nudges. It is one of the most amazing and astounding truths of all the earth that, as one who has surrendered their life to the Lordship of Jesus, He has come to dwell in you and live through you! Why He chooses to live in us and work out His will through us is almost too incredible to fathom, but none-the-less He does, and I encourage you to be ready and available to it, and looking for His divine appointments and leading.

Jesus said, basically, that He only did what He saw the Father doing, and He only said what the Father was saying—that required tremendous intimacy with the Father to be able to live like that. Likewise, Acts records when some, submitted to God’s call on their life, were led by the Spirit to His specific appointments when it says in Acts 16:6-8, “And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.”

I remember back to a time when a lady in our fellowship kept popping in to my mind. Her husband was away on a work trip, but I didn’t give it much thought. The next day, at our Sunday service, I asked her if everything was OK with her the previous morning. She said that it was, unless you counted the fact that her water heater had sprung a leak and water was pouring all over her kitchen floor. I could have been there in under 15 minutes and helped tremendously, but I missed the nudge.

On the other hand, recently I was doing a hospital visitation with a friend and as we were leaving we passed a man parking his car and locking it. His hazard lights were on and my friend told him. He thanked us and began opening his door to turn them off as we walked past. I made a friendly comment about him not wanting to come back and find his battery dead. We were past him as I made the comment and he said something in response to the effect of, “Yeah, I don’t need any more bad news today” (or it might have been “anything more bad today”).

It is amazing the thoughts that can go through our minds in seconds . . . I was running a little late, I had an hour and a half drive ahead . . . and I also realized that was a God-loaded comment he had just made, and a divine insight into his heart. I turned around and stepped back toward him and said some something like, “You are having a bad day? What’s up?” My friend took my next words out of my mouth and said, “Yeah, we can pray for you right here.” Neither of us expected what was next. He seemed so grateful and he told us his daughter had a fever and was in the emergency room and could we come pray for her. Again, the thoughts that crossed my mind in seconds . . . what if we can’t get in for an hour or two? . . . could we just pray with him right here and go on? . . . but then there is the realization that God gives us these moments and asks us to be His hands and feet in them.

We said "sure" and within probably five minutes of passing his car I was signed in and being led by a confused mom who had already been there back to a room in emergency where a precious little girl was lying down and feeling poorly. I knelt next to her, told her a little about myself and my daughters, and asked her if I could pray for her. She nodded yes, with big eyes, without saying a word, and while the nurse was talking to the mom I had the privilege of praying over this little girl I'd never met before, and being a vessel to bring His presence and power to her. It was an awesome privilege, and it felt almost “tingly” to have seen God so clearly setting something up, and bringing about something so very unexpected, but wonderful.

How many moments did the Holy Spirit direct us toward that encounter that we didn’t even realize He was doing it? The nudge to say it was time to go? The decision to walk back to our van on another route from the one we took to the hospital? The man leaving his hazard lights on, or my friend noticing them and saying something? My lighthearted comment about the battery? I have no idea how many times my friend, or I, or the man, were nudged unaware to set that moment up. All I know is that, in that moment, there came one when I knew God had “set me up” and that I had a choice I was responsible for. It came when he made the comment about the bad day and I could have kept walking, or stopped and gone back. It was such a casual comment . . . but what a moment lay in the balance around it!

I don’t share this to brag on myself in any way (that’s why I shared my “water heater failure” first), but because there is power in the testimony to increases other's faith, and I want to encourage you to look for these moments, and expect them and be available to them.  Let’s:

1) Expect divine encounters, because He loves people, and all you have to do is read the Gospels to realize that the Jesus that lives in you was always having wild, "unexpected" encounters with unlikely people!

2) Be available to those encounters and looking for the tiny, quiet signs (a drooped head, a sad face when they think no one is looking, a co-worker whose not as cheerful as normal, a person who appears in your life (or thoughts) multiple times, etc.).

3) Realize who we are in Christ, and Who goes with us, in (hint: the Creator of the Universe!).

4) Walk in gentleness and love and service and humility toward the people we meet, and in authority and righteous anger toward the darkness that enslaves them. Let’s remember that every time we come in to a room or a situation the Creator of the Universe just entered with us, and the entire spiritual atmosphere and dynamic just changed! Let us never forget that we serve a mighty God, and that the hosts of hell tremble before Him, and that with Him all things are possible!

God loves the world and His Kingdom rule and power are waiting to come to bear in it. We are the vessels of His power and authority amidst the world. Let’s walk in a manner that honors that.

So, what divine encounters do you want to share? Send them to me, I'd love to hear them. Let me know if I can share them. You can send them as a comment. It won't be seen until I "publish" it. Just let me know if it is OK or not. Remember, your testimony instructs and encourages others!

Hello All, I've Missed You!

Carmel Christmas 12/2010

Carmel Christmas 12/2009

 Happy new year to all of you! I hope that it has been a wonderful start to the year for you so far. It seems like things are "settling in" a bit—for awhile starting in late November until recently I started joking that I wasn't going to plan more than an hour ahead because things were happening and changing so fast!

For those of you who have "followed" our family traditions, I post for your enjoyment the third year of our traditional Carmel Christmas picture with my folks. Of course, the only ones looking any older from year to year are the girls. The prior two years pictures are included. Won't Heaven be wonderful where all who have made Jesus the Lord of their life will be able to fellowship and share together, and we won't have to be bound by distance! (And, I'll bet the coffee in Heaven is going to be amazing!)

Carmel Christmas 12/2008

Speaking of coffee, I have begun brewing some "Cowboy Coffee." I read about it in a novel I was reading and it intrigued me, so I let it be know I wanted to try it and my folks got me an enamel coffee pot that can go right on a fire. It has been fun boiling water and just putting the grounds in it, but Mary Ann is still pulling towards the more traditional approaches. Any tips or suggestions out there on making the best cup of cowboy coffee?

The first Sunday in January marked my 11th year of pastoring, and I am beginning a couple of new things this year in my study. Last Sunday I started teaching on the Kingdom of God/Heaven—a topic that I am more and  more convinced was the framework and core of the message shared by Jesus and the disciples. I have been studying on this for 6-9 months and I am very excited to share about it. We have such an amazing calling as God's children, and I believe that the enemy has eroded that calling and good news so down that we just "get saved" and then try and hold on until Heaven. To the contrary, I believe that we are part of an "invasion" from Heaven to earth, part of God's work restoring a people to Him, of plundering that which the enemy has stolen. If anyone wants to follow the series I will be trying to put the mp3 files of each Sunday up on our church's web page by the Wednesday after each teaching (hopefully the first teaching in the series, which I gave yesterday, will be up by tomorrow night). You can get to our church's audio download page by clicking here, or by going to the "About Me" page of this blog and clicking on the link near the bottom of it.

Also new, our family has begun going through the book of Acts in our morning Family Worship time. I am enjoying the discussion back and forth and hearing the girls' thoughts. It is amazing to me how the Apostles were with Jesus three years, they had the most chance of anyone to understand the Father's heart as revealed in Jesus, they had the Holy Spirit from when He breathed on them, and they still needed to wait for the Holy Spirit to come over them at Pentecost before they could have power for ministry. Wow! If that doesn't remind us how important the Holy Spirit is to our work then nothing probably will. I wonder how much we do on our own strength that God is just waiting to help us with if we would simply ask and wait, and make sure our lives are fully surrendered and that we aren't grieving or quenching the Spirit by what we do/think (or fail to do/think).

God bless you all. I look forward to sharing so much more with you in the coming weeks. Until then, stay in touch!

The Set of the Sail . . .

Early in August I wrote a post called "The Wind and the Sail . . ." This must be my season to write about sailing metaphors . . .

Last week in Los Angeles I found an old hardcover biography of William Borden, first written in 1926, called "Borden of Yale '09". I was sharing it with Mary Ann the other evening and was drawn to the back cover. It has a line which reads, " 'tis the set of the sail, and not the gale that determines the way we go."

I found that really speaking to my heart. With the proper set of the sail you can even sail almost straight in to a strong wind. What that means to me is that God can be moving in a direction—strongly moving, in fact—and if my "sail" is not set to catch that wind I can move in a totally different direction. I can struggle and work and force my own direction and way, or I can set my "sail" to catch His wind and go in the direction it is blowing.

God has been talking to me a lot about surrender lately. About letting go, and just letting Him. Letting Him work His work through me. Letting Him carry my burdens. Letting Him take care of me. Simply laying down on the altar, a living sacrifice, saying, "Here I am, my precious Lord." I don't want to sail against His wind. I want to catch His wind and go with it—to travel with the Father's full force behind me and propelling me. To run with His wind and let it carry me. To quite striving, and start enjoying the joy and the peace that I know total surrender will bring, and yet which I find myself fighting against so much.

The "Normal" Christian Life

Does anyone else feel like we sometimes make things way too hard? . . .

As Mary Ann and I were praying last night it was like a veil was pulled away and I suddenly saw things with such clarity (things that sometimes seem so confusing). I don't know that I can capture them here in the simplicity and clarity with which I saw them, but I'll try. I preface this by saying that I know there is difficulty sometimes hearing (recognizing?) God's voice, and that we war with the flesh, but all that aside, I think we just make it too hard, too often, and we avoid the simple choice of surrender that would make it all clear through the change in our life.

When theology gets confusing to me I look at Jesus. He said that if we have seen Him we have seen the Father. He was the express image of the Father. What, then, should the Christian life look like? As a follower of Jesus, we probably ought to look at the One who is the root of the word "Christian"—the One we are supposed to be following (ever think how confusing we make the word "following" alone when it is really simple in its most obvious form?)—and see what He did.

1) He surrendered all of His rights. Philippans 2:5–8 tells us that Jesus did not hold on to His rights as God, but surrendered them. He humbled Himself and walked in obedience to the Father, to the point of death.

2) He walked and spoke only as the Father walked and spoke. He said repeatedly that His words were the Father's, and He did only what the Father was doing. He so emptied Himself that He even said He could do nothing apart from the Father. Therefore, if the Father wasn't working, He wasn't either—He did nothing on His own, apart from the Father. If He did any work it was completely the Father's work because He only did what the Father was doing.

3) He operated completely dependent on the Holy Spirit for power. He said that He cast out demons by the Holy Spirit, and Acts 10:38 says, ". . . God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him."  (Underline mine.) He was anointed with the Holy Spirit and power by God (He did not bring it with Him because He was God), and He did good and healed all who were oppressed because God was with Him (not because He was God). He so completely surrendered His rights and place as God that He lived completely dependent on God.


4) Because He surrendered all of Himself to God, God had all of Him. Hence, He was filled with the Holy Spirit and out of Him the Spirit flowed. Sickness fell away. The lost found love and grace. His words reverberated with authority. Demons cried out in His presence. Oceans bowed at His Words.

5) Why did Jesus have the success rate He did in healing, casting out demons, speaking to Creation, etc.? Maybe because He did only the Father's work, and when He did the Father's work the fullness of the Father's resources were with Him and behind it.


6) Was Jesus anxious for anything? It doesn't seem like it (except, in the Garden, when He faced separation from His Father). Why not be anxious? Because all He was, and all He did, was the Father's. He lived completely dependent on the Father and as such He was completely dependent on that which is perfect and unfailing. So, in utter dependence He found perfect sufficiency. (No wonder the world does not understand—it goes in total contradiction to the world which says in order to have peace we must be in control.)

So, if we are to have that mind in us which is ours in Christ Jesus, and look to Jesus for the model of what the "normal" Christian life should look like, we find a life that completely surrendered its own rights. This life lived completely dependent on the anointing and power of God to accomplish anything of eternal worth. This life walked in intimacy with the Father and did and spoke only what the Father did and spoke.

What is the result of that life? Tremendous fruit; tremendous intimacy with the Father; tremendous power; tremendous rest; tremendous peace (even in the midst of storms); and tremendous glorification of the Father because, when the world saw Jesus, they saw the Father in Him because He had surrendered Himself so the Father could live completely through Him. (I tend to think that Jesus had tremendous joy as well. Hebrews 1:9 says that of the Son the Father says: You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions. And, He said, He was leaving His joy for us—you can't give what you don't have.)

Yes, I know that we still sin and Jesus didn't deal with sin in His life. But we have the utter and complete sufficiency of the cross as its payment, and the promise of 1 John 1:9 which tells us that when we confess that sin we are completely forgiven and cleansed of ALL unrighteousness. So, if we keep a short account with God, that keeps us very close to Christ.

It seems to me that the Holy Spirit will only flow out of what He fills. And, He can't fill what isn't surrendered (or given) to Him to fill. So, for the promise of rivers of living water flowing out of us to be fulfilled in us, we need to be filled. To be filled we first must be surrendered and emptied. Might the reason we lack joy and peace and the other fruits and products of the Spirit be because we have not surrendered so that the Spirit which brings those can fill us? Might the reverse be that, the more we surrender and empty ourselves, the more the Holy Spirit will fill us, empowering us and bringing with Him the joy and peace He produces?

For a look at the Christian life from other angles, I suggest reading:
"Surrender" is a Beautiful Word . . .
The Wind and the Sail . . .

I also suggest visiting Pearl's blog, Be Thus Minded, which you can access through my Links page. The things she shares have been what God has been using to move me in to a greater understanding of the true Christian life as God intends it, and Jesus models it.

A Note on Daniel: I was asked to elaborate on what I meant in my post "A Sacred Moment . . ." when I said, "I told Daniel what the Holy Spirit's voice will sound like as opposed to Satan's." Without getting into the bigger picture of God's voice, I will just say that what I shared with him was what I felt God was giving me for him, specifically, at that moment. He battled with the idea that he was crazy, and based on his confessions in prayer he felt the weight of a lot in his past. I don't remember my exact words, but they were something to the effect that if he hears voices telling him he is crazy, a loser, lost, bad, (or condemning voices), etc., that those are not the voices of God, and that he should rebuke them in Jesus' name and state emphatically that he is God's child, a child of the King, set apart by God, sealed by God's Spirit, and that they don't have authority over him any more (and to break any agreements he made with them). I told him that the Holy Spirit may speak to him about things he is doing wrong, but that it will be to teach and grow and protect him, and that it will be a voice of gentleness and love, because God loves him deeply.

The Wind and the Sail . . .

Earlier this year Mary Ann and I were blessed to be able to slip away for a few days and visit with friends in the Shaver Lake area. While we were there a friend took us out on one of the nearby lakes on his sailboat for our first time. It was an amazing experience to move across the surface of the water without a motor, simply pushed by the wind. I was fascinated to learn how attentive the "captain" has to be to the wind and its shifting and its strengthening and subsiding. When you are on the water, with a large sail above you, you can feel the boat shift and either glide or resist, speed up or slow down, depending on the angle of your sail, and the position of your rudder which is controlled by you. I'll return to this point in a moment . . .

Pearl, who writes Be Thus Minded (see "Links," above), recently turned me on to a five-part mp3 teaching by Maj. Ian Thomas on Elijah (you can find them under her "Sunday Sermons" category). I have listened to the first one and one half of them and I am already blessed and filled with revelation. I have a feeling that many posts will spring forth from the rich food of his teaching.

In the teaching Maj. Thomas talks about (and I am paraphrasing and shortening it) a father who asks his son to mow the lawn. The son, can, obviously, think of a lot of things he'd rather do. But, either from duty, or hopefully from affection and desire to honor, gets the lawnmower and mows the lawn. The question then raised is, who is mowing the lawn?

The answer is, the father. It was not the son's idea to mow the lawn. It was not the son's desire to mow the lawn. On his own the son would not have mowed the lawn. The idea, and the desire, to mow the lawn sprang in the father's heart and he is using the son (by the son's willingness) to mow the lawn. It is the father's work that is being done. It is the father's desire that is being manifested and fulfilled. That, is the Christian life—or, at least, what it should be.

I almost had to pull off the road to absorb that. It blew me away. I had never seen it that way. And it made me think of that sailboat . . . and the wind. I want to be like that sailboat, with my sail up and sensitive to the wind of God's Spirit. I don't want the wind to blow one way and I have my sail and rudder forcibly turned to oppose it. When we tacked down the lake, in to the wind, it was a lot of work. We were constantly having to work ropes, pull with all our might, jump to the other side of the boat, etc. It was fascinating to me and a rush, in a sailing context, how we could actually go in to the wind under the wind's power—but I don't ever want that to describe my life. On our way back, running with the wind, we were able to make sandwiches, relax, take pictures, and effortlessly glide along to the destination with much greater speed and efficiency than going in to the wind.

I want to be that "boat" in the Father's wind. Whether it is in my daily life, or pastoring on a Sunday, I don't want to push my own way, or resist the wind of His Spirit. I don't want to be stuck in a set number of songs for the worship, or a set time for the teaching. If the Spirit blows and we worship for hours—or if He leads and we stop during the first song and I teach for an hour and a half . . . or don't teach at all and we just pray—I don't want to fight His Spirit's leading, but to be a sail up and eager to catch His slightest breeze and let it guide me. I want to be the son who, from affection and gratitude and honor and love, hears the Father's voice and grabs the lawnmower. Why, oh why, oh why, do I so often fight that quiet voice of His, or trust my way more than His, or demand to understand what He is doing (and why He is doing it) before I will honor Him with my faith and love and obedience?

Intellectual, or Childlike?

The other day Mary Ann and I are out enjoying a little sun, sitting on our deck having a cup of coffee and visiting together. Mary Ann sets up the easel for Abigail to paint while we are having our cup. She puts a smock on her, lays out the paints, and lets Abigail go to town. A short while later we are admiring her picture and she matter of factly tells us it is of flames of fire swooping down to lift her up to heaven!

Wow! It is so awesome to hear kids talk about, and see them draw or paint, things of the Spirit and of the Kingdom of God. What is so natural to them in their simple faith and acceptance of the things of God is so beautiful. They haven’t been “taught” that God doesn’t do miracles, or send His Spirit on tongues of fire, or heal people, or talk to us. Instead, they have dreams from God, they see angels, they hear God’s voice, they pray with expectancy, and they believe His deeds. It is pure, innocent, trusting—and it is huge—it is the faith of a child and I can’t wait until I “undo” all the teaching I’ve heard about everything He doesn’t do anymore, and live in the Biblical expectancy of all the great things He does and will do!

Throughout the Bible “Heaven” interjects itself in to earth for those who will see it. Jacob’s vision of the ladder from heaven, Joseph’s dreams, Daniel’s interpretations of dreams and his visions and his encounter with an angel, the horses and chariots of fire that surrounded Elisha and his servant, the angel encounters, the coming of Jesus, the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Peter’s vision, John’s revelation . . . I could fill page upon page of “invasions” of our earth from heaven and spiritual beings. The veil between our physical earth and the working of the spiritual realm is very thin, and I wonder what would happen if we spent more time looking for, and expecting, that veil to tear and the spiritual to break in to the physical.

Our God is huge and awesome and mighty, and He so loves us and desires interactive relationship and communication with us that He sent His own Son to die to purchase us back from the devil himself. It makes sense that He would then be active in our life, and that the spiritual realm would frequently interact with ours. I wonder what we miss—or what we dismiss—simply because we aren’t looking or listening for it, or expecting it. In many countries and cultures the supernatural is “normal” and accepted, but in our intellectual culture where science is “god”, we have, I believe, relegated much of what the Bible says our life should look like to, at best, intellectual acknowledgment only, or, at worst, total rejection. It is no wonder to me that the Holy Spirit stays back when we fear His coming, or tell Him what He can and can’t do in our services, or restrict His movement to a “Believer’s Night,” or even mock or disbelieve His actions all together.

I know that we need to be wise as serpents, and to be discerning, and to be on our guard—but I also know that Mark 16:14 tells me: Afterward He [Jesus] appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and He rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw Him after He had risen. Is it possible that our hearts are hardened and our unbelief stronger than we would care to admit, or that we are more comfortable with religious ritual than we are with God actually “showing up”?

I wonder if there is a lesson in expectancy for us in Acts 12 which says: (1–3) About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother of John with the sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also . . . (5) So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. (7–8) And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands.

Verses 8–11 recount the angel leading him out to freedom and his recognition of what the angel had done. It then continues: (12–16) When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary . . . where many were gathered together and were praying. And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. Recognizing Peter’s voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, “It is his angel!” But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed.

There they were, praying away for Peter’s freedom—but when they were told he was actually free, they didn’t believe it and tried to explain it away as something else. I wonder what that says about their true expectancy in prayer. I wonder what expectancy there is in my prayer . . . maybe I need to become that child that paints things of the Spirit and earth interacting, and who believes in Daddy and His goodness and His capability with all of his heart . . . I wonder—would God rebuke me for believing in Him too much?

Immanuel . . . Alive Through Us!

The day after Christmas I got a Christian magazine in the mail with a purple cover and lead ins about New Years Resolutions, and not a drop of red or green on it, nor a mention of Christmas. As I drove down Vine Street in Paso Robles (a very decorated street for Christmas!) two nights ago some people were already taking down their Christmas decorations. There is nothing wrong with any of that, it just sort of jars me because I work so hard to wrap my heart around the majesty and awe and wonder of Christmas and all that is wrapped up in our God of wonder who holds a universe in His hand coming to earth, and it sometimes seems like there isn't even a slow descent from a Christmas focus afterwards, but rather a plunge off of a cliff!

There are, actually, many aspects of Christmas that never end and which we should rejoice in and celebrate and participate in all year long. For instance, every day you enjoy your salvation you enjoy the Christmas message proclaimed by the angel to the shepherds, which is the good news of great joy of a Savior. Then there is our role in the unfolding eternal plan of God which was initiated with Jesus' birth and which we participate in by spreading the Gospel until the day of His return—a day all the hosts of hell can not stop! Every day you follow God's lead and share the good news of a Savior you share the Christmas message and participate in the "Christmas plan" of saving a people until He returns.

Then there is the one I find most stunning to me given my intimate awareness of my failings. It is the role I play in the continuance of Immanuel, which means, "God With Us." At its most basic level Immanuel obviously refers to Jesus (God) being born of a woman and living among us. Then there is the continuance of it in which the Holy Spirit comes and dwells in us as our Comforter, Counselor, Helper, and seal of our adoption as God's children. But, then there is the natural extension of that which really causes me to step back and evaluate my life and how I live it, and the priorities I choose for it.

I am a part of the body of Christ. I am His hands and feet. While He operates sovereignly at times, He very often chooses to wait until His children (His body) are obedient to do His will. I, as God's adopted child, indwelt by His presence, serving as His hands and feet, am His vessel for bringing about His will and for showing Him to the world. Just as Jesus represented the Father on earth and was His image and modeled Him for the world, Jesus then sent us as the Father sent Him. As His disciples we are to walk as He walked. More than that, we carry His presence. We are the new dwelling place (temple) of God.

Stop and let that melt in to your heart for a moment. If you are a Christian, you carry the presence and image of God in to a lost world around you. You bring His presence and power with you wherever you go, you have the access to His wisdom and favor those around you need, and your actions should show them the love and forgiveness and servanthood and authority and power He embodies. You are His child, you are being transformed in to His image, you carry His name, you exercise His authority, He tells you the secrets of His heart, He beckons you to hear His voice and carry out His will—you are His body, you are the vessel He chooses to use.

You are, in a sense, to the lost around you, Immanuel. Now don't take that wrong, or blasphemously, because that is not how it is intended. We are not God, but we carry God with us. We are not God, but we reflect His image. We are not God, but we reveal God and point people to God. As His children, in whom He dwells, when we are with a person who is lost He is with us so He is, inherently, with them! You have brought to them the presence of God in you, and you are His hands and feet and mouth to follow His leading and show them His ways and speak His prophetic words to them. So, in that sense, which is humbling and awe inspiring, God has chosen you and I to continue Immanuel. Every time you carry the presence of God in to someone's "space" you live out the Christmas message of God with them. I don't know why God chooses to use frail vessels for such an awesome job, but He does, and it is pretty amazing to think that through me the Christmas message is lived out tangibly and physically every day I am among people who are lost. May every day of the year His presence in me, and my surrender to Him and His will, draw them to Him—the great Savior whom Christmas proclaims.