John 4:23-24 “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (RSV)
I have already written about Funky Worship elsewhere in this blog. But only telling you what worship isn’t is not real helpful.
Soulish worship only requires that you simply follow along with whatever the worship leader or cd dictates. It doesn’t require anything of you except to keep up with whatever is going on and is predicated on the presence of music. Successful soulish worship requires that your emotions engage with the music. This you can do without ever actually worshipping in spirit or in truth.
So what is worshipping in spirit and truth?
In Matthew 22:36 Jesus was asked by the greatest law-keepers of all, “What is the greatest commandment of all the religious laws we have?” We are all aware of His response. But most miss the whole point of His reply. What Jesus was speaking to was relationship, not response to canned rules and regulations. Can you imagine trying to conduct a marital relationship according to rules? Love demands a sacrifice.
It’s no different with worshipping God. Following a canned, scripted routine each Sunday is not relationship. It’s a lot like law. This is what you will do when we worship; stay in step; stay together; start when I start; stop when I stop; Do what I do! That’s not relationship. That’s cattle –like behavior. Never mind the view, just stay in line.
Relationship requires that we communicate on an intimate level. Intimate worship is no different. Check out the following from The Message;
John 4:23-24 “But the time is coming--it has, in fact, come--when what you're called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter. "It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. 24 God is sheer being itself--Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration." (MSG)
Monday, December 7, 2009
Our Perspective
Our Poor Poor Perspectve
This past week I ministered to a young woman whose mother had died of cancer when she was about 12 or 13 years old. And Yes, she was still mad at God for taking her. I'll write about that issue later.
During the ministry session she spent some time with Jesus. And at one point I asked her to ask Jesus what he thought of her mother. To our surprise, Jesus replied, "She was a good sport." Unfortunately, she missed all the symbology, and most of that which followed. That was a disappointment but what Jesus said really struck me.
I don’t know about you, but when someone refers to another as a “good sport”, I take that as they have gone through a lot, and that they’ve taken it well. Perhaps not with a smile, but certainly not whining all the way through it. Being a good sport does not require you to enjoy what you experience. It simply requires that you endure it with all the good humor you can muster.
Our human perspective on life is always from the immediate; What I’m going through; How much it hurts; Why did it happen? What did I do to deserve this? What can I do about it? etc., rather than from the perspective of the eternal. When viewed from the immediate, it’s about, What can I withstand? How long will it last? and How much of it can I duck? When viewed from an eternal perspective, Paul’s words become very clear, he considered it “a light and temporary affliction.” (2 Corinthians 4:17)
When Jesus said she was a “good sport” it said a whole lot about the relationship she and He had. Since He did not afflict her with the disease, He took no joy in the toll it took on her emotionally and physically. But He apparently took pride in how she handled it, even in death. We know from the damage it did that her children didn’t handle it the same way their mom did. Grace to deal with a terminal illness is not always handed out to all participants, but is certainly there for the one who fought it daily. In this case, the husband and father didn’t do his job with the kids.
From Jeremiah 1:4-5, we see that the human spirit is eternal. Consequently, from an eternal perspective a short stint on the planet is not a very big deal, no matter how we make our exit.
2Corinthians 4:11-18 “Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus' sake, which makes Jesus' life all the more evident in us. 12 While we're going through the worst, you're getting in on the best!
13 We're not keeping this quiet, not on your life. Just like the psalmist who wrote, "I believed it, so I said it," we say what we believe. 14 And what we believe is that the One who raised up the Master Jesus will just as certainly raise us up with you, alive. 15 Every detail works to your advantage and to God's glory: more and more grace, more and more people, more and more praise! 16 So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. 17 These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. 18 There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever.” (MSG)
This past week I ministered to a young woman whose mother had died of cancer when she was about 12 or 13 years old. And Yes, she was still mad at God for taking her. I'll write about that issue later.
During the ministry session she spent some time with Jesus. And at one point I asked her to ask Jesus what he thought of her mother. To our surprise, Jesus replied, "She was a good sport." Unfortunately, she missed all the symbology, and most of that which followed. That was a disappointment but what Jesus said really struck me.
I don’t know about you, but when someone refers to another as a “good sport”, I take that as they have gone through a lot, and that they’ve taken it well. Perhaps not with a smile, but certainly not whining all the way through it. Being a good sport does not require you to enjoy what you experience. It simply requires that you endure it with all the good humor you can muster.
Our human perspective on life is always from the immediate; What I’m going through; How much it hurts; Why did it happen? What did I do to deserve this? What can I do about it? etc., rather than from the perspective of the eternal. When viewed from the immediate, it’s about, What can I withstand? How long will it last? and How much of it can I duck? When viewed from an eternal perspective, Paul’s words become very clear, he considered it “a light and temporary affliction.” (2 Corinthians 4:17)
When Jesus said she was a “good sport” it said a whole lot about the relationship she and He had. Since He did not afflict her with the disease, He took no joy in the toll it took on her emotionally and physically. But He apparently took pride in how she handled it, even in death. We know from the damage it did that her children didn’t handle it the same way their mom did. Grace to deal with a terminal illness is not always handed out to all participants, but is certainly there for the one who fought it daily. In this case, the husband and father didn’t do his job with the kids.
From Jeremiah 1:4-5, we see that the human spirit is eternal. Consequently, from an eternal perspective a short stint on the planet is not a very big deal, no matter how we make our exit.
2Corinthians 4:11-18 “Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus' sake, which makes Jesus' life all the more evident in us. 12 While we're going through the worst, you're getting in on the best!
13 We're not keeping this quiet, not on your life. Just like the psalmist who wrote, "I believed it, so I said it," we say what we believe. 14 And what we believe is that the One who raised up the Master Jesus will just as certainly raise us up with you, alive. 15 Every detail works to your advantage and to God's glory: more and more grace, more and more people, more and more praise! 16 So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. 17 These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. 18 There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever.” (MSG)
Funky Worship
Funky Worship
Matthew 4:10 "Then saith Jesus ... for it is written, Thou shall worship the Lord thy God,and him only shall thou serve." (RSV)
Matthew 15:9 "But in vain do they worship me, Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men." (RSV)
John 4:23-24 "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth." (RSV)
From these verses, it is intuitively obvious, even to the most casual of observers, that we are not only commanded to worship, but that there apparently is a way that God the Father (through the mouth of Jesus) wants us to do it; ie in spirit and in truth. Failure to do it in the prescribed manner means that we have been duped into, or worse, chosen to not to worship according to the Word, but to worship according to the doctrines and precepts of men. That's not good!
So which category to you fall into? Are you offering up funky worship? It would be good to check it now and again.
1Thess 5:23 says, "And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Apparently God made us rather uniquely. We are a tri-part being; spirit, soul and body. Despite the fact that we can make this division in order to discuss the issues, it’s a bit harder to separate them in course of living life. But it is important to do so in order that you can draw a proper distinction between functions.
There is a principle of interpreting scripture called “The Principle of First Mentioned.” Whenever the scripture presents us with a list, the first item in the list is the most important (comparatively speaking) and the last item in the list is the least important. So in this instance our list of “spirit, soul and body” lays out for us a couple of things; 1st, we are a three part being, 2nd, our human spirit should rule over our soul, and 3rd, our soul (mind, will and emotions) should rule over our physical bodies. This is the proper order for living life.
To confirm this we have these two scriptures, which are very important for us to grasp because this is the way we need to be living our lives;
Genesis 1:27 “And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”
John 4: 24 “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth."
So what we have here is a flat-out declaration that we are first and foremost spirit beings. Not soul beings. Not physical beings. But spirit beings, unfortunately being unduly influenced by both the soul and the body.
Consequently, that confusion has become the chief problem for most people when they enter a worship service at their local church. If their soul (principally their emotions) is not moved by either the music or the lyrics, then they feel they’ve not worshipped. They are more swayed by the implications of their soul and body than they are by their human spirit.
What does it take to move your emotions? Number one on the list is familiarity with the music, which we understand as the ability to sing along with the music without struggling to read the words or figure out where the melody is headed. This is one of the reasons why many hymns were originally so popular for a century or more. Many of the tunes were former pub songs and they were easy to sing.
Number two on the list is the sentimentality of the lyrics. We respond to the words of songs that pull at our heart strings, so topics that touch those places of need become key; family, security, acceptance, provision, faithfulness, etc. If we follow that path, and require that to be a prime element of worship, then worship actually becomes all about us and not about God at all. We will become disenchanted with any worship leader who doesn’t provide us a storng does of it.
Number three on the list, which may rival number one, is the song’s sing-ability. If a song is easy to sing, and is well within your range, and is also familiar, it presents no stress and makes it easy for your soul to engage and your emotions to be touched.
It’s certainly nice to have our emotions stirred by our worship, but that cannot be the gauge by which we judge whether we’ve worshipped, or perhaps more specifically, whether the worship leader has done his. If we are soulish worshippers, then it’s easy to blame the worship leader for not doing what's necessary to get you where you think you need to go. Many a worship leader has run afoul of folks whose preference for a specific style of music, or fondness for a specific instrument, or voice dictates whether they'll participate or not. This is followed by mounds of helpful suggestions, criticsm and complaints. Its no wonder we have so many "former" worship leaders.
Matthew 4:10 "Then saith Jesus ... for it is written, Thou shall worship the Lord thy God,and him only shall thou serve." (RSV)
Matthew 15:9 "But in vain do they worship me, Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men." (RSV)
John 4:23-24 "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth." (RSV)
From these verses, it is intuitively obvious, even to the most casual of observers, that we are not only commanded to worship, but that there apparently is a way that God the Father (through the mouth of Jesus) wants us to do it; ie in spirit and in truth. Failure to do it in the prescribed manner means that we have been duped into, or worse, chosen to not to worship according to the Word, but to worship according to the doctrines and precepts of men. That's not good!
So which category to you fall into? Are you offering up funky worship? It would be good to check it now and again.
1Thess 5:23 says, "And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Apparently God made us rather uniquely. We are a tri-part being; spirit, soul and body. Despite the fact that we can make this division in order to discuss the issues, it’s a bit harder to separate them in course of living life. But it is important to do so in order that you can draw a proper distinction between functions.
There is a principle of interpreting scripture called “The Principle of First Mentioned.” Whenever the scripture presents us with a list, the first item in the list is the most important (comparatively speaking) and the last item in the list is the least important. So in this instance our list of “spirit, soul and body” lays out for us a couple of things; 1st, we are a three part being, 2nd, our human spirit should rule over our soul, and 3rd, our soul (mind, will and emotions) should rule over our physical bodies. This is the proper order for living life.
To confirm this we have these two scriptures, which are very important for us to grasp because this is the way we need to be living our lives;
Genesis 1:27 “And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”
John 4: 24 “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth."
So what we have here is a flat-out declaration that we are first and foremost spirit beings. Not soul beings. Not physical beings. But spirit beings, unfortunately being unduly influenced by both the soul and the body.
Consequently, that confusion has become the chief problem for most people when they enter a worship service at their local church. If their soul (principally their emotions) is not moved by either the music or the lyrics, then they feel they’ve not worshipped. They are more swayed by the implications of their soul and body than they are by their human spirit.
What does it take to move your emotions? Number one on the list is familiarity with the music, which we understand as the ability to sing along with the music without struggling to read the words or figure out where the melody is headed. This is one of the reasons why many hymns were originally so popular for a century or more. Many of the tunes were former pub songs and they were easy to sing.
Number two on the list is the sentimentality of the lyrics. We respond to the words of songs that pull at our heart strings, so topics that touch those places of need become key; family, security, acceptance, provision, faithfulness, etc. If we follow that path, and require that to be a prime element of worship, then worship actually becomes all about us and not about God at all. We will become disenchanted with any worship leader who doesn’t provide us a storng does of it.
Number three on the list, which may rival number one, is the song’s sing-ability. If a song is easy to sing, and is well within your range, and is also familiar, it presents no stress and makes it easy for your soul to engage and your emotions to be touched.
It’s certainly nice to have our emotions stirred by our worship, but that cannot be the gauge by which we judge whether we’ve worshipped, or perhaps more specifically, whether the worship leader has done his. If we are soulish worshippers, then it’s easy to blame the worship leader for not doing what's necessary to get you where you think you need to go. Many a worship leader has run afoul of folks whose preference for a specific style of music, or fondness for a specific instrument, or voice dictates whether they'll participate or not. This is followed by mounds of helpful suggestions, criticsm and complaints. Its no wonder we have so many "former" worship leaders.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
"The Road Less Traveled: A Spiritual Exhortation"
by John Wallace
On a recent morning as I was talking with the Lord, I heard Him say, "Read 'The Road Less Traveled.' It is a spiritual exhortation for this hour." It's interesting (and part of what the Lord wanted me to get) that He called the poem "The Road Less Traveled." Although that is the name by which it is commonly known (due to the phrase used in the next to last line of the poem), this is not the poem'sreal name. Robert Frost wrote this poem in 1919 and entitled it "The Road Not Taken."
"The Road Not Taken" has been a source of inspiration for people all over the world because of its seeming ode to individualism and free choice. A very literal interpretation of the poem would say that the poet came to a choice, one path to follow or the other, took one, and it has made all the difference in the world. That, however, is not the complete story. In fact, Frost himself once said of this poem, "You have to be careful of that one; it's a tricky poem—very tricky."
Frost wrote the poem after returning from a stay in England. While there he became good friends with another poet, Edward Thomas. Thomas would take Frost on long walks into the countryside to show him various plants, trees, etc. More often than not, when arriving back home, Thomas would sigh and regret that he didn't take Frost another way and show him something else. When Frost returned to America, he wrote this poem as an ironic jest toward Thomas and toward those who were always regretting the decisions they made in the past.
Don't Look Back—Face Forward
The point the Lord is making, I believe, is found in His own words in Luke 9:62: "No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God." The context is the challenge Jesus offers to one who wants to follow Him but first wants to say goodbye to home, family and friends. Jesus is saying that the Kingdom isn't for "looking backers." The Kingdom is for those moving ahead.
This being "a spiritual exhortation for the hour" is the Lord's way of telling us to look ahead, not backward. I know people, perhaps you do too, who live their lives in the past. They live in regret, often sighing (as the one in Frost's poem) about choices they made. "What would life have been like if I had chosen the other path?" They live in long-finished successes or failures, past relationships now broken or gone, finances lost or squandered. They long for "the good old days."
The Lord is encouraging us to face forward, not backward. We have been given "plows" (divine purposes, plans and designs) for our lives. If we try to plow looking over our shoulders we will, at best, plow a crooked row. At worst we will be stopped in our tracks. I have a set of grandtwins who have just learned how to walk. Rather, they went from crawling to running. They have a habit of running forward while looking backward. They usually hurt themselves bumping into furniture, tripping over things on the floor. Looking backward hurts.
One gentle warning from a prophetic person—it's also dangerous to live in the future all the time. I know. I've been doing it for years. Because the Lord has given me the gracious gift of "seeing" things He desires, it's very easy for me to believe and then live like those things are already taking place. What I've missed out on is the present: present relationships, present acts of the Lord, present reminders of His presence and power NOW.
But, as I wrote in my last article, The Kingdom of God is advancing. And advancing with it, I need to face forward. Perhaps I need to quickly acknowledge the past—God's goodness, mistakes I can learn from—but move on. I think that's the big emphasis coming from the Lord's voice: MOVE ON.
People are waiting down the path we have taken. Healing is waiting down that path. Deliverance and forgiveness and reconciliation and restoration is waiting down that path. The Kingdom is waiting down that path.
THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet, knowing how way leads onto way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
John Wallace, Blood n Fire - Dallas, Texas
Email: jwallace4u@me.com
On a recent morning as I was talking with the Lord, I heard Him say, "Read 'The Road Less Traveled.' It is a spiritual exhortation for this hour." It's interesting (and part of what the Lord wanted me to get) that He called the poem "The Road Less Traveled." Although that is the name by which it is commonly known (due to the phrase used in the next to last line of the poem), this is not the poem'sreal name. Robert Frost wrote this poem in 1919 and entitled it "The Road Not Taken."
"The Road Not Taken" has been a source of inspiration for people all over the world because of its seeming ode to individualism and free choice. A very literal interpretation of the poem would say that the poet came to a choice, one path to follow or the other, took one, and it has made all the difference in the world. That, however, is not the complete story. In fact, Frost himself once said of this poem, "You have to be careful of that one; it's a tricky poem—very tricky."
Frost wrote the poem after returning from a stay in England. While there he became good friends with another poet, Edward Thomas. Thomas would take Frost on long walks into the countryside to show him various plants, trees, etc. More often than not, when arriving back home, Thomas would sigh and regret that he didn't take Frost another way and show him something else. When Frost returned to America, he wrote this poem as an ironic jest toward Thomas and toward those who were always regretting the decisions they made in the past.
Don't Look Back—Face Forward
The point the Lord is making, I believe, is found in His own words in Luke 9:62: "No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God." The context is the challenge Jesus offers to one who wants to follow Him but first wants to say goodbye to home, family and friends. Jesus is saying that the Kingdom isn't for "looking backers." The Kingdom is for those moving ahead.
This being "a spiritual exhortation for the hour" is the Lord's way of telling us to look ahead, not backward. I know people, perhaps you do too, who live their lives in the past. They live in regret, often sighing (as the one in Frost's poem) about choices they made. "What would life have been like if I had chosen the other path?" They live in long-finished successes or failures, past relationships now broken or gone, finances lost or squandered. They long for "the good old days."
The Lord is encouraging us to face forward, not backward. We have been given "plows" (divine purposes, plans and designs) for our lives. If we try to plow looking over our shoulders we will, at best, plow a crooked row. At worst we will be stopped in our tracks. I have a set of grandtwins who have just learned how to walk. Rather, they went from crawling to running. They have a habit of running forward while looking backward. They usually hurt themselves bumping into furniture, tripping over things on the floor. Looking backward hurts.
One gentle warning from a prophetic person—it's also dangerous to live in the future all the time. I know. I've been doing it for years. Because the Lord has given me the gracious gift of "seeing" things He desires, it's very easy for me to believe and then live like those things are already taking place. What I've missed out on is the present: present relationships, present acts of the Lord, present reminders of His presence and power NOW.
But, as I wrote in my last article, The Kingdom of God is advancing. And advancing with it, I need to face forward. Perhaps I need to quickly acknowledge the past—God's goodness, mistakes I can learn from—but move on. I think that's the big emphasis coming from the Lord's voice: MOVE ON.
People are waiting down the path we have taken. Healing is waiting down that path. Deliverance and forgiveness and reconciliation and restoration is waiting down that path. The Kingdom is waiting down that path.
THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet, knowing how way leads onto way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
John Wallace, Blood n Fire - Dallas, Texas
Email: jwallace4u@me.com
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Amarillo, TX
This is not particularly unusual, as my normal time to awake in the middle of the night is 3 am, but this is four in a row at 1 am. Something's up.
The Days of Awe are winding down, with Wednesday (the 29th) being the 9th of Av, historically the worst day of the year for Israel. We have indeed been in a narrow place. We started this 3 week ministry trip on the 11th, one day into this traditional mourning period, and will get back home about 3 days after its conclusion.
It has been a ministry trip like none other we've taken. We have slept in double beds, taught thrice, spoken on Sunday morning service twice, spoke at a Sunday School thingy once, and done what seems like a million Sozos. 15 in Rusk, 12 in San Antonio area, 16 in Abilene and 24 in Amarillo (including what is scheduled for later today). We will start home on Wednesday morning ... a journey of about 1,300 miles.
Ministry-wise, the Kingdom has been advanced. Financially, its been a bust. Last time I figured it we were taking in about $4.05 an hour for our services. I think I need to ask the boss for a raise; there's rent to pay.
We are pretty tired now. But not to worry ... He's been faithful before ... He'll be faithful again. We count it a privilege to be considered worthy enough to get to do this.
Hangin on to 2 Chron 16:9 in Amarillo.
The Days of Awe are winding down, with Wednesday (the 29th) being the 9th of Av, historically the worst day of the year for Israel. We have indeed been in a narrow place. We started this 3 week ministry trip on the 11th, one day into this traditional mourning period, and will get back home about 3 days after its conclusion.
It has been a ministry trip like none other we've taken. We have slept in double beds, taught thrice, spoken on Sunday morning service twice, spoke at a Sunday School thingy once, and done what seems like a million Sozos. 15 in Rusk, 12 in San Antonio area, 16 in Abilene and 24 in Amarillo (including what is scheduled for later today). We will start home on Wednesday morning ... a journey of about 1,300 miles.
Ministry-wise, the Kingdom has been advanced. Financially, its been a bust. Last time I figured it we were taking in about $4.05 an hour for our services. I think I need to ask the boss for a raise; there's rent to pay.
We are pretty tired now. But not to worry ... He's been faithful before ... He'll be faithful again. We count it a privilege to be considered worthy enough to get to do this.
Hangin on to 2 Chron 16:9 in Amarillo.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Kingdom Instruction
I was sitting before the Lord and this is what he dropped on me ...
Kingdom Community
(Me) Lord I am grateful for the year we’ve had – for your great faithfulness, your forgiveness and mercy – your revelation and anointing and for your opportunities.
(God) “Those are like a song to me. They gladden my heart and cause my face to turn to you.
You live in an ungrateful nation, among an ungrateful people; those who believe that everything they have and have received has been because of the cunning and the power of their own hand, or is the product of their own creative mind. They do not even choose to consider that there may be a more powerful beneficent force at work. Much of what they have is because of the prayers and deeds of the righteous; and they abhor them; fight against them and the very thing that has brought the blessings they strive so hard to hold on to.
... Come out from them. Do not entangle yourself in the affairs of the nation. Do not let it take you down with it. Am I going to punish the righteous with the evil? No, but I am judging the world within them. Come out from among them that you be not judged as well. You are going to see evil on a scale you have never witnessed before - and all in the name of ... and you will see it with significant local manifestations. Understand, that I have promised those in the kingdom food/drink/shelter (Matt 6). When you try to hang on to more than that, evil is birthed. My provision is promised for those in the kingdom - and to those pursuing the kingdom. No one else. The kingdom is based on love - its currency is love - it does not envy or strive. It does not do evil in any form to another, even if self preservation it as stake - because relationship is at its core. Love does not exist outside of relationship. I repeat, Love does not exist "outside" of relationship. One cannot simply be acquainted with people and have relationship. One cannot simply be friends with others and walk in relationship. Although this is often considered a level of relationship, there is no such thing in the Kingdom. Acquaintances and friends (as you know it) are terms of the world, not Kingdom concepts.”
(Me) But the Word says, "greater love has no man that to lay down his life for his friends" and, "no longer do I call you servants, but I call you friends." So what's up with that?
(God) “You have to understand that 1st Century Judaic culture and its precepts have been completely lost to the Western Church, and certainly to the North American church. Kingdom relationship cannot be understood or experienced outside of it. And that's the root of the problem. Friendship in American is strictly conditional. Such was not the case in 1 BC, nor 1 AD. The word "friend" carried with it a decidedly different connotation than it does today. Remember, the entire society was agrarian. As a result, everything was based on trade, or barter. You raised something, harvested it and lived off of it, but you kept some back and traded it for something somebody else grew or made that you needed. Everything was based on trade - face-to-face. No stores manned by hordes of nameless clerks. No faceless internet transactions. No impersonal text messaging. No Twitter. The fundamental element underlying all trade in that society was trust. That trust was built on mutual respect of the individual and similar values.
Trust and local first-hand knowledge of the one you traded with every day, year after year, was an integral part of every day life. You couldn't live without it. Yes, you occasionally bartered with people you didn't associate with everyday, but you saw them often enough to be very familiar with them, and consequently the foundational elements were there to build a level of trust if you so desired. Since that’s the way all of society worked, you were generally open on some level. But your friends were the ones you trusted implicitly because you lived with them; laughed with them, cried with them, worshipped with them, they celebrated births with you, and they mourned with you and helped bury your dead. When calamity struck, it struck all of you. When plenty came, it overtook all of you. Everyone shared in both the good times and the bad. When someone got ill or injured, the whole community pitched in and helped to take car of him/her. It was the way everyone lived life - in community - always a part of each other's lives. It is what gave meaning to everything.
Children were raised by an entire village - their weddings were likewise celebrated. So was the birth of their children and the death of their grand parents. It was a perfect picture of Kingdom life. Friendship was based on living all of life - an entire life with someone (or lots of them). Almost like covenant. The Kingdom viewpoint is that friends and family are treated the same.
That's what's wrong with church life. You have treated family like 20th century American friends, and you have treated friends as acquaintances. That's really why church sucks!!! People are irritated with it because they think it is supposed to be the seat of spiritual power in this world, (and it is) . But Kingdom power does not operate on a continuous basis outside of real relationship. People always want to see the power, but are afraid of relationship. Why would I give you power, when you would not invest in relationship? Especially, when it is relationship that will keep power from corrupting and killing you and everyone around you? Not gonna’ happen!”
Hope this speaks to you. It spoke to me. I sat around a Thanksgiving dinner table with folks I've been acquainted with for several years now. The host family sees those assembled often. But I only see them a couple of times a year. We shared what we were thankful for since we had last gotten together. And that was good, but the fact that there was no real relationship among us was a little sad. I enjoyed the time, but walked away wanting more.
Some time ago I had opportunity to travel to Nashville, TN and participate with some friends in a roundtable Q&A with a woman who does DID and SRA therapy in ______. Two years ago the Lord asked her if she would only take those that He wanted her to see. She said yes, and it resulted in her only seeing about 4 people a year. She has them move in with her and she works with them 25 hours a week. In this environment, she able to fully integrate and de-program an SRA victim in six (6) months, which in other more traditional environments might take 5 to 10 years, if ever. After two years, she believes that the real transformation occurs in the community they share; living together; eating together; going to movies together; etc.; where real life skills are imparted and goofy thinking is challenged and corrected. Her conclusion was that this was the new paradigm of DID/SRA (the intentionally broken) ministry for the church … in community.
Kingdom Community
(Me) Lord I am grateful for the year we’ve had – for your great faithfulness, your forgiveness and mercy – your revelation and anointing and for your opportunities.
(God) “Those are like a song to me. They gladden my heart and cause my face to turn to you.
You live in an ungrateful nation, among an ungrateful people; those who believe that everything they have and have received has been because of the cunning and the power of their own hand, or is the product of their own creative mind. They do not even choose to consider that there may be a more powerful beneficent force at work. Much of what they have is because of the prayers and deeds of the righteous; and they abhor them; fight against them and the very thing that has brought the blessings they strive so hard to hold on to.
... Come out from them. Do not entangle yourself in the affairs of the nation. Do not let it take you down with it. Am I going to punish the righteous with the evil? No, but I am judging the world within them. Come out from among them that you be not judged as well. You are going to see evil on a scale you have never witnessed before - and all in the name of ... and you will see it with significant local manifestations. Understand, that I have promised those in the kingdom food/drink/shelter (Matt 6). When you try to hang on to more than that, evil is birthed. My provision is promised for those in the kingdom - and to those pursuing the kingdom. No one else. The kingdom is based on love - its currency is love - it does not envy or strive. It does not do evil in any form to another, even if self preservation it as stake - because relationship is at its core. Love does not exist outside of relationship. I repeat, Love does not exist "outside" of relationship. One cannot simply be acquainted with people and have relationship. One cannot simply be friends with others and walk in relationship. Although this is often considered a level of relationship, there is no such thing in the Kingdom. Acquaintances and friends (as you know it) are terms of the world, not Kingdom concepts.”
(Me) But the Word says, "greater love has no man that to lay down his life for his friends" and, "no longer do I call you servants, but I call you friends." So what's up with that?
(God) “You have to understand that 1st Century Judaic culture and its precepts have been completely lost to the Western Church, and certainly to the North American church. Kingdom relationship cannot be understood or experienced outside of it. And that's the root of the problem. Friendship in American is strictly conditional. Such was not the case in 1 BC, nor 1 AD. The word "friend" carried with it a decidedly different connotation than it does today. Remember, the entire society was agrarian. As a result, everything was based on trade, or barter. You raised something, harvested it and lived off of it, but you kept some back and traded it for something somebody else grew or made that you needed. Everything was based on trade - face-to-face. No stores manned by hordes of nameless clerks. No faceless internet transactions. No impersonal text messaging. No Twitter. The fundamental element underlying all trade in that society was trust. That trust was built on mutual respect of the individual and similar values.
Trust and local first-hand knowledge of the one you traded with every day, year after year, was an integral part of every day life. You couldn't live without it. Yes, you occasionally bartered with people you didn't associate with everyday, but you saw them often enough to be very familiar with them, and consequently the foundational elements were there to build a level of trust if you so desired. Since that’s the way all of society worked, you were generally open on some level. But your friends were the ones you trusted implicitly because you lived with them; laughed with them, cried with them, worshipped with them, they celebrated births with you, and they mourned with you and helped bury your dead. When calamity struck, it struck all of you. When plenty came, it overtook all of you. Everyone shared in both the good times and the bad. When someone got ill or injured, the whole community pitched in and helped to take car of him/her. It was the way everyone lived life - in community - always a part of each other's lives. It is what gave meaning to everything.
Children were raised by an entire village - their weddings were likewise celebrated. So was the birth of their children and the death of their grand parents. It was a perfect picture of Kingdom life. Friendship was based on living all of life - an entire life with someone (or lots of them). Almost like covenant. The Kingdom viewpoint is that friends and family are treated the same.
That's what's wrong with church life. You have treated family like 20th century American friends, and you have treated friends as acquaintances. That's really why church sucks!!! People are irritated with it because they think it is supposed to be the seat of spiritual power in this world, (and it is) . But Kingdom power does not operate on a continuous basis outside of real relationship. People always want to see the power, but are afraid of relationship. Why would I give you power, when you would not invest in relationship? Especially, when it is relationship that will keep power from corrupting and killing you and everyone around you? Not gonna’ happen!”
Hope this speaks to you. It spoke to me. I sat around a Thanksgiving dinner table with folks I've been acquainted with for several years now. The host family sees those assembled often. But I only see them a couple of times a year. We shared what we were thankful for since we had last gotten together. And that was good, but the fact that there was no real relationship among us was a little sad. I enjoyed the time, but walked away wanting more.
Some time ago I had opportunity to travel to Nashville, TN and participate with some friends in a roundtable Q&A with a woman who does DID and SRA therapy in ______. Two years ago the Lord asked her if she would only take those that He wanted her to see. She said yes, and it resulted in her only seeing about 4 people a year. She has them move in with her and she works with them 25 hours a week. In this environment, she able to fully integrate and de-program an SRA victim in six (6) months, which in other more traditional environments might take 5 to 10 years, if ever. After two years, she believes that the real transformation occurs in the community they share; living together; eating together; going to movies together; etc.; where real life skills are imparted and goofy thinking is challenged and corrected. Her conclusion was that this was the new paradigm of DID/SRA (the intentionally broken) ministry for the church … in community.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
New Church Revelation
As some of you may know, I have been heavily involved in a local church over the last 30 years and thoroughly believe in it. So this isn't simply a gripe session. But like many before me, I have become less and less enamoured with church as we know it because so much time and energy is devoted to Sunday mornings (1.7% of the weekly time available), while real Christian life is being lived outside of church the other 98.2% of the time. Why should 90% of the resources be devoted to less than 2% of the week? Especially since every survey taken in the last 100 years details that the vast majority of conversions are the result of one-on-one relationships.
The same is true for grwing in character and maturity ... it's a relationship thing. Aside from the obvious; our culture has come to expect it, and we seem to be clueless as to what else to do, I believe I have an answer ... or at least some insight. What I've come to believe is that the church (the north American church at least) doesn't really understand that God established it this way for a reason. It isn't really all about Him, although that's the established pretext for it, and that is certainly what we've been led to think ... but I think God established church to see if we'll actually love one another.
From what I've experienced in church, from having been a part of it off and on for about 50 years, is that we do a really lousy job of loving one another. We can easily ask "How are you?" on Sunday when we meet, but God help us if someone should actually reveal a real problem, especially a particularly sticky one. We seemingly do a reasonable job of giving sacrificially to others, provided we only have to have minimal contact with them and they demand no more time than we have budgeted to give. It's the way American missions are conducted; a neccessary annual effort to support those less fortunate so that we can feel better about ourselves and justify not being involved in other things. In essence, this is very much like cell phone texting. We call it a relationship but are very careful to remain superficial. We can text/Facebook/tweet our true feelings, but we never have to be accountable to anyone for the resolution of them.
There are a multitude of scriptures about love and what it means;
Col 3:8-14 "But now put ye also away all these; anger, wrath, malice, railing, shameful speaking out of your mouth: 9 lie not one to a14nother; seeing that ye have put off the old man with his doings, 10 and have put on the new man, which is being renewed unto knowledge after the image of him that created him: 11 where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, freeman: but Christ is all, and in all. 12 Put on therefore, as God’s elect, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 forbearing one another, and forgiving each other, if any man have a complaint against any; even as the Lord forgave you, so also do ye: 14 and above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness."
1Peter 4:8 "... above all things being fervent in your love among yourselves; for love covers a multitude of sins:" Matthew 22:36-39 "Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 And he said unto him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second like unto it, You shall love your neighbour as yourself."
John 13:34 "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another."
There is no weaseling out of this one. We are to love each other! So what is the contest before us? We will have to commit to love one another in the context of the church setting ... so that we can first change our 'church' culture, before we can ever hope to impact the culture of the world we live in. The vast majority of the witches in the Western North Carolina region are so because their spiritual gifting was rejected (not loved) by the church and were driven from it. So don't go blaming the devil for the shape of things! We do such a good job of judging others that we don't really need an enemy. God forbid that anyone in our club should screw up! They'll be barbequed before the sun sets.
Try loving someone today ... with no expectation of anything in return. Then see if you can keep it up for the rest of the week/month/year.
The same is true for grwing in character and maturity ... it's a relationship thing. Aside from the obvious; our culture has come to expect it, and we seem to be clueless as to what else to do, I believe I have an answer ... or at least some insight. What I've come to believe is that the church (the north American church at least) doesn't really understand that God established it this way for a reason. It isn't really all about Him, although that's the established pretext for it, and that is certainly what we've been led to think ... but I think God established church to see if we'll actually love one another.
From what I've experienced in church, from having been a part of it off and on for about 50 years, is that we do a really lousy job of loving one another. We can easily ask "How are you?" on Sunday when we meet, but God help us if someone should actually reveal a real problem, especially a particularly sticky one. We seemingly do a reasonable job of giving sacrificially to others, provided we only have to have minimal contact with them and they demand no more time than we have budgeted to give. It's the way American missions are conducted; a neccessary annual effort to support those less fortunate so that we can feel better about ourselves and justify not being involved in other things. In essence, this is very much like cell phone texting. We call it a relationship but are very careful to remain superficial. We can text/Facebook/tweet our true feelings, but we never have to be accountable to anyone for the resolution of them.
There are a multitude of scriptures about love and what it means;
Col 3:8-14 "But now put ye also away all these; anger, wrath, malice, railing, shameful speaking out of your mouth: 9 lie not one to a14nother; seeing that ye have put off the old man with his doings, 10 and have put on the new man, which is being renewed unto knowledge after the image of him that created him: 11 where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, freeman: but Christ is all, and in all. 12 Put on therefore, as God’s elect, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 forbearing one another, and forgiving each other, if any man have a complaint against any; even as the Lord forgave you, so also do ye: 14 and above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness."
1Peter 4:8 "... above all things being fervent in your love among yourselves; for love covers a multitude of sins:" Matthew 22:36-39 "Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 And he said unto him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second like unto it, You shall love your neighbour as yourself."
John 13:34 "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another."
There is no weaseling out of this one. We are to love each other! So what is the contest before us? We will have to commit to love one another in the context of the church setting ... so that we can first change our 'church' culture, before we can ever hope to impact the culture of the world we live in. The vast majority of the witches in the Western North Carolina region are so because their spiritual gifting was rejected (not loved) by the church and were driven from it. So don't go blaming the devil for the shape of things! We do such a good job of judging others that we don't really need an enemy. God forbid that anyone in our club should screw up! They'll be barbequed before the sun sets.
Try loving someone today ... with no expectation of anything in return. Then see if you can keep it up for the rest of the week/month/year.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
The Race
The Race
The race goes to the swift, I s'pose
or else the slow and steady,
or else the passionate,
or those who bothered to get ready,
or ones who coached themselves,
or those meticulously mentored.
But every single time it goes
to somebody who showed up.
(FRAZZ)
The race goes to the swift, I s'pose
or else the slow and steady,
or else the passionate,
or those who bothered to get ready,
or ones who coached themselves,
or those meticulously mentored.
But every single time it goes
to somebody who showed up.
(FRAZZ)
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