[live the revolution!]

[how do i say i love you?]

2009-12-09T23:30:00.001-08:00

i know and whatever. i'm hurting. you're hurting. i wish i could hold you right now and tell you we'll be alright. but there's just something i have to say and it's safe to say it here because you don't come here very often.

How do I say I love you
in a language you'll understand-
Ek is lief vir jou?
Te dua?
Afekrishalehou?
You haven't changed
Please stand in the light
I need to see you
Uncover my eyes.

How do I say I love you
in a language you'll understand-
Maite zaitut?
Lach tirikh?
Ma timbi maya garchu?
Tears coming down
Making lines on your face
One for each year
That I've been away.

How do I say I love you
in a language you'll understand-
Ja te volim?
Eg elska þig?
Mi amas vim?
You were a storm
That blew us away
I wouldn't leave you
But I couldn't stay.

How do I say I love you
in a language you'll understand-
Eu te amo?
Je t'aime?
Ti amo?
You weren't ready to go
I faked a smile
All that's between us now is
Three thousand miles.

How do I say I love you
in a language you'll understand-
Ik hou van jou?
Ani oheiv otach?
Wa ai lu?
We said goodbye
We ran out of time
I walked out the door
You are the best thing in my life.

How do I say I love you
in a language you'll understand-
Aharabak?
Nakupenda?
Ana Behibek?
The cars pass far below
All that I have left is your photo
You're one thing I believe in
Why, why did I have to go?

So here it goes
in the only language that I know
I believe in you
I hope for you
I rejoice over you
I'll never give up
because I love you.

Reflections on What Was and Projections of the Future

2009-08-21T12:35:00.001-07:00

When I first started this blog, back in 2005, I thought that I'd be sharing how extraordinary my life has been, and also sharing with people the different revelations and discoveries that have been unfolding in my life.

Now that I re-read the header of this blog, I can see just how much I've changed over the last four years, and how little I've actually written about. I really wish I had been more active in writing to be able to take a look and see just how much I've changed, even in the subtle ways.

However, this isn't a contemplative introspection.

Have you ever noticed that you don't just wake up completely different- as though something transpired in your sleep without your knowledge? There's always a decision that's consciously made that slightly or significantly creates a change. And yet, you wake up different.

This summer has been a crazy one for me; It's been a time of growing and changing. I've been interning at a church in Reedley, California as well as working on an organic fruit orchard.

If you ever need to find a job that has tons of parallels to Christian living, I suggest working on a farm. There's a very valid reason Jesus used farm related stories when He told parables.

So, instead of rambling any further, I'll cut short here with the plan to write something more substantial later this evening.

be blessed, because you are!

[the proverbs 31 -man?]

2009-01-25T05:32:00.001-08:00

needless to say, i've been around a while. there's a reason there are lots of churches with pastels and flowers and all sorts of prettiness. most churches have catered to women. i've been in churches where the pastor is a woman and this isn't an argument against women in ministry- i loved that church and i still do. i've been to seminars and meetings where because the church has 20-30% more women in the seats, pastors preach sermons to release women in ministry. this is all well and good, but it's causing more and more men to lose their relevancy in the church.

we're not looking for sole ownership of leadership roles. the fact that men are defecting from churches in college at an alarming rate should cause us to consider what it is we're passing on. after all, prov 22:6 says

train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it

which actually begs the question: what is it that we are training up our children in if they are defecting as soon as they are out of the house?

this past summer i began teaching a small group on a topic that i had been praying about called 'becoming men of influence.' after the first couple of weeks, it became obvious that the name wasn't sufficient simply because there were as many females attending as males, if not more.

a swift name change was completed and 'becoming people of influence' was born and continued throughout the summer. however, this blog isn't a biography of a class; it isn't a promotion of a course.

it became obvious after a few conversations with some of the ladies as to why they were attending when they let on that they are not looking to be released into ministry or even to be set up for success. they simply wanted to know more about becoming proverb 31 women.

i tried, with what became an excercise in futility, to explain that the class was geared towards the men becoming men of influence to which they pointed me towards verses 1-9, 11 and 23. clearly, they had a vision of proverb 31 that i did not have.

when we think of proverbs 31, we tend to think of the "wife of noble character" epilogue and forget that this entire passage isn't actually about women at all. in fact, it's about the ruler- the husband.

yes, the end of the passage focuses on the woman, but only because her husband has released her to be all that she is supposed to be. the fact that the wife is so elegant and desirable in the passage is a testament to the husband's faith in her. verse 11 even talks of this confidence:

her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value

women in the church all have a desire to be the proverbs 31 woman-- the reason there are so few proverbs 31 women is that there are so few proverbs 31 men.

we tend to remove the first half of proverb 31 from the second half of proverb 31 and assume that they have little to nothing to do with each other simply because most translations of the bible include a header to note a change in subject; however, the entire passage is about a ruler or leader.

not enough men are strong enough leaders to release their wives (and grow their daughters) to be women of influence.

[going home again]

2008-10-25T13:15:00.002-07:00

[writer's note: this entry is hail to the original where is your home? entry that can be found in the archives. if this seems similar it's because it is; however it is not identical.]

where is home? is your house, your abode, your collected goods your home? or is something greater than a physical proximity or an address or an x on a map? is home simply a place in your heart? a place of safety from the elements or a refuge from teh violence of life? can it possibly be that those who are uneasy or ill at ease have only lost their way home? can it be that home isn't just where your heart is or where it longs to be; that home might be at the intersection of hopes and dreams-- where joy and peace give way to unfolding destiny? that the homeless are only just lost sojourners who have simply not know what home really is? can it be that the homeless aren't just those who live on the streets, under parked cars, inside of cardboard boxes, under bridges, behind tattered tarps and in shredded tents, but they're the ones without hopes and dreams, without vision and lack a sense of destiny? can it be? can it be that the homeless aren't just the shelterless?

what would it look like to take on this responsibility? to give hope to the hopeless? to give sight to the visionless? to give shelter to the shelterless? to be a father (or mother) to the fatherless (and motherless)? to be a lover of the loveless? to offer a home to the homeless?

i imagine; i imagine it would look a whole lot like Jesus.

[God-- who raises the dead]

2008-10-19T10:43:00.002-07:00

"did you ever lament the demise of a dream? the death of a vision?

did it depart in explosive exit, followed by a funeral and observation? or did it quietly expire from neglect, slipping away unnoticed? have you forgotten that it ever lived? did you relegate it to that imagined abyss from which lost dreams can never return?

we enjoy a moment in america where we not only hear about pastors in some obscure corner of africa raising people from the dead. today, we hear more and more of the dead being raised in our own country—not just in places far away, where, we presume, they have more faith, but here, now. we are now even enjoined to raise the dead. raising the dead is part of the great commission: preach the gospel, make disciples, heal the sick, raise the dead! raising the dead is among the “greater works” that we are supposed to do. Jesus raised the dead; so, it follows, can we.

as testimony writer at bethel church, i organize the testimonies i receive by category on my hard drive so that i can find them more easily. i’ve just added a new category: resurrections. i relish receiving those testimonies from all over the country: the man who raised from death a fellow carpooler who had died suddenly on the way to work; the doctor who, rather than fulfilling her medical duty to pronounce someone dead, fulfilled her Christian duty to raise him from the dead; the worker who wouldn’t let the elderly man who had just died in the nursing home go until he was revived long enough to accept Jesus; the school of ministry students who, en route to their mission trip, pulled over to pray for a baby who had just died in an accident. under the eyes of a nurse who recognized the baby had died, the baby returned to life by the power of Jesus Christ, and the baby’s mother received new life as she gave her heart to Jesus. you have probably heard other stories as well. i know we will hear more.

yesterday, i was moved by the story of a dog kennel owner who refused to be robbed of a newborn puppy, crushed to death by its mother’s weight as she unknowingly lay on it. the woman commanded the puppy to live. he gasped for breath a few times, and he lives! what did they name him? lazarus, of course! she believes little lazarus is special and will be a blessing to whoever gets him. as i shared that story with a friend, she told me of a flower that had clearly died but that revived after she spoke life into it for several days. people. puppies. flowers. what else?

i’ll never forget the story of a man God used to start a revival. he was offered the job as pastor of a prosperous large church in a big city. but a small, dying church with a handful of members kept asking him to be their pastor. in his mind, there was no contest, but when the small church asked him to simply pray about it, he said, “Jesus, what would You do?” the Lord’s answer was, “i would raise the dead.” the man followed Jesus and took the dying church, and in that place, a huge revival broke out!

Jesus revealed Himself as the resurrection and the life! What works for dead people, works for dead puppies. and dead flowers. and dead churches. and dead dreams. what have you allowed to die in your life? what is it that you don’t even want to look at because you think it stinks, it’s been dead so long? Jesus isn’t bothered. Jesus would raise the dead.

a few months ago, I was grieving an area of death in my life. then God directed me to II corinthians 1:9 (nkjv): “yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.” that verse just resonated in me; it gave me hope. God raises the dead. how could i forget?

looking back, i have seen Him raise things from the dead in my life. one i thought long gone, i had buried, placed a tombstone on, grieved and sighed over. but God resurrected it—better than before. i don’t know if it had to die or if His touch in resurrecting it was what gave it new life. i do know that it was now something i could only do by His grace, and His kiss was upon it. things that were dead but now live again by His power are precious—like lazarus, the friend of Jesus. and like lazarus, the puppy.

i’m starting to view dead things as an opportunity for God to manifest His life. dead things are an invitation to resurrection.

whether the dead is our passion, our hope, our dream, a relationship, a business, a ministry, a calling, He can raise it up. we can get it back. He specializes in restoration, renewal, reconciliation, resurrection, revival.

reading the story about the woman contending for the little puppy, i feel certain God was so delighted that she would ask Him to restore her puppy to life. i know He wants me to go after things, too. i haven’t seen a person raised from the dead. i admit that’s still an area of awe for me. but maybe my little victories of seeing God raise other things in my life are my lion and bear that precede the bigger giants to come. i want to be someone who believes, knows and experiences that God raises the dead!"

[note: reprinted with permission; written by my good friend pam spinosi]

AutoImmunity

2008-07-27T14:11:00.002-07:00

Hi anyone who still visits this blog in hopes that I will have one day found time to update and write again.

One of my closest friends is terribly ill with Auto-Immune Hepatitis and has Cirrhosis of the liver and was diagnosed at 21. She's 22 now and she sent me this email this morning, I felt that it is something everyone and anyone needs to read as it will serve as inspiration for all of us facing any form of adversity...

The life of a young lost girl yet a strong and capable woman. The plans are big. Overwhelming but I can take them on. My heart aches. Failure knocks. I go outside and kick it’s ass. However, like any pest problem, it comes back stronger, pounding on the door. Go away! I can and will overcome. I have to, I was created to. This cracked heart is fully capable of repair. However, my blood struggles. I know, you are thinking, “blood”?? What does blood have to do with anything? I will tell you. My every cell carries the memories of the pain. Each time I was hurt, emotional or physical, it is there. Einstein said there is no matter, it is all energy. That means there is no empty space and everything resonates. Yes I have been doing a lot of research lately and it is coming through in this blog and you have no idea what I am talking about. I really don’t care. They may want to control the world, control the population, kill off the weak. God is bigger than that though. They have no chance because my Lord is so much bigger than pain and death. I will explain.

Yes, my blood may have toxins. My liver may not work right. It causes headaches, joint aches, stomach pain, just to name a few! All health problems start in the colon. 80% of your immune system lives there and it acts as a second brain! Oh how I love science. I mean I really love it. Quantum physics and biology. Ok, that is off topic though. Vaccinations. Trash food. Jet streams. Chlorinated pools. Mercury fillings. Lead paint on the walls. Parasites. Man-made viruses. Just one of those would be enough reason for a ruined liver.

But I don’t believe that is all the reason. We are spirits that have a soul that live in a body. Everything begins in the spirit and is then manifested in the body. My blood carries the hurt, the pain, the self-hatred. How can I be so torn between knowing who I am in Christ, knowing how truly amazing and the potential that I have. It is all my fault though. Who am I to place the blame on others? I know I need to forgive them. Whatever, everything in me wants to blame them. Hey I can blame them and me at the same time right? That is it! It is a constant internal struggle. See, writing can help. Part of me knows who I am, who God created me to be, a co-creator with Him and yet part of me is living in the flesh, dwelling on the hardships life has. The struggle of knowing how to eat right and not being able to do it. This is me being quite vulnerable. It is hard to admit your problems. Will I ever find love. Not likely. Oh, stop, lie from the devil. See? Welcome to the world of inner-turmoil.

The blood carries the cells. The cells vibrate with different memories, memories that are attached to lies from the devil. When I think of these memories or feelings, I constantly try to replace them with what I know to be true. Biblical foundations and spiritual actualizations as the Holy Spirit whispers the truth in my ear. I must cleanse. I must trust God because, although I am capable, nobody can do it alone. Nobody should have to do it alone. Life is too hard. My King will be coming back soon and I want to be His beautiful bride. Shouldn’t we all help one another. That is all I want to do. Well that and sing love songs to my Jesus.

One good thing about all of this is that with every hurtful memory I have vowed to never treat another person the way I have been treated. I pray that God will give me the wisdom, sensitivity and strength to do this.

My goals are to first and most importantly cleanse my mind because all creation starts there. I create what I imagine. Then my hurts, pain, self-doubt and all the painful memories must go and be replaced with the truth from my Healer. Wow! Wouldn’t life suck without God! Then how easy it will be as my every cell is filled with His Spirit, covered by the blood of Jesus, then, yes then, I can do it. I can have divine health. I can help others. I want to help the world. I want to see them saved, healed, delivered. Nobody should have to live in turmoil. I believe it is natural for us to love ourselves because we are made in God’s image and He loves us more than anything so for one to hate themselves is to create a turmoil so deep that it causes the body to attack that hate. Even for those who don’t know God, it is still automatic for the Spirit that lives in us to attack the hate, the pain, the hurt within because our bodies are temples made for God to dwell in whether people know it or not. Made to love ourselves. This battle. This turmoil. This is autoimmunity.

I will overcome.

[encountering the chabod]

2007-09-20T10:45:00.000-07:00

All schools try to make orientation day an exciting event that sets off a students academic career with excitement that they hope will carry on through the first semester. What they really hope to do is sustain you until homecoming and then reenergize you to keep you excited until the next break. What this fails to do is cause you to be excited about every day of classes. After all, who can really be all that excited about theories and regimens that are suggested for further study on a daily basis? Even Christian colleges and universities are not exempt from this.

Enter Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry. Never have I been so challenged nor felt the weightiness of the presence of God on a "Rules Day" at any school.

The day began with worship. An hour went by and it felt as though it were a moment. Forty-five minutes later the Spirit was still heavy on the worship. By the time all the introductions were made and Bill Johnson stood to speak, some people were unable to stand, others were unable to stop laughing. The power of God was so strong. There was no moment where the weight of God's glory was not felt. And today was the "rules day!" If today was like that, then tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next will just build on it. The excitement and expectation levels are electric! We will have more of God's presence and His glory.

As long as we have a pulse, we can handle more of God.

You know, I've often heard a story told about John Wesley and his experience with the weight of God's glory and how it washed over him in wave after wave after wave until he felt that he could no longer withstand the power of God. I want that experience, but instead, I want to get to that place where I feel like I will die, and just keep going. There's a certain boldness in Esther's words that we need to grab hold of. I go before the King and if I perish, I perish. Understanding that as we enter the presence of the King, we enter a place where if we are not right, we may perish. When the weightiness of the presence of God comes on us, we experience power in an amazing way. Sometimes it may cause us to feel that if it continues or progresses then we will die. But as long as we have a pulse, we can handle more of God. He will only give you as much of Him as you choose to handle. Will you push the boundaries set by others? Will you expand the borders you have imposed?

It's funny, we pray from here on earth to there in heaven in wailing and crying pleas, doing anything that we think needs to be done in order to get God to move. But in reality we need to be praying from where we are seated in heaven to where He is seated in heaven (since we are already seated with Him in heavenly places) and out of the realization of our authority there- because to be seated with Him does not mean "in the same room as," but "next to," we can speak to any situation here and expect correct results.

I am going before the King daily, I have not yet perished so I return because as long I breathe and have a pulse, I can handle more of Him and more of His glory!

(side note: during classes on wednesday, i opened my computer to take notes only to discover that my computer screen had so much gold dust on it that i could scarcely see through it. i had to continuously wipe off the screen to write, but after a certain point, note taking became futile and the guys sitting next to me started anointing each other with the gold dust! if this is happening on the second day of classes, and we move from glory to glory to glory, then the chabod of heaven- the weightiness of God's glory will intensify and we will soon experience incredible new things!!)

the Gospel of the Kingdom and logical natural conclusions

2007-08-15T12:34:00.000-07:00

< soap box >

so here it is all laid out:

it's all in our mindset. remember my blog about perspective, well this is going to take it one step further... how we view things in the church determines how we allow God to move.

i don't know what denomination you attend or even your theology, and i don't have a desire to put down any denomination or theology, but i am convinced that the only way we can overcome our faultlines and our rifts is by having a Kingdom mindset. and what do i mean by this? i mean, seeing the world through the Kingdom's Visionary- the King Himself.

i am thoroughly convinced that all theological controversies can be rectified simply by filtering the issues through the life of Christ. after all, if He is to be our example then why aren't we living like Him?

ok, so check this out: if we determine that Jesus is the Word and He became flesh (John 1:1), and that the Word was with God and the Word was God (also John 1:1) and that He dwelt among us (John 1:14) and by seeing Him, we are witnesses of His glory (also John 1:14), and we are to be imitators of Christ (Ephesians 5:1-2), then we must take note of the things He did, even imitating them... all of them. we can't just pick and choose the things that He did that we can do. if we do, where do we begin and where does it end? if Jesus did certain things where He was more God than man, then how do we determine what it is that we can do and what is beyond our grasp?

my point is this: if we are called to be ministers of the Gospel (the good news) then we must realize what that entails. What did Jesus say the Gospel is? Everytime Jesus mentions the Gospel, it is always preceded with or followed by the words "of the kingdom." what is the Gospel of the Kingdom? the kingdom of heaven is at hand. how can this be? if heaven is a future place. how can it be at hand? how can it be relevant and attained now?

what happens in heaven does not stay in heaven

remember when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray and Jesus gave them the teaching that's been come to be known as the Lord's prayer? "your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven..." what exactly does this mean? is it a petition for a future event or is it for that time that it is prayed?

if everywhere that Jesus went, people were healed and set free and those things accompanied the gospel of the kingdom, then what is our natural conclusion? if we were philosophy students, then our natural logical conclusion would have to be that anywhere the gospel of the kingdom goes, people will be healed of physical ailments and set free from demonic oppression.

so, then, it begs the question, does the Gospel that we preach line up with the Gospel Jesus taught? what is the central focus of our Gospel compared to Jesus' gospel?

if we are to conclude that the Gospel that we teach is superior than the one that Jesus taught, then we must wonder why? if the student is not above the master (matthew 10:24), then how is our gospel higher than that of Christ? what gives our message the pass of not having the signs and wonders that Christ's message had?

did He not commission the 12 (and then the 70) to go out and preach the gospel of the kingdom and gave them the power and authority over unclean spirits, to drive them out, and to cure all kinds of disease and all kinds of weakness and infirmity? in point of fact, did not Jesus say, "And as you go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand! Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons. Freely (without pay) you have received, freely (without charge) give." (Matthew 10)?

chances are, if God repeats a theme, there's a reason for it. if it is recorded over and over, there's clearly something we have to grab from it. it usually means that He's trying to drive a point home. so if the gospel of the Kingdom is confirmed with signs, wonders and miracles, then it should be that if we preach the gospel of Christ, which is the gospel of the Kingdom, then it should be confirmed in the same way.

that is not to say that we will always see the results, but shouldn't we walk as though we will? yes, it puts a HUGE responsibility on us... but can we expect anything less? i mean, He entrusted us with the gospel of the kingdom, don't we owe it to people to pass out the entire gospel? shouldn't we be getting off of our blessed assurances and be out giving the gospel away?

what does it say about us as a church universal if we are more concerned with saving our christian society than we are about preaching the gospel that Jesus preached- the gospel of the Kingdom?

what about doing the works of Christ and doing greater things (John 14)?

the logical natural conclusion is that what we preach as the gospel is not what Jesus preached as the gospel. if God confirmed what Jesus preached with power; and if He confirmed what the Twelve and the 72 preached with power, then wouldn't it be in His best interest to do the same today? After all, isn't He the same yesterday, today and forever?

remember the Lord's prayer? His will for ours, on earth as it is in heaven. is there any sickness, any disease in heaven? then it must not be His will there- the conclusion? His will for ours, on earth as it is in heaven. the logical natural conclusion?

you figure it out...

< /soap box >

[perspective]

2007-06-26T12:12:00.001-07:00

perspective is a very funny thing. have you ever noticed that if you sit slightly left of center you can see into the wings on stage left?

because you can see into the wings, you may be able to see who is entering onto the stage from that side; but it does not mean you know what's going on backstage. nor does it mean that you have enough information to make a judgement about the plot of the play.

have you noticed that from where you are seated, you have no clue what's occuring in the wings on stage right?

where you position yourself may give you clarity on one thing but it may cause you to become blind to something else that may be of greater importance.

it is easy to draw conclusions from where you are sitting but that rarely makes it right and only serves to inform you of one thing: you are contemptable. familiarity breeds contempt- even contempt for the unknown.

someone who takes pride in guessing the plot of a story before the plot is fully revealed has revealed something about themselves. they are far too easily bored and/or have sat through too many plays. they have missed out on the most important part of the play: the play itself.

your perspective does not make you correct, it means you see it differently. different, though enlightening, does not automatically equate to inerrant. opinion mixed with truth is as safe to stomach as a molatov cocktail.

if you must believe only in what you see and can deduct by reason, then you can close shop and stop calling what you believe "faith."

the great tragedy is not that there are people passionately pursuing the Presence of God despite how you choose to view them. the great tragedy is that there are people who have packed up their ability to believe that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. and they have reduced their belief system to faith in a future heaven and their lives to sitting in the critics' booth. a place that is neither reserved for nor willingly relinquished to them.

the audience of life is not for those who are supposed to be living it, but for those who are the great cloud of witnesses.

don't miss the play for want of an opinionated critique.

[how to be devastatingly attractive]

2007-06-13T03:18:00.000-07:00

the word perfume used today derives from the latin "per fume", meaning through smoke. the art of making perfume began in in ancient mesopotamia and egypt but was developed and further refined by the romans and the arabs. although perfume and perfumery also existed in ancient asia, most of its fragrances were incense based.

knowledge of perfumery came to europe as early as the 14th century due partially to arabic influences and knowledge. but it was the hungarians who ultimately introduced the first modern perfume.

the difficulty to produce and sustain a scent caused perfumes to only be affordable by royalty. creating a scent often proved frustrating to many early perfumers because adding even the minutest amount of the wrong addition to the mix would render the entire batch worthless.

there comes a time when we must realize we have to grow up. are we really who the Lord Jesus wants us to be? do we have small things in our lives that hinder other people's salvation? remember, small things ruin good perfume. we who are saved are living an exchanged life. it's our life for Christ's. our life for the sake of the gospel. living the exchanged life isn't about the occassional laughs or compromises. we need to be attractive- not marketed

so here i present five keys to being devestatingly attractive.

1. we need to be carriers of life. we need to want to be carriers of life. john donne wrote, 'take me to you, imprison me, for i, except you enthrall me, shall never be free, nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.' what he was saying is that without an unmistakable interaction with the Most High, we will never be free. nor will we ever be faithful to Him unless our souls are ravished by Him. and this interaction with Him will transliterate into our interactions with each other.

1 peter 4:8 says, "above all things, have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sin [forgives and disregards the sins of others].

don't repel people. bring them in. don't make promises that you can't make good on. just tell them simply what God wants to do in their life. speak life into their lives.

2. we need to be real. be genuine. don't be religious.

1 corinthians 9:19-23 says, 'for although i am free in every way from anyone's control, i have made myself a bond servant to everyone, so that i might gain the more [for Christ]. to the jews i became as a jew, that i might win jews; to men under the law, [i became] as one under the law, though not myself being under the law, that i might win those under the law. to those without (outside) law i became as one without law, not that i am without the law of God and lawless toward Him, but that i am [especially keeping] within and committed to the law of Christ, that i might win those who are without law. to the weak (wanting in discernment) i have become weak (wanting in discernment) that i might win the weak and overscrupulous. i have [in short] become all things to all men, that i might by all means (at all costs and in any and every way) save some [by winning them to faith in Jesus Christ]. and i do this for the sake of the good news (the gospel), in order that i may become a participator in it and share in its [blessings along with you].'

be committed to being the image of Christ to all those who seek Him, even if they are unsure that they are seeking Him. most people know what they are not looking for. they have no clue what they are looking for- they just know what it doesn't look like. and for most- it doesn't look like the american church.

titus 3:3 implores us to have compassion on others because we were just like them, and in some cases, still are in many ways just like them. 'for we also were once thoughtless and senseless, obstinate and disobedient, deluded and misled; [we too were once] slaves to all sorts of cravings and pleasures, wasting our days in malice and jealousy and envy, hateful (hated, detestable) and hating one another.'

open your heart to people and allow God to work in you. there is a whole generation looking for Jesus, they just don't know who you're working for!

3. show confidence. know who you are in Christ.

greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

we are princes and princesses of the Most High God. we have all access to His glory, His favor and His army. release the glory whereever you can. release favor whenever you need to. release His army and overcome the enemy!

proverb 3:33 says, 'the curse of the Lord is in and on the house of the wicked, but He declares blessed (joyful and favored with blessings) the home of the just and consistently righteous.' and philippians 1:6 states, 'for God is my witness how i long for and pursue you all with love, in the tender mercies of Jesus Christ [Himself]!'

we need to pursue the world in all love. hang in there and do not even consider quitting. you are a prince or a princess of the King of all kings.

4. be an influence in life. we need to influence; not be influenced.

in a world where opinion rules the masses, it's time to stand up and stand out. even though the pulsating river of public opinion surges around you, remember that dead fish go with the flow. salmon will swim itself bloody against the flow of a river to get where it can produce life.

if you have anything at all to say, speak the Word. the Word of Life brings life.

and that leads us to point number five.

5. bring life to dead men.

as i wrote before, don't make promises that you can't make good on. dead men who need to live again don't want to hear that there's bread at a place that has mouldy bread. those that are desperate for God can tell when the Spirit of God is moving in a place. they're disillusioned by christians who run around and claim there's an awesome move of God, when the wind is blowing the water. what they need is the Spirit moving the water. dead men need to live. you have rivers of living water flowing within you! give away some of your water and you will see the well spring up and overflow. but if you cap the well, it will dry up.

God doesn't need madison avenue strategem to bring people to Him. He knows how to do it and He's been doing it better for a lot longer than we can even think of. so, perhaps it's high time to follow what He's doing. live an attractive lifestyle. be devestatingly attractive.

scattered thoughts on a [web]page

2007-05-27T09:40:00.000-07:00

i really don't know where i'm heading with this, or if it will even matter. to anyone. really. if there's one thing i love to do more than anything in the world, it's to sit and contemplate. i think about everything. i think about nothing. i think about things that need to change. things that i need to change. things that should be changed; things that will be changed; things that are being changed.

i think about things that have little significance and things that have the utmost importance.

what can i change today? if you're sad, will i make you happy? if you're being avoided, can i talk to you? if you're avoiding people, can i look into your eyes and tell you it will be alright? i hope you let me.

what's the most important change i can make today? what is the most significant thing that i can do today?

i like to think about the future. i like to look down the road and have a map. but i fear that taking the shortest route will deprive me of the scenery along the way. what is more beautiful, cold steel and black pavement weaving through a cement and glass world; or rolling hills covered in heather, woods teeming with life, waterfalls and wildflowers? shouldn't life be about the journey and not about the destination?

i think that's kinda what the christian walk is all about too... it's not about our destination, it's about how we obtain our destiny. if we're looking for the quickest route, we'll miss the lessons and the beauty along the way. if we're looking for the shortest route, we'll miss the opportunities to have an impact on someone's life...

that's something to think about...

i like to think about the people who i've met recently and those i've known for years. not to find out who means more to me than anyone else; but to imagine what sort of impact my life has had on theirs.

certainly, i've not been the best influence on some, and i've let some others down. but then, how many people have i inspired? how many people have i touched? it's not about sheer volume or a numerical quota. i just like to evaluate how much of an impact i've really had on people. think of it as a the "it's a wonderful life" syndrome without the suicidal depression.

i've come a long way from that. really. i mean it. i used to be depressed. i used to be suicidal. i don't know why i'm telling the whole world this. it was an intensely private thing for me. the problem with suicidal depression is that it is so quiet and hidden that usually the person who is suffering from it is usually the only one who knows they have it. why? because they're the only who who knows how they feel. not that others don't feel their pain, but others can't read their minds. suicidal depression. i've come a long way.

i like to think.

i was my senior class secretary. that means i got to pick the quotes for the class motto... i chose a whole bunch of crappy ones and one really good one (yeah, it was pretty manipulative... but that's politics... :wink:). our class motto? "remember these three things: from whence you came, to where you are headed, and to whom you must give account." benjamin franklin wrote that and i like to think about it.

the thing about the future is that we don't know where we are going. i mean, we know the ultimate end- our final destination be it one of two places. but i mean we don't know our destinations along the way. we may set goals and work towards obtaining them, but if a goal is our destination then we are selling ourselves short.

if retirement is my destination then i have already resigned myself to insignificance. however, if bringing hope to the hopeless, help to the helpless, being a father to the fatherless and a shelter to the shelterless is my destiny, then what should i care if i do not know where the wind blows? if i am pursuing God's destiny for my life, i will end up in my final destination with little physical evidence to show for it, but a treasure of great significance. i would gladly trade a lifetime of depreciating money, fleeting power and wavering influence for a lifetime of aiding those who are desperate for God's love. that is satisfaction.

i said before, i do not know where my thoughts will take me today, but i do know this- i want to make you smile.

be blessed today. i wrote this for you.

thoughts on galatians 4 and john 14:18

2007-04-27T20:16:00.000-07:00

you know, i've been writing a lot but not posting them anywhere on any blog for a while. i've been dealing with a lot of "stuff" lately. and last night, i was at peace for the first time in a long time.

God is good, isn't He? wow. relief. unmistakable, undeniable.

grace. it's all around me, embracing me. grace-ing me. i can rest easy. breathe deeply, smile freely. dance joyously and laugh openly.

God is simply amazing, isn't He?

He never leaves us alone. never orphaned, never exposed. never lost, never denied love. the inheritance is mine. it's yours. i am loved. i am the son of THE King. and that makes me a prince.

while i may not be THE Crown Prince, i am a prince. on day, i may have a crown to present my King. everything in the kingdom is my inheritance. i like that. look what i can give away!

God is awe-inspiring, isn't He?

peace. it's a fruit of the Spirit. that means it's a result of the Spirit. a product of the Spirit. where there is no Spirit, there is no peace. peace is not the absence of war, it is the presence of the Spirit!

[4 AM]

2007-03-14T01:00:00.000-07:00

4 AM

it's 4 am
i'm awake again
You awaken me
to teach me new things
of the mysteries of Your majesty
the Spirit's glorious melodies

the fall of man
the call of man
touching all of man
i'm doing all i can
to hear Your voice
and make the choice
but You quicken me
so that i can see
the mysteries
of Your majesty
and sing the Spirit's glorious melodies

there You are
and here am i
You're drawing me
to You're side
up and in
up and in
holding me
yet calling me
up and in
up and in

stripping pride
so that i
may hear You
these new clothes i'm in
bring me into the mysteries
of Your majesty
to sing the Spirit's glorious melodies

what's been done
i have become
i'm stepping in
Your glory
and as i walk
in obedience
the miracles
tell the story
of the mysteries
of Your majesty
singing the Spirit's glorious melodies
of the mysteries
of Your majesty
and Your glory...

[the comfortable garment]

2007-03-13T01:03:00.000-07:00

at one point, i thought i knew the direction i was heading in, now i feel as though i'm lying on my back on a merry-go-round spinning in circles.

perhaps the reason we have a Comforter is because God is so insistent that life be so uncomfortable. not that He revels in our discomfort,but that He is glorified when we find our comfort in Him alone.

why do bad things happen to good people? the traditional answer is "only God knows" or "all things work together for good (which is inherently true)" or even "God knows what He is doing." and though they may bring some comfort, they place the weight if the guilt on God as though God were being gently malicious. the comfortable answer is the accusatory one, the blame-shifting answer. the uncomfortable answer is the avoided one. He wants to use us for His glory, He wants to include us in His plan to heal the broken-hearted, to give life to the dead, to bind up the wounded and restore them to healing and a right walk with God.

but what if we're still wounded ourselves? will the healing come when we reach out to others?

will He use me? the comfortable answer is yes or even He already is,the uncomfortable answer is what am i doing to prepare?

what position am i am i putting my heart in, my life in, to bring Him the most glory? when i bring Him glory, then shall i wear His glory. when i wear His glory, i can carry it anywhere with ease. is it not easier to wear a shirt or jacket than to have to carry it around? it is why we tie our coats around our necks or waists instead of holding them in our hands. it is restrictive to hold something in our hands, we either have to put it down or put it on in order to free our hands for use. there is no garment less restrictive than the glory of God.

the Word of God says "put on a garment of praise..." and "put on the whole armor of God..." not carry them. too often we try to slip these items on over what we are already wearing but we need to realize that we must completely change our wardrobes, which includes stripping down tothe nakedness of humility and begin again with the clothing of the Spirit. "the Church is only beautiful when she is clothed with the Spirit."

[more]

2007-03-10T02:33:00.000-08:00

i've been reflecting a lot these last two weeks, more so this most recent one. introspection often leads one of two directions. for some, it leads to hubris, a false sense of self. for the others, it leads to humility, a real look into what's really inside.

when everything is said and done and the final chapter of my life is written, what will others have to say about me? what is my legacy? how will i be remembered? while, these thoughts may be a bit premature to be contemplating at 25, i can't shake the necessity to consider them.

what if, at 25, my life is required of me? what will people say? i fear that most people will say my life was a tragedy. "he died too young." "he could have done more." among others are thoughts that i can easily hear people say. "he died too young with little to show for it." truth. understandably so. would i be missed? of course, there are people who would miss me. but would my life have counted? i am ashamed to honestly say, most likely not.

and so, i ask, am i the sum of my mistakes? or am i more than this? more importantly, what will those who i have interacted with have to say about me? i don't want people to say they were sorry to hear that i passed. and i certainly don't want to hear someone ever say that i couldn't be trusted.

not trustworthy, that's what i would say... a particaularly harsh rebuke to swallow. a devestatingly obvious answer to my earlier questions- what would people say about me if i were gone at age 25.

i do not want this chain. i am not asking for some hyper-spiritual emotional release. that is to say, i am not seeking someone to tell me, "you are forgiven," and then to never hear from them again. i do not seek pity.my greatest fear in life is not that i will fail financially or in the workplace. my greatest fear is failure in relationship. not merely a dating relationship. but a relationship with others, and of the utmost importance, my relationship with God.

what will my legacy be? what will they say about me when i'm gone? am i more than a good friend and a fun roommate?

when i am lying on my back i do not wish to say with my dying breath "i am more than what i look like, i am more than where i've been, i am more than what they say about me."

i am more.

[the journey]

2007-03-07T22:57:00.000-08:00

words fail.
so do men.
and then we awaken
to realize that the answer we seek
the answer we crave
is not at all what we thought it would be
or where we thought it should be
the quest
will go to the highest heights
to the deepest of seas
and when we return
the Answer has been instep with us
guiding us, holding us, grace-ing us
loving us, taking us where we long
to go. with Him, to Him, for Him, from Him.
and that's where
we belong. the search
for home leads us straight
into His loving arms.
and there we find a place
where He cries with us,
and then He causes us to smile.
the journey of a thousand miles, ends
with a step towards Him.

[don't eat the seed]

2007-03-07T02:21:00.000-08:00

the parable of the sower...

there is a spiritual application of the natural law of sowing and reaping. for those in the neo-pentecostal/ charismatic movements, we've heard for years about sowing and reaping in the realm of finances. and that is good. but that's not where i'm going today.

there is an application that we miss sometimes. i'm talking today about prophetic sowing, and sowing into miracles. not just by giving finances, but by not eating the seeds.

God has given us seeds. one of the biggest seeds He has given us is the Word. what we do with that Seed will determine our harvest. if we simply read it, it may entertain us. if we only memorize it, it may come back to our rememberance. but if we embrace it, it will sustain us. revelation 12:11 says we will overcome by the blood of the Lamb (the Word that became flesh...) and the word of our testimony; that is, if we sow the seed.

if we just eat the seed and leave feeling full and content, then we will have nothing to show for it in the long run. we will be fat, full- and easily overtaken. if we leave revival meetings excited and energized, while these are both good emotions, these fail to determine the harvest. it's what we do with the seed that was given to us, that determines the harvest.

yes, the speaker (pastor, evangelist, prophet, teacher, brother, sister, whomever...) sowed their seeds into us, but it's up to us to sow the seeds into our own lives- that is to make sure the seeds reached the good soil and not the rough soil.

even though it's an old adage, and many people take it for granted, if you give a man a fish, you will feed him for a day, but if you teach a man to fish, you will feed him (and his family and maybe give him a career) for a lifetime.

in a famine-starved country, people are hungry enough, that if you give them seed, they will eat it instead of planting it. they will consider the now and not the later. then when the harvest comes, they will have nothing to show for it. why? because they ate the seed.

so where am i going with this?

how many times have we sat in meetings where the presence of God was manifest and we are fed, just a taste, and then we walk out, after hearing about changing the world and do nothing with it? after all, just how do we apply "whatever it takes, whatever the cost" messages? or how often do we hear accounts of miracles and see the glory of God manifest, yet seem to lose the battle of belief when it comes to our own situations?

i love listening to bill johnson preach. my roommate gets his podcasts and we eagerly listen to each one as soon as they come out. the reason i love listening to him so much? the testimonies that he shares at the beginning. they are so energizing and refreshing. but, remember what i stated previously? bill johnson gives me seeds when he preaches. (i'm pretty sure he knows it, and i'm sure he expects a massive harvest by sowing those seeds into my life and countless others) but what do we do with those seeds? what are we to do with those seeds?

psalm 126 gives us a good idea of how to sow those seeds. verses five and six say, "those who sow in tears will reap in joy. those who go out weeping, carrying seeds to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them."

if we sow these seeds we are given in the tears of prayer, worship, meditation on the word and personal application of the word, then we will reap a bountiful harvest. what you sow, you will reap. if you sow prophecy, you will reap prophecy. if you sow testimonies of miracles, you will reap testimonies of miracles. if you sow the seeds of soul-winning, you will reap the harvest of souls. if you sow seeds, you will reap a harvest of food and the seeds to grow more.

however, this isn't just a feel good message. if you sow carnality, you will reap a harvest of carnality and judgement. some of us, even people who read this, either in passing or intentionally, are sowing this seed and know that the harvest is coming. you know it, and it scares you. it is ok. ecclesiastes says there is a time to plant and time to uproot. now is a time for both. uproot the carnality. sow the good seed...

...and yes, if you sow financially, you will reap financially.

[live the revolution!]

[walking on water]

2007-02-28T00:12:00.000-08:00

sometimes i feel as though i ride an immense rollercoaster of emotions. i can be so high and then plummet so far so quickly that i easily become disorientated- am i standing on my feet or on my head?

it is times like these that i am forced to consider what it is that i actually believe to be true.

i was listening to the radio in my car a few days ago and a listener called in to comment that all people need to do to find peace, hope, identity and healing is just start helping others. while i embrace the caller’s motive to assist others, i must question the wisdom of such a broad statement.

clearly, a recovering alcoholic would be a fool to enter into his favorite watering hole to rescue some of the patrons. you would never suggest to a recovering drug addict that they should go to a crack house and attempt to rescue other addicts. so where is the wisdom in sending out wounded, tormented christians to reach wounded, tormented souls?

the foolishness of God is wiser than all the wisdom of men. that which, by all comprehension, should not work, does. God does not follow logic- He transcends it. while we cannot always comprehend the ways God chooses to work, we can come to embrace the fact that God is for us and everything He does is designed with each and every one of us in mind. His plan is both all-encompassing and intensely personal. Both broad scale and directly intimate.

the identity struggle is deeply rooted in how open we are to intimacy. if we struggle to be intimate, we will struggle to discover who we are. if we cannot open up ourselves to others and learn to trust them, the how can we expect that we will be completely honest with God who already knows everything about us?
it is a cop-out to think that because God knows everything about us that we don't need to communicate our sins and needs with Him.

we can do the impossible. we can attempt the impossible without fear because God will never belittle us for attempting the impossible. and more often than not, we will discover that what seems naturally impossible is completely within the realm of possibilty for God- in fact, it is when we refuse to attempt the impossible that we fail God.

peter walked on the water. we read that story and only focus on the part where peter began to sink. the lesson we take from the story is that we need to keep our eyes on Christ. this is true- but entirely incomplete. peter walked on the water! the lesson we need to take from this is that we can attempt the impossible with complete confidence that we will succeed so long as it is within the will of God!

was peter a perfected human? was he complete and whole? history tells us no. and so, i revisit my earlier question, "is it wise to send out imperfect and wounded christians to reach and bring healing to wounded and tormented souls?" i say yes. because what humanly and naturally impossible, when approached through God's purposeful plan, becomes completely possible and attainable.

[the battle of inheritance]

2007-02-26T03:33:00.000-08:00

[The Battle of Inheritance]

Written by: Eric Johnson

“We are not allowed to apologize for something that has been given to us for free.” ~ Anonymous

Something that fascinates me is how families with a long line of heritage function. There is a dynamic that takes place that is sometimes missed by the naked eye. It’s the pressure that is generated when the younger generation begins to get involved in what the older generation is doing. It occurs when the new generation is recognizing the inheritance they are receiving.

A transition takes place, and this pressure gives them an incredible opportunity. This pressure will cause them to find their own identity and reveal what that identity is. If their identity is healthy, they will prosper and increase upon the inheritance they have received. If their identity is on crutches, they will perform and/or demote themselves and actually sabotage their inheritance. Interestingly, many times people do this without even knowing what they are doing. They tend to do it in the name of humility.

A culture where individualism is glorified can, in more ways than we think, lead people to reject something that was already there--inheritance. Let’s take, for example, a family business, which the father and mother have built up successfully and for which they have hired numerous employees. Let’s say one of their employees is their son or daughter. This son or daughter will probably hear directly or get the feeling from other employees that the reason he/she has a job is that his/her dad and mom own the place. What that son or daughter does at this point is important. His or her reaction will show the state of his/her identity.

If he allows this pressure to move him to a place to “perform” and “prove” to others that he deserves this job by his own merit, he is possibly operating out of a poverty mindset. A poverty mindset will lead people to a place where they will naturally destroy something that may have been building momentum for generations, thus possibly causing this generation to go back to “square one.”

If he doesn’t turn to performance mode, he instead may walk away from an inheritance because he has believed the lie that he didn’t deserve it. So he feels the need to prove himself by doing it on his own to show others and himself that he is capable. This reaction can also possibly bring a generation back to square one.

These types of decisions form a pattern that causes years of plowing and sowing to be flushed away. It dramatically interferes with something that God set into motion from the beginning of mankind: that is to build upon what has been given to us for free, not just to build upon what we have worked so hard for.

A different effect takes place when someone works really hard and receives the fruit of his labor. It’s rewarding, and most say he deserved it because he worked hard for it. Then there is someone who receives an inheritance--something that he probably had nothing to do with. In other words, it isn’t the fruit of his own but of someone else’s labor.

It is important that we work really hard to create a culture and environment where this concept of inheritance is legal and healthy not just in theory but also in practice. The key is to understand that each one of us has an inheritance and to make sure that our identity is intact and that we are more concerned with what God thinks and says than what man thinks and says. When we do this, the pressure no longer controls what we do.

I believe one big reason there is such emphasis on having a healthy identity in the body of Christ isn’t just so we can be successful today but to prepare us so that when the momentum of history catches us, we can steward it correctly.

“We are not allowed to apologize for something that has been given to us for free.” ~ Anonymous

[history makers]

2007-02-16T03:30:00.000-08:00

[history makers]

an article by kris vallottan

every so often in the course of history there are individuals born who defy common reason and statistical explanation. these are the great ones, who break the tether of their generation’s expectations and rise to the high call that seems to echo from somewhere beyond the grave.

the prophets of old peered into the future and spoke of these violent ones who would force their way into the Kingdom, take hold of Heaven and pull it down to earth. these reigning saints refuse to have their exploits be a mere reflection of the past, but instead break the gravitational barriers of naysayers and doubters, and journey far beyond the boundaries of reason into places where no one has ever gone before. ultimately they capture the prize of the upward call of God that lies in Christ Jesus. these are God’s history makers, the Lord’s chosen people, His mighty men, His holy nation.

many of us can feel the vacuum of this vortex drawing our hearts into this divine destiny. we find our inner man longing, stirring, and burning for the great adventure. live or die, we must press through the walls of mediocrity and find the Promised Land of our souls. we live with a passion to be numbered among those who have gained fame in the halls of Heaven and are feared among the prison guards of hell. if we are going to walk as God’s ruling royalty, we have to:

➢ pray unceasingly

➢ give sacrificially

➢ dream unreasonably

➢ serve wholeheartedly

➢ love unashamedly

➢ walk innocently

➢ believe undoubtingly

➢ live powerfully

these are the qualities of the Bride of Christ in all of her glory. she is called to be the most creative force on the face of the earth. therefore, we must not allow ourselves to become known for our boxes, that is, famous for what we don’t do because of our “righteous” constrictions. abraham lincoln, george washington and benjamin franklin had certain moral values that restrained their behavior, but they were famous for what they did, not for what they didn’t do! it would be tragic if the most creative people on the face of the earth allowed themselves to be reduced to rent-a-cops guarding a box (the ark of the covenant) that God vacated 2,000 years ago.

the truth is that if we don’t take our rightful place in the earth, we will relegate sinners, void of the mind of Christ, barred from the wisdom of the ages, and wandering in utter darkness, to being the most brilliant minds of our time! if the brightest light in this world belonged to those locked in darkness, how great would the darkness be in our world? something is fundamentally wrong with this picture, but this is our brain on religion. religion is like kryptonite to Superman. religion can conform the most righteous, reigning saints into mindless zombies, puppets repeating someone else’s convictions they don’t even understand themselves.

attack of the clones

i am convinced that religion is the father of genetic cloning. religion invented cloning long before the world ever thought of it. religion has a way of sucking the most powerful people on the planet into a spiritual look-a-like contest, calling it discipleship. true discipleship is meant to empower people to be transformed into the image of their Creator, but religion redefines the terms, conforming people into replicas of their leaders. religion takes God’s mighty men and makes them artifacts in a museum.

religious people, like the pharisees of old, have the hardest time reaching out to folks who think “outside of the box” and don’t behave inside their hopeless shackles. part of the struggle comes from what they have done to the Savior of the world. they have sterilized the gospel. Jesus took water and turned it to wine, but 2,000 years later, today’s pharisees have diluted it to grape juice. religion has reduced the supernatural power of God to a history lesson about serving the dead body of a helpless Christ who, still nailed to the cross, is incapable of rocking their sacred boat. they emphasize the drowning of baptism, arguing over how people should get wet and what should be said over them during their dipping. religious people have lost touch with the fact that the bold print of baptism is not on the descent but on the ascension. the death of Christ paid for our sins, but it was His resurrection that gave life to our mortal bodies. religion embraces death sadistically and moves the risen Christ out of the garden and back to the tomb. religious people pray things like “God, kill me,” not realizing that even the One who came to give His life as a ransom for us all prayed, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup (of death) from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42). Jesus did not want to die; He wanted to do His Father’s will. if religion had its way, it would rewrite mary’s proclamation to read, “He is in the tomb just where we laid Him!” we have lost sight of the fact that the cross was for the old man not the new man, and that the true christian life is not about dying for Christ, but living in the life He purchased for us to establish His Kingdom on earth! the church must shake off the shackles of religion and embrace our supernatural destiny.

our commission

the world is crying out in distress, and we must not miss this kairos moment, the opportunity of the ages. in the late sixties, the beatles took america by storm. in a few short years, four boys from liverpool altered the course of our nation’s history. soon after, the world was swept into the wake of their anointing—all while they were singing “yeah, yeah, yeah.” But it wasn’t long before the fab four started to experience a crisis in their own souls. they began to cry out in desperation, singing,

help, i need somebody

help, not just anybody

help, you know i need someone, help

when i was younger, so much younger than today,

i never needed anybody’s help in any way.

but now those days are gone, i’m not so self-assured

now i find i’ve changed my mind and opened up the doors

help me if you can, i’m feeling down

and i do appreciate you being ‘round

help me get my feet back on the ground.

won’t you please, please help me

help me, help me, ooh.

but their cry for help fell on deaf ears in the sanctuary of hope, and soon they were calling hare krishna their “sweet lord.” the vhurch can’t afford to fall asleep in the harvest today as we have done so many times in the past. we are not supposed to reflect our culture; we are commissioned to transform it.

we are called to disciple all the nations of the world. discipling nations means submerging them in God—not religion—and “teaching them all I commanded you” (Matthew 28:20). teaching nations how to think is the transformational catalyst to changing cultures. but as long as christians aren’t valued in society, they will have no influence in the world. (you only have as much influence in people’s lives as they have value for you. anytime you try to have more influence than someone has value for you, you will manipulate them.) it is imperative that we become kings who understand the ways royal people influence authority. otherwise, we will reduce ourselves to social begging, hoping that the BIG, powerful people feel compassion for us and help our cause. this poisonous poverty mindset reduces the christian message to a cry for help instead of a call for leadership. we don’t need nations to change for our sake. we have a living, abiding, unshakable Kingdom that dwells within us and prospers under all circumstances. we need the nations to change for the sake of those still lost in darkness. they need the culture around them to create a safe environment for them until they get the Kingdom within them.

this cultural begging has relegated the Kingdom of God to a subculture. God never intended christianity to be a subculture. subcultures are those cultures that are subservient to a more powerful culture. the world’s commentary on the first century church reflects the true influence we are meant to have in society. they proclaimed, “these who have turned the world upside down have come here too” (acts 17:6 nkjv). we are called to turn the world around and set it back on its feet again. we are to be counter-culture until the mindset of the nations begins to take on the attitude of the Kingdom. christians are not subservient to the world because God has assigned us the highest level of authority that exists on this planet. when christians lose their desire and courage to confront the evils of our day honorably, we begin to be influenced by the lying principalities that are also commissioned to disciple the nations, but with an antichrist agenda. these demonic forces work to dethrone the Prince of Peace, Who is the rightful prince of the principles that make societies prosper, and instead enthrone the prince of darkness. consequently, the enabling principles of a culture become demonically inspired instead of Kingdom in-Spirited. Ttis dark prince works to establish evil thinking that leads to destructive behaviors. but when Jesus rules, He enables the principles of the King to transform the culture through the mind of Christ. in other words, people in a nation governed by the Kingdom begin to think like God!

however, it is important that we learn how to carry His power and authority. if we believers become combative instead of honorably confronting we will reduce our influence to the small pond of the church and render ourselves powerless in the ocean of humanity. we are to carry God’s authority into the lives of people and nations through invitation, not through intrusion or invasion. although we are called to be combative to the powers of darkness, we are to be honorably confronting to people, demonstrating the benefits and rewards of a superior Kingdom.

[drunk people do crazy things!]

2007-02-10T02:36:00.000-08:00

hey every one, i came across this article by kevin dedmon and i thought that it would be beneficial to post it here. it challenged me and i pray it challenges you as well.

DRUNK PEOPLE DO CRAZY THINGS!
written by Kevin Dodman

It is true, drunk people do crazy things. They will say the craziest things to anyone who will listen (even if they won’t listen). They will laugh out loud, oftentimes for no apparent reason, and without any sensitivity to their surroundings whatsoever. They will dance, fall on the ground, sway as they walk, and completely sacrifice their personal dignity. Why? Because they are drunk.

They are not concerned with what people think about them at the moment. They have lost all fear of man, not concerning themselves in the least with the aftermath of humiliation that is sure to follow their actions. They therefore express themselves freely. They will even attempt the dangerous, like driving a vehicle or jumping off cliffs into shallow water, crazy things that they would never even dream of doing if they were sober. Why? Because they are drunk. Drunk people do crazy things!

In Ephesians 5:18, the Apostle Paul gives this instruction to Christians: “Do not get drunk with wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit” (NIV).

This word “debauchery” means to be so influenced by the effects of alcohol that one loses all inhibition, so that they do things of negative and evil consequence that they would not do if they were sober. In other words, debauchery is doing crazy things that you are really ashamed of the next morning.

Being filled with the Spirit, on the other hand, causes one to do crazy things, but the difference is that those things are things that you are proud of the next morning. Interestingly, the phrase, “be filled”, is not a one time event. In the Greek, this is a present tense verb, which has a continual sense associated with the action. So, more accurately, Paul is instructing the Church to “be continually filled with the Spirit”; to drink everyday, the “new wine” of the Spirit. Why? Because drunk people do crazy things!

On the Day of Pentecost, in Acts chapter 2, the Church was filled with the Holy Spirit. In verse 13, the crowd made fun of them and said “they have had too much wine”. Peter’s response to this accusation is found in verse 15: “These men are not drunk as you suppose...”. Notice, he does not deny the fact that they are drunk, or at the least, acting drunk. He simply lets them know that they are not drunk in the way that they think that they are drunk. The source of their drunkenness is not due to the wine of the world, but rather the new wine of the Holy Spirit. He explains all of this in verse 17, as he outlines the fulfilled prophetic promise of Joel that God would pour out His Spirit on all people.

Notice that Peter got out of the box, crazy, as he found the courage to stand up to address the crowd of onlookers. This is the same Peter that denied the Lord three times! And now he has unabashed boldness to preach the Gospel to the same angry crowd that had earlier crucified Jesus. The only thing that can explain this uninhibited behavior is the fact that he was drunk. Drunk people do crazy things. And I’m sure he was very proud of his actions the next morning, especially when he realized that 3,000 people had been saved as a result of his boldness under the influence of the Spirit!

Jesus has commanded us to do crazy things like heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and cast out demons; to preach the message of the Kingdom (Matt. 10:7,8). He has commanded us to be His witnesses in the whole earth as his ambassadors (Acts 1:8; 2 Cor. 5:20). He told Ananias, through a supernatural vision, to go to Saul’s house on Straight Street and lay hands on him to receive his sight, which was a crazy proposal given the fact that Saul was arresting Christians and giving approval for their executions (Acts 9).

I used to never pray for the sick. Not because I didn’t believe in healing. I taught on healing. I just didn’t believe that I had what it took to pray for people for them to be healed. I used the excuse that I just didn’t have the “gift”. Interestingly, after learning to let the Holy Spirit influence my mind, I began to live under the influence (LUI), I began to do things that I would ordinarily never try like praying for someone to be healed. Amazingly, people started getting healed. I started to drink and drive, and when I would get to my destination, I would find supernatural boldness to step out and take crazy amounts of risk to pray for the sick at supermarkets, airports, or at family gatherings. And guess what? People started getting healed.

I have found that most people have a hard time stepping out in risk in the Kingdom because they are too intimidated by what others will think. I want to suggest that you try getting absolutely drunk on the Spirit of God until you have no inhibitions left, and just see what kind of great “crazy” things God can do through your life. Remember, drunk people do crazy things!

[tried and proven: adding meaning to your bible]

2007-02-08T03:36:00.000-08:00

life has a funny way of sneaking up on you when you're not looking. i mean, in less than a year, i met a beautiful young woman, started dating, met her family, fell in love with her family, made some mistakes, grown a lot, abruptly stopped dating, grew some more, moved out on my own, and started working in a hotel.

now i'm probably moving away from north carolina out to california for a change of schools and a change of scenery. and yet through all of the tumultuous times, God has proven faithful.

God is faithful. He has always been faithful, and He will always remain faithful.

to illustrate:

a few years ago an elderly saint passed away. she lived alone in her house and she had outlived all of her closest friends. her children came in from all over the country for the funeral. her pastor who only knew of her in passing, came to ask her children about their mother so that he might say some kind things about her at her funeral.

her children informed him that they really had no information that he might find useful, but they handed him her old, well-worn bible. he thanked them and got into his car. when he arrived at his home, he pulled out the bible and began to explore. pen marks and hand-written notes were everywhere. tithing envelopes and bulletins spilled from the covers. bookmarks seperated out the most often visited locations in the bible for easy access and one thing kept catching the pastor's eye.

on the margins of the page next to the verse numbers, two letters kept appearing. tp followed by numbers. perplexed, the pastor called the woman's eldest son and asked if he could help to sort out what these letters and numbers may have symbolized. he told the pastor that he had no clue but one of his sisters may. after asking each of the children and no answer given, the pastor committed to continuing searching through this bible.

as he flipped through the psalms, he began to see a pattern. the letters frequently appeared by promises and by descriptions of who God is. but this still gave no indication as to what the letters meant.

finally, the pastor caught a break when he saw the words tried and proven next to a particularly strong promise in isaiah. this revelation challenged the pastor. it was also then that the pastor realized that the numbers were not random, but dates. here he was looking into the life of a woman of strong faith. she had dared to take God at His word and hold Him accountable to proving He meant what He said. and God had proven every single promise to her.

at the funeral, the pastor rose to give the eulogy, and something began to happen. as he recounted how he did had not taken the opportunity to get to know this saintly sister, he suddenly realized that her greatest legacy was not something that could even be measured by man.

she had a thick bible. a bible full of meaning and proofs. a bible that was more than a collection of revered words, but precious promises.

do you have a thick bible full of meaning and proven promises or is yours thin and lifeless?

[confronting humanness]

2007-02-01T01:01:00.002-08:00

"to err is human, to forgive is divine"

i don't know who wrote that and right now i don't really care to do the homework on it. but while it surfaces as humility, the core smacks of hubris, contempt and self-efficacy.

the root of the problem is hiding behind our ability to be human. the counter argument is that we are human beings. or, in the most literal definition, we have the very nature of all that is human. while i am not saying that we are not homo sapiens, i am arguing that as christians, we are born again and because of this, we are no longer bound to the rules of being human.

i guess the greater question is if we associate errors with our humanity and forgiveness with divinity, are we, then, both human and divine? the biblical answer is complex and is in no way easy to explain. to write off and say that we are solely natural with spiritual attributes is a start but it diminishes the depth of our inheritance as heirs of Christ. to flat out say we are divine would be paradoxical at best, heritical at worst, and it does little more than elevate our minds to a point where we believe we are divine and we answer to no one.

genesis recounts that God created man in His image out of the dust of the ground, then God breathed into man. creation and animation. but we are the more than the sum of simple creation and animation.

we have been endowed with power from on high, empowered to do the will of God through the Holy Spirit, and encouraged to follow the example set by Christ. so what are we afraid of? what are we hiding behind?

it is true that we may find ourselves afraid of what others think of us, however, the only Person we should be concerned about is God-- and He has told us what He thinks of us. He has shown us what He thinks about us. He loves us. more than that, He adores us.

if the Creator of all things adores us, then what is there to be afraid of? if God be for us, then who can stand against us? not even the gates of hell will prevail against the ever increasing kingdom of our Lord.

to err is human. it is a part of human nature. an almost unreconcilable fact in our lives. we will make errors. but will we allow those errors to define us?

to forgive is divine. we have been gifted the ability to forgive- to be unable to forgive would be a death sentence of eternal guilt. by granting forgiveness, we are not elevated to a divine status, we are partnering with the Uncreated One to release others (and even ourselves) from the guilt of condemnation and the weight of judgement.

is it a divine skill? no. it is a right of the Divine that He has allowed us to partake in. as such, the freedom one experiences in both the act of forgiveness and being forgiven certainly can certainly feel a lot like divinity.

[musings from a distant land]

2007-02-01T01:00:00.000-08:00

alright, so let's be straight-up, i'm not in a literal distant land, and it's been way too long since i updated this thing. it's not a big deal, i suppose since any one in their right mind would have stopped visiting long ago. however, i will resurrect this blog regardless of who is or is not reading it.

the distant land of which i speak is metaphorical. it is, in short, my own mind.

there is no doubt that i am a moderately travelled human being. having spent time in seven countries on three continents (and God-willing it will not end there), and my intracontinental travels has not concluded either.

it looks as though, i may be moving again, it will be a great move indeed as it may be a cross-country move.

why move again? i will be transfering to a different school, and as has become a standard theme in my scholastic career, i will begin again from the beginning.

a comical side note: a friend of mine whom i graduated high school with is graduating from med school this year. yes, seven years have gone by and i still do not have the degree that i desire to have.

in all fairness, i can't really say that i actually desire a degree. maybe just the chance to say that i finished school. and then to go on into ministry. that would be nice.

nice. it's the american dream. to have a nice job; live in a nice house, with a nice wife and nice kids; have nice pets; drive a nice car...

i guess after thinking about it, i don't want nice. after all, aren't i a self-professed revolution clarion? how can i serve coffee and donuts when paul was accused of throwing the then known-world into a riot? but this isn't about paul is it? i mean, if the apostle paul were around today, he'd probably be stymied by the fact that we preach a gospel so devoid of power that most of the anointing on a service is in the preceeding free coffee in the front lobby.

that sugar rush or caffiene fix is more powerful and more moving than what occurs in most services every weekend. oh, the music may be good, and the preacher might be able to get out a few good words, but the full weight of the glory is felt monday through saturday. it can be measured by the heaviness of a blue monday for a pastor or by the actions of the church attenders throughout the week.

forget hurting paul's feelings for a moment. what would more modern church leaders have to say? simply running through a short list of names would be enough to make us squirm in our seats. yet, these are not the ones who are being let down by our inaction and impotence.

rather, we sell short those in the world around us when we do not live as we are called or according the purposes for which we were called. but let's go one step deeper.

what does it say about us if we focus the thoughts and opinions of men? well, for one, it makes us human. and that's part of the problem. while we are human, we are not heirs of this world. that is, we are not heirs of this world if we believe what we say we believe to the point of action...

[pause for effect]

that being said, the only One we should be concerned about hurting, humiliating or misrepresenting is the King of all kings Himself.

with this in mind, we should remain mindful of the premise that what is done in the name of Christ and what is actually commissioned by God are not always identical. it has been a great travesty that many atrocities have been committed under the guise of doing the will of God. this is nothing more than a broad scale self-justification. it is weak and does a great injustice to God Himself.

His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. But that does not mean we are not capable of having the mind of Christ. paul encourages us to have the mind of Christ; to renew our minds; to make an impact on this world, not with earthly wisdom, but with the power of the Holy Spirit. it is why paul proudly proclaims that he came to the corinthians not with strength of speech so that their faith would be in their words, but with the true power of the Holy Spirit, so that their faith would reside solely in the power of God.

make no mistake about it, the pen is mightier than the sword. when benjamin franklin wrote that he could conquer the world with 26 ready soldiers he was not referring to a company of men- he was referring to the characters in the english alphabet. words are greater than blade or bullet, but the power of God is even greater still.

and it is this power of God that we have access to as heirs of Christ through the person of the Holy Spirit. why aren't we accessing this power? what are we to do with this power?

tomorrow we'll explore the treachery of hiding behind human nature. saturday we'll explore the purpose of this power.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

[revival or riot.... take your pick!]

2006-08-21T15:53:00.000-07:00

Jesus cast out 10,000 demons with one command. we use 10,000 commands to cast out one demon.

isn't that a bit strange? what was Jesus' secret? He was the Son of God? ok. so what do we say about the early church believers who had great signs, wonders and miracles occur?

i want to see what is real, just seeing with the natural eyes isn't always seeing what's real. we live in an illusionary world. our eyes are tricked by what we think we see. when we see Jesus in all circumstances, we can see what He is up to. when we see what He is doing, we see what the Father is doing. when we do what we see Jesus doing we WILL see results! the secret lies in doing what we see the Father doing and not what we think we should do...

brothers and sisters, kingdom life isn't just offered to us! kingdom life is in us! it's exciting to just think about that all day. we are called to be stewards of the mysteries of the kingdom that God has placed inside of us.

let's go a bit practical, shall we?

as citizens of the united states (for you who live in other countries, insert your own country's name), we cannot be denied the rights our citizenship affords us. we cannot be denied access into our own country.

we are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven (and we know this because Paul wrote about it and Jesus actually said it). if we are citizens of the Kingdom, and we have the Kingdom within us and we have been charged to have dominion on the earth to fill the earth and subdue it, then we should naturally express our kingdom culture wherever we go.

let's take a real look at what we are producing. are we really reproducing something we can be proud of? are we reproducing strong christians who are effectively reaching their world for Christ? or are we reproducing people who are get lost in the christian sub-culture? is their christianity anything more than bible-based self-improvement? or are they active in communicating the gospel to those who are perishing? i fear that if they are the former, then we must deal with the issues in our lives. we reproduce who we are. if those we continue to produce bound-up believers then it's time we look at their teachers. perhaps our attitudes and issues need to be dealt with so that they do not develop our problems.

we either need a full-scale revival in the church or we need a riot against the four walls of the established church. we need to rethink our "strategies" for reaching the world. madison avenue marketing doesn't work too well in light of eternity. we should not jeopardize souls to fit our growth schedules. we do not need to tell people what they want to hear. we must tell them what they need to hear.

i don't know how to finish this post. really. so, perhaps i'll leave it as is. comments are welcome.

[for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...]

[up to speed...]

2006-06-26T20:04:00.000-07:00

every so often we come across someone or something that truly blesses us and serves to alter our perspective slightly. sometimes this is good, sometimes the results are less than desirable.

it is true that i have been slacking in the posting department here on this blog, but i hope those of you who have been faithful to read this still continue in here from time to time (it would be different if this were a paid position and i were operating on a deadline...) i haven not forgotten any of you.

i wanted to post to let you all know that things are going well here at FIRE School of Ministry and that the rumor has some truth to it. there really is a girl in my life, her name is sabrina, and i'll be posting some more about her later.

but on to what i really want to share with you all.

a man named sean dietrich stumbled across my blog after a websearch and sent me a link to his website. he's a musician and i really think most of you would be blessed by his music. click here to visit his site.

thank you.

for the world-wide renown of His Sovereign Glory...

[understanding thomas...]

2006-04-20T22:44:00.000-07:00

i've been thinking about thomas recently. what do we really know about him? we know he was called by Jesus to be more than a follower. we know that he was hurting when his rabbi was crucified. we know that he refused to believe the testimony of his fellow disciples when they claimed that Jesus had risen from the dead. and we know that he went to india and was killed there.

really, that's all the records we have of the life of thomas aside from the gospel of thomas, which many scholars doubt was actually written by the apostle. regardless, we, christians have, for centuries, clamored up the back of thomas and beat him with every generation for being a doubter. we teach our kids not to be a "doubting thomas." yet, with every generation, we doubt God just as much as we believe satan. really. if we started believing God at same level with which we believed the lies of satan, our lives would be much different.

back to thomas...

is it unfathomable that thomas was hurt that his rabbi and his friend with whom he shared three years of his life had been crucified at the hands of his own people and made a mockery of by the roman occupants? wouldn't you be hurt? and if your friends who, historically, have fought among themselves, all come to you and tell you that your friend is alive, how would you react? thought so...

so, what makes our doubting generation better than thomas? the only thing i can come up with is that we have the benefit of hindsight. but that does little to prove that we are better, on the contrary, it only goes to show that the only thing we learn from history is that we don't learn from history...

it is similarily astounding that we miss the fact that thomas still gathered with the other disciples despite his "monsterously" overwhelming doubt. not only this, but when Jesus did appear to thomas and the others, he didn't need to do what he said would prove to himself that Jesus was alive. he exclaimed, "my Lord and my God!"

the very next historical record we have of thomas is in india. he left jerusalem during the great persecution in the first century. Jesus spent three and a half years with thomas as his rabbi and friend. thomas turned around and spent the rest of his martyred life for his rabbi and his friend. thomas, was commissioned by an indian king to build a palace. while he was working and being a living testimony, he was killed by a dart or a spear.

what makes us better than thomas? it can only be that we have lived longer after our revelation of who Jesus is; and that is nothing that elevates one person over another.

[following and believing]

2006-04-17T20:21:00.000-07:00

followers aren’t always believers and believers aren’t always followers. but when a follower becomes a believer, they will get out of a boat and walk on water. and when a believer becomes a follower they will turn the world upside down.

peter always gets beat up for denying Christ by his words, but i'll tell you the worst part wasn't what he said, but what he did after Christ was crucified. he left and went fishing. and yet, he's restored by Christ. peter always gets bashed for sinking, but no one ever stops to think that he actually walked on the water! have you made mistakes? have you ever doubted? have you walked on water? Jesus never belittled peter’s faith for attempting the miraculous. just like peter, Jesus offers forgiveness and restoration. beyond that, He has given us the authority to perform miracles.

strange things occur when a follower becomes a believer… you see miracles. crazy things happen when a believer becomes a follower… the world gets changed.

[who i am, hates who i've been...]

2006-04-12T22:58:00.000-07:00

do you ever get that lethargic feeling that you just aren't doing enough? that you're not reaching enough people, that you're not touching enough lives? you know, the one that says six months ago you were a better person. why can't you go back to that person?

maybe six months ago you were doing some incredible things for God, but somewhere along the road of life, you slowed down, you settled into a rhythm. but your heart yearns for more. you want to let the top down and let the wind sail through your hair; you want a highway where there's little traffic so you can feed a little more gas into your engine...

yeah, that would be nice. you're afraid of slowing down any further because you don't want the race to be over, but you're afraid of speeding up again because your body just won't make it to the finish line...

i know that feeling. i hate it.

the only way to break out of it is to break out of it. kind of deep, i know... let me rephrase it. it is easier to act your way into believing than it is to believe yourself into acting.

makes more sense? good.

brothers and sisters, what we don't see is that six months ago we may have been more attuned to the people in our paths but we don't exactly know who we are touching right now, in this moment.

they will know we are christians by more than our t-shirts, our bumper-stickers, our cd collections and our libraries. the will know we are christians by our love. and not necessarily our love for people we don't know. it's easy to love on someone you've never met before. it's a bit harder when they're your roommates or your family or people you see every day. it's the ones who we rub shoulders with everyday, even if our shoulders get a bit raw, that we are called to love. and when people see that, they will know that we stand out.

i am continuously running. and the prize i run for is greater than any medal given out at the olympics. it's greater than any accolade of man; it is the high calling of Christ Jesus. it is for this reason i run: to bring the knowledge of His sovereign glory to the world. not simply to "my world" or "the business world" or even to "the western world;" but to the whole world.

[a trimester down...]

2006-04-11T18:35:00.000-07:00

so, i've finished my first trimester, and while it's still fresh in my mind, i want to write a few things that i've learned over the trimester that i may have otherwise never learned...

1. i learned that no matter the cost, no matter the pain and suffering, the message of the Gospel must be advanced, and that, even though the Kingdom is within us and people may kill our bodies, all it does is release the Kingdom in a more powerful way...

2. i learned that without an understanding of true community and love, the Jesus Revolution will die.

3. i learned that outside of Jesus i am nothing; but God thought i was worth everything and that's why He gave His life. (meditate on that a while...)

4. i learned the true unestimable power of prayer and its influence on society, through the prayer movement to counter the charlotte pride homosexual event.

5. i learned that healing is for today. that i can heal people through the power of Christ and that healing is in the atonement.

6. i learned that academia is a good and useful tool to educate, but it cannot teach everything. the Holy Spirit is given to teach us all things. even the seemingly mundane.

7. i learned that the brotherhood and sisterhood of believers is delicate and should be sought after more than the cultivation of romantic relationships. there is a delicate line, but, ultimately, it is a message needed in todays youth culture.

8. i learned that the only true risk we face is the decision to walk away from God.

9. i learned that i am in love. (this one is up for meditation and interpretation).

[how to touch a leper]

2006-02-24T22:54:00.000-08:00

my eyes have been opened lately and i see them all around, they walk with their heads down, avoiding eye contact. when they do make eye contact, they look for wholeness and acceptance but they are met with stoicism, contempt and ignorance. kicked to the curb and despised by so many, they sit to have their wounds licked by the dogs; they resign themselves to the idea that this is the only love and attention they'll ever know- compulsive love. they turn away from us with plastic smiles on their faces and weep bitterly the tears of maltreatment, lonliness and despairity in the darkness.

parts of them are missing. those who aren't so ignorant as to point the abnormalities out in open mockery, decry the hideousness on the inside and turn to look away.

we pass them everyday. from our youth, we have learned to ignore them. we push them to the outskirts of the camp because we don't want them to rub off on us; we don't want to catch what they have.

they are all around us. they are among us. in some cases, they are us and we are they. some are missing development, others maturity. still others are missing social graces.

they dress differently, act differently, move differently, smell differently. in short, they are different. and we damn them for it.

how does one reach out to a leper? do we just reach out a finger and barely tap them with the tip and exclaim, "i touched him/her?" is that what we are supposed to do? where is the compassion in that?

on the flip side of the coin, do we embrace them and ignore their differences? what would their initial reaction be? half would be so broken and half would be so bitter. where is the sanity in that?

how have we become so calloused? how are we so hardened that the world has to teach us how to approach them, much less touch them? why are we so insistent on furthering their abuse by ignoring their needs?

God! i pray that you have mercy! teach us a better way. teach us to walk in love and humility.

they really are all around us. not in some ward of some hospital. not begging on the street in some third-world country. they occupy the same offices, the same trains, the same apartments, and in many cases, the same church buildings as we do.

we are put off by their mannerisms that don't fit into our paradigm of how life should be. and maybe our paradigms are, in a word, correct, but our motives are incomplete and our methods are vile- shameless and despicable. we seem to justify them with our fingers out-stretched pointing out the inchoateness of their being, while our other hand pinches off the stench from our noses and our eyes are shut tight.

these deplorable acts do nothing but alienate us from their sufferings. what kind of person will mock a dying person? who are the monstrous beings now?

and again, what does it say about a person who simply accepts a person without offering any hope or help? is this psuedo-acceptance truly love? wouldn't love push a person past social disgrace? wouldn't love weep with the hurting, but continue on until restoration or healing has transpired? what good does it for the leper to die in the camp as opposed to outside the camp?

no, the act of true love, moves beyond an embrace of the body to an embrace of the soul.

so, how do you touch a leper?

i would suggest that we endeavor to grab hold of them with all the compassion that our flaccid hearts can initially muster and cling to them until we both are changed. they have found true love, true acceptance and true healing; while we have found true compassion. where is the safety in that? there isn't any. and that's the point...

i have seen the leper; my heart is more cantankerous than his festering boils.

***this is not about medical leperosy nor is it necessarily about moral or spiritual leperosy; this is about social leperosy... not developmental disorders... though all of these are valid surrogates. this is simply about those people who are different than us.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

[stop singing lies]

2006-02-18T19:55:00.000-08:00

many people within the four walls of the church are treading on dangerous ground. they have donned camoflage and wander about aimlessly in the no-man's-land between the armies of light and the armies of darkness.

we must determine who we will serve. we say we have made our decision when we begin the song service and we try to draw close to God. then we deny Him His kingly right, His hubandly right, and His fatherly right by picking up our lives where we left off before the service.

we profane the holy by making it mundane. leonard ravenhill said that we could be damned to hell many times over for all the lies we sing on sunday.

choose this day whom you will serve. stop trying to lure God into an adulterous relationship. He will not put up our double-mindedness. He is a jealous Lover; He is a valient Warrior who is worthy to be feared. A jealous warrior is a volitile combination; he is capable of tearing apart whole continents for the sake of defending the purity of His bride.

"they honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me..."

those words are applicable to much of today's evangelical, pentecostal, charismatic church as it was to the israelites in the old testament and to the pharisees and saducees in the time of Christ.

choose this day, whom you will serve, whether it be the gods of this age, or the God of abraham, isaac and jacob; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

the choice is up to you.

choose now and never look back.

[what do you attribute this to?]

2006-02-10T22:55:00.000-08:00

[hey nozza, i hope you don't mind, but i'm going to quote you to make it all the more easy for others to find and understand. they won't have to go digging for your question and i'll make sure that i quote you in complete context.]

"Tell me, what do you put this all down to? Is it a closer walk with God? Is it something that you are doing differently?"

what do i attribute it to? well, a couple of things...

first, i actually started to believe what i said i believed.

second, i realized that i believed that the whole Bible was true and inerrant and completely applicable to today.

third, i scrapped everything i learned over the last 7 years about prayer.

fourth, i just gave up. i realized that i needed to simply step and walk out my faith.

let me also say, i got sick of hearing testimonies and wanted to live them.

i wish to express that i am not the only seeing God move here. that others are seeing people healed from cancers and diseases. i am simply blessed in that i am stepping out on what the Word of God says and i'm seeing that He honors His Word.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

[the umbrella prophecy]

2006-02-02T21:26:00.000-08:00

i buying an umbrella tomorrow. a nice big one. 72" like the one i left with anna in virginia.

no, really. why? it wasn't raining. in fact, it was a beautiful spring day at the end of january. yeah. it was weird.

so, i'm buying an umbrella tomorrow.

um, my spirit told me i needed one. yeah, ok, i hear ya. i'm weird. no, actually, i'm not.
my bible says to ask the Lord of the harvest for rain in the time for rain.

it's winter. that means it's time for snow- not rain.

yes... and no...

i'm buying an umbrella tomorrow because its a prophetic act.

something happened at walmart today that rocked my world. let me see if i can describe it to you...

i was nearing the end of my shift (as a cashier) and this woman came up and started loading her items on the belt. i looked at her, noticed that she kept her left arm tucked really close to her body. i asked her if she had had a stroke recently.

two months ago. ok. that's recently.

[not a good enough reason to constitute an umbrella? ok then.]

so i rang up all of her items and then she paid with her credit card. after i loaded everything into her cart, she thanked me and started to walk away (ok, it was more of a half-walk, half-drag) and i thought: you idiot, you should have prayed for her...

i wanted to say, "ma'am wait! come back..." but i heard myself say, "Susan!"

she sort of half turned and looked at me kinda dumbfounded and i commanded her body to be made whole in Jesus' name. [yeah, this was in front of everyone at walmart.]

she kind of shook her head and then started to walk away... normal... she took four steps, realized something different and turned her cart around and looked at me with large eyes and sort of terrified, and asked... "what did you do to me?"

i told her i didn't. Jesus healed her.

y'all, she paid with a credit card. i didn't see a name on a check or a signature on a receipt. she swiped the card herself and signed the computer.

oh. and then there's the funny part... the reaction of the people who saw it happen...

the next person in my line started to put their things back into her cart so she could go to another lane cause she didn't know what she had just seen.

so. i'm buying an umbrella. it's gonna rain.

[after these messages, we'll be right back]

2006-01-31T07:35:00.000-08:00

hey y'all,

i just wanted to ask you to pray because i'm going to be going to spain, morocco and germany in about six weeks and i have to put a little over half down in 17 days.

i am not asking you to send anything- just pray that God provides.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

[the beginning...]

2006-01-25T20:42:00.000-08:00

so, i'm here in north carolina living a new revelation... a jesus revolution...

i've told you of a few healings that i've seen God do, and though i wish i could say everyone i pray for gets healed, i cannot.

but i can tell you that the more i pray the more convinced i am that it is God's will that they be healed. how do i balance that with not seeing them healed? easy. i cannot blame God for my shortcomings.

that said, i'm going to get back on topic. though healing, signs, wonders and miracles are all a major part of the jesus revolution.

a small contingent of students has been gathering at the beginning of our lunch period to pray for souls and to believe God together. it is a mutual upbuilding of faith. i am convinced that God is about to do something here in the charlotte/concord area that will draw more people than all the carolina panther football games, all the charlotte bobcat basketball games, and all the college sports games in the area combined.

this jesus revolution will be preceded by people, young and old who desire God more than food, more than education; who value God's presence more than social status and personal gain.

that's what i want to see. a complete jesus revolution.

churches shaken and the sins in the pews exposed. the only way a society can be saved is if the church is walking the way of the cross.

Jesus never told us to embrace the cross. he never asked us to be willing to take up the cross. he said to take it up and follow him- no matter the cost. in fact, the cross itself proclaims its cost- life.

the cross wasn't the pretty icon it has become. it's not a piece of gold on a chain around someone's neck. it's not a gleaming structure at the pinacle of sanctuary. it is not a banner around which a billion people rally. it is forever a symbol of incredible violence. a new testament altar upon which the Lamb of God was slain. and a place where we are to crucify ourselves.

a daily death to our fleshly desires breeds a new life in discovering His desires for our lives. this is the beginning...

this is the jesus revolution.

for the world-wide renoqn of His sovereign glory...

[the return; to or from?]

2006-01-16T01:49:00.000-08:00

i don't know what to say.

i'm ruined. don't ask. i'll tell you anyway.

for the past few weeks, we've been really praying for a complete Jesus revolution in and around the Concord/ Charlotte, NC area.

God is moving. i'm ruined.

walmart is no longer a place to work for me [though, i do get a paycheck]. walmart is ruined for me [which, isn't such a bad thing]. walmart is a place to minister. it's a 15,000 sq. ft. prayer room. it's a massive healing center [and i'm not talking about the pharmacy...]. walmart: the next house church.

walgreens is now a place to pray and to pour out the love of God over His creation.

let me preface the following testimonies by stating that the groundwork and foundation for this complete cultural and spiritual revolution was laid by people long before i ever stepped off a bus in concord. that is to say, i am not the central figure in these stories.

i was there. i witnessed it. and in these few cases, i took part, but the glory is all God's- and will always be God's, because He paid the price for it...

a fellow student and i went to walgreens this past friday with one goal: to see God move. what happened next blessed our hearts.

we made our way to the pharmacy to see if there were people there who had a need to be healed. there was a couple named thomas and betty who were in their mid-70's. both of them had severe chest colds and you could see on betty's face the toll it was taking on her sinuses.

after the laying on of hands and a short concise prayer, we saw that betty's (who had not taken any medication for the cold- she was waiting for the prescription to be filled) face had cleared up. all the redness had gone away. when we asked her how she felt, she said she felt better than she had in a long time. when we asked thomas how he felt, he said he felt better.

feeling a bit more bold, we noticed that thomas had a hearing aide in his left ear. eddie (my friend) asked if we could pray for that, because the God who heals colds, heals deafness. eddie asked thomas how we could know that he would be healed when we prayed for him and he pulled out his hearing aide and said he couldn't hear with out it. after a shorter prayer than our first one for their colds, eddie stood a good distance to thomas' left and softly asked how he felt. thomas looked at his wife and then at us and said, he felt fine... and that he could hear out of his left ear.

thomas and betty both left praising the Lord... and, without their prescriptions.

it's odd. really. now that i think about it. not the miracle. the healings are becoming normal and expected. what's odd is looking back at the past seven years that i've been a christian, and seeing how close i've always been to walking in the fullness of God, yet not actually walking in it.

i write good stuff. some of it's theoligically sound, some of it's a bit shaky. but, for the most part, was stuff i sincerely believed in my heart and in my head, i just never actually put some of it in practice. the book i was going to write? forget that... for now. now, i'm living.

it is often easier to act yourself into believing than it is to believe yourself into acting.

so, i threw caution to the wind last week. stepped out on faith. [insert your own rhetorical colloquiallism here] and saw God come to meet me.

what works at walgreens works at walmart... or so, in theory it should. except this time, i wasn't merely in a place where i could get asked to leave, but i was in a place where i could, potentially, lose my job- my source of income [but not my source of life].

it's interesting how many opportunities we're faced with when we stop looking at our own needs and wants and desires.

a middle-aged woman named carolyn came through my register last week and i casually asked her how she was doing. [honestly, at the time, i didn't think i really cared to know. it was just something polite to say... now, i know better.] she told me she was ok, except that she had fallen the day before and could barely lift her right arm above a 90 degree angle to her waist. something rose up inside of me [or should i say Someone...] and i found myself uttering the words... "would you like me to pray for you?"

[did i really ask her that out loud?] yeah. i did. she told me she didn't really believe in God. "doesn't matter" i told her. [say what?] i told her that i believe that God would heal her regardless of what she believed. she muttered something and i told her that if she didn't get healed, then she'd have a really interesting walmart story to tell someone...

so, i prayed. all the while no one came into my checkout lane. really... how often do you go to walmart in the middle of the day and see a line with no one in it? yeah, so no small miracle there either right?

i asked her how she felt, and she said she couldn't tell. i told her to do something she couldn't do before. so she began to lift her arm... right as she came to the point where there had been pain earlier, i handed her a bag filled with tuna cans and canned vegetables... i figured, she's either going to hit me or be really excited. and she grabbed that bag and lifted it up and over her shoulder...

yeah, her face said it all. wish i had had a camera... praise God. not only was susan healed, but she went home saved... and came to church on sunday evening...

praise God, that He answered that prayer... because i don't think i'd have wanted to get a phone call from walmart asking why i handed a heavy bag to an injured customer...

does everyone i pray for get healed? i wish that were so. but i don't see why it can't happen.

it's not like it's a faith issue, like so many people want to tell you it is. that's just an excuse to fail... "well, they weren't healed so they must not have had much faith..." not so... the guy at the beautiful gate in the book of acts wasn't looking for healing... he was just looking for a handout... he just wanted money from peter and john.

physical healing was purchased at the whipping post and sealed at the cross. by His stripes we are healed is what the book of isaiah says. 1 peter says by His stripes you WERE healed. peter wrote it in the past tense. which means the healing was accomplished at the whipping post.

i could go on, but i'll stop there for now [more will come later].

so, now is the time of the return. to what? from what? the return from half-truths and religious me-ology to true christianity.

i am not the only one down here seeing people healed. i told you about eddie. and there are others, who, when they lay hands on people, see sicknesses and diseases healed.

the return. i am ruined. i believe in the revolution. i will live my life to see this area transformed and the rest of the earth harvested.

and you shall go into all the earth and proclaim the good news. to walmart and walgreens and downtown charlotte, nc and to the whole rest of the world...

ok, that's not what the bible says, but it's pretty close to what its prophetic meaning is...

...proclaim the good news, whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. and these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover...

and that is what Jesus said will accompany all who believe and are baptized.

strange... it's a return to the Scriptures... what a novel idea...

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

[living the revolution]

2006-01-11T20:49:00.000-08:00

(disclaimer) [to those of you who have been faithful to visit this site in my absence of writing, i offer this debt of gratitude. your patience and grace truly do inspire me.]

i truly do not know where to begin. so much has transpired over the past 8 hours that it would be rediculous to even try to tell you all that has occurred over the past three weeks.

allow me to give you the reader's digest condensed version before beginning what i truly feel God wants to say.

i have begun to settle in down here in concord, nc. i have stepped out on faith and entered fire school of ministry- now we'll see if the provision is there to continue (let me insert that i have not one iota of doubt in my mind any more that i am not where i am supposed to be at this very moment doing what i'm supposed to be doing.)

i am still vehicle-less and living on a borrowed couch, but by the grace of God, i am alive and healthy and i know that He is good and He has His purposes.

tonight there was a small fellowship for the first trimester guys hosted by three graduates. it was a form of "what you can expect at fsm*" and "what you can expect from God while at fsm."

i think they wanted give us a glimpse of God's glory and a taste of the passion that He has put in their lives for the sake of His glory, but God had a slightly different agenda.

after the time of eating and chatting, we moved into the living room to pray.

then it happened...

[God showed up.]

the word of the Lord came forth from isaiah 64: oh that you would rend the heavens and come down; that the mountains might quake at your presence... and from psalm 24: who shall ascend the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in his holy place? he who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his hands to any vain idols... such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of jacob.

and a holy silence covered that place. the internal groanings of the spirit. a meeting with the most high God. a kiss from heaven. and worship was poured out.

the message is this: the King is coming. get ready. don't hold back. don't be found without oil. don't be sleeping. be ready. He is coming and He will pour out His Spirit in this place. and we will never be the same again [not that we would ever choose to be the same].

who wants to remain? who wants to live the revolution?

[for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...]

*[fsm= fire school of ministry]

[a new generation of children]

2005-12-19T16:21:00.000-08:00

i have recently moved to north carolina to finish school and to become a part of the FIRE community in concord. thank you for your patience in awaiting my newest posting.

i came across this file on the internet and i want to share this with you. it is very powerful and i pray that it touches you.

a new generation of children in america

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

[life, liberty and the pursuit of selfishness]

2005-12-04T11:24:00.000-08:00

the scriptures are clear that Christ Jesus came to give us life. not just life, but abundant life. the truth is freeing- the truth sets us free. so, our life and freedom is contingent upon the truth of Christ. no believer doubts this. the problem, though, is with what it actually means.

the christian-living section of many bookstores offer up titles that serve non-religious christianity, or a geo-centric "me-ology" where we are the central figure of the gospel- after all, He came with me in mind. "because of the freedom we have in Christ," they write, "and His grace covers our sin when we make mistakes, we can live like the world, without it being sinful, because it has already been washed away." there are many truly freeing titles worth reading but there are just as many, if not more, that throw true christianity out the window with the bath water. the reasoning is that as long as it doesn't cause anyone else to stumble, then you should go for it! after all, you're only living life to the fullest!

that is, unless you have to be convinced that it is ok... our consciences are given for a reason. God had a purpose for putting a voice of reason within us. the Holy Spirit will often use our consciences to speak to us when we are faced with a moral decision. if we have to rationalize a decision to do something immoral then we are doing little more than making rational-lies.

God doesn't exist for our pleasure. we exist for His pleasure. He doesn't need us to remind Him that He is God. He knows it; He will never forget it. what are we then? we are His creation and we are supposed to be reflections of Him. with this knowledge, what are we reflecting if we drink alcohol? what are we reflecting if we smoke? or if we surf the internet for pornography? or steal office supplies? or lie? or covet? or lust? who and what are we reflecting?

our freedom didn't just come for free. our freedom wasn't just paid for with some great cost to someone that we just inherited. our freedom wasn't merely the cost of one man's life. it wasn't the price of a good man's life. our freedom wasn't simply purchased by the death of a holy man; it was paid for by the death of a holy God who became a man to pay the penalty for sin for once and for all for those who choose to believe.

if a tree is known by it's fruit and Jesus is the vine and we are the branches, is our fruit desirable? is our fruit accessible? and, most importantly, is our fruit edible? if our fruit is none of these, then either the branch needs to be pruned off, or we are a part of the weed that is wrapped around the vine... is Christ worth it? is God worth the effort to remove ourselves from the grasp of selfish pursuits?

once we realize that the Gospel is not centered around us and our needs, wants, desires, and lusts, we will begin to see the larger picture. to grasp the idea that how we act impacts how people hear what we have to say. their attenuation is based off of our lifestyles. for many, we may be the closest they ever come to seeing Jesus, and if they see more of us than they do of Him, then we are offering them no hope. we tell them that by saying certain things and acting a certain way one day a week, then they will be putting on invisible fire suits to play in the raging forest fire for the rest of the week. the emporer will pay an incredible price, but he will have nothing but his undergarments to show for it. he will be exposed for all the world to see.

our freedom isn't the liberty to do whatever we desire. our freedom is the liberty to live outside the shackles of sin. we may still stumble and fall, but as long as we're willing to get up again, He is right there to help us; to wipe away our tears and kiss away our pain.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

[not exactly normal]

2005-11-14T13:25:00.000-08:00

we plan our lives in phases. we set goals. to take in the whole picture all at once usually tends to overwhelm us and even scare us sometimes. one step at a time, we tell ourselves. we can handle it if we take it one step at a time. if we take small bites, we can consume the largest tasks; so long as our patience or the patience of someone else doesn't wear thin. our ability to overcome is contingent upon our resolve.

when our plans are reflected in God's plan, or perhaps, when our plans are a mirror image of God's plan, we have a part to play but the outcome is not contingent upon our resolve or zeal. it will be accomplished, with or without us. with us. or without us.

when we feel like failures, when we feel like the whole world has fallen on us, when we lose our focus, God stands waiting for us to approach Him. He is ok with us collapsing in His arms and weeping. He doesn't mind if we tell Him that we can't handle it by ourselves. He smiles, His arms are wide open and He cries with us.

He is not a "good-time only" God. He doesn't leave us when times get tough. He is a true gentleman. He is a complete Lover. He fought for us. He died for us. He overcame the grave for us.

our transparency shows off His strength. our openess glorifies His grace. the less of "us" that we put on in the morning, the more room for people to see God in all of His magnificent glory at work in our lives. This is what John the Baptist meant.

even if we feel terrible. even if we feel like the world is closing in. when we allow for God to come and take over, people are drawn to Him. This doesn't mean that when we feel terrible and people ask us how we are doing that we put on plastic facades and and pretend that we're ok. it does mean that when we're asked, we are transparent and still point to Jesus. "you know, i'm struggling a little bit with... but by the grace of God, i am overcoming it." not exactly normal, is it? watchman nee wrote that "we are so used to the subnormal that when we finally encounter the normal we think it is abnormal."

life is a big picture. to try to take it all in at once can be overwhelming. for those of us who are saved, we have read the last chapter (at least, we know the outcome) and it should allow us to put life into perspective. that no matter what, God is still God and as long as we follow Him and His commands, we will come out victorious as heirs with Christ Jesus.

our pain allows us to identify. our struggles offer hope to the hopeless. and our humanity allows us to reach others. if we act perfect and as if nothing can touch us then we elevate ourselves above everyone else and then we have nothing to offer anyone else except the false idea that God makes everything great for a believer.

[a tru revolution]

2005-11-09T18:44:00.000-08:00

the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men to do nothing.

no more big puffy clouds. no more enchanting halos. no more pretty pictures. no more rhetoric. no more wimpy christianity. and certainly, no more compromise.

no more tolerance of sin. no more dancing with decadence. no more bowing to the profiling of the world. no more turning a blind eye. no more half-world christianity. and definitely, no more compromise.

no more avoiding the sick and the dying. no more passing the hurting and wounded. no more turning away from the helpless and needy. no more watered down christianity. and absolutely no more compromise.

no more "alamo syndrome." no more escapist mentality. no more avoidance "me-ology." no more self-centeredness. no more living in fear. no more compromise.

no more empty air. no more glass cathedrals. no more dirty little secrets. no more compromise.

there is a gathering storm. an undercurrent of unrest. a growing rift. a coming earthquake. a great shaking. there is a three-way collision mounting. the Divine, the earthly and the demonic are all set to collide soon.

the table is set for the greatest revival, a true revolution is arising. holiness must be our banner. lives sold-out to Jesus must be in the open, not in a closet. Who we represent must be visible.

the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

with respect, it's deeper than that mr. burke.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

[the word and fire]

2005-11-08T20:02:00.000-08:00

i've swum the ocean of regret. in the midst of all my pleasure, i've felt the pain of remorse. though i cried unto God and my ears heard no response, i knew in my heart that He heard my voice and moved on my behalf.

it is in the difficult times that God forges our character. i think we all get that. that knowledge doesn't always keep us from getting frustrated over our circumstances. we get lost in ourselves, our plans and our goals and we forget to look for the One who is Wonderful.

when you place a log into a burning fire and watch it, the first thing you will see is the flames spread around the log. as it is cooler, the water on the surface sustains the log and keeps it from the burning flames. but as the heat overcomes the surface water, the flames dance closer. the flames begin to lick the surface. shortly, the flames are no longer content to stay on the surface. soon, you can hear the crackling, hissing and popping as the wood inside dries out. quickly discontented with the drying process, the flames leap to consume the wood. once the log breaks apart, it has become coals that are no longer ON fire, but rather, CONTAIN fire.

we must prepare ourselves for the hard place. that is not to say we must set up walls and and blockages to cushion the pain; but that we ought to prepare our hearts and spirits for the onslaught of the enemy allowed by God that enables us to be refined- and defined.

make no mistake, the attacks are coming if they have not yet begun. suffering is not a sign of God's displeasure, rather it is a symbol of our status. we are not to endure suffering, but (as john piper argues from romans 5) we are to rejoice in it. tribulation works patience. every pain we experience works out for His glory. our exposed weaknesses proves to expose His strengths.

all over the world, the price of being a christian is rising. the cost of being a christian is going up. it has always been high, but at this time in history, there is a form of spiritual inflation at work and we are being asked if we are willing to pay the price.

what do we do with 2 timothy 3:12? i once heard john piper preach a sermon in which he spoke of a renowned bible smuggler who was teaching a group of local pastors. at one point in the meeting, a well-respected romanian pastor entered the room who had spent the previous twelve years in prison for his faith. he asked the younger smuggler about the conditions of the gospel in his home nation. to which the smuggler replied, "we have none." the romanian pastor asked how this could be, and the smuggler thought for a moment and responded, "i think that perhaps it is because we do not take advantage of all the opportunities that we are presented with." and then the romanian pastor asked his final question: "brother, what do you do with 2 timothy 3:12?" at this point, the young smuggler, opened his bible and began to read aloud to the group of local pastors: "indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." the smuggler closed his bible, and said, "forgive me dear brother, but we do nothing with 2 timothy 3:12."

when we contain fire of a godly life in Christ Jesus, we will be persecuted, and we will stand as a light to others.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

[stop making excuses: answering seven objections to missions]

2005-11-02T13:01:00.000-08:00

1. i am not smart enough!
“where is the one who is wise? where is the scribe? where is the debater of this age? has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? for since, in the widom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.” (1 corinthians 1:20-21)

“consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.” (1 corinthians 1:26-27)

2. my body and personality are not strong enough!
“Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.” (1 corinthians 1:17)

“[Christ] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. for the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 corinthians 12:9-10)

3. i am not a good speaker!
“Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.” (1 corinthians 1:17)

“moses said to the Lord, ‘oh, my Lord, i am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but i am slow of speech and of tongue.’ then the Lord said to him, ‘Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? is it not I, the Lord? now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.” (exodus 4:10-12)

4. i am afraid of the horrors i read about in the newspapers!
“be sober-minded; be watchful. your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. and after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” (1 peter 5:8-10)

the greek word “restore” in the previous passage is “katartisei” which means to “mend” or to “repair.” here, peter was saying that once your suffering is complete, the Lord will restore your horribly disfigured body when the lions in the coliseum are through with you.

5. i am afraid i won't be fruitful!
your responsibility is not to be fruitful, but to be faithful.

“and [Jesus] said, ‘the kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. he sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. the earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. but when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” (Mark 4:26-29)

“i planted, apollos watered, but God gave the growth. so neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” (1 corinthians 3:6-7)

6. there is plenty to do here!
true, but there is a division of labor and God calls some to MISSIONS, not just evangelism. The difference is seen in romans 15:19-24:

“so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to illyricum i [paul] have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; and thus i make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named. . . now, since i no longer have any room for work in these regions . . . i hope to see you in passing as i go to spain.”

how could paul say there was no room for work when there were millions in that region to be evangelized? because evangelism is not missions.

7. i fear that when i get there it might turn out that i made a mistake and will come home with shame!

which is worse, shame for having endeavored to follow Christ in missions, or fear to venture? shame before others for making a mistake will not hurt you; it will humble you and can make you more useful in a new situation. But fear will make you useless everywhere. consider ecclesiastes 11:4 and what it says about risk: “he who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap.” meaning: without taking the risk of sowing when the seed might be blown away and reaping when the rain might ruin the harvest, you will starve.

[pause for station identification]

2005-10-31T13:56:00.000-08:00

ok. i know i promised a series on voice. but i felt the need to postpone it for a bit. sorry. i know only 4 people read this on a weekly basis anyway...

i felt to share these lyrics with y'all because they've really been pulling at my heart this past week or so...

lifesong*

empty hands held high

such small sacrifice

if not joined with my life

i sing in vain tonight

may the words i say

and the things i do

make my lifesong sing

bring a smile to You

let my lifesong sing to You

i want to sing Your name to the end of this day

knowing my heart was true

let my lifesong sing to You

Lord i give my life

a living sacrifice

to reach a world in need

to be Your hands and feet

so may the words i say

and the things i do

make my lifesong sing

bring a smile to You

hallelujah

hallalujah

let my lifesong sing to You

*[special props to mrs. roxana rogers for telling me about the lifesong album]

voices

2005-10-24T18:57:00.000-07:00

i'm excited.

i'm finally going to blog something that i've wanted to work on for a while. no, it's not in this post. but i'll be posting the first part later sometime later this week.

i hope that my previous posts have served to be enriching and uplifting; not condescending or demeaning. i really don't have a clue how they're affecting people's lives as there are very few comments left behind. [that is not a hint for you to leave comments; you should never feel pressured to do anything that you do not wish to do.]

most of you who read this blog on a semi-regular basis will note that most of my blogs in the past have run along a similar vein: they appear to be a series of a sort. well, for the most part they are; albeit an unintentional series. but they were still a series.

lately, i haven't written much; barely managing a blog a week. perhaps, it was due to lack of time. i would prefer to see it as a lack of planning on my behalf. which brings me to my soon to be written posts.

i believe God is leading to pen a four-part series on voices.

as of yet, i have no clue how many posts this will cover; but i do know that the very thought at starting this elates me.

two weeks ago, i believe God gave me a basic outline for this series, so i hope i serve His purposes well...

part one is finding your voice: what is your voice? what do people hear when they hear you speak?

part two will be recovering your voice: have you compromised your voice?

part three will be empowering your voice: what does your time schedule about you? do you actively plan to utilize your voice?

and finally, part four will cover using your voice: what good is a voice if you never use it?

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

[a broken heart decompresses]

2005-10-14T08:55:00.000-07:00

july 5th, 2004, senior airman andrew schliepsiek and his wife jamie were stabbed to death in their home at robins airforce base near macon, georgia. staff sergeant jason king was also stabbed the same night but lived to tell his story.

october 15th, 2005, senior airman andrew witt was sentenced to death for the pre-meditated murders and the pre-meditated attempt on ssgt jason king's life.

now why on earth would i choose to write about this?

*let me preface this by stating that i'm not here to question the death penalty; to ask whether or not there are scriptural grounds for it; or to point fingers and open wounds.

i write about it because it broke my heart.

see, i went to high school with andrew witt. i played on the same high school basketball team before he transfered schools. 8 years ago, we sat in many of the same classes. today, he sits on death row and i sit at a computer. but what really breaks my heart is that i see what his family is going through right now. i see it because i know them.

no one denies his guilt. he was there that night. he did it. the witness lived to testify. there is no justifiable motive for murder. murder is what it is. killing an innocent human being is a terrible tragedy and in many areas, in accordance with the law, it is punishable by death.

my first reaction to the initial news that andrew witt had murdered a couple, was to google andrew and jamie schliepsiek. what i came across were some harsh words leveled at their murderer. and my heart broke.

it didn't break for andrew witt. it broke for those who had lost their friends; their son; their daughter; their sister; their brother.

i saw pain. and i hurt for them. i couldn't and cannot hurt with them.

now today, my heart has broken again. i've taken andrew witt's brother out to dinner. his name is sam. he's in the sixth grade. and he knows. i've sat with his sister at high school soccer games. her name is katie. she is in the eigth grade. and she testified at her brother's death penalty hearing.

my heart breaks because i can see the fall-out from poor decision making. and i am determined, more than ever, to live a revolutionary christian life.

andrew witt. was raised in a christian home. went to a christian school. attended a christian college. entered the military. and made some poor decisions.

i want, so badly, to be more than someone who shakes their head and questions the parents; because his parents didn't make his decisions for him.

i want to live an extraordinary life that glorifies God; not a life that leaves people questioning Him.

[what if?]

2005-10-10T11:35:00.000-07:00

i've been working with allie rogers lately on her missions promotional video [it's almost done!] and one question keeps popping into my head.

what if?

the variables are never the same, but, just for once, what if?

what if someone approached us with a solid business plan that provided maximum return on investment? how much capital would we invest?

what if we emptied our busy schedules to open them up for what we think really matters? would what we choose to fill the time with satisfy us?

what if the world were infected with some horrible virus that was killing us all off? what if the only cure was if the only person who wasn't infected had to die?

what if?

what if God asked us to do something that was guaranteed? what if what He asked us to do was to help expand His kingdom?

what if the only thing that matters is the one thing we drag our feet to do?

what if Jesus had refused to die for you or me?

what if?

what if i lived my life for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory?

[what if i truly believed what that means?]

[violent prayer and walmart; changing the atmosphere where you work]

2005-10-01T10:54:00.000-07:00

it is no great secret that i am currently working at walmart to help to build my finances to move on to the next phase of my life. what happened last week, no one could have seen coming.

what began as regular customer-associate interaction quickly became something greater. a customer had a keychain with a leather cutout of africa and i asked her if she had ever been there. she said she had. and not just to any part of africa, she had been to tanzania- the very place i have just returned from three months ago. we talked for a few minutes in english and broken swahili and then she left.

the next customer walked up to the counter and asked me why i had gone over there. after i told him, he had all sorts of questions: do you miss it? would you ever go back? did you witness any miracles? why do you think more miracles happen over there than here in america? what do you think about exorcism?

i answered the questions as they came, but that last one took me a bit by surprise. i explained demonic oppression and how people who are set free from it often tend to be healed from diseases.

then he told me about his 4-year-old grandson who was adopted out of a drug-addict home. despite having adhd, whenever the child was told of Jesus, he would shriek and cry Jesus doesn't like me!

and he asked if i would pray for jaime. i told him i would and that we could pray right then too.

i'd like to tell you that he came back that afternoon and told me jaime was set free; but he didn't. i'd like to tell you that the prayer changed the lives of everyone present; but i only know how it affected mine. i'd like to tell you that people were saved that day in walmart; but from what i know, nothing else extraordinary happened.

i know it wasn't a short, sweet and quiet prayer; but i wasn't pacing (i wanted to) and i wasn't shouting (in tongues or otherwise). it was a violent prayer. i know this because it changed the atmosphere in my little section of walmart. other customers had bowed their heads and were praying along. no one who could get me in trouble wandered through. and after he left, walmart felt different. and it still feels different.

the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force

do you feel that you need to separate your work life from your personal life? do you feel that you need to separate your religious life from your secular life? allow me to let you in on a big secret: there is no separation. if you try to separate the two you will be miserable and oppressed.

no man can serve two masters, he will hate one and serve the other; you cannot serve God and [things].

no one's opinions should ever dictate your spiritual life.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

[(the real) me]

2005-09-26T13:27:00.000-07:00

Just when I think I'm humble, I'm proud. Just when I think I'm accepting, I'm judgemental. Just when I think I'm mature, I'm immature. Just when I think I finally get it, I realize I know nothing. Just when I think I'm loving, I'm selfish. Just when I think I'm giving, I'm greedy. Just when I think I'm compassionate, I'm spiteful.

"that which i do not want to do, i do; that which i do want to do, i do not do."

yeah, paul, i get it now.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

[exploring love; an exposition on increase]

2005-09-16T08:51:00.000-07:00

it has been my observation that those people who feel they are not giving enough to help the world are the ones who are already giving much. maybe they see ways to improve upon their giving, maybe they don't. but the ones who give the most feel they are not giving as much as they can.

it seems, to them, that the more they give away, the more they actually have.

having been in the pentecostal/charismatic circle a while, i have heard all the teachings on "give to God's work and watch Him give you back 30, 60 and 100-fold."

many preachers, evangelists and ministers use these Scriptural promises for personal gain or to further their ministries, but they are lacking one key ingredient when they serve up their offering requests.

they stop after saying the more you give to God, the more He gives back to you. many of them say "give out of your need" and it should be translated, "give out of your greed."

it has been estimated that the global christian church rakes in 11 trillion dollars annually (that's individual christians). if the people only gave what they were required (ten percent), that's 1.1 trillion dollars. (1.1 TRILLION!) that's definitely enough money to make a difference. so where does that money go? it goes into homes, food, cars, toys, education, etc.

the average christian spends 700% more on entertainment than they do on anything religious. the average christian spends 70x's more money on dogfood than on world-evangelization. and thirty times more on sodas than on international aid.

where does the money that does come in go? 86% of all money given in the past decade has gone into church building funds. 90% of that was in churches that didn't particularly need a new building. 65% of what was left over went towards local programs (which isn't necessarily a bad thing, because people here need the Gospel message just like the people in other countries). i was talking to a friend of mine a few days ago and they were telling me about a road in their city that has six or eight multi-hundred million dollar facilities on a short stretch of it! what are we doing?

we horde our cash and save it until it can buy us massive buildings and facilities and then parade and preen like peacocks while millions of people starve to death. we whoop and holler about how we are blessed and do little to help the millions of people dying without hope. we say how good our God is yet we betray His goodness by showing off our congregational greed.

it's time for us to get off of our blessed assurance [props to bro. dwight] and go do what we say we believe. we've talked about it; we reminisce about it. we can't change our past. what's done is done and there's no use trying to smooth things over and trying to cover it up. it's time to stop pretending and time to start being.

a different friend of mine [yes, i have more than one...] recently gave me something to read from the classic story the velveteen rabbit. skin horse is telling rabbit what it takes to be real:

it doesn't happen all at once like being wound up, but bit by bit. it doesn't happen all at once. you become. it takes a long time. that's why it doesn't happen to people who break easily, or who have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. generally, by the time you are real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. but these things don't matter at all because once you are real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.

my friend, who is one of my heroes is at a religious learning institute [think mainline bible college], went on to pen,

"christians today need stop being so fearful about spending time with the 'wrong' kind of people, get in the world, and really start reaching the lost. people don't care to see how perfect we are; they need to see how perfect God is. they don't think that christians don't sin; they need to know about God's amazing forgiveness. the lost don't need to hear that they need to change their lives; they need to know how God will change their lives. they don't need to hear us talk about the truth, they need to see us trusting and living out the truth."

amen.

let's increase our giving, but not to the building fund. let's increase our time with the people. let's increase our exposure to the needs of others. let's increase our exposure to God and decrease our exposure to ourselves.

[live the revolution!]

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

[a divine falling out: the wrath of God and the institution of religion]

2005-09-12T03:42:00.000-07:00

in a previous post, i briefly pointed out scriptures that show that God does not destroy the wicked without first issuing a warning.

today, i would like to focus on the initial striking point of God's wrath on the earth today. what, exactly, is the wrath of God? have we seen it evidenced in modern times? are sept. 11, 2001 hurricane katrina and the tsunami of 2005 agents of God's wrath on this fallen world?

or, have we simply forgetten eschatology and that God promises storms and wars just before the end of the world?

we need to look at wrath in both a historical and a prophetic light. the earth has only once experienced the full-fury of God's wrath and even then i am hesitant to use the word "full."

our visions and ideas of hell come more from dante's inferno than from biblical evidence. all we know is that it will be a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth and anyone who goes there will be forever cut off from God.

our concepts of wrath stem from the fall-out of human interaction. both of these are incomplete visualiztions of wrath because they stem from human experiences and ideas. jonathan edwards sermon "sinners in the hands of an angry God" is the most eye-opening (not to mention the scariest) visualization i have ever heard of or read of the wrath of God. [disclaimer: notice i said that i have heard of read; i realize that this is subjective and not merely objective, but i am convinced that anyone who reads this sermon would agree that it is one of the most powerful pieces of writing on the wrath of God if not the most powerful aside from the Scriptures.]

many christians would draw the conclusion of God's wrath when referring to hurricane katrina and september 11, 2001. hurricane katrina, more so for it's apparent similarities to the destruction of sodom and gomorrah. but here is my question: when God's wrath is poured out on people, the land suffers but the people are utterly destroyed; they are wiped out. no one survives save for the few God selected to rescue (i.e. lot and his family; noah and his family; joshua, caleb, moses and the children of israel under 21; etc.).

with this precedence, if katrina was God's fury, why were so many people saved?

now here's a question i get all the time: if God is a God of love then how can He be a God of wrath. the answer to that is not that He isn't a God of wrath, but that He is a God of justice and His wrath was not intended for humans. His wrath was intended for sin. He won't simply earse sin from the world. why not? because doing so would be against His nature. He is a God of love. to erase sin and force mankind into living in righteousness is not love. love gives the receiver the choice- not the giver. pure love does not seek it's own. He wants us to make the choice between what we choose to love and Him. He is not giving us a blind choice, we know that the wages of sin is death and those who claim not to know chose ignorance. those who do wrong and say they were unaware of the consequences are lying. they may want to believe that there are no adverse consequences, but they will discover their faith was in vain. only an insane person will believe in something they know to be false.

God is only angered by sin. He hates sin. He wants nothing to do with sin. however, He loves His creation, specifically the part that He formed in His own image- the part that He breathed His breath into. if we are sinful people, how can He love us? He loves the individual and despises what they do- in short, He has loads of patience for each individual.

now, i know you're wondering where the institution of religion part plays into what i've written. so here it goes: the institution of religion (particularly psuedo-christianity) states that when something bad happens to a primarily wicked lot of people, it is God's judgement. they claim the tsunami was God's judgement on the hindu, buddhist and muslim world; that september 11, 2001 was God's judgement on feminism, homosexuality, sexual promiscuity, lust and greed; and that hurricane katrina was God's judgement on sexual debauchery and homosexuality.

while some of these target groups might actually be reasons for a specific event, it is not God's judgement when He allows something of the magnitude of the tsunami, sept 11, 01 and hurrican katrina. He allows those things to draw people back to Him.

the institution would have you believe that God was angry and He destroyed those people to purge those areas, actual Scripture suggests that it is allowed so that people can return to the Lord, their Creator; their Maker.

the divine fall out is here: *[the institution of religion feeds on fear, the notion of God's wrath in all things adds to the fear. but God is Love Personified. He is Perfect Love. and we know that perfect love casts out all fear]*

there is a lesson to be learned from this though. first, looking back at amos 4, God clearly has set a precedent for allowing disaster to strike to draw men back to Him.

our second lesson can be learned from luke 13:1-5.

now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the galileans whose blood pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, "do you think that these galileans were worse sinners than all the other galileans because they suffered this way? i tell you, no! but unless you repent, you too will perish. or those eighteen who died when the tower in siloam fell on them- do you think that they were more guilty than all the others living in jerusalem? i tell you, no! but unless you repent, you too will perish."

where those who were lost to these great tragedies any worse than the rest of us sinners? no. don't wonder why they died. be concerned that you remained alive and that your life may be required of you at any moment.

sobering words.

[for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...]

[learning experiences: a quarter century of closed doors, poor decisions and burned bridges]

2005-09-07T01:51:00.000-07:00

ok, so it's not anywhere near my 25th birthday yet, but it sounded good in the title line...

yeah, so i was reflecting on my life this morning (at 3:52 a.m.) and i saw a pattern emerge. a pattern that i don't really think i like and one that i don't want the next quarter century to be filled with.

it's easy to write of missed chances, bad choices and wrong roads taken (two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and i- i took the one most traveled by...), well for me it is, i guess. it's easy to talk of them and reminice (yeah, so i spelt it wrong, who cares?) on how i felt when those choices were made and sometimes it's a tough pill to swallow to see how those decisions have affected who i am today.

what makes us better is when we acknowledge our errors, get back up off the ground, brush ourselves off and move on. i am as close to being who i was yesterday as i am to who i was 5 years ago.

all i know is that what i'm doing right now, this taking care of business, is what it will take to cool the burning bridges, to cover the closed doors and to pave the way for better decisions.

i know this too... i know that where i am is not where i want to be. i know that where i plan to be soon is not my final destination and what i am doing is not what i want to do with my life.

i know this as well... i know that, like simon birch, God has a plan for me, and that even if it means i die early (actually, it would be right on time), then i will have done something for Him. some how, in some way or another, my life will touch others. and it will be greater than it has already. these hands belong to david joseph huffman, and one day they will touch millions. these feet belong to david joseph huffman, and one day they will walk in nations. these lips belong to david joseph huffman, and one day they will speak to a generation.

yes, my name is david joseph huffman, and i've filled a quarter century with mistakes. but the next few years don't belong to me, they belong to God and are for Him to write the story.

two roads diverge in a yellow wood, and i- i choose the one God travels by.

[for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...]

[reflections on katrina: was katrina God's judgement?]

2005-09-03T15:01:00.000-07:00

two days ago i received an email from a friend regarding hurricane katrina. this friend had forwarded an email list from an organization claiming to speak for God.

the gist of the list was that because the city of new orleans openly celebrated it's sin and welcomed homosexuality in particular (mardi gras, girls gone wild videos and abortion clinics all get honorable mentions), God chose to decimate it. then, in one final attempt to solidify that this storm was, indeed, an act of judgement, the author leaves the reader with these words from matthew 5:45- [God] sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

my problem with this "judgement" logic is simply this: God is not random. God does not dispense wrath at random. biblically, all judgements have been preceded by prophetic warnings. God has always given people a warning and a way out.

God told abraham in genesis that He was about to destroy sodom and gomorrah. He sent two angels to rescue lot and his family so that the city could be destroyed. when those who heard the warnings laughed or didn't repent, they were destroyed. God even promised abraham that, if even ten righteous people could be found there, then sodom and gomorrah would not be destroyed.

in exodus, at the foot of sinai, israel was full of sin. God's anger burned within Him and He told moses that He would simply destroy israel and begin again. moses' intercession was enough to save his people.

and finally, just to show that i didn't pick out two random references to build my platform on: when God sent jonah to ninevah, He did it to warn the people of the impending judgement, to give them an opportunity to repent and change their ways.

now tell me, or show me, who was giving the specific warning? who did God use to warn the people of new orleans and how specific were they about His message? if katrina was God's judgement, and the people were warned, where were the intercessors praying for restoration?

i don't believe katrina was a judgement. i believe what God says about storms and disease in amos chapter 4. He did it to draw us to Him. He is showing us that He has the real power and that we are so dependent on our labels of independence that we are slaves to our egos.

yes, we need to repent as a nation. yes, we need to relearn how to approach the Holy One. but katrina is not a judgement. katrina was created to cause us to reflect on how we are living our lives, what we can do to change our lives and how we can live our lives for the glory of God.

katrina was a wake-up call, not a farewell speech.

[for the world-wide renown of His sovreign glory...]

adventures in divine discontentedness

2005-09-01T18:34:00.000-07:00

that's right, the title is not a mistake. we're all looking for that one thing that can make a us content. the beauty of God's design for discontentment is that is draws the seeker to Him. sure, we sometimes step away, or our eyes catch something pretty or flashy.

while other people tout God as being the answer to our divine discontedness, i believe it goes beyond that. i am restless and discontent, yet i "worship" God. now why on earth did i just put worship in quotes? because i am about to re-define worship. worship is both a noun and a verb. it is our fault that worship is considered a noun (person, place, thing or idea). we define our meetings by calling them "worship" services. there are two types of verbs (uh-oh! a grammar lesson!) there are action verbs (think about things that you can do all around a room- run, jump, laugh...) and then there are being verbs (think exist).

can you worship around the room? of course. does worship define our services? not as much as it should.

i truly think emerson was inspired by God when he penned the words, i see young men, my townsmen, whose misfortune it is to have inherited farms, houses, cattle, and farming tools; for these are more easily acquired then got rid of. better if they had been born in a field and suckled by a wolf, that they might have seen with clearer eyes what field they were called to labor in.

while emerson was referring to men who were working in fields while having the dreams and, in some cases, the skills to be working a different job; his statement translates so easily into the spiritual world.

while other christian leaders have written books about divine discontentment in reference to God being the only One who can make us content, my intent is to show that unless we become the christians we are supposed to be, we will still be discontent.

the beauty of discontent is that it pushes us to find contentedness. it doesn't allow us to settle. it drives us onward in our journey.

i see my friends, my collegues, my fellow christians, whose misfortune it is to have inherited hopelessness, taken jobs and careers, and purchased toys that break; for these are more easily got than got rid of. better they had begun humble in the beginning, that they might have seen with clearer eyes what field they were called to labor in.

deitrich bonhoeffer penned the words: time lost is time when we have not lived a full human life, time unenriched by experience, creative endeavor, enjoyment and suffering.

[for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...]

[prayers]

2005-08-30T23:25:00.000-07:00

hey y'all, i'm just writing a quickie to say that i am coveting your prayers.

i've just sent off a manuscript to a literary agent to have it considered for publication. while i know it's all in God's hands, i just pray that whatever happens with it, it blesses someone's life.

[sprinting towards the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...]

hearsay&the_race.reloaded...

2005-08-28T23:04:00.000-07:00

they say that life is a marathon.

they say we need to pace ourselves to finish the race.

they that pushing ourselves past the limit is unhealthy.

they say if we test our strength we will discover our weakness.

they say that too much, too fast will lead us to an early grave.

they say we need to look to the future and plan for tomorrow.

they say work today and play tomorrow.

they say we have all the time in the world.

they say life is a marathon.

rachel joy scott: 17 years old; martyred at coumbine high school; 1999. jim eliot: 29 years old; martyred in ecuador; 1956. keith green: 28 years old; died in a plane crash in texas; 1986. cassie bernall: 17 years old; martyred at columbine high school; 1999. oswald chambers: 37 years old; died in surgery in egypt; 1917. david brainerd: 29 years old; died in a blizzard in new england; 1747. john stam: 27 years old; martyred china; 1934. betty stam: 28 years old; martyred in china; 1934. frances havergal: 43 years old; died of fever in wales; 1879. philip bliss: 38 years old; died in a train wreck in ohio; 1876.

they say these died too early. they say their ministries were cut short.

jesus the christ: 33 years old; tortured and crucified in jerusalem; a.d. 30.

did He? was His?

what's worth more- a long life or a full life?

i've never run in a marathon, but i have played sports that require loads of training and running. my life has been full of sprints. i've lost, a lot. i've won, a few. i've quit, at times. and most of all, i've learned.

if you never give up on anything, you won't have something to regret for the rest of your life.

so, yeah, i get miserable and melancholy at times because i lose focus. i see the mistakes of my youth and how in certain areas, i am a prisoner to consequences. in one way, it is my thorn in the flesh.

i don't know how to express all that i feel inside. i am a paradox of emotions. i am excited about the future, but i feel petrified of the future. i can't wait to see what God is up to and it seems like it's taking forever, and yet time seems to be speeding away.

my goal, my passion, my all-consuming desire is to sprint. long life means nothing to me if it is not full. we are not in a marathon. today is an all-out sprint. we have this moment to make a difference. we have this breath to decide what we are going to leave behind.

one said, progress waits for no man. one said, he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. one said, by life or death. one said, i ask only for one soul. one said, yes, i believe in God. one said, it is a joy to be so close to the gates of heaven. one said, never compromise your faith. one said, this will be my last year, Lord. one said, let the lower lights be burning.

He said, go...

He never said anything about coming back...

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

[join the revolution video]

2005-08-22T22:45:00.000-07:00

hey y'all, this is a little something i dreamed up and threw together over the last few days. you need windows media player to view it.

for high speed connections (38 kbps and above) click here.

for low speed connections (dial-up or below 38 kbps) click here.

for more information on creating a promotional video or a video to help raise finances for missions, email me directly.

of course, you can always leave a comment or any form of feedback...

lessons from a young cave dweller

2005-08-21T22:23:00.000-07:00

we all have 'em. days when we feel we need some air. when we go outside and still feel like we're suffocating. days when we feel overwhelmed. days that make us want to run away but we know we can't run far enough. days when the ravenous wolves are snapping at our heels. yeah, we have them all right. they usually follow hard right after we let our guard down after a victory. the arrow that pierces it's target was not well-placed, only well-timed. a moment earlier and it would have harmlessly bounced off the shield.

where is your arrow resting?

the wound is only fatal if you let it be; if no attention is sought; if you hole up inside of yourself. maybe we feel that no one we know has been there; has had an arrow pierce them when they should have been their most protected. and maybe that's why it hurts so much. the trauma of the wound is compacted with our wounded pride. because we have been shown our place. because our pride was bloated.

maybe that's a lesson to learn from the scared youth who hid in caves and wept by himself even though he was surrounded by 200 strong men who pledged themselves for him. it's ok to be scared. it's ok to cry out. it's healthy to need others. it's good to open up. it is only abnormal to be fake. in fact, reality is the only thing normal.

"we have grown so accustomed to the subnormal that when we finally encounter the normal, we think it abnormal." -watchman nee

maybe it's our pride that utilizes plastic when steel is what is needed. we paint pretty pictures and use dazzling effects when there's turmoil deep inside. fear can paralyze; fear does paralyze. fear makes us want to run away and stay to hide at the same time. it's hard when those who experience things with you turn seem to turn against you.

remember when the young man and his men were out and some of their enemies came in and took all their possessions, their wives and their children? the men were so angry with their leader they wanted to kill him. but the scared young man hid in a cave and poured out his heart to God- the only One who could do anything anyway. the next words say it all: he encouraged himself in God. see, david realized that they wouldn't kill him because samuel the prophet had anointed him as the next king. how could he be king if he was dead?

none of those strong men held him as he wept. young david's comfort was not in that he wasn't going to die, but that God did have a plan for his life- and as long as that plan wasn't fulfilled, he had things to live for.

the scared boy emerged from the cave a victorious man. he rallied his men to chase after their enemies and took back what belonged to them and more! he was more than a conqueror- he was an overcomer.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

from essence to catalyst: smelling like God

2005-08-20T16:17:00.000-07:00

i find it fitting that the psalmist writes "as the deer pants for water so my soul longs after You." i see two images of desperation here.

first there is the traditional rendering, that, like a deer gets thirsty and returns to the water to quench its thirst, so our souls are thirsty for God. the parallel here is that our souls need we God more than once or twice a week, but closer to three or four times a day.

the other image i draw from this passage is that of a deer being hunted by dogs. with an estimated 200 million+ scent receptors in their noses, it is difficult to lose a dog that has obtained a scent to track with. the only hope for the deer then is a rainstorm or a body of water. in this image, water goes from being the essence of life to the catalyst for life. it becomes the deer's salvation- the only means by which it can live. a deer cannot outrun a dog's tracking ability without the aid of a rainstorm.

i believe both images are integral to our understanding and application of this passage. like the psalmist, we can only run to the River to both find renewed strength and find life. we must run to the River multiple times a day. we must also realize that the enemy of our souls is a skilled and crafty hunter and that the only way he can "lose our scent" is if we smell like God.

the quest moves beyond quenching our thirst to a desperate search for life.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

conclusions.revisited

2005-08-16T08:20:00.000-07:00

since returning to america from time spent in east africa, i have taken a temporary job in the tire and lube express at wal-mart to cover bills and prepare to re-enter college. on a daily basis, customers come in and complain about such menial things as the length of time of a 15-point oil change and inspection, or why they were charged a 70 cent disposal fee to discard their tires.

every day my heart is broken...

over the course of an 8-hour shift, an estimated 14,400 children die in africa of malaria. the cost of an oil change could treat nearly 40 children infected with the world's deadliest virus. the spread of malaria-carrying mosquitoes could be drastically diminished by the simple act of properly discarding automotive tires.

in the time it takes the average reader to view my blog, 10 children will have died. depressing? it could be. overwhelming? it may be. conclusion? prayer and action.

prayer first. why prayer first? with God, the world; without Him, not even over the threshold. a praying man (or woman) has the opportunity to join hands with the King of kings, he gains access to the King's vaults and armories, and, like joseph, he becomes a steward of justice in the land.

action second. why action second? with God, the world; without Him, not even over the threshold. without the focus attained through prayer, our cluttered minds, though originally intentful, may soon be overtaken by the more remedial. where at once, we were focused on making a difference, we may now be resigned to the thought that perhaps the only difference we can make is one made at great length.

some are called to making a difference from a distance but many who feel as though they are really aren't. they have seen the need but became overwhelmed by the scope of it instead of being overwhelmed by the size of God and His mercy and grace.

am i called to making a difference from a distance, or am i called to experience it first-hand?

it's a valid question. but i think we go about laying our fleeces with the wrong impression of what fleece laying is. we say that we need to know if this trip is where God is leading us. we need to know if it's God's plan. abram did not tell God that he needed to know, he just went not even knowing his destination. we lay our fleeces believing they will determine for us what God is saying. when gideon laid his fleece, his intention was to clarify whether he was hearing the Lord correctly- not to use it like it were some divine fortune cookie.

i think our apprehension of pursuing what we think God might be leading us to do may stem, in part, from a fear of failure. we like to make calculated risks. we don't like stepping into the unknown. how do i know this? the popluarity of books such as the purpose driven life, your best life now and who moved my cheese as well as countless other books on why we're here and dealing with change on the best seller lists suggests it. the other part of our apprehension of pursuing what God might be leading us to do may stem from our fear of inadequecy.

when God opens the door for us to go on a short trip for His glory, just what is it, exactly, that He is asking of us? to seek justice, encourage the oppressed. defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. (isaiah 1:17)

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

the desire of our souls

2005-08-14T21:15:00.000-07:00

in the path of your justice, o Lord, we wait for You; your name and renown are the desire of our soul. ~isaiah 26:8~

what is the desire of our soul? it's a question i ask myself almost daily. at the root of our actions lies our desires and our desired outcome. why do we do certain things? what does the outcome signify? better question, who does the outcome point to? who does the means point to? who do those two things glorify? if we can learn to give up doing things strictly for me, myself and i then we will discover the joys of doing things for them for the glory of Him!

God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. what gives us satisfaction? what is more satisfying than worship?

the highest form of worship is not beautiful choirs and glorious singing- if it were, heaven's choirs are larger and more in tune than ours. the highest form of worship isn't the postures of lifting hands or prostration of our bodies- if it were, the twenty four elders have been doing that for eternity.

no, the highest form of worship is a life lived continuously for the glorification of God. and, as i stated before, like john piper and s.j. hill argue from the scriptures, God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him.

how do we pursue this life of worship? pure and undefiled religion is this: giving aid to the oppressed and justice for the fatherless and to keep yourself clean from evil. (paraphrase mine)

justice or vengeance?

2005-08-10T18:05:00.000-07:00

it is no secret that we serve a God of justice- or is it? why do people today view God as sitting on His throne with a bolt of lightening in His hand ready to strike dead anyone who fails or falls? the more i reflect on it, the more i realize that some of our ideas of who God is may be entangled with mythology.

we've all had the images in our heads from childhood when we watched all those disney movies and other cartoons. God is this really old guy with shocking white glowing hair and a really long flowing beard. He wears a golden crown that is partially hidden by the hair that has been growing since before eternity existed. He wears a white toga a lá cæser with a golden sash and golden sandals. His blazing eyes of fire are darting about the earth for anyone to strike dead when they screw up.

those without disney movies and other cartoons to guide their misconceptions of God had the help of sunday school felt boards (remember those?). and God became a sort of anti-santa claus. where santa looked for the good boys and girls to give good things to, God looked for the bad ones to strike with lightening.

now, that's a bit played up, but the premise is still the same. the obvious issue with this is that if that's what God were really looking for- to destroy people who do evil, the earth would have been empty long ago. in fact, we know that His eyes wander the earth looking for those who are righteous. He is seeking those who seek justice.

the difference between justice and vengeance is simple. revenge is the act of seeking to hurt someone as harshly (or worse) as they hurt us while hiding under the disguise of justice. revenge usually includes public humiliation of those who hurt us, whether they hurt us in public or not. if we give way to our anger and seek revenge, we feel good only in that moment of triumph. but as soon as we discover the damage we have left in our wake, that is when we become confused because we feel lower than when they hurt us.

the reason God says that vengeance is His is because He sees all things for what they are. while it may seem to take forever for God to act on our behalf, what we don't see is what we think is His inaction is actually His reaction on our behalf. if He were to come down hard on this person for offending us, He would also have to come down hard on us for offending someone else because He is a God of justice. justice is not the act of bringing or restoring peace but the act of paying a legal debt. life is the price of the debt owed. for the christian, Christ has paid the debt with His death on the cross. for the unsaved, justice still waits to be served.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

seperation

2005-08-08T06:33:00.000-07:00

six years ago, i stumbled across amos 4. i say that i stumbled because i didn't just read it and go on, nor did i read it and understand immediately what the Lord was saying. even now, six years later, i don't have a complete grasp of what He was and is saying, but i know more now than i did then.

something about verses four and five really pierced my soul and would cause me to seek what God is saying to us. the amplified brings out a part, but my spirit told me it was still inconclusive.

it took about two years of looking at the verse before i decided to find out what bethel means. the amplified bible tells us that bethel is the place where the golden calf was located, but the word bethel means "the house of God". it is the place where jacob had the vision of the staircase descending from heaven.

gilgal was much more difficult. i began by attempting to define it in order to uncover what God was speaking to me. gilgal means "the rolling away". it began to feel like i was slamming my head into the wall. i then realized it was going to take more study. i researched all the places in the bible that gilgal is mentioned. gilgal is where the israelites first crossed over into the promised land and joshua had the men build an altar from rocks taken from the middle of the jordan river. it became a cermonial altar where israel would return to offer sacrifices.

so, with this “new” information, let's begin by restructuring amos 4:4-5. "come to [the house of God], and [sin]; to [the altar], and [sin even more]; bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days; offer a sacrifice of that which is leavened, and proclaim freewill offerings, publish them; for so you love to do, o people of israel! declares the Lord God."

like i said before, i don't really know how to approach this. i mean it is so applicable to today's church that it hardly seems right to let it apply only to the old testament israelites like so many preachers and professors would have us believe.

i think the beginning of the passage is quite telling. but i'd like to take a moment to focus on the end of the passage. the Lord is really calling us out.

first, He calls us out on our "sacrifices of excess" or sacrificing that which is leavened. the israelites were required to offer unleavened bread- bread that doesn't have yeast. yeast can double and triple the size of the bread. it can make it look bigger than what it really is. what it refers to is that we take what we need and then add yeast to whatever is left over and give that because it looks big, but it isn't what God requires.

second, He calls us out on our free will offerings. one of the prevalent trends in the church today is the declaration of free will offerings coupled with a publishing of the names of big givers. sure, we may not announce them from the pulpit (or maybe we do), but we publish it in other ways- donor lists, wall plaques, gift lists, and the presentation of gifts to or naming of rooms, wings and additions after big givers. this sort of behavior has two effects. the first effect is that the church is robbed of its blessings because they begin to see the people God may have used to give and the size of their gifts, so the church begins to focus on the individual and not God. the other effect is that the giver is robbed of blessing because their reward has been relegated to whatever the church has given them instead of what God wanted to give them.

now focusing on the beginning of the passage, we discover just who God is speaking to when we read "come to [the house of God]." still confused? He further clarifies it for us with the next statement, "[come] to [the altar] and [sin even more]."

it is alarming, as it should be, that God wasn't (and isn't) speaking to the godless people or to those who worshipped a different god. He was (and is) speaking directly to those called by His name- His people; the ones He chose. the Lord explains that all the tragedies and natural disasters that He allowed to occur were not actual judgements, but rather, He allowed them to occur to draw His people back to Him. today, when tragedy strikes in the form of a natural disaster or a terror attack or whatever, many christian "leaders" are quick to say it is God's judgement on a sin-plagued land. the problem with that is the ignorant rhetoric is unfounded and it paints christians in the same light as muslims. our God goes from a God who is loving and seeks justice to a God who is disgusted with His creation and only wants it destroyed; that our God is heartless and only bent on judgement. don’t believe me? a quick look back to 2001 should be sufficient. how many countless Christians declared that to be God’s judgement?

it is when His people ignore His more gentle calling that He must, by his very nature, seek justice with obvious beckonings. He is a merciful God, and He finds justice either through the death of His Son (for those who choose to believe) or through the death of someone else.in verse 12 He leaves us with a warning that must serve to wake us up. if we continue to ignore Him, we must be prepared to meet Him face to face to account for our injustices.

there is good news though, back when Solomon dedicated the temple (2 chronicles 6-7), the Lord promised the people that if they left their wicked ways and returned to Him that He would hear them.

He desires steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of Him rather than burnt offerings (hosea 6:6).

"but for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. you shall go out with leaping like calves from the stall" (malachi 4:2).

He gives us strength to stand so that when tragedy comes, we can point others to Him. but when we have no strength it leaves the unsaved and unchurched with nothing to hope in.

"and it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions" (joel 2:28).

“God’s men are in hiding until the day of their showing forth. they will come.

let him be as plain as john the baptist. let him for a season be a voice crying in the wilderness of modern theology and stagnant churchianity. let him be as selfless as paul the apostle. let him, too, say and live, “this ONE thing i do.” let him reject ecclesiastical favors. let him be self-abasing, non-self-projecting, non-self-glorifying, non-self-promoting.

let him say nothing that will draw men to himself, let him come daily from the throne-room of a holy God, the place where he has received the order of the day. let him, under God, unstop the ears of the millions who are deaf through the clatter of shekels milked from this hour of material mesmerism.

let him cry with a voice this century has not heard because he has seen a vision no man in this century has seen. God send us this moses to lead us from the wilderness of crass materialism, where the rattlesnakes of lust bite us and where enlightened men, totally blind spiritually, lead us to an ever-nearing armageddon.

God have mercy; send us PROPHETS!” (borrowed from strings for your harp by leonard ravenhill)

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

decisions

2005-08-06T19:28:00.000-07:00

for the past four days i've been wrestling in my mind over the decision to post what the Lord has been showing me in a passage of Scripture for the last 6 years. now, some would say,

just post it!

but it's not that simple. what if it's message is so radical, life-altering that it may prove to anger many of those who have been following christianity for more years than i?

good! that message is needed!

some may say. yes, it is needed, but my struggle isn't in the ideas to convey, but in the way in which i present it.

see, i'm a visual type person. and though the medium with which i communicate to you is in words, i look for the way to give you the best mental image i can. not that this is beyond the abilities the Holy Spirit has gifted me with, but that i must seek out the most proper means of speaking the truth in love.

but what if what i have to say doesn't come with a mental image? would it still be received? that's not for me to decide, i guess. it would be for me to decide whether or not to say what i hear the Holy Spirit saying.

uh oh! i think i just challenged myself to remember one of my own posts... Jesus did what He saw His Father do, and spoke what He heard the Spirit say...

i really honestly believe that if we lived our lives as if we actually believed everything that was in the bible, then we would be living radically different lives. there would be no grey areas between the world and christianity. people wouldn't be able to even come close to confusing what is a cult and what is christian discipleship.

so, i hope, over the next few posts, to walk you down this scriptural path that God has taken me down these last six years. and i hope it becomes a challenge to the established belief that the world is flat...

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

the choice to remain

2005-08-02T04:49:00.000-07:00

sometimes we get the idea that we are supposed to attain holiness and purity before approaching God. dennae had a good point when she mentioned those come from the intense love affair between God and man. if we attempt to get there on our own, we will always fail.

the seperation between our lives and sin will make a marked difference in how the world treats us. unfortunately, those critical, cynical or jealous christians will upgrade their rhetoric and their cruel words. we are to be in the world, not of it. we are supposed to be bright beacons of holiness and love in the darkness of sin. the only way to accomplish this is to go outside the four walls of the church out where the lost are. because they believe that they have to "clean up" before they can come in.

paul wrote that he became all things to all people so that by all means, he might win some. that doesn't mean stooping to acts of sin in order to gain the attention of some. paul also wrote in romans that simply because God's grace is abundant it is foolishness to continue sinning in order to get more grace.

like dennae posted, holiness and purity are the overflow from the intense love affair between God and man. if those are not evident in our lives, it begs the question why not? it must be because we have let our passions cool. the once vivid flames are now embers. the fire is still there, it just needs to be stirred up and new wood must be added to rekindle the flames. the question is are we going to choose to remain?

the reasons for the flames going out are as numerous as the number of christians. we all have different backgrounds, different histories, different things affecting us that can put a strain on how we live our lives. even fear of man's opinions contributes to this. but there is a choice to be made. will we choose to remain?

at the first college i went to, i used to hang out with a large group of smokers. i have never lit up once, never wanted to. my grandfather died from lung cancer. after a month of just standing outside with them as the puffed away, they began to ask me why i stood out there and endured the elements while they smoked. so, i began to witness to them. a few actually were saved and quit smoking. others were simply impressed that i was a christian and i wasn't shunning them.

a few of my christian friends pulled me aside one day after a class and told me that if i continued to hang out with smokers then people would assume that i was a smoker too and that i was backsliding and that i could be a bad example- giving christianity a bad name.

after evaluating my motives and searching my heart, i gave them an answer the next day. i invited them to come hang out with me as i witnessed to the smoking community. suffice it to say that no one came, but i was not worried.

if we choose to remain in our passionate pursuit of God we risk be accused of living the same type of lives as the people we are among by the very people we should be supported by. even Jesus was called a drunk and a consorter because of His choice to be out among the outcasts. you don't have to do what they do in order to be labeled.

will we cast off man's opinions and choose to remain?

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

fundamentals

2005-08-01T08:13:00.000-07:00

you can have controversy without revival, but you cannot have revival without controversy. someone, somewhere will always be critical, cynical or jealous. so if we decide we want to see our church revived, we have to be willing to sacrifice our pride, our ambitions, our agendas and our right to be offended. revival is the place where we must choose to give up self for the sake what God is doing in the community.

strange things occur in revivals. people get saved, they get set free- free from drugs, free from alcohol, free from smoking, free from pornography, free from religious spirits, etc. this revolution of souls is what grinds out the most controversy. when God comes, He changes what we see, what we say and what we do. revival is a complete experience- not just an intellectual one. many people will miss heaven and an eternity with Christ by a foot and a half. many christians will miss revival by the same distance- the distance between the head and the heart.

critics claim emotional sensationalism due to lighting, music and atmosphere of the venue is at the heart of modern revival. they claim, and often correctly, that many of the people at the altars are simply christians renewing their commitments. some of these have described it as "feeling as if [they] have just been saved again."

there are modern examples of revivals and outpourings, but God doesn't just want to alter the churchscape in one city, state or country, He wants the church unified in Him around the globe. He is looking for a clean bride who is not wounded, but whole. a bride who is not compromised but pure.

these are sometimes difficult pills to swallow. holiness and purity aren't always things we want to hear about. they can seem to be too elemental and fundamental not free and advanced. the power we have in Christ is more evident in a life of holiness than in a life of selfishness, self-servitude and self-preservation.

as a former athlete, i understand the need for fundamentals. they always caught you when you made a mistake, they were a place to return when you made an error. you can learn all the tricks and fancy plays you want, but without the fundamentals to build on, you're worthless to the team. you may be able to pull off a double cross-over behind your back but if you can't pass or shoot the ball, you won't play. you may be able to shake defenders and run precision routes, but if you can't catch the football, you'll never do anything. you might be able to catch the baseball in a spectacular fashion, but without the ability to hit the ball, you're worthless to the team. it's in the fundamentals that the foundations are laid for improvisation. to quote a movie, "the fun is in the fundamentals." the strength is in the struggle. when we uncover our weakness, we discover His perfect strength.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

brief interlude

2005-07-30T07:07:00.000-07:00

to all of you who come and read this blog on a daily basis, i should inform you that for the next week, i may or may not be posting due to malaria. sorry for any inconvenience it may cause.

i do ask for your prayers for a speedy recovery.

i'll try to post when i feel well enough to.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

a tale of three congregations

2005-07-29T09:31:00.000-07:00

in soviet russia, believers met in secrecy. some met in basements, others met in wooded areas outside the cities. the following are stories documented by voice of the martyrs.

one day, deep into winter, a congregation was raided by the kgb and all the men were arrested. these men were shipped off together to a remote area to be "re-educated." after days of torture in effort to get these men to recant, the kgb still had not caused anyone to give up his faith. the men were then driven out to a lake where they were stripped naked and marched out to the middle of the ice. on the edge of the lake, soldiers dug fire pits and lit warming fires. the men were then informed that if they wanted to warm up, they would have to give up their faith.

the night was harsh, as most russian winter nights are, and the winds whipped about the frozen surface of the lake. the men huddled together to try to keep warm. after remaining for two complete nights, one single man stood, walked to the edge of the lake and gave up his faith.

so compelled by the belief and faith of the men on the ice, a soldier stripped off his clothes and ran to take the other man's place. within a matter of days, all the men had frozen to death out in the middle of the lake.

the second story also comes from russia and is documented by v.o.m.

one night, as a congregation met in secrecy in a wharehouse, it was raided by masked soldiers with automatic weapons. without discharging a single bullet, the soldiers began to shout their simple ultimatum, "whoever wanted to live, had better leave now." after a few minutes and several people left, the men threw down their guns, took off their masks and shouted, "brothers! now that we have weeded out those who don't believe, let us meet with Jesus!"

i have no doubt in my mind that we will see more persecution and martyrdom in the world as we move into tomorrow, and there has been a movement that has energized today's christian youths to be willing to die for their faith, but the next question begs, are they willing to live for their faith? are you? am i? do our lives bear proof of it?

i heard an interesting challenge one day, someone said live your life in such a way that if christianity ever became punishable by death there would be enough proof to convict you. where does the proof come from? from deeds? outward appearances? no. the proof is in a life of holiness.

God doesn't want lip service. we get sick and tired of people lying to us after we've been put over by them two or three times. He's had to endure thousands of years of it. we, as christians, often come to a place of lethargy after we think that we have "arrived." we struggle. as humans, we all struggle. when we as christians struggle, we reach out of the mirey clay and grasp the outstretched hand of God. in that moment, nothing can seperate us from Him. but, when things are going well, we forget to give Him the glory. We forget to seek Him when things are going well. the penalty for not seeking Him is forgetting how.

choosing to live and not just survive will cost something. there will be discomfort, there will be pain, but there will also be the incredible reward of a life well spent. i can’t afford to stroll through life. none of us can. there are too many people on this earth who do not know God. there are too many children waking up each day watching their families die because of disaster, disease, and famine. there are too many people wandering through life not knowing the answers, not knowing their purpose, not understanding what their life could be like.

this is it...we each have somewhere between one more day and 60ish years to run...to be used by God to advance His kingdom. that is not much time...can we afford to put it off one more day?

what's the story of the third congregation? i don't know, you tell me.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

the raw reality of sincerity

2005-07-28T14:42:00.000-07:00

to those of you who read check this blog on a daily basis, i apologize. i've been dealing with issues of the heart lately. you see, what i am writing isn't something i'm reading in some book somewhere, or something i'm hearing from some evangelist. it's raw, it's real. and for me to pass on to you what God is doing in me, i have to do it.

i was talking to chris some time ago and she asked me about our little blogging community and how God is showing us all awesome things. i think it is amazing what God is doing across the country. i think our little community is a small sample of what God is actually up to all around the world today. sure, on the broad scale it's tiny, but it's sincere. iron sharpens iron, we need to challenge each other to sharpen each other. we need to push each other to deeper depths, and healthier lives.

there are times where i feel like i stand naked, exposed before my God- and i am ashamed. i am a man of unclean lips before a holy God. my soul lies bare and the roughness of its edges are showing for all who have eyes to see. "God," my spirit cries out, "take the coal, cleanse my lips! don't leave me here!"

we, as a culture, as a nation, as a church stand before the holiness of God and treat it with contempt at best. we try to walk with one hand holding the hand of God and the other holding onto the hand of the devil. "he who is not for Me, is against Me." in other words, "he who is apathetic and stands for nothing, is against Me because I stand for justice and love and purity and holiness..."

what do we stand for? freedom? from what? to what? for what? salvation? from what? to what? for what? grace? from what? to what? for what?

we were not made to find satisfaction in anything less than God and His holiness. why do we think we can settle for anything less?

the death of an organization

(this is not about anyone experience of my own. be it made known to any and all who read this, i am not refering to the organization i have recently resigned from. it is based on observations of the deaths of many well-intentioned organizations.) it all started with a conflict of interests. it was so small and miniscule that no one could even know that it happened if they were not searching for it. a compromise was reached, not between two individuals, but in the mind of one individual. the individual (consciously or subconsciously) seeks to institute their compromise (malicious or not) and because of their position or stature or financial background no one stands against them. no one dares to question if it is God's vision. soon, all sorts of things begin to happen. soon larger and more visible rifts begin to occur all because of a seemingly minor compromise in the foundation. if the leader is not careful, they will soon steer the organization into the ground and successfully destroy what had started out as a ministry to others and turned into a service to hubris. one compromise. that's all it takes to make a ministry fold up and die.

my heart echoes the cry of moses, "Lord, if You do not go with us, do not take us up from here..." (exodus 33:15)

the choice to revolt

2005-07-26T08:31:00.000-07:00

revolution is not accidental. it is not stumbled upon or discovered. the great moves of God didn't just "happen," they were intentional. they were results of choices. the choices of a few can influence a congregation. the choices of a congregation can influence a city. a city can influence a region and a region can influence a nation and the world.

will we choose to push beyond self-sufficiency? will we choose to be unsatisfied in anything less than revolution? will we choose to give up anything and everything for God? that is the key. it is in the act of sacrificing our sacred cows that we discover our hidden idols.

personal renewal is based on three choices. the first of these is the choice to volunteer to God what belongs to Him. He is a jealous Lover, He doesn't want just a part of us, He wants our whole beings. He wants us to be willing to give Him everything even if we feel we're not completely ready. in our weakness He is made perfect, or His strength is tested and discovered to be perfect.

the second choice is to give God what He requires of us, whether we are ready or not- those things that we held back from Him after we made our first choice. when He starts to require things from us, we will discover who or what is our true God. each step along the way is a choice. every step is accompanied by the question, "do you want to go on?" do we? only we can determine how far we go. only we can decide how much is too much, and how much is enough.

the question i have is how content are we with discomfort? it sounds, at first like an impossibility, but in reality, it is a paradox. personal renewal is accompanied by discomfort and discontent. when we decide that we're discontent with where we are, with whatever toys we have been playing with; with whatever other gods we have been serving; with whatever sins we like to keep hidden, then we will pursue personal renewal.

the third choice is to choose to go on with God however long it takes for a breakout. i'm not talking about breakthroughs. a breakout is when a small, tightly-woven community of people passionately pursuing personal renewal begins to see the evidences of a revival in their congregation.

a fourth choice, if i may include one, is that of refusing our own desire to go out and publicize the revival when it first starts to blossom. renewal and revival are two different events. renewal gives way to revival and revival can spark renewal, however, revival cannot occur without renewal occurring somewhere in someone first. now i say we need to not publicize it because we, as humans, have the nature to embellish the story, even though we have good intentions. God doesn't need madison avenue's strategies to draw a crowd- He's been in advertising ever since He created it. He said, "if I be lifted up from this earth, I will draw all men unto Me."

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

afraid? of what?

2005-07-24T02:57:00.000-07:00

this post is a bit off from what my previous posts have been about, and i'll get back on topic on monday...

i used to be afraid. afraid that if i voiced what God was speaking to me to others that i would then be held to a higher standard. afraid that it would be a standard i couldn't live up to. afraid that the real me wouldn't match up to the perceived me. afraid of being a hypocrite.

i think that fear crippled me for a long time. i am far from perfect. and then i realized, my greatest fear stemmed from opinion. i was opinion-driven. my opinion of myself, other's opinions of me.

and that fear, coupled with the fact that i had no clue of what God has planned for me life... well, i was afraid.

my question is, how can you fail if you don't know what you're doing in the first place? sometimes i wish that someone would come walking through the door and tell me how to do this.

i have begun talking with a new friend lately and she has been challenging me, pushing me. i said it before, but i'll say it again, dennae, your salt makes me thirsty. i was on the phone with her today and discovered where my true joy and happiness stem from. in short, where my satisfaction lies.

yes, i enjoy some temporal things. a good movie now and again is good. a walk in the woods is refreshing. an early morning jog not only keeps my body in shape, but helps me to focus on God. and that's when it hit me... my satisfaction truly comes from Him. i look at movies and see if there are any redemptive analogies to share with people about who God is. i listen for God in music. i find Him in worship, in nature. i feel at home when i am sharing the gospel. my spirit feels satisfied when i am preaching.

God has put something inside us all. He has given each of us the gift of salvation and avenues through which to share it. dennis wrote about it in his current post, how now it is easy for him to transition from asking about a person's financial plan to asking about their eternal plan. if we hold inside of us what God is saying because we are afraid of someone thinking too highly of us and holding us to a higher standard, then we will lose what it is He has put inside of us.

at first, it will be as jeremiah describes, a fire shut up in our bones, and as elihu describes, like new wine in a new wine skin, we have to speak to find our release. but if we continue to hide it and justify our fear by calling it "a desire to be real," the river will begin to slow into a lazy creek. and the lazy creek will turn to stagnant pond.

that's not what i want for my life. it's not a question of asking if i can afford to be real. i am real. i am as real in my mistakes as i am in my triumphs.

am i still afraid? not like i was. i no longer fear the idea of a higher standard. i now know that living to a higher standard challenges me to live a "Godward" life. to put it in the most simple words i can think of, if what i do challenges another person to run hard after God, then i have succeeded. not i, but Christ in me.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

the advancing revolution

2005-07-23T03:10:00.000-07:00

what is revival? i have thought about that a lot lately. is the success of revival determined by numbers? if so what numbers? the number of souls saved? the number of people in attendance? the number of dollars that rolls in? what if what we're looking for isn't what we should be looking for?

what is our end-game? i'm not asking about our exit strategy, we are not to have one. we are called to occupy until He returns; to fill the earth and subdue it. again, i ask, what is revival?

the nature of revival is not to get the unsaved saved- that is a fruit of revival. see, the definition of the word revival is "to make vibrant again; the restoration of force, validity, or effect." in order to be revived, one must first have been vibrant. now, this looks like just semantics, but i believe it is a part of why we are not witnessing what we are expecting.

if you can schedule it, host it, hold it or contain it in any way, it is not a revival, it is a counterfeit. if we plan it, we are serving up an over-hyped, emotion-based religious activity- not a true revival.

i see, in the great moves of God that we can trace our personal spiritual heritage back through, three categories contained within those moves. the only part we actively play is making the choice to be used of God in whatever shape or form that may be. we must decide to take the first step. God will never force us to do anything against our own will.

there is, first, the imperative renewal. we must, as individuals be daily transformed by the renewing of our minds. He doesn't want us reformed or conformed, but He wants us transformed. as individuals, we must seek His will for our individual lives as a part of His body, the church. we must do this in our prayer closets alone with God. no christian is greater than his prayer life. to quote ravenhill, "the pastor who is not praying, is playing; the people who are not praying, are straying. the two prerequisites to successful christian living are vision and passion, both of which are born in and maintained by prayer."

as our visions and passions grow and we emerge from our prayer closets to fellowship with fellow believers who are themselves emerging from their prayer closets, our passions merge and begin to spread. others begin to get a taste of our salt. as they lick the salt from their lips, they are made thirsty. the fire begins to grow.

it is at this point in time that the nature of the "revival" is tested. if it stems from anything man-made, it will fail, and be exposed as a fraud. people are truly tired of the counterfeit.

next, we are faced with the impending revival. when we have been so consumed by His holy passion for our lives, He starts to move in ways that are more manifest. as the individuals create small pockets of holy desperation, a vacuum, if you will that sucks the fires of His holiness towards it. those who need pruning will be pruned so that they can grow. what has been pruned is consumed by the fire. those who are dead and have no life left, are destroyed by the fire. it is for this reason alone, i am partially grateful that we have not seen God move this way yet. there are so many people sitting in the church that stand to be exposed when this great move of God sweeps in, and it is by His grace that He has tarried this long. we are still in the springtime of this move of God, He is still pruning, but the time is soon upon us when the pruning will be done. we must check our hearts or we will find ourselves in the ashes after the fire has gone.

the fire has grown throughout the pruning process, fueled by the hunger for His holiness in our lives. and finally we discover the third part of the advancing revolution: the imminent reaching out. not reaching out to bring others into the service- that is not what the services are for. it is not the pastor's job to win your friends to Christ. it is his job to impart into you what God has given him so that you can go and win your friends to Christ. it is a refueling station, a retooling station, and an armory where we can collect the spiritual weapons by which the battle for the hearts and souls of men will be won. and our weapons are lives of holiness, integrity and, above all, love.

revival is not the end-game. it is not a place to simply linger as the end of a journey. it is where we need to come to be refreshed and refilled so we can go back and reach out. i believe it is God's desire that every time we come together as a fellowship of believers that there is a continuous revival. and when we take a step back to see what God has set in order, we will see the advancing revolution tearing the gates off of hell and rescuing lost souls. this great firestorm is the never ending increase of His kingdom and every nation, tribe and people will worship Him from coast to coast, each one in his own land.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

the apostolic anointing of love

2005-07-22T04:12:00.000-07:00

apostle: meaning one who is sent. someone who is commissioned and sent to perform a specific task. it is generally accepted that an apostle has more gifts than a disciple or a "spectator" christian. the truth, however, is that an apostle flows in the gifts he/she has where a disciple is still learning about their gifts and learning how to use them.

anointing: meaning the manifest power of God in Christ Jesus through the Holy Spirit in a person or event.

love: "love is patient, love is kind it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, not self-seeking, not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. it always protects, always perseveres. love never fails...now these three things remain: faith, hope and love. the greatest of these is love." (1 cor. 13:4-8,13)

so what, then is the apostolic anointing of love? it is the manifest power of God in Christ Jesus through the Holy Spirit in the life of one who is sent to love.

but why love? the anointing of love is the super-natural power to love in any situation. regardless of the person or the situation. in spite of the person or the situation, but not to spite the person or situation. love that is objective and not subjective. apostolic love should reflect 1 cor. 13. prior to the apostolic period, Jesus taught the disciples about love. teachings that were imperative to remember when he commissioned and called them as apostles to do his work.

among those teachings are the following selections: matthew 5:43-48 "you have heard that it was said, `love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' but I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. if you love those who love you, what reward will you get? are not even the tax collectors doing that? and if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? do not even pagans do that? be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

luke 6:27-35 "but I tell you who hear me: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. if someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. if someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. do to others as you would have them do to you. "if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even `sinners' love those who love them. and if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? even `sinners' do that. and if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? even `sinners' lend to `sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. but love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."

in luke 11: 37-43, Jesus actually chastens the pharisees for not having love and compassion. in the beginning of the apostolic period (which, by the way, has never come to an end) paul writes of apostolic love in romans 12:9-13 and 13:8-10, as well as in his letters to the church at corinth. it is important to note that the "love chapter" is found between two chapters describing other spiritual gifts given to believers; apostles and disciples alike as well as to "spectators." the reason for this is stated at the beginning of chapter 13. to paraphrase, "i can have all the evidences of the gifts, but if i don't have love, i am nothing."

peter, james and the other apostles also wrote of apostolic love in their writings. 1 peter 4:7-11 addresses, specifically, the apostolic anointing of love. "the end of all things is near, therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. if anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. if anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. to Him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. amen."

we are all sent to love. Jesus prayed for unity, not conformity. love has the power to unite, it does not pressure one into conformity. we will begin to see greater power, a greater outpouring of His Spirit, a greater spiritual renewal when we begin to move in the apostolic anointing of love.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

sprint or ultramarathon?

2005-07-20T18:04:00.000-07:00

i was reflecting this morning on the tour de france and running the race that is set before us. i got to thinking about how we go about running our race.

we have grown accustomed to watching others in the race. we've seen how long they've been running and figure that our race will be long as well, so we choose to pace ourselves. how many of us really know how long our race will be?

i ask this because if we believe we are in a marathon, then we will pace ourselves as such, but if we believe we are in a 100 m sprint, we won't even bother to take the time to breathe. The difference between the world's longest race (the 3,100 mile sri chinmoy) and the world's shortest competition race (the 60 m sprint) is the approach. the sri chinmoy takes at least 51 days, the 60 m sprint takes less than 7 seconds. (for a really rediculously short race, check out the shortest race video created by nike)

all of that info is extremely useless except to show the difference in strategy. you wouldn't try to run an ultramarathon without taking a breath just like you wouldn't begin a 100 m sprint with a lazy jog.

my point in this is, we don't have a clue what we're running in, we just have to run. i would rather run at a sprint and find out i was in a marathon than run a marathon and discover that i was in a sprint.

the slower we run, the fewer people we pass by. the fewer people we pass by, the fewer opportunities we have to share the gospel message.

let me put it this way, matthew 5:4-30 recalls the parable of the talents. you know the story, a master gives his servants some money and leaves, then he returns to find out how they did with the money. the money he gave wasn't for personal use or personal benefit, it was so that they could do business for him. in essense, they could be about his business while he was away.

God has given us all a task to accomplish together: the never ending increase of His kingdom, the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory, the finishing of the great commission. regardless of our talents or the amount of different talents we have, we are to be working together- whether actively together as a group, or passively together as individuals, we are to striving for one common goal: the advance of the kingdom.

Jesus tells us to work while there is still daylight because darkness is coming and no one will be able to work. figurative or literal, we have to do what we've been given to do now. not two years from now, not two months from now, not two weeks from now, not two days from now, not even two hours from now. we have to do it now, because we're not guaranteed another breath.

paul wrote in 1 corinthians 9:24, that we need to run in such a way that we win.

we tend to like the idea of running in packs or in teams and having teammates to feed off of, because we like to have the security of knowing that even if we fall, we're on the winning side. well, here's a wake-up call: you're already on the winning side! Jesus secured the victory when he died on the cross and rose from the grave, now go run the race to win! don't settle to be in the middle of the pack.

i don't want to run like it's a marathon to discover all to late that it was a sprint. i wonder if the reason it's seems like an ultramarathon might be because we are looking at it like it is one. who's to say, that if we all sprinted the race wouldn't finish sooner.

the tour de france is built on individual stage racing. on each stage, the pace is determined by the pack leaders. those out front have to set the pace, if they don't someone else will, if no one does, the race takes forever... we are content to sit in the dugout while our team is playing; we are content to ride in the middle of the pack while our team is leading; we are content to be cheerleaders when we should simply be leaders.

we're afraid of losing our breath if we run too fast, but we don't realize that the more we pour out, the more He can pour back into us. i like what dennis said in response to my last post, "When we try to hold on to the 'river' it becomes stagnant like a pond, or a swamp."

"For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." matthew 16:25 (amplified)

there is more to life than just surviving, there is more to do than just observing. it is in our observations that we find the time to assign a religious title to a spiritual action.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

the spirituality of sprite™

2005-07-19T13:53:00.000-07:00

remember when sprite use to run the "image is nothing, thirst is everything" commercials? i always found it humerous that the coca cola company was repackaging their product (in other words, making over its image) as a "who cares what it looks like, just obey your thirst and drink up" product. yet, in their quest to throw off an image label, they simply traded one image and took on another.

.oO(that'll preach)

in the garden, adam and eve traded a pure image for a tainted one. they gave up His Glory in search of their own glory, and what did they find? they discovered they were naked.

we get to wake up every morning with the opportunity to choose whose glory we're going to live for.

here's another tie in: the answer to our daily decision comes in the form of this next question (are ya ready?): "what are we thristy for?" well, ok, that's only part of the question and the only part that ties in. the other part of the question is "what are we hungry for?"

matthew 5:6 says that if we hunger and thirst for righteousness, we are blessed because we will be filled.

the opposite of that, i would assume, is if our hunger and thirst is for anything less than righteousness and the holiness of God, then we will be unsatisfied.

i guess this all goes back to what our treasure is. in one post, i made the comment that a man dying of thirst in a desert will gladly give up diamonds for a glass of water. i once saw the previews for a movie that i have no desire to actually see, but writing about treasures spurred a memory. at one point in the preview, a woman looks across a desk and says, "so, you're treasure hunters..." and one of the men says, "i like to think we're treasure protectors..."

i want to be more than just a treasure hunter, because they are little more than glorified grave robbers (this is not a poke at archeology, which is an important mating of history and science); i don't care to be a treasure protector. the late evangelist, c.h. spurgeon once called the bible "a roaring lion; you don't have to protect it, you just have to set it loose." no, i want to be a treasure giver.

because if my treasure is the glory of God, and i find pleasure in my Treasure, then i want to share my pleasure with as many people as possible- not keep it locked inside the vault of my heart.

.oO(wow, this thread didn't go where i thought it was going to go...)

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

a prayer revolution?

2005-07-18T06:32:00.000-07:00

prayer. it's something we all do as christians. or, at least, say we do. sometimes we pray as much as we want (maybe i should rephrase that and say as little as we want...), but most the time we end up praying less than we tried.

how do we structure our prayers? sometimes we follow the pattern of the Lord's prayer. sometimes we actually repeat the Lord's prayer. do we ever mean it the way Christ did? sometimes we make things up as we go along, offering our laundry list or our shopping list or sometimes even our christmas wish list. i'm not here to say that there is one model that will guarantee an answer- in fact, i believe all prayers are answered, it's just that sometimes we never hear what we want to hear so we pretend we don't hear.

i do believe that there is a scriptural pattern to prayer.

before i go any further, let me first say this. every great revival, every revolution is not preceded by someone uncovering something new that no one ever noticed before; they have come when someone radically takes what has always been there as the truth.

i'll repeat myself so you don't have to remember what i said before, 'i do believe that there is a scriptural pattern to prayer.' the most prevailing and powerful of which can be found in the life of Christ.

i have recently discovered for myself how Jesus alludes to His own prayer life. there are only a few recorded prayers of Christ in the entire Bible, yet the four gospel writers spent three years with Him. the powerful personal discovery came in john 5:19-24.

the passage has nothing to do with prayer, or does it? the context of this passage is that Jesus had just healed a lame man on the sabbath. the passage is a window into Jesus' actual prayer life.

i believe that we maybe missing something in our prayer lives.

we pray. 'Lord, please save [heal, set free, come near to, bless, etc.] and i'll do anything [say anything, go anywhere, give up anything, etc.] '.

the only prayers i see Jesus actually praying (and if i'm wrong, feel free to leave a comment) is "Father, I thank You that You've heard me. I knew that You always hear Me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe You sent Me." (john 11:41-42)

where is the "Father, please heal this man..."? this is where the other passage comes into play. john 5:19-24 is Jesus admission that He can do nothing except that which He saw the Father do. when did He see the Father doing it? probably in a vision as He was doing it. why don't we see those visions? probably has something to do with our prayer lives.

we gather together in large groups and pray and lay hands and believe that all of us together have enough faith, but we aren't believing in the faith that God has in us. that's right, God believes in us, in our ability to have faith in Him.

faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. funny, that passage just came into a new light. when God tells us something directly to say, or shows us something directly to do, what is our usual response? i know my first response isn't always saying or doing it. there are many times when i think, "God, you must think i'm crazy to do that [say that], because if i do that, people will think i'm crazy..." i wonder if that's why we don't see or hear about more things happening today.

yeah, there's the occasional report coming in from overseas or in third-world areas, but why doesn't it happen in the "civilized, western world"? maybe because we're too image orientated. let me rephrase that, we're too selfish and self-conscious when we need to be selfless and God-conscious. after all, we here for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory, right?

for Jesus, prayer was where He saw the thing acted out and then He went out and did it. we're looking at prayer wrong. we look at it like we're saying, "ok God, here's the issue, now go ahead and do it." when we should be saying, "ok God, here's the issue, show me what to do [say...] and I'll do [say...] it." then go out and do it.

sometimes i think God doesn't respond to us because He knows we haven't responded to Him in the past. sometimes He requires us to do a simple thing (something that may seem silly or foolish- remember naaman and the jordan river?) and we feel too self-conscious over it.

in further preperation for this posting, i even checked out numerous old testament prayers where the power of God was manifest so strongly, and they all revealed the same thing, (solomon praying a blessing over the temple and elijah on mt. carmel, among others) that they did these things at the Lord's command.

what is our motivation? what should our motivation be? i think Jesus said it best in john 11 when He says, "for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe... (v. 15), and "this sickness will not end in death. no, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it (v. 4).

the greatest reward for praying is the prayer itself, the act of spending time with God. often, the time spent praying is a greater joy than the answer we were seeking.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

a revolutionary generation

2005-07-17T12:04:00.000-07:00

i am convinced that, historically, nearly one in every three generations is a revolutionary generation. to spare time and space, i will only go back as far as the american revolution in there was a generation that believed that america should be a free nation if britain wasn't going to be fair to it. just prior to the revolution was a spiritual awakening that drew the colonies together- something that nothing else in the history of the colonies had been done. however, in the years following the revolution, there was a noted moral decline in america.

benjamin rush, a signer of the declaration of independence, wrote a letter to president john adams in 1808 complaining of the deterioration of american society 'since the revolution.' he quoted the words of an 81-year-old who 'knew america in her youthful and innocent days' but who now felt 'they had all but become idolaters; they worshipped but one god it is true, but that god was God Dollars.' with disgust, rush noted, 'st. paul places coveteousness and uncleaness together as improper subjects of our conversation. but not only are our streets, but our parlors are constantly vocal with the language of a broker's office, and even at our convival dinners 'dollars' are a standing dish upon which all feed with rapidity and gluttony.'

a generation followed that one before a third rose up with a spiritual revolution that we now know as the second great awakening.

today we have a level of carnality that is so far gone that we are compelled to rise against it. jeff bernstein wrote, 'by the world's standards we americans face the greatest temptation in being lured away from God's true riches by temporal treasures. our refrigerators are filled with food as we relax in our climate-controlled homes, firing our remote controls at color tvs and cd stereos, leaving only to drive our air-conditioned cars to the nearest blockbusters, later to load the latest movies into our vcrs as we laugh and lounge on our comfortable couches. the rest of the world, in the meantime, struggles to survive another day.'

at the beginning of the 1900s there was a generation that saw a world in need twice and twice rose to the challenge. between both wars, they faced a nation in financial ruin, but it didn't stop them.

after the second world war, a generation grew up known as the baby-boomers. they were the flower children of the seventies. they wanted a revolution of their own, but their revolution was a decadent one. it wasn't that they were raised right, it's that the generation had nothing good to stand for. they raised up a generation so lost they didn't know what to call them. so they named them x.

as x gets married and raises families of their own, the focus is turned to the generation follwing. those who are 24 and under have been labled many things. we have been called gen y. primarily for following x. however, it is, i believe, prophetic. this generation is asking this vital question of itself, its society and its gods.

'why do i have to like everyone else?' 'why do i have to want to live the american dream?' 'why do i have to let things rule my life?'

we have also been labled the thumbs generation for all the video games we play.

in 2000, the usa today/gallup poll indicated that nearly 98 percent of those polled believed the end of the world would come before this generation died off. thus, we were newly labled the 'terminal generation.'

as we finish college we enter the workforce with the idea that we deserve more than people who entered the workforce before us. we think we deserve more money for less work. and now have been labeled 'the expectation generation.'

now, i understand the reasons behind some of these names, but i also see there is something prophetic behind it. i look at the world today and at this time, there is more access to the world than at any point in history- the internet, airlines, print media, audio/visual media, etc.

with these tools at our disposal, we can literally 'expect' to see the 'termination' of the great commission in one generation. every summer, airports are FILLED with youth groups going on missions trips. don't misunderstand me- the youth are not doing this on their own. they are catching the vision of their parents to make a change, and they're asking their question- 'why'. 'why can't we just do it?' and so they are doing it.

david shibley, in his book, the missions addiction, writes, 'todays youth are going out and accomplishing the impossible, only to discover after it's finished that it was supposed to be impossible.'

what other generation has faced 30 deadly school shootings spanning 8 states in a decade? 9 others occured internationally in that same span of time. what other generation has grown up with terrorist attacks such as the world trade center bombing in 1993, the oklahoma city bombing in 1995 and the tragedy of september 11, 2001?

what will this generation do? only time will tell and only God knows, but with the help of the generations before us, we can see, and be a vital part of, a revolution.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

a viewpoint in an illusionary world

2005-07-16T08:45:00.000-07:00

we live in an illusion. our viewpoint is exactly that- a view from a point. everything we see is not actually as we see it. take, for instance, air. we know it's there, but it's clear, we can feel it, we can see the effects of it- but our eyes cannot distinguish it. the movement of air has the potential of being a calm breeze or a devestating hurricane. yet our primary methods of testing the movement of air resides in wind guages to tell us the direction and anemometers to tell us the wind speed. for decades, scientist have known the gaseous makeup of our atmosphere. meteorologists have predictive technology based on scales and numbers from previous storms, but no one can tell you what will actually happen next. hurricanes are a prime example. dennis was supposed to devestate the florida keys and rip up the tear up the midwest; but by landfall it was barely a category 2 storm. emily is heading towards the yucatan peninsula as a category 4, but will it stay that way? well, only God knows. (just so everyone knows, my heart goes out to those whose property was damaged by dennis and i am praying for those who are staring at emily).

in a previous post, i said that our perspective is skewed- that we don't see what God sees. but in this post, i want to take the concept a step further...

if you eat an apple and save a seed, what do you have in front of you? go ahead, look at the seeds in the photo, what do you see? to the physical eye, you will see apple seeds... now look deeper... open up the eyes of your heart and you will see a tree. on that tree are more apples. inside of those apples are more seeds which contain the beginnings of more trees, which in turn have more fruit. that one seed that you started looking at contains an orchard.

we see ourselves through our eyes. we think we're only one person and that we cannot have an impact on the world because of our imaginary solitude. habakkuk 2:3 says, "for still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end- it will no lie. it it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay."

dr. michael brown wrote it this way in his book revolution!: the call to holy war, "we are accustomed to seeing revolts in the church (in a holy sanctified sense). we say 'enough is enough!' we become restive, getting more and more hungry and thirsty for a fresh visitation from heaven, fed up with business as usual in the house of God. we begin to despise the way we have been living, disgusted with fleshly addictions and entrapments, sickened by our lack of effectiveness in reaching the lost and in seeing them set free. and for a short time we have a breakthrough. we cast off our bondage of sin through the power of the blood of Jesus and we begin to bear fruit for Him. even some lost sinners are saved."
"but then it ends. why? because it was a revolt, not a revolution, a momentary expression of dissatisfaction, not a determined revolution. it lacked long-term vision and was devoid of a strategy that would say, 'whatever it takes, whatever the cost or consequences, we are going to see the purposes of God fulfilled in our lives and through our lives. we are going to follow the Master's battle plan and make disciples of the nations, proclaiming liberty for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind. we are going to set the captive generation free!"

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

in spirit and in truth

2005-07-15T19:08:00.000-07:00

as i was preparing to put my grill on my profile, i was listening to the song "spirit and truth" by aaron crider while scanning through hundreds of photos for one with my face. but the words of the song made me think about the photo at the right. how the people of the third world don't have much, but when they grab a hold of God, they hold on because He is their all-consuming Treasure. they don't have much in the way of possessions, and there aren't many preachers there preaching to them a prosperity gospel. they hold on to Jesus for the sake of being with Jesus.

that's where i want to find myself. that's the whole purpose of my last few posts. i want to find my home in Him. i want the place to lay my head to be His breast. i want people to see that my all-consuming Treasure, the only "Thing" worth holding onto, is Him and only Him.

thank you dennae for "pushing" me deeper. your salt makes me thirsty.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

why settle for copper?

2005-07-14T11:22:00.000-07:00

i have often wondered about where we would be if keith green hadn't have died at an early age or if some of the other people God had used mightily would have lived longer. God responded to me last time and told me to "shut up. don't think about that. I took them when it was time for them to go." He went on to say: "I took them so that people would refocus on me. These were My servants and they were pointing to Me, but many people were only coming to see what I would do through them. They weren't coming to Me for Me." "Besides," He told me, "they were miserable down there with y'all anyway, because I was their all-consuming Treasure."

it is in the human nature to have or desire to have a place to be able to lay their heads, a place to call their own, and a place to store their valuables- their treasures. i don't believe that it is possible to feel fully at home while on earth. while we were created for this earth, our home is found with God. when He walked this earth with adam and eve, they felt at home. because their Treasure walked with them and they knew nothing else. not because of ignorance, but because He was their all-consuming treasure. He was all they needed. but now, because of the fall of man, and the seperation of man from God, we do not feel at home. it is that desire to have a home to be with our Treasure that we need to find our home in Him. it is the ignorant who settle for copper when they could have gold.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

a million miles away, give or take

2005-07-13T17:18:00.000-07:00

if home is where the heart is, then i'm not sure where home is at the moment. on the one hand, my heart is in tanzania, east africa- a place i love very much and have a vision for. on the other hand, my heart is already down at my next destination- concord, north carolina where i'll be going to school, but i've never actually been there.

borrowing someone else's hand, my heart has gone out to my eldest sister in korea because doctor's discovered a mass on her uterus yesterday, while at the same time, my heart is in mozambique, east africa with one of my best friends.

then, i got to thinking, "where is home?" "how do i define 'home'?" is home specifically in a place, such as the place you hang your hat, or the place you come back to when you're done doing what you do for the day? or is home an idea, such as the location where something or someone you love is at any given moment?

is home a place where all our valuables are stored and kept hidden from the rest of the world so only those we trust and love can come and share it with us, or is home a place where we can invite anyone, or want to invite anyone to show off what we have? in such a case as the latter, our 'home' could be our vehicles or our computers or our buildings. our 'home' could be our church building, our workplace (though few people could actually honestly admit to it), etc.

if 'home' is a showplace, what are we showing? is it a testament to what we can amass or is it a testament to something else? if 'home' is a vault, what treasures are we hiding there?

maybe that's the wisdom of Christ's teaching in matthew 6:19-21:

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
if 'home' is where my treasures are, then, i have to discover what are my treasures to find where is my home. do i want to bring people 'home'? could i bring people 'home'? what's at 'home' to show people? what is my greatest treasure?

where's your home?

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

they will know we are christians by our... competition?!?

2005-07-11T20:14:00.000-07:00

the day i returned from a long ministry trip that took me from walking into and over a mountain to bicycling out back over the mountain from village to village to long hours on busses and being crammed with 20 others in the back of a truck to overnight boat rides to Zanzibar and back to swimming through the streets of Dar es Salaam in the heaviest rainfall ever recorded, i found myself rushing back to our ministry’s home base so i could fellowship with other missionaries from other organizations in the same town as our headquarters. not the fellowship that is rampant in the western church, an opportunity to chat about our work week and our plans for the week ahead 15 minutes before the church service starts or the other idea, of eating together with other christians. no, when i say we fellowshipped, i mean we gathered to pray and to actively join together to worship our God.

the following morning, when, by all means, i should have been getting a little extra rest, i found myself volunteering to assist two other missionaries prepare a place for some guests from america. The night before i left on my trip, i had helped them to paint; this time, i was helping to re-wire the room.

the point is not that i did all of this, or to put myself in a place of exaltation. it was one of those missionaries who made a comment to me that had never had cross my mind. it wasn’t my goal, but it made perfect sense.

she looked at me and remarked, “david, you are an amazing example of what the Lord intended the Church to be.” as i said, it took me completely off-guard.

it was a peculiar idea- tireless servitude, or, rather, the fact that compassion fatigue does not appear anywhere in the four Gospels or the Epistles.

everywhere Jesus went, Jesus had compassion for people. He helped those who needed helping, healed those who needed healing and saved those who wanted to be saved, all the while revealing who He was on an individual level to all who sought after Him.

that’s what we are called to… we have been anointed to set free the captives, open blind eyes, preach the acceptable year of the Lord and His terrible judgments[i], all while revealing who is He is to those who seek Him. what an incredible concept!

where do we get the idea of growing bigger and stronger faster? it certainly isn’t supported in the Scriptures. our sectarianism (denominationalism for those who are afraid to call it what it truly is) is even warned against in the Bible!

paul warned the corinthian church about it in his first epistle to them.[ii] the reason we have different sects is because people cling to an individual’s specific teaching and not necessarily to the Scriptures.

while paul likens the christian faith to a race, the current races we are witnessing would be incomprehensible to paul. we determine our successes by size and numbers. i believe that the Lord looks at the underground church in china and says: “well, at least someone has the right idea.” We need to forget size and get substance.

pastors in the western church act more like CEOs in a corporation than people who are entrusted by God to care for the spiritual needs of the congregation. they look to numbers and cash flow, adopt the advertising strategies and bring in charismatic figures to help them grow their “business.” they also adapt their “product” to reflect the desires of their “customers.” sounds like the way God intended, right?

let’s look and see what He has to say about it.

2 Peter 2:1-2 (ESV)
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.

perhaps it’s not the way God intended. what’s even worse is that this mentality has worked its way through the western church and is now rampant in the third world church as carried by the “sales executives” commissioned and re-titled “missionaries.” But they sell a gospel of growing a corporate denomination-based church. don't believe me? there is a rift in a mainline church here in moshi, tanzania that mimics a rift in that same denomination in america. leaders on both sides of the issue maintain that they are the only "right" way. as it stands, there will be no reconciliation unless hearts are changed.

john piper said, “we’re still delivering the wrong books and preaching the wrong message, we’re giving a cheap gospel that makes you the central figure of the Gospel message instead of glorifying Christ as the central figure of the Gospel.”[iii]

there is much animosity between denominations in the third world and every congregational leader has given himself a title. not addressing them by their self-given title, incurs their wrath.

such practices have sprung as what is known as “back-benching.” it appears, at first glance, to be a Biblical and compassionate approach to the question of what to do with believers who have sinned. a deeper exploration reveals the evil in the hearts of those who practice such a method.

back-benching is simply the idea that instead of excommunicating the sinner, they are relegated to the back bench in the church, where they are refused the opportunity to participate in the service until the church leader determines that they have suffered enough away from the congregation.

the congregants, then, fear the pastor and his power to back-bench anyone who crosses him and they remain silent even when the pastor preaches an errant doctrine.

back-benching is to the third world church what excommunication is to the catholic church. it is to the third world church what the suppression of members out of a congregation is to the western evangelical church.

but that doesn’t happen in the western church! it most certainly does, more often than anyone can imagine. some people do it loudly and suppress themselves and turn themselves into false martyrs splitting a body of believers.

others attempt to remain in the congregation and are asked to leave, or are told not to return, or are simply preached against from the pulpit. how do i know this to be true? i have been subjected this treatment. not once. no, i’ve experienced it twice, and before you think i might have been alluding to the previous paragraph, let me interject that i was 8 years old the first time and 13 years old the second time.

why is it any surprise that the church in the far east and in the southern hemisphere, what philip jenkins calls “the new christendom” is bearing the role of the Biblical church and seeing mass movements toward Christ?

clearly, the persecuted church is a desperate people. desperate people are willing to give up anything to have what they value most. a man dying of thirst in the desert will give up diamonds for a glass of water.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

[i] Isaiah 61:1-3. Paraphrased for space and emphasis.
[ii] 1 Cor. 1:10-13.
[iii] Sermon preached at OneDay 03, April 30, 2003. Sherman Oaks, Texas.

satisfaction- guaranteed?

2005-07-08T08:23:00.000-07:00

not everyone is called to vocational ministry but everyone has a vocation and, therefore, a vocational ministry.

taking an in-depth look at your vocational “ministry” you must first begin with yourself. are you satisfied with your vocation? are you content with your tasks? or do you have contempt for your employer? do they pay you enough? how are your benefits? are these the things that are constantly on your mind?

what is a typical conversation like with your fellow employees? does it revolve around benefits and financial planning? is it about social events or television programs? for the younger generations, does it revolve around computer or console games?

is it ever about God? is it ever very often? do people come to you for advice on personal issues? do they ever ask you why you’re different? do they even notice that you are different? we are to always be ready to give an answer for the hope that is within us. do you ever get asked?

the financial outcomes of your business dealings should never determine your contentedness. your portfolio or 401k is not the reason you are alive.

john piper wrote in his book don't waste your life that“aimless unproductive christians contradict the creative, purposeful, powerful, merciful God we love. they waste their lives.”

the question still remains, what do people see when they see you? what do they see when they see me? i pray that when they see me, they see Jesus. but, i know there are things that i still must change in my own life so that i can more perfectly reflect who He is.

if we should fail to properly reflect Jesus to those closest to us, how can we possibly even consider the idea that we can reflect who He is to someone we have never met, much less another culture? sure, we can suppress and hide who we are for a short while, but who we are will always emerge until we fully surrender every aspect of our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ.

anything withheld is to tell the Lord that He is not needed and to assume a place higher than that of Christ Jesus. the very sin of satan. if satan was not spared, then why should we? is it harsh? absolutely. but God requires nothing less than holiness and purity, not to mention perfection.

so what hope, then, do we have to offer ourselves and the world?

the apostle paul offers us hope when he says that he dies daily. our hope for a meaningful christian life lies in the prospect of death! what a paradox!

“for to me to live is Christ, to die is gain…Yet it is not I who lives, but Christ lives in me…”

see? paul talks about dying to himself on a daily basis then he goes on to say that because he dies to himself, he still lives, but it what people encounter is the power of the risen Christ glorified in paul’s life and actions. so to him, to live is Christ, to die is infinite gain because it would put him face to face with Jesus.

our hope is death! our lives, as john piper suggests, are to be lived so that even in or dying, Christ is glorified. aren’t we considered strange? isn’t that something that would make our friends, families, and co-workers stand up and take notice that our hope is in Christ instead living without problems or embarrassment?

i want to live my life so that when i die, people won’t say “he died too soon” or “what a waste.” i want to live and so die so people will say, “he was sold out to Christ.”

this leads to the next logical question, "how?" how do you live your life so that when you die people only talk about Jesus?

i’m not going to answer that because paul, james, john and luke give us a pretty good layout. the writer of Hebrews tells us to live by faith. james says that to be truly christian, our faith must be put into action. john tells us to be prepared, luke shows us how others have walked down the road we are looking down and paul invites us to follow his example if we find Christ’s too difficult.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

re:discovering God

2005-07-06T07:44:00.000-07:00

God is sovereign. that is indisputable. there is no changing that fact. if He begins something, He will complete it and woe to the hand that attempts to stay His plan. the time is coming when we will see the church return to its former stature. a time when grieving the Holy Spirit will be met with sicknesses and even death. a time when we will have a holy fear of the Lord who is awesome in His might because we will be able to see Him for Who He is. Who is a Terror to those who dare to oppose Him. no, we are not to be His force; we are to be His hands of peace. we need to follow the pattern we see in moses. we are to be leaders. we are to remind Him of His promises. james and john wanted to call fire from heaven to consume the jews. God wanted to do that too. moses reminded the Father of His purposes. not that He needed to be reminded. if He had destroyed them, He would have done no wrong. He is sovereign (remember?). He can do no wrong. He can do nothing that is against His very nature. it is scary to think of the consequences that we could face and could be facing right now if He were to remove His hands of grace and mercy from our lives.

there is, therefore, no more time to live as we once did. we must discover who we truly are in Christ and once that discovery is made, we can never again return to our former ways. once we have crossed the plains of peace, we can never again return to the valleys of war, at least not the way we once approached it. who are we to think that we can deter what He is doing?

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

ots: in transit

2005-07-01T16:36:00.000-07:00

i may not be able to update my blog for a short while as i am transitioning from the east coast of the continent of africa to the midwest of the continent of north america.

i will be looking for opportunities and chances to update this site at any and, possibly, every chance the Lord grants me.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

a confrontational gospel

2005-07-01T11:17:00.000-07:00

many of today’s church leaders are engaged in the popularity contest and there is a lie masquerading as the truth that is circulating in congregations all over the western world and many church leaders are adopting it as Biblical without holding it to Biblical standards. it whispers that time is short and we must do whatever it takes to save as many as possible. it goes so far as to adopt a “seeker-sensitive” platform, this nothing more than diluting the power of the Gospel and compromising its message.

this reprehensible ideology renders the Gospel impotent. the Gospel of Jesus is offensive. it more than suggests to the unsaved that they are wrong and unless they change the way that they live, they are damned to hell. to seek to make the Gospel inoffensive is to compromise the very message we are trying to advance. the leader who adopts this “possibility” is more concerned about his own image than the message of Christ Jesus. they seek to be esteemed in the eyes of the world by tolerating the sins of the world. did not Jesus say that the student is not above his master? did not the world hate Jesus? indeed, they crucified Him. who then, is the teacher of today’s leaders who are embracing “seeker-sensitivity”?

surely this is offensive to Christ. as I mentioned in a previous post, “these are neither hot nor cold, and will be cast away” from the Lord.[i]

the Gospel of Christ is not peaceful. Jesus said “i have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Matthew chapter ten goes on in verse 35 and says that it will turn fathers against sons and mothers against daughters. families will be at odds with each other over the Gospel. “a person’s enemies will be those of his own household” (10:36), and “whosoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me” (10:38). the cross is forever a symbol of violence.

tradition has beautified the cross and has lost the sense of the violence of it. most of the “christian” movies that depict the crucifixion make it seem bearable even though Christ died the most cruel and inhumane of all forms of capital punishment.

the message that goes against the popular grain of society and culture meets with much backlash and violence. and most of the backlash and violence comes from within the four walls. joseph parker wrote, “the man whose little sermon is ‘repent’ acts himself against his age, and will for the time being be battered mercilessly by the age whose moral tone he challenges. there is but one end for such a man- off with his head!”

it is alarming to see how we miss the point so often. we focus too much of our attention on the miniscule non-essentials. we stress wholeness psychology over souls, we seek to save our christian society instead of the lost, we preach tithes and offering while we neglect the needy and dying. we cripple ourselves. we want all the money before we step out the door and do something for God, but we purchase cars, houses and clothes on credit and never think twice about it. we spend more on beautifying our property than on evangelizing a city.

what, then, can change this? being a true disciple can change this. what is a disciple? a disciple is a disciplined follower. Jesus had many thousands of followers, but after He had died, only a hundred and twenty stuck around. many people claim to follow Christ, many congregations claim to be following Jesus, and they may be on the outside, but they have no discipline.

no! We don’t want discipline. discipline is too much like a pattern. a pattern too closely resembles a tradition. a tradition is too close to bondage. and that is guilt by association, not by due process.

we may consider ourselves disciples, after all, we’ve been following Christ for years- even decades, but in most cases, we are just onlookers.

we scream out legalism at anything that suggests discipline. we have decided that christianity is not a religion. because the word for religion in greek resembles the same word that we get the word bondage from. and because we know the truth and “the truth shall set you free,” christianity is not bondage but freedom. so christianity cannot be a religion, but a relationship.

forgive me for stepping on some toes for a short while, but christianity is both a religion and a relationship. if we are not bound in our relationship to God by that relationship, then what is to keep us from wavering from our faith? prayer? prayer is a religious activity. talking is a relationship activity. but praying is our way of talking to God. my point is simply this: we are in a religious relationship. we must pursue our relationship with God with a religious fervor. we must seek to be bound to Christ in our relationship with Him.

too often, we overstress the importance of our healing and don’t focus enough on glorifying God through our sicknesses or infirmities.

it’s not that He doesn’t want to heal us, He does! it’s that He knows the status of our hearts and He knows whether we are capable or incapable of giving Him the glory for it and to really mean what we’re saying and not merely going through the motions because we saw other people doing it.

what you do in private is infinitely more telling about who you are than what you do in public. it also is infinitely more telling about what you believe in God and who you believe He actually is. because if you truly believe that God is who He says He is and what His word says about Him, then what you do in private will speak louder than any public action ever could.

as people of the christian faith, we obligate God to bless us by invoking His name and His blessings. yet, we point to this blessing as proof that we can live with common sense as our guide, completely devoid of leaning on the Lord to guide our daily lives. the blessing God wants to give us, however, is not out of his loving obligation or duty, but one that is given from a beloved to his lover. the Lord is our Lover and we are His beloved, are we truly lovers, in return, and He our beloved? it is not enough to simply be loved by God- countless millions have been loved by God, and yet have entered an eternity completely separated from Him- we must also be pro-active and truly love Him in return.

we appear to have a conditional love for an unconditional God. we base our affections solely on the focal point of the cross and what was accomplished there. that is not enough. abraham, joseph, job, enoch, david and others could not base their love on the crucifixion; they loved in faith, not knowing what we know, or understanding the things we can see.

if we live our lives out through common sense, then we live little more than common lives. in point of fact, one becomes a practical atheist when, saying they believe in God, they live as though there were none. if we, however, live passionately affectionate lives that honor our God, then we will live revolutionary christian lives. and through those lives, we would be given the holy privilege of finishing the task of taking the name of Jesus to every person on this planet so the King, the Son of God, can return to the earth and take us to our rightful place. our lives must be commended to Him until every person who lives, worships God.

we must seek to know Jesus so intimately, so intensely, that we know his very emotions. our hearts must burst into joy when His springs into joy. when we become conscious of His heart, we become a conduit through which signs, wonders and miracles flow freely.

the more frequently we pursue that knowledge, the greater the frequency of the presence of those signs, wonders and miracles.

it’s not about whether or not we can, it’s whether or not we choose to know Him that intimately.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

[i] Revelation 3:16. For further study on the idea of those who are in danger of being cast away, I suggest the following texts: 1 Peter 4:17,18

looking over the edge

2005-06-30T11:11:00.000-07:00

we stand poised at the edge of the great precipice that divides what is past and what is yet to come. with eyes focused on what is unseen, we will finally accomplish that service the Great Redeemer has entrusted to us, the complete renown of His sovereign glory. that awesome task, that, unfortunately, has taken two millennia too long, will be accomplished by a terminal generation that will grasp only for what is unseen and will choose to not be content to retreat into the pleasures and the comforts established by generations past. Will this generation arise now? only history can tell us, only God can foreknow it, only the Spirit can guide us, and only we can desire it.

but why? why does a line have to be line drawn in the sand? why do we have to desire to step over the edge? why do we have to be the ones who have to walk off the edge of the cliff? why do we have to be watchful and mindful of every subconscious action?

let me tell you why. the answer is that our perspective is skewed. what we see one way is not how God, Himself sees it. we look at it like we’re stepping off the cliff; God sees it as we’re stepping onto the cliff from flying around, unsafely, on our own. the line must be drawn for people to take sides. “He who is not for Me is against Me,” Jesus said. if we do not stand with Jesus on His side of the line, and not because it is popular, because in a popularity contest, Jesus loses, we will be cut off. yet again, the popularity contest is skewed, because we are focused on what we can see and not what is unseen.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

image is everything

2005-06-29T10:46:00.000-07:00

what i don’t get is how we can have churches on the corners of one of the most crime-ridden areas of major metropolitan cities and have such little impact. what great disservice we do to have a sunday morning service, a sunday evening service, and a wednesday night service and call it impacting the community. how is it an impact if the youth are still strung out on drugs, the girls are prostituting themselves and the boys are killing each other? yet we have a secret society at prayer so far removed from what is happening just outside the four walls. what service are we actually providing?

why do we claim the victory then ignore the battle? is there a direct relationship between the spiritual disrepair of the world and the lethargy contained within the four walls? how can the church claim victory for what is not involved in?

what price are we willing to pay? Why do we expect the cost to go down?

there is a form of spiritual inflation at work. as the church continues to withdraw into the four walls, the price at which the lost will be returned grows greater.

when will the church decide enough is enough?!?

who is willing to pay the price to reach the fourteen-year-old selling crack on the corner? who will cash in and go reach the pimp and the two prostitutes in the alley? will the next gang murder be enough? or will we shake our heads and go about our business? will the next rape be too much? how about the next drug deal?

why are we, the one’s the world claims to be intolerant, so tolerant of sin? why are we so concerned about our image? the image God wants us to reflect is His, not the world’s- not tolerance. we are supposed to reflect His image, to radiate His glory. yet we are content to hoard the gifts of God for ourselves. we prostitute the Gospel. we will be held accountable for the things we see, the things we hear, and the things we choose to ignore. And that SCARES me! we claim that ignorance can be bliss and cognitively ignore the state of the world around us. then when catastrophe strikes, we claim it is God’s judgment on a world fallen into sin.

it appears that our christian counter-culture is not merely a subculture, but an actual counter culture. we put our christianity on the counter to wait until we have to pick up again when we grab our Bibles on the way to church. practical atheism is plaguing the pulpits and the pews in the western church. it is birthed in many seminaries that are little more than theory think-tanks by those who only want the benefits of christianity with out paying any of the price. they are serving tomorrow’s pastors and church a bland, tasteless, salt-less Christianity. in truth, it is a gospel without Christ.

if the church can’t separate itself from the world, the Groom will pass over that potential bride and find a true and holy bride for Himself.

it is imperative that we realize that when we ask for God’s judgment, or when we pray for a revival of our churches, not only will he take us seriously but His judgment will begin within the four walls. it begins within the congregations and those who are only there to socialize will be weeded out. the Bible doesn’t even mention weeding, but Jesus suggests something even more drastic! they will be spit out, removed far from Him. forgive the graphic nature, but when something is spit out, it does not merely dribble down the chin as in the case of a baby, but it is removed far from the person and they walk away from it. Jesus also mentions pruning off the dead branches so that new ones can grow.

in some cases, pruning is within the branch; religious spirits and sins that are unintentional are among the first things to go. in other cases, the whole branch must be cut off so the tree can continue to grow and not die. the dead branches that have been cut off are set on fire to bring to dust. a dying branch can be saved, but a dead branch cannot live again.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

come follow me

2005-06-28T07:09:00.000-07:00

do you want to look for my fullness?
do you want to make history with me?
do you want to count for my Kingdom?
do you want to see miracles and stand for justice?
do want to see reconciliation and people set free?
do you want to see nations transformed by the power of prayer?

then come, follow me,
and I will show you where to go.
it’s not to the platform and the spot-lit speaker.
it’s not the conference, the meeting, or the camp.

come with me to the darkest places
come to the hurting, the howling, hollow faces
come with me to the addicted, convicted and caught
come with your light, run with your salt,
come to the sorrow; the suicide tree
come to the stable
come follow me.[i]

i came across this poem in a book that i finished reading lately. that second stanza really hit me between the eyes. And my soul screamed out, “YES!” while conferences, meetings, and camps can serve to refresh us, what are they refreshing us for? they should serve to direct us to following where God is going. but often times, we go to conferences, meetings and camps to see what God is doing in someone else’s ministry. what God is doing in their lives and that we may wish that we too could experience that touch of God’s grace or that we may witness a miracle in our lives or the life of someone we may meet at the event.

it’s not about that. if we truly want to go for God in all His glory and to count for His kingdom; if we truly want to see reconciliation, lives set free, and nations transformed, then we need to go where He is sending us. not that we will be separated from Him, but that He wants us to join Him in that place to change the atmosphere, lives, and nations.

conferences, meetings, and camps should be a short stop on the way, not a place to continuously return for something new, cutting edge or to hear someone famous. there are some truly awesome things happening in the earth today, and God’s glory is being poured out, but God doesn’t want us to simply gather in one place to hear about it, He wants us to go and experience it. think about that. we don’t have to settle for the stories of others- He wants us to experience it in the nations! He wants the nations to experience it! He wants you to take His glory to the nations. He doesn’t want to settle within the church. He can’t settle within the church. He won’t settle within the church. And if we try to force Him to, He will go elsewhere and begin again with a people who are willing and open. He’s done it in the past; He’ll do it again today.

let’s not get left behind.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

[i] Written by Ian Nicholson and quoted in the book Red Moon Rising (Lake Mary, FL: [Relevant Books], 2003) 181.

faith or football?

2005-06-27T06:59:00.000-07:00

i have often wondered what would happen if football coaches approached their work like most pastors are expected to. For example, i wonder what would happen if when a player was too busy to show up for practice, the understanding coach simply said, “we’ll miss you. i hope you’ll be able to make it next week sometime.” imagine the players leaving practice and hearing the smiling coach say, “thanks for coming. i hope you’ll come back tomorrow.”

if a football team operated like a typical church, we might expect concerned parents to call the coach, saying, “can you tell me what’s been going on in practice? my son says it’s boring, and he doesn’t want to come anymore. i was wondering, could you make it a little more fun for them? and by the way, you might want to talk to the coach at the school across town. he seems to have the right idea.” the coach might send out quarterly questionnaires about what the players would like to change about the team (i can just imagine the answers: “shorter practices,” “more winning”).

a coach, responding like a typical minister, might first feel guilty that the practices were not meeting the boy’s needs, and he would try to adjust his program to suit this boy (and every other boy who complained). between trying to keep everybody happy and giving every student a good experience, the coach would squeeze in a little football practice. and what kind of season would this coach have? it’s a safe bet that the coach wouldn’t be the only one who felt like a loser.

but this is the very way that most churches expect to run their ministries. to expect that anyone be committed to the church at the same level of commitment that would be expected on an athletic team would draw the charge of legalism and of religious individualism that the expectation of commitment to the church has become implausible to most christian parents. because the god of individualism pressures us to program to the lowest common denominator, we seldom raise the expectations high enough for teenagers to experience real community.

real community means real responsibility for each other. it means a commitment to be there for each other even when the schedule is tight and when motivation is low. but the typical christian in our culture knows little about commitment to community.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

2005-06-26T10:02:00.000-07:00

if i close my eyes tight enough, i can almost see it...

the pages of history

2005-06-26T09:04:00.000-07:00

every so often one can almost hear the faint scratching of an ancient quill on parchment; the smell of fresh pigment wafts on the breeze caused by the turning of the pages of history.

personal events are recorded in our memories and catalogued along with major world events.

for instance, september 11, 2004 the world trade centers were attacked by terrorists was also my first day of work on a new job. december 26, 2004 a tsunami claimed the lives of more than 540,000 people in a matter of seconds in south east asia. it was also the day i preached an incredibly long sermon to a large crowd in mkuranga region in tanzania where nearly 30 people got saved, 12 people were healed from diseases and sicknesses, 22 people were filled with the Holy Spirit, and many christian workers came forward to rededicate their lives to Christ.

i remember where i was and what i was doing when the dc sniper attacks were happening. i was in ashland, va where the second- to-last victim was shot outside a ponderosa- i was working at calvary pentecostal campground, less than five miles away.

i can still feel the breeze from the most recent page turning and I am sure that the Divine Author of my life story is finishing off one chapter and preparing to start another one.

why am i so sure?

i am confident in this because in seven days, i am returning to america from tanzania, east africa to work for a few months before heading to FIRE school of ministry in concord, north carolina to finish my ministry degree.

not all personal events correspond with major news events.

for instance, the day i was saved, october 29, 1998, holds no major news events, yet it is literally the turning point in my life.

perhaps it is not personal events that are catalogued with major world events, but major world events that are catalogued according to personal events...

whatever it is, we can be assured that the Author of history is hard at work, writing and weaving all our stories together to bring glory and honor to His name...

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

what makes them heroes?

2005-06-25T02:00:00.000-07:00

we look at our heroes of the faith and laud them for their willingness to sacrifice anything and everything- including their lives to the cause of Christ, but we miss something exponentially important. paul, john, james, j. hudson taylor, david livingstone, robert moffat, c.t. studd, jim elliot and others didn't even see it as a sacrifice!

moffat wrote: "he who is in the service of the King has put down something tiny to take up something great; he puts down the penny to pick up the pound!"

samuel zwemmer, a leader in the student volunteer movement that saw thousands of college students drop out of school in favor of winning nations for Christ, wrote: "it is a shame that we consider missions a duty so long as men consider it an honor to serve an earthly king."

zwemmer went on to pen this impassioned plea in his book the unoccupied territories of africa and asia: "does it really matter how many lives are lost or how much money we spend so long as we believe that missions are warfare and the King's glory is at stake?"

livingstone wrote that he "never made a sacrifice."

jim elliot, at the age of 21, wrote in his journal, "he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what cannot lose." he was martyred with six other missionaries in the 1950's in ecuador.

for them, it wasn't a sacrifice. it was a pleasure, a joy! they threw off the bonds of convenience to discover the freedom of working through hardship for God.

i was recently contemplating the old adage, "absence makes the heart grow fonder." while, at times, it may be true; what makes love grow stronger is not merely the absence of the beloved, but the mutual working through the presence of adversity. the litmus test for any relationship: platonic, romantic, or spiritual is the way the two parties respond to the presence of adversity.

for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

rough knees

2005-06-24T13:36:00.000-07:00

i have been spending a lot of time in prayer lately. there are a few things that have been driving me to my knees lately.

i have recently resigned from my position as the east africa overseer for a growing indigenous missionary sending agency in favor of returning to america to finish off my ministry degree. and though it was hard... i began losing hair and some hair has even turned white (i'm only 24 y'all)!... i know it was the right decision. though my best friend, who became my boss, thinks i quit, i know i am following the path God has for me.

and i've been thinking...

sometimes we drop to our knees only out of need. "oh God, i need to know this from you..." or, "oh Lord, please do this for me..." what about being on our knees out of desire for more of Him? or just wanting to be with Him more?

what i want is rough knees. i'm not going to run out and skin up my knees to get them, but i pray that my knees become rough over the years due to my consistency in prayer. it's not about our posture:

a group of pastors were meeting in one of the pastors' new office discussing prayer postures. "the greatest posture is on the knees," claimed one as he began to roll off with this or that doctrine. "i believe that the greatest posture is prostrate on the floor," stated another. a third pastor threw in his two bits and said, "the greatest time i have ever spent in prayer was on my feet pacing the floor..." a telephone technician was busily scurrying about the floor attempting to connect the pastor's office to telephone and internet access. taking in all that was said, the technician softly interjected, "i know i'm not a gifted theologian, but i have found that the most powerful prayers i have ever prayed have been when i was hanging by my heels fifty feet off the ground fixing a telephone line..."

it is, however, about our heart.

For the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...