When Fear Sleeps In

When we dream (awake or asleep) we go to a place that is just beyond reality. 

It is there that God triumphs through us.

Just before awakening (or coming back to our senses) we are ushered back to our cell and fear patrols the hall, locking the gates, restricting each of us to our natural state....(click below to read more)

What Does Grant Desme Have to Do with You?

Maybe you don't know who Grant Desme is.  I didn't.

Apparently, he was a big-time, promising, up-and-coming baseball player who just announced he's leaving baseball to go into ministry.  So why am I writing about sports the day after I wrote about a politician?  And what does Grant Desme (or Scott Brown) have to do with you?  Or me?

What Does Scott Brown Have to Do with You?

It's an unusual blog title for me but, no matter what your political views, you can't escape the drama of this recent event.

It's newsy because it effects so many people and carries the David/Goliath underdog element.  But what if it effected less people?  How would that be different to Scott?  Or you?  I'm getting to my point...

Fear of Change

Sometimes we are afraid of a new thought or revelation because of the change it might require in our lives. How will this affect my family? My friendships? My career plans? My habits? My worship? My prayer life?

Missions Change the World, Starting with You

It's remarkable to me how people setting out to change the world are deeply changed by it.

There's something about lifting our eyes and seeing the field that alters our perspective on our own life.

Mission trip after trip, whether I've gone myself or heard testimonies from others, I grow in suspicion over Jesus' motivation for sending us "...into all the world (to) preach the Gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15). Could it be He was doing that for our sake?

The same dynamics that operate THERE operate HERE. The giving of our time, the attention to a new face, the unselfish gesture, the leading of the Holy Spirit, the unrushed pace.

Surely, we CAN change nations; but what of the thought that nations can change us - making us more loving, compassionate, focused, grateful, effective, fervent - and powerful - at home?

The mission field is a great training ground for how we should live at home.

Go.

Samson's Demise - repost

The Philistine's sought to find Samson's strength, but their victory was assured when they exploited his weakness (Judges 16).

It's wonderful to recognize our strengths. But when we begin to think that we are invincible because of them, we enter dangerous territory unless we are wide-awake to our weaknesses.

After we are alert to them, we must then exercise self-control, pursuing righteousness through the Word, Godly counsel, and humble fellowship with our Father.

Lead with your strengths. Grow in them. Let the Lord and the Word mature you in these. He can use you mightily.

But don't neglect dealing with your weaknesses. Seek the Lord with a humble heart and close the door on the Philistines.

"Yes - but it is not I!" - repost

The story is told of Augustine, after his conversion, passing a former mistress on the street.

The mistress, in an attempt to lure him, said, "Augustine! It is I!".

Augustine's response, without even stopping, was, "Yes - but it is not I!"

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17)

If we are truly born-again, we will allow God to change us. It is inevitable and welcomed in the heart of anyone desiring to be more like Him.

We can accommodate His work in us by submitting to His Word and to the Greater One Who lives in us.

"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)

Revolutionary Prayer

Prayer is, in our Protestant perspective, something we talk about a lot. Along with Bible Study, it is heralded as a core element of what separates us from the unbeliever and as a vital organ in the Body of Believers.

But it must be a part of the whole of our work in Him - our worship, our service, our giving, our loving, our celebration, our sacrifice, our silence, our fasting. As we "carve out" dedicated times for prayer we must recognize the possibility that we could develop a habit of being "in" or "out" of fellowship with God - with the "carved out" times being our moments of spirituality.

If we want to have revolutionary prayer - prayer that changes things - we must recognize that our dedicated times of prayer are part of our ongoing fellowship with the Father. And that the fellowship never ceases. "Prayer without ceasing", as Paul talked about (1 Thessalonians 5:17; Phillipians 4:6), is not burdensome prayer that separates us from the world, but enlightening and ongoing fellowship in the moment that positions us to change the world. This perspective brings life to our prayer time, as we are not "pigeon-holing" it or checking it off of our "Christian To-Do List".

The purpose of revolutionary prayer is to develop such an on-going conversation with God that our lives carry the very will of God as received in dedicated AND ongoing fellowship with Him.

Prayer does not burden us any more than wings burden a eagle. Fellowship with the Father is what carries us, suspends us, and provides us with perspective. When we leave a dedicated time of prayer, no matter how short, we are centered in His plan and able to continue in fellowship for the sake of Him advancing the Kingdom THROUGH US! WE become the agents of change (ambassadors) as we walk out what the Father has prepared us for.

We don't pray so that God has more power to do what He wants to do - He is already All-Powerful! We pray so that WE are empowered BY HIM to do what He wants US to do.

We carry the instructions received "in the closet" and "on the go" to engage the world as we are sent for His purposes, in constant fellowship as partners with Him.

Informed, Conformed, and Transformed

We live beyond the information age. It seems like it is no longer even possible to maintain the amount of information we encounter on a daily basis - so we have wonderful technology to help us. Any fact that isn't in our short-term memory is just a Google-search away!

The Body of Christ has seen an explosion in good Bible teaching over the last generation or so. We are very informed by teachers.

Proverbs 10:14 tells us,

"Wise people store up knowledge,
But the mouth of the foolish is near destruction."

We are also a conformed people. Sociologists tell us that cultures and sub-cultures develop descriptors that make make us feel a part. Generations set their boundaries mainly by music, slang, hair and clothing styles. Television shows, media personalities, and performers show-and-tell us what's in and what isn't. In the Christian world, our preachers help define our social norms.

It's not a bad thing to conform. It just that our walk and identity with Christ must be deeper than that.

Where teachers inform us and preachers conform us, God TRANSFORMS us.

We need information. We need to feel like we belong to something bigger than we are. But, most of all, we need to be in fellowship with Our Heavenly Father in order to be transformed into the image of His Son.

2 Corinthians 3:18:

"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."

Unveil your face by presenting yourself to Him. And let the transformation begin!

Faith and Uncertainty

The Greatness of God in us demands our highest level of living.

Uncertainty is the wall against which our faith, like a ladder, can lean - taking us higher. Without engaging uncertainty our faith lays flat.

Our faith must grow. It must do more. It must carry us into the realm of the impossible - where God does His best stuff.

We must be willing to extend our faith to meet and exceed any uncertainty, any fear, any doubt.

In this, faith is the substance of our hope and the evidence of what we can't quite yet see (Hebrews 11:1).

Meet the challenge before you by engaging your faith for greater things.

Expecting Greater Things

^{I Corinthians 13:9} "For we know in part and we prophesy in part. ¹⁰ But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away...¹² For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known."

^{Romans 8:22} "For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. ²³ Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body."

We see dimly.

We see in part.

We are still groaning within ourselves for the Greater Stature.

--------------------------------------------------------------
When my wife was pregnant with my boys there seemed to be constant transitions; reminders that what we had hoped for would be delivered.

This I know about transition; it is that time when "what was" no longer works and "what will be" has not yet had a chance to succeed.

We, as the Body, continue in transition.

But what He has promised He is sure to deliver. The pangs don't lie.

I AM expecting.

Genetics

One of the major influences on who we are is in our DNA. It is how God designed us genetically to fulfill the plan He has for us.

He has placed there certain qualities - physical, emotional, and intellectual - that, even before we meet Christ, "bend" us a certain way.

Character and talent starts here. Research has shown that - in the womb - different babies respond in different ways to the same stimuli.

We won't debate the source, but even weaknesses are as deep as our DNA.

We can't accept this as final. Our work, after Christ, is to "bend" to the New Birth.

When it comes to character, deal with your weaknesses. Let God change you.

When it comes to talent, expand on your strengths. Let God grow you.

The Personal Renewal Imperative

First of 2 parts.

I've been pondering what we in the Body of Christ need to do better in order to make a bigger splash in the world.

Without a doubt we must tend to the bedrock-core-heart issues that Jesus talked about, like loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength; and loving your neighbor as your self. Jesus couldn't have been any more clear (Mark 12:29-31).

But I'm thinking about two other things. One I'll address today, the other tomorrow.

Today's imperative:

We must take the need for personal renewal seriously.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new". (2 Corinthians 5:17)

To choose God is to choose renewal, which means CHANGE is inevitable - He will seek to CHANGE you. You embrace it when you embrace Him. Your life after Christ MUST be different than your life before. He has made you new.

I know that the familiar habits of the old man are hard to break. Break them anyway. The attitudes and leanings and thought patterns stick to us like colors to a beachball, but cast them off!

This is do-able...you are in Christ!

Choose a habit or attitude that you have that you know is not meant to be part of the new man and eradicate it. Meditate on scripture that gives you the advantage, spend time in prayer over it, take intentional purposeful strides to correct it and watch the new man come forth!

Then move on to the next one.

This is precisely the type of activity that will change the world. People WANT to be better!

Show them how to be NEW!

Winning or Losing?

At any one time it takes a substantial amount of insight - beyond what we are capable of applying with our natural mind - to evaluate whether we are "winning or losing".

We all encounter challenges. We can be sure that the storms will come (Luke 6:46-49).

I'm thinking of the life of Joseph. What if he had stopped in the pit or the prison to determine his potential? Certainly he would have concluded that his life meant nothing and that he was a failure. Instead, with the passage of time, he was able to say to his brothers, "But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive" (Genesis 50:20).

Or Paul and Silas in prison - all that commitment and zeal for God's work ending in the sludge of the prison depths...but they worshipped their way out of a mess.

Paul was able to write, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28).

Joseph, Paul, Silas, others - they chose God's perspective. Their conditions didn't limit their perspective. Their future wasn't dependent on their circumstance.

When venturing out in God, pursuing His face and His purposes for our lives, we may not know if we are "winning or losing" by evaluating at any one time using the world's perspective, but we do know this...

We can have peace and rest knowing that He - the Greater One - is with us. We can have peace in the midst of uncertainty. He sees the end from the beginning.

Expectation in transition

There is a certain amount of anxiety in transition but, whether chosen or thrust upon us, our seasons of transition do not take God by surprise.

When we live surrendered to Him, our life is His - which means that change is gonna' come. It is inevitable. And as agents of change He will use transitions - that we are led to and led through - to make sure we have the proper elements in our lives to cause Christ to be formed in us.

The uncertain feeling that accompanies transition can signal us to areas in which we need to trust Him more. Remember, He sees the end from the beginning, behind the curtain that hangs between us and the "next scene" of the drama that is our lives. He is both in our present and in our future, going ahead preparing a place for us. Truly "...all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28).

Whether YOU initiated the transition or it is the result of circumstances beyond your control, God is not surprised.

Trust Him in it all, with it all, through it all.



Click here for today's Daily Bread.

The Problem with Genetics

My two boys have taught me how much genetics influences who we are. I had to face it. Nature (God-creation) contributes to character and giftings as much as nurture.

When I was a Psychology student, my leanings were to the Behaviorist Camp, which puts so much emphasis on cause and effect and environmental contributions to who we are and why we are who we are.

But I can't deny that my two boys, raised in the same home under very similar circumstances, influences, etc. are dramatically different. And they've always been. As infants they handled sleep and eating different. Little tiny (but significantly different) attitudes towards everything that was in their little tiny world.

So what do we do with this? Are we stuck with who we are?

Clearly not. We can make remarkable changes in our attitudes and deep adjustments in our personalities when we encounter forces of influence that are greater than ourselves.

Some of these forces will require change - like strict family systems, or extreme governmental controls. Over time, these can account for differences in entire people groups who, although it sounds prejudicial, behave differently from each other.

My adventures over the past few years into a number of countries and cultures has shown me that, in fact, people behave differently in different cultures. They even think differently, process ideas differently, and react to change differently. Nurture responses.

Some of these forces will coax us into change and show us how we can change and what that change might mean.

Our own experiences with God are of this sort. He invites us to change.

When it comes to character, we should focus on our weaknesses - and pursue growth and maturity there. When it comes to our giftings, we should focus on our strengths.

Identify a character weakness and eradicate it. Identify a gifting and grow it. In this, I believe we are partnering with God in growing us up in to Him.

^{Ephesians 4:11} And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, ¹² for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, ¹³ till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; ¹⁴ that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, ¹⁵ but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— ¹⁶ from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

Click here for today's Daily Bread.