Heart Tracks - The Declaration

      Watchman Nee, a man who knew much about adversity and persecution, said that he faced life with this prayer of affirmation and faith, simply declaring, as does His Word, "You are King of kings, and Lord of lords."  Each day, whatever the day would hold, that was what he went out in the strength of.  Not in reliance upon himself, or his knowledge, or even his faith, but in total trust that whatever power, be they physical or spiritual, he would rely upon, trust completely in the One who was King and Lord over every and all earthly and spiritual power.  It is my desire and prayer to live by such a declaration of trust as well.  To know that in the face of everything and anything, He is King and Lord over all of it.  To know that whatever darkness and evil I may face, despite whatever authority they may have, His authority and power are greater, stronger, and in them, in Him, I overcome. 

    Revelation 12 speaks of the power of satan, the dragon and his war against the people of God, a war that has gone on since Eden.  Verse 10-12 says that the dragon was "thrown down," by His people, and it was done through "the blood of the Lamb....and their testimony."  T. Austin-Sparks said that, "If the weakness of God (the Lamb) can do this, what can His strength not do?"  The enemy does have a certain dark authority, but his authority is useless against those who stand upon and in the authority and life of Christ.  Are we standing upon this authority today in our families, our marriages, our churches, and our ministries?  Are we seeing the power of darkness overcome by His blood, and the power of our believing testimony and our trust in it?  Where are you and I really standing in all of these places today?
     Hebrews 12:26 reads "Once more I will shake the earth and the heavens also.  This means that the things on earth will be shaken so that only the eternal things will remain."  Many believe this to refer to a last great shaking of the world just before the Lord returns, but there are those who see a deeper meaning here.  One that foretells of an ongoing shaking in our lives.  Simply put; for the believer, our world will be shaken, continuously, until all that is left is Christ.  The shaking will go on, we can count on it.  Everything that is not Christ in our lives, churches and ministries, will be shaken so that only what is Christ will remain. The old Jerry Lee Lewis song said that there was a "whole lotta shakin' goin' on."  It has gone on, it will go on.  Count on it.
     Sparks defined conversion this way; it is "depositing Christ at the very center of our being with the view to His spreading to the very circumference.  That is the nature of a believer, and this will meet with every force in the universe that is against Christ."  Adversity, opposition, very likely, naked hatred, will be the spiritual force we face, yet, as Revelation promises, we will overcome it all by our testimony of the Lamb's, blood that has already slain the dragon.   The shaking will be ongoing, but we meet it with the declaration that is woven into the very fabric of our being; "Your are King of kings, and Lord of lords."  He is El Roi, the Strong One who sees."  Sees, and moves, and.......shakes, till all that is left is Christ.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Pressing Jesus

     The story of the woman with the "issue of blood" that's told in Luke 8:42-48, speaks to me in so many ways.  She had been suffering for 12 years with an ongoing menstrual problem, one that rendered her unclean according to Jewish law.  More, she had spent all she had seeking a cure, yet no one could help her.  Jesus was walking through a heavy crowd, and she was part of that crowd.  Many were pressing in on Him, touching Him, and she, hoping against hope, pressed in on Him as well.  Scripture tells us that she sought to just touch the fringe of His robe, believing just doing that might bring healing.  Immediately she was healed, and Jesus, realizing that healing had flowed out of Him, asked, "Who touched Me?"  I think He asked that question for the benefit of His disciples and the crowd around Him, not because He didn't know.  The disciples, shocked at the question, since there was such a great crowd about Him, all pressing in, touching Him, wondered how anyone could distinguish between the touches.  Yet Jesus could, and did.  Have you ever wondered why?

     In that crowd, there had to have been many, perhaps all, who wanted to touch Him, wanted to receive something from Him, and certainly, the woman did as well, yet it was only her that Jesus stopped and took note of.  Again, why?  I've come to believe that the reason He did is that there was something in the woman's desire and heart that set her apart from the rest of the crowd.  Yes, she sought to be healed, but I think that being healed alone was not her central desire.  I believe that she didn't want to just touch Him in order to receive something for herself, but that she might receive Him as well.  There is a great difference.  Hers had been a life of loss and emptiness, and isolation.  Somehow, she saw in Jesus not only the answer to her physical need, but her emotional and spiritual as well.  The long years of illness had likely brought a brokenness that put her beyond just a desire for it to end, but a desire for something more, much more.  A desire for Someone, and that Someone, she sensed, was the Christ who was passing by.  When she reached out to touch Him, Jesus perceived that, perceived that unlike the rest of the crowd, she wanted something more than relief, deliverance, or help, she wanted Him, and as His healing flowed out of Him to her, so did the essence of who He was.
She did lay hold of His healing, but much more, she laid hold of Him.  How does that speak to you and me?
     If you're one who is reaching out to Him today, in what way, and what for are you reaching?  Do you see Jesus merely as an answer to your problems, the heavenly "Fixer" who straightens out our mess, gets us out of trouble, makes problems go away, or, is He to you, something more, something much more?  Do you want to encounter Him for what you will get, how He will profit you, or, do you want to lay hold of Him because you want Him, who He is, for the joy and wonder of having Him, knowing Him, being with Him?  The very well known, but little understood scripture that exhorts us, and promises us, that if we seek first His Kingdom, Himself, that "all these things will be given us as well."  We've translated "these things" as all that will benefit and bless "us."  Too often, most often, we're like the nameless crowd, only interested in these things, not Him.  We spend our personal prayer time, our corporate worship times, consumed with laying hold of the things, not Him, and clearly, Jesus knows the difference.  Do we?
     No one else in that crowd is mentioned, or noticed.  The crowd remains the crowd.  The question for you and I is; will we remain in the crowd, pressing in on Him, but never laying hold of Him?  He's passing by.  What will we do?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Glory

     A pastor friend once related to me how a question asked of him as a young man by a seasoned evangelist, transformed his life and ministry.

As part of a group of men in his particular denomination gathered in one of their regular meetings, the elder brother asked them two questions; the first being, "What is happening in your church right now that cannot be attributed to human effort, inspiration, or activity?"  He was shaken, but it was the next question that broke him.  The evangelist asked, "If the Holy Spirit were completely removed right now, would it have any effect at all on you and the ministry and people of your church?"  He couldn't get away from those questions.  He was a young man who was receiving a lot of recognition in his part of the body for taking a church, and as he put it, "had it humming."  He'd made use of all the latest methods, and was following all the latest church growth strategies.  Everything was functioning like a well oiled machine.  The problem was, the church is not a machine, but the Body of Christ, a living, spiritual organism.  Like Isaiah, he was undone, and so began a journey in Him and the power of His life that continues to this day, always seeking to go deeper in Christ.
     Those questions will undo us if we allow His Spirit to truly search us with them.  As my friend also has put it, "It's not so important that we get the right answers, as that we ask, or are asked, the right questions."  To the ones just shared, He has spoken another.  It cuts into my heart, and may well do so with yours as well.  The question is, "What will happen in your fellowship's worship time this week that will be completely unexpected, that could only be defined as a supernatural 'God thing?' "  Are we willing to allow Him to search us out on this?  Are we willing to allow Him to show us just how "predictable," our gatherings truly are?  Do our people come knowing just what to expect in the worship, and, unconsciously or not, "knowing" what to expect from God?
     In an article, Larry Sparks wrote, "God wants to show up in ways that bust open our 21st century safe, spiritual boxes, as we come face to face with the fear of the Lord."  Fear of the Lord.  Not heard much I think in too many of our gatherings, yet Acts 2:43 says that the early church moved in the fear of the Lord, and "many signs and wonders took place."  Many like to replace "fear" with "awe" and "reverence" with "respect," but one cannot read the whole of New Testament scripture and deny that the church had a holy, reverential fear of God.  Not a carnal fear, but a holy one.
     We are fast approaching what the church calls, Pentecost Sunday, celebrating the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the church after the resurrection of Christ.  I wonder though, whether Pentecost and the work of the Spirit, haven't been relegated to a kind of old family album that we take off the shelf, look at, have warm memories of, and then place it back till the next "Pentecost Sunday."  Sparks writes, "The church has all but abandoned the Pentecost experience in the pursuit of relevance."  Dare we allow the Spirit to examine us as to the truth of this statement?
     My particular part of the Body of Christ has an old hymn that goes, "Heaven came down and glory filled my soul, when at the cross my Savior made me whole."  Oh, that heaven would come down again, or, more correctly perhaps, that we would come up to heaven, by way of the cross, and truly become whole.  I think we've devalued the glory of God, thinking it more a matter of "heart flutters" felt in response to a moving song, or the enjoyment of a good message.  Is this really His glory?  Pastor Jack Hayford, a much respected part of the Promisekeepers movement, tells the story of how the church he pastored, a church of no reputation, was transformed.  Not by a brilliant strategy, or focused activity, but by the glory and wonder of God alone.  It happened on a New Year's day when he had come into the office for a few minutes to tie up a few loose ends for the coming Sunday.  As he was leaving, he happened to open the door to the sanctuary, and in there, he saw a kind of mist hovering over all.  His only thought was, "This can only be the glory of God."  What do we do with something like that?  Dismiss it as just something from "those people?"  Or, was it truly His glorious presence.  From that moment on, the church experienced a mighty move of the Spirit, and nobody could take credit but Him.  As a young pastor, I heard a man named Charles Strickland preach that you could build a church in the midst of a garbage dump, and if the glory of the Lord was upon it, people would run to it. Oh, for the glory of God to truly come upon us.  To call Him awesome and then experience Him as such.
    More than 30 years ago, a professor at the Bible College I attended said this of our part of the Body of Christ; that we were like a shiny, beautiful locomotive in a railroad museum.  Wonderful to look at, but unable to go anywhere because there was no fire in its engine.  Powerless, stationary and static.  Do we just label that "negative," or do we dare to seek Him out on this, allowing Him to show us the truth in it?  Jesus said that "if you (very flawed humans) wish to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask Him?"  Let us ask Him, cry out to Him.  No longer a "showpiece" church, but His Body, moving in power, in the fear of the Lord, alive.  Laying hold of Him as He lays hold of us.  A church and people whose only thought of relevance is that we be relevant to Him.....in all His glory.

Blessings,
Pastor O

 

Heart Tracks - Monotony

      Oftentimes, those inviting us into the life of faith in Christ portray it as a great adventure, and it is, but it's an adventure as defined by Him, and not us, and His definition can contain a great deal of dreary sameness, where life seems to be one long time of monotony, with the landscape around looking just the same as yesterday, and gives every indication of being no different tomorrow.  This can be so in a marriage and family, a job, and most certainly a ministry.  This is not where we want to be, not what we "signed up" for.  Worse, despite all our pleas and prayers, the Father doesn't seem to hear, doesn't appear moved to change anything about our circumstances.  Like the Israelites in Deuteronomy 1, we are camped at the foot of a mountain, and the mountain is not moving, and neither are we.  I have been in this place so many times, and you likely have as well.  How do we respond to it?  Humanly, it's so easy to become frustrated, angry, especially at Him.  We have questions that He doesn't seem at all inclined to answer.  We want to move on, but He keeps us right where we are.  What are we to do when we feel trapped in a place, situation, relationship or ministry that hurts?  I don't mean dangerous to us physically, or exposes us to abuse in a relationship, but that being there, being faithful, hurts, and more, seems to make no sense.  I can't speak for you, but I share what He speaks to me in such a place, and how I can respond in that place.

     I am learning that when "trapped" at the mountain, and the feelings of anger, frustration, feelings of hopelessness, and a great sense of futility arise, I can respond by first, asking forgiveness for harboring all these things that might be growing in my heart, and directly contradict His promise of faithfulness to us in every situation.  As He forgives, His cleansing and healing come to me.  The bondage is broken, the chains fall off, and freedom arrives.  Next, I can ask Him to pour out upon me an abundance of His grace, mercy, and peace in that place.  The difficulty of where I am is real, as is the pain that comes with it.  Yet, as I'm filled with His grace, His mercy, and His peace, they cannot control me, enslave me, and make me a victim instead of a victor.  As He did with Paul, He makes me victorious even when confined in a 4x6 prison cell,and chained between two guards.  Last, I can give Him thanks in that place.  Thanks that He has not forsaken me, that He continues to provide for me there, and that where I am is not where I will end up.  His path may well lead us through the valley of the shadow of death, but it will not leave us there.  He will take us through.  To the Israelites in Deuteronomy 1, He said, "You have stayed long enough at this mountain.  It's time to break camp and move on."  I, we, have no idea when that time will come, but it will come.  In His way, in His time.  "

     There is a prayer I have written down in my journal that I have come to speak to Him, and it is that when those times of monotony and sameness come to my life, my ministry, I would remember, again and anew, that my unchanging, but ever surprising God, lives!  That is the great adventure.  Not that our lives will be filled with excitement, but that they will be filled with Him, who when we are stuck at a place we don't want to be, are unstuck in our spirit, free, alive, and listening for His voice, knowing that one day, we will receive the call to move out and move on, with Him, in Him, for Him.

Blessings,
Pastor O 

Heart Tracks - The Chosen

       I was struck by what I read in the 3rd chapter of Mark today.  Jesus had been ministering to the crowds, healing, delivering.  Verses 13-14 read, "Afterward Jesus went up on a mountain and called the ones He wanted to go with Him.  And they came to Him.  Then He selected 12 of them to be His regular companions......"  I was struck by that because it's obvious that He had called more than 12 to Him on that mountain, and that more than 12 had come.  Yet He only chose 12.  Why just 12?  His Word says that they were to be His regular companions.  Did this make all the others "irregular companions?"  Did Jesus care for the 12 more than all the others?  What marked them apart?  What was it that Jesus saw in them?  

     When God sent Samuel to choose from among the sons of Jesse, Samuel and Jesse both believed that it would be one of the older, more impressive looking sons that would be chosen to one day become king.  Yet God chose David, the youngest and least of his brothers, telling Samuel that in His choosing, He saw not what appeared outwardly, but what was in the heart of David himself.  On that mountain, Jesus did the same.  Jesus said that "many are called, but few are chosen."  Here, Jesus has called many to Himself, and many came.  No doubt all of them desired to serve Him in some way, do ministry, even perform miracles, to be used, and used greatly by Him.  Yet, they were not chosen.  Could the reason be that it was because Jesus saw in them a great willingness to be active for Him, but much less so to be intimate with Him?  His call to them was not to ministry, service and activity, but to Himself.  So many of us are willing to work for Him, but not to be with Him.  I read not long ago that the average pastor spends less than 10 minutes a day in real communion with God.  If this is so for pastors, what is the state of the people?
It is so much easier for us to "do" than to "be."  Jesus calls each of us to come to Him, but only those with a heart to know Him, live with and in Him, to never consciously be out of His presence, to literally abide in Him moment by moment, will be the ones He chooses to be His regular companions.  Are you and I such?
     I think we see something that is key to why the 12 were selected in the following chapter.  Jesus and His disciples are crossing over to the other side of the lake when a powerful storm arises.  The disciples are in a panic, believing they are about to die.  They awaken Jesus, asking Him if He cared that they might possibly perish.  He quietly but powerfully stills both the storm and the surrounding waves, and then chastens them for their lack of trust.  Astounded, they exclaim, "Who is this man that even the winds and waves obey Him?"  I think that this is what will mark the life of one who is a regular companion of Jesus.  It is not that they will never struggle or question.  It is that in their heart is an unquenchable thirst to know Him, to know His ways, to learn ever more deeply, who He is.  A heart that constantly asks "Who is this Jesus?", and is willing to go with Him to and through anything to find out.  Having not just a strong desire to "do for Him," but an overwhelming yearning to know and be with Him.  The chosen.  I want to be among them.  Do you?  

Blessings,

Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Coming Or Going?

      Twister is one of my favorite movies.  It's the story of a ragtag team of scientists obsessed with the idea of chasing after and encountering a Category 5 tornado, one of nature's most powerful forces.  In the movie, they brave every type of danger to do so, and exhibit a perseverance that will not be denied.  They want to know the makeup of such a force of nature, to uncover the mystery of what lies within.  In a sense, they want to literally "lay hold" of the tornado.  What would your life and mine be like if we possessed a similar desire to know and lay hold of Him?
     Our lives are filled with cravings and obsessions.  The things we chase after are unable to be counted.  Success, in ministry, in our profession, even in noble causes such as "winning the lost."  We commit all of our energy, our being, to secure these things.  Many of them are good, but how many are truly "God?"  Do we have a desire for Him that will not be denied, that will face any obstacle and overcome it simply for the joy of knowing Him?  Or, do we relegate Him to a small portion of our lives, ready to be called upon when needed, but otherwise, staying in the background while we get on with the business of pursuing the things we have identified as having really mattered?  We expect to be in heaven someday, and that will be time enough to spend with Him then, but right now, there are more pressing matters, more important cravings that cry out for our attention, and we need to feed them.  He'll understand, He'll be patient.  He'll wait for us.
     We are activity oriented people.  This is especially true of believers, especially pastors, missionaries, and other ministry workers.  "Go and make disciples," that's what Jesus told us to do in Matthew 28, and so we we go out to do just that.  Yet, before we go out for Him, we must first come to Him, and so few of us really do that.  So we go out ill-prepared to encounter the spiritual forces arrayed against us.  The result is weariness, frustration, burnout.  Wade Taylor, in his book, The Secret of the Stairs, wrote "The call of God is never to 'go,' it is always to 'come.' "  In Mark 1:17, Jesus said, "Come after Me, AND I WILL MAKE YOU TO BECOME FISHERS OF MEN."  Like the tornado chasers, we must have an all encompassing desire to know, and encounter, the mystery of who He is, a mystery that He longs to share with you and I.  Then, when we do go out, it won't be in our own power, understanding, and wisdom, but His.  We go out as ones being God sent, and not self sent.  There is a great difference between the two.  Before the apostle Paul went out to the Gentiles, he first came to Him in Arabia, where for 3 years he was consumed with the passion to know Him.  This passion never left him, and he exhorts us in Ephesians 5:18, "Be filled with the Spirit," the literal meaning of which is "be being filled with the Spirit."  This is a continuous, life empowering, life giving, encounter with Him through His Holy Spirit.  It is an encounter with a Person, Power, and Life that all the category 5 tornadoes that have ever been or will be are as nothing in comparison to.  When is the last time that you or I really had such an encounter?  In one way or another today, you will go out.  Have your first come?  To Him, all of Him, with all of yourself? Are we "going" but not "coming."  Be sure, our lives will reflect if we are.

Blessings,

Pastor O   

Heart Tracks - Revealer Of Mysteries

      I recently heard Beth Moore tell the story of game she plays with her grandchildren whenever they come to visit.  In her home she keeps what she calls a "secret closet."  In it, she has crammed a wide variety of things she knows they would love to have.  When they come, she has them stand at a distance while she looks into the open closet.  She can see the contents, but they can't.  As she looks in, she makes various expressions of joy, adding to the excitement of the children as to just what she will bring out.  She even takes hold of an object and quickly flashes it before them, though so quickly they can't really see what it is.  She never rushes this time, and the children never know just what it is she will eventually bring out, but the one thing they do know is that whatever she does bring out, will be good.  She told this story as an illustration of God's ways with us.

    Throughout the Word, the Father and His ways are described to us as a mystery, yet it is a mystery that He longs to have revealed to us.  In Daniel 2:29 He is called "the revealer of mysteries."  The apostle Paul sought the prayers of the church that he, "might make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel," through his preaching and writing.  Jesus Himself told His followers in Luke 8:10, "To you has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God."  The mystery to be revealed, both directly and indirectly, is knowledge of Himself.  This knowledge cannot be attained through rational thought, or logic, or intellect, but only through revelation of Himself through His Holy Spirit.  Not information, but revelation, and this comes only through intimacy with Him through His Word, through prayer and meditating on both His Word, and upon His nature.  As we focus upon Him, He draws us to Himself, and as He does, we discover more and more who He is.  He is a mystery that will unfold Himself throughout eternity, but we don't have to wait for some distant time for it to take place.  His Word says He placed eternity in our hearts.  Eternity begins now.  Has it begun for you and I?
     One of the things I do in my prayer time is to ask Him to bring me ever deeper into the knowledge of who He is.  His Word tells us that He is Savior, Deliverer, Healer, Source, Shepherd, Peace, and the Bread and Living Water of life, among many other characteristics.  I can write these all down.  I can look up verses in scripture that tell me He is so.  I can memorize these traits, and list them to someone who inquires of them, but I cannot know Him in any sense of these characteristics apart from His giving me intimate, experiential, revelations of Himself in any and all of them.  Simply, I don't want to just know Him as a provider, but to know Him AS Provider, as Healer, as Peace.  I know Him as such because I've experienced Him as such, and so, when the world around me is shaken to its very foundations, as it surely will be, I can live in His peace, because I know Him as Peace.  That way, in the chaos of life, I may not know what is going to happen, but I know Him in whatever happens.  Like Moore's grandchildren, I can know that whatever He gives of Himself to me, will be good.  It cannot be anything else but.

    Again, Jesus said to those who will follow Him, that it has been given us to know the mysteries of the Kingdom.  It has been given, now, for you and I, has it been received?  Can we make up long lists about Him, but know so little of Him?  The passion of Paul's heart was to know Christ.  Not win the world, not build the church, but to know Him, to enter into the mystery that is Him, the revealer of mysteries, and know Him.  Will it be so of you and I?

Blessings,

Pastor O 

Heart Tracks - I AM Home

      I've a friend in ministry who was also a fellow student in my Bible College days.  When we get together, we often share stories about those times.  One of our favorite is to relate how a fellow pastor, a brother named Kenny, had the distinction of having some very "unique" roommates back then.  One such was a fellow we'll call "Willy."  Willy had some problems, one of which was a tendency to arise at night, and wander through the house sleepwalking.  One night, Kenny awoke to see Willy at the foot of his bed, asking, in his sleep, "Where am I?  Who am I?"  Naturally startled, Kenny replied, "You're names Willy, you're in my house, now get back to bed!"  We always laugh at that story, but as I remember it, I also believe it has real connection to how so many are living today in the spiritual realm.

    There are so many who are presently sleepwalking through life, and a good number of them are found in the church.  If pressed as to who they really are, and where they really are, they likely could do so in physical terms, but spiritually, they'd be no more aware than our old friend Willy.  Yet, unlike Willy, their response would have, does have, eternal consequences.

     Hebrews 11, often called the "faith chapter," gives the real picture of the lives of those who belong to Christ.  Many examples are given of the lives of those who lived and walked by faith, but I'm particularly drawn to what is said of Abraham in verses 9-10, "By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land....for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.....a better country, a heavenly one."  Even when living in the land promised to him by the Father, Abraham didn't consider it home.  For him, as for all those who truly live lives of faith, He, and He alone is home.  This world, and all that it offers, is alien to them, and they to it.  The church, and all those who comprise it, are to be a colony of heaven, of the Kingdom, of Life, in the country of death.  Are we?  Are the things, values, attitudes, and behaviors of the people of God, of you and I, alien, foreign, to the world system we physically live in?  Or, have we been so long amongst the tares, the weeds, that we no longer have the characteristics of wheat?  Have we become that comfortable, made that many accommodations with the flesh spirit that rules this world?
     I've a friend who likes to use the illustration of a current luxury car commercial.  In it, a couple are driving and have become disoriented.  By accident, they become part of a road race of high performance cars.  Keeping pace with them, the wife in the passenger seat puts her window down and calls out to the driver in the race car next to them for directions.  With his face and head covered in his helmet, all he does is stare at them.  She shrugs, turns to her husband and says, "They're not from around here."  My friend says that this ought to be the reaction of all those who would call this world and its value system home, to we who have found our home in Him.  It ought to be, must be, clear, that we are not from "around here" at all.  We are not purposely weird, purposely do and say strange things, but yet, our very lives, lived in and out from Him, are in themselves, strange to everyone who knows nothing of that realm.  Paul lived so deeply in that other, better country, that he said he often appeared to be a "fool for Christ," to those observing his life, accused of being out of his mind, demented.  Does our life, our church fellowship, 

seem so to any of those presently living in the country of death?  Is the great I AM really our home, or have we found it very comfortable where we are right here, believing that this really is the better country?
     Are we from around here, wherever "here" might presently be?  Are we, in the end, very much like Willy, sleepwalking through life, not really sure of where we are, and who we are?  Are we ready to awake?  Are we ready to come home?

Blessings,
Pastor O
     

Heart Tracks - The Obsession

      Heaven Is Real is both a best selling book, and soon to be released movie.  It tells the story of a 4 year old boy who died on an operating table, was taken up to heaven, and then came back to life, and then related to his family all of what he beheld there.  I have not read the book, or seen the movie, so I'm not going to comment on any part of either, but I did see his pastor father being interviewed by much respected evangelist James Robison.  I was impacted by something the father related that his now 10 year old son asked him one day.  He wanted to know why people did not believe the Bible?  His father answered, "Because they haven't seen what you've seen."  That statement registered upon my heart, and in a much deeper manner than just going to heaven and beholding its wonders.

     Several questions arose in my mind and spirit in response to the boy's.  The first is, when people, both believing and unbelieving, look at His church, His people, at you, at me, what do they see?  Do they see anything that draws their hearts to Him?  Does the Living Word move with power in and through us, and allow people to see glimpses, even fuller views of His Kingdom, and of His life?  Do they see what we've seen, and if not, would we dare to ask that maybe, just maybe, it's because we've not really "seen it" either.  Oh, we may know what our Bibles say, but we've not truly experienced the life of the One who speaks in it.  We can teach doctrine, preach power point sermons, even list all the benefits and blessings of being His, but we cannot show people "Christ in us, the hope of His glory."  We know what He has said, but not what He's saying.  We know what He's said, but have not experienced what He meant.  We know facts, but not the Person, not Christ.  And so, an unknowing world continues to go on unknowing, and we wonder why?

     In 2 Kings, 4:9, the woman of Shunem, upon meeting the prophet Elisha said to her husband, "Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God."  Commenting on this, Watchman Nee wrote, "It was apparently not what he said or did that conveyed that impression, but who he was.  When he came, she sensed God's presence with Him......Elisha's visits had one conscious effect: they left on that home an impression of God Himself."  Elisha beheld Almighty God, and those he came into contact with, whose hearts were tender and being drawn towards Himself, could see that same Almighty God in him.  This is the desperate need of our culture today.  Not just good works, and good teaching by His people, but the witness of His Manifest Presence in His church and people.  They need to "see"what we've seen, but unless we have truly seen Him, encountered Him in our daily lives, they'll just see us, and we are no substitute at all for Him.

     The lifelong obsession of the Apostle Paul after his conversion was to "know" Christ.  In Philippians 3:8 he writes, "More than that I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord....and count them (the loss of all things) but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ."  T. Austin-Sparks wrote that we will "never come out of the rubbish until we see Christ."  We will not, and those we seek to reach will not.  It's popular to say that the world is dying for Jesus, and they are, but they are dying to see a real Christ in real people, His people.  This goes beyond just doing Christlike things, it is manifesting the risen Christ to a world trapped in darkness and death.  Like the woman of Shunem, they need to sense, see, His presence in us, through us.  They need to see what we have seen, but they can't, won't, if we have not seen it, Him, ourselves.  Have we?  Have you, and have I?
     The letters of Paul, a man obsessed with knowing Him, still are filled with the the risen life of Christ.  Wherever he was, whether traveling and ministering throughout Asia Minor, or sitting chained in a cell, he resonated the power and life of Christ in every place.  All who came into contact with him saw it, and we still see it today in His Word.  Will you and I be such men and women, obsessed with knowing Him, willing to come out of the rubbish that we might?  To say as Paul did in Romans 11:33, "Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!", and then to become partakers of those riches, and to become living vessels of those riches so that others can partake as well.  Living in what is truly, a magnificent obsession.

Blessings,
Pastor O