Heart Tracks - Movable Prison Cells

 "The thief's purpose is to steal, kill, and destroy.  My purpose is to give life in all it's fullness." John 10:10....."It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."......"As much as we may know about His Truth, we are still so often governed by our natural lives."  T. Austin-Sparks

So many today are living their lives out in movable prison cells.  Unlike our usual idea of a cell, that it is stationary, we who live in these cells are able to easily take them wherever we go. Such cells are found in many different churches every week.  Songs are sung, sermons are heard, fellowship is entered into, all while sitting in the cold, confining loneliness of our cell.  They're invisible to all who are around us.  Sometimes they're even invisible to us.  We've grown so used to the cell's presence in our lives that we are able to move about seemingly free on the outside, yet imprisoned in our spirits and lives.  The presence of these cells and their ability to hold us captive may remain unseen and unknown to us, but they will surely make their presence known in every area of our lives and relationships, including the one we have with Christ, as well as how we "do" our jobs, and especially, as to how we carry out our ministry for Him.  They show up in our attitudes, belief systems, and especially in what we believe about Him.  They are often lies that disguise themselves as truth.  These movable cells affect, even control some, many, or every aspect of our lives.  We may use various addictions to medicate them, or busyness to ignore them, but they remain, and their power over us grows stronger. And the size of the cell grows larger, while our space within smaller. I know something of these movable cells because I have lived in one or another for too much of my life, even my life in Him.  Perhaps you're living in one right now.

I love the truth of John 10:10 and Galatians 5:1, yet the reality of that truth was lacking in many areas of my life and walk with Him.  Jesus said we would know the Truth and the Truth would make us free. But too often, though that truth is known in our minds, the very real strongholds that exist there keep it from ever traveling that huge distance between our mind and heart, so keeping it from being our reality.  And so the devil's, not the Lord's purpose is what gets carried out.  The devil is able to steal real life from us, kill our hope, and destroy our faith, as he stands outside our cell mocking, accusing, and above all, lying to us.  He convinces us that we can never be free of that cell.  His overall purpose is to keep us from seeing Christ who also stands there, and it is He, not the enemy who holds the key to that cell.  In truth, He's already unlocked that cell for us by His blood and resurrection.  He is not coming to give us life, He has given us life.  He is not coming to make us free, He has made us free. Satan has deceived us into thinking we are locked up, but Christ calls us out.  Do we, will we, have we come out?

What might be your movable cell?  Where might it be found?  In your emotions?  Your spirit?  Your past?  Do you know, really know, that He has given you life in all its fullness?  A fullness that is rooted in eternity.  In Him.  The devil's purpose is to convince you that you can never leave your cell.  Christ's is that you know a freedom that no cell can hold.  One of the two is being worked out in your life today.  Which?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Flow

 "But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives HE WILL PRODUCE this kind of fruit in us; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control....Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to His cross and crucified them there. If we are living now by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Holy Spirit's leading in every part of our lives." Galatians 5:23-25....."If the Holy Spirit abides within me, than a river of His Life must flow out of me."  James Robison

Somewhere in my prayer journals, I have written down a question in response to what Paul writes above.  I ask myself the question, "What flows out out of my heart; love, joy, peace, and the rest of what Paul lists, or anger, bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness, and attitudes that find their place in the darkness?  It's amazing how deeply the latter can lurk in our hearts, all the while remaining hidden......until something or someone comes along to trigger their rise.  Such happened to me not very long ago.

Some things I had been troubled over, aggravated with had been stewing in my mind and spirit for most of the week.  They were not welcome, but they were there nonetheless.  More, as we so often do, I was rationalizing their presence much more than I was offended by them in my spirit.  Then, that triggering I spoke of took place, and I was shocked by the intensity of the rage that spewed out of my heart.  I was also shamed.  Then I was broken.  It was not the fruit of His Spirit that was flowing out of me, but of my flesh.  I had no excuse.  The river of His Holy Spirit, as the chorus says, brings life and refreshment wherever it goes.
It was not life and refreshment that was flowing out from within, but darkness and death.  It had lain hidden until that moment, and then it burst out.  That was ugly, but here's the beauty.  When such happens to us, and at some point it will for us all, His grace and Presence will, when we recognize and repent of a bitter bile that flows out of us, burst in.  And it cleanses and makes us whole.  The River of His Life will again flow out of us.

So how then do we, as we walk in the midst of a world and enemy that works through it, "live in the Spirit" as Paul exhorts?  I think it begins with the knowledge that in ourselves, we can't.  In this knowledge, we then come to His cross, surrender to it, and upon it, die to ourselves. This is our lifestyle, and as we live in His Spirit, we are led of Him, searched by Him, and empowered by Him.  He then produces the fruit of His Spirit, and part of that process is to expose whatever rotten fruit might be lurking in our hearts. Secondly, we walk in brokenness before not only our God, but before men.  Sometimes it's the latter that is the most difficult.  Admitting our lack to Him is one thing.  Admitting it to our peers is something altogether different.  Pride can hide out in the most unlikely places.  Last, we live lives that are a transparent witness.  It is not just what we say, and even how we live, but to Whom our lives point to.  Too often we like to point to ourselves.  How much of our witness really points to Him....and Him alone?  The Father does not need us standing with Him on the throne.  That place is for Christ alone.

So, if the Holy Spirit does abide within you and me today, what, according to Robison's statement, is flowing out of us?  What might be lurking within us, hidden for the moment, but only waiting its chance to break out?  It will.  Will we, at that place, humble ourselves, seek His face, and in brokenness before Him, allow Him to break through to us?  The mixture in our hearts made pure by His Spirit.  The river of His Life flows freely, within and out of us.  Some type of river will flow out of us.  Will it be His?

Blessings,
Pastor O 

Heart Tracks - Which Fruit?

 "There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death."  Proverbs 14:12...."When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate."  Genesis 3:6 (Italics are mine)  "Eve was drawn to the good, not the evil side of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil."  John Bevere...."We are drunk on the spirit of delusion."  James Robison

I have not yet read, but have heard author and preacher John Bevere talk of his newest book, Good Or God?  Now, we have often spoken of how we take or settle for what is good over His best.  But Bevere takes us much deeper than that.  He speaks of how much of what we would define as "good" is not only not good, but finds it home in the heart of hell.  The example of satan with Eve in the garden springs out at us.  Look at the words used to describe the fruit forbidden them by the Father.  It was GOOD to the taste, a DELIGHT to the eyes, and DESIRABLE to the mind and senses.  There did not appear to be anything at all evil about it. Yet when Eve was seduced by the reasoning of the devil, making it her own reasoning, her actions, the pursuit of what seemed to be good, resulted in the fall of man, the entrance of sin and death into the world, and a curse upon humankind that we remain powerless to remove of ourselves.  All because of the choice of what seemed GOOD!

Several years ago I heard the evangelist James Robison say of both the church and the world that we are "drunk on a spirit of delusion and deception."  That truth is seen everywhere both within and outside of the church.  As concerns the world, it may seem obvious, but not so much the church, and the fact that we say not so much gives proof to what Robison spoke.  We need only examine all the rationalizations made by His people in choosing to ignore and disobey His revealed word, and on every level of life; from relationships to stewardship.  We so easily embrace impurity because we're convinced there is much good in that embrace. Some years ago someone in my church came and told me that they and their mate had prayed about a matter and that the Lord had given them permission to disregard something clearly spoken in His Word.  The reason for the disregard seemed good and sensible to them, but in the end, they, like Eve, were eating not from the Tree of Life, but from their perspective.  The good side of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  I have pastored for more than 30 years now and have seen countless numbers of His people make this same kind of choice in what seems to be good....and the end, one way or another, has always been "death" in some form for them.

Recently I saw an entry in a pastor's forum where a man wrote in effect, "Scripture is important, but it is not the final authority." Now, I know that it's God who is the full authority in all things, but I also know He does not contradict His revealed Word.  If that truth has not been settled in our hearts, then we can easily mistake the voice of the enemy for His voice.  What is good is no longer defined by Him, but by us and the enemy and this opens a floodgate of destruction upon the church. Destruction that we are right now seeing among us.

Bevere asks, "If Eve could be deceived in her perfect environment, how much more can the enemy deceive us in our imperfect, fallen one?"  I saw or heard somewhere that the only defense against deception is to live in the fullness of His Presence.  This means to live and eat only and always of the fruit of the Tree of Life.  Every day, we have the choice of which fruit we will be eating.  Which choice are we being drawn to?  That which comes from the good side of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, or that which grows from He who is the Tree of Life?  Which fruit do we hold in our hand right now?  Into which are we ready to bite?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Good?

"For I know the One in whom I trust, and I am persuaded that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until the day of His return."  2 Timothy 1:12..."Take courage!  It is I.  Don't be afraid."  Matthew 14:27....."God's sovereignty often means nothing to us unless we also know that He is good......God's sovereign power supervises everything that comes into our lives, no matter how threatening it appears.  And He is - in His unchanging nature - very, very good."  Chris Tiegreen

The Father calls us to believe in two unchanging irrefutable facts; that He is completely sovereign, and that He is completely good.  He then allows these facts to be challenged by our lives being lived out in a completely fallen world.  A world where very often, everything really does seem to be against us.  A world where the character of God is always called into question by our enemy the devil at every opportunity.  We believe He is in control until our lives are out of control.  We believe He is good until life is decidedly not good at all.  When everything around us is crumbling, when our faith and trust in Him is attacked on every side, we are faced with this question.  Do we really believe that He is in full control of life, even when life makes no sense?  Even when life has brought about the loss of "all things" we held as precious?  And if we do believe He is in control in the midst of life's deepest pain, do we continue to believe that He is totally good?

Larry Crabb speaks and writes much on the idea that it seems the average American believer's highest aspiration seems to be for a life that goes reasonably well, and reasonably smooth.  If this is so in us, then we can be sure that the Father will allow us to eventually collide with the reality of a God whose highest aspiration for us is that we know Him.  That we look and live, as His Son Jesus Christ did and does.  That the life of Christ is not only active around us, but even more so within us.  He does not call us to take our ease in our worldly recliners, but to enter into the "fellowship of His (Christ's) sufferings.  As Mark Batterson said, He calls us to live in the places where "light and darkness clash."  In those places, we will be faced with having to choose if we really believe He is totally good, totally in control, or He is not.  Are we persuaded of this, or are we not?  Are you?  Am I?

When Jesus calls us, He does not issue a call to enter into a life that is often defined as "the American Dream."  A life full of good things, many blessings, and as little pain and discomfort as possible.  He does not call us into a life that is content to stand on His promises of "good stuff," but into a life that is lived out in the fullness of His Presence.  He calls us to His cross, and not to our easy chair.  He calls us to a life that will be under assault by the winds and waves of the world and the enemy who uses them as he seeks to destroy us.  He calls us to see Him who we can trust, and who controls all the power of those winds and waves, and not the winds and waves themselves.  Jesus says to us, as He did to the disciples, "I am here.  Do not fear what is happening.  You can trust Me.  I am greater than these winds and waves.  Greater than the sum of every wind and wave that can ever come against you."  Then He adds a question for us.  Do we believe that?  Do we?

Chris Tiegreen says that if we only focus on the winds and waves, than we will always suspect the goodness and sovereignty of God in any situation.  He will always be suspect in our eyes.  The natural outflow of that will eventually be resentment, anger, and unbelief.  Our faith will be shipwrecked.  Might there be someplace today where yours, mine has suffered shipwreck?  Are we, as Paul was, persuaded?  Or, do questions remain?

We are called to believe the truth that He is both totally good and totally in control.  That this is certain.  There is another certainty for us as well.  As this false dream of what we call "good" crumbles around us, and it is crumbling, we will be tested in our belief in this truth.  We are being tested now.  When you and I fully enter into the whirlwind where the clashing of His Light and the enemies darkness shake our world, will we trust, believe, and obey He who is totally good and totally in control of it all?  Are we persuaded?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Which Club?

 "For all have sinned; all fall short of God's glorious standard.  Yet now God in His glorious kindness declares us not guilty.  He does so through Christ Jesus who freed us by taking away our sins.....We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed His blood, sacrificing His life for us." Romans 3:23-25...."The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give life in all its fullness"  John 10:10....."So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus."  Romans 8:1....."So if the Son sets you free, you will indeed be free."  John 8:36

The other day, while returning home from a church function and driving on the interstate, a group of "bikers" roared past me. They belonged to what I think they like to refer to as a "club."  I knew this because the jackets and vests they wore had emblazoned upon the back a grinning skull adorned with a motorcycle helmet, and the name, The Guilty Ones underneath it. Seeing it immediately set me to thinking, not just then, but since.  First off, I considered how they likely looked at membership in their club.  They probably saw it as a very exclusive one, with membership limited, and not easy to attain.  I wondered if they had any idea that the membership was not exclusive at all.  Every life born into this world finds a place in that club.  We are born into and under sin.  That sin separates us from Him, leaves us guilty and powerless to do anything about it.  I thought of how the deathmask on their vests, their "colors" truly did signify the state of us all.  We are born dead in our sin.

I also thought how the Father's beautiful gift of Life through grace and the giving of His Son Jesus Christ, means that no one need "ride" through life with the label, "Guilty One."  Instead, those who are His are the Freed Ones, the Forgiven Ones.  No doubt that group of riders really believed they were riding free on that interstate, but unless they had come to a saving, liberating knowledge of Him, they rode bound in unseen but very real chains of darkness and death.  So do all who ride with them on that "highway."  As His word says, it's a road that seems right to them, but its end is death.  The Guilty Ones ride through life towards only one end....eternal destruction.  Are you riding with them?

The last thing I thought of was this; there are so many who have believed upon Him, received Him as their Savior.  They no longer belong to the Guilty Ones, but the problem is, they are continuing to wear their old colors underneath their new ones.  In some cases this is because there are aspects of the old "club days" that they are struggling to let go of, but more often, it is simply a matter of continuing to think like a member of the Guilty Ones.  Though forgiven, they cannot believe they really are, so they go on trying to please Him and earn His favor and forgiveness, but no matter what they do, it never seems enough.  The club's colors continue to control them.  They have heard that they are now free in Christ, but somehow, the chains of yesterday are still with them.  They don't ride free, but remain tightly bound.  In bondage to so many things.  Their minds, emotions, hearts, weighed down with so much "baggage."  They may have taken off their outward colors, but inwardly, they remain burned upon their soul, spirit, and heart.  They no longer belong to the club, but more often that not, live and think as if they still do.  They don't know what it is to live and ride free.  They ride through life in their strength, not His.  Might you, we, at least in some way, be still riding with the Guilty Ones today?

The scriptures I shared in the beginning are truth, but truth does not become Truth to us until it becomes a very part of us, woven into the very fabric of our being.  Only He can do this for us.  Has He done it for you?  The Guilty Ones are always riding.  There is not one of us who need ride with them any longer.  He whispers our name, bids us to surrender those old colors, and live. If you have never heard Him whisper your name above all the roar of the ride, know that He whispers it now.  Leave that old road, and begin the journey on His road in His life.  If you have heard that whisper, yet somehow, some part of you continues to wear the colors of the Guilty Ones, allow Him to remove them from you, destroying them once and for all.  Come to Him.  Yield to Him.  He calls you, us, to ride free, forgiven, with Him.  The Guilty Ones, or the Freed And Forgiven Ones.  Which club are you riding with?

Blessings,
Pastor O 

Heart Tracks - Would I?

 "Then the Lord replied to me, 'If racing against mere men makes you tired, how will you race against horses?  If you stumble and fall on open ground, what will you do in the thickets near the Jordan?' "  Jeremiah 12:5....."Though none go with me, still I will follow."  Would I?

Jeremiah was a great prophet, but was also known as the weeping prophet.  Why?  For all intensive purposes, he was a failure. He spent his life speaking God's word to a people who not only would not listen, but mocked, ridiculed, hated, and sought to kill him.  Seemingly worst of all, God Himself told him that this would be the result of his obedience to His call.  I've been meditating on the life and ministry of not only Jeremiah, but of all the prophets.  For the most part, following Him did not yield a life filled with benefit and blessing.  Hardship and the appearance of failure more often than not was their portion.  And, as He did with Jeremiah, the Father told them it would be so.  None went with them.  Still, they followed.  The question that gnaws at my heart is, if He placed such a call upon me, would I?  If none go with me as I go with Him, would I still go?  Will I still follow?  Or, do I need to "see" results before I continue to go on with Him?  If following Him means the appearance of complete failure, can I, will I, go on?

The words the Father spoke to Jeremiah in 12:5 are timely for me today, and each day.  He calls us each to "run with horses," and to cut through the most dense, impassable thickets, and to do so when all that seems to lie ahead are more racing horses, and more impassable thickets.  Can we, will we, go on?  What I'm writing may well speak to those who are in ministry, but really, it speaks to every area of our lives.  What do we do with the reality that in our going with Him, every aspect of our circumstances are against us?  What do we do if every aspect of our marriage, family, job, as well as our emotional and physical state is the polar opposite of that which we thought and believed they would be?  The Father spoke the words to Jeremiah above in response to his complaint that nothing in life was as it should be.  God did not explain Himself to him, didn't even acknowledge the truth of Jeremiah's complaint.  He just wanted to know if he would go on with Him in spite of all of it.  He did.  Would we?  Do we?  In the place where we are in life today, whatever that place may entail, do we follow.....even if those we love most, serve with all our hearts, sacrifice all for, do not go with us, even reject us? 

I am learning more and more that what I "do" for Him, and the giving of my life for Him, has far more to do with the details of eternity than it ever will the temporal, the here and now.  Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Hosea, and all those saints through both the Old and New Testaments, had no idea that the lives of faithfulness they lived would continue to speak to those that followed them throughout the ages...and beyond.  The same is true for you and I.  We may see our lives as being lived out in futility now, but if we are yielded and obedient to Him, following where He leads, even though none seem to go with us, none do go with us, I believe they'll continue to speak long after we have left this realm.  We will live with eternity in view, and always before us. There will be pain in the fact that none go with us, but He does, and He will take the offering of our lives and use it for His glory.  We may not see the fruit of that here, but we will see it one day.

The horses are running, and the thickets lie before us.  He bids us to go on, with Him, even if we do so alone, unnoticed, unknown, to everyone but Him.  Christ walks by our side, the Holy Spirit empowers each step.  And we go on.....as He goes with us.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Other Loves

 "Don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God?"  James 4:4....."A sign of our ignorance in our relationship with God is our frequent prayers for Him to bless our other loves.  We ask Him to fill our desire for our idols of comfort and conquest.....Friendship with this world - the corrupt world of status, lust, power, and greed, is a 'Dear John' letter to God."  Chris Tiegreen

Many have learned "the Lord's prayer," and even pray it faithfully.  Perhaps every day.  But where are our hearts in the midst of that prayer?  Of any prayer?  Someone, I don't remember who, said that "We pray 'hallowed be Thy name,' but we don't live 'hallowed be Thy name.' "  In this prayer we ask that His name be above all other names, but in our lives, His name isn't.  There are so many other "names," loves that we have placed above Him.  Perhaps the foremost name we place above His is our own.

I once heard it said that we can tell where the true motivation of our prayers lie in the fact of who will reap the most benefit if they are answered?  For so many of mine, the majority recipient, was, is, me.  It's self.  I don't think I'm alone in that.  Keith Green, a prophetic singer of the Jesus Movement of the 60's and 70's has a lyric in his song, "Asleep In The Light," showing the Father's lament over the prayers of His people; "Bless me Lord, bless me Lord, Oh that's all I ever hear.  No one weeps, no one cries, no one even sheds one tear."  I think the proof of this is found in the prayer requests of most of our churches.  Lord, bless our lives, marriages, children, finances, professions, plans, goals, dreams, desires, and ministries.  Bless our name Lord, while we forget Yours.......and the names of most of those you have placed around our lives.  Isn't it amazing how shamelessly we can parade our other loves, our idols before Him, and as Tiegreen says, ask Him to bless them?  Like King Saul, who kept the plunder of the Amalekites for himself instead of surrendering all of it to Him, we're oblivious to the bleating of our own "sheep," the lowing of our own "cattle" in the background.

Watchman Nee once wrote of the expectations of a woman  he knew concerning Christ's return.  On the brink of world war, many, like today, were expecting his return.  Talk of it was everywhere in the Chinese church.  He said that most had the desire for His return grounded in either their being proved right concerning their doctrine of His second coming, or that they would be delivered out of an increasingly troubled world.  Of this good sister Nee said,   "Her longing was for the Lord Himself."  What are we truly longing for?  A better portion, situation, circumstance for ourselves, or simply, only, for Him?  It's not wrong to have other desires, good desires.  But they are desires that must be placed on His altar.  The good must be sacrificed in order to have the best; Himself.  Are we going to go on praying hallowed be Thy name while refusing to live it?  How loud are the sheep and cattle in your life and mine?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Enough

"I had heard of You with the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes have seen You."  Job 42:5...."Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, 'I have seen the Lord!'  Then she gave them His message." John 18:24

Watchman Nee writes, "For a year or two after my conversion I used to fear lest a modernist or an atheist should come along and prove to me the Bible was faulty and unreliable.  I thought, if he did, that would finish everything.  My faith would be lost; and I wanted to believe.  But now all is peace.  If all of them came and they brought as many arguments against the Bible as there are bullets in the armories of Europe, my answer would be one and the same.  'There is a great deal of reason in what you say - but I know my God.  That is enough.' "

Nee wrote those words more than 70 years ago, and they are as timely, even more so, as ever.  Those who profess faith in Him and in the truth and power of His Word are surrounded in our culture by scoffers and unbelievers.  Modernists, who have been around in every age, have gained influence both outside of and within the church.  Though we must have correct doctrine, theology, and biblical knowledge, these alone are no answer to their arguments.  Our answer can only be in Mary Magdalene's words, "I have seen the Lord!"  When we have truly seen Him, encountered Him face to face, heart to heart and life to life, then we have a response that all the knowledge, reasoning, and pride of this world can not stand against.  Like Nee, we can say, "I know my God.  That is enough." 

I think one of the great problems of the professing church today is that we are seeking to take His message to an unbelieving world without ever having truly "seen" Him with our own eyes.  Like Job, we have listened to countless sermons, read innumerable books, and spent hours reading His Word.  Our heads are filled with His Truth, but His image is not truly burned within our hearts.  We have heard with our ears, but we have yet to really see Him with the eyes of our hearts.  So we go out with a message that lacks the power of His Life.  Listeners are not convinced, and if they do agree, it is most often an intellectual, not a spiritual agreement.  No real transformation has taken place.  When Mary went to a group of disciples whose faith had been shattered, it was not the words of Jesus' message to them that convinced them to believe her, but the power of that which she had seen; the risen Christ.  Against such, nothing can stand.  It can be denied, rejected, turned away from, but not so the message of one who has truly "seen the Lord."  The power of such a message is such that you must choose to not believe it.

I know that there's been a great watering down of His Word in the professing church, but I don't believe that this is the real problem facing us.  I think it is a lack of teaching, preaching, and sharing His Word in the resurrection power of His life.  This can only come forth from lives that have experienced face to face encounters with Him, and not just once, but daily.  These come out of lives that are lived in His Presence, and they cannot be entered into in any way but being soaked in that Presence.  To have such a life, we must be single minded, single eyed, and single hearted.  He must be the "One thing," and in comparison with all other "things," the "only thing."  It is only that life and heart that will lay hold of and see Him.  Really see Him.  When I share His "message," I want it to be with the proclamation, both spoken and unspoken, of, "I have seen the Lord."  How about you?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Demand

 "And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God.  Let them be a living and holy sacrifice - the kind He will accept."  Romans 12:1

The evangelist James Robison tells the story of one of the first meetings he held as a young man where at the conclusion of his message, a young girl, paralyzed from the neck down was wheeled forward by her father.  The pastor of the church met them and leaned down to hear what the girl wanted to say.  She spoke, and he slowly rose up, tears streaming down his face.  At this Robison came to her, and drew close as she spoke the same words to him.  She said, "I want to give Jesus everything that I am. Do you think He can use someone like me?"  Robison said he immediately sank to his knees, humbled and broken before God at such a willingness to be broken bread and poured out wine in His hands.

Sheila Walsh tells the story of an atheist, lying in a hospital bed, near death.  A pastor who knew the man went to see him.  The dying man spoke these words to the preacher.  "If I believed what you say you believe, I would crawl on glass throughout the nation to tell people about it.  I have not seen in you the kind of life that you say you believe in."  Walsh, deeply impacted by what those words say about the testimony of one who said they were His spoke, "I want to live a life in Him that demands an explanation."  Two questions for us today:  Do we share such a desire, and do we live such a life?

I believe it was T. Austin-Sparks that asked the question, "Has anybody ever remarked about us that there is such a presence of Christ flowing through our lives?"  So many of us live seeking always to draw attention to our ourselves.  Do we live in such a way that all attention is focused upon Him?  Who gets the notice through our lives?  Whose name do we seek to put forth? Chinese believer Brother Yun, known as the Heavenly Man, wrote down in one of his books these simple words, "I am nothing. Jesus is everything."  He lived a life, and had a witness that showed forth the truth and power of those words.  Many of us are willing to speak those words.  How many of us are really living them out?  We are a celebrity worshiping culture, and the church is not immune.  We've embraced that culture.  Beth Moore says that we are called to be "rock stacks," not "rock stars."  By this she meant that we are stones built into the "temple" that is the Body of Christ.  The stones go unnoticed, Christ does not.  Yet those stones, so integral to the Body, perhaps unnoticed in themselves, singly and together, live in such a way as to demand an explanation from a watching, unbelieving world.

The overwhelming and consuming desire of a young girl, able to offer nothing but herself, was to give all of herself to Him.  There can be no doubt that He took that sacrifice, and that offering, made so many years ago, still speaks in power today.  Her words and complete giving of herself humble me.  Do they humble you?  There is no doubt much that you and I are willing to offer Him today.  Are they offerings of "the kind He will accept?"  Do we offer up the living and holy sacrifice of ourselves, or, do we seek to get by with something much less?  Do we want to be noticed, all the while living lives that bring no glory to Christ, and all of it before a lost and dying world that desperately needs to see Him?  To see Him in us.  Do our lives demand from them an explanation, or is no explanation needed because in the end, our lives are little different from theirs?

Like the old time movie marquee's that carried the phrase, "Now Appearing," so do our lives make such an announcement to those we live before.  The question is, who's appearing before all those passing by our " life sign?"  You, me, or Christ?


Blessings,

Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Kingdom Extremists

"Now I am on trial because I am looking forward to the fulfillment of God's promise made to our ancestors.....Yet O king, they say it is wrong for me to have this hope.  Why does it seem incredible to any of you that God can raise the dead...........Suddenly Festus shouted, 'Paul you are insane.  Too much study has made you crazy!'  But Paul replied, 'I am not insane Most Excellent Festus.  I am speaking the sober truth.' "  Acts 26:6-8, 24-25

Extremist.  This word has an ugly meaning to most of us here in the west.  It's used to define people seen as being far outside the mainstream of public opinion and behavior.  In many cases, it's an apt description of those whose political or religious views lead them into very troubling, even violent behavior.  It's also a word that is used as a weapon by some against those that they might perceive as a threat on some level to themselves.  It is certainly a term that has been placed upon those who follow Christ, and seek to live for Him and according to His Word.  It's a weapon that's enjoyed great success in that area.

Recently author and speaker Lisa Harper told of speaking at a Christian Women's Conference and was told by the leaders that she needed to tone down her use of the name of Jesus.  They said that it made some women uncomfortable, and so, could she just use the word "God" instead, which they deemed less threatening.  I saw a video geared toward young people seeking to draw other young people to Christianity.  It was, I thought, meant to show the diversity of believers, but what I saw and heard was a collection of voices saying, in effect, "We're just like you, except that we believe in God."  Lots of use of the word "love" but the name of Jesus was never once mentioned.  It seems to me that we the church are very much on the defensive, seeking to not offend, at just about any cost.  To borrow a term from the 60's, we want to be "mellow."  We're succeeding.

The scripture I used from Acts 26 details some of Paul's defense before the king Agrippa and the Roman governor Festus.  Paul's testimony, life and ministry had truly, as Acts states, "turned the world upside down," and he was in great trouble with the secular authorities because of it.  His "statement of belief" before these men was made in such power and presence of the Lord, that Festus believed him out of his mind.  Paul was not shaken.  When Agrippa said to him, "Do you think you can make me a Christian so quickly?", Paul replied, "I pray that you and everyone here in this audience might become the same as I am."  These are words spoken and this is a life lived with holy passion.  A life that was unstoppable, no matter if that which sought to stop it contained all the power of hell.  Paul was a Kingdom Extremist, and these days call for more, many more, who do not fear to be the same.  Who don't fear labels, opinion polls, and the naked hate and opposition of all the power of the darkness and the devil.  Do you and I really desire to be among "the more?"

Will you and I be those whose lives are so deeply rooted and grounded in Him, so filled with His holy fire, that just living for Him wherever we are, turns that part of the world upside down?  Fearless.  Unstoppable.  Alive in Christ, and never fearing to not only speak His name, but speak it in all of its power and fullness.  Not a one dimensional culture friendly Jesus, but a multifaceted Savior, King, and Lord.  Will we try to fit in, or will we be willing to stand out, bringing no attention to ourselves, but all attention and focus upon Him?  Fearless.  Unstoppable.  Extreme.  Living with Kingdom passion.  Is this you, me, us?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Floor

"For the Kingdom of God is not just fancy talk; it is living by God's power."  I Corinthians 4:20....."Abide in Me and I will remain in you......You cannot be fruitful apart from Me." John 15: 4......"When the Spirit of God moves through the Word preached in power, the objectives of God are accomplished.....the work of redemption is done.  How can we attain to this?  The old fashioned way is prayer, faith and surrender; and I know none other.  Pray, and as you pray, surrender, and as you surrender, believe."  A.W. Tozer

I've been thinking on the words of I Corinthians 4, John 15, and Tozer.  We are called into a life of power.  Resurrection power.  Yet so few of us ever seem to really enter into that life.  We do an excellent job of talking about that life, even inviting others into it, but I think on something spoken by T. Austin-Sparks over 50 years ago, and that is that we have no right to invite others into the rest of God when so much of our own lives are lived in unrest.  We cannot invite others into a life lived out in His power when we ourselves are not living such a life.  Power, not of the sort that brings attention to us, but glory to Him, is to be the natural consequence of a life lived out while living fully in Him.  I believe most professing believers would like to live such a life, so why don't we?  I think, no, I know, that the answer lies in the three elements Tozer shares in what it is to live in the power of His resurrection.  Prayer, faith, and surrender.

I think most of us never go beyond the surface in our prayer lives.  We're mainly concerned with getting God's help on all of our problems here in the earthly realm.  Get us out of this problem or trouble.  Improve our circumstances, change difficult people, get rid of the "bad stuff" of life and replace it with what we consider the "good stuff."  God is our helper and we spend a great deal of time trying to get Him to see and do things our way.  We live mainly in our own strength, but seek His when we think ours might not be enough.  News flash:  The Father has little interest in such a prayer life.

The ultimate purpose of prayer from His viewpoint is that it brings us ever deeper into the knowledge of who He is, and also who we are.  It's prayer and life that is lived out as we abide in, live in Him.  We may start as mere buds on the vine, but we gradually grow more and more into His likeness until our lives really become fruitful.  Our agenda ends and His purposes begin to be lived out through us.  It's not that we no longer bring desires and needs before Him, but that as we do, it's with a surrendered heart and spirit.  It's always with a heart attitude of "not my will, but Yours O Lord."  The natural outcome of this is an ever growing trust and faith in Him.  We believe.  Not because conditions are favorable or that He's doing what we ask, but because we KNOW that He is God, and He is a good God, whether our lives are currently "good" or not.  The fruit of this is a life of peace, joy, hope, strength.....power.  It's His Life.  Resurrection life.  Is it our life?

Singer and speaker Sheila Walsh, sharing of how she had voluntarily checked into a psych ward to deal with deep depression in her life, wrote in her journal on the first night there, "I never knew You lived so close to the floor."  She didn't expound on all she meant by that,  but what it said to me is that this is where we will always find Him.  We need not seek to work up to Him because He has already come down to us.  He meets us on the floor, in our brokenness, weakness, helplessness, and then raises us up with Him.  Such is the pathway of prayer, faith, and surrender.  I want to walk such a path.  How about you?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Playing The Fool

 "So I am willing to act like a fool to show my joy in the Lord.  Yes, and I am willing to look even more foolish than this."  2 Samuel 6:21-22

David was called a man after God's heart.  I think one of the primary reasons that he was is found in these two verses.  Are we, in our pursuit of Him, trust in Him, obedience to Him, joy in Him, willing to appear as fools before all who are watching because of it?  When hope is vanishing in the hearts of all those around us, can we continue to hope in Him?  When everything is against us, and there will surely be times when this is so, will we steadfastly believe that He remains for us.  When whatever "ship" we are upon is being literally torn apart by the ravages of the "storm," can we believe that He will provide the means to reach the shore anyway?  That all will unfold as Paul stated, "just as He told me?"  Can we, as our life situations deteriorate, as they did with Joseph, continue to hold to the vision and promise that the present "prison" we may be in will not be the end?  That He will accomplish all of His purpose and promise for us?  Can we hold to all of this when all those around us are seeking to dissuade, discourage, and even mock us for believing and trusting, and all of it with His joy?  Can we do this when many of them, even most of them, are found in the Church itself?  Will we allow all to call us a fool so that He would call us faithful?  It will be the fate of every man and woman whose heart is fully given over to Him to be viewed at some point as a fool.  Can our flesh and pride allow it?

David spoke these words to his wife Michal after she expressed contempt for his dancing before the Lord in joy.  She believed it beneath the dignity of a king.  What do you and I believe to be beneath our dignity when it comes to following, trusting, believing, and worshiping Him?  We read of John the Baptist who went out into the wilderness, living on locusts and honey and dressed in animal skins.  Even in that ancient culture he would have appeared a fool.  The same would be said for the prophets Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, and countless unnamed heroes of the faith.  The same would be said of our Lord Jesus Christ, who at the end of three years ministry, appeared to be the greatest failure ever seen.  They all heard, followed, trusted and loved the One who spoke to and led them.  Jesus said that "I only do what I see My Father doing."  Most of what He saw His Father doing, and which He did as well, made Him appear the fool in the watching eyes around Him.  Yet the power and fruit of His Life goes on and will go on throughout eternity.

Is there a place in your life right now where you know He has spoken a promise, a command, a mission, yet your holding to it, obeying it, going out on it, has given you the appearance of a fool?  What then has the upper hand?  The opinions and even laughter of those around you, or the witness of His Spirit within you?  Can you press on, regardless of the lack of results, even the appearance of complete failure, in trust and assurance, counting it all joy?  Can you, can I, "play the fool" for His glory? That, in the end is what we live, minister, and follow Him for.  Can we do this before not only an unbelieving world, but a sometimes, even oftentimes, skeptical church?  In every place dancing before, and with Him....with joy.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Lodge

 "And the Lord said to Moses, 'Come up to me on the mountain.....So Moses and his assistant Joshua climbed up the mountain of God."  Exodus 24:12-13......"The word mediocre comes from two Latin words and literally means 'halfway to the peak.'  This makes it an apt description of the progress of many Christians.....They are morally above the hardened sinner, but they are spiritually beneath the shining saint...Many have settled down right there.....You are halfway up to the peak, halfway to where you could have been if you had pressed on."  A.W. Tozer

I've a friend who likes to compare a believer's journey with the Lord as that of climbing a mountain.  In the beginning, the trail is filled with people pursuing an ever deeper intimacy with Him.  But somewhere in the journey, usually about the half-way point, many, even most, stop at a rest area along the trail.  They never meant it to be permanent, but it has become so.  They never go any further up the mountain of God. They've found their home.  I've been thinking on all of that of late, and Tozer's words had me contemplating on just how that rest area came to be.

Obviously, it wasn't there to begin with.  It was and is the Father's intention that our home always be in Him alone.  He is always calling us upward, all the while supplying by His grace all that we need for the journey.  The journey can be a difficult one, taxing the limits of our endurance.  He never said that it wouldn't be.  What He intends for us to discover though is that when we feel we have reached our limit, we then have a limitless God who turns our weakness into strength.  His strength.  It's at this point, the halfway mark, that construction on the rest area began.

At first it was likely just a stopping place.  All who paused intended to get back on the trail, but someone, likely many "someone's" must have noticed how well placed the spot was, and how much "potential" lie there.  What was nothing more than a quiet place with a stream running beside it, slowly became a lodge for people to stay at.  Little more than a cabin at first, it slowly and steadily expanded into a great lodge with many rooms, and there always seemed to be a vacancy for the weary traveler.  Once in the lodge, the traveler felt "blessed" to have such comforts available.  They started to see it as a place provided by God Himself, forgetting, or never even knowing that it was a stopping place created by men, not Him.  In any event, they found that they could do some wonderfully spiritual things there.  Meetings, singing, seminars, conferences, even gifted speakers. They could spend a lot of time talking about God, and all from the comfort of their lodge.  Some, many, began to call it "Church."  It was a great place, but nobody seemed to remember that it was never the destination the Father called them to.  His call was always the upward one.  He did not provide us a lodge along the way.  He provided Himself, and intended that we should know that He was enough.  More than enough.  His call to come up continued, but they'd become so comfortable at the lodge, and so involved in the activities it provided, that they no longer heard that call.  And so, they entered into the halfway life.  Lodge life. "Church life." The question for you and me is, where on the mountain road are we presently found?  In the comfort of the "Lodge" or on the trail with Him, ever moving upward to His fullness?  Hanging out at the lodge, the church as we've created it to be, or ascending the spiritual heights with Him?  A part of the Church, the Body Of Christ, that He, not us, brought into being.

The lodge is inviting, but it's a snare.  All who stay there will never be more than halfway followers of Christ.  So many have been seduced by the attractions of the Lodge.  Are we among them?  Or, do we, by His grace, continue to "come up here" to Him? Finding in our limited strength, the glory and wonder of our unlimited God?  Where is our spiritual destination and home?  At the peak with Him, and those who did and do press on in the face of all that was and is against them?  Or at the Lodge, with all the rest.....who didn't, and won't?

Blessings,
Pastor O