Heart Tracks - Maze Runners

 "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 5:24-25

There's a popular book and movie series out called, I believe, "The Maze Runner." I know little or nothing of the book or movie, but I think I know a good bit about Mazes. I've been running them for a large part of my Christian life. I think it's a good bet that maybe you have as well.

I was with a friend recently and his words, soaked in the Spirit, gave me the leading for what I write today. He said that so much of the church is trapped in running a maze. We are constantly looking for something that "will work." We go up this aisle, hoping that we've found a route that will get us to the result, the goal that we have in our mind and heart. Almost always, we end up running into a dead end. When that happens, we go down a new aisle, also one that we think will get us to where we want to be. Bam! Another dead end. And then another aisle.... and then another aisle, and then......Even if the aisle does get us to where we want to be, the final result will still be a dead end. Why? Because as my friend put it, when we're results and goal oriented, we are not Source oriented. And when that is where we're living, even if we get what we want, we are not getting the fullness of Him. If we're getting Him at all. That is the ultimate dead end.

When we have locked our eyes on the results we want to achieve, the goal we want to reach, they are not set upon Him. So spiritually, we keep running in a maze, always trying to get out of it, but continually running into one dead end wall after another. There is a simple yet mighty solution, but with all of our focus on the result and the goal, we never see it. The solution is to get our eyes off what we foolishly believed is the prize, and upon Him who alone is the Prize above all else. Christ. We stop looking at the walls of the maze, and look up into the face of Him who is right there. Why is it that we find that so impossible to do? Could it be that we cannot, will not willingly nail all those "desires", good though they may be, to the cross? Leaving them there. Trusting Him with them. All of them. Then, and only then, will we fully hear His voice, sense His Spirit, and follow His lead. No more running into walls. No more slavish pursuit of results and goals, but a full hearted pursuit of Him. We no longer live for the reaching of the result, which is almost always tied up in what is really just appearance. We live for the Person and for the appearance of this Person and His purpose for our lives.

This is all foolishness to the flesh, and it's why the flesh will always be more comfortable chasing about in the maze. The heart and life that is crucified with Him will run after Him alone. And that life will never "hit the wall." It will just go on getting deeper, wider, higher in Him. We are no longer maze runners. We run with Christ. Where and with who do we run today? In a maze race we can never win? Or, racing with Him, knowing we will never lose? No one who runs with and in Him can ever lose.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Cracked Cisterns

 "For My people have done two evil things: They have forsaken Me - the fountain of Living Water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all." Jeremiah 2:13......"If we've believed and trusted Him for full healing and wholeness, the 'cracks' in our lives will always allow our strength and confidence to 'leak' out.' " Beth Moore

Have you ever noticed how a crack in a plate or cup collects dirt, and no matter how hard you try to get it out, there remains a darkness over and in that crack? All our efforts to make it clean and whole fail, and while we can do some cosmetic things to cover it up, the crack, and the dirt, remain. It's a good picture I believe, of how many in the church today, and many churches as well, are living out their lives.

I don't think a lot of us would feel we should be included in the harsh and cutting words of the Father in Jeremiah 2. We probably don't feel that we've forsaken Him, or that we are rejecting His Living Water. But are we willing to submit to the searching of His Spirit in order to discover to what degree we really might be doing so? What unhealed cracks continue to exist in our lives, our families, and our church fellowships that we have succeeded in "covering up" so they are not visible, at least on the surface? How much "dirt" continues to find a home there, affecting every aspect of those lives, families and fellowships? 

Pastor's think that moving to a new church will make everything better. But they take their wounds, their cracks there with them, and are dismayed when what happened before happens again. Churches rid themselves of one pastor, and then believe that all will be better when they get a new one. And it is, until the same problems they had with the last leader emerge with the new one. The cracks, and the dirt within remain. And the water of His strength and Life leak out. It's the same with relationships, marriages, jobs, and our walk with Him. The cracks remain, and they continue to allow His Life to steadily drain out, and a people and Church that is to be marked by His healing wholeness, isn't. We're cracked and broken cisterns and we can never hold the water of His Life for very long until we come face to face, our face to His, with this truth.

All our efforts to make it better are doomed to failure. There is only One who can take the cracked cup of our lives, our families, marriages, and fellowships, and make the cup anew and cleanse the dirt within. It starts and ends with face to face honesty with Him. We confess. We repent. We are forgiven and cleansed. There is no person, relationship or fellowship that will not find this to be true, or Him to be faithful. And when it happens, we are no longer cisterns, but deep wells of His Living Water. The woman who was marked as unclean by society by her ongoing bleeding, was willing to come out of the shadows and into the open in order to be whole. Are we?

Isn't it time that this were so in our lives, our families, and our fellowships? It surely can be. The question for us is, will it be? Remember the famous line from the movie "A Few Good Men?" Jack Nicholson's character stated flatly, "You can't handle the truth." Can we? Until we can, the cracks and the dirt remain.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Plan B

 "I cling to your Word. Lord don't let me be put to shame.....I faint with longing for your salvation but I have put my hope in Your Word. My eyes are straining to see Your promises come true....restore my life again, just as You promised." Psalm 119:31, 81-82, 107

The 119th Psalm is a long cry of desperation. Have you and I ever really known such desperation? Really known it? We may have felt desperate, but in our hearts and minds, was there still some part that thought if He didn't come through, we would somehow find a way out of it all? I'm not so sure but that a great deal of our prayer is of this type. We may not be conscious of it, but the attitude is there. We take something to Him, and feel that we are seeking Him alone, yet lurking in the background is "Plan B." What we'll do if He doesn't answer us. Or more correctly, doesn't answer us in the way and time that we think He should. We may feel desperate, but not so much that we're not also at work on a way to bring about our own deliverance using the means at hand. After all, He helps those who help themselves, right? What? That's not in His Word? He never said any such thing? How could this be? I mean, everybody has a Plan B don't they? Plan A is that we look to Him, but we've always got at least partial sight on plan B too. If God won't deliver us, we'll just have to find a way to deliver ourselves. This is the reason so few of us really behold His glory in not only our desperate situations, but our day to day living as well. We're geniuses when it comes to putting together Plan B's.

I've a friend who says that sometimes, the last impediment to His miraculous breakthrough into our lives and need is our willingness to surrender the possibilities of what we could do to make the situation better. To rescue ourselves. I believe we, the professing church, are being brought to this place....and at high speed. The disintegration of our culture is accelerating. We have found many ways to hide from that fact, even deny it, but it is happening anyway. The situation is not getting desperate, it is. All the props we've been depending upon are being literally kicked out from under us. The foundations we've built are collapsing. Sinking sand is all around us, and in too many cases, underneath us. Our ability to control things lessens by the day. But we do retain control in one place; and that is the choice of who we will depend upon in this day. Who, and what will be our Foundation, our Hope and Help, and our Deliverer and Savior? Him, or that which is not Him.

When all we have to cling to is His Word, it's then we'll find that it's only His Word that can bring us out and into His Life. When we fall to our knees before Him, we will find it the quickest route to His lifting us up and out of the mire. The way up is down. The way out is to allow Him full reign within. And despite the world's best efforts, we'll never be put to shame. We may grow faint, but He'll strengthen us. Our eyes may strain to see the fulfillment of His promise, but we will see His salvation. The time and place will be His to choose, but He will do so. He will restore. He will rebuild. He will renew. As He defines it, and not us. All just as He promised. Can we, can you, surrender all the Plan B's and look to Him who is not a plan at all, but a Person. A Person who has promised. And His promises still are, and always will be, "Yes and Amen."

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Faded Flowers

 "The truth is, a kernel of wheat must be planted in the soil. Unless it dies it will be alone-a single seed. But its death will produce many new kernels." John 12:24.........."My true disciples produce much fruit. This brings great glory to My Father." John 15:8

A good friend shared an interesting and enlightening insight today. We were talking of how so many "works" for Him begin with great success, blossoming and producing a beauty wonderful to behold. Then, in so many cases, the work seems to wither, and seemingly die. Here is where his insight really spoke, for it is when such happens that we think the Father has somehow abandoned or forgotten us. We wonder where He went, and what happened. This can be true not only in works of ministry and service, but in marriages, relationships, in endeavors of every kind. What my friend speaks of is something our eyes and minds of flesh can so easily miss, and so, we give up. We never see the full picture, and especially the end picture that the Lord has in mind.

He talked of how so many fruit trees first produce lovely blossoms that everyone loves to behold. They are a joy to look at, and they draw the attention and notice of all who pass by. What we miss is that it's after the blossoms wither that the fruit comes. The true and real fruit is not to be found in the blossoms, beautiful though they may be. It is found in what comes after they have seemingly died. It is then that real life and fruitfulness comes forth.

Think on that. Allow Him to speak into our spirits on this. How many endeavors, relationships, marriages and ministries are given up on, walked away from, simply because the flower upon them has faded? The initial excitement has passed. The bloom is literally off the flower. We think all is lost, that failure is our lot.  We can be so deceived in this. I think most often that we are. We keep remembering the lost flower, and miss the "now" fruit. It is when the flower has faded that the true test of our trust and belief in Him will come. It's then we'll see how deep the roots of our trust go. How deep the roots of commitment to the work, the calling, or the person really is. In too many cases, the answer will be, "not very." We're captivated by pretty flowers, but our hearts wander and our vision fades when those flowers disappear. It's then that the hard work of trusting, obeying, believing, and waiting upon Him to bring forth the harvest enters in. The flowers are gone, but we continue to water the ground, till the soil, pull out the weeds that seek to choke out life. All the while we continue to believe the words that He first spoke into our hearts when He called us. And if we'll listen, He continues to speak now. We hold onto the vision He first gave us when we entered into it. This is maturity. We rejoiced in the flowers, but we have learned that the real food and nourishment of the Kingdom is found in the fruit that follows. That fruit has a season, and He will be faithful to bring it forth.

My friend made one other point and it bears dwelling upon. It may well be that we need to allow Him to define for us just what true fruit is. Our flesh always thinks it's in what can be measured and counted. I believe it is found in that which brings life. His life. It's the fruit of the Kingdom, and it will show up in ways far beyond the countable and measurable. It will not fade, but will be eternal. But I think to truly lay hold of it, to be vessels of it, we will, like the kernel, have to die. And in that death and the fruit that bursts forth from it, will be great glory for Him.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Silent Partner

"But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh." Galatians 5:16

I've mentioned before that I keep a prayer journal. I do so not because I am so "super-spiritual" but because I am so prone in my flesh to not be spiritual at all. One of the prayers I have written down is based on the above scripture, and simply reads, "Father, may I at all times pray in the Spirit, speak in the Spirit, hear in the Spirit, and live in the Spirit." This is the only way we will not live in a manner that consistently sees to it that we carry out the desires of our flesh. Many of those desires will be good ones. The great problem for us lies in the fact that they are not necessarily God's desires. Watchman Nee asked the question, "How much of our work for Him has been based on a clear command from the Lord, and how much simply on the ground that it was a good thing to do?" There were many good things Paul wished to do. The Holy Spirit closed the door on all of them in order that he would go to where the Father wished him to be; in Macedonia and Greece. He saw a "wide open door for effective service." He also saw the "many adversaries" that would be against it.

I think we seem much more comfortable in the Church in the west with the idea of the Holy Spirit being a "silent partner" in all we do. This would be true even in those fellowships that say they are Holy Spirit centered bodies. Indeed, the consistent observation of those brethren from non-western cultures who fellowship with us is how much we are able to get done without the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. There are a number of books out right now from prominent church leaders saying that the voice of the Spirit ceased at the end of the first century of the Church. That the Lord has said all He needs to in His Word, and He doesn't need to say anything more. Now scripture is the final authority in all things, especially that which we hear in and from the Spirit, for He will never speak anything contrary to it. This is where spiritual discernment comes in. It's what Paul meant when he told us to "test the spirits" in order to discern what was and was not from the voice and heart of God. I would also add this to those that hold the view that He no longer speaks to us. In those same congregations, the people are regularly asked to "pray about" how much they should give to building programs, mission efforts, and special projects. Somehow the Lord finds His voice when it comes to money. I'm only partly joking with that.

I heard James Robison say recently in the midst of interviewing one of his guests, that he, "heard the Spirit speaking over their conversation." What he meant was that in the midst of their talking, He heard the Lord break in and speak into it all. He said that some might find this "spooky," but that it was his life in Christ reality to hear the Lord in such a way regularly. What struck me was that the Holy Spirit, so integral a part of our three in one God, would be perceived with fear by so many in His Church. So much so that we proceed in our walk, relationships and ministries with far more reliance upon ourselves and our own understanding, than in His leading. We don't recognize His checks or His voice, and so we miss both His open doors, and His closed ones.To our own harm and loss. He remains our "silent partner." We mention Him, but we don't walk in Him. We're not overly anxious for Him to "show up" either, unless it's in ways that allow us to maintain control. We build a lot of things, but they don't last.  In the end they're just wood and stubble. We miss that which is His silver and gold. If we doubt that, we can simply look at how many of those things we've built in our own strength have crumbled after the human architect of the building left the scene.

Paul wrote to two totally different fellowships; the Corinthians and the Ephesians. The Corinthians were a flesh centered fellowship, and though He spoke in love and encouragement, his words also carried His rebuke. To the Ephesians he wrote in exhortation of their going on in the life and fullness of the Holy Spirit. Through those letters, he writes to our own fellowships. Which letter is for us? Corinthians or Ephesians? Wood and stubble or silver and gold? Which are we really, and which do we really want to be? Are we living in Corinth or Ephesus?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Crushed....Again

"And when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, 'Take, eat, this My body, which is broken for you; this do in remembrance of Me.' " I Corinthians 11:24...."God can never make us wine if we object to the fingers He uses to crush us with.....If we are ever going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed, you cannot drink grapes."  Oswald Chambers

I'm vacationing here in Colorado Springs, but even in a time of refreshment, the hands of the Master Potter continue to shape me. That shaping is always humbling to my flesh, and all praise to Him that it is.  On my first night here, full of expectation of a great week filled with enjoyment, I "suffered" what in the scheme of things was an unexpected but very minor mishap.  It was no big deal, but I was upset about it, and allowed the enemy to steal my peace and joy.  Within a day or so, I was fine, but what was key was that I had allowed him to rob me of nearly 24 hours of the assurance, strength and sense of His presence.  I was humbled by that.  I have always described the consecrated, sanctified life as that of being broken and re-broken, surrendered and re-surrendered.  It is, but my flesh does not at all enjoy the process.  I suspect yours doesn't as well.  Just yesterday, I got His refresher course in this truth.

I was reading an online story of how 11 Syrian believers were first beheaded by ISIS, and then had their bodies hung on display for two days afterwards.  They were part of a ministry team, and one part of the team was a 12 year old boy, the son of one of the members.  The leader of their ministry group had pleaded with them to leave the area as ISIS militants approached their village. They refused, feeling they needed to stay and minister the love of Christ to the panicked residents. The team, comprised of both men and women, were there when the radical ISIS troops arrived.  They were beaten and tortured.  The women were raped. Witnesses to the brutality say that they met it all with prayers on their lips and faces that could only be described as portraying the serenity of His Presence.  All were given the chance to deny Christ, and all, including the 12 year old boy refused to do so.  So they all died.

When I read that, I was once more broken.  As Chambers writes, I was crushed.  Just a few days previously I had allowed my world to be shaken by the trivial, and for a moment, lost sight of my Lord.  These 11 brothers and sisters in Christ, one a mere child, faced the ultimate sacrifice with an assured faith in the One they lived for, and now would die for.  They would not deny Him, yet I, in a time of pressure and stress, did. No, I didn't renounce or turn from Him as a life choice. But for that time, by my allowing the present circumstance to cause me to lose sight of Him, did, in a sense, deny Him.  How many other times have I done so?  How many times have you?  How many more times will there be?

It is often said that we in the west know little of real persecution, though trust me, that is rapidly changing.  Still, in our self-absorbed culture, both secular and church, we view every inconvenience to a good life as devastating.  We're thankful that our Lord Christ gave up His Body as broken bread and poured out wine for us.  We just don't wish to do the same for Him.  We're thankful He was crushed or us, but we've no desire to be crushed for Him.  Such an attitude was unknown to those 11 brethren in that remote village.  Does this crush us, or, do we just go on about the business of securing a good and prosperous life and so are untouched and unbroken by it all?  

Broken and re-broken.  Surrendered and re-surrendered.  Do we really want to live such lives?  All who say they are His will be brought to the place of that choice.  When we are, how will we choose?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Thoughts - Whose Heart?

"Six days before the Passover ceremonies began, Jesus arrived in Bethany, the home of Lazarus - the man He raised from the dead. A dinner was prepared in Jesus honor. Martha served, and Lazarus sat at the table with Him. Then Mary took a twelve ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard and she anointed Jesus' feet with it and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with fragrance. But Judas Isacariot, one of the disciples - the one who would betray Him - said, 'That perfume was worth a small fortune. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.' Not that he cared for the poor-he was a thief who was in charge of the disciples funds, and he often took some for his own use. Jesus replied, 'Leave her alone. She did it in preparation for My burial. You will always have the poor among you, but I will not be here with you much longer.' "......"Mary used what she had to adore Jesus; Judas used Jesus to enrich himself. Mary is led into a life of devotion that is beautiful. Judas is posted as a warning of letting money (or success, prestige, recognition, pleasure, or anything else) get between us and God." Eugene Peterson

Most of us would be aghast as the suggestion that there might be anything in our hearts that even remotely resembled the heart of Judas. But is that really so? Can we dare to sit in His Presence and allow Him to search out the real motives in relationship with and following of Him? How much of our walk with Him is really about adoration, and how much of it serves the purpose of enriching ourselves? We can be pretty fuzzy on that. The truth can be easily blurred. What are our real motives? Judas talked of feeding the poor. The Word says he didn't really care about the poor, only of adding to his own finances. He didn't have mixed motives when it came to Jesus. The problem for you and I is, we so often do. I have never knowingly come across anyone in the Church who has the heart of Judas; total self-interest. I have come across some with the heart of Mary; total devotion.  Most have had hearts like mine.  A mixture. A heart that adores, while at the same time has more than a little self-interest involved. Many would say and teach that this is our lot, but I don't think so. So many like to quote Paul's words of struggle in Romans 7. It seems like they have never read on to Romans 8. We don't have to live with the mixture, with divided hearts. We're not just invited to enter into the fullness of His Life and Spirit, we're commanded to.  Have we? Have you? Alicia Britt Chloe asks the question, "Is Judas in the house?" Where, in the house of our hearts, might he be lurking? Where in our jobs, ministries, relationships, and especially our relationship with Him, can he be found? Where are the motives of our lives being filtered through the mind and heartset of Judas? It's a piercing question. How do we answer it?
Today, in whatever our place in Him, whose heart is most on display? There may be much good that we wish to accomplish, but along with that lies a deep desire to "enrich ourselves" as well. This may be especially so in ministry. We want to see people come to Him, we want to see fellowships grow. We want to see healings, peoples lives made whole. We want to see Jesus lifted up. At the same time, there lurks within us a desire to see "us" lifted up as well. Recognition, position, advancement. Mixed with our adoration is a great dose of desire for our own enrichment. We want to worship Him, and at the same time use Him to advance our agenda. How true is this of us today? How true is it of you, and of me?

Let us seek the heart of Mary, of true worship and devotion. Let us surrender that hidden desire to enrich ourselves, and die to it. It's a desire that will never stay hidden for long. Let us come to Him with lives and service that are a true fragrance of Christ wherever we are. It only happens and pours out from a heart of true worship and humility. The heart of Mary. It never comes from the heart of Judas. Whose heart is really in us today? What amount of mixture is there? Let the "nard" that flows out of us be pure. Is Judas in the house? Isn't it past time to evict him?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Restless

"And even when he reached the land God promised him he lived there by faith - for he was like a foreigner living in a tent....Abraham did this because he was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God." Hebrews 10:9-10...."Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be."  Matthew 6:21...."Home is where the heart is."

If you've read either of the past two entries, you know that I just spent a week in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  That has been one of the most cherished places in my life.  Not only was it the place where I spent some of the most wonderful years of my life, but also where I first began to discover the wonder and depth of who He truly is.  Add to that spiritual dimension the great and spectacular natural beauty of the area, it's small wonder that it holds such a special place in my heart.  I have never passed up an opportunity to go back, yet in this time back, there was something very different in my return. Yes, the city had changed...a lot.  But the wonder and beauty remained, yet in the midst of it all, I realized something more.  Though the Springs was once my home, it was my home no longer.  Though once my heart yearned constantly to return there, it had been replaced by another, deeper, greater yearning.  I don't mean to try and sound "super spiritual" here, but I realized that my heart was more and more yearning for that same city Abraham yearned for.  The one with eternal foundations.  The one designed and built by Him. 

I remember so well my first pastorate in the flatlands of West Texas.  It was a deep shock to my spirit to leave the grandeur of Colorado for the seeming barrenness of that land (no offense meant to Texans).  I constantly yearned to be back in Colorado.  On this recent return to that very place, I realized that it was no longer the Springs, or any other place my heart was yearning for.  It was to be fully in His Presence, living in His Life.  To finally "come home."  No, this is not some morbid desire to be done with this life here, but a realization that what we call "life" is a pale imitation of the Life to be found in Him.  We so easily say the religiously correct statement "My home is in heaven," but the actual reality is that we are very much at home right here.  We're in no hurry to leave or give it up.  In truth, the bulk of our preaching and teaching today is really about how to have a wonderful life right here.  We expend all our energy in securing the silver and gold of this world, never realizing that it is really just tin and lead, and we miss laying hold of the true riches of His Kingdom.  We are so at home in this world, that the reality of the Kingdom of Heaven sounds more like some children's fable than a real and wonderful Kingdom.  The apostle Paul lived life to the fullest, but always with his eyes upon the Kingdom.  We talk about being "pilgrims who are just passing through," but for pilgrims, we have established deep roots and attachments to a world we say is passing away.  We talk about holding things loosely in this life, all the while holding the things of that life in a white knuckled grip.  We read about the city Abraham searched for, but it doesn't really resonate with our hearts because those hearts are so at home here. 

There's a saying, I don't remember the source, that our hearts are restless until they find their rest (home) in Him.  We are a church culture of restless hearts.
We're always yearning for something else.  Something newer, better, bigger, grander, but a something we seem to think can be found here.  So we change jobs, residences, mates, and churches, always looking for that "better country" here, but never finding it.  Our hearts remain restless.  Our spirits unsatisfied.  We're searching for home.....never realizing it lies before us in Him.  Where, really, is your treasure today.  I think I know what your lips will say.  Only you, and He, know what your heart truly speaks.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Pit

 "He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God.  Many will see what He has done and be astounded. They will put their trust in the Lord."  Psalm 40:2-3....."Called To Serve - May We Never Fail."  Declaration of a Bible College's graduating class of 1984

My vacation goes on here in Colorado Springs, and I continue to go to places that have had very special meaning in my life.  One of the foremost of these is the campus of the Bible College I attended and graduated from in 1984.  While walking about the campus and remembering the many joys experienced there, I came upon a small, shaded area with two benches and a stone pillar with a metal plate containing the above declaration.  I was a member of that class, and I had forgotten what that plate said.  As I read those words, I was affected by a powerful sense of His Presence.  Leaning over that stone pillar, that place became my altar.

Called To Serve - May We Never Fail.  It's a wonderful desire.  No one wants to fail.  Others, ourselves, God.  But we do.  We have.  Often.  The key for us is, what do we do with our failures?  And, who is that defines the failure? And then, does our failure define us? Many of our failures are real, but others come only from the expectations, most of them not realistic, that we place upon ourselves.  Then, and most painful of all, are the ones assigned us by others.  The Church is not a safe haven from such.  The Church may be more severe in this than even the world.  The result is to find ourselves in the place David writes of in Psalm 40; the mire and pit of despair.  Many never leave that place.  We live in a fallen world, and failure is very much a part of it, even in the lives of the redeemed in Christ.  We fail in our marriages, as parents, in ministry, and yes, in how we serve, follow, and love Him.  The miry clay of failure will seek to suck us ever deeper into its prison.  Here's the beauty.  All others may seek to keep us there, He will not.  If we'll but look up, we will see His face shining down upon us, and His hand reaching down to lift us.  Yes, we need to take our failures to Him, confess them, repent of them, and then be cleansed and freed of all the effects of them. David failed in every way.  The Father didn't leave him in his failure.  Neither will He leave you, us.

I said I made that stone pillar an altar.  I did so because as I read that inscription, I thought upon all the times I had failed others, myself, and above all, Him.  All the times I had been trapped in the pit, and how in every one of those places He had come.  He had taken my hand.  He had lifted me out.  He had set me once again on His solid ground in Christ, and yes, with a new song in my heart. Were others astounded?  Only eternity will reveal that, but I can tell you that every time I was astounded anew over His mercy, love, and healing.  Through every failure, He not only lifted me up, but took me more deeply into Himself.  And this my friends is what true success is.  Failure does not define us, He does.  And as long as He does, it will never be what we say, or others say, or the enemy himself says of us that means anything. It's only His definition that counts.  And He is able to redeem even the darkest, deepest failure.  

None of that class of 1984 was able to live up to that inscription, at least as we defined it.  But none of us who looked to Him would ever be left there.  Into our failures, He comes.  Out of our failures He brings us.  He makes steady our unsteady feet as He walks along beside us.  There will be more pits, but if we'll look up to Him, He'll lift us out of them all.  Do you need a new song today?  He has it for you.  Look up, and live. Be free of the pit.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Where?

"The angel of the Lord found Hagar beside a desert spring along the road to Shur.  The angel said to her, 'Hagar, Sarai's servant, where have you come from, and where are you going?' " Genesis 16 7-8

Isn't it funny how often we can read a passage of scripture yet never hear what He is saying through the passage?  The above is one such scripture.  I've read it countless times.  I have many other scriptures on the page underlined.  Not so with this one.  The question asked of Hagar by the angel just never really resonated before.  But the other day, when I heard a teaching from Beth Moore, it did.  If we truly wish to know Him in all of His fullness, than sooner or later, He'll "catch up with us."  When He does, more often than not, He'll ask us a question.  He caught up with Hagar.  Seems like He always catches up with me.  Has He caught up with you?

Contemplation.  Meditation.  These have bad connotations in the western Christian culture.  We tend to link them with eastern religions and thought, yet real biblical meditation is a powerful experience.  When the angel spoke to Mary about the divine Son of God that she would give birth to, and all that He would be, His Word tells us that "She treasured these things in her heart."  She dwelt upon what she had heard, and what it was the Father was speaking to her through those words.  Throughout Scripture, both Old Testament and New, we see the same.  When God spoke, those who listened and heard, did so because they meditated upon just what He had said.  As one old country lady put it, "they chewed on it."  Chewed, digested, and saw it become a living part of them. In our culture, where speed is always of the essence, we want to get the "church" part of our lives over with so we can move on to all the other interests we have. Small wonder that what He speaks to us "in church" or "in our devotions" rarely goes further or deeper than that particular moment.  So when the Lord asks of us the question He asks of Hagar, we not only don't hear it, we would have no answer if we did.  But He asks this question of each of us.  Where have we come from, and where are we going?

In the "easy believism" of the western church, we are invited to come to Christ while not really knowing why we need to come to Him.  Usually the need is presented in the promise of Him giving us a better life.  Not often do we hear it is because we are hopelessly lost.  Life is tough.  Jesus will make it better.
We're told He'll meet us where we are, but we have little or no idea about where we have come from, and what brought us to where we are.  We don't really know where we are.  We come into this world in a fallen state with no hope of changing our situation.  Do we really know that?  Have we any sense of how hopeless that situation is? Of our desperate need of a Savior?  Do we really know that this is where we are?  Until we can really answer the first part of His question, we'll never be able to answer the second.  Which is why most of us just drift instead of live.  Everything is here.  We talk about heaven, but it has little if any meaning in our day to day living.  We don't really know where we're going, because we don't really know where we are.  So in the end, we just wander.

The fruit of all this is far beyond what I can write of here.  So I'll leave us with His question to Hagar.  Where have we come from in truth?  Many are interested in discovering their ancestry roots.  Have we any idea of our spiritual ones?  Do we understand how desperate our need, how total out lostness?  Do we know where we're going?  Do we look for our home in this world and life, or, like Abraham, do we move every forward toward that city "whose Builder and Maker is God?"  Do we seek a life built on eternal foundations, or are the foundations of this world more than enough for us?  Where have we come from, and where are we going?  It's a "now" question. Everything depends on our answer.  The Lord has caught up with us.  What happens now?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Do You Know Me?

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.  Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?'  And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me you who practice lawlessness.' "  Matthew 7:21-23...."Jesus never calls us to live according to our human nature. He calls us to die.....Just as He makes His choice between the Cross and this passing world, so must we. There is no middle ground. We have to pick sides." Chris Tiegreen

Back in the 1980's there was a well known credit card company that ran a popular ad campaign that featured a familiar but not totally recognizable celebrity asking the question, "Do you know me?"  I hadn't thought of that ad in a long time until His Spirit brought it to mind a few days ago.  When He did, He  connected it to the easily bypassed scripture above.  Bypassed by our flesh, and small wonder.  It presents a Jesus who is in conflict with the pop-culture Jesus put forth in a great part of the church today.  A Jesus that Mark Galli calls, "mean and wild."  A Jesus whose first call and desire for us is not to affirm us, promote us, prosper us, but to come to Him......and die.  Die to everything in our lives that is not of Him, that we might come to live in all that is Him.  More than this He wants us to know that to refuse this bears consequences that will echo down through eternity and carry a cost too terrible to countenance.  The cost of our very soul.

It has always been my desire to speak and write words of life, encouragement, hope, and faith.  It is never my desire to wound, yet the reality is that I cannot speak His words of life in all their fullness and not wound.  Wade Taylor once said that we need to stop asking God to help us, that He wants to kill us.  By that he meant that we want the Father to help, rescue, increase us, while the "us" remains unchanged.  God is not interested in such an arrangement.  He wishes to kill the "us" centered in the pride of the flesh so that He might bring true Life in the "Us" of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  We want Christ as Savior, Caterer to our every desire, and a Retailer who provides all the goods we need.   He commands that we receive Him as Lord, Master, King.  From the scripture above, there doesn't seem to be an in between state.  Yet in between is where too many seek to live today.  Israel lived there.  Between Egypt and the Promised Land.  His Word called it the wilderness.  How many of us are living there right now?

I'm not trying to present a Christ of no mercy, no love, no understanding of our weakness.  He is not any of these.  But neither is He a Christ who winks at our consistent sin, our refusal to receive the fullness of not only His Life, but His Lordship. And our stubborn insistence that we not only have our own way, but that He stay out of our way in the meantime.  Neither am I saying that we are expected to live perfect lives. Growing in grace is a process, and there will be failures along the way.  That is not the same as making conscious choices to walk against the Light we've been given in order to satisfy our own desire, or accomplish our own will.  To do so will bring about a reckoning.  I pray that for those who walk in this way, that reckoning come before that day when we all stand before Him.  Make no mistake.  All of us will.  The day will assuredly come when there will be the question, "Do you know Me?"  It will not be a life of good works that gives proof to our answer, but whether we lived our lives in surrendered obedience to Him in all things.  If our persistent life choices have been to walk in our way rather than He who is The Way, according to His Word, the only end can be to hear, "Depart from Me.  I never knew you."

I close with one more line from that above ad.  At the end, the featured celebrity would give the name of the card and then say, "Don't leave home without it. "Beloved, you may think of this world as your home, but one day, you will leave it.  The choice before you, before each of us is, will we leave it in His hands and life, or our own?  Jesus Christ.  You cannot come Home without Him.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Savior And Lord?

 "At this point many of His disciples turned away and deserted Him.  Then Jesus turned to the twelve and asked, 'Are you going to leave too?'  Simon Peter replied, 'Lord to whom would we go?  You alone have the words that give eternal life.  We believe them and we know that You are the Holy One of God.' " John 6:66-69....."What in our lives is masked as 'good,' but pulls us from Him?"  John Bevere

I saw the other day that His name "Savior" appears in the Word 36 times. His name "Lord" appears 7800.  Which name is more acceptable to you and me?  Before most of us step out and give the religiously correct answer of "Both," we need to realize that the fruit of our lives, the day to day actions, choices, words and thoughts bring forth the true answer.  I think the reality is that we are much more comfortable with Him as Savior than we are as Lord.  When we focus on Him as our Savior, we so easily drift into life being mostly about what He gives us.  We look to Him to save us, protect us, provide for us, make a way for us, and generally, make life good for us.  The common word here is "us" and the gospel then is mainly about US.  There can be no clearer picture of that attitude than what is found in John 6.  Jesus had just miraculously fed a multitude of hungry people.  As He went along, a great part, maybe the whole, followed along after Him.  Now, most of us, myself included, would be very happy with that crowd.  If it were me that was leading them along, I'd be planning on all the great ministries I could start.  I'd be getting groups of people together to talk about what our next step in ministry would be.  I'd also be thinking about how much money we could raise from such a great crowd, and all the good things we could do with it.  Let me say that all of these things are "good" in themselves.  They just aren't good when they keep us from the central aspect of who Christ is.  He is Lord.  Of everything. Of all. Of me.  

Jesus clearly understands us and knows our hearts.  He certainly knew the hearts of those who followed Him.  When He began to tell them of what would truly be required to be His, that they surrender all right to self. That they yield to His Lordship in everything. That they partake fully of every aspect of who He is, and simply take up His and their cross, and follow Him......they declined.  And all but twelve of them walked away.  Michael Brown says that the message of the American gospel is not Jesus saying to us, "Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me, but, Affirm yourself, bypass the cross, and I'll follow you."  There will surely be a lot of good in the latter, but if it pulls us away from Him, and it does, isn't it a good that has its roots in evil?  Isn't anything that draws our hearts away from Him ultimately rooted in evil?  Doesn't the devil use shiny things that appear good to lure us from He who is not only the best but all?  It's why, like the crowds in John 6, we have no problem embracing Him as OUR Savior.  We're just not anxious to have Him as our Lord, and we to be owned by Him.  A Holy Helper, yes, a Holy Lord, not so much.

So, today, which name are you really most comfortable with?  Which one in the end, truly describes your relationship with Him?  As He calls upon you and me today, a call not just for the part, but the whole, in which direction do we walk?  Towards or away from Him?  If not towards Him, then, to whom in the end are we going to?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Presence Or Promise?

 "My Presence will go with you and I will give you rest."  Exodus 33:14...."We must decide whose we are, where we're going, and what we're willing to give our lives to." Sheila Walsh...."Is the church a sub-culture, or a counter-culture?"  John Bevere....."He is coming back for a holy church.  Not a welcoming one, a community conscious one, a need oriented one, or an outreach minded one."  John Bevere

I'm not sure who I heard ask this question, but I wrote it down in my prayer journal.  "What do we most want, His Presence, or His promise?" Think on that.  What is really our ultimate desire as concerns Him?  In the end, do we want Him above all else, or, do we seek Him with the heart of a consumer, interested in what we gain from Him?  In attaining all that He has promised?  In my prayer life, I have, as many do, used a "promise book" which contained scriptures under headings that pertained to us asking God for those things we felt we most needed at the moment.  I do not condemn their use, but the question has to be asked; is it the fulfillment of that promise in our lives that we most desire, or the manifest Presence of His Life in, to, and through us?  Are we after His Presence, or just the carrying out of a promise?  Do we yearn for the blessing, or the One who is the Giver of all blessing, of all life?  I don't think such a question can be either easily or quickly answered.  We can only answer after we've allowed Him to thoroughly search our heart, and all the hidden motives that we can hide there.

Sheila Walsh asks a question that I think few of us are willing to take the time to contemplate a real answer for.  Whose are we really?  Our own?  Someone else?  Or His?  I know what our lips are likely to say.  What is it that our lives say?  Where are we going, and more, who are we going with?  Is He our helpmeet, or our Lord?  Is He really going with us at all, or, do we just call Him in when the pathway gets too troublesome?  What are we willing to give our lives to?  Indeed, what have we given our lives to?  What is the real fruit of our lives?  Where does He show through?  Are our lives in Him really making an impact, a difference?  Not as we might measure things, but as He measures?  As pointed out in the book of Daniel, when our lives our weighed in the scales of the Kingdom, are they found wanting, lacking?

As the Church, the Body of Christ, what is it we truly seek?  What's our real purpose?  Do we make it all about those we seek to minister to, or is it all about first ministering to Him, and then filled with His Life, He ministers through us in real power and presence.  Are we more interested in being relevant to our culture, or relevant to Him?  Is holiness something we speak of much but live little?  Are we in the end, nothing more than a sub-culture, part of fallen and corrupt one? Or are we a counter-culture, radically different, filled with His Light and Life, exposing and overcoming all the works of darkness in the surrounding culture? How do we answer?

It starts with knowing whether we are consumed with having and living in His Presence and Life, or are we consumed with ourselves, and our own well being, and how we can get Him to contribute to that on an ongoing basis?  I've a good idea of what our mouths will say.  The truth is found in our lives and hearts.  What say these?

Blessings,
Pastor O