Heart Tracks - The Bummer Lamb

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." John 10:27

Sheila Walsh tells the story of a Scottish shepherd she knew as a child. It would happen at times that for some reason, the mother sheep would reject a lamb, pushing it away, with the end result being the lamb could die. In these cases, the shepherd would take these lambs and bring them into his home, feeding them from a bottle, warming them at his fire, and holding them to his chest so that they could hear his heart. She said these lambs were called "bummer lambs." She said that the result of his care for these bummer lambs was that each morning, when he would go to the fold and call the sheep to himself, the first to respond were those who had been his "bummer lambs." They, more than any of them, knew his voice. Walsh said that it was her heart's desire that she would never cease to be one of His bummer lambs.....someone who knew His voice, and the sound of His heart.

This fallen world is expert at making so many feel like, to be, bummer lambs. Rejected, forgotten, pushed aside and away. The sure end of it all is death.....unless we come to the Shepherd who will so lovingly take us into the "home" that is His heart. Who will nurture us, care for us, and raise us up. A Shepherd who will, through His intimacy with us, give us life, healing, and hope. A hope that hears His voice in the midst of the darkest night, and the most dangerous places. A hope that holds us close to His heart. A hope that brings the beat of our hearts into communion with the beat of His. The coldness, the fallenness of this world, makes bummer lambs of us all, yet He would turn the evil intent of the enemy through this world to our good. He would make us bummer lambs filled with His Life and Light. He would have us to know His voice. He would have us to be free and whole.

It may be that this past year has left you feeling very much like a bummer lamb. You've known rejection, abandonment, despair. You may feel forgotten, discarded, isolated. Before you stands the Shepherd of your soul, of all of our souls. He calls you to Himself, to His heart and His voice. All you need do, all any of us need do, is to come. Come in our brokenness, our need, our pain, and He will give us life. He will give you life. What the enemy and world mean to be your end as a bummer lamb, can be in reality the beginning of real life. A bummer lamb in Christ. One who knows His voice, hears it, and comes to Him. Now, and forevermore.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The One Constant

"Surely Your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Psalm 23:6

In response to the above Scripture, I've written down in my prayer journal, "The one constant in my life is that His goodness and unfailing love never cease to pursue me....even when my life is not what I want." That is the "one constant" for me, for you, for everyone. Yet it is our response to His pursuit that will determine everything.

It is so easy to feel alone, forgotten, unnoticed and unloved. Especially in the places of life that we would never have chosen to be in. Sickness, loss, sorrow, heartaches of every kind. It is in these places that we feel that He has abandoned us. Where we wonder not only if He's there, but is He even real? The devil will certainly whisper such suggestions into our ears. Indeed, he shouts them through the pain of our circumstances. Where is He? Where is this God of love? How could He allow this? How could He allow it to happen to me? To you?

The question of how a "good God" could allow such evil to take place in this world has been asked since the beginning of time. The reason we miss the answer is that we miss the cause. Evil entered into the world through the sinful choices of Adam and Eve. Sin is the world's sickness, and the Father, through Christ, is the only answer. Because of sin, we live in a fallen world, and no one is immune to the consequences of that. Christ died in response to it, and Christ rose to overcome it. That is the key. In a fallen world where sin and evil abound, His grace, love, and mercy abound more. Sorrow and loss can and do overtake us, but they in turn can and are overtaken by His love, mercy, grace and power. They pursue us even into the darkest prison of pain and loss. And His pursuit never ceases. All that can cease is our willingness to respond to it.

The 23rd Psalm speaks of "walking through the valley of the shadow of death." Maybe this is where you are right now. Maybe it's where you've been for a very long time. Whether you realize it or not, His love and grace pursue you there. Indeed, they are already all around you. You may believe that heartache is your one constant, but it is not. There is a greater one....Almighty God Himself. In Christ, He pursues you, and in fact, He's already there...already found you. Have you yet found Him?

The Psalmist writes of "dwelling in His house forever." Too many think of this as some future hope. It is not. It's a very present one. His house is His heart, and we may dwell there right now. His eternal life can be lived in right now. Charles Wesley wrote of being in a dungeon that suddenly flamed with His light. Whatever dungeon you may be in today, He can and will make it flame with His light. He has pursued you there and He is there. His love and life are the One Constant. May it be...let it be....the One Constant for you.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Toppling Dagon

"After the Philistines captured the Ark of God, they took it from the battleground at Ebenezer to the city of Ashdod. They carried the Ark of God into the temple of Dagon and placed it beside the idol of Dagon. But when the citizens of Ashdod went to see it the next morning Dagon had fallen with his face to the ground in front of the Ark of the Lord! So they set the idol up again. But the next morning the same thing happened - the idol had fallen face down before the Ark of the Lord again. This time his head and hands were broken off...." I Samuel 5:1-4....."I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me." John 12:32...."What the world needs is not a 'little bit of love,' but a surgical operation." Oswald Chambers

Here in Manassas, Virginia, there is quite an uproar over a response to an annual nativity scene erected in a local park. A private citizen has placed a large sign right next to it, proclaiming that, in essence, there is no God, there is no need for God, and so all of the meaning of Christmas is a lie. I understand why people are upset by this brazen display of unbelief, but my first response wasn't in being upset. What His Spirit brought to mind for me was that picture shown above in the passage from I Samuel 5. The Philistines had defeated the Israelites in battle, completely due to the sin and rebellion of the Israelites. In doing so, they captured the Ark of the Lord, symbol of His dwelling among His people. It was His very Presence among them. The Philistines believed they had conquered the God of Israel, and putting Him alongside their false God Dagon was meant to show all who was the most powerful. Yet the power of Almighty God was displayed in the fact that the idol Dagon first fell at the foot of the Ark, and then finally, was broken in pieces before Him. The message is clear. All the power of an unbelieving mocking world cannot, will not ever change the reality and truth that God reigns. That God is true. That God is and always will be God and God alone.

I love nativity scenes, but they are not what prove the truth of our living God and Savior. His powerful presence in the lives of His people, a Presence that results in the reality of John 12 being made real in and through those lives. He is so alive in us that our very being results in His being lifted up in the midst of a sin crushed world....and drawing people to Himself from everywhere within it. When that kind of Life is emanating from within His people, His Church, than all the "signs" the enemy erects to deny Him can only end as did Dagon, broken in pieces at His feet. Though needed, this is something more than a Church engaged in good works and acts of love. It is a living, breathing, unleashed power and presence of the Three in One God in the midst of a fallen world and culture. As Chambers says, it is not bits of love the world needs, but a surgical operation. Holy Spirit surgery that results in making all things new in the lives where the surgery takes place.

I love what Beth Moore says; "As living stones, do our lives expose and empty tomb and a living, thriving, personal God? Are we proof Christ lives? Do people walk into our churches and see us living stones gathered in a spiritual house? If so, we'll never have to beg for visitors." Yet we needn't wait for them to come to see us, they have to see us as such where we live, work, even play. In all things and all ways, we shine forth with His Light and Life. When we do so, Dagon falls.....every time. Toppling Dagon; How much of our life is about that?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - No Vacancies

"And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped Him snugly in strips of cloth and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the village inn." Luke 2:6-7

There was a time in this country when small, independent motels were in abundance. They usually had large neon signs to attract travelers. At the bottom were two words; vacancy, or no vacancy. One or the other would be lit. For Mary and Joseph, that night in Bethlehem, the inn they stopped at was in "no vacancy" mode.

I know countless sermons and writings have detailed the message that is found in there being "no room at the inn" for Jesus. I don't claim to be mining any new ground here. This is a very familiar story even to the casual reader of His Word, that is, if it is even possible to "casually" read His Word at all. They say familiarity breeds contempt. I don't say that anyone of us has open contempt for His Word, but we certainly can grow to take it for granted since we've heard or read it so many times. In the end, isn't that a form of contempt on some level? In any case, I don't think there can ever be an instance where we have looked into His Words too deeply or often, and there are lessons in this passage that can never cease to deepen truth in all of us.

There is nothing much said of the innkeeper that turned Christ away. Vance Havner says that he may have been very polite, even kind to Mary and Joseph. He may have apologized profusely for being unable to receive them, and their soon to be born son. Yet in the end, he consigned them to the nearby stable. There were no vacancies in his inn. His other "guests" took up all the rooms of his inn. He was preoccupied with them. They were his central concern. Not Mary and Joseph, and certainly not the soon to be born Savior of the human race. How like him are we?

What's the sign upon our hearts when He comes seeking entrance into it? And I don't mean as Savior alone, but as Lord? We are all born into this world hopelessly lost and separated from He who created us. Christ was given to us that we might come back to the Father that was lost to us in Eden. He comes to the door of every heart and when He does, we are faced with a choice; will we receive Him in, or, turn Him away? Will He take up residence, or will we send Him to the stable, and continue to give all our attentions to all the "guests" in our heart we deem more worthy than Him?

Yet there is more to this all than that. We may well have received Him into our "inn," but there remains that matter of just how much access we are willing to grant Him. You see, our hearts are a very large inn indeed. There are many rooms, and even though we have asked to live there, we still entertain a lot of other guests in its rooms. Rooms that we have no real desire for Him to enter into. The occupants of these rooms fit a wide range. Toxic attitudes, unforgiveness, bitterness, anger, unhealed wounds of the past and present. Fear, lust, and all manner of secret sins. Some of the guests are not bad ones at all. We just hold them more important to us than Him. For all these rooms and the guests who live inside, we have placed a "Do Not Disturb" tag on the door knob. The Housecleaner is not wanted. We'd like to keep the room as it is. As far as it concerns those rooms, Christ the King can go once again to the stable.

So that brings us to the last question; where in our lives are we sending Him to the stable? He may have come knocking numerous times, and you may have been kind in your refusal to receive Him, but you've sent Him to the stable regardless. His love compels Him to come again, but our refusals make our ability to hear His knock lessen with each turning away. Do you hear that knock today? Will your life end with Him still in the stable? You may well have received Him as Guest, but that is what you've sought to keep Him as well. He has His own room, He just has no access to all your other rooms. When it comes to those rooms, you're still sending Him to the stable. He has no wish to be our guest. He insists on being Lord. Is He so to you, to me? Or, do we send Him again and again to the stable? Being an innkeeper can be a very tiring and hard life. Wouldn't it be best to turn ownership of our inns/hearts over to Him who created them? A stable is no place for a Savior, a Lord, a King. Immanuel, God with us. For Him, the door must always be open.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Unpacking The Baggage

"Then Jesus said, 'Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.' " Matthew 11:28...."And forgive us our sins, just as we forgive those who have sinned against us." Luke 11:4....."In the Lord's prayer, all we're asked to do is forgive."....."What would it look like right now if all your baggage became visible?" Sheila Walsh

Anyone who flies today knows that privacy doesn't exist as concerns what we carry along with us. Our bags are subjected to random searches on a regular basis. For me, this means that I don't want anything present that will cause me embarrassment or trouble. I expect you're much the same. If this is true, how much more so is it of the emotional and spiritual baggage we may be carrying? That's why Walsh's above question should hit so close to home for each of us. If the baggage we carry, and all of us carry some degree of it, were to become visible to all, what would all see? What would we see? Unresolved anger and bitterness? Long standing and ever simmering unforgiveness? Secret and clinging sinful behavior? All of us become masters at skillfully packing such things away, out of sight of all. Of all but Him. He, through His Holy Spirit, is a Master at unpacking our baggage and exposing all the things we don't want anyone to see...including ourselves.

We become masters at carrying baggage. Jesus calls them heavy burdens. The horror is, we want to continue to carry it. We've gotten so used to it that we resent, even fear letting it go. We can become very comfortable in our bitterness, unforgiveness, sin, and the shame that goes with it all. We may conceal it in some very grand and lovely luggage, but it's there, eating away at our hearts and minds. Even so, we justify it. It's our right to carry it. If anyone had experienced the kind of betrayal, abuse, or past that we had, they'd be doing what we do, living as we do. So wherever we go, the baggage goes too. And it seems like every day, there's another piece added.

As stated, the baggage can be in many forms, but I don't think any "bag" weighs more upon us than unforgiveness. Sheila Walsh told the story of the man who was asked who his favorite person was. "My tailor," he answered. Why? "Because every time I see him he takes fresh measurements of me." Do we see the connection? His tailor did not hold him to one view, but each time he encountered him, saw him in a new way. In telling this story, Walsh asked, "Who are the people in our lives that we need to have a 'fresh measurement' of?" Who are the people that we need to allow Him to show us in a new light? His Light. Who do we need to see with His mercy? The same mercy He has given to us? The only way we get to the place where we can even answer this question is when we have yielded our baggage to His loving, but thorough search. Have we? Will we? Can we?

Unpacked baggage. Are we ready for it? The giving of fresh measurements. Who in our lives is in need of that? We can have them, give them, or, we can continue to carry and withhold them. What will we most likely be doing today, tomorrow, and beyond?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - How Can This Be?

"You will become pregnant and have a son, and you are to name Him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High......"Mary asked the angel, 'How can this be? I am a virgin.' The angel replied, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you....For nothing is impossible with God.' " Luke 1:31-32, 34-35, 37...." 'How shall this be?' - that is the query of men since the beginning when faced with the message of the supernatural power of God. The natural man cannot receive or comprehend how God works His wonders of grace. The answer is, 'With God nothing shall be impossible.' " Vance Havner

I am more and more coming to see that we who profess to believe and follow Him are living in one of two realms. Either we are living in the country of "How can this be?" or the realm of "With God, nothing is impossible." Then again, perhaps there is a third country. It would be inhabited by those who seemingly spend their lives traveling between the first two. Only one of them is a true safe haven in Him. Which do you think it is?

We in the western Church have become so inundated by our culture that we are far more comfortable and accepting of the "natural man's" way of seeing life than we are of the "supernatural's." Rational thought, reason, and logical thinking are at the forefront. We've become very skillful at it. So much so that we have succeeded in rationalizing away much of the supernatural wonder of His Word and works. If our natural minds cannot grasp or explain something, we then seem obligated to question it. We live in that realm of "How can this be?" and most often conclude that "it can't be." So it isn't. Small wonder that an unbelieving world is not much impressed with what we say we believe. How could they when it seems that we don't really believe the One we say we believe in?

It can be very comfortable to live in the natural all the time. It gives us a feeling of control, and we feel like we have a real handle on the ways of the God we say we follow. However, it is not at all comfortable to live in the realm of "Nothing is impossible with God." Not comfortable to our flesh anyway. Living in this country means we live lives of surrender and trust. We believe in a God who not only can do all things, but more, we are surrendered to Him whether He does what we seek or not. Believing that nothing is impossible means that He makes it possible to live in victory even when He doesn't answer us as we hope. It may be that the greatest supernatural work in a believer is when they can and do live as overcomers even when all around them is collapsing. What seems impossible to go through is made totally possible by the grace and power of the Father. Living in this country means we live in expectation of His working miracles, whether they be of the spectacular, noticed by all, or the quiet, noticed only by us. Oh that the Church would enter into this country. His country.

Too often, I've spent my life going back and forth between the two realms. Believing that nothing is impossible for a time, than, when He didn't respond as hoped and in the time expected, moving over into the "How can this be?" country. It is a miserable way of life, and for too many, it is all we know. Maybe it's what we know right now. The realm of "Nothing is impossible with God," calls to us all. Our hearts hear it. It bids us leave the false comfort of believing we've got it all figured out, and enter into His life of wonder. It also calls us to leave the realm of the double-minded, always going back and forth between "two opinions." All things are possible. Nothing will be impossible. It is an endless land, and surely, there is room for you and me. Will we enter into it?

Many today still talk of "the wonder of Christmas," in the Church especially. Sadly, that wonder is too often confined to the sight of children opening presents, beautiful light displays, and lovely trees. Our wonder stops with these. We miss the real wonder of He who is the greatest gift, the brightest light, and the most lovely of faces. Embrace the Wonder. In Him, all things are possible.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - What Are You Doing Here?

What Are You Doing Here?
"Towards evening they heard the Lord God walking about in the garden, so they hid themselves among the trees. The Lord God called to Adam, 'Where are you?' " Genesis 3:8-9...." There he came to a cave, where he spent the night. But the Lord said to him, 'What are you doing here Elijah?' " I Kings 19:9....."God is not disappointed in us. He's disappointed for us." James Robison

I think a great need within the Body of Christ is that we learn the difference between conviction and condemnation. As Sheila Walsh has said, "Conviction is meant to draw us to Him. Condemnation will always drive us from Him." Though we may know the Scripture, "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ," we most often don't live as though we believe it. If we have failed Him, and we do and will, the enemy of our souls is right there to begin to lay his condemnation (not the Father's) upon us. "You messed up. You sinned. He won't forgive or forget. It's all over for you now." I know. I've been there. You have too. Maybe you're there right now.

Let me say that I believe fully in a Father who holds us accountable in Christ. I don't believe in a cheap grace that allows us to live as we please and just think that His grace and love will make up for all of it in the end. We are called to holiness of life, and there are real consequences if we reject and disobey that calling. What we don't understand is what His heart response to all of that is. We think it's anger and retribution. I don't think it is. I believe His first response is sorrow. Sorrow over what we have brought upon ourselves and very likely others. His second response I believe, is desire. Desire to draw us to His heart in repentance, and in our repentance, He washes us and makes us clean. He does not lay condemnation upon us, which will surely drive us from Him, but convicts us, in our hearts, of our sin and failure. Making us aware of what our actions have cost us, and the damage they have done to us, to others, to Him. David said "Against Thee and Thee alone have I sinned." His convicting grace will bring us to that place as well. Yes, He hates sin. Yes, consistent, defiant rebellion will arouse His anger and wrath, but not until we have so rejected His grace that we can no longer respond to it.

I have seen the truth of Robison's words, that He is not disappointed in us, but for us, in my own life. I have told few people this story, but its reality is imprinted on my heart more than 30 years later. During my second year at Bible College, I was involved in a relationship that had more pain than anything else. I was sure He was directing me to break it off, and in obedience, I went to her to do so. In the course of that, I misread her response as one of sincerely desiring to have everything in the relationship change, and that the Lord had just wanted me to be willing to break it off. I remained in it, and eventually, we married. But it is what happened after I left her apartment that has remained with me all these years later.

I went into the city of Colorado Springs and walked about it as I was wont to do. As I did so, I felt a hollowness in my heart and spirit that I could not escape. I didn't fully realize what was happening, but I know now that it was His Spirit grieving over what would eventually happen. Pain, sorrow, destruction, as He foresaw the divorce and brokenness that lie ahead. He was not disappointed in me, but for me. Like Elijah, He was asking me what I was doing in this place? I missed His will and heart...and in great measure. But my failure was not final, and out of the ashes of that failure, He brought forth new life. Greater life. He always does. He always will...if we will respond to the conviction of His Spirit upon our hearts. Even when we miss it the first time.....and many times more.

The last word over our sins and failures is not the devil's condemnation, but the Father's convicting but gracious assurance that there is forgiveness, hope, and healing in His grace and love. Wherever we are, even if it is in the place He told us not to go to, He comes. He seeks. He calls to us. The only question is, will we allow ourselves to be drawn to Him, or the enemy to drive us from Him? Which direction are you moving in?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - What Must I Do?

"You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever." Psalm 16:11

So often in our corporate worship we hear, in various but similar ways, the invitation to "Come into His Presence." I've said it myself...many times. More and more however, the question keeps arising in my spirit; What would happen if we ceased to be "visitors" to His Presence, but lived there? That we lived so connected to Him, so conscious of Him that His effect upon our lives would be seen in every area of life. If this were the case with us, how many of our current attitudes, and how much of our ingrained temperament would remain the same? The walk of a believer is to be one of ongoing transformation, but here's the problem; too few of those who profess to believe are really being transformed. That's not going to happen with an hour spent with Him on Sunday, and some hit and miss "devotional" time through the week. You can bring a block of ice into a heated room for an hour or two, and some melting will surely happen, but when you take it back outside, it quickly freezes again. Such is the result for far too many who say they are His. Paul said we are to be "transformed from glory to glory" in Him. The "ice" of our flesh is melted away in His Presence. Our problem is that we don't spend much time in the environment of His Presence. We conform to what and who we spend the most time with. The ice of our flesh life never really melts away, and we live in that flesh, not in His Spirit.

This doesn't mean that we don't try to live right, or do right. It does mean that we easily fall into a kind of "Christian law," where we base it all on our works. The rich young ruler came to Jesus and asked "What good must I do to have eternal life." Jesus asked him if had been keeping all the commandments. He replied that he had. The Lord then said, "One thing you lack. Go, sell all you have, and follow Me." Scripture tells us that he walked away sad, because he had many possessions. Jesus was telling Him that the "one thing," really, the only thing, was that he be with Him. Everything flows out of that. Nothing can get in the way of that. Our great problem is that so much does. Activity, even ministry activity does. So do our agendas, our human relationships, our possessions, our goals and our desires. Definitely our cherished sins. Having them, even when we know some or all of them may be hurting us, means more to us than having Him. We want many things more than we want the One thing. And so we make our obligatory appearances before Him, and then, like the block of ice, go back outside to our much more familiar environment.

Within all of us is a yearning for His eternal life. It is found in only one place; His Presence. And His Presence is found first at the cross. It is there we embrace Him, and we can only embrace Him with empty hands. When we do, we can never let Him go. We discover the meaning of the old hymn, "Nothing to Thee I bring, only to Thy cross I cling." So begins our transformation "from glory to glory." In His Presence.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Epidemic

"I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight." Isaiah 45:2....."Then he said to them, 'Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." Nehemiah 8:10....." The darkness of the world, the distortions of our flesh, and the schemes of the evil one combine to create illusions of despair. Resist them all. God's truth is remarkably contrary to what our souls perceive." Chris Tiegreen...."By the year 2020, the leading epidemic in our nation will be depression." Dr. Michelle Bengston

Depression. Many are held in its grip constantly. Many more deal with it often. All of us have suffered under it at one time or another. Bengston, a clinical psychologist, and one who spent years in the clutches of this jailer, says that while depression can result in part due to diet, sleep habits, and chemical imbalances in the brain, we cannot leave out the very real spiritual element in all of it. The enemy will seek to kill and destroy through any avenue possible, and while diet corrections and certain medications can help, our greatest weapon in all of it is the word and truth of God. Depression can often stem from our acceptance of a lie or lies planted in our mind and spirit by the enemy of our souls. Lies we believe about others, ourselves, and about God. When we accept these lies, we accept defeat, and open the door for the devil to pummel us with them. In these cases we need to "know the Truth" which makes us free. Not just truth lodged in our minds by memorization, but in the very fabric of our being. This means meditating, soaking in His truth, His word, so that it permeates every fiber of our being. Where His Truth is, He is, "and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."

We also suffer depression as a result of dissatisfaction and discontent. Bengston says it often comes about by our constant habit of comparing. We compare our lives with others, and almost always, we come off a very poor second. Pastors know this firsthand. We too often compare ourselves to other pastors, almost always those seen as successful, and end up feeling inferior to them. Small wonder that a frightening number of current pastors admit to suffering from chronic depression. Sadly, the organized church can nurture rather than heal this toxic habit. We can also compare our lives with the lives we wish we would have, or the dreams we once dreamed. Our reality doesn't match our dream. Our outcome is nothing like our expectation. All this, as Bengston notes, makes us "immune to joy." We are unable to see Him as good when we insist that our lives aren't. We don't believe that He can make the "crooked place straight." Yet He can, He will, if we will allow Him to replace all the lies with His Truth.

I know this is a subject far beyond my few paragraphs, but as one who has himself walked through deep times of depressing darkness, I have found, and still find, that focusing on, dwelling on His Truth, allowing it to fill my heart, mind, and spirit, keeps me open to fresh waves of His joy. A.W. Tozer wrote a book titled, "I Talk Back To The Devil." He knew what Jesus taught and still teaches....Truth makes us free. His Truth brings ever greater infusions of His joy....in even the darkest places. Paul knew this is a tiny jail cell. John knew it on the island of Patmos. So have countless others who looked not at their lives in comparison to others, but in relation to Him....and His love, mercy, and peace. And they knew joy. May we know it too. Against His joy, no epidemic can spread.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Bag Of Flour

"Then Peter came and said to Him, 'Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven time?' Jesus said to him, 'I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.' " Matthew 18:21-22....."Forgiveness is God's gift to us to live in a world that's not fair." Sheila Walsh

Sheila Walsh tells the story of her young son's struggle with a friend whose actions had caused him much pain and anger. He told her that not only would he cease to have him as a friend and never forgive him, but that he would no longer pray for him as well. Walsh then asked him to go for a walk with her, but first told him to go to the kitchen and get the large sack of flour just purchased that day. She told him he was to carry that sack as they walked. Being only 7 years old, the flour was an increasingly heavy load for him. Not far into the walk, he asked his mother if he could put the flour down, but she refused, asking him to continue to carry it. They went on, but soon reached a point where, exhausted, he couldn't carry it further, and had to set it down. It was at that point that she said unforgiveness in his heart did the same thing to his spirit that the sack of flour had done to his body. At some point, it has to be let go because we can go no further with it. Unforgiveness is a burden that will cripple us every time....no matter how hard we try to hide it, deny it, or justify it.

As Walsh says, we live in an unfair world. People often don't treat as they should. Difficult people can abound in our lives. They inflict wounds, often deep, upon us. At times they're unintentional. Many times they're not. The desire of the flesh is to get even, to punish, to force an accounting. I know. I've been there. So have you. I've carried the sack of flour, and been crippled by its weight. So have you. Maybe you are right now. At what point will we be willing to put the sack down, to let it go? When will we release the burden of the grudge we have carried so long? When will we finally have rest from it?

Peter was very aware of the fact he lived in an unfair world. He was willing to forgive....up to a point. He thought seven times more than generous. Jesus disagreed. The number He used, seven times seventy wasn't meant to be goal. He meant for Peter to see that there should never be a limit to our forgiveness of others. No matter how many "bags of flour" they may put upon us, we must to forgive. We have to be free of the flour. Otherwise it will kill us....slowly but surely.

There was a time when I struggled with a very large "bag of flour." I harbored great bitterness towards someone, and to the point that the very thought of them brought a sourness to my spirit. A sourness that hindered my walk with Him as well as blunted any spiritual progress. I justified, denied, and tried to keep it hidden, sometimes all at once. Yet finally, He brought me to a place where to have His life, I had to let it go from my life. I began to pray and speak forgiveness to this one. Let me say, I did not feel that forgiveness at all. Yet, by His grace, I willed to forgive, and continued to pray that forgiveness every day, and every time angry thoughts about them came to mind. It took time, but He worked through all the layers of anger and bitterness until the point came where I felt and experienced the giving of the forgiveness I had been speaking. It also brought to me a deeper sense of His mercy to me and my own need of His forgiveness. It was not any easy path. His way never is, but it is the only way to His wholeness.

Unfair people and actions continue to happen. Wounds continue to come. For you and for me. Our choice is, will we continue to carry the weight of them until we reach the place where we cannot go on, or, will we surrender them, and the people who have committed them to Him? Forgiveness. The healing, cleansing and freedom may not happen all at once, but it will happen...... What's your bag of flour? Will you let it go?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Golden Thread

"There was a believer in Joppa named Tabitha. She was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor. About this time she became ill and died.....Her friends....heard Peter was nearby at Lydda, so they sent two men to beg him, 'Please come as soon as possible!' So Peter returned with them and as soon as he arrived they took him to the upstairs room. The room was filled with widows who were weeping and showed him the coats and other garments Tabitha had made for them."

A friend shared yesterday of a Memorial Service that he'll be speaking at for a close friend who had lived a wonderful life in Christ. Wonderful though much of it was filled with pain, heartache, and suffering. After a long battle, she had succumbed to cancer. He talked of sharing the above Scripture and how the deceased Tabitha's room was filled with things she had woven and made. It made him think of the weaving of a tapestry, and how that tapestry, as many before have commented, can represent the living out of a life. As I listened, I thought of just how that might apply to my life, your life, all of our lives.

In times past, and I imagine even now, the finest clothes and tapestries often had thread made in part of pure gold woven into them. It was meant to add to the richness of the finished work. My thought is how the Father, through Christ, in the weaving of the tapestry of our own lives, seeks to weave into them, the golden thread of His life and activity. The question for me, for you and all of us is this; how much gold has been woven into our lives by His hand? In the clothing and tapestries I speak of, the presence of the golden thread was undeniable. They literally shown with golden brilliance. Do our lives do the same? Have the golden threads that He has sought to weave into our lives through the events of our lives been received? It is said that a tapestry when viewed from behind is a monstrosity to look upon. It makes no sense at all. But when looked upon from the front, is a work of beauty. How many of us see our lives and the lives of others that way? Only from behind. Never seeing the beauty that He seeks to work into, is working into them with His golden thread. Golden thread soaked in His blood...and ours as well.

The cost of the golden thread in the tapestries and clothing I speak of was great. So is its presence in the lives I speak of. It was so in the sister who has gone before us to His rest and glory. If we are to have such thread in our own lives, it will be for us as well. The thread is not found in lives of ease. Lives that seek an avoidance of all pain and trouble. Lives whose constant cry to Him is for deliverance from all pain and heartache. No, only those lives that surrender, joyfully to His leading, even when that leading will take us through a dark night of the soul. A dark night that can seem an eternity in length. It is in those places, places of loss, sacrifice, sorrow, and suffering, that the golden thread is woven. Woven by and with hands of love. His love. Unending love. Lives that shine with the brilliance of His golden thread. Golden thread that will show throughout eternity.

What is being woven into our lives today? What shows before a watching world? What will show when our time here is over? What will be our tapestry, our clothing? Brilliant with His thread of gold, or....not? To have such thread will cost us everything, but we will gain all things in Him. He weaves our lives even now. What thread would you have?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Hipster Jesus?

"To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." I Peter 5:11......"The 'Hipster Nativity Set' is making news today. It features Mary and Joseph taking a selfie with Jesus inside a manger with solar panels on the roof. The wise men are riding Segways and carrying Amazon packages. A shepherd is posting the birth on Instagram. Jim Denison

I would once have thought such a nativity scene to be unthinkable. Not any more. Why would it be? We in the Church have been steadily lessening the element of supernatual mystery from the three in One God for some time now. We've created a God in our image. A God who is very much like us. We have hipster churches and hipster pastors. Why should we not have a hipster Jesus? In our well intentioned efforts to make people feel comfortable and welcome, I believe we have lost the element of reverent worship. In our efforts to become relevant to people, dare we ask the question of whether our "worship" has become irrelevant to Him?

I realize I'm an "old guy"now, but I don't think I'm an old guy set in his ways....at least as concerns His Church. I realize we cannot use the ministry methods of 1970 in the culture of 2016, but I believe we have lost the sense of awe and wonder of the One we call Lord. Throughout His Word, when men and women encountered Him, the response of the seeking heart could only be worship. Usually they could not even remain on their feet. Falling face down before Him was the most common response. Peter, realizing he was in the presence of Someone he had never encountered before, was convicted of his sin and unworthiness. His glory literally blinded Paul on the Damascus Road. Even in the garden, as they came to arrest Him, a few words from Him literally knocked them off their feet. As Beth Moore put it, those who came to apprehend Him were themselves apprehended by Him. Where are we seeing such responses in what we call worship these days? It's like we come to see "shows" about Him, rather than in expectation of actually "seeing" Him. In this Christmas season, many churches will be singing the Hallelujah chorus with their lips. Will it be on and in their hearts? How far might we have drifted from the sense of wonder, awe, and the giving of glory to Him "who was, and is, and is to be?"

In the Word, it was said of the Israelites after they had fashioned the golden calf while Moses was on Mt. Sinai that "they exchanged the glory of God for a statue of a grass eating ox." Can we at least ask ourselves whether and to what degree we may be doing the same? We cannot manufacture or reproduce His glory. We can only worship it. Father, deliver us from the hipster mentality.....and anything else that seeks to displace you in our hearts, minds....and worship.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - In Person

"When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, 'Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.' " Genesis 28:16

There's a phrase heard often in the church, or on second thought, maybe not often enough; "The Lord really showed up today." I've said it myself, but more and more I see the great error in such a statement. It is wrong on so many levels. Intended or not it seems to indicate the Lord hovers around backstage, waiting for the right moment to "appear in Person." Or that through various means we can, like a genie in a lamp, "rub our lamps" in just the right way and produce His appearance. Yet, beyond these is an even greater reality. It isn't the Father who needs to show up, we do.

Few wish to spend any time in the Old Testament these days. We live by grace after all. The law has passed away, so why spend any time reading about what life was like before the resurrection of Christ. What riches we rob ourselves of. One of the greatest losses may be our understanding of what is true worship. A great part of the meaning can be found in the very books we choose to ignore.

One of the keys for the priests and people as they came before Him was preparation. God made clear to all that He could not be approached in a casual way. He put before them rituals of purification for the people to observe, so that they would come before Him ceremonially clean and pure. There was no other way to come, and both the Father and the people were very aware that He allowed for no exceptions.

I know that we no longer observe these outward rituals, but they are described to us as a means to be a type, a portrait of what our inner condition must be when we come into His Presence. The priests and people were meticulous in their preparations. They greatly feared coming before Him in any way that He saw as unclean. The Father meant it for a heart lesson for all, even we who live in the covenant of His grace. That we would come before Him with clean hands and pure hearts. His people then came prepared to worship Him. How prepared are His people today?

Observe how we most often appear before Him. How prepared are our hearts and minds to worship? How much time have we spent meditating on who He is, what He says and promises, and especially, what it is He commands of us? We live distracted lives, and this is usually true right up to the moment we seek to enter into His Presence, be it in our personal "quiet times, " or our corporate gatherings. It's for this reason we have come to rely overmuch on music and visual aids in our worship times to get us to let go of our "Monday through Saturday" lives in order that we might spend an hour or so with Him on Sunday. Too often we have an emotional response to it all, and think of it as His "showing up," when in fact, it's we who havn't.

It's common to see worship teams and pastors joining in a minutes long prayer before the service. Yet how many hours of prayer went before that minute? How many of us have spent the Monday through Saturday time crying out for Him to move upon His Church? What would happen if we did? There is never a moment when He is not present, appearing. There is never a moment when He is not speaking, moving. It is we who are absent, not Him. Oh that we would be among those that "love His appearing," and are not waiting around till Sunday for it to happen.

We are invited to "come boldly to the throne" of grace, but with reverence, in worship. May His Church become such a Church. A Church that beholds He who always appears, "In Person," for those who truly seek Him. For those whose hearts are prepared for Him.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Faith Or Fear?

"These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." John 16:33......'Fear and faith are opposing forces and you have to turn your back on one to behold the other." Susan Larson

John 16:33 is like "Bible 101" for believers. It's likely one of the first ten or so Scriptures we're encouraged to memorize when we first begin to read His Word. Yet, how many of us really live in its truth? Jesus speaks two truths here. He says that in Him we have peace, and in the world we have tribulation. Life has certainly taught us the truth of the second. To what extent do we know the truth of the first? Which more describes our day to day living; victims of the world's tribulation, or dwellers in His peace?

I love the quote from Susan Larson used above. There may be no more powerful force of darkness than fear. It can and does paralyze us, and multitudes live captive to its power. Many, very many of them are believers, and isn't that an oxymoron? Believers in He who is Almighty, living in fear of things that are powerless before He who is Almighty. Yet so many of us do just that. I saw it once put that the great failure of the Pharisees in their inability to recognize Jesus for who He was, the Messiah, was that they did not believe the God they said they believed in. How like them we can be. He has spoken to us all that His Word calls, "His great and precious promises," yet we who say we believe in Him, give proof by our lives that we don't believe what He says. As I heard a football coach once put it, "We live in our fears." Where, and to what degree are we doing the same?

So back to Larson's quote. The force of fear wars against the force of faith constantly in our lives. As she says, for one to prevail, we have to turn our backs upon the other. Which do we turn our backs on? Which do you turn your back on? There is only one way to prevail over fear, and that is to choose, by His grace, to believe Him. Whether you have any understanding of why you are walking where you are, or what is going on while you walk, you choose to believe Him. All of us, if we truly are walking with and pursuing Him will come to the same place that Paul did in Acts, when God told him that the ship he was sailing on would sink, but that He would get Paul and every other passenger safely to shore. In the midst of a terrible, days long hurricane, Paul said, "And I believe it will happen just as He told me." Do we believe that the force of faith in His promise and life will overwhelm the force of the fear we face....every time? What will we turn our back upon, and what will we behold? Who will we behold?

Two forces are before us; fear and faith. Which do we turn away from and which do we embrace? The first never sees Him. The latter always will. Are you living in your fears, or in Him?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Empty Hands.....Full Hearts

"Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came over and spoke to Him. 'Teacher,' they said, 'we want You to do us a favor.' 'What is it?' He asked. 'In Your glorious Kingdom, we want to sit in places of honor next to you,' they said, 'one at Your right and the other at Your left.' " Mark 10:35-37...."When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus of Nazareth was nearby, he began to shout out, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.'......When Jesus heard him, He stopped and said, 'Tell him to come here.'.....Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus. 'What do you want Me to do for you?' Jesus asked. 'Teacher,' the blind man said, 'I want to see.' " Mark 10:47,49, 50-51

A friend and I were talking today and the above Scriptures came into the conversation. My friend spoke of the vast difference in the two requests made first by James and John, and then by blind Bartimaeus. He said James and John's request was all about position, "appearance." They wanted a place of prominence. They wanted to be seen. He then said that Bartimaeus, though blind, had an inner sight that recognized, as Jesus passed by, that He was far more than a man. He was the Son of David. The Messiah. Bartimaeus wanted to see. I think more than anything, he wanted to see Jesus. James and John wanted to be seen.. Who are we really most like?

What do the pleas of our hearts really focus on? As I heard someone put it once, if He does answer our prayer(s), how much of the answer makes us the main benefactor? So much of what we pray, even when it comes to asking for the advance of His Kingdom in the lives and situations around, will bring about lives made easier, better, more comfortable by His answering and giving? As my friend put it, a lot of what we pray for and seek contains a "mixture." Mixed in with pure desire will be a good deal of self-interest. Such mixture is never pleasing to God. Pastors pray for souls, but "mixed" in is also a desire for a growing church, and the applause and recognition that go with it. We pray for difficult people, situations, and so on to be made right, but mixed in is the desire that if He will do so, our lives will become easier as well. We ask for many things that will benefit others for sure, but we seek a benefit for ourselves too. Often, the "self" motivation is stronger than the "others" focus. We seek the advancement of His Kingdom while at the same time seeking the expansion of our own, or the improving of someone else's lot, which will also improve ours.

Years ago I attended a church sponsored seminar that had as one of its central themes, "You can get anything you want if you just help enough other people get what they want." One look at that cannot but show where the real interest lies. "Getting" is the goal. How much of our prayer life, our walk here, is about that? A.W. Tozer said, "The greater your contentment with your daily circumstances in this world, the greater your defection from the ranks of God's pilgrims en route to a city whose architect and builder is God Himself." Contentment. Comfort, Well-being. Position. Provision. Protection. Where does surrender, obedience, and the cross they will surely lead us to come into play for you and me?

I have walked far more in the spirit and attitude of James and John in this life than I have of Bartimaeus. I have sought my place far more than His. I have wanted to see things come to fruition for my benefit more than for His glory. I have wanted to see results that blessed me more than the blessing of seeing Him. Mark Batterson said the rich young ruler left Christ's presence with full hands and an empty heart. Have often have we? How often will we continue to? May our foremost yearning be to see. Not with eyes of flesh, but of His Spirit. To more and more see all as He sees, and in the midst of it, to see Him as He is. To live before Him not with grasping hands, but giving ones. Empty hands that release all to Him, and in return, live with hearts full of His life and presence. He asks us what we would like Him to do for us? May it be that we, like Bartimaeus, truly receive our sight...that we may at last.....see.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Sacred Ache

"As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God." Psalm 42:1

Sheila Walsh shared the story of when she was preparing to take the platform to speak at one of the "Women of Faith" conferences, a time where she was in a good place in life, when all seemed right, but that there was within her, an ache. A longing. She whispered a prayer to Him as to what it might mean, why it was there? She said she heard the Father whisper back that it was His desire that she should never lose that "sacred ache." It was, and is, a longing for more of Him. It was also His reminder to her that she was not home yet. There remained still more of Him to know and experience. More. Much more.

Do we share such a longing for Him? Is there within us a sacred ache? There can be no doubt that there is. It is in each of us, placed there by Him. He is always calling us home. Home to His heart, His life, His fullness. The great tragedy is that we have become experts at masking that longing with the junk food and soda pop of this world. Walsh says that our hearts will be "radicalized" either by a longing for Him, or for something else. What has radicalized our hearts? What do we chase after? Things, position, recognition, applause? We all ache for something? What is our real "sacred ache?" The answer is not found in the words from our lips, but from the attitudes and actions of our hearts.

I saw a beautiful video on Facebook the other day. An elderly father finds he will be spending Christmas alone. All of his children, busy, successful, distracted, will be unable to come home. The scene is one of him sitting alone at his table, a Christmas tree in the background. The scene then shifts to his children, all invested in their own lives, who suddenly receive notice that he has died. Regret, grief, mourning takes hold of each of them. They all gather at his home, preparing to go in and sort out his belongings. When they enter, they find a table set for all of them, and then their elderly father comes in from the other room. He told them that he felt that their believing him gone was the only means of bringing them home. They all embraced and then joined in a celebratory dinner of life....I saw it in this way. As the elderly father longed for his children, an ache in his heart, so does the heavenly Father long for us. His children, distracted by their lives, were finally awakened to their longing for him. So too must we be. Have we been? Or, will we go on longing with all our hearts for the things of this world, thinking it our home, while missing the joy and wonder of His home...the home we have been created for?

There is that Sacred Ache in all of us, but are we following it to Him, or has it been counterfeited by this world? Does our ache go towards having the fullness of His heart and will in our lives, or for merely having all things work out in the way that we want...and always to our benefit? The Sacred Ache will call each of us home. Our true home...where the Father aches for us. Will we come? Are we moving there now?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Imposters

"And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever." John 14:16

Recently, I heard a young woman named Robia Scott talk about her book, Counterfeit Comforters. She called them "imposters" that have gained entry into the very center of our being, and have displaced the Holy Spirit as the source of our comfort, strength and confidence. Imposters that gain a stronghold within us, and convince us that we need them more than we need Him. Imposters that convince us we cannot be without them. Imposters and strongholds share a common trait. They are both built upon a lie. Where have they managed to get you and me to buy into their lie? What imposters have we come to place our trust and well being to?

When Jesus told His disciples that the time was soon when He would return to the Father, fear and dread were quickly upon them. What would happen to them when His physical presence was removed? His words in John 14:16 were meant to belay that fear. That He was not only sending them "another Comforter," but a better One. Better because He would not only be living with them, but within them. He would bring a comfort, an Advocate, a presence, that they would have never known before. Even so, they continued to fear His leaving. All that would change at Pentecost when His Holy Spirit would come upon them, and fill each of them. They now knew and lived in the fullness of this Comforter. No imposter would ever be able to take His place. And there lies the problem. It is when we lack the fullness of His Spirit and Life that we become easy prey for the imposters who seek to have His place. It is then that we will seek to find what only He can give in the false offers of security and well being by that which is not Him. Behind it all is the enemy of our souls, who has an endless supply of imposters to offer. Lacking the fullness of the One who is Truth, we grab hold of a lie. Many lies.

Imposters can establish their place in our lives through many avenues. They can come in any form and many of them can be defined as "good." We end up putting our hope, trust, and security in them. They can be in people, through relationships, marriage, parenting, friendships. Through occupational endeavors. In the presence of material and financial security. And yes, in ministry for Him. I know, because I allowed such imposters to take His place in my own life. I didn't recognize this until they were lost. We never do.

I once saw myself in terms of who I was, what I did, and what I accomplished. When I was a husband, father, pastor, I received a deep sense of well being and security from that. I saw Him as my Source of course, but had no idea of how much trust I had placed in imposters that were not Him. Counterfeit Comforters. When they were all lost to me, and all at once it seemed, the empty void that I was left crushed the life from me. Yet it was in this place that He began to lay a new, and eternal foundation of Himself. When the imposters were exposed for what they were, He who is the real thing was able to reveal Himself. What I did and the relationships I had did not define me. Neither did what I possessed or had lost. I was not defined by either failure or success. He defined me. He sent me, as He has so many others, another Comforter. And in Him, I can continue to guard my heart against all the imposters that continue to seek entry into my heart and spirit. And trust me, they still come knocking.

So who are your own "imposters?" Who are the counterfeit comforters? There's an old hymn with the wonderful line, "the Comforter has come." He has come. He has been given. Have you received? If you're trusting in imposters and counterfeits today, know that they will be exposed for what they are, and for who they are not. Shakings will come, and only what is of Him, is Him, will remain. No more imposters. No more counterfeits. The Comforter has come....for you.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The "Meet Up"

"When Jesus came by, He looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. 'Zacchaeus,' He said, 'Quick, come down. For I must be a guest in your home today.' Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy." Luke 19:5-6........"He told Zacchaeus He was going home with him. Christ wants to live with us, not merely meet us at church." Vance Havner

"Meet-ups" are a fairly common term these days. People have them all the time; in coffee shops, restaurants, pretty much anyplace at all. The church has been having meet-ups for centuries. Mostly on Sunday mornings, but we've extended them into various times and ways during the week as well. These are the official "meet-up" places, but we have un-official ones as well. They take place in what we call our morning or evening devotions, and other ways as well. All of them are times we designate, set aside, to meet-up with Jesus. They can vary in time length, but one things seems common with all of them. When they're over, so is our time spent in His presence. We then "get on with life," and too often, it's a life lived without a conscious presence of Him. Our meet-ups with Him may be valued by us, but they don't really define us. We may meet with Him anywhere, but we rarely take Him with us everywhere. Especially as concerns the thoughts, attitudes, practices and so on that we feel most "at home" with. We like to meet with Him, we don't really want to live with Him.

Wherever Christ ministered, there were great crowds. Many were just curiosity seekers. They wanted to see what all the talk was about. They were content to stand off at a distance....and remain unchanged. Others were more aggressive. They pressed in on Him, but their desire wasn't really for Him, but what He could give them. They may have touched Him, but they didn't lay hold of Him. Is this really any different from much of what we call "Church" today? In our gatherings, there doesn't seem to be any lack of those who are very content to keep their distance from Him. They join in the songs, listen to the sermon....kind of, but they never encounter Him. Spectators, they leave the same as they came. Others, like the crowd pressing in, come with expectations of receiving something from Him. They want a meet-up in order to secure an answer to some need. This is not wrong in itself, but what's missing is any deep longing for Him. In His grace and mercy, the need may be met, but their heart is untouched. Yet what marked Zacchaeus, and some few others like Him, is they were determined to have something more. Zacchaeus, a tax collector and man of means, and likely known and feared by all, was willing to look the fool in their eyes by climbing a tree. So deep was His desire to see Jesus. There was a longing in his heart that no words can really describe. Jesus saw it, and of all the crowd around Him, it was Zacchaeus whose home he went to. Neither Jesus or Zacchaeus would be satisfied with a meet-up. Jesus wanted to be where Zacchaeus lived. Zacchaeus wanted Him to be there as well. Do we?

Preachers, teachers, watchers and listeners, we all need to put an end to our religious meet-ups. We need to live ever more fully in His heart, as He comes to live every more deeply in ours. In this, we become more and more at home in each other. In our corporate times, and private ones as well, we live with each other, and we all live fully in Him.There is no time when we are not conscious of this. Curiosity seekers and mere petitioners for His help will not know this place. Only those willing to go out on a limb to "see" Him will. I want to be such a one. I want to be part of such a Church. Do you? Or will you be content to just be a face in the crowd? Curiosity seeker. Petitioner. But not a dweller in Him.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Abundant And Broken

"Then He took a loaf of bread; and when He had thanked God for it, He broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples saying, 'This is My body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me." Luke 22:19........"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." John 10:10

The title of this writing may sound like a contradiction to some. How can anyone be abundant and broken at the same time? It just doesn't seem possible. Being broken, living in brokenness, is not an attractive picture for many. Most will do all within their power to avoid such a state, and a very large number of them are professing followers of Jesus Christ. We are quick to buy into His words concerning having the abundant life He promises in John. Especially as we would define abundance. I saw a book today titled, "Will Jesus Give Me A Double-Wide Home, Because I Need More Room For My Plasma TV?" A comical title to be sure, but not so comical if we were to admit our real heart attitude as to what life in Him should be. Too many of us define abundance as having "more of," and "bigger than." We hear His promise of abundance. We don't hear His invitation to enter into the fellowship of His sufferings....which is where true abundance begins, and flows out of.

Writer and speaker Ann Voskamp asks the question, "How do we live an abundant life in a broken world?" More, how do we live an abundant life in the midst of our own brokenness? The key, as always, is found in the life of Christ. The disciples had little idea of the extent of what He was saying when He served them communion in the upper room. He was giving them, and us, more than a sacrament to practice as a means of remembering Him. In the giving up of His broken body for us, He was providing through His brokenness, the means to true spiritual abundance. To those who are His, He invites us into that same sacrifice and that same brokenness....that we might not only have abundant life, but be vessels of it to a broken world....through our own brokenness.

In His brokenness, Jesus gave of Himself to those who were also broken. We all, whether knowing it or not, are broken. When we know this, our flesh tendency is to hide. Christ life has as it's desire to give....of itself.....abundantly. Pain doesn't make us run away from Him, but to Him....and then through Him to others who are also broken. We don't fear our own brokenness because we discover that in Him, we find healing and wholeness. We then do not fear the brokenness of others, but in Him, become His agents of taking His healing and wholeness to them as well. We are broken, then we are blessed in our brokenness. We are then fit to become His blessing to a lost and broken world. We are living lives that at the same time are both abundant and broken. Are we living such lives right now?

Are you living in broken place right now? Don't fear it, deny it, or run from it. Embrace that place in Him, and in the embracing, find His wholeness and healing. You will know His abundance as well as His brokenness.....and you will be, for the broken lives He puts you in front of.....the richest of His blessings.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - God Is!

"He that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He rewards those who seek after Him." Hebrews 11:6...."I do not means some vague belief that there is a God. I mean the conviction that God is: living, present, active.....Do not claim to have faith until you can say, 'I am and I have...because God is.' " Watchman Nee

I have a friend who likes to say that there are times when the only thing you can pray is, "Father, have mercy!" Those three words may be the most powerful prayer we can utter. Life, and the enemy who operates in the midst of it, can so overwhelm us with his attacks through or circumstances that we don't even know how to respond, how to pray. All we can do is cry out for His mercy.....and in His mercy, He moves, and He reveals...Himself.

Before we can pray such a prayer however, we must come to, be, in the place that has settled once and for all this truth, the truth Nee speaks of. We must be completely convinced that God IS! That He is all that He says He is. That He will do all that He says He will do. That He will be to us, all that He says He will be. Someone once said something to the effect, "He lives, and that means endless possibilities." Endless possibilities because He IS the God of "nothing is impossible." When this is the ground that we are standing on, living upon, than no matter how deep the darkness and danger, no matter how fearsome the threat, or the lies of hell are, we live in the full confidence that our God is...able, willing, active....for us!

With all this being true, the question than arises, do we have a personal, living knowledge based on intimacy with Him? Knowledge that is rooted not only in our minds, but our hearts as well? We live in the midst of a fallen world, and being His does not excuse us from having to live with the very real consequences of that. As Jesus said, in this fallen world we will have tribulation....At times, perhaps many times, intense tribulation. Yet He has overcome that world and all its power on the cross and in His resurrection. He IS Victory. Therefor in Him, we live in victory.

Paul said in Ephesians 3:14, "When I think of the wisdom and scope of God's plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father." He worships Him. He worships Him because as he contemplates the endless wonder of who his God is, it's the only response he can have. In a dank prison cell, chained to his guards, Paul is overwhelmed not by the cell, the guards, or his circumstances. He is overwhelmed by who His God is. Are we?

If the enemy, working in and through this fallen world you find yourself in today, is closing in on you, dare you dwell on just who your God is in the midst of it? Yes, we may cry out for mercy, and He will give it. In that mercy I believe He will give us fresh, powerful revelations of who He is. Who He is to us. To you, and to me. The enemy will speak the lie of what he says is. That lie will fall, every time, when we speak in response, the truth of who He is. He is living, He is present, and He is active. He lives. He reigns. He is. He is the great I Am! And because He is, we can face all of our yesterdays, todays, and tomorrows. Face them, overcome them, because He is.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Mixture

"Now anyone who builds on that foundation may use gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But there is going to come a time of testing at the judgement day to see what kind of work each builder has done. Everyone's work will be put through the fire to see whether or not it keeps its value. If the work survives the fire that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builders themselves will be saved, but like someone escaping through a wall of flames." 1 Corinthians 3:12-15....."If our lifework is to be fireproof, it will not be so built by sentence prayers and one minute Bible readings before breakfast. But it costs, so we slip in a block of wood here and fill in with hay there and get by with stubble yonder.....It is so easy to let up here and there and work in a little wood or stubble, but blessed is the man who will not substitute even the good for the best." Vance Havner

I think all believers of His Word agree that there awaits us all in eternity, judgement. The primary judgement will concern what each has done with Jesus Christ. His Word clearly states that He is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life." That "no one comes unto the Father except through Him." Through Him alone, and no one else. Those who have confessed their lost state, their need of forgiveness, repented of their sin, and received Him unto life, have settled that first question. Let me stop a moment and ask, have you settled it? What, to this point in your life, have you done with this Savior, Jesus Christ? Yet there is another judgement that awaits for those who have settled this question. As John Bevere puts it, the first judgement determines what we have done with Jesus Christ. The second concerns how we have lived for Him. I'm concerned in that I don't think many of us put much thought into that question. At least here in the west. The desire of the apostle Paul's heart was that he would complete his life journey and be found faithful....to the very end. That he would hear, on that last day, "Well done, good and faithful servant." How much do you and I really wish to hear the same? How we live, and not just in action, but motive, really determines the answer to that.

Havner talks of how, in our lives for Him, we so easily place varying amounts of wood, hay, and straw into our lives for Him. Others have called such a life one of "mixture." Into lives professed to be lived out for Him, is mixed in a great deal of "us," of the self-life. The subtle presence of this can lead to a great deal of self-deception. We can trumpet loudly that all we do, we do for Him, except that lurking beneath the surface is a great deal of self-interest as well. We tell ourselves that we're zealous to build His Kingdom, but at the same time, we're very interested in building our own as well. From the pulpit to the pew, it is so. How "so" is it in you and me?

When I began in ministry, my overriding concern was to grow my congregation. Yes, I sincerely wanted to win souls, and did. But I also wanted to be seen as successful, and that fleshly desire too often caused me to see people as a means to get what I wanted, and the Father as a means to help me do so. To varying degrees, this remained true through years of ministry. I wanted to give glory to Him, but I wanted to share in the glory as well. The Father will not share His glory. He will not honor or recognize the wood, hay, and straw. The mixture. Even when souls are saved and churches grow. Personal ambition finds no favor with Him, even when the results are good ones. He is not pleased with offerings that contain so much hay, wood, and straw. The offering that is a mixture of honor for self and honor for Him. How much of our lives are really all about just that?

Mark Batterson told of his early days in ministry when he was frustrated and unhappy with the smallness of his congregation. He said that the Father spoke to his heart and told him that if he could not be content and joyful pastoring a group of 25, neither would he be so if he were leading 2500. Lives that flow with such a mixture of both silver and gold and wood, hay, and straw will not be either.

All of us will one day give account of not only what we did with Him, but how we lived for Him. The most important question in eternity will be, "What have we done with this Jesus?" Everything depends upon that . Second in importance will be how did we then live for Him? Bevere says the first question decides where we will spend eternity. The second, how. We'll all answer each one. How do you answer now? Do you wish that to be how you answer then?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Three Masters

"Just think! Though I did nothing to deserve it, and though I am the least deserving Christian there is, I was chosen for this special joy of telling the Gentiles the endless treasures available to them in Christ." Ephesians 3:8........"The source of Apostle Paul's contentment was a Person, not provision. With God by his side, Paul was satisfied." Alicia Britt Chole

I don't remember who said it, but I have written down in my prayer journal, "We're concerned about provision, protection, and position. Yet we need not be concerned for any of these if we will realize we are heirs of His Kingdom." Paul states in Romans that those who are His are co-heirs with Him of all the riches and fullness of His Kingdom. Yet how many of us live as if this is so? How many of us are mastered by an obsession over how we'll be provided for? How safe will we be? How successful can we become? Our life focus is so much upon these three "masters" that we never really experience the "endless treasures" in Christ that Paul speaks of.

There's a saying that goes something along the lines of , "We never know who we have in Him until He is all we have." Yet few of want to get to such a place. In fact we're terrified of that place. As a result we invest our life energy into making sure that we have enough, are safe enough, reach high enough. The Father becomes our facilitator in all of that. He provides, protects, and advances us. Our security lies then in what He has given, not in who He is. Our great fear then is that what we have will run out. What keeps us safe will be broken down, and that the place we have achieved in life will be taken away. Provision. Protection. Position. Three masters. Three tyrants. And many of us are living in bondage to them right now. In Exodus, the Father rebuked the people of Israel when they made a golden calf to represent to them who He was. They needed to have an image. He told them that they had exchanged their glorious God for a statue of a grass eating ox. How different is that from what we do? We worship the fruit of what He gives, not the One who gives it all. We are more concerned over losing the fruit than we are of losing the Giver of the fruit.

Paul's life was totally invested in proclaiming and inviting people into the riches, the treasure that could be realized in Christ alone. Paul meant that the treasure was Christ Himself. We have made it all about the things He gives. We have framed our modern message all around that. That's the golden calf that we have made.....and been mastered by. Come to Christ and He will provide for you, protect you, and yes, ensure your success. Then we focus our lives upon these....and miss Him....completely.

Too much of my life has been lived under the tyranny of the three masters. I want only one. The One who makes me free. The One who is the only true Treasure in this life. Christ. Jesus says in John 17:3, "And this is the way to have eternal life - to know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the One You sent to earth." May our prayer be that we come to have more and more of His eternal life as we come to know Him and the Father more and more. May the three false masters fall that we may be mastered by the the three in One God alone.....and be free.

Blessings,
Pastor O