Heart Tracks - The New Normal

"Normally it takes only eleven days to travel from Mt. Sinai to Kadesh-barnea, going by way of Mt. Seir. But forty years after the Israelites left Mt. Sinai, on a day in mid-winter, Moses gave these speeches to the Israelites....." Deuteronomy 1:2

"The New Normal." That's a term that's being heard in the church increasingly these days. I realize its origins in that it is the church's attempt at understanding the current state of both the culture around, and within it as well. The crux of it all is that what was considered normal both within and without in the past, is no longer considered such today. My concern is how are we really responding to this "new normal?" A lot of what I seem to be hearing, intended or not, is that of seeking to adapt to this new normal, and minister as effectively as we can. This seems to put a great deal of emphasis on our own strength and understanding. Here's my question, is the power of the three in One God affected in anyway by change in our culture and whatever labels we may care to put upon that change? We have been hearing for some time now that we need to "change our methods, but not our message." But is that really the approach we've been taking. E.M. Bounds says God is not seeking for better methods, but "better men." And women. Men and women who can be made "better" only through the transforming power of the Gospel. The whole, full, unabridged Gospel of Christ.

In the passage from Deuteronomy quoted above, Moses is speaking of the fact that though the journey to the border of the country promised them by the Father should only have taken eleven days, they had instead spent forty years wandering in the wilderness. Wandering because of their refusal to believe, trust, and obey God. Their ongoing history would be one of almost constant rebellion and unbelief against their God. Wandering in the wilderness would become their "new normal." It was never what the Father intended for them, but it became their lot. The new normal for the people of Israel would become lives, homes, a nation, built upon sand. Always near collapse. To me, our current culture, nation, and state of the church seem eerily close to the same. Someone said that the church is not to be a thermometer, reflecting the spiritual temperature of the culture it is a part of, but a thermostat, setting that temperature for the culture. I think it is very plain that we have become far more like a thermometer than a thermostat.

Vance Havner, speaking decades ago concerning the American church said that anyone living like a "normal" 1st century companion of Christ, would be considered abnormal by the contemporary church of today. Francis Chan tells the story of his being reprimanded by a member of his congregation for being too over the top in his walk with Him. He was told that there was a "middle ground" that he could and should walk. He needn't be a fanatic about it all. Friends, you can be sure that to seek a life filled with His holy fire will most surely result in your being labeled, like Chan, a fanatic. It's much easier to accommodate the culture...the new normal. Even when it means another forty years in the desert.

I think a lot of the "new normal's" way is for the church, you and me, to ask God and His Word to conform themselves to us and our lifestyle. God's normal, shown in the call of His Son, Jesus Christ, is to take up our cross, follow Him, and die to everything that is not Him. That's what's normal in the Kingdom. Anything else will bring nothing but desert wanderings. What "normal" are we living today? Are we living in the fullness of His Promise, or just wandering?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Tasters And Samplers

"I know all the things that you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, I will spit you out of My mouth." Revelation 3:15......."Today's compromise is tomorrow's captivity.....Be holy. Be one. Be light." Samuel Rodriquez

A good friend spoke recently about how those who profess to follow Him are really more "tasters and samplers" of Him. So many like to get Him in bits and pieces. The bits and pieces that they find acceptable. Few seem to really desire to immerse themselves in the fullness of who He really is. Even the way we in the Church present Him tends to emphasize this. If we're not marketing Him to a lost world, we at least put forth a one dimensional, watered down and user friendly Jesus that the world will find acceptable. We almost beg them to "take Jesus....please." Jesus never begged anyone to "take Him." How many of us would turn "the rich young ruler" away from the doors of our church? Yet Jesus was uncompromising on what it would take for him to come and follow Him. The young man wanted a taste, a sample of Him. Jesus wanted all of the young man, and for the young man to desire all of Him. Christ bids us come and follow Him....as He is and on His path. That path always leads to and beyond the cross. You can't "pretty up" the path. Neither can it be sampled. It must be followed...walked upon. Died upon.

We are stressing the love of God in the Church, but it is His love as defined and understood by us...our flesh. We preach a gospel that has at it's center, "me." Jesus came for and died for me. He wishes to make my life good. He gives me a future and a hope. He's the provider, we're the consumer. He does all the compromising and we reap all the benefits. He's our no-cost insurance plan that covers all the expenses of life. He paid it all so we don't have to pay at all. This has nothing to do with our earning salvation. But as one man said, "When Jesus calls a man, He bids him to come and die." We are not called to be His tasters and samplers. We are called to come and die....in Him....and so find true life. Tasters and samplers have no impact on their world. They only see that world insofar as it affects them. Never beyond. Keith Green sang in his song "No Compromise," that"It's so hard to see when my eyes are on me."

I write all this today because of what I've been hearing from a group of Christian leaders gathered in Texas by evangelist James Robison. He and Ravi Zacharias have called these men and women to come together in response to an ongoing spiritual collapse of our culture and nation. I have heard so many rich things from these ones, but a man named Tim Clinton said something that really resonated with my heart. He called for an uprising of the Church .He asked, "Will we just have conversation, or will we rise up with a voice?" The Church has had an abundance of conversation. What is needed is an outpouring of His Spirit that raises it up to once again be a vessel of His Voice. We need to speak, live, and show forth the fullness of the Gospel without apology in the midst of an unbelieving, even hostile world. That uprising will begin, that voice will be found nowhere but at the cross. We cannot taste and sample the cross. We can only die on it. He bids us come and do so.....and find our voice. His voice.

One last thought in this perhaps, too lengthy writing. The friend mentioned above made this point, so often overlooked. The gospels related that at one point during His crucifixion, both of the thieves were hurling abuse at Jesus. Yet, in the end, one of them asked that He would remember him when He came into His Kingdom. That thief saw something in Christ's death that made him hunger for His life. Such was the power of His witness. Do we have such a witness today? The Church is called to an uprising. It begins, it will always begin, at the cross.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Unchanging

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever." Isaiah 40:8......"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Hebrews 13:8...."Men and women set themselves as judges of what the Lord has said - and so they stand with pride and judge the Lord." A.W. Tozer

Someone told me recently that I should be living back in the 1950's. They said this because of my belief system, which they thought was much outdated, and not in step with current popular thought. Their statement brought to mind a lot of things; the great deception the world is currently under, has always been under, as well as its ongoing desire to label "truth" as relative. Something that changes with time and circumstance. But what stands out is that "current popular thought" will always clash with the unchanging truth of His Word....which really does and will stand forever.

We are living in a time when open ridicule of the truth of His Word is everywhere....even within some quarters of the professing church. I have been amazed at some of the interpretations of Scripture being put forth by those who belong to those segments. They always seem to point to "new, more recent" interpretations put forth by "modern scholars." Basically, they say that what was held as truth for more than three thousand years, really isn't. That due to ignorance, error, and misunderstanding, we simply missed what the Father really meant. What Jesus really said. What the Holy Spirit really revealed. It never ceases to amaze me that those who stand in such places never see the deep pride they walk in. A pride that makes them think that they, and they alone possess the wisdom and intelligence to see and know what God really meant, what Christ really said, and what the Holy Spirit really revealed. I think Scripture is fulfilled when they "thinking themselves wise, became fools." The world has always lived in deception. Too much of the church in the west has fallen under it as well. Yet I believe, more than ever, that the power, authority, and truth of His eternal Word, will not only stand, but prevail in a world and culture where darkness appears to be victorious. Someone once said something to the effect that His resurrection life and truth will prevail in a world where death and darkness get all the attention. Death and darkness are certainly getting the attention, but Truth has not abdicated its place. It not only will prevail,... He who is Truth, already has.

I don't mind if someone says I ought to be in another time. In a sense, they're right. Only it is not another time I live in, but another place. His Kingdom. There is no time there. It is life in His unchanging life. His Word is true. His life is true. He is true. He will stand, and all else will fall. We, who call ourselves His, must know and live this. It is not what the world says. It is not what a misguided, even deceived segment of the church says. It is what He says. And He says it in and with power and authority. It is our part to walk in that power and authority. He stands forever, and so do we when we stand in Him. He is unchanging, and we will always find Him so when we look to and trust in Him. Let others mock. We know Him who is Truth. And He who is Truth, makes us free.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Broken And Blessed

"He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then He broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, 'This is My body, which is given for you. Do this to remember Me.' " Luke 22:19

For most of us, when we think of the blessed life, we think of comfort, safety, the absence of heartache, and a great deal of what we define as happiness. The thought of brokenness leading to blessedness is alien to most of us here in the west. Yet Christ, by the example of His own life, showed the way to a life of true blessedness. He shows it still.

Little if any of our ideas about the blessed life include any concept of brokenness. In truth, we flee from any form of it, and so, we remain in all of our ways, unbroken. We hate the idea of suffering, and seek to avoid it at every turn. If it should enter into our lives at some point and way, our immediate response is to ask Him to get us out of it, and if He doesn't quickly do that, we seek our own means of deliverance from it. We want pain free lives. We don't see any value in pain of any kind. In those places where everything around us may be broken, we ourselves can remain unbroken. The fruit then, of an unbroken life in the midst of these broken places is usually bitterness, anger, unforgiveness....and a blaming of God for all of it. We know that Christ suffered for us, but we think that the suffering should have ended with Him. Our part is to enjoy all the fruit of His suffering, not be partakers of it.

Writer and speaker Ann Voskamp said we should not be afraid of the broken places or seek to escape them, because it is in these places that He can bring us resurrection life. This is the blessing of brokenness. The fullness, the abundance of His resurrection life in us. And then through us. Jesus first broke, and then blessed the bread. Then He gave that bread out. This is His desire for what your life and mine should be. He said that many are called, but few are chosen. Many hear the call to come to Him, and they do. But few choose to enter into the "fellowship of His sufferings." We stop at being a people called out, but we do not care to be "called into" the fullness of His life. That call will lead us into His brokenness, which, despite all our fears to the contrary, will also lead to the life of blessedness. Blessedness that does not stop with the meeting of all our self-centered desires, but with that of being broken bread and poured out water to a world and people in desperate need of such.

The broken places of life will come to all of us. How we respond to them will define whether our lives really fit into His definition of blessedness. Voskamp says that instead of demanding of Him an explanation for these sufferings, as most do, we must allow Him to enter into them with us. To experience Him in them. When the broken places come to you, what is it that you'll desire? An explanation from Him, or an experience in Him? Only one leads to the life of real blessedness.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Between Two Thieves

"As God's partners, we beg you not to reject this marvelous message of God's great kindness. For God says, 'At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation I helped you.' Indeed, God is ready to help you right now. Today is the day of salvation." 2 Corinthians 6:1-2....." 'Now' is being crucified between the thieves of 'yesterday' and 'tomorrow.' " Eugene Peterson

In our lives, where is the 'now' opportunity for freedom, abundance, healing, and newness being crucified between the "thieves" that hold us captive? Thieves that make their home in our yesterdays and tomorrows.

It is a tragedy to behold people rejecting Jesus not only once, but many times. I see it everyday. You may as well. How many of us would admit to being guilty of doing the same? How many of us have had Him come to us in the midst of our fears, worry and anxiety? Our weakness, and yes, our patterns of sin, and rejected again and again, His offers of freedom? We do so not because we don't believe that He can do what He offers, but because we are robbed of our "now" moment in Him by our captivity to our yesterdays and tomorrows. We want to be free, but our "jailers" in the form of yesterdays sin, failure, abuse, and loss, and tomorrows unknown, keep us shackled, and once more, we miss today's "now" moment and chance.

Someone said that Peter did not step out and walk upon the sea, but upon the power of Christ's word, "Come!" That word from Him, that invitation, is before us. It is before us now. But its power will not be known until we first speak, in His strength, the words "no longer," to the two thieves. No longer will they hold us captive. No longer will they exercise the crippling effects of fear, dread, guilt and shame upon us. When this happens, we step out into His welcoming invitation...and find healing, wholeness, freedom.

Have not the two thieves wreaked enough havoc? Isn't it time for their tyranny to end? All the power of the two thieves, and the devil that empowers them, could not hold Him. In His resurrection, He broke their power completely. Therefore, in Him, they cannot hold us either. Our "now" moment is today. Today is the day of salvation. Will it be your day, my day, today? May we not, on any level, reject His wonderful kindness. The power of the two thieves has been broken completely. Let it be completely broken in you. Now. Today. Forever......All we need do is step out into His invitation.....and come!

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Night Songs

"Where is God my Creator, the One who gives songs in the night?" Job 35:10

Back in the long ago 1960's, there was a popular top 40 song that had the lyric, "We'll sing in the sunshine, we'll laugh every day." Singing in the sunshine is not difficult. Most any of us can do it. How many though can sing sweet songs to Him in the darkness? How many "night songs" do you and I know?

I believe the sweetest song that any may sing to Him are those sung in the darkness. That place, or those places, where we cannot see Him, or even sense Him. Those places where we must press on, with only the promise of His presence to hold to. Those who are truly connected to His heart will know such places. He will be the One who leads us to and through them. He is the God who, as His Word says, often approaches "covered in darkness." Nothing of our natural sense may perceive Him. Even our spiritual senses may not "see" Him. Yet He calls us to believe He is there. That He is with us, and that His love and care have not diminished. That He will carry us through. That He will lead us home. His heart for us is enlarged, moved when we can go on with Him not only in trust, but singing to Him our song. Our song of trust, faith, hope, and love. The sweetest song. The night song.

The world has long had the phrase "whistling in the dark." It's meant in a very negative way. The thought is that the whistler is doing so in false hope and courage. A kind of denial as to how desperate, even hopeless the situation is. This is not the song of the surrendered heart. That heart can sing a night song of joy, because it, like Jobs, is one that knows "my Redeemer lives." And because He lives, we not only can "face tomorrow," but we do so in confident, holy expectation of Him. Not expectations of what we want Him to do, but expectation of His continually revealed and displayed goodness and love. To walk in such faith and expectation will always yield a heart that knows how to compose beautiful and eternal night songs. Songs that I believe are the most beautiful to His ears.

I don't believe we ever compose the songs that are eternal in the times of sunshine. The song I mention from the 60's was a passing tune. Very few remember it today. It is those songs composed in the times of pain, danger, desert, and wilderness that ring out in heaven. Such songs minister to His heart. I believe they are continually heard in the throne room of the Father. They come from hearts bonded to His in and through every circumstance and need. Through and in the deepest darkness and greatest pain. Night songs given to Him. Of such is the music of heaven composed. May we sing those songs to Him....in all places.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Maranatha!

"Then Moses had one more request, 'Please let me see Your glorious Presence,' he said." Exodus 33:18....."Christ will be coming back for a Church that looks like Him. His return has nothing to do with how big the Church is, but how big He is in His Church." James Robison

I've been thinking a lot of late on Moses heartcry to the Father in the above Scripture. I call it a heartcry because that is exactly what it is. It was not just one of many desires. It was not a request to have his curiosity satisfied as to what the Father actually looked like. It was a singular, overwhelming desire to see Him, and to see His glory. No other desire in his life could compare with that longing to behold Him. The question that arises in my spirit is, what would my life, and the Church of which I am a part of, look like, be, if such a cry were really present in my heart? In the heart of His Church?

The prayers that emanate from the heart of the western Church must surely grieve the heart of God. We bombard His throne with petitions that more often than not have ourselves as the main benefactor. Comfort, prosperity, success. These are words that, if not actually on our lips, are certainly in our hearts. If we're in trouble, we want His assistance in getting us out of it. If there is physical, emotional, financial, even spiritual need, we want Him to meet it, and sooner rather than later. "Now" would be best. Rarely do we ask Him to reveal Himself to us in the trouble or the need. Even more rarely do we seek for Him to glorify Himself in and through the situation we face. We just want it taken care of, so we can get back to what life is really all about....ourselves. That may sound very harsh, but the challenge for all of us is that we take the time to look at our prayer lives and "see" if "me" isn't the main subject and benefactor in all of it.

I return to that question asked above. What would be the result if we simply came before Him, broken, surrendered, His, and the cry of our hearts and lives is that we might behold Him? I have written in my prayer journal that "in beholding, we become." This is the only pathway to a truly transformed life. The heart that yearns to see Him, will. If there are "veils" over our hearts, they will fall away, and we will "see" Him with the eyes of our heart. And we will never be the same again. The Father longs for such prayers from you and I. Are we offering them up to Him? Or do we continue to see Him as "the Kingdom caterer," bound to satisfy our every desire. Desires that never seem to include Him.

There is so much talk today of His return. Yet His Word is clear. He will be returning for a "glorious Church, without spot or wrinkle." The Church in which the Father sees the fullness of His Son. Do any of us think, at least here in the west, that we are such a Church? Robison said that one day, hopefully soon, the Father, in His throne room, will turn to Jesus and say, "My Son, look at them. They look like You. It is time." Paul wrote of a Church that "longed for His appearing." I want to be part of that Church. A Church where the flesh has no part. Where the "me" is not seen. Only Christ. First, last, and always, Christ. Lord, may we behold Your glory. Maranatha, Lord! Come quickly.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Promise Or Presence?

"I have set the Lord continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken." Psalm 16:8....."We are not enjoying that which we were created for; intimacy with Him." John Bevere

I write and preach a great deal about living in the His presence, but I can't escape the sense that too many people have little or no idea as to what that is. More, that they're not even sure that such a life is possible or realistic. That's understandable in light of being part of a culture that tends to "compartmentalize" everything. We have our "job life," "family life," "leisure life," and even a "church life." Somewhere in there we try to make room for a relationship with Him. Not much room, but at least some room. Small wonder then that what Brother Lawrence called "the practice of His presence" is so little known and experienced by us. Small wonder as well that He tends to have little effect or influence on our day to day life experience. Our choices and decisions, and how they carry over into every aspect of life. We do what seems "right in our own eyes," and just somehow convince ourselves that it's right in His as well. When we experience continual shaking as a result, we tend to mark it down to bad luck, or even the attacks of the devil. We rarely thing it's a consequence of a life lived apart from Him.

What would happen in our lives if we really lived out Psalm 16:8? What would happen if in all things, we really did place Him before us, and them? That is, that we are consciously aware of Him in every choice, every relationship, everything? We don't just ask ourselves "What would Jesus do?" We seek His mind directly. When we live in His presence, when He is set before us in everything, this will be the natural result. This is what it is to enter into having "the mind of Christ." This is the pathway to real intimacy in and with Him. I read somewhere that the Father invites us into the kind of intimacy with Him that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit enjoy with each other. Jesus says at much in John 17. It is the life that abides. It is a life that "enjoys," is captivated by His presence. His life. Is such a life yours and mine?

John Bevere asks whether we want His promise or His presence? A close look as to how we interact with Him will give the answer for each of us. If the only time we really come to Him is in the time of shaking, of need, than what we are most interested in is His putting into effect the promise we feel most appropriate for the situation. We put our "nickel" in the slot and then wait for the outpouring of His help. His help, not Him. When what we want is His presence, than His promises really aren't foremost in our thinking. Indeed, His presence is the promise we seek to have fulfilled. We want to be with Him, in Him. When the shaking comes, we don't need to run to Him because we are already there. And the shaking may shake everything else, but it wont touch us. We're rooted and grounded in Him. This is the fruit of the life of intimacy. It's the fulfillment of His promise to give us all of Himself that we may receive. We have the promise of His presence, and that is glorious beyond words.

So, are we seeking the fulfillment of surface promises today? Promises that will help us in this particular need, and then can be put up until the next time we need Him? Or, do we seek the highest of His promises...Himself? Promises of help, or the presence of Him. Which do we really want?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Atmosphere Or Presence?

"Inside the Tent of Meeting the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Afterward Moses would return to the camp, but the young man who assisted him, Joshua son of Nun, stayed behind in the Tent of Meeting." Exodus 33:11

This past summer, I was visiting a friend and joined him in the class he was teaching in his church. The church was in the midst of losing their pastor, who had founded the work, and who'd enjoyed a very fruitful ministry there. This was a good church. In the course of the class, my friend asked those present what it was about the church that drew them to it, what most stood out? The answers were good answers, and in their way, important parts of any healthy church. But there was a "theme" to them. Everyone seemed to mention how friendly, welcoming, and warm the church was. How they felt loved. Again, a healthy church, no matter its size, should exhibit these traits. What struck me however, is that no one said that they came because there was such a presence, a manifestation of God in the church. The foremost attraction appeared to be the atmosphere of the church, and not the presence of Him. There is a distinct difference, and I'm not sure that we haven't become far more dependent and desirous of having a very attractive atmosphere in our fellowships than we are of experiencing the manifest presence of God. In short, I think we promote and depend upon the church's atmosphere to the neglect of cultivating His presence. Indeed, I think we confuse the two as being the same.

In the late 80's movie Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner's character, a farmer, hears a voice tell him, "Build it, and they will come." The "it" being a baseball field that will then draw the ghosts of baseball's greatest players. I think something of that has taken root in our fellowships. Build the right programs and ministries. Build the right worship team, and the right songs. And yes, build the right kind of atmosphere.....and they will come. The thing is, they will come. But dare we ask the question, just what are they coming to, and what are they coming for? The Tent of Meeting was made of animal skins. It could not have held any real attraction to the flesh, yet the Father dwelt there in His glory. Charles Strickland, perhaps the most anointed preacher I ever heard once said you could have a church built in the midst of a garbage dump, and if the presence of God was mightily upon it, people will come. People who are not looking for and don't much care about what the atmosphere might be, but who desperately need and are being drawn to Him. God is in the house, and that is enough.

I want to be a man such as Joshua, who so loved to be with Him that he wanted nothing more than to be in the richness of His presence. I want to be part of a church like that. A church where it is hard to disengage from Him. A church that invites us to linger in His presence. A church where it is difficult to hurry off to our next appointment. Yes, a church that is welcoming, loving, and warm. But a church that is all of these things not because they have worked to be such, and we can be in the flesh, but because it all flows out of His presence among us. When that happens, we are in an atmosphere, but it is the atmosphere of heaven. And our day to day lives are marked by our living in such an atmosphere. So much so that we no longer "go to church," but come together in Him, experiencing Him together. Worshiping Him....even in a warehouse, a barn, a cave........or a stable. He manifests Himself there. Really, do we need anything more? Could we want anything more?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The "Real" Reality

"I have set the Lord always before me: because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved." Psalm 16:8...."Where do we put the impossibility? On the 'thing,' or on God?" T. Austin-Sparks

In response to Psalm 16:8, I have placed in my prayer journal the statement, "In every life situation, may I put you before me in all of them." If I will do that, than I will also discover that He is before every situation. Every need. Every crisis. Every storm. Every impossibility. If I will do that, it is not them that I will see, but Him. From such a position I'm able to put the burden of the situation, the need, the crisis, the impossibility, on Him, and not on "them." The key phrase here is "if I will do that." That's a very big "if." For me, and for you as well, because in those places and situations, all we see is the hopelessness of it all. Only the heart that lives in day to day intimacy with Him will be able to see Him in all places. Even the most hopeless ones.

I'm not sure the stop-watch exists that is able to time how quickly you and I go into "panic mode" over these things. We're more prone to believe in the power of the storm to drown us than we are in His ability, readiness, and willingness to deliver us. I love the passage in Luke 8 and the healing of Jairus's daughter. Jairus had sought Jesus in order that He might heal his near - death daughter. Jesus agreed to come to her, but while still on the way, a messenger came to tell Him not to bother, the little girl had died. Jesus then said to Jarius, "Don't be afraid, just trust Me, and she will be all right." Upon arriving at the home there was a crowd of mourners weeping over the loss. Jesus said to them, "Stop the weeping! She isn't dead; she is only asleep." The next verse says that "they laughed at Him because they knew she was dead." Jesus then bid her to rise up from her bed, and she did. Two questions for us here; first, who would we most likely be standing with in all of this? Jesus and the father, or the laughing crowd? Second, what is the reality that we really know. The crowd knew she was dead. Jesus said that she wasn't. Which was the true reality? I continue to find that in the "realities" of life, no matter how impossible they may seem or be, He is the greatest reality of all. Havner's words on this are; "Still the world laughs at Him as He moves in our 'impossible' situations, our sorrows and broken hopes. 'What good does it do to trust in Jesus? What can He do for you?' But every day those who trust Him know that He still works His wonders if we only believe."

In Acts 27, Paul and everyone else on board is in the midst of a storm that will result in shipwreck, a seeming disaster. Yet Paul had been told by the Lord that both he and all the passengers and crew would be saved. In the midst of the storm and the oncoming wreck, he said, "I believe it will be just as He told me." Everyone had given up hope of being saved. Everyone but Paul. He believed what God had said. May you and I, when everything screams at us to give up any and all hope of being saved, have faith to believe that "it shall happen just as He told us." When all hope may seem lost, may this be the prayer that we live in. May He be our real reality everywhere we are. Against the laughing, unbelieving crowd stands Jesus....and a father who chooses to believe Him. Where are you and I standing right now?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - In The Mean Time

"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint." Isaiah 40:31....."Life may be spelled in three words: 'Hurry, Worry, Bury.' We are getting on, but on where?" Vance Havner......"In the meantime can be a very 'mean time.' " Sheila Walsh

Isaiah 40:31 is a favorite verse of many. Renewed strength; mounting up with the wings of eagles; such makes our hearts soar. Let me ask, is this the experience of most when it comes to waiting? How much closer is our experience to what Havner and Walsh are saying? Do our hearts and spirits soar with eagle wings in our times of delay, especially in waiting with a complete sense of helplessness? Waiting on Him in a time that the flesh says we must act, take hold of the situation, do something. I heard a man say that when we find ourselves in that place between the closing of one door and the opening of another, it will "hell in the hallway." In the meantime really can and will be a very mean time.

We are born into life with an overwhelming desire to be in control. One of the main points of satan's temptation of Eve was the offer to put her, and not the Father in control. Our flesh rises up each day to seek that same control and nowhere will it be more evident than in the time of waiting. In the mean time, the hallway time. I once had a conversation with a young person who was in much turmoil over a relationship. They told me they could be at peace "if they just knew how it would all turn out." There is the key to the problem. We have to know the end. We cannot survive the "meantime" unless we do. We cannot endure the hallway without this knowledge. That's why the quote from Havner is far more indicative of our life experience than Isaiah 40. From cradle to grave, our lives are marked by "hurry and worry." Always on the move, mostly seeking to manipulate our life and the lives of others, and always filled with anxiety that what we desire to happen, won't. We're totally earthbound. Our hearts and spirits never know the sensation of soaring in His freedom. There is only one way that we can; bringing all of ourselves to all of Him in surrender.

The question in the old hymn still pierces our heart; "Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?" I'm not sure that we possess any greater "treasure" than our perceived right to ourselves? Can we make the sacrifice of placing this fully upon His altar? Leaving it, and the "all" that it contains, in His hands. Surrendering, trusting, leaving, and waiting....on Him? In Him? Everyone wants to soar. There is only one route to such a life....His cross. Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Especially the burden of ourselves. Only at the cross can our spirits take flight.

Are you in that mean time right now? Do you know the hell of the hallway? We are called to soar in His Spirit, but we never will so long as our hands tightly grip the things of this life. If we will surrender them into His hands, we will find ourselves living out the power of Isaiah 40:31. His sky is calling us. Will we mount up? Or do we go on living in the mean time, in hell's hallway?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Journey Music

"Simon, Simon, satan has asked to sift you as wheat. I have prayed for you Simon that your faith may not fail." Luke 22:31-32....Do not let your failures define you. They are not how God measures you. In fact, they are how the enemy wants to measure you; that's why he asks to sift you. Don't trust his measurement. Trust Jesus. He has prayed for you." Chris Tiegreen

I wonder just how much attention we pay to this conversation between Jesus and Peter? Jesus spoke these words to Peter before he was to deny Him three times. We know that. What we so often miss is that satan's desire to sift him was not refused. It was allowed, and in the allowing, Peter failed....terribly. Yet his failure was not final, and in the next verse Jesus says to him, "And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers." In our walk, our journey with Him, failure will happen. It never need be final, and it certainly must not define us. Those who are His are on an extremely perilous journey, filled with traps and snares all along the way. He has never promised that they would not be there. Indeed, He allows them. Yet in their midst we can take heart in the truth that He has prayed for us to come through them all in victory. A final victory that can be ours even if we have in some or multiple points, failed Him. His prayer is not that we just sail through life problem free, but that in the journey, even if we should stumble and fall, He provides grace, strength, and perseverance that we should get up, press on, and finish the journey....in Him.

Mark Batterson said that sometimes, our lives may seem like Paul's, filled with "shipwrecks and snakebites." Shipwrecks and snakebites allowed by Him. Shipwrecks and snakebites that the enemy means to destroy us with, but that He means to use for good. The devil meant to kill Joseph in his prison cell. He meant to destroy the ministry and work of Paul, Peter, John, and all the apostles and followers of Christ many times over. All suffered hardship, setback, and "shipwreck and snakebite, " but all went on with and in Him. They finished the race....in victory. And so can we. So must we....even if we find ourselves today face down in the mud.

As I contemplated all this while driving yesterday morning, a song by the Jesus movement group Dogwood played on my CD. It simply stated that he would sing his "journey music," to all his fellow travelers on the way, especially those who felt they could not go on. That is what we who are His are to be doing as well. The ones who have been sifted yet found Him totally faithful and more than sufficient, can sing the journey music of victory to those being sifted right now. Do our lives sing such journey music? Are they singing it now?

There is one other element of the sifting that we are so often unprepared for. We may understand shipwrecks and snakebites. Killer storms and mighty earthquakes. But what happens when we are seemingly adrift on a motionless sea of glass....going nowhere at all, and with no end in sight? In this we are sifted as well. In such a place, the temptation to give up may be the strongest of all. Yet, if we will listen, we will hear the journey music. If not from voice of a fellow traveler, than most assuredly from the heart of His Spirit. The journey music of the Kingdom. Journey music that will take us all the way home...to and with Him.

Blessings,
Pastor O