Heart Tracks - When Jesus Disappoints Us

"Then she (Martha) left Him and returned to Mary. She called Mary aside from the mourners and told her, 'The Teacher is here and wants to see you.' So Mary immediately went to Him.......When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell down at His feet and said, 'Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.' " John 11:28-29, 32...."The Father's answer to our every question is to give us more of Jesus." Watchman Nee

Let's face the truth of it all together. We have all had times when we have been disappointed, perhaps greatly, with Jesus. I once thought to be in such a state was the ultimate sin. He's my Lord and Savior. All He does and is is good. How can there be any room for disappointment? If there's a problem, it has to be on my part, and I had better get that problem taken care of....now. If I don't, I'll surely end up disappointing Him. It took me a long time to learn the lie of all this kind of thinking, and the captivity it brings. No one understands the frailty of our humanity better than He does. The fact that it shows through in our walk with Him, and very often at that, doesn't surprise Him. And it doesn't put Him off from us. In fact, it does the very opposite, and we see it clearly with how He relates to Mary in the death of her brother Lazarus. As a friend has put it, the sisters knew the spiritual facts about Jesus, but they lacked the reality of those facts in their own lives and relationship with Him. How like them we tend to be.

The sisters, Martha and Mary were grieving the loss of their brother. Both knew that Jesus had arrived, and both knew that He possessed the power to heal their brother. Both were disappointed in Jesus. Martha, being Martha, went out to meet Him and bluntly expressed that disappointment. I've been Martha, and maybe you have as well. I've let Him know in more than one instance that I believed He had failed me. Mary, unlike Martha, held back, withdrew from Him. I've been like Mary as well. Pulling back from Him in my pain, my disappointment, even my anger. Yet, Jesus didn't leave Mary in her room. He sought her out. In her disappointment, and all the diverse feelings and emotions that must have been swirling within her, He called her to Himself. It was not to rebuke or upbraid her. It was to bring to her healing, hope, and wholeness. It's always so with Jesus and us....if we'll have it.

There's something I see in this happening between Martha, Mary, and Jesus. It's that in their pain and disappointment with Him, they didn't lose their reverence and love for Him. Both called Him Lord. Both still believed. Both still worshiped Him. They had unanswered questions that only served to increase their pain. Jesus had behaved in a way that seemed to contradict everything they believed and knew of Him. Whether we impulsively question Him as did Martha, or pull away from Him like Mary, Jesus will never be threatened by that. He will not pull away. He will seek us out. Because in the pain and chaos of all we might be feeling, thinking, and experiencing, He sees our hearts, and it is to our hearts He comes and speaks.

He has never promised that He would not disappoint us. He has, He does, and He will. He has promised that He will never cease to pursue us in the midst of it all. He may not raise up our particular "Lazarus" as He did here, but He will certainly raise us up in the midst of all the darkness. If we will surrender all our disappointment and its accompanying questions to Him. At His feet, we find life.

In all of life's disappointments and questions, Jesus makes one statement in response; "I am the resurrection and the life.....do you believe this?" In our disappointments, failures, and sins, this is what He promises to be to us. He gives and offers this life to you and me right now. Wherever we might be.....do we receive it?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - When God Isn't "Good"

 "Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps His covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes His unfailing love on those who love and obey His commands." Deuteronomy 7:9

I lost my brother this week. A little more than two months ago, the Father, in answer to passionate intercession from many on his behalf, brought him back from the very edge of death, amazing the medical staff who had fully believed he was beyond recovery. Last week, he was back in the same hospital, and after several days of fighting, succumbed to the disease which has relentlessly stalked him for the last 4 years. During this time, prayer, just as passionate, was lifted up for him, yet this time, he didn't recover. The first time, the rejoicing from all was great. The goodness of God was extolled, and the words "God is good" were so effortlessly spoken. Yet this time, the Lord did not bring about recovery. I believe completely in the promise of Deuteronomy 7. Does the outcome with my brother diminish its truth? Does it diminish Him? It's a question that all who profess to be His will come face to face with in this life. How do we respond when God does not seem to be good at all?

In our humanity, particularly here in the west, we have come to believe that God's plans, desires, even agenda, are very much the same as ours. He wants what we want, and in His goodness, will bring it about. In His very goodness and mercy, He often does. When that happens, exclamations of "God is good!" are common. We say it with broad smiles and happy eyes. Yet what happens when He doesn't? It seems fault must then be placed, and it will fall either on us; we didn't trust enough, have enough faith, or displeased Him in some way, or, it's upon Him. He really isn't all that good. He could have done something different, but He didn't. We're like Martha, saying "Lord if You had been here (if You had really cared) my brother would not have died." The worst would not have happened. How could you let it happen? Yet all of us in this life will find, if we have not already, that there are, and will be times, when the worst that could happen, does happen. When it does, has the goodness, mercy, and love of God been diminished?

So many years ago, as I walked through my divorce, I cried out constantly for Him to heal and restore my marriage. I solicited the prayers and support of so many others in this as well. I received a lot of encouragement. Many well meaning brothers and sisters in Him told me that they were sure He, in His goodness, would do just that. I needed to trust, believe, and obey in the process. I sought to do all of that. Yet, in the end, it didn't happen. I would be a liar if I said I didn't at times, even many times, question His goodness and love. But it was in the midst of what I desired so deeply of Him, that I discovered and entered into a deeper understanding of His goodness and mercy than I had ever known before. In the worst that could happen to me, I came to know a God greater and more loving than I had ever believed possible. When it seemed that He was not being "good," I learned just how good He was. That He is. All of us will if we can continue to look to Him, follow Him, in the midst of the worst that might come upon us. In our worst, we will discover His best. No loss, no disappointment, no personal failure can ever, will ever, diminish this truth. They can never diminish Him.

I have had other "worst that could happen" scenarios. I found in them, as I find now, that He is good. That His mercies endure forever. Everything I have desired has not been given, but in the midst of my unmet desires, He has never failed to give me Himself. He will not fail you either. Look to Him. He is good, even when it seems that He is not.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Facts Or Truth?

"Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." Isaiah 43:10......"Facts are not Truth." Holly Wagner

Fellow baby boomers will remember a classic TV show called "Dragnet." In it, the main character, Sgt. Joe Friday, had a very familiar question when interviewing a witness to a crime he was investigating; "The facts please. Nothing but the facts." Friday saw getting hold of the facts as the key to knowing the truth. This makes a lot of sense in the world. Not so in the Kingdom.

We are surrounded by a great many "facts" in our day to day lives. Circumstances are facts. People's actions towards us are facts. Physical, emotional, even spiritual conditions are facts. They are undeniable. They are there. But for the believer, as Wagner, says, they are not Truth. He is Truth, and all through His Word, Old Testament and New, we see this displayed everywhere. Abraham and Sarah were far past childbearing age. Fact. God promised and gave them a son. Truth. Joseph was in prison, forgotten. Fact. Against all odds, the Father brought him out of prison and established him as a ruler in Egypt. Truth. David hid in a cave, in fear of his life. Fact. God brought him out of that cave and made him king. Truth. The devil, seeking to destroy Christ, worked to kill Christ on the cross. Fact. The Father raised Him up and through Him offers eternal life to all who will believe upon Him. Truth. So, all those who profess to follow Him, believe on Him, there is a question we must all answer; Have we chosen to live by facts, or by Truth?

Someone has asked whether the Church is a sub-culture or a counter-culture of the society it is in? How we live out what we say is Truth gives the answer to that. We are either walking by sight, according to what we believe are the facts, or by faith, according to what we know is the Truth. And for Truth to be known, it must first be experienced. Jesus said we would know the Truth and the Truth would make us free. This only happens through intimate experience with He who is Truth. Without that, whatever we may profess, we are living according to the facts, nothing but the facts. But the facts are never final if we are walking in the wonder and power of He who is Truth. We know the Truth and we are free....Free from what the enemy says, screams at us, are the facts. Facts that seek to hold us in captivity.

So this is what it comes down to in every area of our lives. Will we live by what the world says are the facts, and then believe them to be the truth? Or, will we live in He who is Truth? Truth that has power over everything that would claim to be the fact? The facts, or the Truth? Which are we living by today? Which do you live by?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The One Desire

"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." 2 Corinthians 3:18

A friend and I were recently talking when he brought up the practice of the High Priest when he appeared before the Lord to offer sacrifice for the people. The priest would always leave the Lord's presence by a door different from the one he entered by. My friend said that this was symbolic for what should be the spiritual reality for anyone who has truly been in His presence. Leaving by another door symbolized the priests not being the same when he leaves as he was when he entered. It should be, must be, the same for all who profess to come before Him, be it in personal prayer and worship, or corporate, in the company of other brothers and sisters. Beholding we are changed. Yet, in what we call our "personal devotions," and "worship gatherings," is this what is actually taking place? If we are beholding Him in these times, we must be changed. If that is not happening, how can we lay any claim to beholding Him at all?

The church in the west has become far more a crowd of spectators than a body of participants in the glory of the Lord. And if we do participate, too often it is on a surface, emotional level, rather than a deeper, spiritual one. We're touched in the realm of feelings, but not in the depths of our souls. We can leave such times feeling excited and "fired up," but this doesn't last, and all that begins to fade even before the tires of our cars hit the main road. Our intellects may have been challenged, and our emotions stirred, but our hearts remain unchanged. Those things within us that keep us crippled and lame continue to do so. In a way, we're like the man at the Pool of Bethesda. We've been coming for a long time, privately and corporately, but nothing ever really changes. We're still crippled.

I'm not making a blanket statement concerning all churches, but the truth of this is undeniable. How else can we explain the number of lives within the Body that continue to live in defeated, crippled ways? Larry Crabb, in his wonderful book, Real Church: Does It Exist? Can We Find It? details how many pastors have confided in him, pastors that would be considered very successful, how discouraged and unfulfilled they feel not only in their personal walk, but with their ministries as well. Everything was running smoothly. Everything was going "well." Yet what was missing for them was the wonder and experience of living in His presence. The church, and it's life, had become far more an organization to be maintained, than a living, breathing manifestation of the His presence in the world, and to them. T. Austin-Sparks once said in effect, that the church doesn't understand anything that isn't planned, organized, and structured. As we look around, can we deny the amount of truth in that?

I make no claim on having all the answers in this, but it seems to me that the beginning of it all will be found when all of us, pastors, worship leaders, and the "priests in the pews" come before Him in any and all places with one desire only; to behold Him. Nothing less, nothing more. Getting the song list played and the sermon preached aren't what it's about. Neither is counting the crowd or number who profess to have gotten saved that day. Paul said his one overwhelming life desire was to know Him. To behold Him. To behold the Christ he first beheld on the Damascus Road was the consuming desire of the rest of his life. Yes, he wanted to see the Body grow, lives saved and transformed, but all of that flowed out of his one desire. Beholding Him, Paul was changed. Beholding Him, we will be as well. We will be, if it is our one desire. Is it?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Bus

"The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. And for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow, a light has dawned." Matthew 4:16

I remember being greatly moved by a scene described by a missionary to a central American country he served in. He said one of the common sights of the city he was in was to see, sometimes daily, a bus go by carrying prisoners convicted of crimes on their way to their individual fates, some to be executed, others to serve long sentences with no hope of release. He said his heart was impacted by the blank looks of hopelessness on their faces. These men were on a bus carrying them to a destination that they would not return from. He saw in them a great spiritual correlation as concerns our souls. How many among us travel such a "bus" as concerns eternity? Could it be that one of us rides that bus even now?

As I think on the "bus," I really see two distinct kinds of "passengers" on it. The first are much easier to identify. These are the ones who have, for whatever reason, never believed upon Jesus Christ. I am not speaking of some general mental agreement concerning the reality of who He is. I speak of a believing that involves three very real elements. First, there is the confession of one's need of Christ as Savior, and a rejection of any thought that we can find favor with God through our own efforts. It is the confession that we are lost in sin apart from Him. Second, there must be repentance, and this involves a complete turning away from the way we have been living and decision of the will to follow Him, and grow in Him from hereon. Last, there is the receiving of His Life into ours, which results in spiritual transformation. All things become new as we become new. The old has passed away. We are not the same. We will never be the same. Sin has placed all of us on the bus. Jesus Christ is the only One who can get us off of it. Whether you believe it or not, feel like it or not, if you don't have Christ as your Savior, you are riding on that bus. His heart, and mine, cry for you to step off of it.....right now.

Yet, I think there are others who ride that bus who should not be on it at all. Riders who may have taken on the three elements mentioned above, but, through the lies and attacks of the enemy of our souls, the devil, have been convinced they must continue to ride. Though they have received a "living hope" in Christ, they continue to live as ones without hope. Despair, discouragement, worry, anxiety, fear, anger, unforgiveness, and a host of destructive habits and characteristics continue to hold them in their power. Though faith in Christ has given them freedom, they have never received its fullness into their lives. They go on riding the bus. Why? Most often its because its all they've ever known. There can be a comfort in that. The prison cell we know can seem to offer more security than a future we can't control. So they stay in the cell....they keep riding the bus.

So the question comes down to each of us. To what degree might any of us be riding that bus? Are we going through life with the blank look of hopelessness and despair that marked those central American prisoners? Whether you are one who has never known or received Christ, or one convinced by satan that the only place for you is to continue riding, there is a "bus stop" right before you. Jesus Christ. In both and all cases, He offers Life. His Life. The "stop" has come to you, and He is there. Get off the bus.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The "To Do" List

"And they said to Moses, 'You tell us what God says and we will listen. But don't let God speak directly to us. If He does,we will die.' Don't be afraid,' Moses said, 'for God has come in this way to show you His awesome power.'......As the people stood in the distance, Moses entered into the deep darkness where God was." Exodus 20:19-21....."God told the people He wanted a relationship. The people said He could speak to Moses. The result: They got a list." Dutch Sheets

"To do" lists can be very handy. They give us a clear guideline to follow in order to accomplish things we feel need to be done. We seem to have a very real "comfort level" with such lists. They give us the sense that we are getting somewhere, accomplishing something. They also, consciously or not, can give us a certain sense of being in control of things. Living with "to do lists" can be helpful with things like home repairs, family schedules, and job requirements. They are pure death if they are what mark our "relationship" with the Father. People have seen the fruit of that since Mt. Sinai, yet we continue to seek to live by them. Why? Lists are easier for our flesh to live with and by than a surrendered relationship with a God who often does not share His plans with us upfront. As He did with Moses, He will invite us into a walk that often appears very dark....but if we will, we will discover Him in His glory and beauty there.

We can all too easily fall in love with preaching and teaching that give us lists and steps as to how to live a successful life. Books abound that tell us how to achieve such a life if we'll only follow the steps outlined by the writer or speaker. Then there are those who promote all the "secret codes" that are supposedly hidden in His Word. If we can just find these codes, we will unlock the means of achieving the life, riches, and success we hunger for. I really like what Sheets said concerning the Father's giving of the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai. God intended that they be a means of showing first, the life He required of them, and secondly, having them see that they could never achieve such a life in their own strength. They would need a means. Jesus Christ would be that means. Yet, can we believe that a loving Father would not have welcomed anyone who so longed for Him that they would dare "to enter into the deep darkness" where He was? Where He is? It is only the flesh that sees it as darkness. They eyes of the Spirit will always perceive Him there. But the people wouldn't. They feared such a call. They were content to get a list to follow and missed having a Father to know.

The inevitable end of living by list is.....the creation of more lists. By their zeal to keep the Law, as the Ten Commandments were known to the Israelites, came the rise of the Pharisee class, and with them, the making of an ever growing book of lists...rules to live by. Keep the rules, live by the lists, and you had life. They became so attached to their lists and rules that they were unable to see, recognize, and know Christ when He came among them. The same can and does happen to us. Multitudes today may be saved by grace, but live by law. We continue to "stand off" at a distance from Him, feeling it is only pastors and teachers and exalted leaders who are able to know, speak, and hear Him. So we live by our "to do lists" and miss the joy and wonder of knowing Him in deep, intimate relationship.

I believe in living a life of holiness, a life that He requires of us and calls us to. But He doesn't call us through a list, but a Son. And in and through that Son, Jesus, and Him alone, can we truly live that life. To do so means that we have to let go of all our lists and "do" the one and only thing He asks and commands....and that is to come to Him....in Christ. To do so means we too must enter into the deep darkness. If we will, we will find Him there. And it will be darkness no more. Just light. His light. Will we enter? Will you?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Yoke

The Yoke

"Then Jesus said, 'Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light." Matthew 11:28-30

I think most of us understand the above Scripture in the way of Jesus' invitation to bring to Him all of our cares, worries, anxieties and problems, and there is that truth in it. Yet there is more, much more to it than that. I am seeing that the burdens He invites us to bring to Him are not only those things outside of us that are burdens, but those within us as well. Things, attitudes, habits, temperament and personality traits that can and do, make us a burden to ourselves.....and many others as well.

In a wonderful little book titled simply, Praying With Jesus, writer Jared Pingleton uses the example of Jesus calling to a person whose heart towards others can be distinctly unloving, something that all too often can characterize all of us. For Pingleton, what he hears Christ say is this, "I consistently love those around you, but I often do so alone - would you come join Me?" If we can see and hear His words in this way, the meaning of Matthew 11 can take on a whole new, life changing meaning. We can begin to see His "yoke" as not only making life more bearable, but more rich as well.

Our culture has gone very far from the rural roots it has sprung from. The picture of yoking two animals and how it is done is usually lost on us. In practice, the farmer would always yoke a less experienced animal with a much more experienced one. Then, as they pulled the load together, the less experienced one would learn from the more experienced. And while this was happening, the yoke would be fitted so that the less experienced one would not feel the brunt of the load, or the chaffing and rubbing that an ill-fitted yoke would bring. It's a beautiful picture of just how He works so lovingly and patiently with us......that is, if we will come to Him in the first place. We can be so very stubborn in that area...can't we? Can't I? Can't you?

How willing are we to not only admit those aspects of our lives and personalities that can make us not only a burden to others, but ourselves as well? Admitting them is a step. Bringing them, giving them to Him is a greater one. When it comes to really be loving, merciful, kind, forgiving, patient, consistent, and more, is He the only one "bearing the burden?" Where is it in our lives that we need to join Him, learn of and from Him? We may be asking Him to make us more of all of these, but it is not going to happen if we continue to stand off from Him, allowing Him to bear it all alone. We learn of Him, become more and more like Him in proportion to how much of our lives we surrender to His yoke. It starts at His cross, and continues there. Our flesh fears that greatly, and so, we never really learn of Him, or come to much resemble Him. His cross, His yoke, are pathways to the fullness of His life. He calls us to join Him there. Will we come? Or, will He continue to carry both alone...without us?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Hollow Places

"This, the first of His miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed His glory and His disciples put their faith in Him." John 2:11......"No love of the natural heart is safe unless the human heart has been satisfied by God first." Oswald Chambers....."If Christ has not been invited to fill up all the hollow places, we may be saved - but we are not safe." Beth Moore

Hollow places. We all have them and faith in Christ, saving faith, does not immediately fill them. That my friends is a life long journey. It's a journey too many of us do not care to make. We would rather seek to fill those places with things, people, that are not Him. We look for fulfillment is what is not Him, and rob ourselves of the joy of knowing the One who truly does "fill all in all."

We're told in John 2 that the disciples put their faith in Christ after seeing Him change the water into wine at Cana. They put their faith in Him, they were not ready to put their lives in Him...not yet. All of them still sought to find fulfillment in other ways. John and James craved recognition and power. Peter craved control. All of them craved the possession of something other than Him. Those cravings would lead to each of them failing Him in the end. Misplaced cravings will bring the same end to us all. Jesus said that there is no other name but His "by which we must be saved," but in truth, we tend to seek out a lot of "other names" than His.....even after we have exercised believing faith in Him. I know, because I've done so. So have you. Our question is, are we continuing to do so now?

How many of us are still trying to fill hollow places, empty places in our hearts and lives with that which isn't Him? In relationships, positions, possessions, earthly security, and maybe most deadly of all, ministry for Him. We're always looking for that "something" that will complete the puzzle, the missing piece. We may have first looked to Him for our salvation, but we've spent most of our time since looking at everything and everyone but Him. And the hollow places just end up being more and more hollow. The emptiness grows.

We feel that if we could just find the right person, the right job, the right church, or the right ministry, all will be well. The hollow place will be filled, but we never do, because even the most perfect person, job, church or ministry will not fill that hollow place. They're not equipped to, and the problem is not in the lack of these in our lives. The problem is in us. Jesus knows this, and He knows He is the only answer. Why don't we?

We all know that "needy people" can be very draining. What we don't know is just how needy all of us really our. As Moore says, "He is only one who will never be frightened by the depth of our need. Denying yourself does not mean denying your need. Denying yourself means denying you have the means to meet your need." So, fellow "needy person." Have we reached this place Moore speaks of yet? As the old saying goes, "Are we sick and tired of being sick and tired?" Sick and tired of trying to fill what only He can fill? Sick and tired of living with a gnawing sense of emptiness...hollowness? He knows our need is deep, and He is not scared off by it. All others may be, but not Him. We are all of us hollow men and women. Hollow people. He, the Spirit of Life, can fill us. Will fill us. Will He fill us, you, now?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Victim Or Victorious?

"But now, thus says the Lord, your Creator, O Jacob. And He who formed you, O Israel, 'Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are Mine.' " Isaiah 43:1......"We must allow what Jesus has done for us to be greater than anything that has been done to us."
Christine Caine

I think even a casual observer of our modern society knows that we have developed a very real culture of "victimhood." Everybody is a victim of something, and that "something" is what has come to define us. Please note, I am not lessening the damage that can be done by abuse, neglect, and the vast sum of demeaning actions that can be carried out against us. They are real. The pain and wounds they leave are real. We all live in a fallen, sin stained world, and all of us are to some degree, victims of that world. The message of Jesus Christ is, we don't have to continue to live as that world's victims. We were created by Him for victory, and nothing, I repeat, nothing that has happened has the power to keep us from that victory that is ours in Christ.

We live in a culture, even within the church, that tells us we are "less" while others are "more." Satan, the enemy of our souls takes great joy in working through circumstances, life happenings, and the words and actions of people to burn the message upon our minds that we are less, while others are more. The church, being made up of very fallible humans, can, consciously or not, reinforce this. But as Paul said, "You did not learn Christ in this way." It is within the Body of Christ that we ought to feel most secure, most affirmed, yet this is too often not so. When Jesus Christ called forth Lazarus from the tomb, He instructed those who were standing by to "remove from him his graveclothes." This is a ministry that we in the church must be actively engaged in, the removing of one another's "graveclothes." The graveclothes of shame, false guilt, and all the unhealed wounds and abuses we may still carry. This will call for a "realness" and transparency that too few of us are willing to walk in or allow in others. Victory is near impossible in such a place, and victimhood becomes commonplace.

Jesus said He makes all things new. He still says that. Has it become our reality? Are we defined by what has happened to us, or by what He has done for us? And for you and me, the question is, do we know what He has done for us? Do we live in that reality? Or, do we live as victims of the past, of the abuse, the mistreatment, the failure? If we have truly received what the Father says in Isaiah 43:1, than victory is the only path for us. You cannot live in that truth and be a victim. You may have been victimized, but you do not have to live in victimhood. No one does. So why do we? Why would you?

May we, in this new year, come to live in the fullness of what He has done for us, not in what has been done to us. May the graveclothes of the past be removed from us all. May His church truly carry out such a ministry to the full. May we live in the truth of what He says of us, and not the lies of the enemy. No longer victims, but victors in Christ.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Facing Fear

"Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you. Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10......"God loves to bring us to the place of facing what we fear because He knows this will make us fearless." Lisa Bevere

I don't think that there is anything that holds us in greater captivity than our fears. They paralyze us. They make us easy prey for the enemy of our souls. Indeed, it is the devil's greatest and most favorite weapon to use against us. He knows that as long as our heart and spirit are held in the grip of fear, he need never fear anything from us. So the question for each of us is, where in our lives has fear placed us in its vice-like grip.

So many times in my life I have been paralyzed, incapacitated, by fear. Fear comes in so many forms, but I think its greatest power over us is in the fear of what we think could be the worst possible scenario in our lives actually coming to pass. Job, in the midst of his life wreckage, said in effect, "That which I most feared has happened to me." Most of us have as our goal avoiding the presence of that which we most fear ever taking place in our lives. We think victory is found in having all of our outward circumstances be absent of danger and peril. All of us have, like Job, something, perhaps much, that we dread might ever take place in our lives. We are committed to avoiding these, and seek His assistance in it. The idea that the Father would not share that commitment with us is beyond the realm of possibility. We think victory is found in the absence of fearful circumstances. He says it is found in the midst of them. We seek to run from our fears. He seeks to bring us face to face with them.

If you are one who truly yearns to grow in His grace, to step out into the abundance of His Life, than you must know that a real part of the pathway will come in your coming face to face with those things you most fear. As Bevere says, it will be the only way He can make us fearless. When we come to the place of standing face to face with that most dreaded place, our choice will be to see only that which we fear, or to see Him in Who there is no fear. When we can see Him alone in that place, it is there we become fearless. It is there that true victory is secured. He knows this is our only path to victory, to fearlessness. Our flesh shrinks from it, but His Spirit calls us to it. In the realization of his worst fears, Job discovered how real his God was and is. So will we. It's the only way we will. We'll never learn this by avoidance of fearful places, but by confronting them, overcoming them. It's what will make us fearless. It's what makes us "more than conquerors."

All of us have our "worst possible end" scenario. That something that we can't imagine anything being more terrible than. I've had those, and so have you. I remember well the immobilizing fear in that place. Every fiber of my being wanted to flee, but every part of Him called me to stand with Him and face it. In that place of the "worst" I found His best. And another fear was conquered. It will be so for all of us. There are yet more fears to be faced for me, and for you too. If we face them with Him, we will know the reality of His promise that "No weapon formed against you will prosper." He stands with us and in us as we face the fear.....and in doing so, we become more than conquerors.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - On The Run

"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling." Matthew 23:37

I heard someone say that though we talk much of a loving, caring, seeking God, we spend a great part of our lives running and hiding from Him. This is tragic when it applies to those who have never known or experienced Him in any way. It is more tragic when it pertains to those who profess to be His. From the first, it has been the way of the flesh. When Adam and Eve sinned against Him in the garden, their first response was to hide from Him. When He came seeking them, the call from His heart and lips to them was, "Where are you?" He knew where they were. Lost, and in that moment the heart of the Father was shown, and became fully shown in Jesus Christ, who said of Himself that He came to "Seek and save that which has been lost." Seeking and saving not only lives and souls, but all that pertains to those lives and souls.

With this being so, why are the words of Jesus spoken in Matthew 23 still so true today? Why do we, like our ancestors Adam and Eve still so often have as our first impulse, the desire to hide from Him? The answer is not found in any one thing, but a sum of many related ones. Shame, fear, ignorance, pride, to name a few. We run from Him because we don't know Him, though so often we think we do. We assign to Him the traits of vindictiveness, pettiness, a God who is perpetually and always angry...and angry with us. Yes, we are to fear Him, and yes, the anger of God is real, but every aspect of His character, including His anger and wrath, is drenched in His love. His perfect love. The whispers of the enemy have formed in our minds the image of God who is never satisfied with us, always disappointed in us, and really would prefer to have as little to do with us as possible. It's true that we are all guilty before Him, but the enemy has done a very thorough job of turning our guilt into shame. When His Holy Spirit convicts of us sin, that conviction is meant to draw us to Him for forgiveness, cleansing and healing. When the enemy is able to turn it into shame, it causes us to run from Him, to seek a hiding place from Him. And that hiding place always results in a deeper personal darkness, and greater sense of shame. We are disoriented from Him. We are disoriented from who we can be in Him.

How much of the previous year, the previous years, have you spent running from Him? How weary of it all are you? As He did in Matthew 23, Jesus Christ looks upon your life and calls you to Himself, that He may cover you with His Life and His healing. In your hiding, no matter how good a job you may think you have done of it, the Father knows where you are. He calls you to Himself, to His forgiveness, His healing, and His life. Whether you are there due to fear, shame, pride, even open rebellion against Him, He calls you. He has come to you, that He may seek and save you, and all that has been lost, stolen, or taken from you. To restore not only the years that the locust have eaten, but to restore fully what has been lost of yourself. He has come for you, to find you. All that remains is, are you willing to come to Him? Are you willing to be found? Or, will you spend another year.....living on the run?

Blessings,
Pastor O