Heart Tracks - Which Father?

"He was a murderer from the beginning and has always hated the truth. When he lies, it is consistent with his character, for he is a liar and the father of lies." John 8:44....."So you should not be like cowering, fearful slaves.You should behave instead like God's very own children, adopted into His family, calling Him Father, dear Father." Romans 8:15

Which father are we most familiar with? Which has the most power and influence over us? He who is the Father of Truth and Life, or the one who is the father of lies, falsehood, and self-loathing? I once thought there were only two types of listeners; those who heard the words and voice of the Father of Truth and Life, and those who listened to and heeded the voice of the father of lies. The first were those who were Christ's, the second were those without Him. I have come to see that there is a third group; those who hear and seek to heed the voice of the Father of Truth and Life, but who at the same time, fall victim again and again to the voice of the father of lies. Those who are in the first group know and experience His freedom. Those in the second live in deception, and have no idea of the life that they are blind to. The third group has the same place in the heart of the Father as the first. They are His children, adopted into His family through the blood of Christ and faith in His saving grace. They too know the truth, but do not experience it in their lives. Instead of living as His children, they exist as orphans, believing that all things must be earned, that they must prove themselves to Him first. They cannot call Him "Father, dear Father," until they have won the right to do so. There are rules to keep, procedures to be followed. Not just once, but each day. Their place at His table must be won, and any failure is punished. Indeed, any failure, any sin, disqualifies them in His sight. The future and hope they know He has promised is lost to them because their failures have left them out. Their place at His table is gone. The best they can now hope for are scraps from that table. They think it is the voice of the Father of Life who has told them this, when in reality they have heard the "words of the hater in the darkness." The father of lies has deceived yet another of His children.

Years ago I read a wonderful book titled "The Lies We Believe," and there are so many. Foremost among those lies may be our belief that though we are saved by grace, we must live by the law. There was a time when I lived in fear of failing Him in some way, and so disqualifying myself from His love and care. Displeasing Him would disqualify me. It wold leave me outside of Him. I lived, like so many do, with the orphan mentality that said any slip-ups in His house would get me shipped back to the orphanage. Though made a son in Christ, I kept on living like an orphan. As a result, I knew much about His grace, love, joy and peace, but experienced so little of it. Living for Him was exhausting and defeating. I knew all about His abundant life, but experienced very little of it. How true is this for you as well?

I don't believe in cheap grace, and I believe we are accountable before Him for the way in which we live our lives in Him. But instead of having a Father who looks like the unjust judge in the gospel, I have a Father who longs for me as did the father of the prodigal in that same gospel. The first is the creation of the father of lies, the second is the Father as He really is. Which one is it that we listen to, seek, and yield to?

What are the lies we are believing right now? To what degree have they stolen our peace and joy in Him? What has the father of lies managed to steal from you in your walk with the Father of Truth and Life? I once saw a definition for the word "redeemed" as the act of taking back what has been stolen. May every lie we have believed be redeemed, taken back, by and through the blood of Christ. May we come to His table. May we live there. Free, as His children. Orphans no more.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Profit And Loss

What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Mark 8:36....The only place we need to see before we die is this place of seeing God, here and now......Ann Voskamp

The quote from Ann Voskamp came after she related how, while in a hairdresser's shop, she noticed the lady beside her reading a book titled "A Thousand Places To See Before You Die." It got her to thinking upon just how focused we are in the realm of the temporary. Don't get me wrong. I have a deep appreciation for the natural beauty of this world, and there remain many places I would like to see. Yet at this stage in my life, it is unlikely I'll ever get to see them. I don't feel a lack about that, and for two reasons. First, this world's vistas, no matter how spectacular, are mere reflections, and flawed ones at that, of the beauty of His heaven and eternity. I'm not sure that eternity will suffice in order for me to see them all. Secondly, and most importantly, if I never saw any of them, it would not matter, for I have seen Him. And I continue to see Him, and in so many different places. On the mountain top, and in the valley. In the light, and in the dark. In the known, and the unknown. In the midst of much, and in the midst of little. I see not with the eyes of flesh, but with the eyes of His Spirit. I've seen Him in many more than a thousand places, and many more than a thousand ways. I continue to see Him today, and I am not special. It is His deep desire that all would see Him. Yet we continue to feverishly pursue the "sights" of this world, seeing their splendor, but being blind to His.

So many live out their lives trying to make sure that they partake of all the best that this world can offer. I remember the old beer commercial, "You only go around once in life, so you have to grab for all the gusto you can." This is the life philosophy of too many, and too many of those who would call themselves His. Back in the 1980's Sandy Patty and Larnelle Harris sang, "I've just seen Jesus, and nothing will be the same anymore." Does such a song come from our hearts today? One can see the grandeur of the mountains, oceans, and forests and be amazed but unchanged. Not so with Him. Do we see with eyes that can see the far horizons of His Kingdom? Or do the passing attractions of this realm hold all of our attention? Are we grabbing for gusto, or clinging to Him? Blind Fanny Crosby could see nothing of this world, but with the eyes of her heart, she saw Jesus. So she could write, "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh what a foretaste of glory divine." She could sing this because she lived this. Sightless in the world, she saw the vast beauty that is found in Him. Somehow, I believe she died having not one regret over not seeing any of those "thousand things" that book mentioned, if it meant that in seeing them, she would never see Him. She saw Him. Can we? Will we?

Jesus asked what it would profit us to gain (to "see") the whole world, and yet lose (never see Him) our soul? Some folks only understand profit and loss. Do we understand what is ours in the Kingdom of God? Are we spending our lives (and souls) pursuing the sights and attractions of this world, and all the while missing, not seeing Him, and losing everything in the meantime? Losing everything in eternity. Profit and loss. What is our profit, and what is our loss?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Costless Cross

However, the king said to Araunah, "No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God which cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.2nd Samuel 24:24....."The Spiritual giants of old would not take their religion the easy way nor offer unto God that which cost them nothing. They sought not comfort but holiness, and the pages of history are still wet with their blood and their tears. We now live in softer times. Woe unto us, for we have become adept in the art of comforting ourselves without power." A.W. Tozer

The cross of Christ has not been banished from the Church. It can still be seen in most fellowships. It's just not that often seen in the lives of those who profess to have come to it. As Tozer writes, we have become adept at avoiding it. A verse of the old hymn goes, "Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe." We have embraced the first part but have managed to miss or ignore that last. Thus the rise of the hyper-grace movement. Jesus has done everything for us, now our part is to lie back and enjoy the abundant life He has given us. This is nothing new. It has been more than 75 years since Dietrich Bonhoeffer coined the term "cheap grace." but in so many ways, it seems that His grace just keeps getting cheaper.

David was directed by God to build an altar to Him at the threshing floor of Araunah. Araunah thought to make of it a gift, for after all, David was the king. David refused. The altar was a place of offering, of sacrifice. He rightly said that he wouldn't offer up to God anything that had no cost to himself. The price he paid Araunah was symbolic of David's intent to give to the Lord his all. His sacrifice was himself. He would give all of himself to his God, and in return, would receive all of his God. For David, it was a small price to pay. Indeed he saw it as no price at all. This same attitude was found in the heroes of faith detailed in Hebrews 11. Is this attitude found in you and me?

Israel was split into two kingdom following the death of Solomon. God took away a large portion from Rehoboam, Solomon's son, and gave it to Jeroboam, who had become king of northern Israel. Throughout her history, Israel had been commanded by the Lord to travel to Jerusalem to worship and celebrate on specified festival and holy days. Jerusalem was part of the southern kingdom of Judah, and Jeroboam feared that if the people traveled there, they would not come back. So he appealed to their fleshly desire for ease and comfort, He made two golden calves and and set them up at the southern and northern ends of his kingdom, telling the people, "It is too much trouble for you to worship in Jerusalem...these are the gods who brought you out of Egypt." Too much trouble. Degree of difficulty. These are considerations that are more and more in the forefront of the Church in the west. How much of the spirit of Rehoboam is operating in the modern Church? How "easy" are we trying to make it to be a "believer" today? How prone are we to offer up worship, sacrifice to Him that cost us nothing? Nothing at all.

I'm not speaking of some kind of self-denial that only affects the outer but never touches the heart. There are many who wish to parade their (self) righteousness. The old hymn asks, "Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?" All. Love of comfort and ease. The quest for recognition, reputation, applause. All. Dreams, desires, hopes, past, present and future. All. A spirit akin to John the Baptist that says, "I must decrease that He may increase." All. Go anywhere, do anything, including being nothing, for Him. No matter the cost to ourselves. All. A heart that is not looking for a better life here, but an ever deepening experience of His life now. The cross of Christ comes with great cost. It costs us ourselves. All of ourselves. Do we bring such a heart and life to Him, or, do we continue to offer up sacrifices that are no sacrifice to us at all? Do we seek the costless cross, or a cross that takes all of ourselves upon it? The first never touches the self-life. His cross brings us into His life. The first changes nothing. His cross will change everything. Which will we go to? Which are we going to now?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Inheritance

That is why the Levites have no share or inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the LORD is their inheritance, as the LORD your God told them.)...Deuteronomy 10:9...
..."Furthermore, because of Christ we have received an inheritance from God." Ephesians 1:11

A common plot line in books and movies are children who are deeply dissatisfied with their inheritance; what their parent)s) left them. Their reaction is almost always bitterness, anger, even hatred. They thought it should be more, much more. When it comes to what we have from our Father, in Christ, how like them might we be?

Many years ago, I was entangled in a deep dispute with someone over the things of this life as compared to the things of the Kingdom. They wanted many things of which I did not have the ability to provide, at least at that time. It wasn't that I didn't want them for them, but that I knew it would be the height of foolishness to try and lay hold of them with no real means of doing so, apart from acquiring ruinous debt. I remember citng the above Scripture from Deuteronomy, that the Lord has promised to be our portion. I did so with the intent that they would understand that in His being that to us, He would provide His best if we would trust and follow His leading. We might not have all we want right now, but we would have all His best all of the time. Their answer still makes me tremble; "I hate when you say that."

I wonder how often we say the same, if not with our words, than surely with our actions and attitudes? To what degree do we, even now, despise our inheritance in Him? In this world, with all the "treasures" it places before our eyes, do we find ourselves yearning more for them than we do Him?
I wonder what the majority of the Levites might have thought when they saw their fellow Israelites being given large tracts of land in the new and promised place they had entered? Were they jealous, angry, resentful? Were they disappointed that their brethren received so much visible wealth, and their portion was the unseen God? It all depends on what our eyes are truly seeing, doesn't it? It depends on what our hearts really treasure and value .

There is nothing wrong with having desires for the beautiful things that can be found in this world. Our question is, do we covet them above Him? He does give us so much. I write this while sitting in a home He miraculously gave me, one I never thought to have. I enjoy it greatly, along with all the other blessings He has bestowed, but I have learned, and continue to learn, something through they years. All of this must be held loosely. None of it can be my security. Beth Moore said that if our security is found in anything or anyone other than Him, it is there that we will be most vulnerable to attack. It is there we will be most in danger of abandoning Him.

As I've written in the last few devotionals, we who are His are His royal priesthood. We are His modern day Levites, and He remains our portion. Our inheritance will never be found in this world. We are caretakers at best, and what is ours is not really ours at all. There is only One who is, and He is found in three forms, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father is our portion. Christ is our inheritance, and the Holy Spirit is Their Presence within us always. If we reject this, we become nothing more than "pickers" rooting through the world's junkyard, treasuring things covered in rust.

Who and what is your portion? Who is your inheritance. Do you embrace the riches found in Him, or despise what He offers as a mere pittance in comparison to the passing gold of this world? He gives us Himself. Everything else is rusty junk in comparison. Do we really believe this? Is that what we're really living?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Fun Church

The Fun Church

Exodus 32:5-8The Message (MSG)

5 Aaron, taking in the situation, built an altar before the calf.

Aaron then announced, “Tomorrow is a feast day to God!”

6 Early the next morning, the people got up and offered Whole-Burnt-Offerings and brought Peace-Offerings. The people sat down to eat and drink and then began to party. It turned into a wild party!

7-8 God spoke to Moses, “Go! Get down there! Your people whom you brought up from the land of Egypt have fallen to pieces. In no time at all they’ve turned away from the way I commanded them: They made a molten calf and worshiped it. They’ve sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are the gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt!’”....."Because there isn't enough joy in the house of the Lord, we need entertainment." Leonard Ravenhill....."The time will come in the Church when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep, we will have clowns entertaining the goats." Charles Spurgeon

From time to time I will hear or read about various fellowships and so go to their websites to learn more about them. No matter how well done or visually appealing the site may be, the first thing I do is find out what they believe and what their values are. Two characteristics are emerging more and more ; first, that their belief system is vague. There aren't a lot of specifics, especially as to how they view the authority of Scripture. Secondly, there seems to be a growing desire that the people who attend there should have a good time when they come. One site said, "We're a fun church. Church should be fun." This ties in with a church sign I once saw while traveling. It read, "We're a church for people who don't like church." These seem a growing attitude. Fun, good times, and good feelings. It reminds me of a time many years ago when, after my sermon, a man approached me, obviously unhappy with the message, "I come to church to feel good." Obviously,what he'd just heard, didn't make him feel good. Church for him on that day was "no fun."

Let me say that I am not advocating men wear black suits and wear constantly somber faces, or that women wear dresses to their ankles, have their hair in a bun, and nobody cracks a smile, ever. Indeed, I can honestly say that I have laughed more, cut up more, and enjoyed life more in these last 30 plus years in Him than I ever did in the world. But these have never flowed from an outward stimulus, but an inner joy that can only come from Him. And that joy comes from a hearing of His voice that is always calling me ever nearer and deeper in Him. A voice that also doesn't hesitate to point out to me anything within that is stifling His voice and hindering that call. In the above passage of Scripture from Exodus, while Moses ascended the mountain to God, the people remained on the plain, playing, partying, and having fun, and the symbol of all that was the golden calf they directed Aaron to build. The calf they worshiped. We are not dangerously close to worshiping the same; in too many cases, we already are.

I ask simply, where, in any of His call to His disciples, do we see Him call them to fun and good times? He instead directs them to leave all, deny self, and take up their cross to their own Calvary. I believe it was Chambers who said, "When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die." I know that church can so easily become just an exercise in religion, method, formula, and lifeless. No one who is after His heart would seek such a fellowship, but neither would they seek one that is skilled at stimulating the flesh but knows little or nothing about feeding the spirit. Such a heart wants to be where He is truly Present. When He is, it needs no roadside advertising. Oh, that we would seek to have His presence loosed in our midst, in our fellowships and lives.

Aaron, priest of the Lord, was never to have remained down in the plain with the people. He was to be at Moses side, ascending the mountain of the Lord. As His royal priesthood, where are we? Seeking to find out what it is the people want, or moving ever deeper into His heart and life, discovering more and more what He desires, both for His Church and for us? Temporary fun, or eternal joy. Which do we pursue? Which do we call people to? Fun church or His church? An amusement park, or that which displays His resurrected life? What do we really want to be a part of?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Challenge

For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.....1 Corinthians 2:2...."The great challenge is, 'Do I know my risen Lord? Do I know the power of His indwelling Spirit? Am I wise enough in God's sight, and foolish enough according to the world, to bank on what Jesus Christ has said? Or, am I abandoning the great supernatural position, which is the only call for a missionary, viz; boundless confidence in Christ?" Oswald Chambers...."Jesus lives, and that means boundless possibilities." T. Austin-Sparks

How much of a "fool for Christ" are we really? Paul said that he would joyfully take on the appearance of a fool in his love for and trust in Christ. Indeed, a life that puts all of it's hope in Christ alone will always be seen as a foolish one in the eyes of the world system. Even when that system has entrenched itself in His Church. And we are living in days when it has.

Paul possessed one of the most brilliant minds of his day, able to converse with Greek philosophers, Jewish Pharisees, and people of every social strata. Educated to the highest level possible for a Jew, he had no confidence in any of it. He who knew so much as measured by the world, said he could only be sure of knowing Christ crucified, and Him alone. Such a lifestyle did not make him popular in the world, and at times, not in the Church. His was a life dedicated to knowing and following His Lord. To what degree is ours the same?

I have had Chambers' above quote written in my prayer journal for some time now. Though I've often fallen short, I have always sought to rise to the challenge he speaks of. I've lived long enough now to have seen a few challenges. It would be untruthful to say that I met every one of them with the right heart, attitude, or faith, but by His grace, in my lack, He saw me through with His sufficiency. Having a "boundless confidence" in Christ can be the most trying of challenges, especially when that confidence is undermined by people, well meaning though some may be, within and without the Church. Such a time for me was in the midst of my wilderness journey after my divorce and stepping out of the ministry.

During that time, there were many voices, including those with loving concern, telling me I had to let go of my call to pastor and preach. Voices that said I needed to accept that this was no longer a possibility for me. I needed to get on with my life, find something else, to let it all go. There was just one thing; His Voice was never in agreement with those voices. He did not reveal to me what the future held, and how He would work, but I never ceased to hear Him whisper "Be still and know that I am God." I never ceased to have an inner assurance that if I would trust Him, He would restore what the locust had eaten, stripped, and laid bare. He would bring back what the enemy had stolen. So I held on to that, and appeared a fool to many. Now, thirty years later, the "fool" has been vindicated. He did restore me. Not to greatness, but to the purpose for which He made me. Was my confidence always boundless? No. At times, many times, it was held to by a very slender thread, but He worked in it. It was not the last time I have appeared to be fool for Him, and in my foolishness, I draw nearer to Him, and deeper in Him. The reality is, the only time I not only appeared a fool, but actually was one, were those times I heeded any voice but His. His supernatural wisdom always appears foolish to the natural mind, but His wisdom will always be vindicated if listened to. To what degree are we listening today?

Here in my latter years, I still seek to live a life that marks me as a fool for Him. This will be the fate of all who seek to know and live fully in Him. I am not a great man, I just have a great God. So do you. Can you trust Him, have confidence in Him, that despite all appearances to the contrary, He will bring you through, back, and to, all that He has purposed for you? Will you be a fool for Christ by walking in His wisdom and knowledge, which will always look foolish to the world.....and sometimes, to the Church as well? Boundless confidence. Boundless possibilities. This is the reality for every "fool for Christ." Is it yours?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Who?

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
Ephesians 1:17......"In our pain, we go to God and continue to ask Him, 'Why?' He may never tell us why. At some point, we need to stop asking Him why, and instead ask, 'Father, this is my reality. What do you want me to do in it?' " Lynn TerKeurst

When pain, loss, sorrow, and suffering hit us, it's human to seek relief, escape from it all. We want it to end. We also want to know why we're in that place to begin with. Sometimes it's the result of our own bad choices, though too often we're not ready to admit that. It's easier to blame others, even God for it. But very often, we find ourselves in the midst of a heartbreaking wilderness that we're in even as we wholeheartedly follow after Him. Nothing makes sense, and all of it is so unfair. We can easily fall into the role of victim, and though we may certainly have been victimized by the actions of someone else, it is never His purpose for us to live the role on a day to day basis. That's why, if we truly hope to live out our calling as being "more than conquerors," we have to come to the place laid out by TerKeurst. We need to accept that no matter how unjust, this place is our reality, and we need to understand just what He wants to do in us in the midst of it. This is where walking in His wisdom and discernment becomes the priority. We need to see and understand everything from His perspective and not ours. Then, in the midst of that reality, we begin to learn how real He is, and how unlimited He is in the midst of our present circumstances.

Paul Billheimer wrote a classic book titled, "Don't Waste Your Sorrows." Too many of us do. We walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and not only do we fear all evil, we neither see or learn anything in the journey. All we can see is the shadow of death, and so we don't see Him, or hear Him either. We just want it to be over. His desire is to bring forth both in and out of us, the silver and gold of His Life. Paul prayed for the growth of wisdom and discernment for the Ephesians because in his storm tossed and often "shipwrecked" life, he'd come to view his life and situations from the vantage point of His Kingdom, and not his own understanding. Paul went to Rome knowing the terrors that awaited him, but he went in trust because he knew he was being led by a good God that he had full confidence in. In his prison cell, he did not fill his days with asking God why, but instead sought Him in the atmosphere of that cell. From that cell flowed life, His life, that continues to minister to us two thousand years later.

You may be walking through the darkness of pain, suffering and need right now. God is not immune to it. He feels and shares it with you. You may want to know why, but it is very likely that He will never answer that question. Yet He will supply unlimited guidance to the ones who accept their current reality and seek to know His heart for them in the midst of it. He has a purpose for us, even when our lives seem to have no purpose at all. When our lives and circumstances make no sense at all. James Robison said that we need to stop asking why, and instead ask, "Who?" Who is Lord of all, even in the darkness.

Who holds our lives in His hand? Who loves us beyond description? Who is the One who will get us through, and get us home? Who is the One who will fashion more and more of the life of His Son in us? Who? The Father, through His Son, by the power of His Holy Spirit. That is Who, and that is enough.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Binder

" for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned." 2 Timothy 2:9...."God cannot be kept in a box. Even one bound in leather with gilt pages."... Unknown

Not long ago I was cleaning out a much cluttered closet and came upon a teaching series I had done long ago. Everything was contained in a still shiny binder. A binder like so many other "teaching tools" used in the Church. There was "good stuff" contained in that binder, but I wondered just how many who "heard" and took part in that teaching, ever received the fullness of it into their hearts? I have been in so many homes through the years, and I would often notice how many different teaching series the people had taken part in. They were all excellent studies, authored by godly men and women, but I always wondered if, after the study concluded, did the Truth contained in them go on the shelf with the binder, or into their very hearts? I heard James Robison say that we have to get His Truth out of the binder we keep it in, even when that binder is the Bible itself. Does His Truth just gather dust on whatever "shelf" we've placed it on, or does it's power consume and saturate our very lives?

I think I've shared this before, but it bears repeating. Beth Moore told of encountering one of her "fans" at a conference she was speaking at. The woman told her of how she read all of Moore's books, took part in all of her studies, and tried to be at any of her conferences. She told Moore how much she depended on them. Moore, in love, asked her to what degree she was experiencing the truth of all that in her life? Her sad admission, "Not overly much. That was why she needed the studies and conferences." She, like so many of us, was living out what Paul said, "Always learning, but never coming to knowledge." We in the Church learn so much, but seem to "know," experience so little. The power, wonder, and reality of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are locked into a binder, a book, and even a Bible. So we keep reading, we keep studying, and we keep going, but we never come fully into the reality and experience of the One who is Truth and Life.

Where is all of this true in us? Has His Truth and Life been confined to a binder on a shelf, or is it bound into our hearts? Peter Lord said, "We live what we believe. Everything else is just religious talk." Are we living what we say we believe, or, are we just speaking religious talk? Observers of our lives, especially Him, know the truth. Do we?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Living In The Wrong Direction

  Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."   Isaiah 30:21

I remember the wife of a good pastor friend telling the story of how she came to Christ. She was in high school and was attending a Wednesday night prayer service at her church. In the course of that time, she came under deep conviction as to the state of her soul and her need for Christ. As their time together was ending, the pastor invited any who might care to, to come and pray to receive Him. Fighting the Lord and His call upon her heart, she got up and made for the door. As she was walking out, a sweet elderly lady stopped her, and asked, "Aren't you heading the wrong way honey?" She continued on, but when she got home, the still, small, but oh so powerful voice of the Savior pierced her heart and her resistance. Kneeling beside her bed, she welcomed the Jesus she had been running from, fully into her heart and life. A key part of it all was that she knew He was speaking directly to her through that sweet old saint. She was heading the wrong way. In that moment, Isaiah 30:21 became a reality. The Voice behind her called her to His way. To walk in it.

I remember something of this experience myself, except at the time(s) the outcome was much different for me. My first encounter with His Voice happened in college. I was in the midst of, as I so often was, emotional and spiritual turmoil. Walking one day, mostly in a daze, I passed by the building where the "Jesus Freaks" met. The door was open, and I could see them sitting inside. One of them called to me as I stood there, "Come on in." I heard Christ's voice through his, but after standing there for a few moments, I walked on....continuing in the wrong way. I would continue on that way for another five long years. In that time there would be other instances of His speaking to me through various people and circumstances, but I persisted in my walk in the wrong direction, steadily spiraling downward. Finally, after accepting the invitation of a friend to attend his church, I heard the Truth preached for the first time. What I heard pierced my heart. I knew for sure I really was walking in the wrong direction....and I knew that the road before me was growing ever shorter. His still, small voice whispered to me again, and this time, I listened. I heard His voice behind me, and in the dining room of the home I grew up in, I turned around from my way onto His. By His saving, keeping grace, I have never left it, and He has never left me. And most wonderful of all; His Voice no longer need speak from behind me. He speaks to me, as He did Moses, "Face to face, as a friend."

We so easily go off in the wrong direction. And the thing is, you can have gone to an altar, asked Him into your heart, and yet be making choices, foolishly or willfully that are taking you in the wrong direction. Whether it be from deception, rebellion, ignorance, whatever, His Voice will continually speak to us, "This is (My) Way, turn around (repent) and walk in it." If you're moving in the wrong direction, as was that young girl who would one day be a pastor's wife, as I did through a lifetime of rebellion, His Voice speaks to you. Calls you. You're moving in the wrong direction, and the end will surely be destruction. He calls you from it. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Hear Him. Receive Him. Walk and live in Him. Then He'll no longer be a Voice behind you, but a Friend, and Lord, before You. Leading you day by day in His direction.

Blessings,
Pastor O 

Heart Tracks - The Lord Who BurstsThrough

So David went to Baal-perazim and defeated the Philistines there. "The LORD did it!" David exclaimed. "He burst through my enemies like a raging flood!" So he named that place Baal-perazim (which means "the Lord who bursts through").....2 Samuel 5:20 "Like waking up from the longest dream, how real it seemed, until Your love broke through...I've been lost in a fantasy, that blinded me, until Your love broke through" Keith Green

The lyrics to to the Keith Green song "Your Love Broke Through" have always held deep and precious meaning to me. I've always seen them as a true testimony to my life. How, in the midst of the mess that was my life, and all the darkness and sin that came with it, His love broke through to me. Even today, all these years later, the life I lived then was like one walking and living in a dreamworld. I was another person, living in another world. All that seemed so real and valuable to me then, is so unreal and useless to me now. His love broke through to me, and I will never cease to filled with gratitude that in the darkness of my life then, His love and light pierced it all, and brought me into His life. Best of all, my life since then has been an ongoing witness to the wonder of His love, time and again bursting through all the circumstances, even the darkest, and proving that even in the worst, most unimaginable places, His love will break through.

Green's lyrics speak of waking up from the longest dream. Sometimes those dreams can be nightmares, and endless ones. I know something of those nightmares. Twenty seven years ago, with the loss of my marriage and ministry, I began a journey through what would be a day by day nightmare. Though still a young man, I felt my future was lost. I had no idea what would become of me, let alone where I would live and what I would do. All I could see on my horizon was an endless unknown... and fear. All I could do was literally live one day at a time, one step at a time, and so many days, I was sure I lacked the strength for another day, another step. Yet somehow, though I could not really discern it at the time, His love broke through the fear, the unknown, and another day was lived out, another step taken. Time and again, when I was at my lowest, He came with His greatest, and I found that, yes, I could go on. I had no idea where I was going to, but in His grace and strength, I went. And all along the journey, in so many ways, His love broke through, encouraging me, promising me, this was not where my life would end. This was not a place where He would leave me. I would know the fullness of His life again. Indeed, I would know it then. And I did.

Pain, heartache, sorrow, yes, they were present with me every day. Yet in the midst of them, His love would burst through, again and again, and day by day, step by step, the road grew brighter, the load lighter. The enemy shouted in my ear that the place I found myself would be the place where I perished, but He would whisper again and again, "I know the plans I have for you." And I was assured that it was a "good" plan, and He would get me there. The Lord who bursts through would break through to me, again and again, and always at the perfect time and place.

In a fallen world, "nightmares" are often a part of our lives. We all enter into them at some point. Maybe you're in the midst of one right now. Can you believe that the Lord who bursts through will burst through to you with all the power of His love? In His strength, keep on walking,step by step, day by day. Where you are is not where you will stay. He has much more for you than this. Whether you are in a place as a result of your own choices, or by the actions of another, if you will look up to Him, and not at the ground of your circumstances, you will see the One who loves you, and who will break through all the darkness, problems, and impossibilities, to you.

In August of 1989, I could fit everything I owned in a small compact car. I drove out of the town I had pastored in with no idea of where I was going. My worst nightmare had happened to me, yet at its worst, it could not keep Him or His love out. He rebuilt my life, and truly restored all the years that the locusts had eaten. I could never have envisioned how He has worked, but on every step of the way, His love burst through to me. It will for you too. It is bursting through to you right now. Keep on walking, keep on trusting. His love will never cease to break through. His love will get you home.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Adversaries

Mark 8:31-33New American Standard Bible (NASB)

31 And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. 33 But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and *said, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on [a]God’s interests, but man’s.”

How often have you believed that you had more understanding of your life situation than God did? Be honest. How many times in the course of your days have you "rebuked" Him for how He was, or was not working in your life? Where and when have you "taken Him aside," as Peter did with Jesus, and chastised Him for the way He was moving, or not moving in and for you?

I've been pastoring for more than 30 years now, and in that time I've had occasion to talk with a lot of people about a great many things in their life. Always, I will bring Scripture, what the Lord's view on the situation is. I can't number the times that a person has said, in some manner, "I agree with that, but...." What they're really saying is, "I know that's what His Word says, but, in this case, I'm sure it doesn't apply to me." It reminds me of a scene I once saw in a TV sitcom. A deli shop has posted a "Closed" sign on its door, but the character of a young woman, seeing herself as entitled, entered anyway. When asked if she had seen the sign, she answered, "I saw the sign, but naturally, I didn't think it applied to me." So often, we can be the same with Him. We know what He has commanded, we know what His Word and will are in our situation, but we don't think it applies to us. Not in our current circumstance anyway. We, like Peter, think we have a better grasp on things than He does. We're sure we'll convince Him of this, get Him to see things as they really are, gently rebuking Him for His desire to carry out His intentions for us. We see ourselves as His well meaning friends. He sees us as His adversaries.

Jesus would say to Peter that he was the rock on which He would build His Church. Here he calls him Satan. Peter was part of Christ's inner circle. How could He say that to him? He did so because Peter, unaware or not, was fulfilling the role of the enemy. He was trying to dissuade Christ from the very purpose for which He'd been sent. Satan's very name means Adversary. He will seek at every time and place to thwart the will and purposes of God in all places, especially the lives of His people. No matter how well meaning we may feel we are, when we seek to turn Him aside from how He is working in our lives and the lives of others, we are fulfilling the role of adversary. Where might we be doing so right now?

Think on this. Parents pray for the souls of their prodigal children, then when God begins to take them out into a wilderness in order to bring them to the end of themselves, they intervene to allay the suffering that may be taking place, thus frustrating what the Lord is working in them. They become adversaries. Peter could not understand how God's purposes could be carried out through the cross and Christ's death. It made no sense. He surely knew better. So he who was His friend, now became His adversary. It's a role all of us can easily assume. Where are we assuming it right now?

Where are you in disagreement with how He is carrying out His will for you, your family, marriage, friends, and ministries? Is there any place where you have become His adversary in them, seeking to get Him to work in your way, and not His? Where is He saying, "Get behind Me....?" Where might you, no matter how well intentioned, be carrying out the desires of the enemy instead of the desires of the King?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Sunday Best?

Sunday Best?

He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault.
Ephesians 5:27....."The Church right now has more fashion than passion, is more pathetic than prophetic, is more superficial than supernatural." Leonard Ravenhill

"Dressing up in our Sunday best" was a term much used in an earlier day in our culture. People, no matter what social strata they may have belonged to, generally wore their best clothes when they attended church services. They saw it as a sign of reverence for the God they came to worship. Much has changed since those days, but this is not a writing about how we dress for church. We do need to come to His "house" in awe and reverence, but it is not what we're wearing on our bodies that matters, but what is in our heart. And that is what I want to speak of today.

I wrote in my prayer journal last week, "Has the Church become nothing more than the world dressed up in it's 'Sunday best?' " I grew up in a working class home in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. While church was not a regular part of our lives, there were periods when my family did try to have a church life. When we did, all of us would attend wearing our best clothes. Clothes that we didn't wear the rest of the week. They were worn only for special events, and.......for church. The rest of the week found us in regular every day clothes. Clothes that fit into the demands of the world, work, play, and so on. When Sunday came around again, the clothes came out. When Sunday was gone, so were the clothes. What went on in church influenced one day of our lives. The rest of our lives were under the influence of what was happening in the world outside its walls. If "going to church" is still a part of your life, how much of that life is no different than what I speak of here? To what degree are we "dressing" in our Sunday best for a few hours per week, and then going out "clothed" in the value system and morality of the world we live in the rest of the time? Do we put our "Sunday best" values and morals back in our drawers and closets come Monday...and leave them there? Are we really nothing more than the world going to church, dressed in its best?

Ravenhill's above words sting, and they should. They confront us, challenge us, and deep down, we know how much truth there is to them. In our efforts to be "relevant" to the world, we have in many ways accommodated it, and become powerless in it. We go to church, but in too many ways, we aren't the Church. This goes beyond trying to reach out to communities, doing good works, and so on. It is living a life alive in Him wherever we are, whoever we are. It is not only allowing Him to shape us into the reality of Ephesians 5:27, but having that state as our hearts desire. We are to be clothed in Christ, in His holiness at all times in all places. This clothing never gets put away. Indeed, He can't be put away. To what degree are we trying to do so?

Is your belief system, your walk of faith in Him just a matter of a once a week wearing of your Sunday best, or, do you live your life 24/7, clothed in Christ? My dad always wore his green work shirt and pants through the week. That's how I remember him. He had a suit and dress hat, but I only saw them on those Sundays we went to church. How do people see and remember us? Clothed in the morals, values, and ways of this world, or in Christ and His Kingdom? Are we really nothing more than the world dressed up in its Sunday best?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Unmasked

12 1-3 By this time the crowd, unwieldy and stepping on each other’s toes, numbered into the thousands. But Jesus’ primary concern was his disciples. He said to them, “Watch yourselves carefully so you don’t get contaminated with Pharisee yeast, Pharisee phoniness. You can’t keep your true self hidden forever; before long you’ll be exposed. You can’t hide behind a religious mask forever; sooner or later the mask will slip and your true face will be known. You can’t whisper one thing in private and preach the opposite in public; the day’s coming when those whispers will be repeated all over town. Luke 12:1-3....."When we wear a mask, what ultimately gets masked is the power of Christ in our lives." Ann Voskamp

Transparency seems to be the new buzzword in the Church these days. They say it's what's most valued by millennials, a much sought after age group by the Church. People say they want to see it in their leaders, particularly their pastors. I've no quarrel with this at all. It is needed in the Church. I do doubt just how sincere we really are in this, because true transparency doesn't begin with each other, but with Him. If we cannot be "real" with God, He can never be fully real with us...and we won't be real with each other. So real transparency will continue to be a desire, but an unrealized one. Our closets contain too many "masks" for this to be so. We've gotten used to wearing them in all places, especially the Church, and we fear to take them off...especially in our relationship with Him.

Most of us have a large collection of masks that we are able to wear in most any situation. We have our "I've got it all together" mask, our "I'm happy and content" one, our "religious" one, our "I'm living by faith" one, and our "All on the altar" one. There are many more. We can fool others with them, but we can never fool Him. King David, a man after His own heart, but also a man who would commit both adultery and murder, said to the Father, "You know who I really am." Most of us will admit to this as well, but the difference is, David was so real with God that he knew both the Father and himself. He was willing to see himself as he was, with all the mess. Because of this, he was also able to see who he could truly be in Him. The Father doesn't crush us with the truth of who we are. He brings no condemnation. But He does need us to know what and who we are without Him, because He wants to take us to the place of who and what we can be in Him. I have heard it said that when we look into the face of Christ, we see ourselves as we are. When we look into His heart, we see ourselves as we can be. When we know the truth about Him and about us, then we are on the pathway to being truly free. With our masks removed, the power of His Life is unleashed in us. We no longer fear being really known by others because we rest in the assurance that we are fully known by Him. Imperfect people perfectly loved by Him. And His perfect love must rid us of our masks to take effect in us.

He doesn't love us only at our best, but also at our worst. When Christ chose His twelve, He looked into the heart of every one of them and knew exactly who they were; Peter the braggart, John and James, the seekers of place and status, Thomas the doubter, and the unbelief and spiritual cowardice that marked them all. He met them where they were, revealed to them over the course of time what they were, and through the power of His resurrection, transformed them into who they were created to be. When they came to Him, they brought their masks, but when they stepped out to lay the foundation of His Church, all the masks had been dropped. Previously, their masks had, as Voskamp says, masked His power in their lives. Now unmasked, His power was only limited by their capacity to receive it, and for all who are willing to live "unmasked." that capacity only grows ever larger.

What masks are we wearing today? Which will we put on in order to try and fool not only those around us, but the One who knows us best? The One we can never fool at all. Let the mask drop. Dare to be unmasked, and then see the unmasked wonder of He who knows you, me, all of us, best. The One who knows not only who we really are, what we're really not, but who we can really be.

Blessings,
Pastor O