Heart Tracks - Worship In The Darkness - Part Two

My heart is troubled and restless.
Days of suffering torment me.
28 I walk in gloom, without sunlight.
I stand in the public square and cry for help. Job 30:27-28....Heartbroken - "To be overcome by sorrow."....."It's a gift to God when we worship in the darkness...Worshiping God through the longest night changes who we are." Sheila Walsh

Have you ever been truly heart broken? I don't mean just disappointed over plans gone wrong, or an unexpected setback, or that you didn't get the gift you really wanted. I mean the kind of heartbreak defined above...that which yields a life completely overcome by sorrow. Have you ever had that kind of heartbreak? Do you have it right now? If so, what do you do with it?

There have been several points in my life and ministry when I have been in that place. I know the meaning of loss, both in my personal and ministry life. I know too the deep pain and sorrow that have been my companion in both. I know what Job felt as he uttered the above words. I lived them. Maybe you live them now. Maybe you have suffered the loss of a loved one, a marriage, or the rebellion of a beloved child. Perhaps you're walking through the drying up of a ministry that once bore much fruit, but seems a desert right now. Maybe it's the heartbreak of watching ones that you have prayed for, ministered to, actively loved, make life choices that have taken them far from Him, and you, and placed them on the pathway to destruction both in this life and the life to come. You're overwhelmed by sorrow, and you have found, continue to find, that that which your broken heart must have, cannot be fully found in well meaning friends, trained counselors, or the passage of time. It can only be found in Him, yet He is too often is the last One we will turn to, or not turn to at all.

I am not against praying friends or compassionate counselors. They have their part, but too often, we can find a false comfort in their sympathies. They treat our wounds, but they cannot heal them. For that to happen requires something very radical on our part. We must bring our heartbreak, that empty, hollow, aching mass within us, to His feet....and surrender it, all of it, to Him. This can be so much harder than we think. We can insist on holding on to it, nurturing it, growing it, and in the process, be held captive by it. We are mortally wounded, but for us there is no healing, no wholeness, no hope....yet it needn't be so.

Hannah was a woman who knew the deepest heartbreak. She had no son, and so was considered cursed in the culture in which she lived. For years, she cried out to Him for a son, and all the while was subject to ridicule from others, to the disdain of others. She struggled with that heartbreak for years until one day, she came before Him, and released it all to Him....as her gift. All she had to give Him was her sorrow....and He took it.....and gave her back Life...Hope....and the promise of a son. But it didn't stop there. Her most precious dream and desire was for that son...and she surrendered that son to Him. A son who would be God's man, Samuel.
In her darkness, she worshiped Him. In the darkness she gave Him the gift of all her sorrow, and the gift of her most cherished dream. And He gave her back Himself. She arose from the long night of worship in the midst of sorrow a changed, transformed woman. Healed. Whole. His.

Are you brokenhearted today? Where do you take it? To who do you take it? Do you look for sympathy, or do you look for Life. Sympathizers are plentiful. Healing is found in only one place...at His feet. To which will you go? To which have you come?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Ministry Of Waiting

At that time there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him 26 and had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Luke 2:25-26...."To be devout is to be careful in the worship of God....Waiting is an active position of attentiveness and expectation....Simeon was able to see Jesus because he never gave up looking for Jesus." Alicia Britt Chole

I recently watched and listened to (we often only do the first) an online teaching by Alicia Britt Chole in which she made the above remarks. They really penetrated because I know the reality of what she spoke is so often lacking in my, and all of our lives, in what we call "worship." Space doesn't allow me to go as deeply as I need to, but that's fine as I believe He would have me ponder these things, and more that she spoke, in the days to come.

First off, how "devout" do you and I consider ourselves to be? If the definition is to be careful in our worship of Him, then how "careful" are we? In the OT, there was a process for coming before Him. There was a ritual of purification to undergo. I realize we are no longer under the law, but the expectations of God have not changed. His expectation is that when we gather before Him, we do so with "pure hands and a clean heart." We even sing songs about that. Yet is that our reality. Too many who would profess to come to worship Him have thought little or nothing of Him until the moment they enter the sanctuary, and then they, we, depend upon the music to get them into the mood. More, the preparation of those who are to "lead" worship are little better. How much prayer, time, and giving of ourselves have we put into the songs sung, the message preached? Do we follow the lead of what we think the people want, or in where He is leading? Really....how "devout" in our lifestyles of worship are we?

Secondly, how do we look at what Chole calls, "the ministry of waiting?" Someone has said that waiting upon Him is an active experience, as we cling to Him, literally are intertwined with Him through all the process. Our focus is not on getting what we want, but upon getting Him. We, myself included, have turned the message into one of telling people all that God wants to give them, do for them. Provide for them the desires of their heart. Yet we think little or nothing about the desire of His. We just want to get, and if we do live in expectation, it's an expectation of getting the thing we want. His expectation in our waiting is that what we truly desire will be Him. I think this is the true purpose of all the waiting that He leads us through. And Simeon, who waited a lifetime to see Him, experienced this. He knew the ministry of waiting. Do we?

Last, and most powerful to me, is that Simeon saw the Messiah, saw the Lord, because he never stopped seeking for Him. We do. Often. When we meet hardship, or delayed answers, oftentimes long delays, we give in to the temptation John the Baptist had concerning Jesus. We start to look somewhere else for relief, for the answer, for our "savior." Simeon didn't. He didn't allow the years of not seeing Him to turn him aside from looking every day for Him...fully believing the day when he would see Him was coming. He never stopped looking to see Him. And he did see Him. Where, in our lives, families, livelihoods, and ministries, have we stopped looking for Him?

As I said, a great deal to contemplate there. I intend to for myself. How about you for yourself? Do you know true devotion to Him? Do you engage in the ministry of waiting? Are you still looking in all places to see Jesus? Will you take the time to truly answer?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Worship In The Darkness

"Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vine, even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation." Habakkuk 3:17-18....."The people who walk in the darkness will see a great light - a light that will shine on all who live in the land where death casts it's shadow." Isaiah 9:2

I was wondering about something the other day. In this sensory centered culture, of which the church itself has entered into, what would happen if all the lights, slides, projector images, even the lighting in the sanctuary itself were to suddenly go dark? Could we still worship with the complete lack of every outward stimulus? Could we worship Him in the dark? Or, in the absence of it all, would most of just go home?

All of the above is highly unlikely to happen, at least to the church in the west. The physical church going dark is not very likely. In the spiritual aspect of the Body, it's not just likely, it's certain. We will, both corporately and individually, enter into periods, sometimes very long ones, where we find ourselves immersed in the darkness of awful circumstances, deep and threatening danger, needs that seem to have no chance of being met, and the abyss of a present and future seemingly without hope. These are the things that scream at us in the darkness. What's more, their threat is real. Dare we believe that He is more real? Can we, even in that abyss, worship Him? Isaiah said we could. Habakkuk said he would, and did. What about you and me?

I think we've become so familiar with Isaiah 9:2 that we don't contemplate what it's really saying. We know Jesus is the Light shining in the darkness unto a world of death. We know He enters into darkness. Do we ever realize that He most effectively does this through His people.....who themselves are living in the midst of that darkness? Do we ever realize that the Light that shines in the darkness is His Life shining through the lives of His people, as they walk through the darkness that has engulfed all those around them as well? Do we realize that what makes His people different is that the darkness can only engulf us outwardly? It cannot do so inwardly. Not when we truly abide in Him. An abiding that allows us to worship, praise, have joy, peace, and a holy confidence in Him....even in the deep darkness. Because His Light shines in the darkness, and when we receive it in its fullness, it shines in and through us. We are not prisoners of the darkness, and because of this, we worship Him even in the midst of it. As we shine in that darkness, those who are it's prisoners have the chance to see...to respond....to have His Light shine upon them. Then they're no longer prisoners. The chains of the dark are broken. They're free, and can worship Him....even in the darkness.

The conditions of your life right now may be exactly as were Habakkuk's. Whether it's financial, professional, relational, or ministerial, it is not what is seen, but who and what is unseen that is final and most real. When the eyes of your heart are upon Him, you can see Him even in the deepest abyss. And the darkness, which is not darkness to Him at all, is not to you either. And so, you, we, worship Him.... in the dark....The blackest night cannot extinguish His Light, and we will not fail to see it, be vessels of it, if we'll but dare to worship Him in the midst of it. Do we, do you, dare to? There is no shadow of death for the one who lives in His Light. And that Light in us is a beacon for all those still trapped in that shadow. A beacon of His Life that leads them out....and leads them home. Out of the shadow of death, into the Light of His Life. As we who are His worship Him....even in the darkness.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Funeral Wrecker

"Then He walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. 'Young man,' He said, 'get up.' Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk to those around him. And Jesus gave him back to his mother." Luke 7:14-15...."Did you know that Jesus ruined every funeral He ever attended?" Randy Asburry

I think it was Beth Moore who said that Jesus never attended a funeral where the person stayed dead. This is seen in the above Scripture from Luke and the widow of Nain and her son. It is seen in Mark 5, with the synagogue official Jairus, and his daughter, and then, most famously of all, with Lazarus, dead three days in his tomb. It makes me wonder what "funerals" in my life, and yours, have we been holding, are holding now, that desperately need a visit from Jesus Christ?

The power of Jesus Christ can and still does raise the dead, and there are reports of these resurrections from all over the world. Most of them seem to come from cultures far less sophisticated and what we would call "enlightened," than ours. The people have not been taught to believe such miracles cannot take place. They simply trust Him and believe. Yet it is not a physical death that I want to write of today. There is another type of death that afflicts us, torments us, and leaves us in despair. This is the death of our dreams, our hopes, our futures. Dead, at least from our viewpoint, and likely the view of many around us as well. Nothing new in that. Jesus came upon the widow of Nain in the midst of a funeral procession. They saw the death of the boy as final. Likewise all the mourners at the home of Jairus. His daughter was beyond the reach of hope. Worst of all was Lazarus, dead for three days, beyond what Jewish law stated was the limit for a body to brought back to life. Such can be our outlook on our own lives and circumstances. Our relationships, marriage, ministries. We may have been filled with hope once, but that was long ago. Too much time has passed and the dream has died, the vision has vanished, the chance has been missed. It's over. All has been lost. It's all dead now, and will be so tomorrow as well...and beyond. Dare we.....dare you, to believe that He longs to be invited to your funeral, to enter into your funeral procession? To come and bring life out of death, joy out of sorrow, hope from despair, beauty from ashes?

Jesus Christ is King....and He has authority over all things....including death....including what we consider beyond resurrection. He is the funeral wrecker. He has always been such....He always will be. Yes, death, divorce, failure, loss, these are all real. But their affect upon us needn't be final. If He is invited to our funeral, they won't be. He does and will turn mourning into dancing. He does make a way where there is none. He does make mountains disappear.....and quiets the fiercest of storms. He walks on the very waters that we are sure will drown us. He comes and touches the "coffin" into which we have placed all that we have lost, coffins that for all intensive purposes contain ourselves as well.... and makes them, us, live again. As He gave her son back to his mother, He gives life, hope, joy, abundance, back to us again.

Are you caught up in a funeral procession? Jesus approaches you. Will you bid Him welcome? Or, do you allow Him to pass by? And the funeral goes on.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Way Of The Lamb

Now glory be to God! By His mighty power at work within us, He is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope." Ephesians 3:20....."My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." 2 Corinthians 12:9...."Over time, we have come to see that the way of power commended in Scripture is not the way of power we have seen in evangelicalism." Kyle Strobel...."Instead of hearing God's vision of redeeming all things in Christ by the power of His Holy Spirit, we hear of the pastor's vision to grow an even bigger church that does bigger things so that he can be powerful and we can be powerful with him." Jamin Goggin

Since the fall of humankind in the Garden, we have been obsessed with having and exercising power. Nothing has been allowed to stand in the way of our achieving it. Oceans of blood have been spilled to gain and keep it. The history of the human race is a testament to this. Indescribable suffering has been the result, as the quest for power has reached everywhere in the cultures of the world. It has also reached into the very culture and fabric of His Church. I know it reached me. Has it also reached you? In so many ways, the Church has embraced and promoted the power concepts of the world. We seek the high places just as fervently, in some ways even more so, than our counterparts in the world. In truth, in this regard, we are the world.

I began my pastoral ministry in the Texas panhandle city of Lubbock, Texas. My church was the smallest on my district, and it had a horrible reputation. The district office published a monthly newsletter and one of the features was a listing of church attendance, largest to smallest. Ours was dead last. I was determined that this would change, and I set about to channel all of my energy and effort, coupled with "prayer" of course, into that change. We did grow, and as our numbers rose, so did my visibility. At a gathering of preachers where one of the General Superintendents of our denomination was present, my District Superintendent introduced me to that General as "one of my most prized young preachers." I remember the pride I felt, I was on my way. Not long after though, our numbers declined a bit. I was not looking for that, so I began to seek for another church with more potential. I believed I had found it in a church in Virginia. I moved there, and continued along in my quest for ministry success. Yes, I desired to see people saved, and minister to them, but I wanted to succeed, be recognized as well. I had deeply mixed motivations. My heart desired Him, but it desired the high places too. In my pursuit, the unexpected happened. My marriage collapsed, and so did my ministry. I was humbled, but as time would prove, not enough.

After about a year, in His mercy and goodness, He opened the door to return to the ministry by way of a friend who brought me on as his associate at a church in New Jersey. Two years later, He opened another door to return to Virginia and plant a church. In many ways I was a different man. In too many ways I was also the same man. I embarked on another crusade to achieve, to prove myself, to be recognized, to lay hold of the high place. My efforts seemed to bear fruit. We became one of the fastest growing churches on our district. By our fourth year it seemed like there were no limits for us. Recognition was coming, people were noticing. I felt wonderful, and more, a real part of me felt I deserved it. I'd been faithful amidst deep pain and adversity. I would never say it, but there was a real part of me that believed He owed me this. And then He proved He owed me nothing....but I owed Him everything.

I pastor in a highly transient area, as well as one where His Light and the enemy's darkness clash mightily. I never expected to see half my congregation to transfer out of the area to new jobs and other places and churches. I never expected formerly happy people to suddenly become unhappy and leave....but they did. All our momentum was lost...and I grieved the loss....and agonized....and put all of my efforts into reversing it.....but I couldn't. I, we, entered a desert, and nothing I or the church did seemed to "work." We would gain, then we would lose. The man who strove to be something and somebody, was looking more and more like nothing and nobody, which was exactly where He wanted to take me. Our flesh would rather be anything but, but Alicia Chole asks the question, "Do we have the strength to be nothing?" I never wanted such "strength." Only the Father and eternity will judge if I have gained it.

Kyle Strobel, writing in the book, "The Way Of The Dragon Or The Way Of The Lamb," said of his ministry, "Beneath the surface we were desperate for power. God led us into the truth of our hearts, revealing how deeply and pervasively pride drove our lives and how much we relied upon our own strength." I have come to see how deeply pride has driven me through most of my ministry life. I have more often walked the way of the Dragon than of the Lamb. His Word says His power is perfected in our weakness, but few of us ever want to be weak. That's why the way of the Dragon is so appealing. It seduces us. Has it seduced you? I write from the perspective of my ministry, but the way of the Dragon seeks to lay hold of His people in every walk and profession of life. None are immune to it. Not many of us seem to really hear the call of the Way of the Lamb.

The way of the Dragon still calls me, and the way of the Dragon still sounds within the Church. It calls you too. Can you hear the call of the Lamb and His Way? The Way of the cross. His Power is perfected in our weakness. Suffering, loss, being people of no repute or reputation. All are part of His Way. Will we walk it? It has no high places other than being seated with Him. That is the highest place, but it holds no appeal to our flesh. We want to be seated up on the dais, seen by everyone. He calls us to be seated with Him, and the only One seen is Him..... So I close with this question; what and who rules our desire; the way of the Dragon, or the Way of the Lamb? The Dragon, or the Lamb. Who do we hear? Who do we really follow?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Defiant Joy

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear, for You are with me." Psalm 23:4....."You can get past what you can't get over." Beth Moore

I listened to a couple that several years ago lost their 8 year old daughter to cancer, speak of that experience. The mother, Kate Merrick, wrote a book on the experience, with the sub-title, "Defiant Joy In The Depths Of Suffering." That title caught my attention, because as I thought on it, that is exactly what our joy must be sometimes; defiant. Defiant in the face of all the "Why's?" that we are walking through. Defiant in the face of all the enemy's slings and arrows aimed at stealing the very joy He has for us. Defiant in the midst of a journey that is literally taking us through the "valley of the shadow of death."

I continued to listen as her husband David shared his part and path of the journey. He said that as they watched their daughter succumb after a three and a half year battle with the disease, his mind and heart screamed out to, "Why?" He said that the Lord never gave him an answer to that question. He said he felt it was because no answer would be good enough. And he was, is, right. We live in a world where inexplicable suffering can and does come upon us. Why did our loved one have to die? Why did our mate leave us, abandon us? Why did our ministry seem to fail, our job move end in disaster? Why? Why did You allow it? Why didn't you just DO SOMETHING? Really, what could He answer that would bring us any satisfaction? No, no answer would be good enough. We would still be left with the pain, the heartache, the brokenness. And to this all, Merrick said something very profound. He said that in that place of questioning, the Father brought to his heart the fourth verse of Psalm 23, that in the suffering, in the loss, in all the questions, His word to him, them, us, is, "I am with you." I am with you, and you will discover that that is more than enough.

Kate Merrick said that in her walk, she couldn't get past her grief, and in the midst of that grief, the Father also showed her the depth of her bitterness and anger. Of how, in the face of His promises of joy and hope, she found herself, just as Sarah did when God told her she would have a son in her old age, cynically laughing at the notion. We come to that place in the grief where we feel the same, that we'll never really laugh again, never know the fullness of joy in Him again. We can't get past it all....and we can't in ourselves.....but we can, and will, in Him.

Beth Moore said we can get past what we can't get over. No one gets over the loss of child, mate, or any of a host of life tragedies. There will always be that sense of loss, but we can get past it, we can live a life free of the moment of loss. We can laugh again, have the fullness of His joy again. It takes having what Merrick came to have, a defiant joy. A choice to allow all that He is and promises to be to enter into our suffering with us, walk with us, grieve with us, and move on with us in it. To laugh again in and with Him. We don't ever "get over it" but we are not held captive in that moment of loss....we move onto new joy and joys in Him. Defying all the emotions and the enemy who assaults us through them, and lay hold of His joy....and we overcome....and we laugh and live again in Him.

I have found, and continue to find, that I need that defiant joy in so many places in my life. Losses, disappointments, the unexpected broken places that come to us all, I need to have a defiant heart towards all that seeks to rob me of His joy, to rob me of the sense of His Presence. To know that in darkest valley of death, He is with me....and He will take me through. He will take you through as well. He ministers, He heals, and He restores our joy. Joy that we defy the world and the devil to steal from us. Where do you need that defiant joy today? He gives it...even in the valley of death.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Last Word

I have told you all this so that you may have peace in Me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart because I have overcome the world....John 16:33....."The last word will be spoken by God, and the last word is 'victory.' " E. Stanley Jones

So many of us are much more familiar with Jesus' words than we have ever wanted to be. Trials and sorrows can seem to make up the majority of our lives at times. For you, it may well be at this time. If that's what you're walking through right now, you're likely experiencing a plethora of emotions, having an abundance of thoughts shooting at and through your mind. Pain, sorrow, anger, bitterness, despair and hopelessness are possibly, even likely among them. A lot of words and questions are surfacing. Some come from our heart, and others from the enemy of our soul. Words and questions that ask why has this happened, and where is our God? Words, questions and statements that say we have entered the place of hopelessness, that there is no coming back from this horrible place. We've failed, we're defeated, life can never be good again. An avalanche of words. An avalanche, that like any avalanche, seeks to bury us alive, and leave us for death. We our powerless against this avalanche, but the risen Christ is not. Under the rubble of words, statements, and circumstances, He whispers into our hearts and spirit, "Take heart.....I have overcome the world. I have overcome all that is happening in your world."

Most of us know what it is like to be engaged in a discussion/conflict with someone who must have the last word. No one seeks that more than satan, our great enemy. He wants to have the last word with us in every time and place, and he means for that last word to spell our doom and death. His last word is meant to keep us trapped under the rubble of all that has happened to us, been done to or by us. If we believe him, we will never come out of the rubble. What we must know is that everything he says is a lie, yet it will sound so much like the truth, because he mixes some truth into every one of his lies. This is why our hearts must be in tune, in step, with the heart and voice of Christ. The whisper of His Spirit silences the shouts and screams of hell. And with a word, the rubble of our circumstances, our failures, and our sins, is removed. He, and not our enemy, has the last word, and as Jones say, that word is "victory."

You may feel yourself trapped under the rubble of an avalanche of trouble, failure, sorrow and loss. That's where the enemy and his lies will seek to keep you. Yet the words of his lies are not the last words to be spoken to you. The Words of the King are. Be still. Know that He is God. He will speak. He is speaking now. His last word in every situation is an eternal one. Victory. Victory that leads to all the fullness of His life. Come forth from the rubble, into His Life. Life that He now makes your life.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Lord Of Our Sorrows....And Joys!

David begged God to spare the child. He went without food and lay all night on the bare ground.....Then on the seventh day, the baby died." 2 Samuel 12:16-17

I recently heard Betty Robison, the wife of James Robison speak about the deep sorrow of losing their daughter to cancer. She spoke of lying before God crying out to Him, asking why, pouring out her heart in deep mourning. She said that in that place, He spoke to her, comforted her, and gave her the strength to get up, and go on. She said, "And when I got up, He was there." That's a beautiful statement, but as she said it, another thought came to me, and that was that He was not just there with her, standing above her, He was there with her....on the ground. As she lay in the deepest sorrow she had ever known, He lay there with her. Wept with her. He entered into that sorrow at it's deepest, and shared all of it's pain with her. When He is with us, He is completely with us. In the deepest sorrow or the highest joy, He is there. Completely. The key for us is, will we allow Him to enter into it, join us in it? He does not come where He is not welcome. The God who lay down with her, was also the God who called her up to Him. He will seek entry into our lowest place, and then call us up to His highest. He comes to us by invitation. We come to Him by the same.

David was a man who knew the highest joy, leaping and dancing before the Lord. I believe fully that as he did so, the Spirit leaped and danced with Him. In his times of laughter, pleasure, seemingly unending joy, the Lord was there, sharing, participating, living in it with Him. I think many of us struggle with this idea, but as David leaped, so did His Spirit. As David danced, His Spirit did as well. We struggle with this, as we so often seem to only see Him as a somber, unsmiling God. I don't believe the disciples knew Jesus in such a way. Christ called Himself the Man of Sorrows, and no one knows the depth of sorrow as He does, but I believe Him to be the Lord of Laughter and Joy as well. And it is His longing to enter into our greatest heights of joy as well as our deepest pits of mourning. But we have to bid Him enter. When He does, He will lie with us in the deep darkness, and dance with us on the mountain peaks.

David also knew the depths of sorrow. The loss of sons, the betrayal of loved ones. The abandonment of those he trusted most. Many had sympathy with him, compassion on him, but only the Spirit of the Lord could enter into that place with him. Those days spent before Him, lying on the ground, pleading for his child, were times spent in the full company and ministry of His Lord. That baby died, but when David arose, His Lord, who had been on the ground with Him, also rose up with Him, and then called him up to Him. Scripture says that upon receiving the news he never wanted to hear, he went in and worshiped Him. That is only possible for one who is living in and with Him at all times, the highest of highs, and the lowest of lows. David knew intimacy with Him in those places, and in all places. Do we? Do you?

He's not only with us in such places, but all the ones in between, and oftentimes, those are the most difficult. The days of sameness, dreariness, the seemingly unchanging. All we feel, experience, He feels and experiences with us. It's all part of the journey, but His promise is that wherever the journey takes us, He will use it all to take us home...to Him, as we go with Him. He's extended the invitation to us. Have we extended it to Him, the Lord of both our sorrows and joys?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Zombies Among Us!

     It's hard not to notice how prevalent "Zombies" are in pop culture these days.  Books, comics, TV shows and movies abound on the subject.  The culture is fascinated with zombies.  Still, even with the flood of this material, I was very surprised to come across a book with the title, Zombie Church.  When I saw it, I knew that alone made it worth the price.  I bought it on the spot.

     Now, in case you don't know just what a zombie is, the dictionary (it really is in there) defines a zombie as "the body of a dead person given the semblance of life."  The books author, Tyler Edwards, says in effect, "Zombies are dead bodies faking life."  The connection he makes is that it would seem, judging by the state of our society, that this is exactly what might define so many congregations, so many parts of the Body of Christ.  They, we, are dead bodies faking life.

    It will help if we think a bit on just what marks a true zombie.  If you've seen or read any of the stuff out there on them, their main preoccupation in their "life/death" is themselves.  They feed on others for the sole purpose of satisfying themselves.  Along the way, they infect everyone they come into contact with with the same disease they have.  They don't produce anything of lasting value, but only consume.  Nothing else matters to them in the end but the satisfaction of their own desires and needs.  They exist to be fed. 

    If we'll think about this for a moment, how close does it really come to describing you and I at heart?  Our culture is a consumer culture.  That culture has successfully invaded the church.  Zombies really are among us. Few of us have truly succeeded in staying free of it.  All of us have been infected to some degree.  If you're a pastor, can you think of the last time anyone who was seeking a church home asked about any needs the church might have, and where they could be used of the Lord to meet them, rather than wanting to know just what your congregation had to offer them and make them want to come?  If there was a desire to serve, was it based on just how large a range of "audience" you could offer them?  In other words, was it prestigious enough to make them feel it was worth their while, that it would feed their need for applause and approval?  How many "foot washers" as compared to wash recipients have been showing up, or been produced in our midst?  How many come to watch the show, as compared with going out to be the church, have we?  Which type is predominate in our midst?  Living Dead, or Living in Christ?

   Gandhi once said, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians.  Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."  Brennan Manning wrote, "The greatest cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips then walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyles."  Zombies don't resemble anyone or anything but other zombies, and by the looks of western culture, there are more and more of them all the time.  In describing them,Edwards writes, "Zombies do not produce anything.  They do not accomplish anything.  All they do is wander aimlessly, consuming everything in their path (including non-zombies)......Zombies act like they're alive, but they're dead.  They just don't know it yet."

   This doesn't mean there is no activity, it's just that none of the activity produces anything that is eternal.  Why? Because though we live, we don't truly live "in Christ," and as a result, though we seem to be alive, we're really dead.  Our connection is to ourselves, not to Him.  We abide mainly in ourselves, not Him.  Whatever connection we feel we have with Him is limited to corporate worship times, Bible studies or home groups.  We may do religious things, but not because it's something that flows out from us because we live so deeply in Him, but because we feel we should.  The motive doesn't come from life, but death.

   In John 6, Jesus calls His followers to "eat His flesh and drink His blood."  It offended them, it offends us as well.  In fact, He says they must eat His flesh 4 times in this chapter.  We're told that in response to this "Many no longer followed Him."  I remember reading sometime ago that in the middle east, the expression of "eating the flesh" of the one you followed was often used.  It meant that you were totally willing to identify with and enter into the life of the one you followed on every level of your life.  Jesus certainly had this in mind to a degree, but something far more as well. No person can enter fully into another's life humanly, but in Christ, we can.  It's a supernatural happening, but maybe thinking of just what happens in our bodies when we eat food helps.  That which we eat, is digested into our system, and becomes a part of us, of our blood, our tissue, our body.  What had been separate is now one.  In the spiritual realm, this is exactly what Christ calls us to when we partake of Him.  He is fully in us, and we are fully in Him.  We've become one.  Food gives life.  Christ gives full life.  Instead of being living dead, we are now dead to the world men and women who are now alive in Christ.  Truly alive.

   As far as I can tell, no one in the books and movies ever finds a cure for the zombies.  They're doomed.  Not so for us.  In Him, the disease is cured, but only in Him.  A few years ago a movie was released titled Zombieland.  Zombies wandered about everywhere, while a few still not touched by the disease, sought diligently a place of safety and refuge.  For those of us not enslaved by the Zombieland culture we live in, as well as those that are, that refuge is Christ.  Only in Him, fully in Him, will we be free of the disease.  We are born into Zombieland. Only by the blood of Jesus Christ may we enter into His Kingdom land. Have you entered in? Or, no matter your profession,do you still shuffle about with the walking dead?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Truth In The Valley

"The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones." Ezekiel 37:1......"He brings us to the valley of dry bones not to discourage us, but to show us something amazing. It was the Spirit of God who took Ezekiel to the place of despair, and it was to show him that despair wasn't true.....When you see dead, dry bones, trust the One who showed them to you." Chris Tiegreen....."It's impossible for that man to despair who remembers that his helper is omnipotent." Jeremy Taylor

For those who truly follow Him, there is something sure for the future. You will come to your own valley of dry bones. You will come to that place where all appears to be death, which means the absence of life. But as Tiegreen puts it, "Where God is concerned, death doesn't mean very much." That is the hope of the real believer. Death is not final, not now, not ever. We who are His are held, not in the grip of death, but the grip of life. When we come to our own valley of dry bones, that truth must be burned deeply within our hearts. God did not bring Ezekiel to that valley for him to sink into hopeless despair, but to be lifted by an Almighty hope. His hope.

I've a wise friend who likes to say that it is not what we feel or think in such times that is real. It is what He says, His Truth, that is. Our great problem is that we so easily fall into the trap of filtering His Truth through what we feel and think. There is a saying that perception is reality, but it is not. He and His Truth are reality, and that reality will transcend whatever we feel, think, or are experiencing. The Father brought Ezekiel to that valley to prove to Him just that. He would show him that his despair wasn't true. What he was feeling wasn't true. What the enemy screamed into his heart and mind wasn't true. God was, and is. His Spirit was, and is. His Word was, and is, and will always will be.

When we come to our own valley of dry bones, it is so easy to buy the devil's lie that the Lord is not with us, has abandoned us. His plan is to have us stay in that valley, die in that valley. The Father's plan is to make those dry bones live....in the valley. Our first desire is to get out of the valley. His desire is that we see that there is no valley so deep, no amount of dry bones within it, that can stop His resurrection power in the midst of it. God brought Ezekiel to that place in order that he would know that. He made those dry bones come together, breathed His Life into them, and a valley of death became a pinnacle of Life. He will do no less in our own valley's of despair. Joy out of sorrow. Hope out of despair. Life out of death. This is Truth. Is it your Truth?

Jesus came to Martha and Mary three days after their brother Lazarus had died. According to Jewish teaching, that meant his death was final. There was no coming back from it. Martha, Mary, all those who loved Lazarus, were now living in their own valley of dry bones. Jesus had allowed it all to be so. Into their valley He came, and in that valley, called one whose death was supposed to be final, forth unto life. For the sisters, joy out of sorrow. Rejoicing out of despair. Life out of death. God did it again. He never tires of doing it again. Their despair wasn't true, and neither is ours if we trust Him....even in the valley of dry bones.

If you've come to your valley of dry bones, if you're living there right now, trust not in what you might be feeling, seeing, even thinking. Trust in Him who is True, who is Reality. He makes dry bones live. The dry bones of relationships, loss, failure, and unrealized dreams. From all of them He calls forth life. And He calls forth life for you, for me, now. He is Truth. May He be our Truth. Your Truth.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Unenvisioned Place

One night Joseph had a dream, and promptly reported the details to his brothers, causing them to hate him even more. 'Listen to this dream,' he announced, 'We were out in the field tying up bundles of grain. My bundle stood up, and then your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before it.'........."So when the traders came by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty pieces of silver, and the Ishmaelite traders took him along to Egypt." Genesis 37:5-7, 28...."Until the time came to fulfill His Word, the Lord tested Joseph's character." Psalm 105:19

The talk of "having a vision" is heard a lot in the church these days. Visions from Him are biblical. It's where they come from and how we interpret them that so often aren't. So many of the visions I've heard those in the church speak, be they pastors and leaders or those in the general fellowship, seem to have as the main beneficiary, themselves. It's not that there isn't peripheral good to be found in the vision, just that the overall focus is on the "visionary" themselves. Recognition, success, applause, seem very much in the forefront. Personal glory, not His is the result. I speak from experience. I've had those kinds of "visions."

I have come to the place of seeing that the true test of whether a vision is from Him or not is; does it include a personal cross? Does it's fulfillment lead to our own Calvary? For the vision to live, we have to die. Joseph had a vision from God. So did David, and Daniel, and Isaiah, Hosea, down to Paul, Peter, John, and to us today. All of them came to unenvisioned places in realizing the fulfillment of the vision. Joseph had no idea his dream would entail slavery, prison, and a years long separation from his father and family. David knew he would be king. He didn't know he would be living on the run as an outlaw/outcast for many years, and that before he lived in the palace, he would also live in a cave. So it was for all those given true visions, dreams from His heart. They all came to unenvisioned places on the road to realizing the fullness of the vision. The question for them and for us is; what will we do when we come to that unenvisioned place?

This is a question for all of us. We all have cherished hopes and dreams. We all feel we have been given special promises by the Father. Promises concerning marriages, children, families and relationships. We all have longings and desires that we've prayed about, are sure we've had answers from Him about. We believe these promises, these hopes and dreams will be fulfilled, that they'll come to pass. What happens when, on the journey to their realization, we come to our own jail cell, cave, lions den, cross? We have our eyes on the victory parade. What happens when we find ourselves carrying our own cross up the hill to our own Calvary, our own death? Even the death of the dream, the hope, the vision? The unenvisioned place in the vision.

Oswald Chambers said, "Unless we can look the darkest, blackest fact full in the face without damaging the character of God, we do not yet know Him." This is where the truth of the vision is tested. This is where all the self-glory dies. All that is left is Him, His character, and you and your trust in His character. The vision may die. So may marriages, ministries, relationships, jobs, and all the hopes and dreams that accompanied them. He does not die. Into the broken dreams of the disciples He came with His resurrection life. The flawed vision they had before was replaced by the perfection that is Christ. Whatever we may feel has died in our lives, He has not. He lives, and so, we live. And if the vision we have is truly from Him, it will live on, though it may take a far different path than what we first believed. An unenvisioned path that leads to the envisioned place that has always been in His heart for us. For you.

Are you in the unenvisioned place? Are you facing the darkest and blackest of realities? You never thought to be here. Neither did Joseph, or David, or any of the heroes of faith. That place may overwhelm you. It doesn't overwhelm Him. He won't leave you there. He will get you to the place He has for you. It may not be the place you envisioned, or by the way you had planned. Hold on. He'll get you there. He'll get you home. His vision, the only one that really matters, will be fulfilled...in and for you. In and for all those who are His.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Disappointed Dreams

A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. 26 She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse. 27 She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his robe. 28 For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel in her body that she had been healed of her terrible condition. Mark 5:25-29......"Is it possible that God uses the disappointments of life to lead us to the Hope that is found only in Him?" Sheila Walsh
I need no prophetic gift to tell you that you, we, will find disappointment in this life. Sometimes a great deal of it. We have disappointments in our relationships. Marriages, friendships that we thought would be forever, aren't. Ministries, jobs, and the moves that go with them, don't pan out. We were sure it was all His will, yet we never believed that what happened, would happen. The life journey we set out upon in our youth, hasn't turned out as we had been sure it would. We thought we'd be a lot further ahead than we are right now. We not only thought we'd have a much different, better life, we were sure we'd be much different, better people than we are. We're disappointed. Disappointed with others, with life, even with ourselves. Sometimes, we're disappointed with Him....if we dare admit it.
If anyone would have a right to be disappointed, discouraged, in despair, it would have been the woman, we never know her name, with the issue of blood. This was an affliction which would render her unclean among her fellow Jews. No one could touch her, come near her. When she walked about, she would have to say loudly, "Unclean," warning any who might accidentally touch her. She would be alone, likely without husband or children....and friends. She had sought healing everywhere, and found it nowhere. This had been going on for 12 years. There was no indication it would not go on forever. In this condition, she approached Jesus.

I heard Walsh say that the woman desired a healing, but Christ desired that she be whole. There's a difference. We usually want outward problems solved, and the woman was no exception. Jesus knows that our deepest problem lies within, in our hearts. He wants to bring more than a cure. He wants to bring a healing. She wanted to just touch Him, but He would not leave it at that. He exclaimed, "Who touched Me," but He knew all along who it was. He wanted her to come forward, and speak with Him. She did, falling at His feet and telling Him all. All the pain, the disappointment, and likely, the anger. All given over to Him. And in return, He gave her all of Himself. He never gives less. She told Him the whole truth, and was made whole. Are we willing to do the same, to be the same? Will we pour out to Him all the disappointments, shattered dreams and lost hopes, that He may take them and replace them with His Life, Joy, and yes, Hope? We sing, "Give it all to Jesus," but rarely will we do that. We're anxious to touch Him quickly, get our cure, and be gone. He bids us come, stay, abide, and be transformed, made whole. The Greek word for salvation means "to save and heal." That's the meaning. Has that meaning been accomplished in you and me?

What do you do when it seems your future has been erased? Can you bring the whole of your shattered dreams and hopes to Him, and all that has built up within as a result? Can you bring the whole truth to Him, that you might receive His whole life? Many touched Him that day as he moved through the crowd. There's no indication they received anything from Him. Just the woman. The outcast. The unwanted. Holder of shattered dreams and a shattered life. She touched Him, laid hold of Him. Have you? Have I? There's a difference between casually touching Him, as so many do in their day to day lives, and laying hold of all of Him. There was the crowd, and there was the woman. Who are we most like?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Unenvisioned Place

One night Joseph had a dream, and promptly reported the details to his brothers, causing them to hate him even more. 'Listen to this dream,' he announced, 'We were out in the field tying up bundles of grain. My bundle stood up, and then your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before it.'........."So when the traders came by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty pieces of silver, and the Ishmaelite traders took him along to Egypt." Genesis 37:5-7, 28...."Until the time came to fulfill His Word, the Lord tested Joseph's character." Psalm 105:19

The talk of "having a vision" is heard a lot in the church these days. Visions from Him are biblical. It's where they come from and how we interpret them that so often aren't. So many of the visions I've heard those in the church speak, be they pastors and leaders or those in the general fellowship, seem to have as the main beneficiary, themselves. It's not that there isn't peripheral good to be found in the vision, just that the overall focus is on the "visionary" themselves. Recognition, success, applause, seem very much in the forefront. Personal glory, not His is the result. I speak from experience. I've had those kinds of "visions."

I have come to the place of seeing that the true test of whether a vision is from Him or not is; does it include a personal cross? Does it's fulfillment lead to our own Calvary? For the vision to live, we have to die. Joseph had a vision from God. So did David, and Daniel, and Isaiah, Hosea, down to Paul, Peter, John, and to us today. All of them came to unenvisioned places in realizing the fulfillment of the vision. Joseph had no idea his dream would entail slavery, prison, and a years long separation from his father and family. David knew he would be king. He didn't know he would be living on the run as an outlaw/outcast for many years, and that before he lived in the palace, he would also live in a cave. So it was for all those given true visions, dreams from His heart. They all came to unenvisioned places on the road to realizing the fullness of the vision. The question for them and for us is; what will we do when we come to that unenvisioned place?

This is a question for all of us. We all have cherished hopes and dreams. We all feel we have been given special promises by the Father. Promises concerning marriages, children, families and relationships. We all have longings and desires that we've prayed about, are sure we've had answers from Him about. We believe these promises, these hopes and dreams will be fulfilled, that they'll come to pass. What happens when, on the journey to their realization, we come to our own jail cell, cave, lions den, cross? We have our eyes on the victory parade. What happens when we find ourselves carrying our own cross up the hill to our own Calvary, our own death? Even the death of the dream, the hope, the vision? The unenvisioned place in the vision.

Oswald Chambers said, "Unless we can look the darkest, blackest fact full in the face without damaging the character of God, we do not yet know Him." This is where the truth of the vision is tested. This is where all the self-glory dies. All that is left is Him, His character, and you and your trust in His character. The vision may die. So may marriages, ministries, relationships, jobs, and all the hopes and dreams that accompanied them. He does not die. Into the broken dreams of the disciples He came with His resurrection life. The flawed vision they had before was replaced by the perfection that is Christ. Whatever we may feel has died in our lives, He has not. He lives, and so, we live. And if the vision we have is truly from Him, it will live on, though it may take a far different path than what we first believed. An unenvisioned path that leads to the envisioned place that has always been in His heart for us. For you.

Are you in the unenvisioned place? Are you facing the darkest and blackest of realities? You never thought to be here. Neither did Joseph, or David, or any of the heroes of faith. That place may overwhelm you. It doesn't overwhelm Him. He won't leave you there. He will get you to the place He has for you. It may not be the place you envisioned, or by the way you had planned. Hold on. He'll get you there. He'll get you home. His vision, the only one that really matters, will be fulfilled...in and for you. In and for all those who are His.

Blessings,
Pastor O